“Ione Carrell’s Date Swirls”—KatherineB
This is a recipe that has been passed down in my family for several generations. The furthest that it is known to have gone back is to my great-grandmother, Ione Carrell, but it is possible that it goes back further. I remember thinking that putting dates in cookies sounded rather odd, but after my mother and I made them I added date swirls to my list of favorite Christmas cookies. We never make them except at Christmas, and when we do it is always a big treat. These are definitely some of my favorite Christmas delicacies.
Ingredients for date filling:
1/2 lb. dates, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Mix ingredients in a saucepan and cook until smooth.
Ingredients for dough:
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter, until light and fluffy, add sugar slowly. Add eggs one at a time, then lemon juice and vanilla. Add dry ingredients slowly. Divide dough in four portions. Roll each portion into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Spread with date filling. Roll like a jelly roll. Put in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. When ready to bake, cut thin slices from the roll and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 400º for 10 minutes.
“Jansson’s Fretelese (Temptation)”—RebekahC
Every year on Christmas Day, this side dish is, admittedly, one of the things that makes me glad to be 25% Swedish. Note that, while low-fat versions are possible, butter and cream or half-and-half really should be used in order to give the potatoes their authentic flavor. If further authenticity is desired, the salt can be omitted and anchovy fillets used instead!
1 cup sliced onions (1 1/2 onions)
1/3 cup butter or margarine
4 cups raw potatoes, sliced very thin
1 cup cream
Sauté sliced onions in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Peel potatoes and slice. Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Arrange one layer of half the amount of potatoes, spread onions over and top with remaining potatoes, sprinkling both layers with salt. Dot with remaining butter. Add cream and cover with aluminum foil. Bake in hot oven (400˚) for 1 hour. Remove aluminum foil and brown. Serve immediately from baking dish. Makes 4 servings.
“Cream Cheese Braids”—RebeccaE
My dad’s mother gave us this recipe years ago, and she says she got it from a chaplain’s wife. For years my mom made it for Christmas Day breakfast—probably because she didn’t want to go to the trouble of making it more than once a year. Because the simple truth is that it’s a pain to make. But the results are very, very yummy!
Ingredients for braids:
1 cup commercial sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
2 pkgs. dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105˚-115˚ F)
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups all-purpose flour
Ingredients for cream cheese filling:
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Combine cream cheese and sugar in small mixing bowl. Add egg, salt, and vanilla; mix well. Yield: about 2 cups
Ingredients for glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; mix well. Yield: 1 cup
Heat sour cream over low heat; stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a large mixing bowl, stirring until yeast dissolves. Add sour cream mixture, eggs, and flour; mix well. Cover tightly, refrigerate overnight.
The next day, divide dough into four equal parts (dough will be sticky!). Roll out each part on a well-floured board into a 12x8 inch rectangle. Spread 1/4 of cream cheese filling on each rectangle. Roll up, jellyroll fashion, beginning at long sides. Pinch edges together and fold ends under slightly. Place the rolls seam side down on greased baking sheets.
Slit each roll at 2-inch intervals about 2/3 of the way through the dough to resemble a braid. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour). Bake at 375˚ F for 12-15 min. Spread with glaze while warm.
“Basic Sweet Yeast Bread & Filled Snail Shell Buns”—EmilyS2
I'm not actually sure where the recipe came from--my suspicion is that my mom heard about it from friends, needed something to make for friends coming over, and Googled it! It turned out to be a good choice, though. My mom and sisters made the dough and buns in the morning, and when our friends got there all the little ones finished the toppings off and put them in the oven to eat after supper. It turned out to be a fun recipe that everyone enjoyed and we're likely to eat again!
Basic Sweet Yeast Bread
1 package (= a scant tablespoon) dry or compressed yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
5 cups flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water and set aside. Dry yeast should be allowed to stand for ten minutes before it is added to the dough. Place sugar, salt, and shortening in the mixing bowl and mix them to a smooth paste. Break the eggs and check them for freshness. Add one egg at a time; blend it in well before the next addition. Add the milk and vanilla and stir them in slightly. Sift the flour and put about 1/2 cup aside to be used if the dough is too soft. Place the rest of the flour in the bowl and stir the mixture for a few turns. Add the yeast solution and mix the dough until it is smooth and does not stick the sides of the bowl. The dough should be of medium consistency. If the dough feels soft and sticky, add the 1/2 cup of flour you set aside. Be sure to mix the dough until it is smooth.
To make the Filled Snail Shell Buns, add some more ingredients that make the dough richer:
1 more egg
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. flour
1 package of yeast
Fruit or jam/jelly for filling
Filled Snail Shell Buns
1) Place the dough on the flour-dusted worktable and flatten it gently with the palms of your hands to remove any large air pockets. Roll the dough gently with the rolling pin in to a rectangular shape about 15 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 1/4 inch thick. Check the dough with your fingers to see that it is of even thickness. This is important in order to get buns of equal size. If the dough should stick while you are rolling it, roll up the dough gently on the rolling pin and dust the table with flour. Dust the top of the dough if the rolling pin sticks.
2) Remove any excess flour from the top surface of the dough and brush the dough evenly and completely with vegetable oil or melted fat or butter. Now draw a very light line with one finger across the center of the dough from the left to the right. Sprinkle that half of the dough closest to you with cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle the sugar evenly and completely. Fold the upper half of the dough over the half sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. You now have two layers of dough and with a cinnamon sugar and melted fat filling. Next, roll the dough gently with the rolling pin to seal the layers of dough and make the strip about 8 inches wide (it was formerly about 6 inches wide).
3) Measure and mark off the dough into 16 equal parts by dividing the dough in half, then in quarters, and lastly, cutting each quarter into 4 strips. Be careful to cut the units evenly.
4) Pick up one piece of dough at a time in the fingers of each hand and stretch it gently an extra inch or so. Then twist the strip of dough so that several spirals are made with the cinnamon sugar filling showing like the spiral stripes on a barber pole.
5) Take one end of the twisted strip and roll it up along the strip of dough as if you were coiling a rope. Tuck the outside end of the strip under the snail you have made and pinch it together with the bun. Roll the strip of dough closely but do not pull it. Place the buns on the greased baking pan as you shape them, spacing them about 1 inch apart.
6) When all the buns are made and on the pan, flatten them gently with the palms of your hands and brush the tops with egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water). Place the buns in a warm place to rise. Allow them to rise until they are almost double in size and feel soft and gassy to a gentle touch.
7) Brush the buns very gently with egg wash again. Press the center of each bun lightly with two fingers of each hands to make an impression for the filling. (Do not press so hard that you tear through the dough. If you do, the filling will cause the bun to stick to the pan after baking.) Now fill the centers of the buns with the fillings you have ready. Use a teaspoon to put the filling into the bun and place an equal amount of filling into each bun.
Note: You may sprinkle the buns with cinnamon sugar and chopped nuts instead of using fruit or jam.
8) Place the pan of buns carefully into the oven and bake at 390˚ about 15 minutes. These buns are flat and therefore bake faster than thicker buns do. If the oven bakes unevenly, shift the pans after the buns have risen and show a light brown crust color.
9) Bake the buns until they are golden brown and the tops spring back gently when touched lightly with a fork. Brush them with warm syrup wash as soon as you remove them from the oven. (Be careful not to smear the filling in the center.) When the buns have cooled until they are barely warm, place a little simple icing in their centers. You may stripe the top of the bun by letting the icing drip from the spoon.
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