Here Comes Santa Claus Sugar Cookies©



Fig. 1, Alma's Santa Claus Sugar Cookies
courtesy of http://TheLittleRoundTable.com
©2010 C Fagerlin

Do you remember gazing at the sky on Christmas Eve hoping to spy Santa and his sleigh heading for your house? Did you lie in bed and listen for the sound of sleigh bells while falling to sleep? Is there anything more exciting to a small child than waking before the break of dawn on Christmas morning, anxious to see whether Santa made his annual visit? Just the memory of creeping softly down the stairs and checking the cookie plate to see if Santa ate his cookies before spying the pile of presents that Santa left beneath the tree takes me back to my childhood! He came! He came! It was almost a sure thing, even though there was that last bit of doubt the night before because I didn't always do as I was told, or clean my room like I was supposed to do. But Santa came—every year for eight seemingly long years, until that day when I learned that Santa was not a real person at all.

As a parent, I remember watching from around the corner, or another room to see the looks of wonder on my children's and later, my grandchildren's faces when they spied the abundance of treasures carefully placed under the tree. Once again Santa visited our home, and the magic lived on. Regardless of your personal view concerning the commercialization of the holiday, there is nothing like the look of amazement on the face of a child Christmas morning. It's just too bad that myth eventually comes to an end in every child's life. I specifically remember where I was when I learned that Santa Claus didn't really exist. I believe that is one memory that stayed with me because of its shock effect. At least it was a shock to me.

Every Saturday during the fall and spring my oldest Sister and I, together with one of her friends, attended the "Little Women's Club" at our local YMCA. The program ran from about 9 a.m. until about 2 p.m. and was for "little women." I was eight at the time and my Sister was 11, so it was probably intended for girls 8-12. There were many activities included in that several hour period, including gymnastics, swimming, lunch, an indoor sport like basketball, kickball, or 4-square, and cooking. Because my family only had one vehicle at the time, we walked from our home to the Y in the morning, and walked to my Grandparents' home after the program. My Grandfather always took us home from there. We went to my Grandparents' home each week because they lived half a mile from the Y, and our home was two and a half miles away. At the end of all the activity of the day, we were exhausted by the time we finished, and walking that half a mile on some of those Saturdays was a big enough struggle.

Fig. 2, 3-Dimensional Christmas Cookie
Cutters available at
http://www.grammascutters.com

On this particular day, I can remember walking on the sidewalk, trying not to step on the cracks (or I'd break my Mother's back!), and my Sister and her friend were in front of me talking lowly to each other like they always did. There was only room for two across on the sidewalk, so I was relegated as usual to bringing up the rear. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was a clear bright blue, and the air was cool. Fall had arrived a few weeks earlier, and it was a typical beautiful Indian summer day in Northwest Ohio. I was kind of off in my own world, probably thinking about what pastries Grandma would have for us when we arrived (it was Saturday after all, Grandma Lasak's baking day). I was also half eavesdropping on my Sister's conversation, which I usually did, a little irritated as I was that I was always left out of the conversation. My Sister's friend asked her what my Parents were getting her for Christmas. My Sister turned around swiftly and caught my eyes then looked back at her friend and shook her head. "She doesn't still believe in Santa Claus does she?" my Sister's friend asked incredulously in a stage-whisper. I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. The way she asked the question made it sound like I was a moron. Or worse yet, still a baby. Trying to maintain some sense of dignity, I quickly answered, "No! I know Santa Claus isn't real!" And that was it. I can't remember the conversation for the remainder of the walk. I just remember the feeling of having lost something. A little piece of innocence, perhaps? It made me wonder how many other things that I believed existed, really didn't.

The great part about this story is that every year Santa still visits my home, albeit a few days before his usual Christmas Eve arrival, and in the form of a cookie. Children get almost as excited about these cookies as about Santa himself. They have been an anticipated part of my holiday baking repertoire since the first year I made them with my Mother-in-Law, Alma. Alma had the special cookie cutters that these cookies require in order to achieve the 3-dimensional figure that makes them unique. (See Fig. 2) The cookie cutters are available at http://www.grammascutters.com/index.php/aunt-chicks-merry-xmas-cookie-cutter-set and are worth purchasing if you plan to make these on a regular basis. You can buy Santa individually or as part of a 4-cutter set (also includes a 3-dimensional star, stocking, and tree as seen in Fig. 3; and no, I am NOT receiving any remuneration for recommending them). The dough is pressed into the cutter and is "molded" providing the cookie with depth and dimension. (See Fig. 2) I took them to my sons' school Christmas parties every year; and the next year I was asked by the teachers whether the boys would be bringing them again. They are more work than your basic decorated sugar cookie, but they’re well worth it. The Santa is decorated in several stages, beginning with placing halved raisins in the eyes before baking, then painting and sugaring the hat red, cheeks and mouth. The moustache, beard, and eyebrows are iced with white icing, and finally coconut is added to the beard and eyebrows, if desired.


Fig. 3, 3-dimensional Christmas Cookie Cutters
courtesy of http://www.grammascutters.com
©2010 C Fagerlin

Since making these for the first time in 1972, this recipe has become my cut-out sugar cookie of choice. They can be mixed together in just a few minutes with a stand mixer, and they are very easy to roll and cut. Try this recipe for any occasion where cut-out sugar cookies are called for, such as Halloween, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, or Easter. It is a delicious cookie simply sprinkled with colored sugars, glazed or iced and decorated.² When my boys were little they loved to help in the making and decorating of these cookies, as my Grandchildren love to today. At Christmastime every year, my Grandchildren look forward to baking and decorating these cookies. It is a wonderful holiday project that brings forth the artist in even the most cynical of Scrooges! You can use them as Hostess gifts, gifts for your children's teachers, or hang them like ornaments on the tree. No matter how old your children are today, they will still love these cookies. In fact, my 40-year old Son just asked me last week when I was going to make the "Santa Claus" cookies. Bring Santa back into your holiday treats. You won't be sorry! Merry Christmas!
  ©2012 Here Comes Santa Claus Sugar Cookies by Kathy

Alma's Santa Claus Sugar Cookies

Fig. 4, Alma's Santa Claus Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
courtesy of http://TheLittleRoundTable.com
©2010 C Fagerlin

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes + chilling (at least 4 hours)
Bake Time: 8-10 minutes

Decorating Time: Varies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1-1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs (make sure they're LARGE or it may alter the resulting dough)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
4-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Raisins, snipped in half for the eyes (if desired)

Directions

For the Cookies

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.

3. Add extracts and blend to incorporate.

4. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and slowly add to the butter and egg mixture. 

5. Mix just until all the flour is incorporated.

6. Remove from bowl and shape into a log. Wrap the log in waxed paper and refrigerate 4 hours to overnight. 

7. Heat oven to 350° F.

8. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to ¼ to 3/8 inch thickness. 

9. Flour the inside of the cutter¹ and place the cutter on the dough, pressing down firmly with your fingers. Make sure all the edges are cut.

10. Gently pick up the cutter with cut dough, or if it you are having trouble lifting the cutter and dough, run a thin spatula under the dough and lift. 

11. Using your thumb, on the back of the cutter roll the edges of the dough toward the center and firmly press the dough into the nooks and crannies of the cutter to capture the 3-dimensional features of the cutter.

12. Tap the cutter in your hand or on a table (gently) and the dough will release from the cutter. If the dough does not release easily, you have not floured the cutter enough.

13. Place the cookie on ungreased cookie sheets and flour the cutter again before you cut out another cookie.

14. Leave at least an inch between each cookie on the baking sheet as they will spread just a little during the baking process.

15. Place the halved raisins in each crease for the eyes and press in gently.

16. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until a light brown. You don't want them to get too brown, but you want them done, so monitor your baking time on the first few batches. You will know they are done by the way they smell (you will see what I mean once you have baked a few batches).

17. Remove cookies from baking sheets onto cooling racks. Cool cookies completely before icing and decorating. In the meantime, prepare the decorations. 

Icing

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) Butter

4 cups Confectioners' Sugar
4 Tbsp. Water, or enough to make icing easy to spread, but not runny
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract OR Almond Extract OR a combination of both

Decorations

Red Food Coloring
Red Decorating
1 Egg White mixed with a few drops of water & food coloring of choice OR clear corn syrup to be used as "glue" to hold the colored sugar in place
Fine tip paint brush (used only for cookies)
Small paint brushes (used only for cookies)
Coconut for beard

Directions

1. Make sure the cookies are cooled completely before beginning the icing and decorating process.

2. Place a small bowl of clear corn syrup or the egg white/water mixture at your decorating area. Pour the red colored sugar into a small bowl.

3. Using a fine tip paint brush, "paint" the chosen form of "glue" in circles on the cheeks, the nose and the crease of the mouth.

4. Hold the cookie over the bowl and spoon the sugar over the facial features to which you have just applied the glue. Holding the cookie face down, gently tap the back of the cookie face to remove the excess sugar. You can also use a DRY paintbrush (children's small art brushes that are only used for cookies) to brush off any remaining sugar crystals.

5. Repeat with the remaining Santa cookies. Keep the cookies in the oven with the light on to maintain their crispness and to dry them between the applying the sugar and the icing. While they are drying, make the icing.

6. Mix together the butter, confectioners' sugar, almond extract and enough water to make a spreadable, not runny icing.

7. When the sugar and glue have dried completely, ice the whiskers and eyebrows and moustache with white icing. (If the glue and sugar have not completely dried, you will get red sugar in the icing resulting in pink whiskers & beard!)

8. Apply fresh coconut to the still-moist icing for Santa's beard and eyebrows, if desired.

9. Cool completely before storing loosely between doubled layers of waxed paper to prevent squashing the cookies.³

¹If you very lightly sift flour on top of the rolled cookie dough before you begin cutting, you will reduce the number of times the cutter has to be floured.

² If you are decorating the other cookies make from the 4-cutter set, choose various colored sugars for the different features of the cookie and place each color in a separate bowl. Use separate glue for each color as well. Complete each sugar color and dry in the oven before another color. Use the same method, i.e., holding the cookie over the bowl and spooning sugar over the area to be covered. Then remove the excess by gently taping the back of the cookie face to remove the excess sugar. You can also use a DRY paintbrush (children's small art brushes that are only used for cookies) to brush off any remaining sugar crystals.

³ If you find that I've forgotten to add something about either the recipe, the cutters, or the decorations, just leave me a message in the Comments section of this post, and I'll reply!

 

©2012 Here Comes Santa Claus Sugar Cookies by Kathy Striggow

©2012 Alma's Santa Claus Sugar Cookies by Kathy Striggow

When Do We Start Baking Cookies? Vanillekipferl (Crescents)©

It's that time of year again.  It seems like every year the months get shorter and shorter, and twelve of them fly by in what would have seemed like 5 years when we were children.  I could swear that Christmas¹ was only a few weeks ago, and that we just popped the cork on the Champagne bottle at Midnight on New Year's Eve.  Regardless, I have always loved this time of year that we call the "Holiday Season."  One reason is that it seems people are generally in a more benevolent state of mind, and exhibit more tolerance for others than during other times of the year. Why this doesn't continue all year I don't know.  I enjoy the spiritual aspect of the season and it seems no matter how old I get, there is still something magical about Christmas Eve.  I also love seeing houses decorated with twinkle lights and pine garlands, and the fact that even offices, hospitals and other commercial buildings take the time to decorate for the season.  There are many steps involved in getting ready for the holidays, and therefore I have many topics I could address.  But for today, we're going to discuss some of the preparations that can be made in advance of the actual day that you celebrate.

Decorating for the season is a preparation that takes careful consideration.  Deciding what day to decorate the outside of the house, for those like me who grew up in the Midwest, on the East Coast, or in the Northern States, was always a question that was more difficult than you might expect. You do not want to be outside on a ladder or up on the roof hanging the electric icicles when it is snowing, or when the temperature is below 32° F.  Therefore, it is important to catch that last warm day between the end of Indian Summer and the first snowfall of the year for that task, and predicting that day has become quite a feat.  When I was growing up, it used to be that the first snowfall in Northwest Ohio occurred on November 10^th; at least that was the date most often predicted for the first measurable snowfall of the year.  I remember this not because I memorized the Farmer's Almanac every year, or because I am a meteorologist or have a penchant for weather statistics.  I remember it because that day is my sister Janet's Birthday.  Inevitably, we would wake up on Janet's Birthday and there would be snow on the ground.  Sometimes there was just a dusting, and sometimes there were several inches.  But because weather patterns have changed over the past few years due to the global warming phenomenon, over population, destruction of the ozone layer and whatever other reasons experts advance as the reason, predicting that last warm day has become more difficult.

Now, for you folks living in the southern states with those lovely, temperate climates all year round, this may not seem like much of a big deal.  However in my neighborhood, there was an art to getting those decorations up in what was considered an "acceptable" time frame, or you were subject to scorn by your more astute neighbors.  You see, if you put them up too early in the fall, people regarded you as lazy, and assumed that you kept them up all year. If you put them up in a time frame that was regarded as too late, you were considered as lazy, and the question that circulated the neighborhood was, "Why bother to put them up at all?" And believe me, people remembered your decorating habits for as long as you lived in the neighborhood.  ("Remember the year George didn't get his lights up until the week before Christmas and there were already six inches of snow on the ground?  I'll bet he still can't feel anything in those fingers of his that got frostbitten."  Or, "For crying out loud, Ethel, will you look at that?  It's July, and George still has his Christmas lights up! Now he might as well leave them up for the rest of the year!")  Poor George's only escape was to escape to a new neighborhood on the other side of town.

Because I was never responsible for putting up the outside decorations, I never worried too much about this dilemma.  However, I must say that I might have been guilty of prodding my spouse to get the decorations up in a timely manner.  My domain, as you might guess, was the inside preparations.  In addition to decorating, that included getting the holiday baking done.  Just as at the beginning of November, I would subtly suggest that we might want to put the decorations up outside before Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving my husband and children would not-so-subtly ask, "When are you going to start baking Christmas Cookies?" 

At my house, Christmas baking was a pretty big thing, and pretty much limited to cookies. Because I was never much of a Fruitcake fan, the only Fruitcake I ever made was limited to miniature loaves that I gave away as gifts to friends when we were too poor to give anything else.  Even though it was part of my family's holiday tradition, and my Mother and both my Grandmothers made Fruitcakes every year, that tradition never appealed to me once I had a family of own. (FYI:  I am saving the topic of "Fruitcakes" for another day because I do have very specific thoughts about why my Mom continued making it every year, when basically she and my Dad were the only ones to eat it.  And then there was always the question as to why it took Mom for what seemed like forever when she went upstairs to the attic every evening to annoint the Fruitcake with rum, brandy, bourbon, or whatever liquor she was dousing it  with that year.)

Living in a household that was of German, English, Czech, Slovakian and/or Moravian ancestry, we enjoyed a wide range of Christmas Cookies that reflected a smorgasbord of ethnic origins.  Like the Fruitcake, some of the cookies had to be made early in the season to mellow, or soften before they were ready to eat. Those started making shortly after Thanksgiving and stored in the attic..  You may think this seems like a strange place to keep them, but it served several purposes.  First, it got them out of our kitchen, which also served as our dining room, our homework room, and our game room.  The room was not that large, and it didn't have much storage space.  Second, it kept them out of sight, as in "out of sight, out of mind," which is an important concept when you have four growing children, all of whom had friends, all of whom had a "sweet tooth" or two.  I guess Mom thought we'd forget about them if they were up in the attic.  I also guess she forgot that my oldest sister and I shared a bedroom on the second floor across from the attic. Third, it kept the cookies fresh because the attic was the coolest part of the house--it was not heated (in fact, it was darn right freezing in there in the dead of winter if you happened to slip in during the night in your pajamas to grab a . . . never mind).  And finally, when I say we made Christmas Cookies, I mean we made Christmas Cookies.  Without exaggerating, I would easily say we made about twenty different varieties, with at least ten to twelve dozen of each variety. That's a lot of cookies! And where else do you store them in a house that was already bursting at the seams?  This was another reason we always started baking right after Thanksgiving.  If we didn't, we never would have been able to make all the different varieties that we did.  People today don't make Christmas Cookies like they used to.  For one thing, who has time?  For another, today you can purchase cookies that are just as good as the ones your mother or grandmother used to make from bakeries, supermarkets, and ethnic specialty shops.  For me, however, it's one of the traditions that my Children and Grandchildren will always associate with the holidays, and hopefully with me.  And I believe there are some traditions that are worth saving and passing along to my Grandchildren.

I have several varieties of Christmas Cookie recipes that I want to share with you. We're only going to highlight them one at a time, however.  Some are from my Maternal Grandmother; some are from my Paternal Grandmother; others are from my Mom; still others are from my Mother-in-Law and her Mother.  I'm sure I've got something in my Cookie Jar for everyone's taste.  But for today, I am going to share the recipe for the cookie that was the fastest one to disappear at my house, and therefore one of the last ones my Mother made before Christmas.   My sisters and I never helped make these particular cookies because Mom always said the dough was too difficult to handle.  After having become a parent of only two, rather than four children, and after having made this recipe now for many years, I think her reasoning had more to do with the fact that she got more accomplished when we weren't "helping."  We always called these cookies Crescents, and it was not until years later that I learned their real name is Vanillekipferl.  They are of either German or Austrian origin depending on which story you believe. This tells me that they came to us through the Moravian heritage of my Grandmother Lasak.  The basic recipe is the one my Mother used, and therefore I know that the cookies melt in your mouth. I have made a few adjustments to it, but they are just as good as hers.  I am sure there may be more authentic versions of Vanillekipferl out there. These are not difficult to make.  The German and Austrian recipes call for almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts; but my Mother and Grandmother always made theirs with finely ground pecans.  They are worth trying, at least once.  If you do decide to attempt them, let me know what you think!

¹ I will be using the term "Christmas" throughout this article. When I grew up, people did not consider "political correctness" as the important issue that it is today. But because in my family, Christmas was, and is, the holiday that we celebrate in December, I am using that term.I hope no one is offended by my use of it.

©2012 by Kathy Striggow

MOM'S CRESCENTS

Yield:  About 5 dozen

Ingredients
 

2-1/4 cups All Purpose Flour

3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
3 Egg Yolks
Seeds from 1 Vanilla Bean OR

Pinch Nutmeg
1-1/2 to 2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
1- 1/2 cups Finely Ground Pecans

1 cup Butter, at room temperature
Powdered Sugar, to coat finished cookies

Directions

1.     In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth.

2.     Add the powdered sugar and beat until the sugar is absorbed into the butter.

3.     Add the egg yolks one-at-a-time, mixing between each egg yolk to make sure the butter has absorbed the yolk.

4.     Add the nutmeg, vanilla bean seeds OR vanilla and salt.

5.     Add pecans and flour and mix together until a dough forms.

6.     Leaving the dough in the bowl, refrigerate dough (covered) for 30 minutes.

7.     Preheat oven to 350° F.

8.     Form dough into crescent shaped cookies about 3-in. in length from tip to tip.

9.     Place cookies on greased or parchment-paper-lined cookie sheets, approximately 3/4-inch to 1-inch apart. (There is no leavening agent, so they are not going to spread.)

10.    Bake cookies for 15 minutes or until a light golden brown. Do not over bake!

11.    While cookies are still warm, roll in powdered sugar. If they are too warm, they will fall apart when you're rolling them so be very careful. Roll again in powdered sugar once they have cooled. 

12.    Store in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve: Caramelized Brie with Almonds and Apples

Click edit above to add content to this empty capsule.

My family's big celebration of the Christmas holiday was with my Father's family on Christmas Eve. Dad was from a large family and there was always a lot of commotion when we cousins got together. Christmas Day was reserved for with my mother's parents. Because she was an only child, Christmas Day was more low-key—I had no cousins on that side of my family. So for as far back as I can remember, we always went to my Grandma & Grandpa Warrington's home on Christmas Eve. There, together with Dad's seven brothers and sisters and their families, we all gathered to celebrate the holiday.

I do not have very clear recollections about those evenings at my Grandparents' house. In fact, much of what I remember of my Grandpa Warrington is from photographs, as he died when I was just a little girl. By today's standards he was young, about 62, at the time of his death. And I can't remember whether we actually had dinner there or not, since there were so many people. But I do remember receiving gifts from my Grandparents and my Aunt Heloise, the oldest of my Father's siblings. My Aunt Heloise never married. She lived with my Grandparents, and after Grandpa's death with just my Grandmother, until her death at the age of 93. Aunt Heloise passed away two months ago at the age of 101.

Aunt Heloise was an independent, remarkable woman, and I will devote articles just to her in the future. But for this story, what I remember is that for her Christmas gift, she gave each of her nieces and nephews the sum of Five Dollars. Now that might not seem like a lot of money today but, including my three sisters and myself, Aunt Heloise had 27 nieces and nephews. In 1955, One Hundred Thirty-Five Dollars was a lot of money. I looked forward to that Five Dollars every year. It was something that I knew I could count on. I could also rely on the fact that every Christmas Eve, Mom would make us take a nap in the afternoon so that we could stay up late for all the festivities. (For me, mind you, this was no hardship as I loved taking a nap, and still do!) Those festivities included Midnight Mass, Santa's visit, the visit at Grandma & Grandpa's house, and opening gifts. I also knew that every Christmas Eve while we opened our gifts after attending Midnight Mass, we would have my Father's homemade Eggnog and the Christmas Cookies we baked throughout the month of December. Another certainty was that Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Andy Williams would be singing Christmas Carols on the turntable in the background as we all gathered around the Christmas tree. I can still visualize it today.

I never gave it a thought that Santa Claus came every year while we were at my Grandparents' home. I also never put two-and-two together when every year my mother had to go back into the house after we had all loaded in the car for the trip to my Grandparents' for the evening. Sometimes she forgot the food we were supposed to take with us. Sometimes she forgot her purse. Sometimes she just had to go to the bathroom. Sometimes it was an item my Father asked her to get for him to take with us to his parents. I do remember to this day sitting in the dark in the old '52 Chevy, waiting for my mother so that we could leave. And I remember it taking her for what seemed like forever. As you can imagine, four little girls all under six years old were not very patient. And after all, how long could it take to get your purse? We were all dressed up in our Christmas finery, with our permed hair in tight little locks, eager to get the evening started.

Most probably, the reason that I recall all these things is because I could count on them. Every year, they were part of my family's Christmas Eve tradition. Once I married, I had to begin sharing Christmas Eve with my husband's family. That was fine, as long as I could be at Midnight Mass with my family and back to my parents' house after Mass, where we would open gifts, drink Eggnog, eat Christmas Cookies, all while listening to the Christmas Carols of Andy Williams, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Johnny Cash on those new fangled cassette players. When my first child was eighteen months old, my husband and I moved to another city about 40 miles away from our parents. Reluctantly, I had to call an end to the only Christmas Eve traditions I had ever known. It became too difficult and too late in the evening to drag Scott, my oldest son, to so many places on Christmas Eve, and still be able to really enjoy the festivities. The only way to solve the dilemma I then faced was to invite everyone to my home. I knew I was rocking the boat, but the consequences I faced if I didn't change something were a cranky baby, too little sleep, and bad memories of Christmas Eve.

I decided that my little family would create its own traditions. We did, and we kept those traditions until my husband and I parted ways in 1983. After that, my boys and I established our own customs. One of those was that the boys spent Christmas Eve with me and Christmas Day with their father. Another, although I did not realize it the first time I set the menu, was that our Christmas Eve dinner would stay almost exactly the same from year to year. The boys, as well as the friends and family we invited to spend that evening with us every year, counted on seeing the Roasted Beef Tenderloin, Glazed Carrots, Browned Potatoes, homemade Eggnog, and this Appetizer—Caramelized Brie with Almonds and Apples. Every once in a while I would try out something new to see how it went over. If it met the approval of my family and guests, I would include it in the following years' menus. That's how my Red and Green Christmas Salad with Sugared Walnuts,¹ and Peppermint Ice Cream with homemade Hot Fudge Sauce² joined the party.

Today's recipe is so wonderful that you won't believe how simple it is. It's also so rich that you'll want to serve it early in your day's or evening's festivities, so that guests have time before the main course to let it settle. (Really, ½ cup of butter on top of the Brie?) Or you could do like we do and run around the block six times after appetizers and before dinner. (And if you believe that . . . ) I do not recall whether I first tasted the Caramelized Brie at my in-laws' house, or if it was my own creation. I do know that I added sliced almonds and tart apples, and that I have always served it on top of thinly sliced miniature loaves of French bread. The small loaves are the perfect size for appetizers. You can either serve the bread fresh, or bake the slices first and serve it as Crostini. Either way, I hope that you enjoy this part of our Christmas Eve as much as my family does.  And who knows.  Perhaps you'll want to make it a part of your family's holiday traditions!

¹Please see "Red and Green Christmas Salad," posted on this blog.
² Watch for Hot Fudge Sauce with Walnuts in this blog sometime in the next few weeks.

©2012 The Cook in Me: Christmas Eve by Kathy Striggow
©1990, 2012 Caramelized Brie with Almonds and Apples by Kathy Striggow

Caramelized Brie with Almonds and Apples

 

Prep Time:  10 min.

Baking Time:  25-30 min.

Yield:  12-16 Appetizer Size Servings

 

Ingredients

1-8 inch wheel Brie, whole (1.5 to 2.5 lbs.)

8 oz. Butter, softened (1 stick, NOT margarine)

½ c. Brown Sugar

½ c. Sliced Almonds

2 or 3 finely sliced Granny Smith or other tart apples, dipped in lemon water to prevent browning

Miniature loaves of French or other crusty bread, in thin slices (fresh or toasted as Crostini)

Directions

1.Heat oven to 325° F.

2.Unwrap Brie from its packaging and place it in an greased pie plate or decorative ceramic tart pan.  Do not remove the rind from the Brie.

3.Spread softened Butter liberally on top and sides of the Brie.

4.Carefully press the Brown Sugar into the softened Butter on the top and on the sides of the Brie.

5.Sprinkle the Almonds on the top and press them into the Brown Sugar and Butter.Sprinkle more almonds on the bottom of the pan around the sides of the Brie.

6.Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until the Brie is oozing from the top of the wheel and the butter and sugar mix has caramelized.

7.Remove from the oven and serve immediately on thin slices of French or other crusty bread topped with the apple slices and caramelized almonds. 


©2012 The Cook in Me:  Christmas Eve by Kathy Striggow
©1990, 2012 Caramelized Brie with Almonds and Apples by Kathy Striggow

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma's Buchta (Coffeecake)©

  My Grandma Lasak instilled in me a love of being in the kitchen.  As the second of my parents’ four daughters, I was probably a typical middle child, competing for my parents' attention.  But  when I went to stay with my grandparents (which I did as much as my parents would let me), I was accorded the status of a princess.  My Grandparents treated me like I was their only grandchild; this was due to a number of factors that I won't go into here.  Suffice it to say that even at a very young age, I knew that they treasured me.  When you stepped through their front door, you were greeted by the heavenly aromas of yeast




pastries, garlic, chicken or veal roasting in the oven, and my Grandfather's shaving cream.  To this day, whenever I smell Barbasol®, I picture my Grandparents' bathroom with  Grandpa's shaving strap and straight razor hanging behind the door.  

I'm not proud to say that my Grandparents gave me anything I wanted, but that's how I remember it.  My Grandma, to me, was everything a grandma was supposed to be.  She was soft, and very affectionate, and I knew that I was special in their eyes, (not "Kathy, don't eat the Vaseline special", but unique).  I had no doubt that she loved me unconditionally and that whatever I did was all right by her.  I followed both my Grandpa and Grandma around the house trying to learn to do everything like they did.   Whether it was airing out the bedrooms every morning before remaking the beds (even in the dead of winter,) sweeping the floors, doing the laundry on the old wringer washing machine, ironing the sheets, pillowcases and underwear, or working in the garden, I took it all in.

 

Grandpa and Grandma had a fixed schedule that was never broken unless they were deathly ill. Wednesday was noodle or strudel making day.  Thursday was grocery shopping day.  Sunday was church and dinner with my parents and sisters.  Monday was always laundry and ironing day.  Grandma got up early on Monday morning, like she did every day.  She had a lot of work to accomplish before lunchtime.  When Grandpa left for work after breakfast, she would begin their dinner, and then she'd begin the laundry.  This was no small task because they still had a manual wringer washing machine. I remember she didn't use bleach, but rather bluing that made all their clothes beautifully white. (In case you're wondering, no, she never did use it on her hair like some of her friends did.)  Every piece of clothing had to go through the wringer, sometimes two or three times, to get all the water out.  They didn't have a dryer, so the clothes went out on the clothesline in the back yard to dry in the spring, summer and fall.  In the winter, Grandpa strung clothesline in the basement for Grandma to hang the clothes on.  Either way, by 11 a.m., the laundry was finished.  She would then either fold the items or sprinkle them with her sprinkling bottle (a warm water filled Coca Cola® bottle topped by a tight fitting metal cap that had holes poked through it), and place them in a wicker clothesbasket until ironing time.  It was time then for completing the final dinner preparations for their noon meal.  Every week day, my Grandfather walked home from the factory where he worked so he could eat the mid-day meal with Grandma.   

 

Dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's was a special event for me because they had their big meal mid-day, not in the evening like we did.   They had a beautiful garden in their back yard and, among other things, they grew parsley, parsnips, onions of several types, herbs, radishes, and several varieties of lettuces with peculiar names (deer tongue and oak leaf, for example).  The lettuces were tender and tasted wonderful, however.  They also grew carrots, beets, green beans, turnips, lima beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers (both hot and sweet) and garlic.  About 2 weeks after the ground thawed in the spring, Grandpa and Grandma would begin transplanting the seedlings that they had planted in February and March in egg cartons and kept under lights in their basement.  Grandpa and Grandma grew lots of garlic.  My Grandmother used a lot of garlic in her Moravian/Slavic cooking.  But they grew so much garlic that even she couldn't use it all.  There were two neighborhood food markets, not chains, within walking distance of their house. I used to go with Grandpa to sell the extra garlic to those markets.  He was their largest supplier of garlic in the summer and fall.

 

For dinner, they always had salad from the garden, and vegetables most likely from the garden. Grandpa and Grandma canned a lot of the produce from their garden, so they even had their garden produce in the winter. They also had meat, generally either chicken or veal with a gravy thickened with either sour cream or heavy cream, and dumplings, potatoes or what my Mother called rivulets.  It was not until I began taking a real interest in other ethnicities' foods that I realized that rivulets were the same as what the Germans call Späetzle, the Hungarians call Nokedli or Galuska, the Italians call Gnocchi, and the Polish call Halŭski.  Because Grandma always made her own noodles, they would almost always begin the meal with a small bowl of soup made from the stock of the meat she was preparing, vegetables and her noodles.  The meal almost always ended with a sweet pastry that my Grandma had baked the previous Saturday.  This might be a slice of poppy seed Buchta (we pronounced it Bouk-tee), Little Buchta which were stuffed with a plum filling, or Kolache (stuffed with a sweet mixture of dry cottage cheese, egg yolks, sugar and cream, or fruit filling).  Probably because I loved the poppy seed filling the best, I  remember most often having the Buchta. 

 

After Grandpa returned to work, I would willingly return to the feather bed to take my nap, and Grandma would do the ironing while she watched her stories on television. You have to remember that both my Grandparents were immigrants who didn't speak a lot of English.   Television was new to everyone in the early 1950s of course, and they thought it was a wonderful invention. They never really understood the entertainment industry, however.  For example, my Grandma would get visibly upset and cry during her stories, murmuring, "those poor, poor people."  I couldn't figure out how she got so wrapped up in the actors' crises.  It wasn't until many, many years later when my Grandfather went to live with my sister for the final years of his 105-year lifespan, that I learned that he and my Grandma thought the daytime soap operas depicted real-life situations, and that the people in them weren't actors, but real people, and real families, with real-life troubles.  Had they only suggested such a concept of "reality television" to television producers back then, they probably would have been millionaires.  They were way ahead of the concept's inception.  

 

I never thought to write down my Grandma's version of her recipes. When you're young, you just think your parents and grandparents will live forever, and that you'll enjoy the fruits of their labors ad infinitum.  My Grandma passed away when I was only 19 years old, and I remember thinking that those recipes were lost forever.  After all, my Mother never made them.  My Grandpa tried to mimick some of Grandma's culinary genius, but it just wasn't the same.  After I got married, and began gaining confidence in the kitchen, I decided I was going to try and duplicate what I remembered of my Grandmother's cooking.  Because my Grandma never used any type of standard measurement, or pre-packaged staples, and her cooking was a combination of Moravian and Slavic heritage, I have never been able to find recipes for her dishes.  Some are close, but not on the money.  That could  be because she added her own genius along the way.  But I have never tasted Kolache, or Sauerkraut, or Noodles, or Veal Birds like hers.  In fact, I've never even seen a recipe for Veal Birds.  The closest I've ever come to her Chicken Noodle Soup was on my first trip to Italy at age 48, almost thirty years after my Grandmother's death.  The second night we were in Rome, we ate in a Ristorante named Alfredo's where the house specialty was, you guessed it, Fettuccini Alfredo.  For my first course I ordered a chicken vegetable soup.  When I took my first bite, tears welled up in my eyes.  The flavor was the same.  The soup had the same taste, but it was without her straight-pin thin noodles.  The brain is a wonderful thing to have stored that flavor memory in me for so many years that I could recall its origin with one bite.  I had to fight back the tears as I slowly savored the soup.  I hoped that the bowl was bottomless and that the soup would go on forever. Alas, it did not. (For you inquiring minds out there, yes, I had the Fettuccini Alfredo as a second course.

 

I'm sharing my recipe for Buchta (Coffeecake) with you today.  I think this is probably my favorite of all her pastries.  It's not difficult at all to make.  Although the dough is a just a sweet yeast dough, it took me some time to find a comparable imitation.  My sister gave me her recipe for it, but she uses a potato based yeast dough, and my taste buds and memory don't quite equate it to Grandma's.  Grandma used to make her own filling from ground poppy seeds, egg yolks, sugar and a little milk.  I used to have a poppy seed grinder, but it got lost in one of the fifteen moves I've made since I got married.  So I just use the Solo® brand poppy seed filling.  I can't tell the difference. If you're not fond of a poppy seed filling, use cinnamon sugar instead.  It then becomes just a large cinnamon Coffeecake.  I hope you enjoy this taste of my Grandmother's cooking that I so loved.  I know she would be pleased!

©2012 Grandma's Buchta by Kathy Striggow (text)

Grandma Lasak's Buchta©   (Coffeecake)

 

Yield:  2 large Coffeecakes

Ingredients

4-1/2 tsps. active dry yeast (2 packages)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup lukewarm water

1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks), softened (not melted)

1 large egg

1 cup warm milk

6 cups all-purpose flour (approximately)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2-3 large eggs lightly beaten, combined with 2 Tbsp. water for eggwash

2 cans Solo® poppy seed filling OR approximately 1 c. cinnamon-sugar blend

Melted butter for brushing tops of coffeecakes

  

Directions 

1. Using an electric mixer with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar and lukewarm water and mix on low for 2 minutes to dissolve the yeast.
2. Add butter, egg and warm milk, increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl with rubber scraper.
3. Add 3 cups of the flour and the salt. With the mixer on low, mix until the dough starts to come together.
4. Continue gradually adding the remaining flour and when it appears the dough is soft and coming together, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and crawls up the dough hook.
5. Continue mixing on medium high for about 10 minutes (to knead the dough), until the dough is smooth and elastic.
6. Shape the dough into a ball and place in large bowl that has been greased with 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil or butter, turning the dough over once so that top of dough ball is greased. Cover loosely with a lightweight, dampened towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees F.)¹, until doubled--about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. (Dough is doubled when 2 fingers pressed into the center of the dough leaves indentations.)
7. Punch down the dough by pushing in the center of the dough with your fist, then folding the edges of the dough into the center.
8. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead lightly to make smooth ball.
9. Divide the dough into two equal sized balls and cover each with a bowl. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Butter the bottom and sides of 2 bundt or angel food cake pans, or spray them with non-stick baking spray.
11. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll one of the balls of dough into a rectangle about 12 in. x 15 in. and 1/2 in. thick. Gently poke your fingers into (not through) the dough to make indentations.
12. Brush the egg wash onto the top of the dough. Make sure you extend the egg wash to each end of the rectangle. Liberally spread the poppy seed (or cinnamon sugar) filling over the egg, making sure to cover all the indentations. Use one can of poppy seed filling for each Coffeecake.
13. Starting at the long side of the rectangle, roll the dough topped with filling into a log, tucking the ends in tight. Place the log around the center of one of the buttered or sprayed bundt or angel food cake pans and pinch the ends of the dough together to seal the seam.
14. Cover the pan with a lightweight dampened towel. Repeat the process with the other dough ball. Place the pans in a warm place for about 45-50 minutes, or until the dough has doubled.
15. Gently brush the tops with melted butter.
16. Bake the Coffeecakes for about 30-40 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and they smell like they are done. (You will get to know the smell of yeast dough when it is finished baking).
17. Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks. Brush melted butter over the tops.
18. Wait for about 10-15 minutes before removing the Coffeecakes from the pans and onto the cooling racks.
19. Cool completely before serving or storing. Top with confectioners' sugar before serving.
20. Store in tightly sealed containers. You can freeze them for serving at a later date, but they are best served fresh.

¹Before I even pull out my mixer, I begin the preparations for a nice incubator environment for my yeast dough. I heat the oven to 170° F., and as soon as it reaches that temperature, I turn it off. I then stand the door open slightly. I mix together my dough, then check the oven temperature. It should be warm, but not hot, I check the rack where I am putting the dough to raise. It should be warm--NOT hot. I place a doubled kitchen towel on the rack and place the covered bowl on top of the towel. Then I close the door. The dough has a nice, warm little house in which to do its magic. If I already have something in the oven and I'm doing laundry, I place the bowl in the laundry room and close the door. The humidity from the washer and the heat from the dryer make a cozy environment for my dough. (Just don't place the
bowl on top of the washer or dryer as it's liable to take a tumble!)

 

©2010,2012 Grandma's Buchta by Kathy Striggow