We had our annual Christmas gift exchange/potluck today. Our gift exchange tradition has been the “dirty Santa” game, which is pretty funny considering it’s church. It’s always entertaining to see who’s going to get brave and steal somebody else’s gift. Usually happens when someone opens a gift with alcohol in it.

We always have an abundance of food for such a small group of people and it’s so fun to sit and visit and enjoy each other’s company. Today was no different. It was a kind of subdued group today but still such a nice time. And lots of good eats: quiche with spam and biscuits and gravy, clam chowder and white chicken chili, spritz cookies and haystacks, traditional plum pudding and pecan cinnamon rolls, peppermint bark and Lindt chocolate truffles. My contribution was a Croissant breakfast casserole (or strata) that I sort of made up on fly last night.

I knew I wanted to make a strata because I could assemble it the night before and just throw it in the oven this morning.

I found just the right amount of day old croissants at a local bakery in town (Park Ave) and took it from there.

Some Beeler’s ham diced small, thyme and shredded gruyere to give it a Croque Madame/Monsieur flair. Sort of made me think of something you’d find at Madeleine’s cafe in Spokane.

I could have baked it a little longer, but I ran out of time and had to get it in the car so we weren’t late. Still, it seemed to be a hit and all but one serving got eaten. That’s generally how I gauge whether a recipe is a success. I’ve been trying to be better about writing down a recipe when I “wing it” lately. Sometimes in the little red food journal or here (hopefully more and more).

I’m trying to learn how to create a more aesthetic look so I tried my hand a template in Canva tonight.

I would definitely make this again but add some more flair. Maybe a béchamel or cheese sauce and some pepper flake, maybe something green like spinach or caramelized leeks. Marinated artichokes could be interesting. Lots of possibilities.

Church days can sometimes be long and it’s nice to have the fellowship with one another. Our neighbor friend dropped off his homemade fruit cake and rum balls with a few other goodies when we got home this afternoon. I shared cookies and sent a gift with him, then got a chicken roasting in the oven for our dinner and attempted to make some cranberry caramels. I’m thinking I may need a new candy thermometer. That or definitely more practice at caramel-making. The recipe said to bring them to between 255-260 degrees and remove from the heat. I resorted to a different thermometer and it read 263 so I quickly turned off the flame and added the salt and vanilla. Poured into a greased 8X8 pan and into the fridge. Again, all like the recipe called for. Two hours later I had a rock-hard slab I couldn’t pry from the pan. Fail.

I heated the oven to 300 and set the pan in there while it heated. Once it reach temp, I gave it just a minute and took them out again. They had softened enough that I could at least get them out of the pan, but once cooled they will definitely remove an unwanted filling. Yikes!

I was hoping for them to be soft and chewy, not Werther’s density. Such a bummer. I suppose I’m mostly disappointed because I reduced 32 oz of an $8 bottle of organic Cranberry blend juice to make them, not to mention a whole stick of Kerrygold butter and cream and sugar. They were not cheap candies to make. The flavor is really lovely. They have a tartness and a good amount of flake salt from the Maldon I added to the top as well as mixed in.

As I Google the best temp for making soft caramels I realize the flaw in the recipe. Between 235 and 240 may have been the better way to go. I think next time, I’ll half the recipe and try to nail down the technique. Definitely some room for improvement on that one.