Bunny and I made a trio of varieties this year, starting with a Milano Cortina 2026 fusion flavor that was filled with cannoli filling in honor of the host country of the Olympics:
We also made plum butter Berliner, filled with homemade Pflaumenmus, which was sehr lecker!
And our final variety was filled with our favorite Guinness mousse and topped with a chocolate glaze:
It was a tasty trio!
As long as I was already frying donuts, I also made German Mutzen from the Rhineland, which turned out very much like beignets:
And here’s a bonus look at our Mardi Gras dinner of “Bayou Queen Punch” and “Tiana’s Famous Gumbo” from Entertaining with Disney:
We had a nice day of feasting, and now we’re ready for Lent!
Time for a last look back at the festive feasting season!
We started Thanksgiving week by baking…Christmas Funfetti cupcakes? There’s never a bad time for Funfetti!
Of course, the main attraction Thanksgiving week was the turkey dinner:
And seven pies!
We celebrated Nikolaustag with chicken Döner Kebab and gingerbread tiramisu:
The next special dinner was a week later, for Santa Lucia Day, featuring potato pancakes and kielbasa, with cranberry fluff for dessert…and let’s not forget the lussekattes for breakfast!
We had a gingerbread layer cake filled with gingerbread mousse and frosted with molasses cream cheese frosting on Christmas Eve:
And our favorite cherry coffee cake for breakfast on Christmas Day:
But the best meal of the year is the Christmas Day pick-out dinner!
For our “fancy” Christmas dinner, we had bolognese, breaded artichokes, and fresh baked Italian bread:
In keeping with the Italian theme, we had cannoli for dessert:
On New Year’s Eve, we had black bean soup and corn bread:
And our traditional hot chocolate bar, of course!
Our New Year’s Day dinner was enjoyed a day late…I made pork medallions and spaetzle:
And we had a Glühwein-Kuchen for dessert:
We also had a special “Lord of the Rings Day” celebration (on Tolkien’s birthday!), featuring one of the fanciest chicken recipes I make, and “Westfarthing Fairings” from the Recipes from the World of Tolkien cookbook:
For the last feast of the season, Ryan’s birthday dinner, (which also happens to be Epiphany), we had fry bread and chili:
And Boston Cream Pie for dessert:
We did lots of other baking along the way, including a pair of Italian Christmas cookies for Christmas school:
And all of our favorite fancy Christmas cookies…chocolate crinkles, linzer augen, chocolate peppermint, raspberry almond thumbprints, peppermint meltaways, and fig thumbprints:
With the addition of a few of the pudding cookies Bunny made, they created a beautiful Bunter Teller!
For our New Year’s Eve hot chocolate bar, we baked two kinds of hot chocolate cookies:
In addition to the Christmas cracker candy I usually make, we also tried a new recipe that had sliced almonds on top:
And on the last day of Christmas, we baked and decorated sugar and gingerbread cookies:
I made a couple of bonus pies along the way, too:
And a bevy of festive drinks, including standards like egg nog and wassail, and some frappe kits from Aldi:
And just as we made a special dessert at the beginning of Thanksgiving week, we ended Epiphany week with a carrot cake:
I think that’s it for festive feasts and holiday baking…I’m ready to close the Markel bakery for a bit!
It’s kind of become our custom to have our “fancy” Christmas dinner a few days after Christmas, instead of on Christmas Day or the day after like we used to. But this year, I had to stretch the definition of fancy, because with grocery prices the way they are, there’s no way I could justify buying something like a beef tenderloin or standing rib roast or pork crown roast like I have in the past. So I decided to run with the Italian theme of our Christmas school, and make bolognese, which isn’t exactly fancy, but is really nice, and also a favorite of everyone here that I don’t get to make a lot because it takes a lot of time. I also baked Italian bread and some breaded artichokes, and made a tossed salad to go with it…it might not be the traditional definition of fancy, but it worked for us!
For dessert, I made cannoli, and if that isn’t fancy, I don’t know what is!
It may have different from our usual Christmas fare, but I’m really happy with how it turned out!
Place pork shoulder in slower cooker and salt and pepper to taste. Drain pineapple slices, reserving juice. Combine one bottle Hawaiian barbecue sauce with reserved pineapple juice and pour over pork. Cook on low 8-10 hours. In last hour, shred pork and drain off most of cooking liquid, then return pork to slow cooker with additional barbecue sauce if desired and finish cooking.
Serve on Hawaiian buns with pineapple slices, pepper jack cheese, additional barbecue sauce if desired, and a generous portion of jalapeño-cilantro slaw.
Today I’m sharing a recipe for one of our family’s top three favorite beverages…Brazilian lemonade, which I’ve been making ever since the 2016 Rio Olympics! Spoilers…there are no lemons in this drink, but rather limes, which makes it even tastier! I usually double (or even triple) the recipe because it’s so popular!
2 limes, washed well and quartered
3 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
4 handfuls ice cubes
Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain and serve over additional ice, if desired.
I’m still playing around with milkshake flavors, and this week, I’m sharing a non-alcoholic variety inspired by the famous Moscow Mule, with ginger syrup and lime juice. I topped it with ginger whipped cream and lime zest for a little extra punch of flavor, too!
2 cups vanilla ice cream
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup ginger syrup
1/4 cup lime juice
Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
My obsession with lavender continues! I’ve made lavender lemonade milkshakes in the past, but I decided I wanted to try to come up with a recipe that featured only lavender, and this fits the bill…it’s bright and refreshing!
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup lavender syrup
Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
My quest to find as many things to do with matcha as possible continues! This time, it’s matcha malts, and they’re bright and delicious! I served them with lavender whipped cream, but you could use any whipped cream, or none at all…the star here is the malt!
2 cups milk
4 cups vanilla ice cream
6 Tbsp. original malted milk powder
4 Tbsp. culinary matcha
Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy with your favorite whipped cream, if desired. Serves 3-4.
I really love preparing food and drinks with matcha, which is funny, because it was a flavor that I originally wasn’t a huge fan of! But it grew on me, and now I’m always looking for new ways to use it. Drinks are obvious, and sweet treats are a natural pairing for green tea (I’ve used it in everything from waffles to cheesecake and madeleines to crinkle cookies), but I’ve also found that it words well in savory preparations like matcha-garlic knots.
I’m still working on an idea for using it as a rub on a pork tenderloin, and I’m always on the lookout for new dessert recipes, too!
We had an afternoon treat of Cassius Tea Cookies from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook…they’re kind of like sugar cookies, but with black sesame seeds!
Of course we had our favorite Ronto Wraps, with roast pork, sausage, Ronto Wrap slaw, and peppercorn sauce from Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World. The Ronto Wrapper flatbreads were based on the recipe from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Cookbook, but I improvised a bit.
We also had a side of Yalbec Stingers from Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook:
And every special dinner calls for a special drink…this time, we had the Aleen Firefly, which was a combination of pineapple juice, Sprite, and Jello cubes from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook.
For dessert I made Kowakian Crumb Cake, a type of blueberry crisp from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Cookbook.
I also had a special Her Universe outfit to celebrate the day!
You can’t celebrate May the Fourth without also celebrating The Revenge of the Fifth, so I picked a few more recipes from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook. For dinner the main course was Nal Hutta Swamp Stew, which was a delicious pork stew with potatoes and roasted green chilies.
We also tried another new drink recipe, Seezelslak‘s Speciality, which was a light and refreshing smoothie made with coconut milk, frozen cantaloupe, and lime zest.
And for dessert, Ladybug made Cloud City Bread, which was like a cross between a meringue and a marshmallow, and so melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
I look forward to this fun little celebration every year!
