Honey-Glazed Ham for Holidays

Dear SOS: With the holidays approaching I would like to have a recipe for a honey-glazed ham. Can you help?

--PEGGY

Dear Peggy: Here’s a simple recipe for a boneless ham, but you can use any bone-in ham cooked according to manufacturers’ directions before adding the honey glaze. HONEYED HAM

1 (6- to 8-pound) boneless ham

1/4 cup prepared mustard

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup apple, apricot, peach or raspberry preserves

2 tablespoons brandy, optional

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple slices, drained and cut in halves

Bake ham as directed on wrapper. Combine mustard, honey, preserves and brandy. About 20 minutes before baking is complete, slice ham, cutting only halfway through. Insert pineapple between ham slices. Spoon or brush mustard mixture over ham and pineapple. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes longer. Makes 12 to 20 servings.

Dear SOS: A few years ago you printed on the front page of the Food Section a recipe for an English trifle made with cranberry sauce. I have lost the recipe and since the holidays will soon be upon us, I would like to have this recipe again. It was a family favorite.

--CATHY

Dear Cathy: Now you have your recipe again. And what a lovely dessert for the holiday season it is. CRANBERRY TRIFLE

1 (13-ounce) package angel food cake, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1/2 cup rum

1 (16-ounce) can whole-berry cranberry sauce

1 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel

1 tablespoon almond-flavored liqueur or rum

Rich Custard Sauce

Rum Whipped Cream

1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

Line bottom and sides of 2 1/2-quart bowl with some cake slices. Sprinkle with 5 tablespoons rum.

Combine cranberry sauce with orange peel and almond-flavored liqueur. Spread 1/4 of mixture over cake slices. Spoon 1/3 of Rich Custard Sauce over mixture, then top with more cake slices. Sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons rum.

Spread cake slices with another 1/4 of cranberry mixture and another 1/3 of custard. Top with remaining cake slices. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons rum. Spread with another 1/4 of cranberry sauce and remaining custard. Cover with Rum Whipped Cream, spooning in mounds. Garnish top with remaining 1/4 of cranberry sauce and almonds. Carefully cover with plastic wrap or foil and chill overnight or several hours. Makes 8 servings. Rich Custard Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 egg yolks

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups whipping cream or half and half

1 tablespoon almond-flavored liqueur

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, eggs and cream in top of double boiler. Cook over simmering water until mixture is thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in liqueur and vanilla. Rum Whipped Cream

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon rum

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar, vanilla and rum and whip until thick.

Dear SOS: I desperately need a recipe for cocktail meatballs, which call for Grapenuts flakes, ground beef and who knows what else. After browning they are served in a chafing dish with a sauce.

--MARY ANNE

Dear Mary Anne: We’re stumped. We can’t find a meatball recipe using whole bran cereal flakes. However, you can add whole bran cereal flakes--or any crushed cereal-- to almost any meatball mixture. How about trying it this way? This recipe will make 500 appetizer meatballs, which you can freeze to use anytime during the holiday season. FANTASTIC MEATBALLS

5 pounds ground beef

3 pounds bulk hot pork sausage meat

3 pounds regular pork sauce

10 eggs

3 1/3 cups whole bran cereal flakes, fine dry bread crumbs or crushed saltines

4 1/2 to 5 teaspoons sage

7 1/2 cups catsup

2 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 cup vinegar

1 cup soy sauce

Mix ground beef, pork sausages, eggs, cereal flakes and sage. Form into bite-size balls. Brown in batches in skillet. Combine catsup, brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce. Place meatballs in sauce and bake at 325 degrees 30 to 40 minutes. Makes 500 appetizer meatballs.