4 Moms’ favorite holiday recipes {linky}

For reasons that make perfect sense to me, many holiday traditions center largely around food.  What are your favorite food-related holiday traditions?

This week we’re sharing some of our favorite holiday recipes.

One of my favorites is also one of the easiest.  Coincidence?  Your taste testers will never know.

Poor Man’s Toffee

makes 50 pieces – great for gifts

• 1 1/4 cups butter, divided
• 35-40 saltine-style crackers
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cups finely chopped walnuts

Pay attention.  This happens quickly:

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter; pour into foil-lined jelly roll pan.
2. Arrange crackers over butter, evenly spaced.
3. Melt remaining butter; add sugar and boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat and add condensed milk. Spread over crackers.
5. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, until bubbly and slightly darkened.
6. Remove from oven, cool 1 minute, and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes (until chocolate is soft and melty) and spread.
7. Sprinkle with nuts; press lightly into chocolate.
8. Cool; refrigerate until chocolate is set.
9. Remove foil and cut candy.

Yum! Rich, delicious and very impressive, and much faster and easier than it sounds. No one can ever guess the saltine cracker base – it tastes a lot like Almond Roca.

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Cheater’s Fudge

So easy you’ll never go back.

• 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• optional additions: walnuts, marshmallows, etc.

Just combine ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until melted and combined.  Pour into buttered or wax-paper lined 8×8 pan, chill, and cut into small squares.

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Effortless Eggnog

I love eggnog and have no qualms about the raw eggs in traditional recipes, especially since most of our eggs come from our own hens.  However, this recipe is super easy, delicious, and satisfies those who are concerned about raw eggs.

• 1/2 gallon milk, divided
• 1 package instant French vanilla pudding mix
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

In a large bowl, whisk 3/4 cup milk and pudding mix until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in remaining milk. Refrigerate until serving.

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Chai Tea Mix

A nice variation on cocoa for cold winter mornings.

• 1 cup powdered milk
• 1 cup dry creamer
• 1 cup vanilla flavored dry creamer
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened tea mix
• 2 tsp. ginger
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. cardamom (or allspice)
• opt. 1 Tbs. vanilla pudding mix

Stir to combine all ingredients. Use 3 Tbs. in 8 oz. of boiling water.

Options:

• For a prettier mix, you can run it through the blender a cup at a time.
• Allspice is easier to find and can be substituted for cardamom to make a very nice spiced tea, but it’s *not* the same. Cardamom has a very distinctive taste and aroma, even to our uncultured tongues. We found cardamom in bulk for a great price in the local health food store.
• The vanilla pudding mix is optional but does help the mix to dissolve better.

What are your favorite holiday recipes?  Answer in the comments or link up with your own post.

Please remember the linky rules:

1. You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.
3. The post to which you link must be completely family friendly.

If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

Here’s what the rest of the 4 Moms are cooking up:

• Smockity Frocks,
• Raising Olives, and
• Common Room

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• December 8 – Favorite holiday recipes {linky}
• December 15 - Gift shopping for a crowd
• December 22 – Q&A
• December 29 - How to handle all those incoming gifts and gift givers

Recent topics:

• December 1 - 4 Moms: preparing children to share holidays with unbelieving family
• November 24 - 4 Moms: A roundup of thankful posts from the past
• November 17 - 4 Moms: Vehicles for the large family
• November 10 - 4 Moms: Large Family Food Storage

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

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3. 4 Moms share favorite freezer meal recipes {linky}
4. 4 Moms: Valentine’s Day recipes and a story {linky}
5. 4 Moms: 3 smoothie recipes and lunch linky