Santa’s Elves Kitchen Favorites

Merry Christmas

Hello

My name is Julie and I am 59 years old.

I first met Santa when I was 2 year’s old at Riches Department Store in Atlanta, Georgia and I’ve been a big fan ever since.

Gordon and I have been working with some of Santa’s Elves to come up with, and to create some lovely ‘Edible Gift’ recipes for Christmas.

In An Elvish Kitchen

IN SANTA’S WORKSHOP

Welcome to Santa’s Elves Kitchen

The elves have been busy creating tasty tidbits in Santa’s Kitchen to place underneath the trees of all the good parents of boys and girls for Christmas.

Here are some of the elves favorites:

Baked Olives

And,

Santa’s Elves Favorite Honey/Walnut/Thyme/Lemon Cheese Topping

Excellent on Brie

Sweet Holiday Gift Idea

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Our Appetizer Platter

Consists of our Honey/Walnut/Thyme/Lemon Cheese Topping

Delicious,

Perfect with our…..

Date Nut Peanut Butter Liquor and Coconut Balls

Perfect Holiday Favorites

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I believe that Santa approves.

After all, he didn’t check the Naughty box, but I also see he didn’t check the Nice box either?

Hmmm…?

I’m sure it’s just a mistake. 🙂

They’ll get around to it eventually.

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I decided to make the elves a cake as a thank you,

although I don’t think they know quite what to think of it?

If you however, would like the recipe:

Click Here For: Kitchy Kristmas

Happy Holidays!

Julie

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Recipes Start Here

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Oven Baked Olives

Ingredients:

(I eyeballed this recipe and just threw it together.)

Variety of Olives

Here I used Garlic Stuffed Olives, Green Olives, Black Pearl Olives, and Kalamata Olives

Fennel Seeds

White Peppercorns

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Rosemary and Sage Herbs

(Add sage once olives are out of the oven.)

Handful of Small Red Peppers

The first thing I did was to drain all my olives and place them into a bowl.

Fennel Seeds

Olive Oil, Herbs, White Peppercorns

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This is about taste and what you prefer. I added about a tablespoon of Fennel Seeds and just enough EVOO to coat all the olives. I placed everything into a cast iron pot and placed it into a 350F oven for about 25-35 minutes or so.

I just added enough fresh rosemary and red peppers as an accent to this.

Into the Oven They Go

The cooking time will depend on how many olives that you use. I baked them for about 25 minutes and then removed them and gave them a good stir, then placed them back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from oven, add your Sage Leaves and some more fresh Rosemary, let cool, then eat!

Looks a bit like Christmas, doesn’t it?

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Honey/Walnut/Thyme/Lemon Cheese Topping

Ingredients:

4 Cups Roasted Walnuts

3 Cups Honey

1 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

1 tsp. Salt

Rind Strips of 3 Lemons

Juice of 1 Lemon

6-7 3″ Sprigs of Rosemary

6-7 3″ Sprigs of Thyme

4-5 Whole Dried Chili Peppers

1 tsp. Saffron Threads

Using a sheet pan, roast 4 Cups of walnuts at 300’F for about 5 min. or until lightly roasted. Roasting the walnuts deepens their flavor and complexity while giving them a crispier texture, which is one of the reasons we add them to our recipes.

Spread them evenly over the pan and toss part way for even cooking. Nuts in general will burn quickly, so watch them very carefully during this procedure. A good indicator to the nuts being done is you begin to smell them. Remove them from the sheet pan when done to stop the cooking process and place them in a bowl and let the nuts cool slightly.

Here I am adding the cooled nuts into a bowl to stop the cooking process.

Place ~1 Cup of the nuts on a cutting board and chop slightly.

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Place your honey into a separate medium sized bowl.

Add your olive oil into the bowl with the honey.

Now, add your pepper and salt to the mixture.

Whisk all the ingredients well.

Pour your honey and oil mixture into the bowl of roasted walnuts.

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Using a rind tool, place your lemon rind into the bowl.

Juice half of your lemon into the bowl.

Beautiful Rind

Add your Rosemary sprigs to the bowl, cutting them if necessary to make them ~3″ in length.

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Add your Thyme sprigs to the mixture and taste the ingredients. Here, I felt it needed more lemon as the acidity gave the mixture a bright fresh taste, so I added more lemon juice.

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Add your whole dried chili peppers to the mixture.

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Then add your Saffron threads to the mixture.

Clean enough jars to hold the mixture.

We use the dishwasher on a high heat and drying setting to accomplish this.

Place the mixture into the jars as shown and seal with lids.

Keep in a Cool Place

Enjoy!

Thyme Christmas Tree

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Date Nut Peanut Butter Liquor and Coconut Balls

California Medjool Dates

(These are some of the best dates we’ve ever eaten.)

Ingredients:

4 Cups Walnuts – save 2 Cups for Toppings

1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 – 3/4 Cup of Honey

Pancake Syrup – Pictured but not used

~20 Pitted Dates

2 Shots Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey

1/2 Cup Unsweetened Shaved Coconut

Using a sheet pan, roast 2 Cups of walnuts at 300’F for about 5 min. or until lightly roasted. Roasting the walnuts deepens their flavor and complexity while giving them a crispier texture, which is one of the reasons we add them to our recipes.

Spread them evenly over the pan and toss part way for even cooking. Nuts in general will burn quickly, so watch them very carefully during this procedure. A good indicator to the nuts being done is you begin to smell them. Remove them from the sheet pan when done to stop the cooking process, place them in a bowl and let the nuts cool slightly.

Place the roasted nuts into a blender or food processor.

Old Fashioned Oats

Add your Old Fashioned Oats to the blender with the walnuts and blend into a fine grind.

Remove half of the mixture and place into a bowl.

Add your peanut butter to the remaining mixture within the blender.

Now, add your salt and vanilla to the blender…

and then your honey.

Now, add your pitted dates.

Then your peanut butter whiskey to the mixture.

Blend the mixture slightly to mix.

Add back in the halved mixture of ground walnuts and oats.

Blend the mixture until the mixture is well combined as shown and place into a bowl.

Remove one Tbsp. of the mixture and roll it between your hands to form a ball. Place the balls on wax or parchment paper.

Using a baking sheet, roast your shaved coconut in a 300″F oven, stirring occasionally until golden brown.

Roast the other 2 Cups of walnuts as before, then chop some finely keeping the whole ones.

Top some of the formed balls with whole walnuts as shown.

Place your chopped walnuts and roasted coconut into separate bowls. Roll the nut balls into the roasted nuts or coconut as shown pressing firmly so the toppings will stick.