Recipe for a Delicious Holiday, AICPA Style

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years. Late fall and early winter are choc-a-bloc with holidays and, thus, opportunities to entertain and cook for friends and family. Some people like to stick with their tried and true holiday recipes year after year. Others are always looking for something new to serve. And if you’ve been invited somewhere as a guest, you might be looking for just the right thing to bring to a party or holiday gathering.

AICPA staff and affiliates gathered some favorite recipes from aunts, uncles, or in my case, my second grade class in elementary school. We hope this collection of old favorites is helpful—and tasty. And as one colleague suggested, if toiling in the kitchen isn’t your thing, you can always make reservations!

Happy Holidays!

Fannie’s Crumb Cake

From Steve Rivera, CPA, CGMA, Worldwide Sr. Director, Financial Compliance & Procedures,

Johnson & Johnson

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

Use a 9 x 13 Glass Pan

Part I:

3 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 cup of vegetable oil

2 tsp. of baking powder

Part II:

1 cup of milk (whole or skim)

3 eggs

1 tsp. of vanilla

Optional – 1 can of Comstock Fruit (apple, blueberry or cherry)

Part III:

1 ½ stick of margarine or butter, softened

4 tsp. of cinnamon

Optional: Chocolate – Use dark chocolate cake mix and Hershey’s Special Dark instant pudding instead of the cinnamon.

½ cup white sugar

½ cup flour

Part I

Combine all the ingredients above in Part I in a bowl using a hand mixer.

Take 3 cups of the mix out and place into a separate bowl. This will be used later for the crumbs.

Part II

For the remaining mix, add the ingredients listed above in Part II.

Mix well and pour into a greased glass pan

Optional – spoon fruit evenly on top of batter.

Part III

Using the 3 cups of the mix you set aside in Part I, hand squeeze or mix in (on a slow speed) the following ingredients:

1 ½ stick of margarine or butter, softened

4 tsp. of cinnamon (you may want to add more for taste)

Optional: Chocolate – Use dark chocolate cake mix and Hershey’s Special Dark instant pudding instead of the cinnamon. Mix this with the remaining ingredients with the butter.

Add ½ cup white sugar with the rest of the mix

Add ½ cup flour with the rest of the mix

Mix should be ready to lay on top of the batter in the pan when the crumbs stick together. Lay crumbs on top.

Bake for about 55-60 minutes.

Pepperoni Balls

From Ann Marie Maloney

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients:

Frozen bread dough, thawed and cut into small pieces (approx. 1 – 1 ½ inch in diameter).

Pepperoni, diced

Wrap dough around a small amount of pepperoni to form a small ball.

Pinch edges and place balls on a cookie sheet

Bake seam side down until done (about 10 minutes). These cook quickly so keep a close eye on them so the bottoms don’t burn.

Semi-Homemade Potato Pancakes

From Alexis Rothberg

Ingredients:

1 box Manischewitz homestyle potato pancake mix

1 Spanish onion

3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled

2 eggs

1 cup water

Classic accompaniments: applesauce and sour cream

Using a box grater, grate the potatoes. Wrap them in a kitchen towel and squeeze over the sink to remove excess liquid. Place the potatoes in a medium sized bowl. Next, finely dice the onion and add it to the potatoes. In another medium sized bowl beat two eggs with a fork under blended. Add 1 cup of cold water and mix well. Then add the contents of the potato pancake mix and stir to combine. Let the mixture sit for five minutes to thicken. Add the grated potato and diced onion and mix. Prepare a large frying pan with 1/8 inch of vegetable oil. Drop tablespoons of the mixture into hot oil. Cook the latkes until golden brown on both sides. Enjoy!

Aunt T’s Broccoli Casserole

From Stacie Saunders

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten well

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 Tbsp. grated onion

Salt and pepper

2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer to a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Cranberry and Brie Cheese Puffs

From Carmen Encarnacion

Ingredients:

Puff pastry dough

Cranberry sauce (fresh or homemade)

Brie cheese

Cut puff pastry to fit a cupcake pan (any size cupcake pan is fine).

Put a cut piece of dough into each individual cupcake pan spot; push down slightly into the cup.

Fill with 1 tsp or 1 Tbsp. of cranberry sauce.

Put a piece of brie cheese on top.

Bake at 400 degrees. Follow instructions on dough package or until you see them puff and turn a nice light brown, roughly 5-7 minutes.

Careful removing from pan

If you don’t like cranberry sauce, use your imagination. This works with anything. Just don’t overfill the cups to avoid them spilling over!

Pumpkin Muffins

Submitted by Lauren Sternberg, courtesy of Miss Flynn’s second grade class, Hewitt Elementary School, November 1986

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease muffin tin (regular or mini, or you can make 1 loaf of bread)

Sift together:

1 ¾ cups flour

¼ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, beat until fluffy:

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

Add and beat in:

1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin (I use canned)

Alternate dry ingredients with:

1/3 cup water

½ tsp vanilla

Pour batter in greased muffin tin/loaf ban. Bake at 350 degrees until tests done. For mini muffins, this is about 10-15 minutes, depending upon your oven. Larger muffins and a loaf of bread are longer.

Lauren J. Sternberg, Communications Manager, American Institute of CPAs.