Holiday Planning: Food Edition

DragonHeart

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It's October already, which means the holidays are just around the corner.

I'm planning a very ambitious baking project, which got me to thinking. Fellow bakers and holiday event planners of AW, when do you start planning, and how do you manage things on a larger scale? Tips, tricks and tales of food-related holiday successes (and failures...) are welcome here.

I'm a dispatcher for about 40 drivers--my project is to put together holiday cookie tins for every single one of them for Christmas. I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, but the sheer amount of baking is a little intimidating. If everyone gets a dozen, that's just shy of 500 cookies! That's a lot of cookies.

I'm still a little stuck on what to do for my diabetic driver and coworker. I'm glad I haven't just gone the "make it with Splenda and call it a day" route, as I talked to the driver about it more and he shares the same opinion I do, that artificial sweeteners aren't really any better of an option. So I'm still looking for a low sugar, preferably naturally sweetened option.

And that's not including what I'll be making for the office staff/drivers to share at my desk! I'll be doing my infamous hot cocoa cookies again for sure, those are always a hit. I only make them once a year because that's how long it takes to work them off at the gym lol. I really want to do a Stollen this year, and I also want to try to recreate the "fruit cake cookies" I made a couple years ago when I planned to do a Stollen and didn't, and ended up Frankensteining a recipe in order to use up the fruity bits. It turned out really well but I can't for the life of me remember what I did. Greek butter cookies are also a must, I have the recipe passed down from my Yia-yia many years ago.
 

mrsmig

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Have you thought about a savory baked good for your diabetic coworker? Something like a cheese twist, maybe?

I won't be able to do much baking this holiday season (I'll be in a New York sublet, instead of at home, where all my baking paraphernalia lives), but in the past I've made a lot of my recipes up to three months in advance and frozen the results. I haven't noticed an appreciable difference between a frozen/thawed cookie and one that was made the day before.

You wouldn't want to share that hot cocoa cookie recipe, would you?
 

Ari Meermans

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Have you thought about a savory baked good for your diabetic coworker? Something like a cheese twist, maybe?

I won't be able to do much baking this holiday season (I'll be in a New York sublet, instead of at home, where all my baking paraphernalia lives), but in the past I've made a lot of my recipes up to three months in advance and frozen the results. I haven't noticed an appreciable difference between a frozen/thawed cookie and one that was made the day before.

You wouldn't want to share that hot cocoa cookie recipe, would you?

The savory baked good idea is a good one. Yeah, it is; I do that periodically just to get my diabetic spouse off his sugar binges. He's a chocolate chip cookie fiend and I often cut way back on both sugars—sometimes subbing a Tablespoon of honey—and using dark chocolate to further cut the sugar.

I'd also like the hot cocoa cookie recipe, iffen yer willing.
 

Kerosene

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Hmm... can't help you with the diabetic part. I do know that it depends on the person and their situation, but to my understanding the problem they can encounter isn't just limited to sugar but starches in general. Just swapping sugar for artificial sweetener might not be worth it if you're cutting 20 grams of sugar from a recipe with 30 grams of flour. I do know they can have lower sugar chocolate, so maybe do custom chocolate treats? Chocolate bark with nuts and no sugar added dried fruit (almost all dried fruit has a ludicrous amount of added sugar, Trader Joe's has a good selection of no sugar added stuff). Or you could gift the cookies regardless and explain that you're not too sure how sensitive they are, but you are aware and didn't want to leave them out--they can always give them away to others. This sorts into personal problems that folks that know their conditions tend to deal with. There's a lot of others out there who have celiac's disease or allergic to nuts or dieting who appreciate the gift, but are used to handing them off to others. You can't account and make special needs for everyone.

With large scale batch cookies, you can do a lot of prep work ahead of time. If you don't have a stand mixer, I'd ask around to family+friends to see if they do and will let you borrow it. Hit up a restaurant supply store for large mixing bowls and cookie baking sheets that are the largest you can fit in your oven and a ton of parchment paper that you prep in sheets sized for the trays and cooling racks. Have the mixer do the creaming and general mixing, then you mix in the toppings by hand and portion out the cookies. It's worth getting a properly sized ice-cream scoop for easy portioning. Then from here you can decide if you want to bake on the spot or bake another day. You can prep all the dough and refrigerate and freeze, then bake the next day. Or prep and bake all at the same time in cycles. Depending on the recipe, you can freeze the cookies after bagging+tagging them too.


I'm still debating if I want to do any cooking this holiday season or volunteer in shelters (and do a proper multi-day effort). I'm tempted to tackle a full-on holiday meal with multi-day prep for desserts and do everything from scratch. I've been really getting into cooking, but I'll have to see about what other people are doing and what my work load looks like at that time. Dunno if I'll have time for anything. Honestly, I think it'll be nice knowing I don't have to make a feast so I don't have to struggle with deciding what desserts I want. I can't make them all!
 

cornflake

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I know it sounds counterintuitive, but maybe candy for the diabetics?

Like maybe honeycomb dipped in *dark* chocolate? Honeycomb is obviously mostly sugar, but you get a lot of bulk for not a lot of sugar, bust it up into shards and if you use a very dark, but very good chocolate, like an 85% Callebaut or Valronha or something, it might end up a workable treat to put in cello bags?

Or savoury stuff? There's a nice whole wheat scone recipe the NYTimes has that I've made for years; they're fairly soft/moist and lightish as scones go, and the recipe is flexible. Most people really like them.
 

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My diabetic family member adores nuts during the holidays. I get pecans and roast them with some butter, sea salt or whatever seasoning sounds good. Put them in a holiday gift bag, add a ribbon and they make a really nice gift.
 

kikazaru

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I know it sounds counterintuitive, but maybe candy for the diabetics?

Like maybe honeycomb dipped in *dark* chocolate? Honeycomb is obviously mostly sugar, but you get a lot of bulk for not a lot of sugar, bust it up into shards and if you use a very dark, but very good chocolate, like an 85% Callebaut or Valronha or something, it might end up a workable treat to put in cello bags?

.

This is a good idea but maybe it could be chocolate dipped pretzels or potato chips? You get that nice hit of dark chocolate along with a some salt which is a lovely combo. Also at one time I used to be able to buy chocolate covered Ritz crackers which are delicious, but fortunately for my hips I can no longer find them. I would think they'd be easy to make.

Also shortbread are lovely traditional cookies and they don't have a lot of sugar in them.
 

kikazaru

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As for the OP, it doesn't have to be cookies or sweets. Every year my mother makes a huge roasting pan full of "nuts and bolts" which is basically a mix of cereals like Shreddies, plain Cheerios, bugles, pretzels, fishy crackers and nuts which is then roasted with butter seasoned with garlic and spices. It is delicious and addictive.

She also makes something similar which is done with Ritz Bits (small ritz crackers) tossed in oil, dill and packaged ranch dressing. Yummy!

Both these types of treats are easy and make a ton and would be good for people who can't have a lot of sugar.
 

cornflake

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This is probably why the poster should ask, because I'd think pretzels or chips in chocolate would be almost the same, basically, as candy especially pretzels, or a mix of cereals, crackers, pretzels. They're just carbs.

The nut thing seems like a safer idea -- Martha Stewart has a bunch of holiday spiced nut recipes.
 

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I started my planning a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to do something different this year, so I scoured the net for new cookie recipes to try and found a bunch that I'm hoping will work well. I like to plan in advance because it allows me to spread out the purchase of ingredients so I don't wind up with a massive grocery bill buying it all in one go. I get stuff that's got a long use by date - a couple at a time with each grocery shop. And because I'm an over-planner, I also have my baking schedule worked out. :) I'm planning to give trays of cookies to a few neighbours along with a jar of my father's Christmas Ginger Marmalade recipe. (made that in September because it always tastes better if the flavours have a bit of time to sit together.) I'm kind of excited about all these new cookie recipes - and hoping they'll turn out! LOL

My plan is to start baking and freezing in mid-November. One thing to remember, if you're freezing stuff, particularly if it has jam or powdered icing sugar (looking at you, Linzer cookies) don't put them together before you freeze them. Just freeze the two parts separately and then when you thaw them out then put them together with the jam and dust with icing sugar.

A cookie scoop is awesome for getting uniform sizes of cookies. I'd never heard of cookie scoops before my friend in California sent me one, and now I wouldn't be without it! I second the suggestion of using parchment paper on the baking trays. Saves a LOT of clean up. My stand mixer is going to get a serious workout this year too.

With regards to the diabetic people you want to make treats for, I agree that it would be a good idea to ask them for input. I also agree that seasoned nuts would be awesome. Another thing you might consider is doing pretty little jars of blended spices/herbs, or specialty oils (lots of recipes for those on the internet) in a little carry basket. I think, when it comes to homemade goodies, people are just thrilled that someone thought enough of them to actually MAKE them something.
 

DragonHeart

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I did ask him for input. He can do small amounts of sugar/carbs, and since most diabetic sweet recipes (that I've found, and he said he had similar results) are basically ""just use Splenda" or whatever, he told me he prefers to save his sugars for beer instead lol. I can easily do savory goods yes, I'm just determined to find at least one really nice sweet recipe I can make for him. Hm...maybe really dark chocolate brigadeiro or some other type of truffle would work. I can make them smaller than the standard size, and maybe do sea salt or some other flavorings.

I do have basically all the stuff mentioned so far. I actually have two stand mixers; my newer Kitchen Aid and an inherited Sunbeam Mixmaster that's older than I am. Really need to find somewhere to get a second bowl for the KA though, one is just not enough even when I'm not mass producing treats. I use sheet pans with Silpats in my oven, and I've never not used cookie scoops, got two different sizes of those.

Baking ahead is the only thing I haven't really done yet, but I don't see much of a choice with the sheer volume I'm going to be working with. The hardest part will be deciding what cookies to make! I know for sure I'm doing biscotti of some flavor, and something chocolate. Maybe not chocolate chip or M&M cookies though. And some classic 'spice' flavor; gingerbread, maybe, or maple. Finally, something fruity to round out the collection; Linzers are definitely an option here.

@Ari, do you happen to have a recipe for those chocolate chip cookies? It sounds like something I can work with. I tend to make very small cookies most of the time anyway so that will help with the overload of carbs problem, I think. I'd rather just make something high quality that can be enjoyed in small amounts without killing said diabetics lol.

And yes, I can share the recipe for those hot cocoa cookies. :)

https://therecipecritic.com/2013/12/hot-cocoa-cookies/

I do make one addition: add 1 tsp of cinnamon or espresso powder to intensify the chocolate flavor of the cookie itself.

I also used this recipe as a base to make my own S'mores cookies that turned out pretty amazing.
 

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Then I'd say the honeycomb shards dipped in dark chocolate, if you want to do sweets, because you get the sweet but less sugar for the bulk. If you've never made honeycomb it's super simple, takes like five minutes. This has a bunch of good pics, though I don''t use corn syrup, just twice the honey as that (or maple syrup).

As for the regular baking, I wouldn't bake ahead, I'd make dough ahead and freeze. Chocolate crackles I've made ahead and formed the dough into balls and frozen the balls; you can do sugar cookies and form logs, freeze the logs then roll in sanding sugar and slice to bake. Lots of doughs freeze great in sliceable logs.
 

Ari Meermans

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I tend to use tried and true recipes because they're the best tasting, simply making the adjustments I want or need to make.

The original Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe ingredients are:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

These are the exchanges I make and why:

2 to 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (less conversion to sugar in the body)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder (we like puffy choc chip cookies and it puts back in the airiness you would have gotten with all purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 teaspoon powdered Stevia (Stevia is NOT a synthetic sugar substitute, doesn't cause glycation, and actually contains nutrients)*
1 Tablespoon Honey or Molasses (yeah, that's some sugar, but it's not much and they add back in to a certain extent the lovely flavor brown sugar gave the original recipe and they don't cause blood sugar spikes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (or dark chocolate chips or chunks)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions are the same:

Combine flour, baking soda, stevia, and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar (if any used, see below) or honey or molasses (if used), and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Chill dough for at least an hour to prevent spreading during baking

Heat oven to 375 F

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

*Special note: I never completely run out of Stevia, but when I'm running low, I substitute 1/2 teaspoon Stevia and 1/8 cup of each of the white and brown sugars for the 3/4 cup of each. It's still sugar, but a lot less. If you go that route, you can omit the honey or reduce it to 1 teaspoon.

Another note: If I'd known about the role of sugar in aging (glycation), I'd have fewer wrinkles today. just sayin'
 
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Myrealana

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I usually make a ton of cookies, but so does my mom, and we end up with more than anyone can possibly eat.

Homemade marshmallows are a requirement. Those are my specialty. I like to try out new flavors and pair them with fancy homemade cocoas.

My husband is particularly fond of gingerbread hot cocoa with cardamom marshmallows. My son likes plain hot cocoa with cinnamon marshmallows.
 

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Sounds like you're well equipped and good to go.

A while back I made some really nice vanilla biscotti with almonds and orange-flavored dried cranberries from Trader Joe's. It'll probably taste better with chocolate cookie base, and maybe the vanilla could be apricot and pistachio.
 

DragonHeart

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Crushed biscotti makes a really nice base for a cheesecake, jus' sayin'...

Thanks Ari, that's fantastic! I am definitely saving that. I actually do have some whole wheat flour, so that works out perfectly. I also prefer tried and true recipes; I can mod stuff relatively easily, I've just never tried making anything within specific dietary restrictions before. Seeing how you changed each thing and why helps a lot. I'll probably do a test batch in the next couple of weeks. I wonder if it's worth adding espresso powder to really play up the chocolate too. And maybe a touch of orange to pair with really good quality dark chocolate, hm...
 

Ari Meermans

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You're welcome, DragonHeart. I think it's important to tell why you make certain substitutions 'cause if someone doesn't like a certain ingredient, they can choose a comparable one more in line with their own tastes or that works better for them.

Also, you gave me the idea about adding a smidge of cinnamon to play up the chocolate; we should all incorporate more cinnamon in our diets, but it's a particularly good idea for diabetics because it's thought to help cut cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Studies aren't conclusive on that . . . but, hey, if there's a chance it does, that's a good thing. So thank you for that.
 
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DragonHeart

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Yeah, I usually use an extra tsp or so of cinnamon whenever I make something chocolate. I just happened to recently get my hands on espresso powder (it's not easy to find in my area) and wanted to try it out. But since it's potentially helpful for diabetics, I think I'll stick with cinnamon for this recipe.

Hm, now you have me thinking about converting snickerdoodles, for health reasons of course. :p Mine might as well be cinnamon cookies anyway, lol.

Ok, it got me thinking so I went ahead and did a rough "conversion" of my cinnamon cookie recipe:

Original Cinnamon Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt


cinnamon sugar

Low Sugar Version:

1 tbsp honey
1 tsp powdered Stevia
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

(cinnamon sugar for topping?)

Directions:

Directions:


1 In a mixer bowl, cream together sugar Stevia, honey and butter; beat in egg and vanilla.


2 In a separate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


3 Add to butter mixture.


4 Blend well.


5 Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or till firm enough to roll into balls.


6 Shape dough into small balls about 3/4-inch in diameter.


7 Roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. (Optional)


8 Set cookies 1-inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.


9 Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or till the edges are lightly browned.


10 Cool slightly on pans, then remove to racks to cool completely.


I'm not sure if I want to do the roll in cinnamon sugar part, I mean realistically the amount of sugar that would add is negligible, on the other hand it's kind of silly to remove sugar and then add it somewhere else...
 
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Introversion

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I did ask him for input. He can do small amounts of sugar/carbs, and since most diabetic sweet recipes (that I've found, and he said he had similar results) are basically ""just use Splenda" or whatever, he told me he prefers to save his sugars for beer instead lol. I can easily do savory goods yes, I'm just determined to find at least one really nice sweet recipe I can make for him. Hm...maybe really dark chocolate brigadeiro or some other type of truffle would work. I can make them smaller than the standard size, and maybe do sea salt or some other flavorings.

My thoughts, as a diabetic...

I agree with what others have said about carbs from flour. Bread whacks my blood sugars pretty hard; no frosting needed for that.

I love homemade beef jerky for a low-carb savory snack. But if you really want to make a sweet-ish snack for your friend, maybe try frying short lengths of bacon until it’s crisp, let it cool, then dip it in dark chocolate. Sweet + salty work well together.

Also, for Xmas, I frankly let myself go. Enjoy a bite of nice candy, or a slice of cake. Maybe your friend is okay with straying on the holidays too?
 

DragonHeart

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Possibly. The other diabetic in the office eats everything I make regardless of the sugar/carb load, I'm afraid I'm gonna kill him one day lol. Just because it's there doesn't mean he has to eat it, so not really my responsibility either. But I'd still like to have a few options I can provide, just like how if anyone has food allergies I would do my best to accommodate on a regular basis.

In the holiday season I usually bake 2-3 times a week, and most of that goes to work with me so I don't eat it all myself. XD I've got about 40 drivers and 20 office staff, it's rare for anything to last longer than a day unless I make a double batch or keep a ruler handy for the people who usually take more than a fair share.
 

cornflake

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Possibly. The other diabetic in the office eats everything I make regardless of the sugar/carb load, I'm afraid I'm gonna kill him one day lol. Just because it's there doesn't mean he has to eat it, so not really my responsibility either. But I'd still like to have a few options I can provide, just like how if anyone has food allergies I would do my best to accommodate on a regular basis.

In the holiday season I usually bake 2-3 times a week, and most of that goes to work with me so I don't eat it all myself. XD I've got about 40 drivers and 20 office staff, it's rare for anything to last longer than a day unless I make a double batch or keep a ruler handy for the people who usually take more than a fair share.

This may be a Type 1 vs. Type 2 thing. The Type 1 diabetic I know eats whatever, and says that's his basic outlook (as a T1, not like he personally doesn't care about managing his diabetes). I believe there is a difference in how they tend to manage the disease because the form is different.
 

DragonHeart

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Maybe, as far as I know they're both type 2 though. But one is significantly older than the other, so maybe that has something to do with it. The guy who's more careful and actually just got a gastric bypass to help him lose weight and manage his diabetes better is my age (early 30s) and has young kids. The one who eats everything is probably late 50s, early 60s and has grandkids and the opposite weight problem, he can't keep weight on. Of course he just avoids sugar (sort of) and eats tons of carbs and diet soda. I've seen him eat real food maybe once or thrice, it's not good at all and I sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable when I make things to bring in and know he's going to eat some because I really would feel responsible if he overindulged and had an issue.

But in all honestly the majority of the things I make are intended to be for my drivers, it's just that the office staff tends to swoop in and take most of it for themselves. I've resorted to making double batches of everything, or making a couple of recipes. Last week I made a 2 loaves of pumpkin bread and the general manager legit ate half the platter by himself...

But anyway we're well into the season now and I thought I'd give an update. I'm all stocked up on ingredients and just started yesterday. These are the 4 things that will make up the goody bags for my drivers:

American-style Vanilla Biscotti
Chocolate Crinkles
Vanilla-Orange Cranberry Cookies
Salty-Sweet Butter Pecan Cookies

Had to triple the batch on everything to get enough, after calculating I do have ~40 drivers, and I'll make a couple extra bags up in case I forgot someone or we have a cover driver for whatever reason.

I've got the Chocolate Crinkle dough chilled in my fridge, going to make the balls and freeze them today. Then I'll do the Vanilla-Orange Cranberry Cookies. That's probably all I'll get to this weekend, I'm also making a batch of roasted banana maple walnut bread that was requested and an experiment--brigadeiro-dipped biscotti.

The main issue is that due to timing I don't think I can just bake everything next weekend and hope it'll make it to Friday when I actually start giving everything out. I'm going to have to try to fit all these batches in before/after work on Wednesday and Thursday. Sigh.