Put the angel on top of the tree for Christmas dinner

Part of the fun of Christmas, which is overkill to begin with, is finishing it off: gilding the lily, making your Christmas dinner even more festive with a few special touches.

“But Susan,” you say, “why would I bother to make Christmas dinner more ‘festive’? It’s a family tradition that my children get sick at Christmas, my in-laws stay with us for a week, I have to work Christmas Eve, and I promised the maid the week off, ha ha. What I’m worried about is that it will make it to the table.”

Oh, for many reasons, I reply. For the memories, because it’s relaxing and fun, if you work it right (keep reading), because it looks so good and is so appreciated that it can make up for other things that you might let slip away. There are many reasons.

So wait, here we go. All these tips are a kind of “sleight of hand”. They’re things you can do while you have to be in the kitchen anyway. They are even relaxing. Trust me!

And the “oohs” and “aahs” will be so energizing. They are also affordable. This Christmas tree-shaped butter (http://www.webstrategies.cc/breakfast.jpg) costs a couple of bucks at the grocery store. I think it adorns the bow I made.

Here are some ways to dress up the traditional Christmas table.

CAKE EDGE

Make your usual pie crust, 2-crust version. Well, who am I kidding? Buy the frozen ones. Thaw them out and take them out of their original cans, combine several (I think they are too small), spread them out and start again.

Line the pie pan, place the filling, then roll out the second crust and cut shapes with cookie cutters, or cut free shapes with a sharp knife. The first one doesn’t work? Pie crust is very forgiving. Roll it up and start again. Your “second chances” are endless. You could also use something from a child’s coloring book as a pattern.

what shapes? An angel, a gingerbread man, a star, a cross. If you don’t have cookie cutters, cut 3 circles for the holly berries using a bottle cap and cut some spiky holly leaves with a knife.

If you have the time and inclination, when the pie is baked and cooled, use frosting to decorate your crust. Of course, this is frosting from a can or tube that you bought. On another planet, in another life, you will make the frosting. Purchase plastic tips and a plastic piping bag so you can throw them away.

Repeat after me: if it’s pretty, like a well-chosen dress, it can hide a multitude of sins. Get some candy and stuff like licorice for Santa’s cookie belt. I would come home from working the Christmas Eve church service a little tired, and my kids would come into the kitchen to watch and “help.” it was cozy Memories.

Any kind of liqueur goes well with any kind of fruitcake, so throw a little rum on the pumpkin pie or a little brandy on the cherry.

Or do the usual-just-very-different. Make a frozen pumpkin chiffon cake. The virtue of that is, you guessed it, that it can be done well in advance. Then when it’s time to serve, crumble up the candy canes and sprinkle them on top. I don’t know who helps you at home, but I had kids, and they loved to put the canes on waxed paper and then hit them with the rolling pin. Festive family fun at the Dunn house. Me and the boys.

I hope by now you are beginning to see that we are playing and having as much fun as anything else.

CANDY CANES

Candy canes go great with chocolate. You can make a chocolatey dessert, like that dreamy whipped instant pudding concoction the kids love so much. Email me if you don’t have that recipe. Then sprinkle crushed candy canes on top.

SWEET POTATOES

Crush canned yams and place in Pyrex. Then beat the meringue very hard, with a lot of sugar. Hitting things is also therapeutic, and children are fascinated by the process. (“It’s ready?”)

Circle the bowl with the meringue, then scoop on top with spikes. Then you can (1) sprinkle it with sprinkles, or (2) in the center put 3 maraschino cherries and some pineapple leaves, like holly. Or put marshmallows around the edge and the decoration in the middle. In your next reincarnation you will make Martha’s homemade marshmallows and put them on top. Let the children do it. It will be “too much”, but that’s half the fun.

SNOWBALL

Simple, economical, elegant in appearance, quick and easy to prepare. Hurrah!

Use ice cream that is in season: mint, coconut, eggnog, pistachio.

Let the ice cream soften and serve it in a round Pyrex® that you have lightly greased with Pam®. Put it in the freezer until it is well frozen again. (Don’t you just love things you can do in stages?

Maybe at this point you need to take the dog to the vet because he ate 2 feet of tinsel, like I did one Christmas, oh yeah).

Later… take it out, soak the plate briefly in a larger bowl of warm water until you see the ice cream melt around the edges, flip it over into a nice serving platter and it comes out in a dome shape. Tear strips of parchment paper and place around the plate, under the ice cream. Now whip the cream until stiff, put it in a piping bag, use a nozzle like the Wilton 2D and with a tube, tube, tube, small shaped blobs side by side until the mound is completely covered. .

Carefully remove the waxed paper, wipe down the serving platter with a damp cloth, and return the ball to the freezer until frozen. Once frozen, cover with bowl or wrap until ready to serve. “Boule de neige” is French for “snowball”!

If you want to use Redi-whip, you should do it right before serving because it doesn’t last. How can I know? Well, it was a very sad “learning experience” involving a Christmas lunch for my bridge group and I’ll leave it at that.

Do you want to make it even easier? There is an ice cream baking kit available here:

http://www.thecompleatgourmet.com/merchandise.htm.

OX WELLINGTON

Make a mix of red, green, and white peppercorns with Dijon mustard (available here: http://www.famousfoods.com/71996.html). Coat the meat with this before encrusting it. Put Christmas cutouts on the crust like you did with the pie.

MASHED POTATOES

Crush them and put them in a serving bowl. Then sprinkle just enough cayenne flakes and parsley to add color. Wait a minute, I forgot we gave the maid the week off. Use the mashed potato mixture, fold it into those festive ramekins (Williams-Sonoma has some bright red ones), and bingo! Oh wait, place a star-shaped dollop of butter on top of each one.

SINGLE CAKE

Bake your cake in a removable mold with a Christmas base. Christmas tree and holly patterns are available here:
http://www.cocinerosfelices.com/wc.dll/products/disclose/1-16451.html

PERFECT

Super easy, cheap, eye-catching and easy to do.

X-rated version: Fills fluted glasses with any ice cream. Drizzle chocolate and green mint cream on top. Add maraschino, red or green cherry. If you use red cherry, add a green mint leaf.

GP-rated version: drizzle with hot fudge sauce and sprinkle candy cane crumbles on top.

TRIVIALITY

Trifle is the original LOW MAINTENANCE dessert. There are as many recipes as there are people making them. We love it because it’s like that old “dump cake” recipe, remember? It just doesn’t matter that much. Soak that cake in amaretto or schnapps, add whatever you like, layer it… it has cheap ingredients, it’s retro-new and the presentation! It is so NOT FRAGILE. Put it in a large brandy snifter type container. Or, place it in a Christmas tureen and smooth a layer of whipped cream on top (use a warm, wet flat spatula). This makes it look like a lid and people will keep trying to lift it and there will be fingerprints all over it (and lots of laughs).

VEGETABLES

Put chopped red bell peppers between the peas, Brussels sprouts, or broccoli; stuff hamburger tomatoes, cheese, green peppers, parsley. Cut stars from processed cheese slices and place on top of casserole.

MORE GOOD NEWS

If you did even 3 of these things, it would be “gilding the lily”. Pick one or two. That’s all!

I’m sure you can say that my philosophy has always been ‘if I’m going to have to do it, I’ll do it to make a party of it’.

Enjoy!