Christmas 2012

Since I retired last year  I had time this Christmas to slow down a little.   I took a day to gather greens and holly to  make a wreath. It wasn't totally even but the fragrance of white pine and balsam made me high.
I have to make one every Christmas now.  New tradition.  I didn't know holly berries stayed nice so long.

 I filled a basket with the same greens, slate and jingle bells.

I gave some pine to our moose

On Christmas Eve my hubby took me back in the woods to a spot where crowfoot grows. We gathered lichen for the amaryllis and crowfoot for the antler candleholder.

and I managed to get some Christmas stockings made.

We had all our kids and grandchildren in before Christmas--which was really good since we ended up getting snow on Christmas!  Christmas eve we managed to put together a 7-fishes dinner.  We started with dilled herring on good bread, smoked trout spread on crackers, and lobster bisque. Next we fried some haddock and scallops and added coconut shrimp and a caesar salad with anchovies.

We had our Italian dinner on Christmas Day (Beef Braciole) complete with Christmas crackers and Christmas snow.  

It was a wonderful Christmas--our first with our new granddaughter and two little grandsons--three little ones now!!! And the snow allowed a lot of time to just relax by the Christmas tree and dream.

It was a wonderful Christmas, special gifts and special, special people.

Easter Eggs

As long as I can remember we colored Easter eggs. In Poland Easter was extremely important as a religious holiday.  It was the same when we were children.  We didn't receive colorful Easter baskets full of toys and candy and new Easter clothes.  We lined a plate with fresh moss, decorated it with spring flowers and set it out.  The next morning, when we came home from church, we found it full of colored eggs with perhaps one or two chocolate Easter candies.  Our home always had an Easter Lily and a poppy seed roll on the table. We kids spent the day between playing with our Easter eggs and eating them.  We made ramps and rolled our eggs to see whose egg was the fastest.  Before we ate them, we lined up our eggs, point to point and rammed them together to see whose egg was the strongest.  The egg that broke first was the one eaten.
Of course, we took turns hiding eggs and finding them.  Every clump of fresh grass or new daffodils had an egg hidden.  As we got older we became very creative in coloring them ourselves. 

One of our favorite ways of coloring eggs is to marble them using bowls of hot water, vinegar and food coloring (use the directions on the box of food dye) with a few teaspoons of salad oil added to the dye.

Every egg comes out different.  These were only dipped in two or three colors each and weren't left in very long.  The longer they stay in the dye, the more intense the colors become.  In the past we've had some look like galaxies in deep space with beautiful swirls of color against very dark backgrounds.  We've been making marbled eggs for many years and they always come out pretty and different.

We like to celebrate Easter with ham, traditional potato salad, sour cream cucumbers, and pickled beets with eggs:

This is a recipe from home also.  Mama heated equal parts vinegar, sugar and beet juice until the sugar dissolved.  If she didn't have quite enough beet juice, she added a little water.  Then she poured that mixture over sliced beets and peeled hard-boiled eggs and let them sit in the refrigerator a few days to allow the flavor to penetrate the beets and the egg whites.  They will keep in the refrigerator a long time.  We only added the eggs at Easter, but we had pickled beets often with our meals or as a snack with a chunk of homemade bread.

This year our Easter bread was actually an Irish Soda Bread.  It was made according to the directions on the bag and was delicious with our ham!  Thanks, again, C&K!

Homemade Christmas

 We started a tradition last year of making something for each other for Christmas gifts.  It has been so much fun!  We're already plotting for next year!

There were little socks for the baby:

Napkins with hand-knitted napkin rings in all colors and some of the best Biscotti I've ever had--I need to get the recipe for those:

Soaps, Bath Salts, knitted spa cloths:

AND Homemade MARSHMALLOWS, Tote bags and hand-sewn purses:

There are a couple gifts still in the process of being made so they can't be mentioned yet.

Of course, we didn't stop with homemade gifts--we never do.  We got some of the best presents ever and had the best times over the holidays--BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!

So this is Christmas: Marshmallows!!

VANILLA-DUSTED MARSHMALLOWS

3 pkgs. unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/4 c. water

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1/2 Tblsp. pure vanilla extract

Vanilla Confectioner's sugar for dusting (Made by storing a vanilla bean in a pound of confectioner's sugar a few weeks)

Mix gelatin and 1/2 c. water in a mixer bowl and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/4 c. water in a small pan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Clip a candy thermometer to edge of pan and cook on high heat until mixture reaches 240 deg.  Slowly pour mixture into dissolved gelatin in mixer bowl with mixer on low speed and using the whisk attachment.  Whip on high speed about 12 to 15 minutes until mixture is very thick.  Mix in vanilla.

Dust generously an 8 x 12 non-metal baking dish with confectioner's sugar.  Pour the mixture into the dish, smoothing the top.  Dust with more confectioner's sugar.  Allow to stand overnight to dry out.

Turn marshmallows out onto a sugar-dusted board or marble slab.  Oil a knife (wipe off excess) and cut the marshmallows into squares.   Dust with more confectioner's sugar.  Delicious eaten plain or on hot cocoa!!!

Snow Ghost Pie

Our first big snow of the season!  It's deep and it's beautiful.  The news keeps reporting this as a record snowfall for our area for this time of year.  It's expected to be our first White Christmas in 20 years here.  Most of my Christmas shopping is done, cookies are baked, cards have been mailed and the tree is going to be decorated tomorrow.  It looks like the roads will be cleared enough for our family to make it home by the end of the week.

                                                          

With all that snow outside my window and a warm fire in the woodstove, I decided I'd better make our annual Snow Ghost pie today.  An old Hershey Chocolate advertisement told a story of the Snow Ghost.  It claimed you must make a snow ghost pie when you get the first real snow of the season and you have to leave a piece in a snow bank for the Snow Ghost.  If you do, he will bring more snow.  When my children were little we made a snow ghost pie every winter. Sometimes we were so busy we just mixed up chocolate pudding and put it in a pie shell, but we made sure we put a piece in a snowbank for the ghost. (Be careful  not to leave it where a passing dog can find it and eat the chocolate and get sick.)  I make my own crust sometimes, but today I used a premade Mrs. Smith's deep dish crust that I baked.  If you like chocolate pie, this is a really good one and makes plenty of filling--I had some extra that I ate while it was hot!  Yummmm. . . .

SNOW GHOST PIE

1 9-inch baked pastry shell

1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

3 cups milk

3 Tblsp. butter

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sweetened whipped cream

Combine cocoa, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a medium saucepan.  Gradually blend milk into dry ingredients, stirring until smooth.   Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until filling boils; boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat; blend in butter and vanilla.  Pout into pie crust.  Carefully press plastic wrap directly onto pie filling.  Cool.  Chill 3 to 4 hours.  Garnish with whipped cream.

It's late--I'm the only one still awake--the woodstove is warm with a crackling fire.  I'm going to make myself a hot cup of tea and have just one more piece of that pie and look for a Christmas movie on tv.

Christmas Cookies Apricot-filled

We have been baking these cookies for many years.  My husband's mother gave me the recipe.  She was Italian with parents who came over from Parma.  These cookies were popular in the ethnic neighborhoods that she lived near not far from Pittsburgh.  It seems they are actually Polish.  Every Christmas she made these cookies in quantity and kept them in her freezer.  They were light and fresh and we couldn't stop eating them.  Now my family wants to see them around every Christmas.

Granny's Apricot-Filled Cookies

1/2 lb. Oleo (I use butter now - room temp.)
8 oz. cream cheese (room temp.)
1 Tblsp. sugar
2 egg yolks
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Confectioner's sugar

1 12 oz. can Apricot Cake and Pastry Filling

Mix cream cheese and butter thoroughly.  Add yolks and blend well.  Add sugar, flour and salt.  Mix gently to form stiff dough.  Form 10 balls, about 3 oz. each.  Chill in refrigerator several hours.  Sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on a dough board to prevent dough sticking.  Roll each ball out on the confectioner's sugar to about an 8-inch square.  Cut each square into 9 small squares.  Place 1/2 tsp. apricot filling in the center of each small square.  Bring opposite corners together to seal.  (You can use an egg wash made of an egg beaten with a little water to brush over one of those corners to help make a seal.  Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 deg.
Makes 90 cookies.

Poppy Seed Roll Makowiec

I grew up eating poppy seed rolls for Christmas and Easter.  I could never get enough of the filling.  Mama ground her poppy seeds, soaked them in hot milk and ran them through the grinder again after they had softened.  All she added was sugar and egg white.  That was my favorite.  She never iced her rolls--it would have taken away from the poppy seed taste.  I've bought poppy seed rolls when I've found them in bakeries in Pennsylvania, but they're often flavored with lemon and honey.  I can't find them at all in local bakeries here.  It's also impossible to buy poppy seeds in bulk here so I've used canned filling this time and decided to add some cream cheese icing and walnuts to make them look more festive.

Makowiec

4 cups flour

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3 Tblsp. granulated sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 cup warm water, 115 deg.

14 oz. (approximately) poppy seed filling or make your own

Mix flour, butter and sugar with a pastry blender.  Add egg yolks and mix well. 

Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to dough.  Mix well.  Chill overnight in covered bowl.

Next day, whip room temperature egg whites until stiff.

Roll out half of dough to 13-inch circle.  Spread 1/2 of the filling over the dough.  Spread half the egg white over the filling.  Roll up like a jelly roll.  Place on one side of lightly greased large cookie sheet (or parchment-lined sheet pan).  Repeat with the other half of the dough.  Cover with towel and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake at 350 deg. 35 to 40 minutes.  Cool.

Icing (optional)

3-oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 Tblsp. melted butter

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Beat everything together, except walnuts.  Spread over cooled loaves.  Sprinkle with walnuts.

Wesolych Swiat!

BBA Challenge Dresden Stollen

Dresden Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread.  This version, from Peter Reinhart's book is delicious and not too difficult to make.  For my fruits, I used 1 cup golden raisins and 1 cup of a mixture of currants, citron, candied orange peel and a few candied red cherries.  I presoaked the fruit in rum and lemon extract for several days before using it.

I rolled the fruit-filled dough around a roll of almond paste before the final proofing. (I used almond paste, not marzipan.)  When the bread was baked, I brushed it with melted butter and covered it in vanilla sugar (confectioner's sugar which has had vanilla bean stored in it).  I had to cut a piece to try before I put it away for Christmas.  It is moist and luscious.  I love this bread.  The fruit combination and the almond paste in each slice are so good. 

Christmas Cookies: Biscochitos and Dark Chocolate with Sour Cherries

I tried two new recipes from Martha Stewart's Cookies.  The Dark Chocolate with Sour Cherries was not a recipe I thought I would love.  I don't bake chocolate cookies, although I do appreciate a good chocolate cake and love dark chocolate.    I love these cookies.  The chocolate is dark, rich and chewy with occasional bites of fruity dried cherry that are just the right contrast in the rich chocolate cookie.  I plan to make these every Christmas.  They're going into my Christmas File.  They were not hard to make. 

Then I became intrigued by the Biscochitos, also in Martha's Cookie book.  This is, apparently, the state cookie of New Mexico.  I couldn't imagine the flavor of a cookie that contains vanilla, Grand Marnier, orange zest, anise seeds and cinnamon and lard (in addition to the usual cookie ingredients).  Well, this dough almost went into the trash.  It was sooo soft that I almost couldn't work with it.  I didn't have the traditional shape of cookie cutter so I used my chicken cutter.  The dough kept becoming messed up as I tried to transfer it from the dough board to the cookie sheet.  I finally got enough cookies cut out to bake some of them.  The flavor turned out to be really good.  I was so glad I stuck with these.  I love that combination of flavors.  The texture is softly crisp.  The next time I make these (And I WILL make these again), I'll probably cut them into square or diamond shapes so I don't waste any dough scraps and will be able to transfer them more easily.

 Both of these are now definitely added to our favorites.

Christmas Cookies: Zitronenherzen

Zitronenherzen or lemon hearts are Christmas cookies that are made without any flour. Ground almonds are substituted.  I found some almond meal/flour at Whole Foods that I used for these.  It's just finely ground blanched almonds.  Here are the ingredients:

3 egg yolks
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 to 2-1/4 cups finely ground almonds
1/8 tsp lemon extract (I used 1/2 tsp. lemon oil instead)
1/8 tsp. baking powder (I used just a little more)

Beat egg yolks, 2/3 c. sugar and vanilla until thick and lemon-colored.  Stir in 1/2 the almonds, the lemon oil and baking powder.

Transfer dough to sugared doughboard and knead in enough of the remaining almond to form soft dough.  Shape into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 1-1/2 hrs.


Take a break, make some hot chocolate, pick up your knitting and listen to Christmas music for a while.

Ok.  Time's up--back to the cookies:

Heat oven to 400 deg.  Line cookie sheets with greased waxed paper (unless you have a Silpat, which is wonderful).  Roll dough out 1/4 inch thick on lightly sugared surface. Cut out cookies with 2-inch heart-shaped cutter.  Place on cookie sheets and bake 8-10 minutes. (I took mine out at about 7 min.  They were set without being brown. Don't bake them too long.)

When they are done, remove to racks immediately and cool.  Glaze with the following icing recipe:

1 to 1-1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Beat lemon juice into sugar in small mixer bowl until the consistency of corn syrup.  (I didn't sift my sugar so I had a higher proportion of sugar making it more like icing, which gave a more intensely-lemon flavor to the iced cookies.)

These cookies have a nice chewy texture with an almond flavor that I love and very lemony icing, which I also love.  If you wanted to tone the lemon a bit (I don't), you could make the icing thinner and use less--the way the recipe says.

How Many Days Until Christmas??

Is it too early to start Christmas??  Not that I don't love all of fall and Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie--'cause I sure do!  But I'm thinking about my mother's Spitzbuben christmas cookies today.  I'm going to try to reproduce them this Christmas.  I've checked out a couple recipes but one uses ground almonds, which she never used in her baking, and the other uses confectioner's sugar, which I'm sure she didn't use in those cookies.  So I'll be searching for Spitzbuben's like Mama's.  I used to bake bushels of Christmas cookies many years ago just for us because it was Christmas and we had to have lots and lots of cookies.  I don't make as many now but I want them to be special and festive--not a cookie you can have everyday.  Gingerbread  is one of my favorites and can be baked ahead of time and frozen or just stored in sealed tins.  I'm not starting quite yet, but this year I plan to begin trying new recipes right after Halloween before the serious Christmas preparations begin.  Of course, Reinhart's Panettone and Stollen will be part of our holidays this year.  I'll share the recipes I like here.

                                      Gingerbread Cookies

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1-1/2 cups mild flavored molasses (you can use dark if you like)

2/3 cup cold water

7 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix shortening and sugar well.  Blend in the molasses.  Stir in water.  Mix the dry ingredients and add them to the mixture.  Chill the dough for at least an hour--overnight if you like.

Heat oven to 350 deg.  Roll out dough on floured board.  This is a sticky dough so keep flour on the board and rolling pin.  Cut out with cookie cutters and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.  They will spread some--don't put them too close together.  Bake 10-12 min or until there is almost no imprint when you touch them lightly.  Don't overbake or they will become hard.  Ice cooled cookies.  These keep well if frozen or stored in an airtight cookie tin.  The flavor and texture improve in a day or two.

Icing for cookies:

1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 Tbsp. cream

Blend all ingredients.  If too thin, add more sugar.  If too thick, add more cream.  Decorate cookies with an icing bag or cookie decorator.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I finished another pair of baby booties.  I love the little purled ridges around the bottom of this pattern.  I changed the proportions of the original pattern to make them a little less boxy than the first one I tried. 
I have an adult pair of socks on my needles now.  I'm using some of the yarn I bought in Baltimore.  If you check my previous blog, it's the multicolored yarn at the front.  They should look good running through the autumn leaves while we're waiting for Christmas, don't you think??

Labor Day Seafood

It's Labor Day. The sky is heavy with low grey clouds that blend with the mountain, turning it a hazy blue. Rain is certain. The sumac berries are full and dark red--their leaves are just beginning to turn to the scarlet that will come in a few weeks. Some trees have already dropped early leaves on the grass and Goldenrod is in full bloom.The gooseberry leaves are showing russet around their edges and between the green veins of summer.  Autumn is beginning. The cool air is perfect for bread baking and soup making.

But today we're having one last celebration of summer with a Low Country Boil. We'll eat yesterday's Tomato Rosemary Bread and feast out on a picnic table--on the porch if it rains. I'll add a quick Peach Cobbler with ice cream and coffee for dessert.


Knitting: 

 These are the booties that I cannot get a smooth kitchener stitch sole seam on.  I'll knit another one and try again.  I think it can be done because some of my seam looks nice and smooth.  Perhaps I'm seaming too tightly.