December Recipe Round-Up {Winter Holidays}

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

All the joys & feels the holiday season brings! Celebrating what the season truly means to each of us, decorating our homes, finding or creating thoughtful gifts for those we love, spending time with family & friends and of course all the food.

If you're baking cookies for everyone you know - or maybe just Santa - we have lots of cookie ideas this month. If you're making a holiday dinner, or just bringing a side dish - we got you covered. Oh, and if you need something a little more "festive" we have some drinks too. Don't forget that your holiday party hosts, friends, family, and co-workers would probably love a delicious edible gift, too! I like to gift things like fudge, nuts, etc. that I make and people are always so appreciative.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa - Happy Holidays! Whatever you celebrate, we hope you have a joyous holiday with the ones you love! This is my last monthly recipe round-up post and I'll be focusing on new things for my blog in the coming new year! I've enjoyed participating in these and hope readers have liked them as well.

Sourdough banana bread

A lightly spiced banana bread with a bit of tangy flavor from sourdough starter is a delicious twist on the classic treat!

Recently, I was gifted some sourdough starter from a friend. I had one in the past, but it didn't make it through the newborn twins stage of life in this house (I mean, my husband and I barely fed ourselves, let alone my sourdough starter haha)! So now that I have one again, I've been playing around with making loaves of sourdough bread and making these overnight sourdough pancakes. My starter has been doing really well and I had some to use up, so I went looking for recipes you can make with your unfed starter or discard and found this recipe for banana bread and just had to give it a try.

This bread turned out terrific! I didn't use too much sugar in this recipe, so feel free to add a 1/4 cup more if you like a sweeter bread. I love the bit of tangy flavor from the sourdough, but it's not overpowering at all! The cinnamon and nutmeg add a little bit of spice flavor and make your whole house smell yummy while it bakes. This bread makes a nice breakfast on its own or with a side or scrambled eggs (and hot coffee, of course), or it's perfect for a snack. You can add a half cup of chocolate chips or chopped nuts if you would like. It was a hit with my family.

Cranberry cornmeal cookies

Cornmeal cookies filled with sweet and tart dried cranberries and rolled in sugar are a childhood holiday favorite. These cookies are simple, rustic, unique, and yummy!

This recipe comes from one my mom and I used to make at Christmas. She gave me the recipe and I changed it slightly to make a smaller batch and also to incorporate a bit more cornmeal and more cranberries to the cookies. These are lovely to have for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The cornmeal adds texture and makes a pretty rustic looking cookie, but they taste super! I love cornmeal in baked goods and pairing it with cranberries is a beautiful combination of fall flavors. You can also add a bit of orange zest if you'd like.

I hope everyone is loving all the cranberry recipe ideas everyone has been sharing this week. I know I have been and look forward to trying some of them out.

Cranberry curd tart

Sweet and tangy cranberry curd fills a shortbread crust flecked with orange zest for a delightful and colorful autumn or holiday dessert!

I have another curd tart for you today (and I just posted this passion fruit and blood orange one last month). It's funny how that works because I haven't posted a tart in a while, but I knew when I decided to do #CranberryWeek this year that I was making something with cranberry curd. Sweet/tart desserts are my favorite! I love the flavor contrasts and the way the bit of tart and tangy flavors cut through the sweetness. If you are like me, then you will also love the cranberry curd tart! Plus, I'm super excited about using cranberries this time of year. I feel like they are so festive and pretty.

This tart has a few steps, but they are all relatively easy and worth it for the smooth curd filling. I love this tart for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert, or for any fall/winter party or gathering where a dessert is needed. Plus, the color is stunning! If you are feeling extra festive, make up a batch of sugared cranberries for decorating and garnishing the tart. The curd is slightly adapted from this recipe.

Cranberry & brown sugar glazed turkey meatloaf

Turkey meatloaf is glazed with a sweet and tangy sauce of brown sugar and fresh cranberries for a delicious autumn dinner.

This week I'm participating in #CranberryWeek - a fun blog event dedicated to celebrating and sharing recipes using cranberries in all forms. We love cranberries in our house. I look forward to seeing bags of fresh ones appear in the grocery store in the fall. My kids love them, too -- they will even eat them raw. I like to use them in all sorts of recipes and I even toss a few in our morning smoothies.

Using fruit in savory dishes is something I like to do a lot. There are fruits, especially berries, that pair so nicely with savory foods and meat dishes. Plus, my kids love fruit and getting them excited about eating dinner is sometimes a challenge. They loved this cranberry meatloaf and the adults did as well. We had this with a side of mashed potatoes and a side of roasted delicata squash and it was a delicious autumn dinner. The addition of allspice in the glaze and the poultry seasoning in the meatloaf gives it a feel of the holidays as well.