Christmas made easy

The Bat, the Geezer and I hosted Christmas dinner for what I like to call our "Volunteer Family", a group who, with no genetic ties to us more recent than, probably, the time of the birthday celebrant, still chooses to remain close to us and call us family.  Because these are people whose company we greatly enjoy, we don't like to waste a lot of time hiding out in the kitchen while they are here, so we plan our menus accordingly.

Dinner, yesterday, was a great big beef sirloin roast, a loaf of Challah, steamed sweet corn, five-cup salad (brought by the matriarch of the Volunteers, who also brought dessert: pumpkin pie and a giant Sam's Club apple pie, for which we provided the whipped cream), and twice-baked potatoes.

The potatoes raised eyebrows and smiles. Our logic in serving them was simple: if you make them ahead of time, all you have to do is bake them.  You don't need to make any gravy, no fussing over last-minute details.  Simply bake, assemble, and re-bake right before you want to serve them.

The funny thing is, every time the Bat & I make these things, we get remarks like, "Mine never taste as good.  They always come out kind of boring."  And we think we may have discovered the biggest problem for most people.  It's always about ingredients.

If you make anything in which cheese is a major ingredient (breads, chicken pot pie, or twice baked potatoes), ALWAYS use sharp or extra sharp cheeses. Delicate flavors disappear when you bake them into things, unless you pile on extra, at which time the original recipe's texture suffers.

We prefer Tillamook's extra-sharp cheddar, and you can stay with that, or you can use the flavor you most like, whether it be blue, Swiss, or some exotic variety.  It's fine to experiment, as long as it's a cheese of strong character.

But here's our base recipe, with which we play (and, if you don't need quite so much potato for your meal, these babies can be individually wrapped and frozen):

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

Six large russet potatoes
butter to coat

8 Tablespoons butter (one stick), divided
2 cups plain, unsweetened Greek-style yogurt
2 cups freshly-grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup ranch-style dressing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400º F. Scrub and dry potatoes, cut off any blemishes, plus trim off one end.  Pierce each potato repeatedly with fork or narrow knife. Coat with butter.  Place directly on rack in the oven, bake approximately one hour, or until tender, turning once.

Remove from oven.

While they are still hot, cut potatoes in half and scoop as much of the "meat" of the potato into a large mixing bowl, being sure to leave a little to help the skin retain a bowl shape.  Set the potato-skin boats on a cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan.  Add half stick (4 Tablespoons) butter, all the yogurt, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup parmesan, and ranch dressing. Mix completely, until cheese is all melted in.

By tablespoons, return filling to potato skin shells, in moderately-heaping proportions (if you are feeling fancy, you can use a press for fancy textured tops, but I like the rustic look).  Allow to cool in refrigerator a few hours, or overnight.

Before re-baking:

Preheat oven to at least 325º F (we just bake them alongside whatever meat we're roasting).

Melt 1/2 stick butter in small pan or microwave-safe dish. By teaspoon, drizzle over the top of each potato boat, especially making sure any of the "meat" which had been remaining to shape the boat gets a touch of it.  Don't worry if some dribbles over the edge of the boat, because it will help keep the skin crispy.  Top with remaining mix of cheeses (if you like, you may add other cheese varieties, here). Place in oven at least 20 minutes, until the potatoes are hot and cheese topping begins to bubble.

Serve hot.  (Makes 12)

Cranberry Upside-Down Molasses Cake

Pop reminded us a month or so ago that he likes gingerbread, when he brought home a [gasp!] mix he fixed for himself. With that in mind, I decided for Christmas, I'd have to make a cake for him from scratch.

He added dried cranberries to his mix, and asked about icing recipes, so we put together a cream cheese frosting he seemed to enjoy. 

With Pop in mind, the Bat looked through her cookbooks, I scoured my cookbooks and recipe sites online, looking for one that would make Pop happy. Nothing really seemed quite right, so we improvised.

What we finally came up with was this, gooey enough it needed no icing:

Cranberry Upside-Down Molasses Cake

Ingredients:

For the Fruit Caramel:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter 

1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 large orange

Juice of 1 orange*, approximately 1/3 cup

2 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup dried cranberries

For the cake:

1 1/ cups water, brought to a boil 

1 cup strong molasses

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 1/2 cups All-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon powdered ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed

1 large egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Grease thoroughly a 9x13x2-inch baking pan.

Cranberry caramel:

In a medium saucepan or frying pan, melt butter and sugars, stirring frequently until sugar dissolves. Allow to boil about 2 minutes, remove from heat, add orange juice & zest.  Pour into baking pan, spread cranberries over the top. Set aside.

Cake:

In small saucepan, bring water to a boil. Remove from heat, add molasses and whisk in baking soda.  Set aside.

In medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and seasonings).

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, add & cream brown sugar, add & cream egg. When they are light and fluffy, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix thoroughly, then add 1/3 of molasses mixture, mixing completely before adding the next 1/3 of the dry ingredients, and repeating process until all is mixed.  

Pour batter over cranberry mixture, covering completely. Put on medium rack in oven bake at 350º F for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  

Allow to cool slightly, with a thin spatula or knife make sure the sides are loosened from pan, set cookie sheet over the top of it and flip it.  Top with vanilla ice cream, if you desire. Serve warm.

*We do NOT recommend navel oranges for this recipe. While they may be easier to peel, and conveniently seedless, they are less juicy and flavorful.  If you can, use a juicing orange such as a Valencia or Texas sweet.