Blooming Things

My Christmas cacti are as prematurely excited about Christmas as I am!  They've been  blooming for a week now.  I think their exposure to direct sunlight is the culprit, but I can't help but have them out in a position of honor.  They're so pretty!

Turkey Day Baking

 These are the cupcakes and cookies I baked for my family's Turkey Day gathering.  My aunt, whose house we always go to, only specified something chocolate.  I took it from there.  :)  I made chocolate-covered cherry cookies and cherry cupcakes with almond frosting.  The chocolate-cherry cookies are undoubtably the most nostalgic I'll ever get posting here, with the exception of dishes that have yet to become special.  I think of these cookies as my grandmother's recipe, even though they're not.  My maternal grandmother made these on several occasions when I was a kid, and during my first year of college, she baked a batch and mailed them all the way from her house in Connecticut to my college in Ohio, along with a card she'd illustrated with a picture of her baking the cookies with her dog, Suki.  It was a sweet (no pun intended) gesture, and my then-roommate found her new favorite cookie!  This is the second time I've baked them myself and brought them to a family gathering.  My grandmother has severe dementia and is confined to a nursing home, so when others are trying to forget the sadness of the missing relative at the party, I try to look on the bright side and bring these cookies.  It helps that they're so darn good.

Recipe for Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies II

Ignore the photo in the above link.  The topping is supposed to completely cover the cherry.  The only other thing I'd add to the recipe directions is that the condensed milk, chocolate chips, and cherries do not go into the batter.  They're part of the topping that gets made after the batter is blended.  Enjoy!

Cherry Cupcakes with Almond Frosting

Out of the massive pile of recipes I've collected, I plucked this out this one to try.  It combines two of my favorite flavors, and I was curious to see how they worked together.  The recipe is a bit stuffy and perhaps over-complicated, but I stuck it out and ended up with very good, if slightly too sweet, cupcakes.  The cupcakes themselves end up a nice, pale shade of pink, so if you're that kind of person (or know someone who is), the color could be a plus!

Recipe for Cherry Cupcakes with Almond Frosting

Note:  My printed-out copy of this recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of butter for the cupcakes, as opposed to the 1 cup listed in the link above.  Apparently I made reduced-fat cupcakes without even trying--or noticing the difference.  I guess that's a good thing.

That's right, I whisked those egg whites by hand, baby.  And I'm not even going to pretend I didn't break a sweat.  The sad thing is, I didn't do it to work my arm muscles; I did it because I was too lazy to transfer the batter to a bowl, wash the mixer bowl, and use it again for the whites.

Carnage:

The pictures I took of the finished product are so bad that you'd be better off following the recipe link to see them.  Sorry.  I need to figure out how to disable the flash on my camera.

Looky Here

I found some USB LED holiday string lights over at www.thinkgeek.com  These bad girls not only save electricity; they also last much, much longer that traditional string lights.  I'm in the process of reading and reviewing a book on celebrating an eco-conscious Christmas, and they recommended this type of light because of the minimal energy required to light the bulbs.  Think I might get myself some.  They're even on clearance (which is the magic word).

Thanksgiving: Can You Have it Both Ways?

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a little left of center.  As much as I love many of the traditions associated with holidays, I am a bleeding heart, and I don't want anyone reading my blog and inferring that I don't give a damn about the origins of the occasions I write about.  Today, in an effort to sum up my feelings about Thanksgiving, I consulted my handy dandy copy of the Kenneth Davis book "Don't Know Much About History."  (Very much recommended reading, for people of all ages.  Check it out on Amazon.com.)  Davis debunks some myths about the origin of the holiday, namely the one that says Native American Squanto et. al helped the newly arrived Pilgrims catch, hunt, and grow enough food to supply a multiple-day holiday called Thanksgiving.  Okay, so it's not so much that that's a lie...the problem is the omission, the one the vast majority of modern day Americans never know or think about.  The problem is what happened afterward:  the continual slaughter of Native American people through disease transmission and outright violence by the Pilgrims and other white settlers.

In case you live under a rock, there's this thing called Wikipedia.  I looked up "Thanksgiving (United States)" there to see if I couldn't find some more information than what was provided in Don't Know Much About History.  Through that page, I followed a link to the Wikipedia page "National Day of Mourning (United States Protest)."  It details the history of Thanksgiving from the perspective of some Native Americans.  The regular Thanksgiving page has maybe two lines about the Native American genocide.  Even Davis's book condenses historical fact to the point where it "blends in" with the story, rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.  The National Day of Mourning page does a better job of explaining why even today's Thanksgiving celebration has its roots in oppression of Native peoples.  The United American Indians of New England (UAINE) is the group which sponsors the event, and, according to the Wikipedia page, they say that "the Pilgrims did not find a new and empty land.  Every inch of land they claimed was Indian land.  They also say that the Pilgrims immigrated as part of a commercial venture and that they introduced sexism, racism, anti-gay and lesbian bigotry, jails, and the class system."  If all those things come with your run-of-the-mill Thanksgiving celebration, I'll skip the turkey, thanks.

Wait!  I'm not talking about every tradition associated with the holiday.  I'm talking about not celebrating a particular day without being mindful of what that day means to other people.  There is nothing inherently wrong with getting together with friends and family, cooking and eating good food, and expressing love and thanks for each other.  Heck, that sounds kind of like heaven to me.  I'm going to do all those things tomorrow, but it won't be a celebration of Thanksgiving.  With a little research, it was easy to find out how blood-soaked the origins of the holiday really are.  What I'll be doing tomorrow might be more aptly titled "Giving Thanks Day," or, the somewhat more common "Turkey Day" (Tofurkey day for some).  Maybe this will be the year I squash my social anxiety and add some social commentary to my thanks when it's my turn at the table.  Silence can be a slippery form of acquiescence, and,while guilt solves nothing, neither does inaction.

Happy Feet

It seems that my partner's mother has caught wind of my excessive holiday tendencies.  She gifted us with these socks a couple of days ago.  We're trying to decide who's are whose.  (Whose are who's?  Anyone?  English teacher-girlfriend isn't home to help me out.)  I'm thinking I want the snowmen--their faces are awfully soft and fluffy.

Starbucks, I Haven't Loved You This Much Since You Put Vocab Cards on Every Table

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigronx254/4093840613/

I don't normally go around advocating massive chains such as Starbucks, but I have to hand it to them, this is lovely.

It's Going to be a Freaky Christmas

My favorite local radio station posted this on their Facebook page.  It's a rather hilarious video of Bob Dylan's new song "Must Be Santa."  Yeah, because nothing screams Christmas like Bob Dylan and insane polka music.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1599922023?bctid=50273075001

P.S. - Forgive the lack of posting here.  School comes first, sadly.  I should be back on track tomorrow!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip cookies...what a great combination of flavors.  Chocolate, which is always good, and pumpkin, which is delicious, healthy, and adds moisture to baked goods.  Of course, we'll all be sick of canned pumpkin puree before Thanksgiving's requisite pie, but for now it's good stuff.

This was my second time making these cookies.  Last year I baked them for a gathering of friends, and they got the thumbs up.  This year, not so much.  The problem is that the recipe leaves some room for interpretation, and this year I interpreted wrongly.  The original recipe says to cream the first five ingredients (I've revised the recipe here so your cookies won't come out like mine).  Creaming butter, sugar, vanilla, egg, and pumpkin puree just does not work.  The pumpkin makes the mixture too goopy, which means clumps of un-whipped butter throughout.  The result were cookies with a slightly-off texture.

Random note:  Normally I would recommend using organic versions of ingredients if you can, but I found that the Trader Joe's organic pumpkin puree that I used this year wasn't very good.  It's more brown than orange, which makes for blah-looking cookies.  Also--and this is my strange perspective--the flavor was slightly off with the organic stuff, too.  It was just a little too nutty and strong.  In this case, apparently I like the bland regular pumpkin.

The only other thing worth mentioning is this:  splurge on good-quality chocolate chips.  That doesn't mean you need to special-order Valrhona.  Supermarket 60% cacao bittersweet Ghirardelli will do the job admirably.  Pumpkin-Chocolate chip cookies are fine and  dandy with Hershey's, but they are great with Ghirardelli!  (The same goes for chocolate chip pancakes, by the way.)

Here's the adapted recipe:

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c butter

1 c sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 c pumpkin puree

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 t cinnamon

1 t baking powder

1 1/2 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 bag good-quality chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two large baking sheets with non-stick mats (such as made-of-awesome Silpat) or parchment lightly coated with baking spray.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin; mix well.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend just until combined.

Drop by the tablespoon-ful onto the cookie sheets, 1-2" apart.  (You may have batter left over.)  Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cookies are just set. Repeat if you have more batter to use.  Let cookies cool on wire racks, then you can move them into baggies or plastic-wrapped plates for storage.  They will last several days.

(Original recipe source unknown.)

I may need this shirt.

If I'm a cheerleader of anything, it's the holidays.  Plus it would just be fun to call myself a cheerleader.

Who's the smarter one here?

Photo from failblog.org.

Holiday baking--it's the most wonderful time of the year

It is, seriously.  My step-mother and I have an on-and-off again tradition of getting together, putting Elvis' White Christmas album on iTunes, and baking, baking, baking.  Generally I'm the one with the recipes, which I collect throughout the year.  Anything that catches the eye gets saved to a veeeeery long file of recipes, and come November, I narrow down the list and make the official selections.  Of course, some recipes come out so well that they are repeated two or three years in a row.  My "Laura Bush" cookies are like that.  So are the oddly-shaped cardamom cookies and cut-out shaped sugar cookies (recipes to follow).  The first year we got together to bake, my step-mother provided a recipe for truly delicious fudge.  It's a shame the piece of paper with the recipe has since gone missing.  I'm usually not fond of fudge; I find it cloyingly sweet.  This may sound strange for a bonafide sugar-tooth and chocoholic, but I need some depth to my sweets--gratuitous sugar does nothing for me (well, other than causing a sugar high and subsequent crash).

Last year I did all the baking myself, and also tried out a candy recipe, which is a first for me.  The recipe was for Martha Stewart's Neapolitan Coconut Strips.  They're colored just like traditional Neapolitan ice cream, with brown, pink, and white stripes.  The dominant flavor is coconut, due to the shredded coconut which forms the base.  They are intensely sweet and creamy, thanks to sweetened condensed milk.  The only problem I had with the recipe is that, when trying to spread the layers evenly in a 9"x9" square pan, it seemed like there wouldn't be enough of the mixture to do so.  In the end it worked out fine, just stress-inducing.  The candies were the clear hit out of the several types of sweets in each package, and I was asked for the recipe (always a good sign, and compliment to the cook and recipe-creator).

So, about those Laura Bush cookies.  No, I'm not Laura Bush.  This recipe is from THE Laura Bush, and I have to say if anything good came of her eight years in the White House, it is this recipe.  These cookies are chewy and full of different textures and tastes.  There's a lot crammed into them--oatmeal, chocolate chunks, dried cherries, and walnuts.  They're what I imagine trail mix in cookie form would taste like, and they're darn good. The recipe, as found in Family Circle magazine, makes 8 dozen.  You've been warned.

Then there are the Cardamom Butter Squares, which also get made most every year.  This recipe comes from Gourmet magazine, and they are definitely a class act.  The cookie itself is quite simple--buttery and well-spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and allspice.  The square shape, made by rolling the dough into a log and cutting slices, is unique and stands out amongst standard round cookies.  The recipe calls for two different glazes to be drizzled on them, but after one poor attempt at it, I gave up and kept them plain.  Glaze really does not mesh well with packaging and shipping cookies!

When it comes to sugar cookie recipes, I stick with the first one I tried, which works for me.  It's called Mary's Sugar Cookies, and it is a bit unique because of the addition of some almond extract (be sure you include the extract when letting people know about potential food allergies).  This recipe makes approximately 7 dozen cookies, but you will end up with more or less depending on the size of the cookie cutters you're using.  I top these with decorating icing, which I separate and make into several different colors.  I use a recipe which makes icing that is smear-resistant.  (If you have a recipe that is completely smear-proof, please let me know!)  Here's the basic recipe (source unknown):

Decorating Icing

Ingredients:

1 (1 lb) box confectioners' sugar

4 t powdered egg whites (not reconstituted) such as Just Whites

1/3 c water

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 t vanilla

Whisk together confectioners' sugar and powdered whites in a large bowl.  Add water, juice, and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment at low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.  Increase speed to high and continue to beat icing, scraping down side of bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula, until it holds stiff peaks, about 3 minutes.

If not piping icing immediately, cover surface with a dampened paper towel, then cover bowl with plastic wrap.

Makes about 3 cups.

Now comes the time when I must decide which recipes to retire, and which to try out for the first time.  I'll post later with the options for holiday season 2009.  Note to self: call your step-mom!

Welcome to the land of perpetual celebration!

My name is Laura, and I'm your intrepid navigator of all things holiday-related.  I'll be up front here; my favorite holiday is Christmas.  Not "the reason for the season" type of Christmas, but the secular, tradition-loving kind.  For me, Christmas is a fantastic opportunity to create, decorate, bake, and, of course, give.  Thus, you won't find any espousing of religion here (in regards to any holiday), other than in the context of discussing historic and cultural aspects of the occasion.

I also want to make it clear that I'll only post in-depth about holidays I celebrate.  I may mention other ones, but I intend to avoid co-opting holidays that are outside of my own cultural and ethnic heritage.  So, please, if you want to see a particular holiday or tradition here, create and submit your own post!  I will happily edit and post thoughtful, original entries regarding the holiday most important to you.

Onward!  Only 49 days until Christmas!