Gingerbread Cookies for All

We have taken father's tradition of gingerbread cookies every year at Christmas. He would make them himself in earlier years, all by himself. Now, we delay until Donny arrives and make them all together. Donn delivers a tinful to Tom when they return. All father's children were raised on gingerbread cookies. Robin hosted our event this year and we arrived to chilled dough. We wore aprons. Robin made the frosting this year, instead of father's traditional storebought vanilla. That night we took him a large gingerbread female at the care center. I intentionally skimped giving him his dessert which looked like a flat banana cake with cool whip frosting. I find I cannot easily feed him things I would not eat myself. He devoured the gingerbread after his dinner.

Gingerbread Cookies
Bob Lusby

3/4 C shortening
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
3/4 C molasses
1 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t baking soda, dissolved in 4 t hot water
4 C flour

Cream shortening and sugar. Add in beaten eggs and molasses and soda. Add flour and spices. Chill. Roll out and cut into desired shapes. Bake 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Frost with vanilla frosting.

Our Holy Family

Mary, Joseph, and the babe

Wise Man (post dessert) pictured with Joseph.

Photos by the angel who brought glad tidings of great joy

with a fearful grandmother shepherd at her elbow who wore

a cooking apron with her headress.

Surprise: Small Stocking Stuff

We are very excited. Mother's stocking preparations are complete. Since everyone loves a list and everyone loves gifts, here is what Santa decided on. There is something very covert about piling in gifts to treelight, clad in nightwear. One should do this more than once a year.

1. silicone baking liner (for the toaster)
2. Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Almond
3. Listerine Whitening Multi-Action Pre-Brush Rinse
4. Bahlsen Hit biscuits
5. Hershey's Special Dark Pieces
6. glass bead bracelet
7. Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball Extra Fine Black
8. Savina Nail Color in Charcoal Sparkle
9. Lu Petit Ecolier Extra-Dark Chocolate
10. Two Crabtree and Evelyn Citron samples of body soufflé and body scrub
11. Bare Escentuals Venus lipstick

Christmas Eve

This is the second year for our new shared Christmastide—at mother's on Christmas Eve and at Robin's on Christmas Day. I will let you in on the little menu for the eve. We have made it simple, roasty, and delicious (we hope).

Pork Roast

Potato-Gorgonzola Gratin

Roasted French Green Beans and Brussels Sprouts

Waldorf Salad

and for dessert

Baskin-Robbins Yule Log (Mother and I did not say no when we were in the shop yesterday; this is as French as we get this year.)

Cherries Glacées (super delicious; frosty cherries are festivity.)

Cherries Glacées
Serves 10

2 lbs sweet cherries
1 12-oz package semisweet chocolate chips
1 C half-and-half or light cream
1 1/2 t vanilla

Wash cherries but do not remove stems or pits; pat dry with paper towels. Place in a single layer in jelly roll pan; place in freezer until 15 minutes before serving. About 15 minutes before serving, remove cherries from freezer; let stand at room temperature to soften slightly. Do not allow cherries to thaw completely. Meanwhile, in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate pieces into half-and-half, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

Arrange cherries in large bowl or platter. Pour chocolate sauce into small bowl. Let each person dip partially frozen cherries into chocolate sauce.

Seasonally Speaking

If you are like me, you have bookmarked and torn-out recipes you must make. Some of these recipes insist on perfectly seasonal ingredients—ripe tomatoes and pears, the roots of winter, fresh berries. And, if you're like me you don't use enough Spanish onions. As I often comb through a stash of recipes (which I've tried without success to keep to three notebooks), I find I've missed the season. Again. From The Olives Table, I have for a minimum of 8 years running missed the window of opportunity (late summer and early fall) for Carl's Pagoda-Inspired Tomato Soup. But, this fact is good luck for the coffee cake, pork loin with pear and cranberry pan sauces, chocolate crunchies, and any iteration of fudge or cinnamon. Heather brought me this bottle from DC. I often walk by, unscrew the lid, and inhale.

Carl's Pagoda-Inspired Tomato Soup
Makes about 8 cups

1 T olive oil
2 Spanish onions, roughly chopped
8 to 10 medium beefsteak tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 T chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 C soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
2 T toasted sesame oil
1/2 t to 1 t chopped Scotch bonnet, jalapeño, or Thai chile pepper
1/4 C white sugar
1/4 C chopped scallion greens, for garnish
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Place a large skillet over medium-high flame and when it is hot, add the oil. Add the onions, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic, stirring well after each addition, and cook until the onions and garlic are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, chile, and sugar, stirring well after each addition, and cook until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes. Transfer the soup to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until smooth. Strain and discard the seeds and pulp. Reheat if necessary. Garnish each serving with scallions and cilantro.

Chocolate Crunchies 
Dorie Greenspan
Makes 24

1/2 C toasted walnuts or pecans
1/2 C soft raisins
1 C corn flakes
1 C semisweet chocolate chips or 6 ounces finely chopped semi- or bittersweet chocolate
Fleur de sel, optional

Finely chop the nuts and toss them into a bowl along with the raisins and corn flakes. Gently melt the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a microwave oven on low power. Pour the chocolate into the bowl and stir until all of the ingredients are evenly coated. Drop mounds of the candy mixture into paper petit-four cups or onto a sheet of wax paper. (She uses a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop to do this, but you can divide the candy by heaping teaspoonfuls.) Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Hey, Good Lookin' . . .

I used to make a lot more goodies than I do now. I bake when I'm at home with family. But by myself, I normally wait for an occasion. Last weekend presented my occasion as I entertained a happy few on Friday evening. I overspeak; they brought the goods. I supplied Ikea gingersnaps in the red tin. The tin is so nice; the cookies are yum. Andréa made her mother's cocoa recipe. It is delicious. So, on Sunday, I made molasses cookies since all the ingredients were in the house and it was not a huge batch. I couldn't have been more pleased (don't overbake). I gave away two gift bags and ate the third gift bag when a friend cancelled later on. Next time I plan to have the cookies and the cocoa together. 

Old-Fashioned Cocoa

Andrea Schindler

Stir together 1 C powdered milk, 1/4 C cocoa powder, 1/2 C (rounded) sugar, and a dash of salt. Add 4 1/2 C hot water, 1 can evaporated milk, and 1 t vanilla. Stir well with a wire whisk. Heat over medium heat (do not boil). Add cinnamon, malt, whipped cream, or marshmallows to your fancy.

Mary Jones from Cleveland's Molasses Cookies

Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin

2 C flour

2 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground cloves

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t kosher salt

1/4 C molasses

1 C sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

3/4 C vegetable shortening, melted to equal 1/2 C, cooled

1 extra-large egg

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Stir in the salt. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the molasses, sugar, melted shortening, and egg at medium speed for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer off and add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl. Turn the mixer to medium-low and mix to incorporate, scraping down the sides of the bowl, as needed. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix to combine. Chill the dough for about 15 minutes, to make it easier to work with. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough out to 1/8-inch thickness. Use a 3-inch round cutter to cut out the cookies. Place them on a parchment-lined or lightly buttered baking sheet, spaced about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle a little sugar over the tops of the cookies, and bake about 12 minutes, until they puff up slightly and are starting to crack in the middle. The cookies will be crisp on the outside and chewy in the center.