Grandma Billie's Pecan Sandies AKA Wedding Cookies

My Grandma Billie made these for me ever since I was a little girl. This is my second Christmas without her - I think about her a lot, but especially at the holidays. She taught me to make bows from spools of ribbon and while she wasn't the best baker (her chocolate chip cookies were famous for being, well, not that good), she always came through when it came to these amazing little bits of powdered heaven. She also made a mean coconut cake (a post for another day - she usually pulled that one out at Easter). So, here is Grandma's recipe. I have to change the flour to a GF flour blend and omit the nuts for Whit, but for everyone else, here is the original.

Grandma's Wedding Cookies

Preheat oven to 300*

1 cup butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts
1 T. water

Put all ingredients together and mix. Shape into balls and slightly press them. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 20 minutes. Roll in confectioners sugar and serve.

Gluten and Nut Free Christmas Crack AKA Salted Chocolate Pretzel Bark

My sister makes an amazing recipe she calls "Christmas Crack" and I love it, but it was full of gluten and thus did not make my holiday goodie list. I have revised her recipe and use gf pretzels in place of the crackers she uses to make this gf version - safe for my whole family. They love it!

Gluten and Nut Free Christmas Crack

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
8 oz. GF pretzels
8 oz or 1 bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400*.
Pour pretzels onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Melt the butter and brown sugar together on the stove until it comes to a boil. Then remove from heat and pour over the pretzels. Put the pretzels in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and then pour the chocolate over the pretzels.

Freeze for 1 hour. Break into pieces and store in the fridge. Enjoy! 

Good Girl Moonshine - the drink of champions

This yummy drink is super thirst quenching and kind of amazing.

*1-2 T. of apple cider vinegar (with the mother)
*Ginger - you can use any of these options: 1-2 t. of ground ginger (my least favorite), you can peel fresh ginger and then cut it up and bring it to a boil in some water on the stove for a few minutes and then let it sit for a bit making a "ginger juice" that can be added by 1-2 T. into the drink (my favorite option), or you can peel ginger and then blend it with about 3/4 c. of water till it is broken down and then add another 1 and 1/4 cup of water and blend again. Freeze into ice cubes and then add one or two to your drink (another great option)
*2-4 donks of Stevia
*water and ice cubes to finish filling the jar or glass

That is basically it. Just put the ACV, ginger of choice, and the Stevia in a jar and mix well. Then add your ice and water to top it off and enjoy!

Berry Whip

Berry Whip is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. Addie, I know you love this one as well. It is so easy, but for some reason, I don't often pull out the Ninja to get this going in the am before work or school.

I am used to making it in a double batch so we can both enjoy, but here is a single serving ratio, just increase as needed.

1/2 cup of cottage cheese
1/2 cup of frozen raspberries
a dash/splash of lemon juice (optional, but awesome)
a couple of donks of Stevia (to taste)

Put in the food processor or Ninja and then enjoy. My favorite way to enjoy this breakfast is to add a sprinkle of sliced almonds on top.

Fudge With and Without Nuts

It is five o'clock in the morning on Christmas Eve as I write this entry. The heavy rain woke me up at three and after unsuccessfully attempting to go back to sleep, I got up and made the Christmas fudge. Making two batches of fudge made me think about making sure both of you had this recipe. That led to this, and so, in the manner of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I am up and blogging about fudge.

This fudge is tried and true. I have been making it for years. It is the Carnation recipe and it goes as follows:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 1/2 cups (9 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• LINE 8-inch-square baking pan with foil. Or use foil containers. I use small bread pan size containers to make fudge in chunks - like you would see at the candy store, then serve them on cutting boards with spreader knives at Christmas. Have your ingredients ready to go - if you have to take time to measure the chips, marshmallows, and nuts, you will risk dry fudge.
  
  COMBINE sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add immediately:
  
  STIR in marshmallows, morsels, nuts (omit nuts for nut free fudge) and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows are melted. Pour into prepared baking pan; refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil. Wrap in air tight plastic wrap to preserve freshness. 
• This recipe can be found here, on the Carnation site. 

Two Aunties Apple Pie

This pie is special. It is a combination of several households coming together to make pie perfection. I have not made Auntie Amy's crust from GF flour yet, so I can't say how it would turn out. I am so taken with the Whole Foods prepared gluten free crust that it is my choice of crust for GF items these days.

But, the rest of this has been tried with GF flour and is amazing. Make two, you won't be sorry.

Auntie Amy's Pie Crust

2 cups flour (don't sift)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
Minimal mixing and roll between wax paper.
Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then add fruit and bake for time listed with pie or quiche recipe.

Auntie Ashlea's Apple Pie

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 T flour (use GF is gluten free)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
6 large baking apples (I like Granny Smith or Pink Lady)
2 T butter
2 T lemon juice

Mix flour, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Toss with apples and dot with butter and lemon juice. Put this mixture into your crust. (Use Auntie Amy's Pie Crust recipe or Whole Foods prepared GF crust and follow baking instructions for either.) Then make streusel topping below.

Streusel Topping

1 cup of flour (GF if making it gluten free)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter

Mix with fork or pastry cutter till crumbly. Crumble over pie. Bake pie at 350 for 45 minutes or until done.

Thanksgiving Dressing and Gravy In Nana's Own Words

Thanksgiving Dressing and Gravy

At least one day ahead, bake a pan of cornbread following the recipe on any bag of cornmeal but be sure to use buttermilk. You can use white or yellow cornmeal but I prefer white. I recommend a 9 x 13 pan. Cover and let rest overnight. You can crumble the cornbread when it is cool enough to handle. Day of serving - Chop 1 onion, 3 stalks of celery. Add to crumbled cornbread. Add 2 eggs, well beaten, 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken (or celery) soup. Add salt, pepper, beau monde seasoning and mix well. This will be fairly stiff so add enough turkey broth to make juicy but not too soupy. Sorry I don't know how to really describe this consistency. Pour into a large baking dish and bake at 425 for appx 45 min. - 1 hour. 

To make this GF, just use GF cornbread and GF condensed soup (there is such a thing), or you can make your own. .

For gravy: You need a good sturdy metal whisk to make good gravy. If not, it will be lumpy. Saute 1 chopped onion in about 1 stick of butter until onion is pearly in color. Add white flour appx 1/4 cup and whisk until begins to cook Being careful not to burn. I use a medium high heat for this. Slowly add turkey broth, whisking all the time to keep any lumps from forming. Add salt and pepper to taste. Continue to whisk and cook until you reach the consistency you like. Turn down heat to warm to keep hot until serving, whisking occasionally to keep from burning. Good luck!

To make this GF, use GF flour.