Cooking ahead for the holidays

[Storygirl]

What do you make in advance, and how far in advance do you make it?

[Bambam]

We make mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole the day before and just warm them up the day of. We use Pioneer Woman's make ahead mashed potatoes. It works out well, both take a lot of dishes and just space to make, so this gets that out of  the way. 

ETA: We also do all the chopping and prep work for the dressing the day before. 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Bambam

[Storygirl]

We have quiche for breakfast on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I made quiches today and will put them in the freezer, so all I will have to do is thaw and reheat.

Sometimes we will buy donuts a few days or a week in advance and put them in the freezer, so that we don't have to fight the crowds for donuts at the last minute. I like to get ones that are decorated thematically, if I can find them. We don't always have donuts with our quiche, but I might, this year.

In the past, I have made and frozen mashed potatoes ahead of time -- both sweet and white. I will do the sweet potatoes for the freezer this year (maybe this weekend) but I may make the mashed potatoes just a day or two ahead of Thanksgiving this time. Haven't decided yet.

[Storygirl]

3 minutes ago, Bambam said:

We make mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole the day before and just warm them up the day of. We use Pioneer Woman's make ahead mashed potatoes. It works out well, both take a lot of dishes and just space to make, so this gets that out of  the way. 

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/creamy-mashed-potatoes-recipe0-2012666

Are these the ones you make? I made these last year for Thanksgiving, and they are delicious. For Easter, I made them again but used Boursin cheese in place of the cream cheese. Yum! I have frozen them, and they are not as creamy when thawed, but they are still good.

[Storygirl]

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/make-ahead-turkey-gravy-with-onions-and-sage-5486134

I also tried Ina Garten's make-ahead gravy one year (minus the brandy), and it was good!

[HomeAgain]

I don't really cook ahead for Thanksgiving.  The week of, we'll do this:

Tuesday: orange cheesecake with chocolate crust

Wednesday: pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, cranberry topping for the cheesecake, and either the first bake of the sweet potatoes (we do twice baked) or for the sweet potato gnocchi that I might do in place of the twice baked.

Thursday: Smoke the turkey breasts at about 6am, make the vegetables and salad, open the bag of rolls to quickly bake. 

 

For Christmas, I'll spend about two weeks making:

• cranberry jellies
• sea salt caramels
• truffles
• fudge
• filled chocolates
• marshmallows
• various cookies (I have a fabulous blueberry-lemon jam I'm saving for shortbread thumbprint cookies this year!)

Christmas eve I'll prep whichever breakfast our family wants the day of: biscuits and gravy or cinnamon rolls.  We'll do a simple ham/mashed potatoes/salad/rolls for Christmas dinner.

 

[KatieJ]

Thanksgiving I prep early in the week or even the week before if I am pressed for time.

 

I make the mashed potatoes casserole mentioned above. (Pioneer woman) It freezes well.

I bake the crescent rolls ahead of time and freeze. (If I don’t freeze them I have to make them again as the family finds them.)

I cheat and use stove top dressing,  but I add sausage, celery and onions. I fry the sausage with the celery and onions Monday or Tuesday. Put in the fridge and it’s ready to make the stuffing on Thanksgiving day. 
I wash and prep onions, celery carrots and lemons at this point which I use inside the turkey. 

I don’t make the gravy ahead…just can’t get into that much messing around with other turkey parts..

 

My sweet potatoes are just cubed sweet potatoes, 2 Tbls butter and 1tbls  cream. Put on top the stove on the lowest setting and cook for an hour..until potatoes are soft. Easy peasy. 
 

Broccoli  salad is usually the salad of the day. I prep it the day before..and combine on the morning of Thanksgiving.

Cranberries  come out of a can. Not how how I was raised, but it’s DH family tradition that I gave into.

Dessert is usually a family cheese torte recipe from my MIL…I bake it early in the week.

 

Thanksgiving day is pretty simple after that. 

Edited November 4, 2021 by KatieinMich

[Bambam]

54 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/creamy-mashed-potatoes-recipe0-2012666

Are these the ones you make? I made these last year for Thanksgiving, and they are delicious. For Easter, I made them again but used Boursin cheese in place of the cream cheese. Yum! I have frozen them, and they are not as creamy when thawed, but they are still good.

Yes. I only use 1 package of cream cheese, and it still feels odd to put cream cheese in mashed potatoes. I've never froze them, because I think the texture changes and they taste weird.  Which flavor of the Boursin cheese do you use - the Garlic and Herb one? 

[HS Mom in NC]

For Christmas breakfast I make omelettes the day of, prepare the spiced wine poached pears the day before, and make the homemade croissants up to 3 months before and bake them the day of.  They take 12 hours to make and I freeze them before the final rising and baking.

For Thanksgiving the apple pies are assembled up to 3 months before as is the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough. Pies and cookies are baked the day before. The Lime jello salad is made 1-3 days before. One year we grilled the turkey the day before because the citrus and ginger spiced brine makes it taste even better the next day.  Mashed potatoes can be made ahead of time and heated in a crockpot the day of. Anything I cook the day of I prep 1-3 days before: dice the onions, press the garlic, cut up the green beans, slice the butternut squash, etc.

[Storygirl]

4 hours ago, Bambam said:

Yes. I only use 1 package of cream cheese, and it still feels odd to put cream cheese in mashed potatoes. I've never froze them, because I think the texture changes and they taste weird.  Which flavor of the Boursin cheese do you use - the Garlic and Herb one? 

I've always put cream cheese in mashed potatoes, because my mom used to do it, but she only used a blob or two, so PW's way is much creamier. I used the garlic and herb flavor the last time, but I have a shallot and chive Boursin that I may use this time.

[Storygirl]

48 minutes ago, HS Mom in NC said:

For Christmas breakfast I make omelettes the day of, prepare the spiced wine poached pears the day before, and make the homemade croissants up to 3 months before and bake them the day of.  They take 12 hours to make and I freeze them before the final rising and baking.

For Thanksgiving the apple pies are assembled up to 3 months before as is the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough. Pies and cookies are baked the day before. The Lime jello salad is made 1-3 days before. One year we grilled the turkey the day before because the citrus and ginger spiced brine makes it taste even better the next day.  Mashed potatoes can be made ahead of time and heated in a crockpot the day of. Anything I cook the day of I prep 1-3 days before: dice the onions, press the garlic, cut up the green beans, slice the butternut squash, etc.

Wow! That's impressive!

[PeterPan]

7 hours ago, Storygirl said:

What do you make in advance, and how far in advance do you make it?

Well the bulk of my Thanksgiving is done, hehe. I had dh order a meal from (insert name of local bbq place that smokes whole turkeys and does the sides), so I'll just make a couple pies, broccoli salad, cranberry sauce, etc. The cranberry sauce can be made many days head. I'll make the dressing for the salad and fry up the bacon, etc a day or two ahead. 

This is my year to take it easy, coming off this stupid viral pneumonia gig. Usually I flow chart everything out to cook ahead so I can make cinnamon rolls the morning of Thanksgiving. Don't ask me why I make cinnamon rolls (indulgent themselves) on a day of so much eating. Tradition. 😄 

[PeterPan]

3 hours ago, HS Mom in NC said:

croissants

Well @Storygirl you too can look this impressive. Find a nice french bakery in the big city and you can pick up. They're like $2 each and come in chocolate and more, oh my. Oh la la. 😄 But really, cinnamon rolls or chocolate croissants, I don't know. That's a tough choice. 😄 

[PeterPan]

7 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

orange cheesecake with chocolate crust

This sounds amazing... Link or recipe?

[HomeAgain]

5 hours ago, PeterPan said:

This sounds amazing... Link or recipe?

This is the one we use.  You can leave off the cranberry topping if you want, but it's really, really good with it.  Cranberry-Orange Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust.  It may take a couple of tries, so if you have a trusted cheesecake recipe/time you may want to start with that.  We tweaked the cooking to be a little lower temp and a little longer in the oven, otherwise the middle wasn't set no matter how long it was left wrapped in towels in a cooler.

[Familia]

8 hours ago, HS Mom in NC said:

make and I freeze them before the final rising and baking.
 

I like to make mine ahead, but rise (myself=) extra early to make fresh, which is silly, but I want to know something that I never see explicitly told: what exactly do you do to thaw & final rise?? I’ve read things like, ‘thaw on counter until they have lost their chill’…which is too general and does not help me time this…I do not want to run out of time my first time trying this!

Thanks!

[Laura Corin]

I make coq au vin the day before.

My mum used to make Christmas pudding several weeks in advance.

[HS Mom in NC]

1 hour ago, Familia said:

 what exactly do you do to thaw & final rise?? I’ve read things like, ‘thaw on counter until they have lost their chill’…which is too general and does not help me time this…I do not want to run out of time my first time trying this!

Eating them for a meal other than breakfast takes the time pressure off.  We're fans of breakfast food for any meal.

1. I thaw on a tray covered in lightly oil sprayed plastic wrap in the fridge the day and night before.

2. In the morning I (or my early waking husband) leave them out on the counter for 30-60 min. until they're not cold to the touch anymore and start rising. The time difference, based on my experience, is if the kitchen is already fairly warm vs. fairly cool.

3.Then they rise for the last time for around 30 min. The 30 min. isn't exact-I've gone an extra 20-30 min. in addition to that before baking them. I'm usually in the kitchen doing things while that happens, so I can keep an eye (and a finger) on them. When they start getting bigger sooner I know it's going to be on the shorter time frame, and if it takes longer, I keep it within the longer time frame.  If I keep lightly oil sprayed plastic wrap on them  it's easier to see when they're getting bigger because they start to press against the plastic.  As soon as I see that I take the plastic off of the tray so they can rise freely.

So to sum up, it's a little more flexible than you might think, and a bit more of an art than a science.  Try to experiment a little beforehand if you can find the time and energy.
 

[HS Mom in NC]

7 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Well @Storygirl you too can look this impressive. Find a nice french bakery in the big city and you can pick up. They're like $2 each and come in chocolate and more, oh my. Oh la la. 😄 But really, cinnamon rolls or chocolate croissants, I don't know. That's a tough choice. 😄 

hee hee hee

That's why I only prep them on school breaks ahead of time.  There really is no comparison between one immediately out of the oven vs. on that's been sitting out and reheated, which is why the celebrations of God incarnate or the reconciliation of humanity to God through divine human sacrifice, or my child's birthday are requirements for me to make them.

[happi duck]

I've been wanting to make one of those cakes that you keep topping with alcohol for weeks.  (Is that fruitcake?). However, I think I'm running out of time!

[marbel]

2 hours ago, happi duck said:

I've been wanting to make one of those cakes that you keep topping with alcohol for weeks.  (Is that fruitcake?). However, I think I'm running out of time!

A friend of mine who makes fruitcake every year (and pours brandy or something over it) makes hers Thanksgiving weekend. It is pretty good! She calls it "Christmas cake" and doesn't bring it out till the big day. 

I love fruitcake. As a kid I loved those containers of the fruit, I'd just eat them if I could. I have my husband's grandmother's recipe and it is the best I've ever tasted, but I've never made it. It is huge and I haven't had the wherewithal to scale it down to a manageable size yet. 

[Storygirl]

Fruitcake gets a bad rap, but I love it, too. I've never tried to make it. And I think I have only had fruitcakes that were purchased, not homemade. I'm sure there is a big difference.

[HS Mom in NC]

1 hour ago, Storygirl said:

Fruitcake gets a bad rap, but I love it, too. I've never tried to make it. And I think I have only had fruitcakes that were purchased, not homemade. I'm sure there is a big difference.

My neighbor made us one the year we moved in.  It was a 100 year old recipe passed down on his mother's side.  It was absolutely delicious!  They gave us a copy.  I haven't made it yet, but I'm considering doing so next year.  This year is everyone gets some of their favorite cookies (7 people) so I'm starting on the cookie doughs now, freezing them divided into smaller portions, and baking a portion of each 2-3 days before Christmas so we have a wide variety, but not so much volume as baking full batches.

[QueenCat]

Dh does most of the cooking, if not all. Sometimes he'll do things in advance. Kind of depends on what's going on the weekend before & if he takes off the day before Thanksgiving. I clean.... I do make the desserts ahead of time. 

[marbel]

2 hours ago, HS Mom in NC said:

I'm starting on the cookie doughs now, freezing them divided into smaller portions, and baking a portion of each 2-3 days before Christmas so we have a wide variety, but not so much volume as baking full batches.

I love having cookie dough in the freezer! I often freeze dough balls for drop cookies so when the need for cookies hits, we can bake a few and not end up eating too many at once.  That is on my list of things to do this week - make my list of cookies and start making/freezing dough. I prefer frozen dough to frozen pre-baked cookies when possible. 

[Alicia64]

On 11/4/2021 at 5:28 PM, Storygirl said:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/creamy-mashed-potatoes-recipe0-2012666

Are these the ones you make? I made these last year for Thanksgiving, and they are delicious. For Easter, I made them again but used Boursin cheese in place of the cream cheese. Yum! I have frozen them, and they are not as creamy when thawed, but they are still good.

You said "Boursin" but I read "bourbon." I was scrolling and went wait, what?! 🙃

Edited November 9, 2021 by Alicia64

[Storygirl]

I should take a Christmas-cookie poll to see which kinds my kids think are important for this year. Many of the things I make are in bar form -- toffee bars, 7 layer bars (which we call Hello Dollies), lemon bars -- and so don't work for making just the dough ahead of time. I have made the Hello Dollies in advance before and removed the whole 8x8 batch from the pan in one big square to freeze. That way I can use the pan in the meantime for other things.

I have a cheesecake that I can make ahead and freeze, if we decide to include that in our mix for Christmas this year.

Mainly, I need to work right now on eating some things from our freezer, so that we will have room for storage of holiday goodies.

[rutheart]

If making fruitcake sounds intimidating, try making a cookie version. Pre-cinnamon allergy, I made something that was basically fruitcake cookies.

https://www.imperialsugar.com/recipes/jojo-s-fruitcake-cookies

I just used a tub of the mixed candied fruit (found on your holiday baking aisle) for all the fruits listed.

Or you can take any mincemeat cookie recipe and add the candied fruit to it.

https://yesterdish.com/2014/01/30/mincemeat-cookies/

My husband claims those cookies are what makes him feel like it's the holiday season.