My mother suffered from eczema and could not do the "hand mixing" that was required of both recipes (in the time before food processors came along). From the time I can remember, I was Mom's kitchen helper, doing most of the chores requiring "hands on" when she could not do those chores. So until my siblings were older and could help, Christmas baking fell to me with Mom assisting with chores that didn't require her to touch the ingredients.
Pictured above are Cherry Coconut Bars, Cream Wafers, Chocolate Truffles, Spiced Pecans and Russian Tea Cakes (or Mexican Wedding Cakes). The Cherry Coconut Bars and Cream Wafers are the two "family" recipes that I've been making off and on ever since I was a young girl... and once I discovered that the "hand mixing" could be done better and more efficiently using a food processor, I've been making them almost every year since. The other items are more recent additions with the Russian Tea Cakes being made for the first time this year.
Recipes for the Cherry Coconut Bars, Cream Wafers, Chocolate Truffles, Spiced Pecans and some other holiday treats not pictured here may be found on my other blog starting with Holiday Baking - Part 1 and I share ALL my secrets for simplifying the recipes.
This looks sooooo yummy :)
ReplyDeleteThey do look very yummy (and I love the plate they are on). I use to work on a unit in the hospital where we treated people with severe eczema. It can be such a debilating disorder. Your mom was blessed to have you as a helper and I am sure you learned a lot about cooking and baking.
ReplyDeleteYou are something else, Victoria! I declare. I have the time, technically, to make such delicacies but I can never in 100 years imagine myself doing them. I could make them, of course, but have long ago left such motivation to others, like you...while I sit and marvel! Too bad I can't also test one of each, just to make sure you really are following the recipe correctly! :) Congratulations is all I can say.
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