Holiday Recipe Challenge

The holidays always bring on the recipe challenge.  Whether it is for Christmas or New Year’s dinner.  Whose sweet potato pie recipe is the best or whose banana pudding is the tastiest.  We even try to decide whether we want the original version of collard greens or the healthy version with smoked turkey.  TCGi want you to send us your best holiday recipe.  We will donate $10 to the TCGi Foundation in your name.  You can send as many recipes as you want.  However you are limited to one donation per person.  We will even add your recipes to this blog post.

To start off, here are some of our favorites.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

4 cups of (boiled and mashed) sweet potatoes

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

½ cup of heavy cream

2 cups of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoons of lemon extract or fresh lemon juice

4 eggs

Dash of salt

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Beat eggs and then add sugar, salt, flavor extracts, cinnamon and nutmeg
  3. Add heavy cream and mix. Add melted butter.  Add mashed sweet potatoes
  4. Mix thoroughly with a mixer to remove lumps
  5. Pour mixture into deep dish pie shells. Back for one hour or until firm to the touch.

(Yields about 2 pies) You can double the recipe and freeze extra pies

 

Auntie’s Banana Pudding

Ingredients

4 Eggs, separated (yolk separated from the egg white)

3 packages of Vanilla Cook & Serve pudding (never use instant pudding mix)

6 cups of milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 – 3 boxes of Nilla vanilla wafers

12 – 16 medium ripe, golden, yellow bananas (make sure the bananas are not green or too ripe)

Directions:

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. Separate 4 eggs (egg yolks in one bowl & egg whites in another) reserving the egg whites for the meringue.  Beat egg yolks slightly, the egg yolks will be used in the pudding.
  3. Make the custard:  Follow the instructions for Jello cook and serve vanilla pudding from the box using the milk.  Add the eggs yolks to the pudding mix while you are cooking and stirring it.  The eggs make the pudding richer. You MUST stir the pudding the whole time it is cooking or it will stick and burn.  Keep the temperature on the pot med low.  The pudding can burn quickly.  Scorched pudding is not good.  Add vanilla as soon as you turn off the pudding.
  4. Prepare the cookie and banana base:  Spray the pan with Pam or grease with some butter.  Place a layer of cookies on the bottom of the pan and standing up around the sides (Cookies should be flat side up).  Now add a second layer of cookies over the first layer.  They should look like a cookie sandwiches.  Cover the cookies with a thick layer of bananas.  I use about 6 to 8 bananas depending on their size.
  5. Pour the first layer of pudding custard over the cookies and bananas (half the pudding custard).
  6. Repeat the base:  double layer of cookies and bananas.  Top with the other half of the pudding custard.  Put pudding custard dish aside while you make the meringue topping.
  7. Make the meringue:  Pore the egg whites into a bowl.  Beat the egg whites on high until they are stiff and make peaks (3 to 5 minutes).  Gradually add ¼ cups of sugar while continuing to beat.  Beat until the meringue is stiff and will stand up on its own.  Spoon the meringue over the pudding custard dish.  Spread the meringue until you cover the entire surface evenly, sealing the edges well.  Do not substitute whipped cream or Ready Whip for meringue.  You will have a wet mess.
  8. Brown in the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes.  The tops of the peaks will be lightly brown and the egg whites lightly cooked.   Never let it brown for more than 15 minutes or the bananas will cook and become hard as hockey pucks.

Your Turn

Let’s see your best recipe for any of your holiday favorites.  I am still looking for that best collard green recipe and what about the New Year’s pork.  If you don’t want your recipe published, just let us know.  I know how it is.  Some of you don’t want to share that secret family recipe with the world.  You can email your recipe to Denise Joyner West, VP Marketing at dwest@technologyconcepts.com. Happy Holidays and Good eating!