Christmas Countdown to an Organized Christmas - Day 28 - Create a Baking Specialty

Article and Photo Courtesy of Organized Christmas

As Get Cooking Week comes to a close, we look ahead to next week's Thanksgiving feast--and the kick-off to the holiday season.

Today's assignments wrap up final Get Cooking chores, preparing for busy December evenings, gathering hospitality supplies, and contemplating ways to simplify baking.

With today's reading assignment, we share the secret for simplifying holiday baking chores: developing a "specialty".

A simple strategy to streamline the holiday cook-a-thon, a baking specialty saves time and stress in the holiday kitchen.

Finally, we finish the week by thinking ahead to upcoming Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales. Ready? Get organized ... for a great holiday season!

To Do Today

Print holiday sales planner  

Feed the freezer

Will you be ready to feed the family fast next month? Stock up on frozen entrees, visit the meal assembly franchise or do a mini-freezer cooking session to put 5 to 10 pre-made entrees into the freezer. 

Track holiday meals on a Freezer Inventory Page, and use these meals to save time on busy December evenings.

Prepare for drop-in visitors.

Collect hospitality supplies: cheeses, crackers, frozen desserts. Hide from hungry family members using creative labeling.

Begin tracking Black Friday/Cyber Monday specials

The four-day Thanksgiving weekend--and the first work day after the holiday--have become an important sales event in retail stores and online. Will you shop Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales?

If so, begin tracking prices and planning your shopping now. Organize shopping trips with a Black Friday sales planner to make it easier to score next week's bargains.

To Read Today

Beat the baking blues with our guide to easing holiday baking chores with a holiday specialty:

Save Time With Holiday Baking: Make it a Specialty!

Food and the holidays go hand-in-hand! Holiday cooking magazines are among the first signs of an approaching holiday season.

Sumptuous desserts, winsome cookies, glowing turkeys warm our images of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.

But oh! My aching feet! Even those of us who lead a Little Debbie life from January to November succumb to holiday baking madness. Cookies. Breads. Pies. Candy. It wouldn't be the holidays without them--but isn't there any way around the baking chores?

Here's a suggestion that can simplify the holiday bake-fest: a baking specialty.

One baked good--cake or cookie or tea bread or candy--that you make each year, in bulk, and give to everyone with a flourish that proclaims it a specialty. Put this time-saving strategy to work for you with these tips.

Make it special

First rule: a specialty should be special. Choose a not-too-common recipe. Or take a perfectly common recipe and go deluxe: add extra chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and grated orange zest to plain old chocolate chip cookies.

"Shape" may make a specialty: bake zucchini bread in small ring pans instead of traditional loaves for a distinctive, simple specialty.

If you live far from family and friends, think regional: showcase pecans in the South, maple syrup in the Northeast, apples in orchard country.

Make it in bulk

Step two: perfect your recipe and make it in bulk. Make it this year. Make it next year. Get so familiar with your specialty that you can recite the ingredients in your sleep.

Become Queen of your specialty, turning out a good consistent product every time--and in large batches. Go double, triple--as large a quantity as your oven, mixer and stamina can tolerate.

Give it a name ... yours!

Third point: christen your specialty, and name it after yourself: "Cynthia Ewer's Sins of the South Cake" is the wickedly-good Southern Comfort butter cake with golden raisins and pecans that I developed while living in Georgia.

Now a resident of Washington state, my current specialty relies on local walnuts, dried cherries, and the Pacific Northwest passion for espresso drinks: Cynthia Ewer's Tangy Tri-Cities Biscotti. Dipped in melted white chocolate and stood on end in a coffee mug, it's a perfect, easy gift!

Make it pretty

Fourth rule: presentation is everything. Use a computer or copy machine to make gift tags or labels. Use colorful graphics, an interesting font, or pre-printed label forms to make your specialty gift tags.

Whether or not to divulge one's recipe is a matter of personal choice. I've gone both ways, hugging my Sins of the South recipe tightly to my chest against the pleading of the Southern belles, while freely distributing the Tangy Tri-Cities Biscotti recipe. Take your pick: mystique, or generosity!

Wrap your specialty nicely. Hint: Stretch-tite Plastic Food Wrapgives a near-professional smooth finish when wrapped tightly around baked goods--and for a fraction of a penny. Apply a pretty label or gift tag.

Admire your finished product!

Give it (and give it and give it and give it!)

You've baked in bulk, selected an extravagant name and mass-produced your beautifully-wrapped specialty. You are ready!

A caller for the church bake sale? "Oh, of course, I'll be sure to donate some of my specialty!"

A pick-up party on Saturday night? "Thank you for inviting us; I hope your family will like my specialty!"

New neighbors down the street? You've got it: "Welcome! I've brought you my specialty!"

By baking in bulk, you've saved time. By being creative, you've invested your specialty with impressive holiday flair. By producing it at every occasion, you've simplified baking and gift-giving. By repeating your specialty, year after year, you've created a holiday tradition.

It's a win-win-win strategy!

Today's Recipe

biscotti recipe

Today's reading assignment covers an old baker's secret: developing a "specialty" to streamline holiday baking chores.

So it's only fair that I share my own specialty: Cynthia Ewer's Tangy Tri-Cities Biscotti!

Seventeen years ago, we were newcomers to Washington State. With so many friends in other parts of the USA, I wanted to share some of the tastes of our new home.

These biscotti feature dried Washington cherries (you can substitute dried cranberries, too!) and local walnuts. Dipped in white chocolate, they're a tasty and elegant accompaniment to that other Washington State tradition, gourmet coffee.

Best, they're easy to make and easy to pack. Stand a few on end in a latte mug, add a small bag of gourmet coffee beans, and you've scored a quick Christmas cheat!

Cynthia Ewer's Tangy Tri-Cities Biscotti

Seventeen years ago, my husband and I were newcomers to Washington State. With so many friends in other parts of the USA, I wanted to share some of the tastes of our new home. Result: this original recipe, now my holiday specialty.

These biscotti feature dried Washington cherries (you can substitute dried cranberries, too!) and local walnuts. Dipped in white chocolate, they're a tasty and elegant accompaniment to that other Washington State tradition, gourmet coffee.

Best, biscotti are easy to make and easy to pack. Stand a few on end in a latte mug, add a small bag of gourmet coffee beans, and you've scored a quick Christmas cheat!

Ingredients

2 1⁄2 cupsflour

1 cupsugar

1 teaspoonbaking powder

1 teaspoonbaking soda

1 teaspooncinnamon, ground

1 teaspoonnutmeg, ground

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1 tablespoonalmond extract

3 cupsdried cherries, chopped

3 cupswalnuts, chopped

1 grated rind of one orange

1 cupwhite chocolate chips

1 teaspoonshortening

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Whisk together eggs, egg whites and almond extract in a separate mixing bowl. Ad to dry ingredients, mixing just until moist, using an electric mixer on medium speed. Add dried cherries, walnuts and orange peel; mix thoroughly.

On a floured surface, divide batter in half and pat each half into a log about 14 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place logs on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, or until firm. Cool on a wire rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Cut biscotti into 1/2 inch slices. Stand upright on a cookie sheet and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool.

Place white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl with a flat bottom. Add salad oil or shortening. Melt on high until chips just begin to soften. Stir until melted. Dip bottom of each cookie in chocolate and place on waxed paper to cool. Store in a loosely-covered container. Makes about 30.

Christmas Countdown to an Organized Christmas - Day 27 - Plan Holiday Baking

Article and Photo Courtesy of Organized Christmas

Dreaming of holiday baking? For many of us, kitchen creations are integral to the holiday spirit.

We love the feeling of family connection as we tuck pie crust into grandmother's pie dish, or when we follow a candy recipe written in a great-grandmother's spidery hand.

But when is enough enough? It's too easy to take on more baking than we can handle!

Under the influence of Christmas magazines and over-the-top television cooking shows, grandmother's simple plate of pralines has exploded into six kinds of cookies, four kinds of candies and some powdered cocoa mix for good measure.

Holiday baking should be a pleasure, not a chore. Time to plan holiday baking with an eye to holiday simplicity! Can you shorten, simplify and de-stress the baking list without losing the joy?

You'll spare your teeth. You'll spare your waistline. Most of all, you'll give yourself the truest of all Christmas gifts: time and energy to experience the season without stress. Dare to downsize!

To Do Today

Print holiday baking planner 

Plan holiday baking ... then get realistic

We'll organize holiday baking with a printable baking planner. On it, list all holiday baking you'll do, from Thanksgiving's pies to Santa's plate of cookies.

Made your list? Now think hard about how to cut it down to manageable size!

Double up on drop cookies, and forget the tedious rolled-and-cut out creations. Opt for melt-and-pour candies instead of arm-busting fudge.

Replace elaborate cookie trays with mini-loaves of tea bread, or go whole hog and buy your Christmas goodies from your local baker.

Working from your new, realistic list, locate and check recipes. (And list them, if need be, on yesterday's holiday recipe tracker. No more mad searches for the "rolled and cut sugar cookie recipe that was so good last year" recipe!)

Finally, review each recipe and add needed ingredients to the shopping list.

In the coming days, be alert for supermarket specials on specialty ingredients. Try to buy nonperishable holiday foods this week and next week for all upcoming holiday meals and baking projects.

To Read Today

As you put the finishing touches on the Thanksgiving shopping list, check this short list of most-forgotten items. This holiday survival kit will keep you out of the stores during next week's rush!

Holiday Survival Kit: Six Last-Minute Additions to Your Shopping List

The holidays are here, with wall-to-wall shoppers at the supermarket. Who wants to have to join them?

Instead, assemble a holiday survival kit. Before you shop for the holiday meal, check supplies of these often-forgotten items for your holiday gathering.

Pencil these items into your regular shopping list--and save a last-minute trip. They'll keep the fun in the festivities!

• Automatic Dishwasher Detergent. Hosting a holiday gathering means lots (and lots and LOTS) of dirty dishes. If you use an automatic dishwasher, be sure it's stocked and ready to roll!
• Club Soda. It's the non-caloric drink of choice with a squeeze of lime ... but an extra bottle can be a cleaning lifesaver when applied to the inevitable spilled food. Use it to blot fresh wine, gravy or pie stains for tablecloth or carpet first aid.
• Paper Towels. Unfamiliar cooking routines, helpers washing their hands and little-kid clean-ups can burn through a roll of paper towels in record time. Keep a backup waiting!
• Toilet Paper. If it's "just us chickens", a missing roll is no big problem. Not so when you've got a house full. Avoid red faces with a fresh supply!
• Camera Batteries. Don't make the family wait to dive into the feast (while the cameraman raids the childrens' toys for fresh batteries). Stock up or charge rechargeables now.
• Sandwich Bread. What's the number-one reason for a Black Friday trip to the supermarket? "We're out of bread!" Grab a loaf today, and be ready for turkey sandwiches (and no cooking!) on Friday.

Today's Recipe

sugar cookie recipe

Rolled sugar cookies are a holiday staple--but often, they're not the tastiest cookie on the tray. Creating a dough that is strong enough for rolling yet delicate and flavorful can be hit-and-miss...but this family-tested Lemon Sugar Cookie recipe passes the test!

Baked in our household for over 30 years, this lemon-flavored sugar cookie is sturdy enough for child decorators, tasty enough for cookie purists.

While these cookies can be frozen, do so before decorating. Frosted cookies tend to bleed and crumble when frozen.

A time-saving tip: if you'll make special Thanksgiving cookies this week, double the batch and cut and bake Christmas shapes in the same baking session. Tucked away in the freezer, the Christmas cookies will be ready to thaw and decorate next month!

Lemon Sugar Cookies

A tasty basic sugar cookie dough, this recipe has been kid-tested by three generations of the Ewer family.

Sturdy enough for decorating, these lemon-flavored cookies have a crisp, light taste.

Try Lemon Sugar Cookies rolled and cut into frosted Christmas shapes, or just flattened with a glass and sprinkled with sugar.

To freeze, stack baked--but undecorated--cookies in single layers, separating each layer with sheets of waxed paper. Freeze for up to four weeks. Thaw and decorate as desired.

Ingredients

3 cups flour, all-purpose

1 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, unsalted

1 1⁄2 cup sugar, granulated

2 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon extract

Instructions

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter and margarine over moderate heat. Stir in granulated sugar; remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes. Beat in eggs and lemon extract.

Add flour mixture, one-fourth at a time, mixing well after each addition. Wrap dough and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough in half. On a floured board or pastry cloth or between two layers of waxed paper roll one piece of dough 1/8" thick. Cut with assorted cookie cutters. Place cookies two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Decorate with icing or colored sugar if desired. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

Christmas Countdown to an Organized Christmas - Day 26 - Clean Out the Refrigerator

Article and Photo Courtesy of Organized Christmas

Brace yourselves! Holiday cooking season is upon us.

From now until after the New Year, busy kitchens are the norm, like it or not.

What better time for a quick refrigerator declutter? Clearing the decks in the big cold box will make room for holiday dishes--and a clean and gleaming refrigerator will energize the holiday cook in the days ahead.

Spray bottles ready? It's time to clean out the refrigerator.

Finally, we'll organize our favorite holiday recipes, noting page numbers or location for any recipes we'll need next week. No more last-minute games of "hunt the recipe"!

To Do Today

Print the following 2 forms:

• Favorite Holiday Recipes 
• Recipes to Try

Clean out the refrigerator

Right now, today, and absolutely before you shop for the Thanksgiving holiday, tackle the refrigerator, top to bottom. Starting on the top shelf, remove all leftovers, past-the-shelf-date foods, shriveled fruits and drooping vegetables.

Take a hard look at what's left. A jar of pickle spears holding a single leaning pickle? A bottle of barbecue sauce with one scanty inch in the bottom? A down-to-the-last scrape mayonnaise jar? Lay down the law: eat them today, or toss them NOW.

Goal: make room for holiday cooking.

Just like our waistbands, our refrigerators overflow during this time of year. Get a step ahead and declutter that refrigerator before you shop!

Organize Thanksgiving recipes

Now that we've cleared our food storage spaces, it's time to make a quick check of the recipes we'll need next week. When ovens blaze and the dinner hour draws near, it's no time to be thumbing through recipe books with floury hands, searching for that special side dish recipe.

Whether you cull them from cookbooks, the Internet or recipe software programs, make sure you can find the recipes that make Thanksgiving dinner special.

If needed, make a quick list of favorite recipes on a Favorite Holiday Recipes tracker. Note page number, Web address or location of favorite recipes to avoid last-minute searches.

If you'll try new recipes? Note them on the Recipes to Try planner page, and make notes about how they turned out. Next year, you'll thank yourself!

To Read Today

Written for the New Year, but just as relevant to the pre-holiday period, get inspired to declutter the refrigerator with this guide from sister site, Organized Home:

New Year in the Kitchen? Clean Out the Refrigerator

Standing in line at the supermarket check stand, nobody can deny that we're on the dreary downside of a new year.

Tabloid headlines scream the weight-loss secrets of the stars, while traditional women's magazines sing siren songs of money-saving, belly-busting, speed-cleaning tips and techniques.

We ourselves? All those resolutions that looked so basic, so easy, so noble through the champagne haze of New Year's Eve have lost their rosy glow viewed in the stark light of a morning cup of coffee.

With the children back to school and holiday decorations back in their attic boxes, our resolve for a better, thinner, healthier and wealthier year has once more washed up against the hard and niggling realities of daily life.

Be of good cheer! There's a tried-and-true boost for just about anybody's New Year's resolutions. [I'm talking garden-variety resolutions here: weight loss, financial prudence, better home or personal organization. If you've vowed that this is the year you read the Russians, my hat's off to you but you're on your own!]

I'm talking about cleaning the refrigerator. Spearing the Great White Whale.

Think about it! The refrigerator holds it all: food and finance, weight and well-being, organization and chaos, all rolled into one big cold box. Dive into that baby with a detached eye, a hardened heart and one small hour of time and you're on the road to weight loss, better household management, and a healthier budget.

The timing couldn't be better, because I know what your refrigerator looks like! Plastic food storage containers pile in unsteady ziggurats in every corner--and why is it that the largest bowls and boxes hold the smallest amounts of food?

Open cans of olive juice have lost plastic wrap coverings to a succession of sneaking fingers. A yellow sticky puddle surrounds the triangular hole in the top of the can of evaporated milk. Crumbs and butter dot the face of the leftover cranberry sauce.

Greasy zipper storage bags hold what's left of the Christmas turkey: one lone drumstick and several dried and curling slices of overdone breast meat. Sliced remnants of margarine sticks hide in unlikely places, waiting to hurl themselves to the oblivion of the kitchen floor when the refrigerator door is opened.

Where to begin? There's a bit of an aesthetic to spearing the Great White Whale.

There's something to be said about waiting until the weight-loss advertising jingles displace the mental Muzak drone of holiday carols. This is not a job in which holiday sentiment is an asset. A spat with one's spouse or children will also fuel the harpoon, but same is not recommended in the interest of family harmony.

Think tough. Firm. Resolved. Then gather your tools: a large, lined garbage can, a sink-ful of soapy water, spray bottles of degreaser and window cleaner, lots of cleaning cloths and a pen and notepad. Clear the kitchen counters so you can sort and spread out with impunity, and an empty dishwasher should await your container collection.

Most important, before you begin, turn your refrigerator off--and unplug it, too, for good measure. We want the only shocks you receive to be from the code dates on some of your food!

Start at the top. Remove everything from the top refrigerator shelf. Holiday leftovers go directly into the garbage can. Show no pity or mercy! If it hasn't been eaten by now, it's because the family will scream if presented with ham in one more disguise. Open everything, and when it doubt, toss it out!

Plastic food storage containers are consigned to the dishwasher after a brief rinse. The shelf goes directly to the sink's soapy water. While it soaks off the grime of Christmas past, use your degreaser spray to clean the refrigerator's ceiling and walls down to the next shelf. Wash the shelf, dry and replace it--but don't put any food back, not yet!

Work your way from top to bottom, and you'll build up enough steam to tackle the vegetable crisper. Amazing, isn't it, how innocent little tomatoes and shy stalks of celery undergo such a malign transformation in the crisper!

 Pull 'em out, pull 'em all out, and unless you bought the vegetable desperado in question within the last week, throw 'em out!

Don't forget the gooey residue puddled up under the meat drawer!

When every shelf, wall and crisper is sparkling, pay attention to the dreaded door shelves. Toss all the dribs and drabs of jelly, the salad dressings with code dates from the last decade, the stale carton of eggnog, and the teeny-weeny jars of "gourmet" this-and-that from the gift packs of Christmas Past. Be ruthless!

When the door is empty, look lively! Many newer door shelves are designed to come apart--a great help in cleaning year-old orange juice from those little nooks and crannies. One way or another, clean it out. Use window cleaner to kill the greasy fingerprints on the chrome and see-through plastic.

"But Cynthia!", I hear you cry, "what does cleaning the refrigerator have to do with New Year's resolutions?" Bear with me. We've now reached the part where we transcend our Hazel the Housemaid routine and think.

You are standing in your kitchen, face-to-face with a clean and empty refrigerator, a garbage can brimming with discarded food, a dishwasher full of plastic food containers and the few hardy survivors of your harpooning session. What can be learned from all this?

Lean back against the kitchen counter. Take a hard look at what that whale has been hiding in its dark little innards. The implications will hit you in the face!

For example, when I tossed out four, count 'em, four jars of dried-out jelly and a jar of peanut butter manufactured years ago, it was clear that my children had turned a culinary corner, and the days of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were no more.

And I thought my family liked ranch dressing--but I couldn't maintain that belief in the face of a nearly-full bottle of same dating from the Bush administration. 

You'll wring a few unpleasant admissions from yourself, too. Look carefully at what foods are wasted, especially from the vegetable crisper.

Are you doing what I've been doing? I'm Miss Nutritional Virtue herself at the grocery store, but those baby carrots and low-fat margarines languish uneaten in Moby's dark corners. Did you toss out as much bruised fruit as I did? Are you buying too much--or not eating what you buy?

Use pen and notepad to jot down your discoveries and track your new resolves. Match them to your New Year's resolutions. Is lower-fat eating on your resolution list? Then you'll want to toss the remnants of the Christmas dinner butter and margarine and replace them with low-fat spreads, apple butter and all-fruit jellies.

Do you want to tighten the budget? Focus on the waste you've discovered. Do you buy grapefruit (because your mother did and it's such a Donna Reed/Beaver's Mom breakfast item) only to toss the shriveled husks, months later? Are you overbuying milk, or cheese, or meat? If you've tossed it out today, make a note to yourself to buy less--if any--on your next shopping trip.

Have family members come to expect weekly cases of soda as a staple, not a treat? Cut back, and substitute fruit juices and iced tea for those high-priced soft drinks.

Is more efficient meal planning and home organization on your list of resolutions? Well, you've taken a giant step forward today.

Follow up on your success by printing a free menu planner, saving money at the supermarket using the pantry principle, or learning more about menu and meal planning.

When the dust has settled and you've taken a good, hard, productive look at the evidence unearthed from your refrigerator, it's time to replace the few food items that survived your scrutiny.

Done correctly, the New Year's Spearing of the Great White Whale should all but empty the refrigerator. Don't be afraid of that stark look! A refrigerator (unlike a freezer) is most energy-efficient when it has adequate air flow.

Gather or purchase a few little presents for your new, gleaming food storage space.

Consider small-to-medium plastic baskets (with flat bottoms) to corral loose margarine sticks, and support and organize floppy packs of lunch meat and sliced cheese.

Larger baskets subdivide your vegetable crisper and frustrate self-destructive, neurotic vegetables whose only motive in life is to burrow deep beneath the plastic bags and rot in peace.

Finally, arrange your storage space to promote good eating habits. Pile apples and oranges in an open basket on an open shelf--if they're seen, they're more likely to be eaten! Stick the big, bad, greasy cooking margarine in the far reaches of the meat drawer, so you won't be tempted to bypass your low-fat spread. Use zipper bags bags to hold washed vegetable snacks, and put them in a special basket in the crisper, easy to see and to reach.

When the I speared my own, my very own Moby Dick The Great White Refrigerator, I was so energized by the sight of the gleaming, empty, healthy and frugal contents that I moved on to her pantry!

Such a step is only for the valiant, but when the iron strikes, toss! Dare to dump the sack of stale gumdrops, the sticky candy canes, the six boxes of opened cereal with year-old code dates, and the dusty boxes of bulgur and lentils and barley (remnants of an impractical but impassioned health kick). You'll feel good. You'll make room. You'll promote health.

And if you're like me, you'll spend the next two days sneaking admiring looks at your gleaming, well-organized refrigerator. It may not be glamour, but it's life!

Today's Recipe

zebra cookie recipe

What's black and white striped, right down to the white chocolate kiss? Try Zebra Cookies!

A fun variation on Peanut Blossoms, Zebra Cookies showcase a striped Hershey's-brand Hugs chocolate kiss in a chocolate cookie dough. A fun spin on a seasonal favorite!

Zebra Cookies

A black-and-white twist on the familiar Peanut Blossoms, Zebra Cookies are a chocolate holiday treat!

Fudgy chocolate cookie dough replaces the familiar peanut butter flavor, while a zebra chocolate kiss carries out the theme.

Finally, dough is rolled in powdered sugar for a fresh take on an old favorite.

Ingredients

2 1⁄8 cupsflour, all-purpose

2 teaspoonsbaking powder

1⁄2 teaspoonsalt

1⁄2 cupbutter, unsalted

1 3⁄4 cupsugar, granulated

3 eggs, large

1 teaspoonvanilla extract

4 1-ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate

1⁄2 cuppowdered sugar

1 12-ounce package striped chocolate kiss candies

Instructions

In small saucepan, heat chocolate squares over low heat until melted, stirring constantly. Or, place chocolate squares in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave 20 seconds at a time until melted, stirring often.

Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs until mixture is pale yellow, then add vanilla and chocolate until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing just to blend.

Refrigerate dough about 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape heaping teaspoonfuls dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Roll in confectioner's sugar.

Place 1 1/2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake 8 minutes.

Remove from oven. Firmly press chocolate kiss into center of cookie. Return to oven and bake 3 to 4 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies are soft when hot but firm and chewy when cool.

Remove to rack to cool.

Notes

To freeze, cool cookies completely, several hours to overnight. Package in zipper food storage bags in a single layer. Freeze for up to 4 weeks.

Peanut Blossoms

Tender peanut-butter cookies made memorable with a chocolate candy kiss, Peanut Blossoms are a holiday treat for children of all ages!

In the Ewer household, these are Christmas cookie-tray favorites. It wouldn't be Christmas without them!

While they're usually seen crowned by a chocolate kiss, try a simple recipe variation by filling a depression in the center with fruit jelly for Peanut Butter and Jelly cookies!

Ingredients

1 cupsugar, granulated

1 cupbrown sugar, packed

1 cupshortening

1 cuppeanut butter

2 eggs

1⁄4 cupmilk

2 teaspoonsvanilla extract

3 1⁄3 cupsflour, all-purpose

2 teaspoonsbaking powder

1 teaspoonsalt

2 9-ounce packages chocolate kiss candies

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream sugars, shortening and peanut butter. Add eggs, milk and vanilla, and beat well. Stir in dry ingredients.

Form into 1" balls and roll in granulated sugar.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and press kiss into each cookie. Return to oven and bake 3 minutes more.

Makes 6-7 dozen.

Notes

VARIATION:

With end of spoon, create "well" in cookies, and fill with jelly or jam for "peanut butter and jelly" cookies.

Christmas Countdown to an Organized Christmas - Day 25 - Clean Out the Freezer

Article and Photo Courtesy of Organized Christmas

The secret to a streamlined kitchen during the holiday season? A well-stocked, organized freezer!

Holding made-ahead entrees, side dishes, cookies and desserts, the freezer is a hard-working Santa's Elf for an organized Christmas.

Christmas cookie trays or gift baskets are easy to assemble from frozen assets, while stockpiled family dinners cut out straight to the "what's for dinner" chase during December's busy nights.

Today's the day to clean out the freezer in anticipation of holiday goodies and freezer meals to come.

A frugal bonus: eating from the freezer this week makes room in the food budget to stock up on low-priced holiday nonperishables.

To Do Today

Print freezer inventory list 

Clean out the freezer

Time to turn to the place where you store your frozen assets! Today, do a quick freezer clean-out, tossing expired foods, mystery packages, and the whiskered remains of last summer's popsicle bars.

Organize the survivors, and group them to make space for holiday baked goods and freezer entrees.

Finally, inventory freezer contents, and record the result on the freezer inventory form. The inventory will remind you of what's stored inside the freezer; add entries as you add holiday foods.

Plan to eat from the freezer this week, making room for holiday meals and holiday goodies. Use food budget savings to stock up on holiday staples.

To Read Today

Even the most die-hard non-cooks will find themselves shopping for food this week, as American Thanksgiving approaches.

Watch out, wallet! How do you feed the family a lavish holiday meal without going broke?

Supermarket spending jumps this week--but it doesn't have to break the bank. Get behind the minds of the "Grocery Guys" to play the shopping game and save.

Catch some holiday bargains!

Save Money: Beat the Holiday Grocery Game

During the holiday season, department stores, catalog retailers and online sellers aren't the only businesses anxiously queuing up for a slice of the fourth-quarter pie, i.e. your holiday wallet. Been grocery shopping lately?

What a difference a few days makes! By November, Halloween's candy displays have given way to a maze of buy-me buy-me holiday foodstuffs.

No more straight shots down the aisle. Even in the dog food section, shoppers must dodge flimsy cardboard displays of holiday this-n-that. Formerly well-mannered spices abandon their tidy shelves and tower in unsteady stacks at odd corners. Holiday paper goods, holiday turkey pans, holiday stuffing mix, even holiday toilet tissue force shopping carts into desperate evasive maneuvers.

It's those grocery guys. They want your money. If you shop wisely, you can fund your family's holiday meals for less than you think--and for lots less than the grocery guys want you to spend!

How? By understanding how to play the Grocery Game. You must get inside the heads of those very same grocery guys to save money during the holiday season.

The grocery guys know that you and just about everyone else in our culture are poised to drop a bundle on holiday foods, holiday entertaining, holiday decorating--even color-coordinated holiday garbage can liners--over the next six or seven weeks.

What they really, really want is for you to do all your bundle-dropping in their very own store. The way to get you to do this, they believe, is to give you super bargains, called loss-leaders in the trade, right here, right now, this week.

These specials get you in the door. Once you're there, the savvy grocery guys are going to raise prices from now until December 26th, hoping that you're in the habit of shopping their store.

This is just a generalization. It doesn't account for the Great Turkey War which will break out, according to my calculations, on November 17th at precisely 6:37 a.m., Eastern time.

The Great Turkey War is a little stare-down game played by competing grocery chains. Each will advertise that they'll "meet or beat!" everybody else's price on basic frozen turkey--but nobody commits to amount.

Finally, somebody blinks, and advertises a 59-cents-a-pound bird. Food ads fly fast and furious Thursday through Sunday, and by Monday morning every single supermarket will advertise 59-cents-a-pound frozen turkey. You have to wonder if all the turkeys are confined to the frozen meat bin.

Beat the grocery guys at their own game! Take these steps for maximum savings on holiday foodstuffs:

Hold a Freezer Clean-Out

For the next week or so, eat from your freezer and pantry. Pretend you're snowed in and can't make it out for more supplies.

For most of us, this'll mean lots of Last Chance Lasagna. Take whatever frozen hunks of meat you've got, thaw, cut in chunks and toss into the whirling blades of a food processor. Brown what emerges in a bit of oil, add canned spaghetti sauce if you've nothing better, then build the lasagna with noodles and grated cheese. Last Chance Lasagna hides anything!

Another option: Desperation Stir-Fry (same principle, only you cut the frozen whatever into strips and soak in soy sauce, dash of sherry and some sesame oil; stir fry with some minced garlic, and add bags of mystery frozen veggies).

1. This tactic serves a three-fold purpose. First, it cleans out freezer and pantry so you'll have room to stockpile holiday goodies in the coming weeks.

2. Second, it creates a genuine sense of gratitude when you serve a real, fresh-cooked meal on Thanksgiving Day. Families primed with a Freezer Clean-Out are much more grateful for that gleaming Thanksgiving turkey!

3. Third, and most important, food-budget savings leave you open to buy, at just the right time: when holiday fixings are at the lowest price of the year.

Track Turkey Prices ... and Timing

A perennial November loss leader? The Thanksgiving turkey! Whether they offer rock-bottom prices on frozen birds, or discount them according to your purchase amount, it's easy to score a deal on the centerpiece for the Thanksgiving feast ... if you're careful.

1. First, check turkey discounts carefully against the bottom line. If you're required to spend $150 in-store to score a "free" bird, it's not much of a bargain compared to a no-spend offer of 29 cents a pound at the store down the street.

2. Second, time your purchase carefully. Don't jump at the first offer, but keep a watchful eye out on supermarket advertising in the coming days. The Great Turkey War is a very real phenomenon; grocery chains will gauge competitors' offers carefully, often meeting or beating them by the weekend before Thanksgiving. Stay informed ... to be open to buy when the time is right.

3. Finally, shop once, buy two or three times. Turkey prices will rise after Thanksgiving, so if a bird will grace your table later in the season, pick up a second or third gobbler now. Tuck the extras into the freezer for remaining holiday meals at the season's lowest prices.

Stock Up on Holiday Staples

Tactic Two: buy your holiday goodies now--for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years' and any parties you may be giving.

I've lived in four different communities, large and small, in three different areas of the country over the past 20 years, and I have never seen it fail: Thanksgiving's always cheaper than Christmas.

It's those grocery guys, again. They want you in their store. This week, next week, and right up to Thanksgiving, you'll see specials like you won't see again until next November.

While there will still be advertised specials from now through December 25th, there won't be the shock-your-socks-off prices you'll find prior to Thanksgiving.

Even if you never scout ads and wouldn't consider being a "cherry-picker" (industry term for people who come into the store and purchase only advertised specials) on a regular basis, do it anyway, if only for the next two weeks.

The potential savings are so substantial that any worries about what-will-that-nice-meat-man-think? should evaporate right out of your head.

Here are some items to consider buying now, in quantities sufficient for every holiday meal from now to season's end:

• Butter (freeze extra cubes in a freezer bag)
• Cranberry sauce
• Brown and/or powdered sugar
• Baking basics: flour, sugar, baking soda, Chocolate chips
• Pans of pre-baked rolls (the disposable pan can be washed and reused?an extra bonus)
• Corn syrup
• Evaporated milk
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Marshmallows and marshmallow creme
• Dates and/or raisins
• Canned yams
• Canned pumpkin
• Tiny canned peas
• Canned onions
• Olives and tiny pickles
• Whipped cream
• Refrigerated crescent rolls
• Refrigerated cookie dough
• Eggs
• Sour cream
• Poultry seasoning
• Baking spices
• Frozen pie shells/frozen pies
• Sodas (if your household entertaining includes adult beverages, hide several bottles/six-packs of common "mixers" and you'll lower sticker shock at the liquor store, later in the month)

These are holiday staples for my household--your needs may be different, depending on diet preferences, entertaining and family tradition.

Today's Recipe

melt and pour soap recipe

You've seen them everywhere from crafts fairs to bath boutiques: pretty handmade gift soaps. Clear and colorful or rich with natural additives for beautiful skin, they're a welcome holiday gift.

Best of all, they're easy to make using melt-and-pour soap. Heated in the microwave, clear or opaque glycerin soap base is combined with colorants and fragrances, then poured into molds to harden. When cool, soaps pop right out of the molds, ready to use.

Follow these soap-making tips and soap starter projects to help you master this squeaky-clean craft for holiday giving:

• Basic Instructions for Melt-and-Pour Soap 
• Tips for Successful Soap-Making 
• Starry Night Soap: Melt-and-Pour Soap Project 
• Alphabet Soap: Melt-and-Pour Soap Project 
• Confetti Creations Soap: Melt-and-Pour Soap Project 

Christmas Countdown to an Organized Christmas - Day 24 - Inventory the Pantry

Article and Photo Courtesy of Organized Christmas

Thanksgiving is coming: hold onto your wallet!

No question, holiday meals can put an unexpected burden on the budget. Solution? Get organized, and shop at home first!

This week at the Christmas Countdown, we'll inventory pantry areas, refrigerator and freezer before we begin shopping for holiday foods.

Knowing exactly what we have and what we need to buy prevents that fuzzy "Oh, just throw in another can of olives!" mentality from setting on us at the grocery story--and keeps us from tossing stale food items months down the road.

A bountiful meal with no waste makes the best use of our food dollars--and time and energy!

Similarly, we'll check the spice rack today, assessing the freshness of seasonal staples. Will we have enough sage for our dressing? Has the pumpkin pie spice lost it's savor? Time to find out, when replacements are offered at the year's lowest prices at the market this week.

To Do Today

Print pantry inventory form. 

Inventory the pantry

Will you really need to buy ten cans of chicken broth for holiday meals this year? It's time to check pantry or food storage areas and inventory holiday non-perishables before shopping for Thanksgiving.

Use a pantry inventory form to record supplies of canned goods, baking supplies and holiday staples. You'll know at a glance whether to load up on loss-leaders ... or whether your pantry is full this year.

Check spices for freshness

Fresh, savory seasonings are a must during the holiday season--but in many kitchens, jars and tins of spices languish for years, losing flavor over time.

Check your spice rack for freshness today. Newer products often include a "use by" date as a guideline. Otherwise, open each jar, and use your eyes and nose! A spice that has caked, changed color or lost it's smell should be replaced.

Add any needed replacements to the seasonal shopping list, and stock up when pre-Thanksgiving discounts hit the baking aisle!

For suggested dates and freshness tips, try this link:

How Fresh Are Your Spices? 

To Read Today

Organized Pantry: Beginner's Guide to Pantry Pride

A pantry's not a room, it's a state of mind. Get organized for efficient, easy meal planning and brush up your pantry power:

A working pantry? It's the secret weapon of a well-organized kitchen.

A planned reserve of foodstuffs and sundries used in the home, a pantry saves time, money and stress in the kitchen.

Tap the pantry for unexpected meals and reduce trips to the supermarket.

Stock it with frugal finds to lower grocery costs.

Set aside a supply of food and sundries for a rainy day and protect your family against weather emergencies or financial dislocation.

Properly managed, the pantry is an integral part of an organized home. Polish your pantry pride with our best hints and tips.

A Pantry's Not A Place: It's An Attitude

"Oh, I'd love to have a pantry," writes a reader, "but my house doesn't have one!" Sure it does! If there's so much as a spare roll of toilet paper tucked underneath a sink, the household boasts a pantry.

Don't confuse storage space with the reality of the pantry principle. Certainly, it's helpful to have designated cabinet space for pantry goods--but that's not the pantry. Think of the pantry as a reservoir of consumable goods which may be stored in any area of the home.

Tiny urban apartment or spacious rural farmhouse, all homes can include a pantry. That some houses may or may not feature a specific storage area labeled "pantry" is beside the point. A pantry's not a place, it's an attitude!

Eyes On The Goal

What's the goal of establishing and maintaining a pantry? It's two-fold: household convenience and protection against unexpected events. A well-planned pantry means that the household will never run out of commonly used products such as toilet paper.

More important, a pantry is a reserve against hard times. Whether it's job loss, illness, or natural disaster, a pantry ensures that the family will continue to be fed, clean, and comfortable in the face of adversity.

A beginner's pantry focuses on convenience and contains back-up products for each storable item used in the home. The standard is simple: for each open bag, box or carton in the household, the pantry contains a second, back-up product, toothbrushes to tortellini. A good first goal: a three-day supply of food and hygiene supplies adequate to support your family plus one additional person.

More robust pantries serve additional goals. A mid-range pantry can feed a family for a period of two weeks to a month in case of emergency.

This pantry includes substitutes for fresh foods, such as powdered milk, dried fruits and vegetables, and protein products. A mid-range pantry offers convenience and basic protection.

The most comprehensive home pantries are designed to meet long-term food storage needs. For instance, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) are taught to maintain a one-year supply of food and clothing for their families.

To do so, these premier pantry managers stock versatile foodstuffs with long shelf life, such as whole wheat berries, together with a variety of preserved and dried foods. LDS home managers learn pantry-specific cooking techniques to enhance nutrition and appeal of long-keeping foods.

Inside the Well-Stocked Pantry

Traditional home organization advice often specifies long lists of "recommended pantry items", idea being that you buy them and voila! you've got pantry.

Eighteen months later, you're hauling dusty cans of apricot halves to the Food Bank and wondering what ever possessed you to purchase them in the first place.

Reality check! Each family's pantry will vary according to their own tastes, needs and standard of living. Storage space and financial constraints also affect pantry contents.

For instance, single-income households with young children will build pantries replete with cold cereal, formula, disposable diapers and child-friendly snack foods--all purchased on sale with coupons. Empty-nesters with an active social life and his-and-hers diets will lean toward pickled asparagus, cocktail crackers and tiny jars of caviar for pick-up appetizers and hostess gifts.

Dedicated home bakers include specialty flours, gluten, and dried buttermilk powder in their pantries, while non-cooks rely heavily on microwave entrees and freezer pizza. And just about every family can stockpile basics for kitchen and bath: toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry and dishwasher detergent, disposable diapers and feminine hygiene products, paper napkins and food storage bags.

Where's the best place to discover your family's pantry preferences? A grocery list!

If you buy it, use it, and it can be stored, it's a pantry candidate. Building a pantry from the grocery list is also a powerful antidote to Pantry Mania: the indiscriminate purchase of case lots of canned turkey chili or house-brand soups that no one in the household will eat. Hello, Food Bank!

An expansive view of the pantry principle encompasses more than the traditional dry storage of canned foods and baking staples. Manage your pantry to include freezer storage and a limited amount of refrigerator real estate. Carrots, potatoes, oranges and apples enter the pantry zone when bought on sale and tucked into corners of the vegetable bin, while freezer convenience entrees qualify, too.

Bottom line: build a pantry to suit your family. Whether it's Chef Boy-ar-dee brand ravioli or Wolfgang Puck's upscale line of condensed soups, feature your family's favorites on the pantry shelves.

Organization and Inventory Tips

To work the pantry principle, you've gotta get organized! Maximum pantry power requires that you know what you have, how long it will keep, and how to store it safely. Good organization and inventory techniques will keep your pantry cycling smoothly.

Beginning pantries are relatively simple, and don't require complex organization systems. Create them by buying twice as many of each item as required for weekly use, then storing the extras. Use the last smidge of mayo making today's tuna salad? Retrieve the back-up jar from the pantry, and add "mayo" to the week's shopping list to replace the pantry jar.

Often, the beginner's pantry can be stored side-by-side with opened or in-use items. For example, stack the open box of detergent on top of the pantry box or line up cans of chicken noodle soup front to back on the canned goods shelf. Remember to rotate! Add newly-purchased items to the back of the stack or row; use the front items first.

Even for beginners, a dedicated pantry area can be a big help. Set aside a cabinet or shelf to hold pantry items. Organize them by category, stacking cans and boxes. Flat-bottomed plastic baskets support and contain bags of dried beans, rice, or pasta.

One exception to the "store by category" rule: complete pantry meals. On a section of pantry shelf, assemble all the makings for three to five pantry meals: a family-sized can of clam chowder, extra can of chopped clams, and the box of oyster crackers shelved together make it easy to replace these items after use. Check your "pantry meals" area before shopping day. Empty spaces will remind you to stock up on the clam chowder as needed.

More comprehensive pantries call for a more organized approach. Larger pantries require more storage space, often sited away from the kitchen. In this situation, a written pantry inventory can remind forgetful cooks of the existence and location of pantry items.

To inventory the pantry, use a clipboard, steno pad, laptop computer or a free printable pantry inventory form from our Household Notebook Forms Library. Record pantry contents, amount and location for easy reference.

Before grocery shopping, check the pantry; will you need to replace any items that have been used? Include them on the weekly shopping list.

Larger pantries may be stored in multiple locations around the house, so pay attention to food storage guidelines as you store. A cool, dry basement room is a good storage environment for root vegetables, apples, or baking staples; canned goods and dried beans can be safely stored in areas with greater temperature variation.

Long-term storage pantries require a thorough approach to selection, storage, maintenance and use of stored foods. Families storing a year's supply of food and water must pay close attention to storage guidelines, safe packaging, and integration of pantry supplies into the daily diet.

Building A Pantry On A Budget

Investing in the pantry principle pays off in savings of time and money, but it does involve an up-front cost. Even a beginner's pantry--a back-up product for each item used in the home, plus ingredients for three to five pantry meals--represents a significant financial outlay.

Try these tips to spread the load:

"Tithe" for the pantry: set aside a regular percentage of each week's grocery budget for pantry-building. Even a few dollars a week will start the process of stocking and maintaining pantry reserves.

Buy on sale: take advantage of supermarket loss leaders to stock up. Supermarkets routinely offer tuna, tomato sauce, canned soup and canned beans at drop-dead prices to get shoppers in the door. If it's a pantry candidate and it's on sale, buy multiples!

Buy in bulk: bulk-buying for the pantry really pays off. Using the pantry "tithe", buy the 25-pound sack of bread flour for $3.89 at the warehouse store, rather than spend $1.39 for the supermarket's five-pound bag. You'll save and stock up at the same time!

Storage tips for small spaces

Even beginner's pantries may have a hard time finding a home in small houses or apartments. Try these storage ideas to tuck away a pantry in the tiniest home:

Break the mold: look beyond the kitchen to store pantry items in a small home. Provided that temperature and moisture are not issues, any room in the house is a candidate for pantry storage. Who says cans can't live in the coat closet?

Disguise it: integrate pantry goods into the home. For example, stack two large bulk-food storage containers and top with a plywood circle and round tablecloth. Who can tell this attractive end table is really storage space for 50 pounds of flour?

Look high and low: make use of storage space under or over furniture. Fill shallow under-bed storage boxes with canned food, labels up, and push them beneath the bed. Similarly, cover cardboard records boxes with gift wrap or fabric, fill them with bags of pasta, beans and rice, and stash them away on top of tall bookcases.

Today's Recipe

M&M Cookie Mix in a Jar makes a colorful jar gift, and is popular with kids.

Use seasonal-colored M&Ms-brand candies for a holiday touch.

We make it easy with recipe and free printable gift tag. Attach the tag to create a sweet and welcome holiday gift.

Child-friendly, fun craft gift, M&M Cookies in a Jar is perfect for teacher gifts, Secret Santa or stocking stuffers! For a holiday touch, use M&M-brand chocolate candies in seasonal colors.

Our free printable gift tag carries out the M&M-brand theme! Bold and bright, this two-sided tag comes in three lively colors. Print and fold to create this colorful gift-in-a-jar.

Ingredients

1 wide-mouth quart (4-cup) canning jars with lid and rings

1⁄4 cupsugar

1 1⁄4 cupM&M-brand chocolate candies

2 cupssifted flour, all purpose

1⁄2 teaspoonbaking soda

3⁄4 cupsbrown sugar, packed

1⁄4 teaspoonbaking powder

Instructions

1. Sift flour before measuring. Mix together flour, soda and baking powder. Layer flour mixture, brown sugar, granulated sugar and M&Ms-brand candies in jar. Pack firmly.

[Hint for FoodSaver brand vacuum sealer owners: use the jar sealing attachment to seal jars for longer storage.]

2. Cut appropriate number of 7-inch circles from cotton fabric. Top each jar with fabric circle, and tie with ribbon.

3. Print appropriate number of gift tags. Cut gift tags apart and attach to ribbon. Or, hand-write recipe tag using the recipe below.

M&M Cookies in a Jar Recipe

Empty jar of cookie mix into mixing bowl; blend thoroughly.

Add 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened, 1 beaten egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix until completely blended.

Roll into 1-inch balls, and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees until edges are lightly browned, about 12 to 14 minutes.

Cool on cookie sheet for five minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Print M&M Cookies in a Jar Gift Labels