Who's Ready for Christmas?

Friends! It’s finally the Christmas season and my family is raring to go with all our favorite holiday traditions.
I love the familiarity and comfort of the rhythms of this season and want to soak in
every minute of this month.
How about you? What favorite traditions does your family have?
I’d love to hear what you’re looking forward to this December!

Here are a few of our favorites…

AJ Christmas Spotify List : Here’s the link!

Christmas Concerts: We recently purchased the Elle and Drew Holcomb Christmas concert ($10) and the Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb concert ($20) since we’re not able to attend this year. I highly recommend both as the soundtracks to your holidays!

Christmas Beet Cake: We enjoy this traditional beet cake every Christmas afternoon. I know, I know! It sounds granola, but I promise it’s delicious!!
Recipe below.

ELF the movie: We watch it several times over the holiday season and it never gets old!

Gift Opening Tradition: On Christmas, we open one gift at a time so we can savor the joy of giving and receiving and enjoy each other's reactions to their gifts.

Christmas Pillows: My husband says I have a slight addiction to Christmas pillows, but they make the house feel so cozy and festive. I might just run out and pick up a couple more at TJ Maxx this afternoon. Maybe I do have a problem?

I hope this season is full of fun and meaningful traditions for your family as well!
Enjoy these precious few weeks of Christmas, friends!

P.S. Check out our Annie James Christmas Gift Sets! They make a simple and fun gift for friends, teachers, family, etc. We’ve also added GIFT CARDS to the shop, so don’t miss those!

BEET CAKE RECIPE:

2 large beets (enough for 1 1/2 cups puree)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, but not quite room temperature
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened slightly
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons natural (not dark or Dutch processed) cocoa powder*
cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (165 degrees Celsius). Place beets in a small baking dish and add a 1/2 cup of water. Cover with parchment paper and foil, and roast until quite tender, about 60-90 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

2. Butter 3 (8) inch cake pans. Cut out parchment paper circles and place in the bottoms of the pans. Butter the parchment paper and dust with flour. Set aside. Peel the beets and cut into large chunks. Place in a food processor (or a very good blender) with the lemon juice, and pulse until smooth and pureed.** Stir in the vinegar.

3. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Pour in sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated. Mix in vanilla.

4. While ingredients are mixing, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Measure out 1 and 1/2 cups of the beet puree mixture, and fold into the cake batter. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Tap pans on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Invert cakes onto cooling racks, and allow to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to frost.

*Some people have commented and said that their cake has turned out maroon in color instead of red. I just tested the recipe again, to see if I could recreate what happened. It could be the cocoa. So, if you’re more concerned about the color than the chocolate flavor, then just use 2 tablespoons of cocoa instead of the 1/4 cup.

**The other thing I discovered while testing it today, is that I didn’t make my puree as fine. The last time I made it, the texture of the beet puree was very smooth, almost like baby food. I think that may have affected the color. Each tiny piece of beet adds to the color, and if there’s more surface area surrounding each teeny tiny piece, then you’ll get a stronger red, I think.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese cream cheese, at room temperature

8 oz. masacarpone, at room temperature

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2-3 pinches of salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Switch to the whisk attachment, and mix until smooth and slightly fluffy.