One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the food. My mother used to call winter attire “camouflage clothing” and for good reason: those layers not only keep you warm, they help hide the extra pounds we tend to accumulate in winter. Here are three easy recipes to enrich your winter gatherings and possibly your waistline, too.

My Grandmother’s pie crust recipe can save you from both the hassle of rolling pins or the expense of frozen pie crusts. Stir the ingredients together in the pie plate – no rolling or transferring needed!

Grandmother’s Easy Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
2 Tbsp. milk
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Stir ingredients together in pie plate, then shape by hand for crust.

While this might not be the most beautiful apple pie you’ve ever seen, it just might taste the best.

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Apple Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
4 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 9-inch deep-dish unbaked pie shell (this is the perfect opportunity to try my grandmother’s easy pie crust recipe)

Topping:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the filling, in a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, sour cream, flour, vanilla, and salt. Stir in apples to coat them well with filling mixture. Pour into crust, mounding apples in center. Bake 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make topping. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and remove pie. Sprinkle topping evenly over pie and bake 20 minutes.
Note: For more color and flavor, add 1/2 cup cranberries to apples before stirring them into the filling mixture.
Do-ahead tips: Bake a day in advance and serve chilled, at room temperature, or warmed in a low oven.

This is a friend’s Hot Apple Cider recipe. She serves it at our homeschool group’s annual Mother/Son Outing and we drink it as fast as she can make it.

Easy Hot Apple Cider

1 gallon fresh apple cider (look in the produce section of your grocery store)
2 cups orange juice
1 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cloves
3 cinnamon sticks

Simmer the above in a large pan on the stove, and serve. If you don’t have either ground cloves or cinnamon sticks, you can substitute whole cloves (remove them before serving—they float) or ground cinnamon.

What is your favorite Christmas culinary indulgence?

Dawn Camp, My Home Sweet Home

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