I am making & decorating sugar cookies and am also making no bake cookies. I do not have the recipes here with me but will post them later. What is everyone else cooking?

I will be making this delicious dish:

Put ice in big red cup
Pour Crown over ice about half full
Finish off with Coke (a-cola)
Stir
Enjoy

My dad's delicious Cinnamon Roll recipe is what I will be bringing to the in-laws this Christmas. Mmm-mmmm...

And, I will be drinking Misty's delicious dish.


With Diet Coke though so I can enjoy some of Luke's cinnamon rolls and CMSturgeons Sugar cookies.

This Christmas, I'm doing something special. I'm going all pie.

That's right...Nothing but pie. All pie, all the time.

Click for PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE! (http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/pie.htm)

Weebl, Bob and Pretty Pink Bunny all say:

Pie, pie, pie, pie, PIE!

me like pie. Yes.

Staying on topic... my favorite pie is Warm Cherry with Vanilla Ice Cream

or Pecan Pie with Whipped Cream

or Hot Apple Pie ala Mode

I can't choose. mmmmmmmmmmmm

I'm bringing a squash casserole to one family get-together...don't know what I'm bringing to the other. I usually bring sausage-cheese balls to the big family thing.

I love "no bake cookies,"

And...
Cinnamon Rolls
Pie
Squash Casserole
Sausage-cheese balls
Crown & Coke,

But it looks like I will be cooking the old standby dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean salad, fresh corn, dinner rolls, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce and lots and lots and lots of cornmeal stuffing.

Isn’t Christmas food great!

Isn’t Christmas food great!

Yes it is!

I started brining my turkey this morning.. Kosher salt, Brown sugar, Garlic cloves, Bay Leaves... - I'll let it brine until early morning and then pop it in...

mmmm

Oh GAWD the Smell!: This Christmas, I'm doing something special.

Don't use the yellow snow for your homemade icecream.

Don't use the yellow snow for your homemade icecream.

No ice cream. ALL PIE!

No ice cream. ALL PIE!
Gawd, this one's just for you and all pie-lovers!

It's the closest I've been able to get to the sumptuous chocolate ice box pie that Toddle House restaurants served up ...

Why is this Toddle House significant to me? The answer is simple – its Chocolate Ice Box Pie!!! Oh! If you've not had the privilege of letting this scrumptiously firm-but-creamy pie mesmerize your mouth's taste buds yearning for nirvana, you've missed out on one of the finer experiences (excepting, of course, your husband or bride, children and grandchildren) that you could possibly have had in this or any other lifetime! Well, maybe that's too much hyperbole, but you get my point.

Over the years, I've not been able to locate the "real" recipe (maybe until yesterday, below). I've had to settle with this one which I've fine tuned to make as closely as possible to my taste buds' recollections:

This recipe is for 2 pies (recommended); halve the ingredients for only one pie.

Ingredients

• 2 nine inch pie shells (make your own if you must; but Pillsbury’s are great)
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• ½ tsp. salt
• 5 cups whole milk
• 8 egg yolks
• 6 one-ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
• 2 tbsp. real butter
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. almond extract (this is my innovation – probably 2 tbsp. vanilla is more "pure")
• 2 cups of whipping cream

What You Do

• Bake Pie Shells: bake your pie shells in the oven, per the supplier’s recommendations (as said, I like the Pillsbury pie shells – they are nice and flaky); you want the pie shells done by the time the next steps are finished; don’t overcook – you want them to be light-tan, but not more brown than that

• Combine 1st Ingredients: sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, in a medium saucepan

• Combine 2nd Ingredients: in a separate bowl/pan, beat the milk & the egg yolks

• Combine & Heat 1st & 2nd Ingredients: mix them together (using your wooden spoon) in a sauce pan until fairly smooth; stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture becomes thick and at full boil; then, continue stirring and boil for an additional minute; remove from heat

• Add chocolate squares, butter, vanilla and almond extracts: in the same pan, with no external heat, add these ingredients, stirring with your wooden spoon until the chocolate and butter is melted and the mixture is smooth

• Pour Mixture Into Cooked Pie Shells: this is a no-brainer; you might want to use a spatula to make the top of the pies relatively flat, but it’s no big deal; cover the pies with plastic-type-wrap to seal moisture, and put them in the fridge; they need to remain their until they are cold/cool (if you don’t, the whipped cream (next step) will “melt” and you don’t really want that to happen)

Next-To-Last Steps

• Disingenuously Offer Another Person To Lick the Pan: remnants of the mix will still be in the cooking pan; if you’re into being generous, allow someone else to do this, or, if you’re not, lick it yourself – it will be their gain or your loss; this has nothing to do with the recipe

• Whip the Whipping Cream: “real” chocolate ice box pies don’t use “canned” whipping cream – but do what you must; to do the real deal, whip the whipping cream, adding about a teaspoon or a bit more of sugar, with/in your mixer until the whipped cream is “very firm” (not in any way “runny”); cover it with plastic or other wrap and stick in the fridge while the pies cool

• After the pies are cold, remove them and the whipping cream you've made from the fridge; spread the whipping cream over the top of the pies with a spatula; garnish the top, if you like, with curls of raw chocolate (use your potato peeler); cover with plastic or other wrap & stick ‘em back in the fridge.

Important Last Step

• Discourage your company from eating the pies; tell them it is not what you had hoped for, with profound apologies; later, when they're gone, eat the remainder or keep it in a safe place until you are ready to do so.

Merry Christmas!