Christmas Party

This year I had a small Christmas Party with some friends.  I served Cranberry Orange bread, Sugar cookies, my Mom's famous Christmas Pudding, Hot Fudge Sundae's, and fruit.  

Here's the Cranberry Orange bread.  It was pretty easy to make, but I wasn't crazy about it.  I got the recipe from America's Test Kitchen: The Baking Edition.

I didn't make these.  Being 8 1/2 months pregnant, I was trying to lighten up my load.  I got these cute cookies at Kneaders.  Sadly, they looked better than they tasted.

Here's my Mom's Christmas Pudding!  It was my first time making it, and I was delighted with the turnout.  This is a Molasses cake with Craisins.  It's served with a creamy butter sauce.  It's a  rich dessert, but SO GOOD!  The recipe is at the end of this post.

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce

And that's me....cooking away.

Mom’s Own Christmas Pudding

1 ½ cup boiling water

1 ½ cup chopped craisins

¾ cup molasses
2 eggs

3 tablespoons butter

2 ¼ cup flour

¾ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon salt

Creamy Sauce or Hard Sauce (below)

Pour boiling water on craisins; stir in butter and let stand for 5 minutes.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Stir cranberry mixture, molasses and eggs into flour mixture.

Pour into well-greased 8-cup mold. Cover tightly with a lid.

Place the mold into a large pot; pour boiling water into the pot until it is

half way up the mold. Cover the pot.

 Keep water boiling over low heat until a wooden pick inserted into the

center of the pudding comes out clean, about 2 hours.

Remove the mold from the pot and let stand 5 minutes; unmold. Serve warm

with Creamy Sauce or Hard Sauce.

Creamy Sauce:

Beat 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar and 1 ½ cups of softened butter in a medium

saucepan until smooth and creamy. Stir in 1 ½ cup whipping cream. Heat to

boiling, stirring occasionally. Note: This can boil over so watch it!

Hard Sauce:

Beat 1 ½ cup softened butter in a medium mixing bowl on high speed until

smooth, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in 3 cups of powdered sugar and 2

teaspoons of vanilla. Refrigerate 1 hour.

xoxo

J