What a Week!

Last Saturday, I celebrated my birthday with my husband, son, and youngest daughter by making Ciopinno and Coconut Cake (click here), after my husband flew back Friday from visiting our oldest daughter in Austin, Texas; Sunday, my husband and I went to Teatro Zinzani (click here) in Seattle for his company's holiday party -despite the fact that he was pulled from the audience to participate which is exactly what he did NOT want to happen we had a good time; Monday, was my birthday and we went out to dinner at The Prohibition Grille in Everett; Tuesday, my husband's work site was closed and he was laid off -we have been expecting this to happen for quite awhile so it wasn't too much of a surprise; Wednesday, we talked and assessed our situation -we have been preparing for this so for now we are fine, both financially and emotionally; Thursday, the twin lambs were born in the pasture; Friday, we all went to dinner at (click here) Perche No (absolutely FABULOUS Italian food) and then to the Seattle Symphony Handel's Messiah (click here) which was lovely; Saturday, was the beginning of our annual HOLIDAY COOKIE BAKING - we will put them in tins and mail them to our family members living in cities near (Seattle) and far (Austin and San Diego) and my husband put up the tree and decorations; And today, I'm finishing the cookie baking and frosting, last minute shopping and going to see the Nutcracker (click here) tonight with my youngest daughter. What a week!

Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

These cookies are one of the many chocolate biscotti variations I've made by adapting the Chocolate Almond Biscotti recipe from the Hershey's Homemade cookbook. This recipe is perfectly suited for variations: with or without chocolate chips; vanilla or white chocolate chunks, instead of chocolate chips; filberts or other nuts, instead of almonds, or no nuts at all; almond extract, orange liqueur, or other flavoring, such as peppermint extract; drizzled with melted white chocolate over the dark (melt in a ziploc bag and snipe the corner open), or completely naked. The possibilities are endless, and so far, all I've made are delicious.

Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

Cream:

1/2 c. butter

1 1/4 c. sugar

Add:

2 eggs

1 t. peppermint extract

Beat until smooth.

Stir together in separate bowl:

2 1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. Hershey's European Dark Cocoa

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

Blend into butter mix, beating until smooth again.

Using wax paper, form two 2 x 11 inch logs (the dough can be refrigerated at this point, but it's not necessary). Remove wax paper, then place logs on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool for 10-15 minutes on cookie sheet. Using a serrated knife, cut 1/2 inch slices at a slight angle. Arrange cut side down on cookie sheet, and bake 8-9 minutes for each side. Meanwhile, crush 5-6 tiny candy canes in their wrapper with a rolling pin. Remove cookies from oven. Immediately and carefully place Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, 5-6 per cookie (and about 1 c. for all), on each cookie and then return to oven for 1 minute to melt chips. Remove from oven and gently spread chocolate evenly with one or two strokes. Sprinkle on crushed candy cane bits. Cool completely.

Christmas Memories with Recipes: Sugar Cookies

Christmas Memories with Recipes was published in 1988 in which "25 of today's master chefs and leading food writers share their holiday-food recollections." It is a cookbook full of the kind of essays (with 150 recipes) that I love to read this time of year. Hidden inside are about a dozen or more of these paper snowflakes I've saved, created by one (or more) of my kids many years ago. It's always a charming surprise, as I tend to forget about the delicate paper snow flakes hidden between the pages from one year to the next, until one (or more) falls out as I begin to look through it, and I am reminded of my children cutting paper snowflakes during the holidays.



Holidays are filled with memories: dogs eating cookies, kids cutting paper snowflakes, and everyone frosting sugar cookies. This is a photo from several years ago. Frosting sugar cookies is something all my offspring have done since they were old enough to hold a knife, eating (and wearing) a little less of the frosting each year. The holidays wouldn't be complete without us frosting and decorating sugar cookies.



And not just for Christmas. My mom made sugar cookies for all the holidays, changing the shapes of the cookie cutters, and the color of the frosting, with the seasons. My brothers, cousins, and I, all fondly remember how special they were, and how excited we would be, whenever she made frosted sugar cookies. It was an inexpensive, simple yet very special, way to celebrate the holidays on our land-rich/cash-poor cattle ranch during the seventies. These are my BIG PINK COOKIES, sugar cookies with the frosting tinted pink and flavored with maraschino cherry juice and cherry brandy. I made some awhile ago, and a special "thinking of you" super-sized one, that I wrapped in bubble wrap and mailed to my daughter in Austin.

All holiday baking and cookie cookbooks include a recipe for sugar cookies. And like with the Noel Balls, many people also have their own holiday memories of their mom's sugar cookies, with her recipe. In the cookbook, Christmas Memories with Recipes, it is none other than Martha herself, who shares her story of Christmas Cookies, with a dozen of her holiday cookie recipes, including Noel Balls and Sugar Cookies. Granted, Martha Stewart and others, such as these ladies (click here), use a considerable amount of finesse and skill, and produce much more impressive looking cookies than the garishly frosted cookies created by my tots and teens -or the simple ones made by my mom. But it is both these simple and garish sugar cookies, completely lacking in finesse but tasting just as good (or dare I say, maybe better?), that are a big part of all the Christmas memories I cherish.

Sugar Cookies

Cream:

1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

Mix separately in a bowl:

2 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

Mix in measuring cup:

1/4 c. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

Alternate adding flour and milk mixes into creamed butter. Combine well. Chill. Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with seasonal cookie cutters. Bake 350 degrees for 4-7 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Noel Balls, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cookies...

Noel balls are my favorite holiday cookie. Variations on the basic recipe are also called Scandinavian Walnut Cookies, Walnut Snowball Cookies, Pecan or Butter Balls, Mexican Wedding Cakes/Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes/Cookies, and probably a few others. They seem to have been made by almost everyone's family, and are one of almost everyone's favorites cookies. The effort required to make them is inversely proportionate to how delicious they are. What's not to love? A buttery-sugary-toasted nuttiness flavor, all rolled into a pop-it-in-your-mouth-sized ball of joy. Just as most everyone else does, I credit my mom as the origin for my recipe, though she prefers walnuts (Scandinavian Walnut Balls), and I prefer pecans. I love all variations of these cookies -whatever name they are called.

Noel Balls
Cream:
1 c. butter
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Add:
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. finely chopped nuts
Form 1 1/4 inch balls. Place on baking sheet and chill thoroughly. Bake 325-350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Roll balls in powdered sugar while warm, and again when cool.

Years ago, when my kids were little and our dog, Jane was just a puppy, I had baked several batches of cookies for our holiday gift tins. I ran out of counter space in the kitchen, so I put a batch of these cookies on the floor downstairs in our family room to cool. Jane, being the very smart dog she is, had quickly learned the rule that she was to ONLY EAT FOOD PUT ON THE FLOOR. So of course, she thought that the cookies had been intentionally put on the floor for Good Dog Jane, and ate every last cookie.

Candy Cane Cookies

The new cookies I want to bake this year for our holiday gift tins are these (click here). I spotted them at The English Kitchen, an absolutely charming blog I am completely smitten with! I confess that I very seldom just take a recipe and make it, no matter how good the source. I feel compelled to contrast and compare different cooks' versions, so before I made the Swedish Meatballs from Simply Recipes, I started to look through a few of my cookbooks. I didn't get any farther than a cookbook titled Eet Smakelijk. "In his native land, A Dutch host utters these words before each meal, Eet Smakelijk, meaning to eat well and with taste." It is a collection of recipes by members and friends of the Junior Welfare League of Holland, Michigan published in 1976, and a recent thrift store find of mine. It has two recipes for Swedish Meatballs -and a recipe for candy cane cookies. The following recipe is my combination of the one in this Dutch-American cookbook, The English Kitchen's recipe, plus another in Land O Lakes holiday booklet #74. Aside from being incredibly cute, I just know they're also going to taste really good!

Candy Cane Cookies
Cream:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. veg. shortening (or all butter)
1 c. powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t. almond or peppermint extract
1 t. vanilla

Add:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt

Divide the dough in half, blending 1/2 t. red food coloring into one of the halves. Refrigerate dough for an hour, if it seems to soft to work with. Roll 1 t. each of the white and red colored doughs into 4 inch long ropes. Place side by side, press lightly together at one end, twist ropes, and then roll so they hold together. Place on cookie sheet, curving one end to form into the shape of a candy cane. Bake 350-375 degrees for 9-12 minutes, or until set. Sprinkle with sugar immediately after removing from the oven. Let set 1 minute before removing to a wire rack and cooling completely.

Variation: Do not divide the dough and omit the red food coloring. Roll 1 T. dough into a 9 inch rope tapering from center to end, fold rope in half and twist, pinching the end into a point, and forming an icicle cookie. Bake and sprinkle with sugar, as with candy cane cookies.

Christmas Cookies and Cool Beans

These are probably my husband's favorite cookie. We include them in our holiday cookie baking, but also make them at other times of the year, as well. They are a little bit wholesome, a little bit decadent, completely delicious, and it wouldn't be Christmas at our house without them!

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Adapted from the recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray Craisins bag

Cream until light and fluffy:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar

Add:
2 eggs

Combine and add:
2 c. quick-cook rolled oats (if you buy the thick old-fashioned kind like I do, half or partially grind them in a food processor)
2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Add:
1 1/2 c. craisins (sweetened, dried cranberries)
9 oz. Baker's White Chocolate, chopped (best if chopped rather chunkily and not too fine)

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake 350-375 for 10-12 minutes until golden.



I realized last night that, besides foisting bean cookbook recommendations on complete strangers, beans were rather prevalent in this past week's meals: Mediterranean-style lamb and lentils; lamb burgers and baked beans; salmon with pasta, pesto and fava beans; honey and soy sauce glazed lamb ribs, Sara Jane's Chinese noodle salad, and (frozen) edamames; latkes and applesauce (our one beanless meal!); and last night's roast chicken, baked squash and Italian lentil salad. The Italian lentil salad was really good -and satisfying in the same way lentil soups are. Beans really are a perfect food. There are a a bajillion types of beans, and many different ways to cook them. Louis Armstrong signed his letters: Red Beans and Ricely Yours, showing his love and devotion to his favorite bean recipe. Tonight, I think I'm going to take a break from cooking with beans, and make the Swedish Meatballs from Simply Recipes, something I've never made or eaten before, but they look and sound simply scrumptious. Tomorrow though, I'll probably make black beans and rice burritos. As my friend Wendy would say, Cool Beans!



Italian Lentil Salad
Adapted from Bean Banquets by Patricia R. Gregory

Cook separately:
1/3 c. brown rice
1 c. brown lentils
Cook lentils until tender BUT firm. I know that's a complete contradiction of terms, but you know what I mean: just until they are tender to the tooth, but before the begin to lose their shape. 'Do not wander off while they are cooking' is what I kept reminding myself.

Meanwhile, saute in 2 T. olive oil until golden:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove

Add:
half a 14 oz can (or pint home canned) diced Italian tomatoes (or 2 diced fresh tomatoes, during the 2 weeks in August when our PNW garden has ripe tomatoes)
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
Cook 5 minutes or so, until its dried out a bit.

Remove to serving bowl. Add:
1 T. pesto or 1 T. fresh basil, minced
2 T. red wine vinegar
1-2 T. more olive oil
drained tender lentils
cooked rice
1/2 t. salt or to taste
pinch cayenne (or 1 t. crushed red peppers)
Adjust pesto, vinegar, and salt to taste. Cool to room temperature and serve.

Variations: I think some cooked diced carrots, diced red peppers, or crumbled feta cheese might be tasty additions. The rice can be omitted and is not in the Bean Banquet recipe. I actually started following a completely different recipe that included rice. I started cooking the rice and lentils, then realized I was missing most of the major ingredients, so I changed recipes.