Hello, and welcome back to Miz Judi’s Kitchen. We’d like to thank you all for droppin back in to visit with us again! You guys are great!
Can you believe that Christmas is almost here once again? Good Lord…where does the time go? Quickly, and you’ll probably be told this by us a few more times prior to…Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year as well.
Boy, don’t you know that there’s a ton of kids who’ll be finding getting to sleep mighty hard just here directly. I remember myself as a child, and man, oh man, was Christmas Eve the longest night of the year by far! I could hardly get to sleep wonderin what ole Santa Claus might be droppin off at our place.
I remember one Christmas that my Dad put a dern cow patty (manure) in my stocking. I got up, reached up inside the dern thing, and there it was, just as pretty as you please. Dad asked, “What’d ya get son?”
I replied that Santa had evidently brought me a cow… but the dern thing done got up and run off! It always was pretty hard to catch me at a loss for words! LOL!
Well, quickly I heard read a story a buddy of ours in Georgia sent to us the other day, and I thought that I’d like to share it with you guys today. This has absolutely nothing at all to do with cooking, or recipes, but I found the story heartwarming enough that I figured several of you might like to read of this too.
It is the story of an injured elephant in the wild that a human walked up on, saw he was injured in some way, and the man helped this wild elephant out. It’s a great story, and is another example of a wild animal and human bonding together. Please read and send on to others if you’d like.
Okay, what’d you guys think of the elephant story?
With that taken care of, why don’t we fire off the ole cook stove?
Our first recipe today comes from a good friend of ours from Virginia. Her name is Diane, and I think maybe for just a little bit, Diane may be “quite a card!” She sent us this Christmas cookie recipe, and I believe you’ll like it.
Our other two recipes today come from the “Heritage of America Cookbook,” and this was put out by Better Homes and Gardens.
We hope you enjoy them all!
Christmas Lace Cookies Recipe:
- 1 cup melted butter or margarine
- 2 cups quick oats
- 3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine butter, oats, sugar and flavoring.
Mix well.
Drop 1/2 tsp of batter on well-greased (or line baking sheet with aluminum foil/parchment paper) baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake at 325 in oven for 10 minutes or until cookies are thin.
Cool slightly and remove from baking sheet with spatula.
Diane
Peach Pie:
- ½ to ¾ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- A dash of ground nutmeg
- 6 cups thinly sliced, peeled peaches, or frozen unsweetened peach slices
- Pastry for Double-crust Pie (see below)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Dash ground cinnamon
- Milk
In a large mixing bowl stir together the ½ to ¾ cup sugar, flour, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add fresh or frozen peaches. Gently toss till the peaches are coated. If using frozen peaches, let stand for 15 to 30 minutes or till peaches are partially thawed but still icy.
Prepare and roll out the pastry as directed (again, see below for pie crust recipe). Line a 9 inch pie plate with HALF of the pastry. Stir peach mixture, then transfer to the pastry lined pie plate. Trim the bottom pastry to the edge of the pie plate.
Cut slits in the top crust. Place top crust on filling. Seal and crimp edge. In a small bowl stir together the 1 teaspoon sugar and the dash of cinnamon. Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with the sugar-cinnamon mixture.
To prevent over browning, cover edge of the pie with foil. Bake on 375 for 25 minutes for fresh peaches (50 minutes for frozen peaches). Remove foil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes more for fresh peaches (20 to 30 minutes more for frozen peaches), or until top is golden. Cool pie on a wire rack.
Pastry for Double-Crust Pie:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup shortening or lard
- 6-7 tablespoons cold water
In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening till pieces are the size of small peas.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push to side of bowl. Repeat till all is moistened. Divide dough in half. Form each half of dough into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, flatten each ball of dough with your hands. Roll out dough from center to edges, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Wrap pastry around a rolling pin. Unroll pastry onto a 9 inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry. Trim pastry even with the rim of the pie plate.
For top crust, repeat rolling remaining dough. Cut slits to allow steam to escape. Fill pastry in pie plate with desired filling. Place the top crust on filling. Trim top crust to ½ beyond edge of plate. Fold the top crust under the bottom crust; flute edge.
Bake as directed in individual recipes.
Apple-Cherry Pie:
- 2 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart red cherries
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 cups peeled, cored, and thinly sliced apples
- Pastry for Double-Crust Pie (see above recipe)
- 2 tablespoons butter, or margarine
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- Dash of ground cinnamon
If using frozen cherries, let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes or till partially thawed. Stir together the 1 cup sugar, flour, the 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and the nutmeg; set aside.
In a large bowl combine cherries and apple slices. Add sugar mixture. Toss to coat. Transfer to pastry lined 9 inch pie plate. Dot fruit with butter. Adjust top crust. Seal and flute edge.
If desired, cut decorative shapes from dough scraps. Brush the backsides of the shapes with milk and arrange on the top crust. Cut slits into the top crust. Brush top crust with milk. Combine the ½ teaspoon sugar, and the dash of cinnamon; sprinkle over crust. Cover edge with foil.
Bake on 375 for 25 minutes (50 minutes if using frozen cherries). Remove foil. Bake for 20 to 25 more minutes or till the top is golden and fruit is tender.