Photo Jeremiah and Rachel Spray

Christmas is fast approaching and is the perfect time to begin planning a festive dinner menu. Below, you’ll find tried-and-true recipes from Margaret Rita McDonald Goode that have been Christmas Eve staples at her family’s Montana ranch.

Montana Angus Prime Rib Roast Recipe

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Enjoy a Christmas dinner with a hearty roast infused with fresh rosemary and thyme. Goode serves this prime rib roast as the main course.

Flathead Cherry Old Fashioned Recipe

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Impress your party guests with a delicious cherry-based bourbon cocktail garnished with vibrant orange zest.

Holiday Cranberry Hot Toddy Recipe

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

This warm concoction of seasonal flavors, including cinnamon, clove, star anise, and cranberry, turns a traditional favorite into a wintery delight.

Maggie’s Homemade Rolls Recipe

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Fluffy bread rolls pair nicely with dishes on a festive Christmas dinner table. In Goode’s family recipe, mashed potatoes make for a unique addition.

Chocolate Cake With Buttercream Frosting and Huckleberry Filling

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

When it comes to dessert, from scratch is a must for Goode. “I only cook from scratch; it is all I know. My friends tease me terribly because everything is out of a box for them, but for me, I cook old fashioned; I guess I am old-fashioned.”

Photo Tara Marolda Photography

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it helps to know what to expect when planning a celebration. While intimate, casual gatherings usually come together without a hitch, larger events are composed of more moving parts to think about. We asked Sarah Rose Attman, founder of Sarah Rose Events in Aspen, to give us some party planning pointers.

How to Begin

Photo Tara Marolda Photography

To start, Attman recommends nailing down the basics. “Think about your guest list, where you plan to host your party, and your budget.” She suggests a simple spreadsheet to create an event timeline that includes set-up, cocktail hour, dinner, and clean-up. When complete, this can be shared with key vendors to keep, literally everyone, on the same page.

Next, take some time to browse websites like Pinterest for inspiration. “How you want your event to look will be easy to share with others if you’re able to provide some examples of what you have in mind,” Attman says. “Often, a vendor can offer you a couple of options to choose from keeping your budget in mind.” Attman also recommends looking for vendors that provide more than a single service. “Selecting a florist who can also manage linens and table set-up will help achieve a cohesive design and eliminate some of the hassle of multiple vendors and deliveries.”

Hire a Caterer and Bar Staff

Photo Tara Marolda Photography

Attman says this recommendation will be helpful across the board for anything other than an intimate dinner or event. “Hiring help for food and beverage service allows hosts to be welcoming and present for their guests,” she explains. “It’s stressful to be torn between mingling and running back and forth to the kitchen.”

Create a Festive Vibe

Photo Tara Marolda Photography

Parties are for greeting old friends and meeting new ones. A cocktail hour with passed hors d’oeuvres facilitates mingling and lively conversation. “An efficient bar is one of the keys to party success,” she points out. A bar professional can also mix and serve a signature cocktail in addition to other libation choices. After cocktails and appetizers, dinner and desert can be served buffet-style or plated.

Make Your Party Sparkle

Photo Tara Marolda Photography

The little details are all-important in the creation of the evening’s ambiance and mood. “Holidays are a great time for sparkle in the décor and even the drinks,” exclaims Attman. “Search Etsy and Amazon for unique touches that will make the evening fun and memorable.”

Photography by Lindley Rust Photography

A tiny gingerbread house is the perfect holiday project for children and adults. Create your own unique tiny house to use as an ornament on your tree or a decorative piece for your mantel. The kits by Persephone Bakery also make fun stocking stuffers for everyone on your gift list.

Persephone Bakery is located in Jackson, WY. Each of their tiny home kits comes complete with seven gingerbread walls, overhanging roof and chimney, festive candy confetti and royal icing in a piping tube. These miniatures are the perfect project for those daunted by the time commitment required to build and decorate a full-size gingerbread house. A Persephone Bakery Gingerbread Tiny Home Kit can be completed in about an hour. The gingerbread is made in the bakery with all-natural ingredients, and everything in the kit is deliciously edible.

Persephone’s husband-and-wife team, Kevin and Ali Cohane, own and operate the bakery and café well-known to locals and visitors for their French pastries and artisanal bread. The bakery creates its products using only the highest quality ingredients and traditional processes. Their dedication to old-world fermentation techniques and baking with heavy heat in a stone hearth produces rustic, elegant treats with an enhanced depth of flavor sure to please the most discerning palate. Customers can order specialty items online or enjoy Persephone Bakery’s offerings in person in their café adjacent to the Jackson Hole town square.

Persephone’s mission is to “Live as we bake, and bake as we live: With heart, hard work and creativity.” The shop combines food, design, nature and art to connect with its clientele. That connection has generated the tremendous local support that is the heart of the drive to create only the best-baked goods. The owners and staff are dedicated to the delicate balance of patience and precision that is the hallmark of great baking.

Persephone Café can be found in Jackson, WY, with an additional location in Wilson, WY. For out-of-towners, their website offers a full array of delectable treats that can be delivered directly to your door.

These tiny home kits are sure to be a hit. You can make one or build several to create a little winter village. If you build one or two to eat—we promise we won’t tell.

Goode serves a prime rib roast as the main course. | Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Montana Angus Prime Rib Roast

INGREDIENTS
5-7 pound rib roast
2 hours before cooking, rub roast all over with olive oil
Then, rub all over with a mixture of:
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh rosemary
½ tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Roast bone side down.  Start at 500 degrees for 15 minutes, then 325 degrees.  Roast 15 minutes per pound. Remove from oven, tent with foil, and let sit 30 minutes prior to carving.

As seen in Christmas Eve at the McDonald Ranch.

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Flathead Cherry Old Fashioned

Makes: 1 Cocktail, easily multiplied

Time: 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 tsp. honey or a sugar cube
3-4 dashes of angostura bitters
1 1/2 ounces good bourbon, or rye whiskey, if preferred
1 1/2 ounces 100% cherry juice (we use Tabletree from Bigfork, Montana)
orange zest
orange twist and/or cherry garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
Lightly stir or muddle the honey/sugar and bitters in the bottom of your glass. Add the bourbon and cherry juice and stir. Add a cocktail ice cube, grate some fresh orange zest over the top, and add a cherry and/or orange peel twist for garnish & flavor. Serve immediately!

As seen in Christmas Eve at the McDonald Ranch.

Dessert includes chocolate cake with wild huckleberry filling. “I only cook from scratch; it is all I know. My friends tease me terribly because everything is out of a box for them, but for me, I cook old-fashioned; I guess I am old-fashioned,” laughs Goode. | Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Chocolate Cake With Buttercream Frosting and Huckleberry Filling

Time: 30-35 minutes

Cake

INGREDIENTS
Cream together:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Sift:

• 2 ½ cup cake flour
• ½ cup cocoa
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cake pan. I used an 8” round pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together sugar, shortening, eggs and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix cake flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Slowly, add flour mixture to creamed mixture until combined. Add in 1 cup of buttermilk and mix well. Finally, add 1 cup of boiling water to the bowl and mix on medium high until batter is light. Pour batter into a prepared cake pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean (about 30-35 minutes for a 8” layer, a rectangle cake pan will take 35-45 minutes).

To make the optional huckleberry filling, pour about two cups of huckleberries (or any berries- raspberries would be delicious as well) into a small saucepan pan along with a little water, maybe 1/2 cup sugar and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the contents thicken; be careful not to let it burn. Let the filling cool completely.

To assemble the layered cake: let pans cool 15 minutes on a wire rack before un-molding. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula or paring knife, and invert onto wire racks or a piece of parchment on your counter top. To prevent the layers from splitting, invert again so that the tops are up. Cool completely before assembling cake. I place layers in the freezer for a little bit to make them less likely to break when trimming. If cakes are not level, use a serrated knife to trim tops off. Carefully slice each cake horizontally into two equal layers. (You will have four layers.)

Place one sliced layer on an 8-inch cardboard cake round. Spread the top with 1/8 inch of huckleberry filling and then about the same amount of buttercream frosting. Repeat with remaining layers and remaining frosting, placing the final layer bottom side up. Lightly coat the assembled cake with a thin layer of white frosting to protect against crumbs in the frosting. Finish with remaining frosting. Serve immediately, or keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Frosting

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs whipping cream

INSTRUCTIONS
Mix all ingredients together until smooth & creamy

As seen in Christmas Eve at the McDonald Ranch.

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Holiday Cranberry Hot Toddy

A basic hot toddy recipe is nothing more than whiskey, honey, lemon juice, and hot water. But for the holidays, what could be better than a wintery, spiced cranberry version?

INGREDIENTS
4 cups unsweetened cranberry juice
1 cup pulp-free orange juice
1 orange, sliced
1 orange, zested
2 – 3-inch cinnamon sticks
1 – 2-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon whole cloves
5 star anise
ground cinnamon and sanding sugar

INSTRUCTIONS
Add the cranberry and orange juices as well the spices to a pot. Simmer through a holiday Spotify playlist. Sweeten with some maple syrup or honey. Pour some bourbon whiskey into a glass and top with the spiced cranberry juice. If you want to be extra festive, mix together a little sugar with some cinnamon and rim your glass before you pour in your cranberry hot toddy.

As seen in Christmas Eve at the McDonald Ranch.

Photo by Jeremiah and Rachel Spray Photography

Maggie’s Homemade Rolls

INGREDIENTS
1 cup milk
4 ½ cups flour
1 yeast cake
¼ cup sugar, plus 1 tsp sugar
½ cup shortening
¼ cup warm water
2 eggs
1 Tbs salt
1 cup instant mashed potatoes

INSTRUCTIONS
First, in a glass measuring cup, dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tsp sugar, and let yeast grow. Meanwhile scald the milk over low heat, and then let it cool. Once the milk is cool, add it to the yeast mixture along with the salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together shortening, mashed potatoes and eggs. Add the yeast in along with 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 cups of flour. Mix well. Add remainder of flour. Turn out dough unto a floured surface and knead about 8 minutes. Transfer dough back to bowl and cover with a thin towel. Let the dough rise 45 minutes to one hour, punch down, and form into balls and set on cookie sheet. Give rolls time to rise again and then bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

As seen in Christmas Eve at the McDonald Ranch.