Christmas Family Recipes - Red Hot Popcorn & Great-Grandma Kelly's Gingersnaps

I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since Christmas!  You may have seen some photos on Facebook or Instagram of a mother/daughter baking day I had with my mom over the holidays.  We baked several treats that are family recipes I wanted to share.

We made red hot popcorn, which is the most addicting popcorn you’ll ever eat.  This is one of my favorite family recipes.  Coated in melted butter, Karo syrup & red hots, it is like a cinnamon version of kettle corn. If you’re not careful, you can easily finish off a bag in one sitting.  The recipe looks like it makes a lot, but trust me, you’ll want more. 

Then we made gingersnap cookies that are my Great-Grandma Kelly’s recipe (my mom’s mom’s mom…) They are one of my favorite cookies ever with lots of molasses and dusted with a coat of sugar.  They aren’t really ginger “snaps” because they are actually soft gooey cookies.  The red hots obviously aren’t part of the original recipe, but my mom has adds them in the center for decoration in her version. Again, the recipe makes a lot, but you’ll want them all! I have a copy in a cookbook from elementary school – all the parents submitted their favorite family recipes and compiled them into one book. 

We also made WAY too many cutout cookies, which were from a Pinterest recipe.  My mom made the dough from the blog Babes in Disneyland.  We couldn’t find her rolling pin, so at first we were rolling them out with a wine bottle (didn’t work as well as we hoped).  Luckily, we were able to borrow one from a neighbor for the rest. 

We started out with super intricate designs, but quickly realized that it would take days to decorate them all at that pace, so towards the end they just got dunked in icing and coated in sprinkles. 

Lance and I have been in our house since March and had still only met a couple of our neighbors, so we wrapped the cutout cookies up and brought them to all our neighbors on our block.  It was such a nice way to meet everyone, plus it saved us the calories of eating them all ourselves. 

Hope you enjoy these family recipes. If you have any family favorites, send them my way – I’d love to try them!

Red Hot Popcorn

Ingredients:

• 5 bags kettle corn
• 4 boxes Red Hots
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup clear Karo Syrup

Directions:

1. Pop popcorn & empty into a large pan.

2. Melt butter in a saucepan & add Red Hots & Karo syrup. Stir constantly on medium so they don't burn until Red Hots are dissolved.

3. Pour Red Hot mixture carefully onto popcorn small amounts at a time. Mix popcorn until all of it is coated and mixture is gone.

4. Bake in 250 degree oven for 1-1/2 hours, turning every 30 mins. Put on wax paper to cool.

Great-Grandma Kelly’s Gingersnaps

Ingredients:

• 4 cups sugar
• 3 sticks butter
• 4 eggs
• 7 cups flour
• 3 t. baking soda
• 1 cup molasses
• 4 t. vinegar
• 4 t. ginger
• Dash of cinnamon and cloves
• Red hot candies (optional)

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, molasses, vinegar, and remaining dry ingredients, sifted together. 

2. Form into balls.  Slightly flatten down, add a red hot candy to the center, and top with granulated sugar.  Bake at 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes.  

Holly White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps

I made these cookies the other day for our work Christmas party and they were all devoured!  The original recipe just had red frosting for the holly berries, but I used Red Hots instead for some extra cinnamon flavor.  They were a bit time consuming to make, but I’m really happy with how they turned out.  Merry Christmas everybody!

Holly White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps (adapted from Cooking Classy)

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t ground ginger
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t allspice
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup + 3 T granulated sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 t vanilla extract
• Red Hots
• 3 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup powdered sugar (or enough until icing gets to desired consistency)
• 5-6 drops green food coloring

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg for 20 seconds, set aside.

2.  In electric stand mixer, cream together butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar until well blended. Mix in egg, then blend in molasses and vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined.

3.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees during last 10 minutes of chilling.

3. Scoop dough out about 1-1/2 T at a time, shape into balls then roll in remaining 3 Tbsp granulated sugar. Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart and flattening them slightly.  Press in red hots off center to resemble holly berries. 

4. Bake in preheated oven 8 - 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5.  Boil water in a small saucepan.  Fit a glass bowl on top and melt the white chocolate chips in the bowl.  The double boiler method ensures that your chips don’t burn. 

6.  Dip half of the cookies into the white chocolate and let completely dry on parchment paper. 

7.  Once the white chocolate is completely dried, mix together the egg whites, powdered sugar, and green food coloring.  Use a toothpick to draw out leaves on the cookies to complete the holly decorations.  

Pane Rustica – Tampa, FL

 

A week or so ago, I went out to dinner with my Grandma Anne to celebrate my new job and engagement.  One of my favorite restaurants is Pane Rustica – but somehow I had only ever made it there for lunch (you can read about their lunch here).  We decided to try it out for dinner and it exceeded my already high expectations.  Dining for lunch is a more casual experience, but at dinner, they transition over to table service and dim the lights for ambiance. 

Their owners Kevin and Karyn Kruszewski are some of the nicest people, and I have several friends who work there.  Pane has catered the Christmas party at my parents’ condo the last few years, and I’m hoping to have them cater our wedding! 

We were served a fresh loaf of their in-house baked bread with hummus, olives, cherry peppers, and olive oil while we decided on our entrees.    

I tried their special – Herb Grilled Hawaiian Opah – since I’d never had that fish before.  It was served with root vegetable puree, roasted fennel & Brussels sprouts, Florida peaches, micro arugula, and pomegranate coulis.  The fish had texture like salmon, but was milder in flavor.  I was served a huge portion – and the accompanying vegetables were perfect.  I love Brussels sprouts, but I think even someone who didn’t would have enjoyed these. 

Grandma had the Pan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops.  She opted out of the chorizo that normally is part of that dish, but it included crispy potato coins, local snap pea shoots, creamy corn fondue, and chile oil.  The scallops were enormous – and very flavorful.  She cleared her whole dish. 

I ended up taking some of my meal home so we could have room for dessert!  I’ve had their espresso cookies several times before – crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside.  This time we had the cookies in a sundae with ice cream and fresh fruit.  Yum!!

I took my leftovers home, but when I went to unload them I had a surprise!  I was sent home with an extra box of pastries – a scone, muffin, and cupcake.  We enjoyed those over the next few days.  The cupcake frosting tasted like it was made with Oreo filling. 

 

Can’t wait to go back again – you really can’t go wrong with anything you order there.  Super happy with our meal! 

Pane Rustica is located at 3225 S MacDill Ave, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open from 8am – 5pm on Tuesday, 8am – 10pm Wednesday through Saturday, 8am – 3pm on Sunday, and closed Mondays.  11am – 11pm.

Pane Rustica – Tampa, FL

While Lance’s parents were in town, we ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Pane Rustica.  Several of my friends work there, and their food is incredible.  They are Zagat rated and they’re on Tasting Tampa’s list of Top 10 Restaurants in South Tampa.  

I have actually only ever dined for lunch, which is more casual and fast-paced.  Everything is so fresh – from their hearth-baked pizzas, to gourmet sandwiches, salads, and pastas.  They bake their own bread, plus they have gelato!  Their specials change regularly, and no matter what you order, you’ll enjoy it.  If you can’t decide, they even have an option called “Shut Up & Eat, don’t ask…You’ll love it!!!”

 

 

Since everyone in town knows how great their food is, they tend to get pretty busy for lunch.  My friends that work there give me a hard time because I nearly always order their daily Roasted Acorn Squash special filled with chicken salad (the salad changes regularly, so sometimes it’s always slightly different).  Depending on who prepares yours, it may come with a happy face!   

 

I got my usual and Lance’s mom, Rita, ordered the squash as well, and LG had a slice of pizza with pear and balsamic vinegar. 

 

 

If you order a water to drink, they have dispenser set up with flavor infused water – this time it was strawberry, lime, and basil.  It is so refreshing, and the food was perfect as always. 

My parents’ condo threw a holiday party on Sunday night catered by Pane Rustica, and since I was the official photographer, I was lucky to enjoy even more of their delicious food later that weekend.  

They served beautiful cocktails, crab cakes, prosciutto wrapped shrimp with mango drizzle, lamb lollipops, and more!  My friends Pate, Katie, and Alex were bartenders and servers for the event.  If you ever need catering, go talk to the owner, Kevin, at Pane and you won’t regret it. 

 

 

 

Pane Rustica also had some sweet espresso cookies and mini raspberry tartlets at the party.  But the dessert I was most impressed with was actually baked by our family friend, Margaret Colby.  She is only in high school, yet bakes some of the most beautiful desserts you’ll ever see!  She made gingerbread snowflake cookies that were almost too pretty to eat. 

 

 

It was a great weekend with lots of remarkable food!

Pane Rustica is located at 3225 S MacDill Ave, Tampa, FL 33629 and is open from 8am – 5pm on Tuesday, 8am – 10pm Wednesday through Saturday, 8am – 3pm on Sunday, and closed Mondays.