TWO RECIPES FOR OLIEBOLLEN FOR A HAPPY DUTCH NEW YEAR.

Every ethnic group has a food which if eaten on New Year's Day ensures a great new year.  For the Dutch, that food is Oliebollen or Fat Balls.  Please try them and make sure you have a very Happy New Year.


http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/11/dutch-oliebollenfat-ballshappy-new-year.html

Dutch Oliebollen---enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

 http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/01/dutch-oliebollen-2-andor-dutch.html

CELESTIAL LEMON BARS MADE EVEN MORE HEAVENLY WITH THE ADDITION OF APRICOTS, OR RASPBERRIES, OR BLUEBERRIES.

This is a picture of Nelda's fabulous, heavenly, the best! Lemon Bars.  The recipe is found on the following link.
http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/01/neldas-best-lemon-squares-for-either.html


This is going to be a little different food post than my usual ones because I had a disaster in the kitchen. I should have photographed the mess, but at the time I wasn't thinking pictures. I was thinking about a book burning as this was the second recipe from a famous restaurant's cookbook that didn't work out, but was a spectacular failure. 

 I used fresh raspberries for half my bars and apricot preserves with dried apricots for the other half of my bars.

My friend, Nelda who lives in Maine, and I have traded recipes, discussed recipe ideas, and hunted for cookbooks together since the 1960's. We have declared her Lemon Bar recipe as THE best. We also have favorite flavors and one of those is apricot. When I found a recipe for Lemon Apricot Bars, our mouths started to water. In one of our lengthy phone calls, we decided adding some dried apricots to the apricot preserves would take the flavor up to even more heavenly heights.

 Chop some dried apricots into very small pieces.

Put the apricot pieces in a strainer.

Pour boiling water over the apricots and let them dry or dry them with paper towels.

Add apricot pieces to apricot preserves.

Spread apricot mixture onto baked crust.

For a change of flavor, use blueberry preserves and dried blueberries.

I decided to try the Apricot Lemon Bars as Nelda and I discussed.  I want to try an idea I saw at Martha Vineyard Wine Shop in Grand Rapids which was fresh raspberries or fresh blueberries in lemon bars.  I would not use frozen berries as they would be too wet.  As my Grandma would say, "I had to pay an arm and a leg for fresh berries this time of year because they are so expensive."  Of course, my leg isn't worth much until I get my new knee.

Sprinkle fresh fruit on baked crust.

Sprinkle fresh fruit with some flour.  Do not use frozen fruit.

Pour lemon mixture over the preserves or the fresh berries.

Bake until the bars test done.  Chill.

INGREDIENTS FOR BARS WITH PRESERVES


Ingredients for Nelda's Lemon Squares
Apricot preserves, for one-half of 9x13-pan use 1/3 cup plus about 8 small dried apricots.


To cover the full bottom of an 9x13-pan use a heaping 1/2 cup of preserves and a few more apricots.


Use these same proportions when making bars with blueberry preserves and dried blueberries.




INGREDIENTS FOR BARS WITH FRESH RASPBERRIES OR BLUEBERRIES


Ingredients for Nelda's Lemon Squares


A little flour to dust the berries with before pouring the lemon mixture over them.


1/2 of a 1/2 pint of berries to cover half the bottom of a 9x13-pan.  (Are there enough 1/2's in there?)

To cover the full bottom of a 9x13-inch pan, use a 1/2 pint of berries.

deBOER'S ANTIQUE DUTCH BREAD CART BICYCLE

Everyone at deBoer's Dutch Bakery is getting ready for Christmas.  The bread cart is being put together with a great deal of patience by the men holding the heavy wooden part of the cart while the fellow on the ground tries to line up the screws with the holes.

 I like the handle bars on the bike part of the cart.

 Inside the bakery, stocking stuffers line the shelves.

 The cookies are wrapped and ready.  This is a gift I would like to find at my front door.

 The Banket is decorated.  Banket is almond paste filling wrapped in flaky pastry.  My Mom gave her Aunt a Banket ring one year when her Aunt was in her 80s.  My Dad went over to Auntie's house later and she had hung the wreath on the door not realizing it was suppose to be eaten.

 If you don't want Banket wreaths, the Banket sticks are ready. 

Banket was such a big part of my childhood holidays.  My Mom, Dad, and I would have tea in the afternoon and share a plate of sliced Banket.  Such happy, happy memories.

Dutch flags and wooden tulips remind all of our heritage.

JUDY'S HOW-TO FOR A SUCCESSFUL CHRISTMAS COOKIE EXCHANGE

I have never been to a cookie exchange.  My life, since I moved to Michigan, has not been conducive to parties.  I went to Judy's party to photograph it and to see how she did it so I could post her advice on the blog.  Judy and her daughter, Veronica, have had a cookie exchange every year since 2004.


How many to invite:  They invite between 18 and 25 people.  They plan for 80 percent of that number coming to the party.


What each guest brings:  The guests bring 3 dozen cookies, and an empty container in which take cookies home, and a wrapped gift for a gift exchange.  Judy limits the gifts to 10 dollars.  (I find gift cards to Panera are always welcome and easy to get.)


When all the guests have arrived, they each introduce themselves as they don't always all know each other. Then Judy and Veronica serve hot cider and a dessert so people can visit and get to know each other.


Judy has 2 games planned to play, one of which is the gift exchange.  She likes to divide people up by putting a stamp on their name tag, or going around the room and having every one count 1 or 2.  This gets people involved with everyone, and not just the person they are sitting next to before the games.


After the games, Judy has everyone line up with their empty cookie container.  Each person goes down the line of cookies and takes ONE cookie of EACH kind, puts it in their container, and moves to the end of the line.  This continues until all the cookies are gone.

Looks yummy to me.  Tom would have gotten better pictures.  One of things I plan to do when I am laid up because of my knee surgery is to learn how to use his camera.

Cake Pops, the new "in" thing.  The Reindeer in back of the green, red, and white ones are so cute.

 Raspberry Bars, one of my favorites.  See:  http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/02/raspberry-or-apricot-almond-bars-with.html  for my Raspberry Bar recipe.

Pretty.

Mounds and Almond Joy cookies.  Love coconut.

German Anise Cookies, in the middle container in the back row, look interesting.

ONE SPORT RIGHT AFTER ANOTHER, AFTER ANOTHER.

IT IS NOW BASKETBALL SEASON

When I was in school, there were no organized sports for girls which my Grand-daughters find hard to believe, but, believe me, it is true.   There were only school sports for boys.  I think it is wonderful there are so many opportunities for both boys and girls.  There is even water polo in the schools!  We didn't even have a pool, let alone polo.

Tom and I made a point of being at every game the grandchildren played if at all possible.  Now my cane and I hobble to what games I can.  The grand-daughters are busy with soccer, flags, and softball.  For Zachary, basketball season has began.

 Zachary just went up for the tip off. (I hope that is what it is called.)

Number 45 is our boy!!!  He is listening intently.

SINTERKLAAS IS COMING TO TOWN TONIGHT--DECEMBER 5, 2011

 Sinterklaas and his Piets are going to have a busy night tonight.

 Bags of candy ready to load up on Sinterklaas' white horse.

 Lots of St. Nicholas figurines and Dutch gifts at The Dutch Store.

 I like this angel and snow-globe.

 Beautiful Delft pottery for sale.

 Wooden shoes anyone?

 A tree with Piet ornaments.

A very Dutch tree.

 Delft ornaments and St. Nicholas wait to be put on someone's tree.

 Dutch dolls wait for delivery to good little girls.

 The Dutch Store has beautiful Dutch tiles in Delft-blue and multicolored.

 Haiden wanted her picture taken with a full-sized Dutch girl figurine.  Looking good Haiden!

 Discussions on who is naughty and whose is nice, keep St. Nicholas busy.

 Sinterkklaas and his Piets smile for the camera before they get ready for their busy night.

Hope Sinterklaas brings you what you wanted.  Have a good trip Piets.

4 CRUNCHY VEGETABLES AND 3 FLAVORFUL CHEESES EQUAL 1 EXTRAORDINARY RETRO CHEESEBALL

In the 1960's and 1970's, it wasn't a party unless there was a cheeseball on the table.  I collected a number of good recipes and when I was thinking about a savory for Bradley's Recital Reception, a cheeseball seemed like a good idea.  He and I love to go to The Cheese Lady in Muskegon and sample cheeses.  A cheese plate would have been wonderful, but oh so expensive. 


I have always liked this recipe because of the crunchy vegetables in it.  It is lovely for Christmas with the green pepper and pimentos in it.  Because people's tastes seem to change each decade, so many do not eat nuts anymore, I made some minor changes in the recipe with which I was very happy as were the people at Brad's party.  The cheeseball was very popular.

Decorative and delicious.

The most important part of serving a cheeseball is to make sure it is at room temperature when you serve it.  If it is still cold out of the refrigerator, it is very difficult for guests to spread it on crackers. 

I found another use for my new favorite produce, nonstick foil, when making this cheeseball.  When I rolled the shaped and chilled ball in its outside coating, I found that putting the nuts or parsley on the nonstick foil kept all the coating on the ball and not on the wrapper. 

Personally I get a little antsy when someone writes

they have changed an old recipe.  I want to know

what the original recipe was.  In this case, the original

recipe called for 8-ounces of blue cheese.  I thought

that might be a little strong tasting so I reduced the

blue cheese and added some sharp Cheddar cheese.

I added some red bell pepper as well as the pimento

and green pepper.  I did not roll the ball in nuts, I 

used parsley so everyone could try it.

CRUNCHY CHEESE BALL

I really like the texture and the taste of this cheese ball.

1 (5oz.) pkg. blue cheese crumbles

2 (8oz. each) pkgs. cream cheese

4 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

3 T celery, chopped

2 T green onions, green and while parts, chopped

1/2 t garlic powder

1 small (2oz) jar pimiento, drained

Green bell pepper, chopped, to taste

Red bell pepper, chopped to taste

1 1/2 T mayonnaise, approximately

Parsley, chopped, optional

Chopped nuts, optional

Ingredients:  Cream cheese, celery, green onions, garlic powder, nuts, blue cheese crumbles, pimentos, mayonnaise.

I added Sharp Cheddar Cheese and red bell pepper.

I used chopped parsley instead of nuts.

Bring cheeses to room temperature.  With an electric

mixer, mix cheeses together.  Add the rest of the

ingredients EXCEPT the parsley or nuts.  Mix well.

Refrigerate until you can handle it to form a 

ball.  Put nuts or parsley on nonstick aluminum foil.

Put the chilled ball on the nuts or parsley and roll the

ball in the topping of your choice.  Wrap well in

aluminum foil and store at least 24 hours in the

refrigerator before serving.  SERVE AT ROOM

TEMPERATURE.

Softened cheeses and mix well.

Looks good.

Drain pimentos.

Chop vegetables.

Mix cheeses, garlic, mayonnaise and vegetables together.

Mixed and ready to form.

Form into a ball, wrap up, and chill.

Roll in parsley or chopped nuts.

Wrap well and chill overnight.  Bring to room temperature before serving.

Ready for the party.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!