Wreath cookies: of course!

Many food bloggers do a great job making recipe upon recipe based on the calendar of food blog events. I on the other hand, only serendipitously contribute to these parties, events and recipe roundups floating around on the web. I was happy to find this one—or rather, have it find me: Food Blogga is hosting Christmas Cookies 2007. Now there is a table where I will can easily rest my elbows and feast my eyes.

I have been looking for new cookie ideas. I have old favorites, but it is always good to find new favorites. Huh. I think that is the perfect summary of my kitchen mantra: embracing old favorites and looking for new. Whether it is my list of standby entree recipes (which I fondly call default dinners) or my deliberate search for a new favorite curry or vegetable (this year’s winner: fennel), I am all equally about where I came from and where I am going (that sounds adequately cliche for wrapping up 2007 and entering 2008).

Lest I begin reminiscing, let us press on and make wreath cookies. I think it has been 7-8 years since I made these (therefore, they fall into the old, reminiscent favorite category). They are Christmas meets Rice Krispy treats but with corn flakes and green food coloring, and red hots to stand in as holly berries. More than anything, it will add color to the cookie plate and pay tribute to this decoration-filled, tinsel brimming, eggnog making holiday. (Pssst: I snuck some of my eggnog early. In fact… just now. And it is SO good. You need to try it!).

Wreath Cookies*
1/3 cup butter
1 package marshmallows (10 oz; 40 marshmallows)
1 tsp green food coloring
6 cups corn flakes
red hot candies

In saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir to melt. Remove from heat, stir in food coloring. Stir in corn flakes to coat. Butter fingers, scoop 1/4 cup worth of the green flakes and shape into wreath. Dot with red hots/cinnamon candies. Approximately 16 small wreaths. Or, I suppose, one enormous wreath.

True confessions: the wreath above looks either like genuine holly color or spinach, depending on your mood. The marshmallows I happened to have on hand were green and red stars (ever the sucker for celebrating holidays, I bought these to top hot chocolate), which added a dull gray to my holly green food coloring. Thus, the olive colored wreaths. When YOU make them, they will be a gorgeous, bright Christmas green. Almost makes your kids want to eat spinach, but not quite… Oh, and I affixed the red hots with melted chocolate; frosting works too, maybe even honey for that matter.

*Betty Crocker recipe

You have seen them out there: individually cellophane wrapped chocolate covered nut-sprinkled spoons. But for the price of $10 each, I figured it worth my time to make my own. Besides, it isn’t that difficult to melt chocolate and cover a spoon. And if you do—and present it as a hostess or teacher gift—you will certainly gain accolades. Oh, it was nothing, you will say. They will be impressed and not believe you, they will feel rightly special, and you shall feel appropriately smug.

It was nothing in terms of time and effort; but it was something in the gesture and delivery: a spoonful of special.

Buy plastic spoons. Or if you choose: use antique spoons, buy individual silver spoons from a kitchen store, go trendy vintage or for top-shelf special, use heirloom spoons from grandma’s collection. But get spoons. If plastic, pick gray or black, red or green for the season. Make peppermint bark, or melt chocolate and drizzle on contrasting chocolate, then drop on chards of peppermint or candied nuts.The truth is: this gift is ALL about the packaging. Wrap in a special box, on a simple melamine plate, in cellophane, with a bow. By all means, add a bow to the top of the spoon. The goal here is: you are special. It brings the silver spoon treaty to a whole new level: this one is sugar-coated. You want a coffee? How about a chocolate toffee covered, bow-topped, melt-into-your-drink-and-your-mouth spoon to go with that?

Have you ever had a chocolate covered spoon? If not, then by all means make one for yourself: the chocolate is melted, the spoon is dipped, the chocolate hardens on the spoon. Sprinkle on some crushed candy cane, or toffee. Stir into your next cup of coffee or hot chocolate. (Chop up chocolate into 1/2 inch cubes, melt in microwave in 30 second increments; stir vigorously between each 30 second interval; don’t burn the chocolate).

I made peppermint bark again this year. We all adore it; it is so simple to make, it hurts. My twist this year was to dip spoons into the just-melted bark to make ‘peppermint bark spoons.’ Then I drizzled some melted dark chocolate over, tied on a bow and attached gift cards. I also melted dark chocolate, dipped in some spoons and—while still wet—sprinkled some candied pecans onto the spoon.

Today at lunch, I handed individually wrapped spoons to two friends. They are special friends, and sometimes that message is nice to deliver by the sugary spoonful.

Happy stirring!

Things to do today: buy Christmas gifts for kids’ coaches & teachers, buy packaging tape and boxes, call eye doctor, clean out email in box, make eggnog. Top priority: make eggnog.

When I read Brandon Eats‘ message to make your eggnog now or it is too late, I knew I had to put it on top of my ‘to-do list.’ It takes a minimum of three weeks for the eggnog flavors to marry and marinate in your fridge… or up to a year. So in theory, I could have started my Christmas Nog in July.

If my mom is reading this, she is smiling, because I DO have a tendency to begin planning for Christmas in July. But not this year. This year I really did leave the Christmas planning/buying/frenzy for December (other frenzies were a priority in their respective months; July was consumed with selling our house).

But back to December: I have always wanted to make eggnog from scratch. So when I was alerted to this recipe (from CHOW), I knew I needed to grab my just-emptied glass jug (the apple cider was delish), and start cracking… eggs that is.

And then wait.

I think I am a sucker for drinks that take time to mellow and perfect; my limoncella recipe takes 80 days. And it is divine. Last year I actually DID start making that in July, and even had a bottle or two left in December for Christmas gifts (a hazard of beginning Christmas limoncella in July is that come September when it is ripe and ready one feels the need to taste it, share it, re-taste it and otherwise fail to save it until Christmas). You can only wait so long. And that was too long.

But if you make this eggnog now, it will be perfect for New Year’s Eve. OR if you are not a waiter, crack it open a bit early, perhaps on the eve of Christmas (just save some for later, to taste when it is in its prime). If you do, know that I am too. A few big cubes of ice, a short glass and cheers: to Christmas and to You!

EGGNOG worth waiting for
12 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 quart whole milk (4 cups)
1 liter (about 4 cups) bourbon
1/2 cup Meyer’s dark rum
1/2 - 1 cup good Cognac or brandy
pinch kosher salt

To serve (optional—depends on your ability to wait even longer):
one whole nutmeg
10 egg whites
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Separate yolks and whites; discard whites or use for something else. Mix yolks and sugar until creamy; add remaining ingredients. Bottle right away and refrigerate. Stir or shake occasionally. Serve on rocks with freshly ground nutmeg. Optional: whip 10 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups cream to soft peaks and fold into eggnog. Serve garnished with fresh nutmeg.

I cannot help but sing many different songs to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree.”

I make up words to this tune, silly words, while driving the kids around town. And I could just as easily make up a holiday-cookie-baking version of the song… if I really wanted to.

Singing or not singing, it is the time of year to bring out the flour, sugar and butter and mix them into round, square and otherwise cut-out cookies. My son loves to make this particular recipe. The recipe originated from my beat-up, soft cover Betty Crocker Cookbook (from when I was a kid); you know, the fancy twisted candy cane cookies? But over the years and birthdays and broken candy canes, it has become a multi-colored log that we slice and bake as ’rounds.’

It still tastes as good.

And we alter the colors according to the event. When we cheer for our team, it is purple and gold swirled together; for my son’s birthday it was blue and yellow. And for Christmas, well you would think—and could go with—red and green. But in our case, my son chose ice blue. And we rolled the log in red and green sugar before slicing. (Recipe below).

Oh, and speaking of variations on the Oh Christmas Tree song? My sons picked up this hilarious version; be careful, you will start singing it at the most inopportune times:

“Oh Todd the Toad”

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
Did you not see the big red truck?
For now you are a hockey puck.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
Did you not see that rolling car?
For now you are a piece of tar.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
You used to be so big and fat,
And now you are so very flat.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
You used to eat a fly or two,
But now the flies are eating you.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?

Keep singing and make:

Hockey Puck Cookies
1 cup shortening (or half shortening, half butter)
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp food coloring (split the dough in 2 and use 2 different colors, if desired; roll together into log)
optional: crushed candy cane, colored sugar for rolling

Oven to 375 degrees. Mix well first five ingredients; blend, then add salt and flour. Color dough. Roll into 1 1/2 inch log; roll in colored sugar/crushed candy canes. Cut in 1/2 - 3/4 inch slices. Bake for 9 minutes. If after singing and baking, you have developed a great affection for Todd the Toad, consider coloring the hockey pucks green.

I have powdery, sugary, pecan embedded glorious butter ball cookies sitting on my windowsill. They look like a row of snowballs, blissfully unaware that they are resting, warm and moist, on the inside. Snowball cookies are a perfect treat for this time of year. Meant to melt in mouths, this sweet cookie delivers more than the snow that melted in my mouth as a child. I used to pour maple syrup over a pile of snow on a little plate, a silly treat and pre-cooking concoction that tickled my fancy. But snowball cookies are even better, heralding a confectionery melt-in-your-mouth experience.

Their cold, wintery cousins—bonafide icy outdoor snowballs—have a different fate than the cookie version. Both the indoor snowball cookies and the outdoor snow packed globes do have something in common: both provide a pile of pleasure for children and adults. Both beckon a heartfelt experience, something in the range of a smile to screeching laughter—a moment to savor.

This warm and sweet tribute to the snowball is a salute: to snowballs that provide hours of fun and laughter for children playing in the snow. Yes, these quintessential cookies are the essence of our inner children, standing with stubborn resolve in the face of challenge, yet with an all-out embrace of the amusing side of life. And might I add, it is so lovely to eat snowballs in their warm row, while watching my own children douse one another with flying, splatting orbs of icy packed snow—my moment to savor.

Snowball Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
dash salt
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
powdered sugar to coat cookies

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add flour, salt until dough starts to come together. Add nuts and blend. Form golf ball size balls and bake at 400 for 12 minutes; roll warm cookies in confectioners sugar to coat. When cooled, roll in sugar again if desired.