Two weeks till Christmas!
I don’t know about you, but, after not having real Christmases for a few years, thanks to Covid-19, I’m a little rusty.
The rustiness, combined with me in general slowing down, is making this Christmas a challenge.
Ah, well, the chance to get together is worth a bit of work.
And a bit of food.
Cookies are always handy to have on hand for unexpected guests.
A slice of cake, especially fruitcake, can seem a bit overwhelming, but there’s always room for a cookie, or two.
Ma’s Anise cookies, both in the "S" shape and in rounds, and Biscotti Reginas were always available when family came for a visit.
And the rainbow cookies always got a Wow! when they were on the platter.
Hints:
Have the eggs, milk and butter, or margarine, at room temperature.
If you don’t like licorice, use another extract, such as lemon, or use 1/2 anise and 1/2 vanilla for a milder flavour.
About Anise "S" Cookies…
These cookies will puff up, so give them room.
Don’t like frosting? Dip the cookies into milk, then sesame seeds, and bake.
Or after baking, dust cooled cookies with confectioners’ sugar.
For a glossy finish beat an egg in a small bowl and brush each cookie with the egg wash before baking.
About Anise Mound Cookies…
For smooth cookies roll the dough into balls no bigger than the size of a walnut.
About Rainbow Cookies…
Some people use apricot jam instead of raspberry jam.
If there are seeds in the raspberry jam, strain them out.
Homemade Almond Paste (Makes 2 Cups)
Place in blender
2 Cups blanched almonds
Grind until you have a fine almond flour.
Add
1/2 Cup orange juice
1 Cup sugar
Blend until combined well and smooth.
Store in the refrigerator in an air tight container.
Anise "S" Cookies
Line 3 large baking sheets with with parchment paper
60 cookies
Sift into a large bowl
5 Cups flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Set aside.
Place in a large mixer bowl
3/4 Cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 Cups sugar
Cream together until smooth.
Add, one at a time
6 large eggs
Beat well and add
2 teaspoons anise extract
Blend well.
Making 3 dry and 2 liquid additions add
the flour mixture
1/2 Cup milk
Blend well.
Turn the dough onto a floured board.
Knead until dough is firm and not sticky. Add more flour if needed.
Preheat oven to 400º F
Break off a handful of dough, roll into long rope, then cut into 5 inch pieces.
Place on lined cookie sheet and form into an ‘S’ shape.
Repeat with remaining dough, placing cookies 2 inches apart.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown.
Remove cookies to racks to cool completely.
For the frosting
Place in a medium pot
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
Melt over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in
5 Tablespoons milk
1 3/4 Cups confectioners’ sugar
Stir to a desired consistency, adding more milk if needed.
Spoon frosting on cookies and immediately top with sprinkles.
Return to rack to set.
Let cool completely and store in airtight container at room temperature.
Anise Mound Cookies
80 cookies
Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper
Sift into a medium bowl
2 3/4 Cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Place in a large mixer bowl
3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/4 Cup milk
1 teaspoon anise extract
Beat at medium speed until well blended.
Lower to slow speed and add the flour mixture, about 1 cup at a time.
Beat until well blended.
Preheat oven to 325º F
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown.
Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool.
For the frosting
Place in a small bowl
1 Cup confectioners’ sugar
4 to 5 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon anise extract
Beat until smooth.
Dip the tops of the cookies into the frosting.
Right after dipping, while the glaze is still wet, top with sprinkles.
Let set until glaze hardens.
Biscotti Regina
48 cookies
Grease and flour 4 large cookie pans
Pour into a shallow bowl
1/2 Cup milk
On a piece of waxed paper spread
1 Cup sesame seeds
Sift into a medium bowl
2 1/2 Cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Place in a large mixer bowl
1 Cup butter
3/4 Cup sugar
Cream together until smooth.
Add
1 large egg
2 teaspoons anise extract
Beat in.
Stir the flour into the butter mixture until forming a soft dough.
Pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough and shape it into a small log. Set aside. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Preheat the oven to 350º F
Dip a log into the milk, then dip it in the sesame seeds.
Place the cookie on a cookie pan, seeded side up.
Repeat with the remaining logs and place on pans 1 inch apart.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the logs are lightly toasted.
Let cool on the cookie pans for 10 minutes.
Remove cookies to racks to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Venetian Rainbow Cookies
Grease three 9 x 13 inch pans
Line with waxed paper and grease again
Sift together
2 Cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Set aside.
Separate, placing whites in a small mixer bowl and yolks in a cup.
4 large eggs
Set aside the yolks and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Place in a large mixer bowl
1 Cup (8 ounces) almond paste
1 1/2 Cups butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
the reserved 4 eggs yolks
1 teaspoon almond extract
Beat for 5 minutes until fluffy.
Slowly beat in the flour mixture and fold in the egg whites.
Preheat oven to 350º F
Remove 1 1/2 Cups of batter and spread in the first prepared pan.
Remove another 1 1/2 Cups of batter and place in a small bowl.
Add
10 drops green food colouring
Blend well and spread in the second pan.
Add to the remainder of the batter
10 drops red food colouring
Blend well and spread into the third pan.
Bake for 15 minutes, just until edges are golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool layers on wire racks.
Heat
12 ounces seedless raspberry preserves
Place the green layer on a foil covered cookie sheet.
Spread half of the warm preserves on top of the green layer.
Place the yellow layer on top and spread the reminder of the preserves.
Place the red layer on top of the preserves and cover with plastic wrap.
Put a weight, such as a cutting board, on top and store in the fridge overnight.
Melt
2 squares semisweet chocolate or 2 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Spread a thin layer of chocolate over the top.
Allow to dry for 30 minutes and then cut into 1inch square pieces.
~~~
Along with being a co-host for the CKUW radio show ‘2000 & Counting’ from 1999 to 2007, I wrote stories and essays, which I then read live on air.
Back in 2000 I wrote this for our show.
No, I don’t do any of these seasonal feast celebrations anymore.
At my age I have to conserve my energy for Christmas!
My parents and I immigrated to New York in 1950. A few years later, when I was in school, I asked why we didn't have anything pretty to eat for Christmas. My Ma told me that in Malta, Christmas was a religious celebration. The focus was on God becoming man, not on cookies.
Maltese desserts are simple - fresh fruit and cheese with an occasional cookie. One Maltese cookie, the biskuttini tar rahal, could be described as hardened library paste with a hint of lemon and a dash of royal icing. A variation on the biskuttini cuts the sugar by half and replaces the royal icing with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
Both cookies are wonderful teething rings.
Another favourite is the anise biscotti. The big thrill with a biscotti is seeing how much milk it can suck up before breaking in half and falling into your glass.
It's like eating the sinking Titanic.
For the holidays, we borrow from the Sicilians and make kannoli tar-rikotta (ricotta in a fried pastry tube) or a qassata (vanilla custard shmeared over a sponge cake).
How lame is that?
I knew my German classmates ended their meals with more oomph. Our parish, St. Fidelis, was a cookie heaven. The most amazing homemade cookies were brought to every church and school function by my friends' Moms. They were rich and gorgeous - the cookies, I mean. They were loaded with spices, fruits, nuts and jams, and were covered with thick layers of frosting and all sorts of sprinkles.
When my Ma saw the competition she admitted defeat and took over the job of bringing coffee. I was free to eat whatever caught my eye. While I gushed, my friends' Moms all beamed. My friends thought I was nuttier than the cookies.
My husband is a third generation American - half Swedish and half German. Okay, I was marrying into the Cookie Big Leagues. I thought, along with the change of name, I'd return from my honeymoon a changed woman able to make cookies with a capital ‘C’. To paraphrase the biblical story of Ruth, I believed
What thou eatest, I will eat... thy cookies shall be my cookies...
Well, you get the picture. Thanks to the movie The Sound of Music, I just knew we'd celebrate Christmas a la von Trapp: sitting beneath a huge, glowing tree,
singing Edelweiss and munching beautiful cookies, my favorite things. Ethnic things.
The ethnic bit nearly ended my marriage.
There's an old German saying: That which really tastes oft us trouble makes. Now, there's truth in advertising. Clear as a bell, they were warning me to not even go there. If I'd had half a brain I'd have just thrown in the mixing bowl and placed a huge order at the local German bakery for a deluxe assorted cookie platter, with some stollen on the side.
Nope, I didn't take the hint. I studied every German and Swedish cookbook I could find. The biggest surprise was that there were other days that had to be celebrated. Okay, I thought, practice makes perfect. Maybe it's like opening a Broadway show in Boston. I learned about their holiday customs.
The first Advent biggie was December 6. St. Nicholas' Day. That called for small presents in Paul's shoes and some hot chocolate and buns for breakfast. No problem. The morning went without a hitch.
Huzzah!! One day I'd bake cookies that looked like jewels!
I spent more nights baking instead of sleeping. My next goal was an authentic Swedish Saint Lucia Day for our first December 13. Maybe the lack of sleep was affecting my mind.
According to one big fat book, a good Swedish wife got up at four a.m. to start tossing her cookies. God forbid any sunlight should shine on the dough or disaster would befall the household. Every hefty housefrau hoped a crescent moon was hovering on the horizon to bring good luck to the baking.
No kidding. Without that sliver of light she could get killed, stumbling around in the dark like that. I really thought that if I followed the customs, my baking would get better. I got up at four a.m. and baked. Okay, I cheated. I used electric lights.
Then I ran into a slight problem. According to tradition, saffron buns and coffee were served between three and four a.m. by the eldest daughter, who was dressed as the Lucia Queen. We didn't have children and I couldn't borrow a neighbour's kid for that ungodly hour. I had to make some changes in the sacred customs. I, as an eldest daughter, became the first Maltese Lucia Queen. Ever.
I stitched up a long white robe and tied shining red balls to our Advent wreath. I memorized the traditional poem. Then, when I saw how much saffron cost, I made another teeny change. I made cinnamon buns. What harm could it do?
The days flew. Finally, it was December 13, 3:45 a.m. Show Time!
I was clad in white, balancing an advent wreath with bouncing red balls and gleaming white candles upon my head. I was a glowing, flaming cherries jubilee, clutching a tray laden with coffee and cinnamon buns and walking ever so slowly to our bed.
Hovering over Paul, I chanted: Night goes with silent steps...
Hmmph... No answer. He was snoring. No Swedish genes were making him wake up to behold his Lucia Queen.
Well, after all that work, this Lucia Queen required an audience.
Creating my own liturgy, I ad libbed. Wake up, Paul!
Still no answer. I set the tray down, gave him a push and repeated
Night goes with silent steps... Damn it, wake up!!
He snorted, turned and faced me. It took him a while to focus.
Okay, finally, I, the Lucia Queen, was getting the respect I deserved.
I went back to chanting, my voice building to an impressive boom
Night goes with silent steps round house and cottage.
O'er earth that sun forgot, Dark shadows linger.
Then on our threshold stands white clad in candlelight,
SANTA LUCIA, SANTA LUCIA!!!
He looked. He blinked. He screamed.
He said something that no one should ever say to a Lucia Queen.
I blamed the cinnamon. Maybe the Swedish mojo just doesn't work with cinnamon.
Look, if my Ma can blame religion, I can blame spices.
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