Yule Recipes
All-Purpose Holiday Cookies | Gingerbread Men and Women | Yule Log Cake
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix the dry ingredients and the oil together in the large mixing bowl. Beat remaining ingredients until light and fluffy. Add to the mixing bowl with the mixture and stir together. Allow the mixture to chill for at least two hours -- overnight is better. Divide the mixture into four sections for easier handling. Roll the dough out on a generously flowered cutting board until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and place the cut-outs onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until cookies are stiff and a light golden color. Do not bake until brown or the cookies will become hard and brittle.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients except the flour. Add the flour slowly, mixing each addition thoroughly. The dough should be slightly stiff. If the mixture seems too dry, add a teaspoon or two of water; if too wet, add more flour. Roll out the dough on a floured cutting board to about a 1/4-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters shaped like little dough people to make the shapes. Place these on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes (time is only approximate). Transfer the cookies to wax paper to cool. Give your gingerbread people features by using colored frosting from a pastry tube.
Makes 3 dozen medium-sized cookies
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and line a jelly roll pan with wax paper. Mix the cake according to the package instructions and pour a thin layer -- no more than 1/4-inch thick -- into the prepared jelly roll pan. Bake the cake until just underdone. If you can't tell by looking, then use the knife test. When the knife emerges not quite clean from the center of the cake, and when a light touch does not bounce back easily, it needs to come out. Check the cake at seven minutes, and then every two minutes after that. DO NOT overbake or the dough will be dry and hard to work with. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool slightly. Then remove the cake from the pan by lifting out the wax paper. With the dark frosting, coat the top of the cake. Carefully lift one end of the cake and begin gently rolling it up as if you were rolling up a map. When you are done, anchor the cake with tooth-picks and let it cook for about 5 more minutes. Cool the cake for 30 minutes, then frost it with the dark brown icing. Next, take the tubes of colored cake decorating frosting and make holly and mistletoe over the top. You can also use artificial greenery until it is time to eat the cake. To finish, take a toothpick and etch lines into the frosting to resemble tree bark.
Serves 8
SOURCE: The Wiccan Garden, as taken from The Sabbats: A New Approach to Living the Old Ways by Edain McCoy and Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham
