Christmas Open House
Glad tidings, the smell of evergreens, twinkling lights, homemade treats, a house full of family and friends
Once the house is decorated and the kitchen is full of treats, an open house is a great way to entertain. Turn on the Christmas music, light the fire and the candles and welcome your friends.
Just a reminder: A “come and go” open house is a way to accommodate a large number of guests without an overcrowded situation. When an invitation is for 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., for example, guests will arrive anytime between those hours.
For traffic flow, display food and beverages throughout the house. Consider your decorating style and colors when planning table centerpieces. Some ideas:
*Woodland – style trees sprinkled with snow glitter and trimmed with snowflake –
shaped sugar cookies.
*Sugared fruit displayed in beautiful containers.
*Collections of Santas, snowmen, angels, nativity scenes or Christmas tins.
*Evergreens, pinecones and candles. (The holly and the ivy.)
*Seasonal flowers arranged in glass containers filled in with cranberries or
kumquats.
*A chocolate truffle tree. (Green Styrofoam cone-shaped form wrapped in plastic
wrap and covered with chocolate truffles attached with wooden picks. Top cone
with a Christmas bow.)
FYI: Many of your guests may not have eaten dinner, so plan hearty hors d’oeuvres.
Menu ideas abound. Some of our (and our guests’ favorites) are:
*Party meatballs (see recipe below)
*Shredded beef cooked in wine served with toast points (see recipe below)
*Miniature crab cakes
*Smoked turkey on orange muffins with cranberry relish
*Ham on biscuits
*Cheese, cheese, cheese…from blocks of cheese, cheese balls, spreads, marinated
cheeses, savory cheesecakes, cheese straws, cheese logs (see recipe below.)
Tip: Instead of making a large cheese ball, consider making miniature ones. Place in mini paper liners for easy serving.
Menu idea: Make a cheese ball (a mild Cheddar cheese-based recipe). Cover cheese ball with raspberry preserves that have been slightly warmed.
*Marinated vegetables / relish trays
*Chips and dips
*Cranberry tapanade (see recipe below)
Consider: For a twist on a relish tray, make a vegetable wreath. Attach fresh bunches of curly parsley to the wreath with green florist pins. You can do this step several hours ahead and store wreath in refrigerator. Attach cut-up vegetables to the wreath with wooden picks. Cherry tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, peppers, celery fans, radishes, small pickles, cauliflower and olives are good choices for the wreath. Place a bowl of dip in the middle of the wreath.
Don’t forget the sweets:
*Fudge, divinity, peanut butter balls, chocolate covered cherries
*Pecan tassies
*Cakes – lemon pecan, orange slice, pound cakes, applesauce (see recipe below)
Note: These cakes look spectacular on pedestals decorated with holly, berries
or sugared fruit.
*Cookies (We’ve made thousands!) – decorated sugar cookies (see recipe below),
sand tarts, spritz, gingerbread boys, hazelnut trees, rugulah…
Beverages:
*Fill your crystal punch bowl with a sparkling refreshing punch.
For warmth, add hot cider or coffee. (see recipes below)
Party Meatballs Guests love these. We’ve been making them for over 30 years.
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground hot sausage
4 slices bread, made into crumbs
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste
Mix well and set aside.
4 (14 ½- oz.) cans tomato sauce
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons, Liquid Smoke, if desired
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon whole allspice
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup water
Directions:
Mix sauce ingredients together in a large Dutch oven. Simmer very slowly for 30 minutes.
Form meatballs (about 1 tablespoon of meat) very lightly and drop into cooking sauce. Simmer slowly until meat in cooked, approximately 1 hour.
*The meatballs and sauce freeze very well, so they can be made ahead.
Serve warm. Use a pretty chafing dish.
Shredded Beef Cooked in Wine
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 (5 pound) sirloin tip roast
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 to 3 cups beef stock or 2 cans beef broth
4 cups Cabernet Sauvignon wine (more if needed during cooking)
Directions:
Heat butter and olive oil in Dutch oven. Salt and pepper the roast and brown all sides in hot butter mixture.
Add beef stock and wine. Cover pan and cook slowly for 3 to 4 hours. Add more wine, if sauce cooks down too low. The meat should be very tender.
Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Remove beef and shred into small pieces. Add beef to liquid in pan.
This can be cooked ahead and stored in refrigerator.
For a party, heat beef and liquid in chafing dish and serve with toast points.
Tip: Use any left over beef in a baked potato topped with blue cheese.
Toast points:
Cut crusts from sandwich bread slices. Cut each slice diagonally into 4 pieces. Fill a cookie sheet with bread pieces and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with dried parsley. Bake at 400 degrees until bread is toasted. Turn toast points and brown the other side.
These can be made ahead and frozen in plastic freezer bags.
Cheese Log
Ingredients:
2 blocks (10-oz each) sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pecans, very finely chopped
Directions:
Mix Cheddar cheese and cream cheese with mixer or in food processor. Stir in garlic and nuts.
Form mixture into log shapes and roll in ground chili powder.
Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and store in refrigerator.
Slice and serve with crackers.
Cranberry Tapanade
Ingredients:
1 orange, unpeeled, quartered and seeded
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ medium-size green pepper, chopped
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup chopped pecans, toasted
Directions:
Position knife blade in food processor; add orange quarters. Process until coarsely chopped, stopping once to scrape down sides. Add cranberries, sugar and salt; pulse 2 or 3 times until cranberries are coarsely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and stir in green pepper, jalapeno peppers, cilantro and pecans. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.
Serve with sweet potato chips or as a spread for turkey sandwiches.
Makes 3 cups.
Applesauce Cake
My husband’s great grandmother made this every year at Christmas.
The wonderful aroma brings back childhood memories.
Ingredients:
¾ cup Crisco shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 cups minus 2 tablespoons all-pu
rpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups applesauce
1 cup raisins
1½ cups chopped dates
2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Combine dry ingredients and add to shortening mixture alternately with applesauce until well mixed.
Stir in raisins, dates and nuts.
Bake in a well-greased and floured tube pan for approximately 1½ hours or until wooden pick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
This cake keeps well and can also be made ahead and frozen.
Namma’s Decorated Sugar Cookies
This is our mother’s recipe. Over the years we have made thousands of these cookies. They are perfect for every season – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring and Easter, July 4th, Halloween – and for many occasions – bridal and baby showers and children’s parties.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. Combine flour and salt and add to creamed mixture. Stir to blend.
Chill dough. Roll out to ¼ inch thickness on well-floured surface. Cut into desired shapes.
Bake on greased cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies should just be slightly browned, not too dark. Cool on racks.
When, cool, decorate with icings. Make an icing using powdered sugar mixed with milk until proper spreading consistency. Add small amount of almond extract, approximately ½ teaspoon depending on amount of icing you are making. Add food colorings, if desired. You can decorate with candy sprinkles and sugars.
Makes 2 to 4 dozen, depending on size cutters used.
Tips: Use plenty of flour when rolling cookies to keep dough from sticking.
Do not over bake cookies.
These cookies freeze very well before icing.
If you do not want to ice the cookies, you can sprinkle them with colored
sugars before baking.
You can double this recipe, if desired.
Special treat: Tie your decorated cookies on a tree with colorful ribbons. Just remember, before baking, make the hole for hanging.
Sparkling Punch
This punch is as easy as can be! It is refreshing and not too sweet.
Mix equal parts white grape juice (100% juice) and 7-Up. Serve over ice.
Cranberry Punch
This is another very easy, refreshing, not too sweet punch. Looks great in a crystal punch bowl.
Mix 4 cups cranberry juice with ¼ to ½ cup granulated sugar. Stir well to blend sugar. Add ½ teaspoon almond extract. Chill.
Before serving, taste to adjust sweetness. Add more sugar, if punch is too tart.
Stir in 8 cups ginger ale.
Serve over ice.
Point to remember: How to figure punch quantity for a crowd.
Remember your basic measurements:
8 ounces in a cup
4 cups in a quart
4 quarts in a gallon
1 gallon = 128 ounces
If you will be using a 6 ounce punch cup, then 1 gallon of punch will make approximately 21 servings. There will be a few more than that, if you are using ice in the cups. Therefore, 3 gallons of punch will serve about 70. Remember that many people will drink more than one serving, especially if it is a warm day or evening.