Blueberry Muffins and the Great American Junk Food Holiday

[berberry]

In terms of fresh from the oven/stove junk food, this is indeed The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.  The Waffle House thread got me thinking about blueberry muffins, which I sometimes make from scratch but often just use a mix.  At Christmas I'm more likely to take the time for scratch.

Here's a way to GREATLY improve the Duncan-Hines or Betty Crocker mixes:  replace the can of blueberries provided with frozen blueberries.  Take them straight from the freezer and stir them into your batter just before you pour it into muffin pans.  The fact that they're frozen will keep the berries from bursting and turning the batter blue, and the quality of frozen blueberries is better than the ones in that can.

Save the canned blueberries.  Use them for simple blueberry turnovers made from flattened-out Hungy Jack biscuits.  Or just go ahead bake the biscuits as the instructions say, then pour the canned berries over them.

Another great Christmas treat is homemade cinnamon rolls, which of course are the perfect complement to eggnog.  I find that you can't do better than the recipe on the back of the box of Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix; these things are melt-in-your-mouth good.  Don't let the word 'mix' in the title fool you though.  You're pretty much working from scratch, it's just that some of the most basic ingredients have already been measured and mixed for you.  There's very little sugar in PHRM, so if you have diabetics in the family just use Splenda for the cinnamon roll and icing recipes.

So what kind of junk food do you like to make and/or eat for Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, of just plain-ole winter-time?

[kphoger]

Egg nog.  That should count as junk food, right?
Spritz cookies.
And, if I can find it, Lebkuchen!
I am also a fan of all cream pies...

[Alps]

The rule for Hanukkah latkes: To celebrate the oil that burned for 8 days, use at least that much oil in preparing them.

[cpzilliacus]

The rule for Hanukkah latkes: To celebrate the oil that burned for 8 days, use at least that much oil in preparing them.

+1

[mcdonaat]

I'm fine with eating my Hostess products that I stockpiled. The coffee cakes are delicious, and so are sweet rolls.

[kphoger]

The rule for Hanukkah latkes: To celebrate the oil that burned for 8 days, use at least that much oil in preparing them.

+1

Hopefully that means you should make 100 latkes.  Me likee

[formulanone]

My wife makes several batches of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Her mother leaves bowls of cashews out all the time.
Mom makes the latkes, has enough leftovers for a small army.

We also seem to have nieces and nephews with food allergies and/or food wish lists, so the grandparents go ape and make all sorts of food/deserts available. There's tons of leftovers for any family gathering over five people.

[bugo]

If you live near where huckleberries grow, you could replace the faux blueberries with fresh huckleberries.  They grow in the Ouachita Mountains near Mena, AR, and we used to stop and pick them.  There was a patch right next to the road on the way to the swimming hole.