Cake Poll: WINter Wonderland Giveaway!
Monday, November 10, 2008 
Halloween and the election are over...whew! And now, we're at the cusp of the sweetest season of the year, that series of two months where we eat copious amounts of delicious pumpkin pie and christmas cookies. That's right--November is the point of do not pass go, do not diet until New Year's.
And in celebration, we're offering a seasonal sweets poll! It's a bounty of five sweet prizes--for five separate winners! The following prizes are being offered:
- One lucky winner will receive a cupcake tote bag from Penguinbot! Love is in the details with this sturdy, durable vinyl tote--it's delicately reverse-appliquéd with an adorable cupcake, with the an inner lining of bright, contrasting pattered fabric. It's an extremely well-made bag which would usually retail for $50 (and would be worth every penny). Even if you don't win, you should probably buy one (you know, to help the economy); you can get one here.
- Two lucky winners will receive Elisa Strauss' new book, Confetti Cakes for Kids. Even without kids, these recipes are super fun and the pictures are amazing to look at!
- Two winners will receive a pack of Cakespy Holiday notecards! Each pack includes an assortment of cards which are guaranteed to make this the sweetest holiday season ever!
What do you have to do to enter? Don't worry, it's easy. All you have to do is answer the following two questions.
1. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?
2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
But wait, there's more! If you copy and paste (or include a link to) a recipe for either of your responses, you'll be entered into the drawing twice! That's right...double your chances of winning!
SORRY--THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED!
cake poll
Reader Comments (219)
1. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? pecan pie
2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie? sugar cookies!
Favorite Thanksgiving Dessert:
Chocolate Chip Walnut Pie!
Ingredients
Unbaked 9” pie shell
3 eggs
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cup white corn syrup
2/3 cup walnut halves
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork; add salt, vanilla, sugar, corn syrup, beating just till well blended. Stir in the walnut halves and chocolate. Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell and bake for 45 minutes or until top is evenly puffed up and starts to crack. Cool before serving.
Favorite Christmas Cookie:
Mexican Wedding Cookies! Best recipe from America's Test Kitchen!
I know, I'm boring but I LOVE the classics!
1. My favoriteThanksgiving dessert is of course, Pumpkin Pie. Hands down.
2. My favorite Christmas cookie is none other than gingerbread!
Here is an Easy Gingerbread Cookie Recipe!
Ingredients:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. dark molasses
1/4 c. water
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
Directions:
Beat sugar, shortening, molasses and water in a large bowl on low speed until blended. Beat on medium speed 1 minute. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 1 to 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle counter top with flour; turn dough onto surface. Roll dough with a rolling pin until 1/4 inch thick. Cut with gingerbread man cutter.
Lift cookies carefully with a large spatula onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate cookies with raisins (optional). Bake until set 8 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool 3 minutes, then carefully remove from cookie sheet with a spatula.
Cool and decorate with frosting if you like. Makes about 1 dozen cookies.
Okay, so it's weird, but chocolate pudding pie is my favorite Thanksgiving recipe!
My favorite Christmas cookie, though, are pizzelles. It's become a family tradition (I'm proud of my Italian heritage) to make red and green pizzelles for friends and family for Christmas. It's so much fun! Here's my link: http://tinyurl.com/47qt2f
Thanks for doing the giveaway! Love your blog!
1. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?
That HAS to be pecan pie. YUM YUM!
2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
My favorite Christmas cookies are sugar cookies with decorative frosting. I think it "makes" Christmas to have one (or a dozen LOL) of those!
1. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?
Chess Pie for sure! Its my mom's favorite and she has me make it for her every year.
Here's a link to a recipe for it:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tanya-holland/chess-pie-recipe/index.html
2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
Definitely Mango Thumbprints.... when I was little my mom made them every year to give away to the neighbors for Christmas.
Here's a link to a Jam Thumbprint recipe, I definitely recommend that if you can find mango jam to try it!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/jam-thumbprint-cookies-recipe/index.html
My favorite is cheesecake and I adore Cranberry Oatmeal cookies for Christmas.
Cheryl
ooh, great goodies!! My favorite Thanksgiving dessert is Pumpkin Crunch & Christmas cookie is Biscochitos
Thanksgiving dessert - strawberry rhubarb cobbler with ice cream on top...mmmmmm
Christmas cookie - probably sugar cookies made with almond extract
Thanksgiving dessert - sweet potatoes with marshmallows! I know it's not dessert, but honestly, I don't see why not.
Christmas cookie - these gingery, cinnamony roll cookies that my mom got out of a McCall's magazine when she was a kid. We call them Betsy cookies after Betsy McCall.
My favorite Thanksgiving dessert is either pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars. I just posted a really good pumpkin bar recipe on my blog.
http://itsaboutfoodfamilyandlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/pumpkin-bars.html
My favorite Christmas cookie is probably any sugar cookie with delicious frosting!
1. My favorite Thanksgiving dessert is definitely Pumpkin Pie.
2. My favorite Christmas cookies are orange slice cookies. I am not sure if they qualify, but my family makes them every Christmas. Recipe linked below.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1810,151163-229192,00.html
For Turkey day I like Chocolate Pecan Pie.
And For Christmas, I like sugar cookies. I know… boring!
In the spirit of no dieting until after New Years, I really rarely choose only two favorites! But probably homemade pumpkin pie with extra spices and cloves and cool whip (not that crap from a can) and Christmas would have to be raspberry jam thumbprints.
1. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? Have to go with the classic Pumpkin Pie. But a nice pumpkin cheesecake is good too.
2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie? Jam Thumbprints and good ol' frosted sugar cookies.
Thanksgiving dessert??? HAS to be classic pumpkin pie with real whipped cream. I wait all year for it. YUM!
Cookies...that one is harder. I would have to say a cookie my mom calls Kolache. Filled with sweet nut filling and rolled like a crescent roll. Mmmmm....especially when they are still warm.
BTW--- I need that bag in the biggest way!
OOOOH, this is a hard one! I would say my favorite Thanksgiving dessert would be pecan pie. sometimes I make little pecan tarts- more work but oh so delicious!
For Christmas, definitely my mom's rugelach. she makes it with cinnamon & raisins- YUM!
The very best Thanksgiving desert: a Huge slice of Pumpkin Pie with tons of Whipped Cream!!!
and the Christmas Cookies, why my mother-in-laws Iced Sugar Cookies.
My FAVORITE thanksgiving dessert is Martha Stewart's Baby Sweet Potato Cakes, slightly under baked with a roasted marshmallow on top DRIZZLED with caramel sauce. It's like a glorified sweet potato casserole but as an individual dessert. Perfection!
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/baby-sweet-potato-cakes
My favorite holiday cookies are Mexican Wedding Cookies shaped to look like Viennese Crescents. My family loves Mexican wedding cookies but there's something about the crescent shape thats just so festive. They're basically the same cookie right? Well we enjoy it!
http://recipes.pauladeen.com/index.php/recipes/view/mexican_wedding_cookies/
Thanksgiving dessert: Pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream
Christmas cookie: I'll have to be predictable & say homemade & -decorated sugar cookies.
Thanksgiving Dessert: Ice Cream! My family always has pumpkin pie, but it's not really my thing so I have good ol' vanilla ice creram with loads of whipped cream.
Christmas Cookie: Rolo Cookies, we have a cookie swap every year, and I always make these.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1710,152167-248201,00.html
Happy Holidays!
My favorite Thanksgiving dessert is mince meat pie, with a generous helping of whiskey whipped cream on top (don't flick your Bic near me is all I can tell you!)... and my favorite Christmas cookie is the Mexican Wedding Cake/Russian Tea Cake. PERFECT with tea. PERFECT with coffee. PERFECT sneaky snack (though the powdered sugar leaves a trail) as I'm bustling through the house listening to Christmas music.
My favorite Thanksgiving dessert is Cherry Pomegranate Jello. It is so refreshing and light after a huge meal, and the spiced cool whip on top tastes like the holidays.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/cherry-pomegranate-jell-o-107837.aspx
My favorite cookie is the giant ginger cookie. If you just barely bake them, like I do, they come out so soft and chewy, and the strong spiciness is the perfect Christmas flavor.
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/desserts/giant-ginger-cookies/
Brittany
My Favorite Thanksgiving dessert is pumpkin pie covered in Whip Cream!!!
My favorite christmas cookie is (it is so hard to narrow it down!!!) spritz cookie!!!
http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/recipesearch/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=11704
1. Easy, Mom's Pecan pie.
2. Almond Kisses
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
1 ½ cups melted butter (3 sticks)
2 cups white sugar (granulated)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 cup molasses (2 tablespoons)
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (if you use salted almonds, cut the salt to ½ teaspoon)
1 ½ cups finely ground almonds (grind them in food processor with the steel blade- thy don’t have to be blanched)
2 beaten eggs
4 cups flour
13 oz. Bag Hershey’s Kisses (or small squares of milk chocolate)
Microwave the butter in your mixing bowl to melt it. Add the sugar, the vanilla, the almond flavoring, and the molasses. Stir until it’s blended, then add the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
Grind up the almonds in your food processor. Measure after grinding. Add them to the bowl and mix.
Pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Then add the flour and mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.
Let the dough firm up for a few minutes. The form it into walnut-sized balls and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet.
Cut the Hershey’s Kisses in half (from the top down, so that each half has a point and a base). Press the halves into the middle of your bookie balls, cut side down. They’ll look pretty on top as a yummy decoration.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minute, or until the edges are just beginning to turn golden. (Don’t worry– the Hershey’s Kisses won’t melt) Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Yield: 10 to 12 dozen cookies, depending on cookie sizes. (Cut recipe in half if need be)
~From Lemon Meringue Murder by Joanne Fluke