OP reporting in on the fruitcake bars: great recipe but I overbaked them (dry, not burnt--I have a funky old oven). No bourbon in the house so I'm annointing the bars with dark rum in hopes of rectifying the situation.

try putting them in a ziplock bag with a couple slices of bread. The bars will absorb moisture from the bread. Works like a charm with overbaked brownies... it can't hurt

Stupidly easy to make:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/cr...-chip-cookies/

Seem to be that bit better when prepared the day before so that the dough is refrigerated overnight.

Sounds like a good idea, except I never have sliced bread in the house. Maybe a slice of apple, which I should have around but don't at the moment. for the time being they're in a sealed container with the El Dorado presumably working its magic.

My Mum always used to make dark chocolate florentines at Christmas (and a sandwich shop near my office always now makes them too!)

Otherwise, thanks to the odd stock of a shop near us when I was little, we always used to have German lebkuchen at Christmas, too, and still seem to get loads of them in (well, they're rather easier to come by these days). That flavour is what I always associate with Christmas! Similarly, stollen and pain d'�pices.

Me too. I also like Trader Joe's toffee coated in dark chocolate and pistachio nuts. Yum.

Christmas time to me always means Lemon Bars, and peanut butter cookies with a hershey's kiss on top

I've always loved the Christmas shaped cookies with green frosting and sprinkles.

I am not a great baker, and don't have the time to bake, either. But My mom makes these incredible Spritz cookies. They are nothing like the ones you buy in a tin or at a bakery - these are moist and almondy and so good. She uses a recipe out of one of those cheapo cookbooks, too for them. But mine never come out as good as hers.

My grandmother made these incredible butter cookies. Actually, she was making sugar cookies, but in her upbringing at the time they tended to cut back on a lot of things, so in many baking recipes she cut back on the amount of sugar, so they ended up coming out as really good butter cookies.

Grandma BamaVol used to make an awesome variety of Christmas cookies. There were pecan drops (kind of a pecan sandy), Italian cookies (almond or lemon flavored, frosted and dusted with crushed peppermint candies) and one with a mint chocolate wafer in the center and walnut on top. She doesn't mess around with baking much anymore, but Mrs BamaVol can duplicate the Italian cookies. I guess the rest are up to me if I want them. And I do.

After a week the rum has infused throughout the fruitcake bars and mellowed, and they're fantastic! Guess they'll go in the freezer while I'm traveling for the next 10 days, just to be safe.

Still looking for a Christmas dessert? No time to make a buche??

I ran across this stupidly easy, beautiful, and utterly delicious recipe a few years ago - I'd quote the source, but I don't remember where I found it, and there are several variations out there.

Get yourself an Italian Pandoro (not Panettone that's too sweet and not the right shape.) Any decent Italian deli should have them.

Get some Grappa (ideally) or other liquor of your choice.

Get various berries - your choice.
Optional, if you have time, soak the berries in a little grappa for awhile.

Get whipping cream, or if really pressed for time use a can.
If whipping your own, add some powered sugar and use grappa rather than vanilla.
Ideally, rather than the whipped cream, one should make a simple pastry cream including marscapone, but that may be too much work.
Please don't use cool whip, that's just too far down the "simple" road.

Powdered sugar.

Slice the Pandoro horizontally into 6 or 7 slices, and carefully separate the layers.

Put first slice of Pandoro on serving plate and douse liberally with grappa.

Slather on some of the cream, being sure to reach the end of the points.

Repeat until all cake is used, canting each layer so the points wind up between the points of the previous layer. End with the very tip of the cake.

Place berries on the ends of all the points, and scatter remaining berries around the bottom.

Sprinkle the entire thing with powdered sugar. If feeling really festive, put a sprig of mint and a couple red berries on top.

It looks like a Christmas tree, takes about 10 minutes to make the entire thing - tops, and you'll get many oohs and aahs. And as a bonus it contains enough grappa to bring anyone to their knees!!

NOTE: using berries adds a freshness to this dessert, but one can also use other "festive" things - candied fruit, chocolate nibs, crushed peppermint candies, etc. Whatever you have on hand!

I want to make chocolate fudge and chocolate peanut butter fudge for my son for Christmas. I want a chocolate that is rich and chocolatey. Not one of these light brown faintly resembling chocolate fudges.

Anybody have recipes?

Bonus for a nice fruit fudge to go with the chocolate.

Thanks

No recipes but I'll volunteer to drive down 40 and be your taste tester once you've made some.

My favorite is the recipe off the Hershey's cocoa can. You can also google it. Probably even better if you used the dark chocolate cocoa instead of milk chocolate. More chocolately and less gooey/creamy.