Christmas Food

Is it just me or is the day after Christmas just kind of....blah?  I guess so much anticipation and preparation, and then it's over.  But at least it left behind wrapping paper bits here and there and dishes that I still don't want to clean.  Oh well...I will reminisce about the food....

I made a cranberry cake I had seen several months back at Real Mom Kitchen.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make it for Christmas.

She mentions in her comments the cake was just a little dry, so I just increased the amounts of oil and sour cream by a bit and didn't find it dry at all.  The butter cream sauce really makes it special. Here's the recipe...

Cake:

3 Cups Flour

1 ½ Cups Sugar

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

¼ teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Milk

2 Eggs

¼ Cup Oil

½ teaspoon Almond Flavoring

½ Cup Sour Cream

3 Cups Fresh Cranberries

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; sift together.
2. In a separate bowl combine milk, eggs, oil, almond flavoring and sour cream; whisk together.
3. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and stir together.(this batter will be very thick) When liquid and dry ingredients are completely incorporated together, stir in cranberries.
4. Pour cake batter into a well-greased Bundt cake pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes; until toothpick comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in Bundt pan, remove cake from pan and place on serving plate.
5. Allow cake to cool completely on serving plate. Cut into slices and serve slice topped with sauce recipe below.

Butter Cream Sauce:

• ½ Cup Butter
• 1 Cup Sugar
• ¾ Cup Half & Half 

1. Melt butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. Mix in sugar until well combined, then mix in the half & half and bring heat up to medium-high heat.
3. Wisk continually until mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat.
4. Drizzle butter cream sauce over each individual slice of cranberry pudding cake and ENJOY!

We also had Green Bean Bundles, which I had always wanted to try.  Pretty yummy, of course can't go wrong with bacon!.

 

We also had this Chocolate Wafer Cookie Cake that I've been wanting to try for some time.  Although I did mine more as a trifle than a cake, just figured it would be easier.  

 

This is over the top delicious!  I loved the crushed candy canes sprinkled on top, give it just a little bit of mint.  Those wafers can be a little hard to find, but it's worth the effort.  

So I hope none of you are feeling as ho-hum as I am.  I'm sure I'll be back to my chipper self in no time!