For almost as long as Christmas has been celebrated, the Christmas feast bringing friends and family together has been a tradition.
Classic Christmas literature such as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol or Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas describe mother watering Christmas dinners as a centre piece of the Christmas celebration.
Firefighters aren’t always able to be home for the holiday, emergency’s don’t take holidays after all so neither can emergency responders.
Already known for their cooking, firefighters who can’t be home with family will cook up something special at the firehall to mark the season.
This year, each of Chestermere Fire Services (CFS) duty shifts have selected their favourite Christmas recipe to share with Chestermerians.
A – Shift: Christmas Breakfast of Champions
Members of A-Shift said that this recipe, like Christmas brings people together.
“We like this classic recipe because it brings the whole team together working on different parts of the dish,” they said.
While they’d liked to say the recipe came from somehwere exotic, such as an ancient cave in on of their dreams, the truth is more mundane having been found in a recipe book.
While the discovery may not have been exciting, the dish is. A-Shift described their breakfast as both tasteriffic and a flavour explosion.
B – Shift: Christmas Morning Wife Saver Breakfast
Members of B-Shift said that what they like about this recipe is that it is simple to make in the morning since all the preperation work is done the night before.
“With how busy Christmas morning is it’s nice to be able to just throw it in the oven and eat after gifts are opened,” they said.
Another great feature of this recipe is how long it lasts. Leftovers can easily be reheated in the oven for several days.
C – Shift: Honey Glazed Ham
Members of C-Shift said that their honey glazed ham is a perenial favourite at the fire hall.
Ham is one of those signature main dishes cooked at Christmas. Like A-Shift, this recipe was discovered in a recipe book of sorts.
“Allrecipes.com has a lot of quick and easy meals to choose from,” they said.
With one of the four crews always on duty on Christmas, Christmas dinner is often cooked at the hall with the Honey Glazed Ham often being cooked.
“Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed,” they said.
D – Shift: Christmas Shortbread Bites
For D-Shift, shortbread cookies and the holidays are a natural fit and these cookies are a simple and delicious treat.
“It is fun to bake and spend time with family and friends,” they said.
Regardless of what is being cooked for dinner or baked for dessert the Christmas feast is always a joyful and highly anticipated part of the modern day Christmas celebrations.
For some it isn’t Christmas until all the holiday favourites have been served while others prefer to try something new for each Christmas dinner.
Either way, Chestermere Fire Services wishes the residents of Chestermere a Merry Christmas with friends, family and great food.
A – Shift: Christmas Breakfast of Champions
Ingredients (recipe serves 5):
1. 3 cups of pancake mix
2. 2 eggs
3. 3 cups of milk
4. 3 bananas sliced
5. 2 cups of blueberries
6. 2 cups of strawberries chopped
7. 1 box of vanilla pie filling
8. 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
Directions:
Mix the pancake batter with the eggs and milk to make a thin pancake batter. Cook pan sized pancakes (10″). Make the vanilla pie filling according to the instructions and add the cinnamon, stir well.
Spread the vanilla/cinnamon mix onto the pancake. Sprinkle the fruit on top of the vanilla spread. Roll the pancake into a cylinder. Drizzle extra vanilla spread on top, and garnish with extra fruit. Bam!
For an extra treat, top the pancakes with whip cream.
B – Shift: Christmas Morning Wife Saver Breakfast
Ingredients:
1. 16 slices white bread, crusts removed
2. 16 slices Canadian back bacon or black forest ham thick sliced
3. 16 slices sharp cheddar cheese
4. 6 eggs
5. 1/2 tsp. pepper
6. 1/2-1 tsp. dry mustard
7. 1/4 cup minced onion
8. 1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper
9. 1-2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
10. 3 cups milk
11. dash Tabasco
12. 1/2 cup butter
13. Crushed Corn Flakes
Directions:
Set 8 pieces of bread crusts removed into a 9″ x 13″ (23 x 33 cm) buttered, glass baking dish.
Cover bread with slices of back bacon or Black forest ham. Lay slices of cheddar cheese on top of bacon and then cover with remaining slices of bread to make it like a sandwich.
In a bowl, beat eggs and pepper. To the egg mixture add dry mustard, onion, green pepper, Worcestershire sauce, milk and Tabasco. Pour over the sandwiches, cover and let stand in fridge overnight.
In the morning, melt butter, pour over top. Cover with crushed Corn Flakes.
Bake, uncovered, 1 hour at 350 deg. F (180 deg.C). Let sit 10 minutes before serving.
C – Shift: Honey Glazed Ham
Ingredients:
1. 1 (5 pound) ready-to-eat ham
2. 1/4 cup whole cloves
3. 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
4. 2 cups honey
5. 2/3 cup butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Score ham, and stud with the whole cloves. Place ham in foil lined pan.
In the top half of a double boiler, heat the corn syrup, honey and butter. Keep glaze warm while baking ham.
Brush glaze over ham, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven.
Baste ham every 10 to 15 minutes with the honey glaze. During the last 4 to 5 minutes of baking, turn on broiler to caramelize the glaze. Remove from oven, and let sit a few minutes before serving.
D – Shift: Christmas Shortbread Bites
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup salted butter, cold and diced into 1 Tbsp pieces
2. 2/3 cup granulated sugar
3. 1/2 tsp almond extract
4. 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
5. 2 1/2 Tbsp nonpareils sprinkles, then about 1/2 Tbsp more for tops if desired.
Directions:
Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and line with 2 sheets of parchment paper (one horizontally and one vertically. I also like to butter between parchment sheets so they stick) leaving a 1-inch over hang on all sides, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer mix cream butter and sugar together until well combined. Mix in almond extract. With mixer set on low speed slowly add in flour and mix until combined. Mix and fold in sprinkles. Press dough into an even layer in prepared pan. Chill dough in refrigerator 20 – 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lift dough from pan using parchment overhang on all sides. Cut into 1/2-inch squares using a large sharp knife. Sprinkle more sprinkles over the top if desired and gently press into dough. Transfer about 1/3 of the cookies to an unbuttered baking sheet (do not line pan with parchment or silicone liners) and scatter cookies out spacing cookies 1/2-inch apart. Bake in preheated oven 8 – 12 minutes.
Repeat process with remaining bites, adding them to a cool baking sheet. Cool completely then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.
