The 3rd Day of Christmas with Liz Curtis Higgs
Welcome to the 7th annual 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!!!
12 Days.
12 friends guest posting sharing a Christmas idea, recipe or favorite with you.
12 great giveaways for you to enter along with one GRAND PRIZE for someone who comments to enter all 12 days!!
Today for our 3rd Day of Christmas we are featuring the lovely and laughter-generating Liz Curtis Higgs!
Liz Curtis Higgs is the author of more than 30 books with 4.5 million copies in print, including her latest bestseller, The Women of Christmas.
Her messages are biblical, encouraging, down-to-earth, and profoundly funny.
Liz has one goal: to help women embrace the grace of God with joy and abandon!
A kitchen-tested recipe for Scottish Shortbread
from Liz Curtis Higgs
Shortbread served with tea is a Scottish tradition worth embracing. Why not brew a pot of Earl Grey or Scottish Breakfast tea and serve it piping hot (I love mine with milk and sugar). While you are enjoying your first cup, it’s time to do a bit of baking.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Instructions:
Sift confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and flour together in a bowl. Add softened butter, using your hands to knead the mixture into dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for no longer than 30 minutes.
Press cold dough into the bottom of a greased 8 x 8 pan (round or square; glass is best).
Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned.
Sprinkle granulated sugar across the top. Cool completely, then cut into 8 servings.
P.S. Want to bake a bigger batch? Double the recipe and use a glass oblong baking dish. Want a more festive look? Used colored granulated sugar for the final dusting.
Now that you’re nibbling on fresh-from-the-oven shortbread, pop over to Pinterest to enjoy A Victorian visit to Stirling, Scotland, the setting for my Christmas novella, A Wreath of Snow. As they say in the U.K., “Happy Christmas!”
{You can find Liz online at her Blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.}
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Liz has generously offered a delightful package of goodies to the winner of today’s drawing. Giveaway:
The Women of Christmas book, autographed
Set of 3 candles
1 pair of 5×7 prints
The Pine Tree Parable book for children
Magnets for each season of the Parable series
A Wreath of Snow novella
A Victorian ornament
Total retail value: $50
To enter for a chance to win, simply enter a comment on today’s post sharing a Christmastime food tradition you enjoy making or eating.
Don’t forget to come back for all 12 days! {And remember, if you comment on all 12 posts, you might win the Grand Prize!}
I’m chiming in late today. I was late getting started and didn’t get to read my favorite blogs before work. Then I fell in the parking lot at work. I’m 55 and work with an office of nurses. What a time not to have shaved my legs for over a week. One jokingly says, “I see you have gone European “. Oh my goodness. Scraped knee and sore hip. Dignity out the window. Loving the rains and thinking this is a reason for a new pair of rain shoes.
On the subject of cookies, I love lebkuchens. Our family favorite. My sister in Georgia even makes Them and mails to us in California
I can NOT wait to try this recipe out. I love shortbread. And I wish I could take a trip to Scotland. Maybe one of these days. :) Thanksgiving and Christmas are pretty much the same meals but this year I missed out on the dressing and gravy I grew up eating. If my cooking plate isn’t full I may need to make some for Christmas so I can taste and remember the holidays growing up. Another tradition my husband’s Cuban family has is they have a whole pig roasted every Christmas and that’s the main course on Christams Eve. It’s really disurbing to look at but tastes really good. :)
Cookies are my all time favorite! But the kids and I also like to bake granola to give out to friends and family.
Jones chex mix was a family favorite. Now Berland chex mix, since I’m married. My mom called it nuts-n-bolts.
I always have to make peanut blossom cookies. I’m not really sure what makes them a Christmas cookie, per se, they don’t have red or green sugar on them and are not shaped like a snowman or Santa. I only know that it’s best to only make them around Christmas time….or I would look like a snowman or a Santa!
While that recipe sounds yummy, I have always baked cranberry bread and banana bread on Christmas morning. Simple breakfast with more time to enjoy with family on Christmas morning…and there is always enough if any family or friends stop in. My children always loved it and now my grandchildren are just as happy to eat “cake” for breakfast!
This recipe sounds delicious! I cannot wait to try it. I hope to try it while reading one of your books. Thank you!
For Christmas morning I make and Egg Roll- not a Chinese Egg Roll, but it’s eggs cream cheese and milk beaten well then placed in a jelly roll pan on parchment paper. Bake and then layer on chopped ham or sausage and shredded cheese. The like a pumpkin roll, start at one end and roll up your “Egg Roll.” This is the only time of year that I make it:) Love shortbread can’t wait to try the recipe!
Thumbprint and candy cane cookies. Love shortbread! I look forward to trying this recipe.
Liz, I would so like the opportunity to read “The Women of Christmas” and your novella, “The Wreath of Snow.” The shortbread sounds like a MUST! May the Jesus, the Joy of Christmas, fill your heart to overflowing as you are continually inspired by Him to bless those around you!
I always make Scottish shortbread as well but with a different recipe that my mom swore was truly the authentic Scottish shortbread. We also enjoy making and decorating sugar cookies. Butter tarts and mincemeat pies are also favourites. One of my personal favourites are date and walnut delights. Then there are Nanaimo Bars. Well, you get the idea! How does one decide when there are so many delicious treats? I am thankful for people to share with so I can bake but not eat all of these treats. :)
New tradition started last year–making wassail!
White Chocolate Rasperry Cake is my Christmas food to make.
Liz, your recipe looks great. I’m going to make it tomorrow morning. Can’t wait to taste it fresh from the oven!
Ohh, I love shortbread. The best I ever had was some my brother-in-law gave me because he didn’t want what someone else had given him. His loss!
I make a lot of chocolates for gifts. Probably the most popular I make are chocolate covered cherries.
Oh what a nice post. I used to make homemade Chex Mix. All the comments have great ideas.
My son’s favorite “holiday comfort food” is baked macaroni and cheese and corn. Just combine the 2 and he’s all smiles…. :D !
I love to eat krumkakke —–have never made it though!
I have read almost every book you have written Liz. They are always insightful and a joy to read! I would love to visit Scotland some day, such a beautiful country. Certainly will try out your shortbread recipe, sounds yummy! My tradition is to make homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. My family looks forward to them & even asks…just to make sure they will be there! Praying the Lord brings you & yours much love & joy during this season.
We make all the traditional stuff-fudge, brittle, cookies-but our favorite holiday meal tradition is to create a new menu every year. We have done “An Appetizer Christmas,” “the Soup’s On Christmas,” “The Grinch’s Meal Christmas,” “A Mexican Christmas,” and this year’s “Christmas Movies Christmas” menu!
I love cookie baking at Christmas time.
Thank you Liz for the many smiles and wonderful stories you have shared over the years. You have always been a favorite with the women in my world. And now thank you for the shortbread recipe. My dad loved his Scotish roots so I will remember him as I make your recipe. Wishing you much joy this season.
For close to 50 years, I’ve made Tea Cakes, which are actually cookies, for my family. The recipe was my Grandmas, who by the way raised 11 children.
Something I have to made at Thanksgiving and Christmas is my homemade dressing, to go with our turkey. Plus you have to have giblet gravy!
The most important tradition is remembering the real meaning of Christmas!
We love cinnamon rolls Christmas morning. I prepare them the day before and put them in the fridge to rise. That morning I pull them out and turn the oven on. By the time the oven warms the rolls are ready to go in!
Thank you Liz….love your books.
I love to recall the times with my grandmother making the family Christmas meal of Turkey & Dressing and all of the trimmings and especially the fresh coconut cake….I also remember her teacakes & my Mom’s divinity….I wish I had some now :)
My husband’s family does a cookie exchange each year. It is always fun to get different cookies and share them with friends and family!