Tuesday Before Christmas

https://freevintageillustrations.com/free-vintage-christmas-cards-with-decorated-tree/

 

A Christmas Tree

"I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers, and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind the green leaves; and there were real watches (with movable hands, at least, and an endless capacity of being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs; there were French-polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, eight-day clocks, and various other articles of domestic furniture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolverhampton), perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping; there were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more agreeable in appearance than many real men -- and no wonder, for their heads took off, and showed them to be full of sugar-plums; there were fiddles and drums; there were tambourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat boxes, peep show boxes, and all kinds of boxes; there were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels; there were baskets and pincushions in all devices; there were guns, swords, and banners; there were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes; there were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-wipers, smelling-bottles, conversation-cards, bouquet-holders, real fruit, made artificially dazzling with gold leaf, imitation apples, pears, and walnuts, crammed with surprises; in short, as a pretty child, before me, delightedly whispered to another pretty child, her bosom friend, 'There was everything, and more.' "

                From Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens, 1812-1870

In addition to making treats, I've been busy wrapping gifts. One of my gifts is an Italian dinner in a bag, as I mentioned in this post on gifts to add to your grocery order. Here's how I wrapped it all up. I had a brown paper craft bag (reused from last year), red tissue paper (also reused), red ribbon (again reused), and a printed page of clip art (illustration of different pasta shapes) that I individualized.

After cutting out the clip art, I glued it onto the front of the bag, then filled the bag with the Italian food items, added the tissue, and tied with the ribbon. Simple enough.

For the next gift, I didn't have enough gift wrap. And the newspaper that I thought I had can't be found (we don't take a regular paper, but get one free every few months). But what I did have are grocery store ads. Colorful, but it doesn't quite say "Christmas". 

I wrapped the box in the ads and took it out to the garage.

Using silver spray paint, I covered the ads.

I added some diagonal swipes of gold to the silver to help obscure any ad markings that might peek through. And finally, I topped the gift with a bow.

In the kitchen, I'm still whipping up goodies for gifting -- Monday, a batch of thin mint cookies and some individual cocoa mixes.

The cocoa mix is simply powdered milk, cocoa powder, and confectioner's sugar. Layered in the plastic cone on top of the cocoa mix are mini chocolate chips, then holiday-colored baking sprinkles, and finally mini marshmallows. When I decorated cookies over the weekend, I saved the baking sprinkles that didn't stick to the icing. I think they look festive layered in the cocoa cones.

I hope your week is off to a great beginning!

The Monday Before Christmas

https://www.freeimg.net/photo/68446/blizzard-snowflurry-snowflakes-snowfall

   

Snowfall

    "It was a fortnight before Christmas, and everyone agreed that this would be a real Christmas, such as had not been seen for many years. There was a delightful cold nip in the air, as exhilarating as good news; the sky was grey and overcast, and the streets were covered with a thick layer of snow.

    Few sights are more charming than that of a town covered with new-fallen, clean, white snow, and how pretty it is to watch the tiny flakes drift downward through the air as if they were a wedding in the sky and the fairies were throwing confetti.

    At this time of the year the afternoons are short and the daylight quickly fades, so that the narrow streets which lead off the main roads of a great city like London assume an air more and more mysterious. The passer-by looks anxiously about him as his business takes him down some dark alley, for this is the season of goblins and pixies and elves -- perhaps even the will-o'-the-wisps are in town."

           From The Mysterious Toyshop by Cyril W. Beaumont, 1891-1976

Not real snow, but snow-flocking in an aerosol can lightly spritzed over cedar boughs and pinecones from my yard. Ribbon-tied candle jars with LED tea lights adds a gentle glow. This evergreen centerpiece is on a sideboard adjacent to the dining area.

Some very quick and easy candy -- Dark Chocolate-Dipped Apricots

I used a 6-oz bag of pitted dried apricots and 3/4 cup of dark chocolate baking pieces for some very easy to make fruity candy. I melted the chocolate pieces in a bowl in the microwave in short bursts of time, beginning with 30 seconds and reducing to about 12 seconds, stirring in between each cooking period. After the chocolate was throughly melted, I quickly dipped each dried apricot, about 3/4, and laid on a sheet of waxed paper to harden. Here's how they turned out.

The batch yielded 26 pieces or about 10 oz of candy.

Have a great day!

Baking, Baking, Baking

While I know many people begin their holiday baking around the first of December, I try to delay holiday baking until about the week before Christmas. I do so for several reasons:

• having Christmas cookies feels more special if we only eat them for about 10 days of the year
• I stay on my healthy-eating track until later in December (and do far less damage to my waistline as a result)
• I'm busy with gathering and wrapping gifts in the earlier part of the season and therefore don't get around to holiday baking until relatively the last minute
• the treats are fresher for gifting on Christmas day to my son and daughter-in-law and to our neighbors, as well as for our family's consumption on Christmas
• that last week blitz of cookie and treat making, with Christmas music playing in the background, really gets us all in the Christmas spirit

So those are my reasons for not baking until this last week before Christmas. Now, onto my list of what I'm baking. It looks like a lot, but we hand these out to a lot of friends and family.

• gingerbread men, using this very frugal recipe
• decorated sugar cookies (a family favorite -- we all decorate the cut-out cookies)
• caramel nutty bars, recipe here
• thin mint fake-outs (like the Girl Scout cookie, but only uses 4 ingredients: Ritz crackers, chocolate chips, vegetable shortening, peppermint oil)
• spiced nuts, using this recipe
• chocolate covered pretzels, coated with crushed peppermint candies
• dark chocolate-dipped dried apricots
• white chocolate-dipped oatmeal, cranberry, pecan drop cookies, using this recipe

What's on your holiday baking list? 

Do you have a favorite holiday cookie or treat? Mine has always been gingerbread men. Now that I'm older (and have a much slower metabolism), I opt for mini gingerbread men and women, using tiny cookie cutters that my daughters played with as young girls and later found their way into my cookie cutter jar.

How to Make an Arrow Gift Bow from Strips of Gift Wrap Paper

I linked to a star bow made from gift wrap in my post on gift wrapping using recycled materials. Today, I wanted to show you an easier bow to make from strips of gift wrap, an arrow bow. 

In a previous incarnation, I did a stint in the gift wrapping department of a boutique department store. We made our own bows for our packages, using ribbon. We had a big poofy bow that we used on packages to be taken by the customer. But we also had a flatter bow for the packages that were to be shipped. As I said, we used ribbon to make these bows. However, strips of gift wrap paper work well on the flatter arrow bow. A single bow takes about 5 minutes to make, and they get quicker and easier with each successive bow.

Here, I've used a long scrap of gift wrap that was leftover after wrapping a box. The strip is not quite 2 inches wide by about 18 inches long.

For a small to medium size box, I cut my paper into two 3/4-inch wide strips. (For a large box, I would cut the scraps into 1.5-inch wide strips. With the wider strips, I would also need more  length to each strip, perhaps about two 30-inch lengths.)

At one end of a strip, wrap and turn the end of the paper around and under the rest of the strip, making a point, as below.

Use a small piece of clear tape on the back side to hold the point in place. Every time you turn another point, use a small piece of tape to secure it. 

In the gift wrap department, we were using woven ribbon which was easier to hold in one's hand as we turned points, therefore not needing to tape each turn. However, gift wrap paper tends to slip around and curl up on itself and taping is an easy solution for holding in place.

With the long end of the strip, turn an equal-sized opposing point and tape in place on the back side. It will look like below when flipped right side up.

Form an additional pair of opposing points, making them slightly larger than the first pair, taping on the back side.

To make a third pair of opposing points, you'll likely need to extend the length of your strip by taping the second strip of gift wrap to the back side. I chose a spot near the last point to tape this strip on, making the seam less visible. If you zoom in, you can see the merge point of the two strips is below the pointed end.

Complete a third pair of opposing points and staple in the center of the bow. (If you were making a bow of wider paper for a larger package, you may want four sets of points, total.)

Trim the extending end to about 2.5 to 3 inches from the outside point and give it a decorative finish.

With a scrap of your last strip, make a small loop about 1-inch in diameter. Tape it on the underside.

Place the loop, seam side down, on top of your bow. As best as you can, fit a stapler into the loop and secure the loop onto the bow. Turn the bow around and staple into the other side of the loop.

The points on each end should roughly line up, as below. What made this bow our "mailing" bow was that when flattened inside a shipping bow, it still looked good.

My paper bows are never perfect, but I think they look nice on my packages, nonetheless. And as a bonus, the bows use a scrap of paper that would otherwise be thrown away.

Happy holiday gift-wrapping!

Vintage Christmas Postcards

I mentioned in the comments last week that I collect vintage postcards. That must sound like such an obscure thing to collect. For me, it makes perfect sense. I'm attracted to paper ephemera, especially vintage items. One of my daughters' and my favorite activities when on day excursions or longer is to cull through the inventory of secondhand/vintage shops. A vintage postcard, priced at 50 cents to $1 each, is an inexpensive souvenir to bring home. The images are charming and I find myself fascinated in reading the messages on the back sides.

Piecing together a superficial idea of the sender and recipient

Often times, these artifacts are no more than a simple "wishing you well" or "happy holidays". On rare occasion, though, I can glean enough information from the writer to then do some sleuthing about the recipient. By combining the address label, postmark, and some of the text on one card, I was able to uncover when the recipient lived and where they were born. I was also able to look up the address on a real estate site and see a photo of the house where this individual resided and when it was built (1908). BTW, the card is postmarked 1913, making it 107 years old! If this appears to be terribly invasive of another's privacy, consider that this postcard and a batch of other correspondences were sold or donated to a third party, with the complete knowledge that someone would read the contents. To me, this is no more invasive than reading excerpts from antique diaries.  

One of the surprising details of these postcards is that many writers used pencil instead of ink. In our ball-point world, we don't often think to use a pencil after our school years are over. However, pencils might have been more user-friendly than pens 100 years ago. No bottles of ink or blotting paper needed. In addition, fountain pen ink can smudge if the paper gets wet, and a postcard's text could be exposed to the elements when in transit by post. Studying vintage postcards opened a whole new line of study for me. 

A bit of postcard history

In the early part of the 20th century, postcards were the inexpensive method of communication with distant family and friends. In 1898, the cost to mail a postcard in the US was 1 cent, whereas mailing a letter cost 2 cents for every ounce. During the war years, from Nov. 1917 through June 1919, postal costs increased to 2 cents/postcard and 3 cents/ounce for letters. For the most part, in the history of US postal rates since then, (there was a glitch from 1925 to 1928 where postcards were charged as much as a 1-ounce letter), it's been cheaper to send a postcard than to mail a letter.

Compared to making a phone call, sending a postcard was even more of a bargain. Long distance phone calling was not as accessible for the average American until November of 1951, when the first direct-dialed long distance call was placed. Prior to direct-dialing, phone calls had to be routed through an operator. Even with the added convenience of direct-dialing, long distance phone calls were an extravagance for many. In the 1950s, a 3-minute long distance call placed during daytime hours cost $3.70. (However, there were discounts for Sunday and evening calls.) During this same period, a postcard cost 2 cents. 

In addition to the cost advantage, postcards were often favored over phone calls because they left the recipient with something to hold onto after the correspondence was complete -- a memento to treasure. While you and I are accustomed to photo images on the postcards that we send and receive, vintage postcards were embellished with beautiful artwork and were often printed with seasonal and holiday greetings. This made them an ideal way to send a Christmas or Easter message to a distant friend or family member with minimal cost. 

Of course, the drawbacks to such an inexpensive form of long distance communication included a lack of privacy and space limitation. Often times, as much information as would fit was shared on the backside of the card, with tiny writing neatly scrawled across the card's back. Sometimes, the card would be the sender's only opportunity within a several-month gap of time to mention important details of life back at home. This last bit makes collecting postcards something that appeals to those fascinated by cultural history.

Here's the full text from the Christmas postcard at the top of this page.

postmark: Dec 17, 1913 Sidney Ind

"Sidney, Ind. Dec 16, '13

Dear Eva and Will, We wish you the Happiest Christmas you have ever had. I thought I had told you Lela was married. She has been married three months to a Mr. Mc Near. They live in Liberty Mills. He is a blacksmith and carpenter. Her address is Mrs. Ben Mc Near, Liberty Mills. Write her a card, we miss her oh so much. Aunt Manda"

Charming, yes?

Besides all of this nerdy stuff, my vintage holiday postcards double as decor pieces.

I tried the canned pumpkin and cake mix hack with my homemade spice cake mix!

Kris had mentioned using canned pumpkin with a box of spice cake mix in the comments from my post on gingerbread with homemade spice cake mix last week.  Kris said she uses 1 box of spice cake mix, 1 can of pumpkin puree, and 1/2 cup of water, mixed together then baked in a 9 X 13-inch baker. I said I might give it a try with my homemade spice cake mix. I did. And it worked beautifully and was delicious!

Here's what I did:

I had a little homemade spice cake mix leftover but not nearly enough for this application. So I made another batch and added it to my leftover mix, until I had about 3  1/3 cups of homemade spice cake mix (the amount that is roughly what you get in a commercial box of cake mix).

I stirred in one 15-oz can of pumpkin puree and a little over 1/2 cup of water (about 1 extra tablespoon until the mixture looked spreadable, like brownie batter).

I spread this mixture in a buttered 9 X 13-inch Pyrex baking dish. It was a thick batter, not thin like regular cake batter. 

I baked it at 350 F for almost exactly 30 minutes, using a toothpick to determine doneness.

After it cooled, I topped it with the cream cheese topping below.

Reduced-Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting (enough for 12 cupcakes or a thin layer on a 1/4 sheet cake -- 9 X 13 inch)

Mix together until smooth:

• 4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 2 to 3 tablespoons butter, very soft
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

After the mixture is smooth, refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up, then spread on cake(s).

This is a dense cake that I would say is a lot like a snack cake, but lower in fat (no added oil). With the not-terribly-sweet cream cheese frosting, the cake makes a decent breakfast cake in addition to being good for desserts and snacks.

Thanks Kris for sharing this idea. I'm happy to say that it worked well with the homemade spice cake mix.

If you're following a cake mix hack using a homemade cake mix, you'll want about 3  1/4 to 3  1/3 cups of your homemade cake mix. You may find, as I did, that homemade cake mix is possibly denser than commercial mixes. So slightly less mix (the 3  1/4 cup amount) or else slightly more water/liquid (as in 1 extra tablespoon for the recipe) may be appropriate.

If you are substituting pumpkin that you cooked and pureed at home, the 1/2 cup water may be just right for 3  1/3 cups of homemade cake mix. Home-cooked pumpkin puree is often slightly more watery than commercially canned puree.

Happy, healthy baking!

10 Last-Minute Gifts You Can Add to Your Grocery Pickup Order

I haven't been inside any sort of store since early November. I am doing all of my holiday shopping either online for shipping or through my grocery curbside pick-ups. 

I've needed to add several items to my next pick-up order to round out my gifts for family members and friends. When browsing my Walmart grocery store's website, I found a surprising variety in what I could buy for all of the people on my list. No, this is nothing like Alex P. Keaton's Christmas morning gift shopping at the 24-hour mini-mart. There are abundant gift possibilities in regular grocery stores. And you don't need to step foot into the store to find them -- just add the items to your order.

I came up with a whole bunch of possibilities and am actually using several of these for my own family members. Here you go -- 10 last-minute gifts that you can add to your curbside pick-up order from your local grocery store.

1  Pasta dinner basket -- pasta, jar of sauce, wedge of Parmesan cheese, bottle of olive oil, Mediterranean olives or giardiniera, a nice jar of fruit or some Italian cookies, and a tool like a colander or mini- cheese grater.

2  Bag of spa goodies -- make a bag (like the one here  or this one here) from your paper stash or reuse a good-condition, previous used bag, fill with any of the following: loofah, bath poof, or brush, and bottle of foaming bath, bath bombs, mineral bath soak, moisturizing bath beads, moisturizing face masks, a shower cap, foot cream, foot scrub, and a bar of dark chocolate.

3  Caramel apple basket -- basket filled with fresh apples, mini caramel dips, and an apple wedger/slicer

4  movie night in a bag -- popcorn (maybe the kind in an aluminum foil pan that you pop on the stove), boxed candy, soda pop, then download or email a gift card to a streaming service like Netflix or Disney+

5  game day gift -- a bucket filled with favorite snacks like everything to make nachos, some nuts and jerky, and some upscale soda pop 

6  a trio of rubs for grilling

7  for kids and families -- toys, games, or puzzles. On your grocery website, search "toys for girls", "toys for boys", "toys for toddlers". On my Walmart Neighborhood Market site, (the grocery store, not the big store), I found: a great safety dart board that would have been enjoyed by either boys or girls; Baby Einstein and VTech electronic toys, shape sorters, spinners, and soft books for toddlers; and puzzles and games that the whole family would enjoy.

8  a box of chocolates and flowers or flowering plant

9  a bundle of the more upscale versions of any favorite food/snack/beverages than the recipient might normally buy for themselves

10  a coffee or tea basket -- a couple of bags of good quality coffee or nice boxes of tea, coffee flavoring syrup, unbleached coffee filters or refillable/reusable k-cup coffee filter pods, and a package of biscotti, amaretti, or Lotus Biscoff cookies

While browsing, I also found many, many possibilities for stocking stuffers or small gifts. 

So, here's a bonus: 15 + stocking stuffers to add to a grocery curbside pick-up order.

1. individual items from the above list
2. small bags of chips
3. individual bags of cookies or crackers
4. oranges/tangerines
5. nuts in the shell (of course, you need a nut cracker handy)
6. cocoa packets
7. individual servings of cereal (those tiny boxes are fun)
8. nice chocolate bars, any individual spa item, candle and candle holder for a grown-up small gift or older teen/young adult stocking stuffer
9. men's travel kit/travel sized toiletries or full-size body wash
10. bath toys or bath crayons for young kids (search your store's site for "kids bath")
11. gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins
12. markers/colored pencils, coloring books for young kids
13. small balls, silly putty, silly string, flarp for slightly older kids
14. flashlight
15. hair accessories, nail polish/file/adhesive nail art, lip balm for teen and preteen girls
16. car maintenance items, such as snow and ice brushes/scrapers, chamois/microfiber towels, or air fresheners for teens who have a car or responsibility for the family car (search "car tools" or "car" on your store's site)
17. mittens or socks

Stay well, friends, as you do your holiday shopping!

Fat Substitutes for Butter (for Use in Baking)

from my collection of vintage holiday postcards

Whether you're making the substitution for reasons of health, budget, availability, or religious observance, substituting other fats for butter is not always a straight forward endeavor. 

Butter is more than simply fat. By law, butter must contain a minimum of 80% butterfat. The remaining components of butter are milk solids (roughly 2%) and water (roughly 18%).

An American stick of butter is 8 tablespoons, 1/2 cup, or 4 ounces. Going by our formula of butter's composition above, the fat content of a single stick of butter is about 3.2 ounces. And a tablespoon of butter contains about 12 grams of fat. We'll use this last info as a comparison for other fats.

Margarine

Like butter, margarine also contains water, about 20% water/80% fat for stick margarine. Margarine spreads (tub margarine) can contain as much as 40% water and less than 60% fat. Knowing the water vs. fat content of margarine informs us that stick margarine can be substituted in equal measures to butter, while margarine spread may cause some baking recipes to fail. A tablespoon of stick margarine has about 11 grams of fat and one tablespoon of tub margarine has about 7 grams of fat.

Vegetable Oil (such as canola, corn, olive, or nut oils)

While vegetable oils are almost completely water-free, most can hold a trace amount of water, up to .10% (not 10%, but .10%). (Side note: In the processing, a small amount of water is introduced to the oil as a method of deodorizing the fat. The water rises and almost completely escapes through steam, carrying odiferous particles with it.) 

Because vegetable and nut oils are almost entirely fat, the measurement when substituting oil for butter needs to be adjusted. According to Joy of Cooking, about 7/8 cup of oil (liquid or semi-solid, such as coconut oil) is a substitution for 1 cup of butter/stick margarine. A tablespoon of vegetable oil contains 14 grams of fat. Therefore, 7/8 of a tablespoon of vegetable oil contains 12.25 grams of fat, very close to the fat content of butter. I should point out that many folks recommend that you can get by with 3/4 the amount of oil when substituting for butter, if you find that formula more user-friendly.

If baking cookies, you may want to decrease the quantity of oil even further. Go Dairy Free recommends using 1/2 the measure of oil as called for of butter, adding a small amount of other liquids as needed to pull the dough together. Other sites recommend 3/4 cup oil for 1 cup butter, such as Bread Dad's recipe for drop chocolate chip cookies made with vegetable oil. 

Lard

Lard is rendered pork fat. Like vegetable oil, the substitution ratio of lard is 7/8 cup lard for every cup of butter. A tablespoon of lard has about 13 grams of fat. So, 7/8 tablespoon of lard would have 11.375 grams fat, again fairly close to that of butter.

Solid Vegetable Shortening (named brand: Crisco)

Solid vegetable shortening contains the same amount of fat as the same dry measure of butter, about 12 grams of fat per tablespoon. As such, products like Crisco shortening can be used cup for cup as butter in recipes. Just note that if you are measuring by weight, hydrogenated fats weigh between 6.4 and 7.2 ounces per US cup, whereas butter weighs about 8 ounces per cup. 

Solid vegetable shortening has virtually no water content, making it ideal for "thinning" melted chocolate for dipping or coating (no water content to cause seizing of the chocolate).

Clarified meat fats

Bacon fat

From my 2014 post on using meat fat in cooking and baking:

"clarified bacon fat in place of lard or Crisco in pastry  To clarify fat, add fat to a small saucepan of water. Heat to boiling and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool, chill and pour cloudy water off of the solidified fat. Add more water to the saucepan and repeat the simmer/chilling process 2 or 3 additional times. The final clarified fat has lost its "meat" flavor, and can be used for baking biscuits or making pie pastry."

Joy of Cooking suggests 4/5 cup (or 3/4 cup plus about 2  1/2 teaspoons) of clarified bacon fat for every cup of butter. A tablespoon of bacon grease has about 12.9 grams of fat.

Chicken fat

Clarifying chicken fat uses the same process as for bacon fat, simmering in water, chilling, and pouring off the cloudy water, repeating about 3 times.

Joy of Cooking recommends substituting 3/4 cup of clarified chicken fat for 1 cup of butter. A tablespoon of clarified chicken fat has about 13 grams of fat.

To simplify the above, here's a quick-chart for reference.

None of these fat substitutions will give you the flavor of butter that many of us love in holiday baked goods. However, you can boost the flavors in your baking with spices, toasted nuts, citrus zest, extracts, and even imitation butter flavoring.

In addition to substituting other fats for butter, most of us also know that you can use applesauce, pureed pumpkin and other pureed fruits and vegetables for butter or oil in baking. This post was just intended to clarify how substituting one fat for another is not so straight forward.

Healthier Gingerbread Cupcakes *plus* Homemade Spice Cake Mix Recipe

The cupcake that you saw in my post yesterday was a slight modification of these delicious gingerbread cupcakes from Hungry Girl. HG uses commercial spice cake mix as the base ingredient for the cupcakes. Moisture is added with applesauce and molasses.

I made her recipe almost entirely as she instructed, with these exceptions:

• for the cake, I used whole eggs in place of the egg substitute (2 whole large eggs plus enough white from a third egg to make 1/2 cup total)
• for the icing, I used regular cream cheese and regular butter instead of light versions
• I made my own spice cake mix from scratch ingredients (see below)
• I lightly brushed my cupcake papers with oil, so the cake would easily come out of the paper. Nonstick cooking spray on the papers would do the same thing. I've found this necessary in low-fat muffins/cupcakes.

I have to say, these were so delicious and not cloyingly sweet. (I know I linked to the cupcakes twice -- they were that good!) I would say they were a cross between a muffin and a cupcake, which is exactly what I was searching for.

My quest for a homemade spice cake mix

As you likely guessed at this point, I didn't have spice cake mix on hand. But I still wanted to try this recipe. The homemade cake mix recipes that I found online didn't contain any milk or fat, but instead called for adding those two ingredients when actually baking a cake. In contrast, commercial cake mixes instruct the baker to add water (not milk) and a portion of the fat. Some boxed mixes contain dry milk and almost all contain fat. Here's an example: Betty Crocker Super Moist Spice Cake mix contains flour, sugar, corn syrup, leavening, corn starch, cinnamon, partially hydrogenated soybean/cottonseed oil, salt, other spices, and a bunch of chemical-sounding ingredients. When you bake the boxed cake mix, instructions call for additional fat in the form of oil, plus eggs and water. 

In order for me to have a homemade mix that would be compatible with Hungry Girl's recipe, I needed to modify a homemade spice cake mix recipe that I found online. 

The most fundamental changes that I made were the addition of 2  1/2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening (an approximation of what would be in a boxed mix) and 3 tablespoons of powdered milk. You can make this mix without the powdered milk, but adding milk to cakes improves the texture. In a commercial cake mix, the function of some of the chemical-sounding ingredients is to improve the resulting texture. 

I also substituted granulated white sugar for brown sugar. Boxed spice cake mix ingredients simply call for sugar, not brown sugar or even molasses solids. Finally, I made my own substitution for pumpkin pie spice and used 1  1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon cloves.

This very long-winded explanation is to say that if you wanted to bake Hungry Girl's gingerbread cupcakes, but don't have the spice cake mix, you can make your own cake mix that will work with her recipe by following my homemade mix recipe below.

Homemade Spice Cake Mix (yields 2  1/3 cups mix)

ingredients:

1  1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1  1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

3 tablespoons milk powder

2  1/2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

instructions:

Combine all of the dry ingredients with a wire whisk.

Cut the shortening in with a knife and fork, then with the whisk until shortening is well-incorporated.

Store in a tightly-covered container in the pantry. I checked several sites and all seemed to indicate that homemade cake mixes should keep for a minimum of 2 months.

I used my mix in the Hungry Girl gingerbread cupcake recipe, as called for on her site.

However, to bake my mix as a regular spice cake:

Using a mixer, combine a full recipe of homemade mix with 1/2 cup water, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/4 cup vegetable oil and beat for 2 minutes.

Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees, until toothpick inserted comes out clean:

• two 8-inch round pans, bake for 17 to 19 minutes, or 
• one 11 X 7-inch rectangular pan, bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or
• 14 to 15 cupcake liners, bake for 15 to 18 minutes

Comments on this mix

This mix recipe was a good size for the Hungry Girl recipe. HG called for 1  3/4 cup of mix, and my homemade mix yielded about 2  1/3 cups of dry ingredients. Leftover dry cake mix can be added to pancakes or other scratch muffins/quick breads.

To note, this homemade mix is considerably smaller than a typical commercial cake mix. A 15.25 oz boxed mix contains about 3 1/3 cups of dry ingredients. 

If you are following instructions for a doctored spice cake mix that calls for a whole box of commercial cake mix, you'll want to multiply my recipe by 1.5. That amount would yield about 3 1/2 cups of mix, which is a little over 2 tablespoons greater than a boxed 15.25 oz mix.

Happy holidays without the guilt!

Being frugal is about so much more than just saving money. Being frugal allows one to thoroughly enjoy all that they have, regardless how great or small the size of their income.

Cheers!

Create Stylish Outdoor Planters for the Holidays without Spending a Penny

materials needed:

• the pot, trough, or planter from your yard, patio, or garden, already filled with soil (if starting with an empty pot, fill with garden soil not potting soil, which is too loose for holding the branches)
• evergreen cuttings from your yard
• berry-laden branches from your yard
• interesting-looking bare branches and long twigs
• large pinecones
• weatherproof bows, stars, bells, small patio lanterns

basic instructions:

• if the soil in your container is frozen, use a screwdriver or other similar tool to poke holes about 4 to 6 inches into the soil
• insert evergreen branches and bare twig branches into soil first, then add berry branches
• finish with pinecones or other ornaments, if desired

From my own yard, two pots filled with evergreen cuttings, berry-laden branches and bows. As simple as cutting a few branches and poking them into the existing soil in winter-bare pots.

More artistically done than my own -- a pot on my neighbor's driveway. They've included several types of evergreen branches, pinecones, tall cuttings of red twig dogwood in the back, and the remaining flowering kale from their fall pot.

Another neighbor -- not a pot, but some evergreen branches tied onto a brick lamp pillar, with star embellishments and a red bow.