FoodAskew |

Submitted by Gary Floyd
Serves 20

Ingredients

Directions

1. Bake the two gingerbread mixes according to the directions on the package.
2. Prepare the pudding according to the package directions & set aside to cool.  When fully cooled stir in the pumpkin pie filling, brown sugar, & cinnamon into the pudding.
3. Pour ½ of the pudding mixture over one gingerbread & add a layer of whipped topping.  Repeat with the remaining gingerbread & pudding mixture with the whipped cream.
4. Sprinkle the top with crushed ginger snaps if desired & refrigerate overnight.

Chef’s Note: An optional serving method would be to place the layers in a punch bowl.

The holidays are a time when you choose a variety of ways to celebrate your family and what you have been given in life. One small way you might choose to do that is by preparing a hearty meal with treats to match. You probably also decorate your home with festive ornaments. Well, why not meld the two together and make your treats decorative too? The easiest foods to make festive are desserts, though you can implement the idea in other ways too.

A simple and tasty chocolate snowman shaped cake is easy to make and highly festive. Best with Dutch cocoa, you can use coconut flakes to create the coating. You can use black licorice sticks for the arms, black licorice drops for the eyes and peppermints for buttons with gum drops on top. For the mouth, you can use a piece of red shoestring style licorice. Fruit leather makes a great decorative scarf.

Alternatively, or in addition to, you can create a Christmas tree cake with equal festivity. By creating individual cake squares, you can stack these to create a tree-like shape with green frosting and other colored frostings to your liking. You can use candies for ornaments and smaller cake squares decorated with colored frosting to make presents under the tree.

Gingerbread houses are a classic way of creating decorative treats. However, there are more creative ways to make artistic gingerbread treats. One less known design is the gingerbread lantern, created by four rectangular pieces of gingerbread connected by frosting. You can cut holes in the pieces to let the light out, such as stars or hearts. Once settled, you can place candles inside these and use them as actual lanterns.

Another creative design is the gingerbread train. You have a great amount of creative license with this, in that there is room to decide how intricate you want to get with the design. However, there is a minimum amount of intricacy involved. The frosting is used for piping and a combination of circular and rectangular gingerbread cookies create the body. You can use candies, licorice and frosting to decorate it anyway you like. Gum drops work well to top the train while licorice works well for the pistons. You can also decide how long you want to make the train.

If you are looking to go more gourmet than flashy, you can make chocolate espresso snowballs with fair trade coffee. Using cocoa, pecans and sugar you can have a treat both decedent and decorative. There are plenty of ways to brighten up holiday cheer just with culinary creativity.

Submitted by Debbie Kruse

Ingredients

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter or spray 9″x9″ baking dish (or other appropriate sized casserole dish).
2.  In a large bowl, mix together creamed corn, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, nutmeg, black pepper, & milk.  Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish.
3. Slice the butter in half & place the slices on top, separated.  Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown on top.  The center of the pudding may still appear to be loose due to the butter, but the edges should appear done.
4. Server warm. 

Chef’s Note: May also be prepared ahead of time and re-heated before service.

Submitted by Debbie Kruse
Serves 12

Main Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

Directions

1. In a large pot, combine the corn syrup & sugar.  Heat over moderate heat until bubbly.
2. Remove from the heat.  Add peanut butter & stir until melted & combined.  Stir in Rice Krispies until well blended.
3. Using the back side of a greased spoon, spread the mixture into a 9″x12″ pan or dish.
4. In a double boiler, heat the chocolate & butterscotch chips until melted completely.  Remove from the heat & spread evenly over the Rice Krispie mixture, or drizzle in creative patterns.

Chef’s Note: You can use chunky or smooth peanut butter, whichever suits your liking more.  The topping is optional.  For variety you can use both flavors of chips or just use one or the other.  If using just one flavor, you’ll need to double the amount.

Submitted by Sharon Nazarian
Serves 12

Ingredients

Directions

1. Melt the buttery vegan spread & combine with soy milk.

2. Stir together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, spices & salt.

3. Alternate adding the cranberry sauce & the soy milk with melted vegan butter mixture to the dry ingredients until everything is fully blended.

4. Pour into a well-greased 9″ square pan (use butter spread, light vegetable oil or a light oil spray).

5. Bake on middle rack in preheated 350°F oven for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

6. Garnish with powdered vegan sugar (put into strainer, shake it over the entire cake).

7. Serve warm or cold.

Chef’s Note: My first piece is always warm because looks & smells so good I “need” to taste right away! I also recommend Whole Foods 365 brand vegan sugar & Earth Balance brand buttery vegan spread.

Sharon Nazarian runs BigCityVegan.com, a website dedicated to living a cruelty-free lifestyle including vegan recipes, vegan news & vegan merchandise, like cool vegan t-shirts.