At the timely suggestion of mashup reader Krysi—I was elbow deep in gingerbread dough, with chocolate treats baking in the oven when her email arrived—I invite you to share what festive goodies you’re making for the holiday.
“Simply Delicious” the festive human holiday treats I baked yesterday
Krysi shares her annual Christmas tradition: “I bake cookies for our dogs and their friends. I always double the recipe and then make the double recipe four or five times. So, it takes hours!” she writes. “I'll make people cookies later this week (probably Snickers cookies, peppermint cookies, and chocolate crinkles) though I won't make rolled out cookies for people since it takes too long! Only rolled out cookies for dogs.”
Krysi’s mom subscribed to Cook & Tell, the newsletter my mom wrote and illustrated for 30 years. Although both our moms have passed away, their cooking legacies live on, especially during the holidays.
And to keep that spirit alive, I’m launching a reboot of the foodletter January 3. “I am so looking forward to the new edition of Cook & Tell,” Krysi says.
I'm cooking up a storm, but not much in the sugar department as we try and limit our sugar intake.
However, today I'm going to make a hot cocoa mix as I'm weary of all the chemicals in the instant cocoa mixes I buy at the stores. Your treats look delightful!
I like to do the two ingredient pizza dough (greek yogurt , self raising flour) because it is both meditative and I know a pan style pizza will come out of the oven in minutes. Also Its a great way to say thank you when Im staying at someone’s place
Dec 21, 2022·edited Dec 21, 2022Liked by Amie McGraham
My brother Ivan comes over from Brighton, by the sea with the kids on the 26th December. He always brings many veggies, baskets of them, half of which he forgot to roast. He starts cooking early, and makes every one a Bloody Mary or two. On goes classical music, in another room pantomimes play out, and it takes all day for Ivan to cook and we always eat too late, and they are all a bit tipsy, the kids are lost in Christmas Films and Ivan and I toast our father Marius who died on the 6th December, was buried on the 16th, and whose birthday is on the 31st. After eating, however wants comes with us for a long slow walk to a Christmas tavern by the old Wellington Rocks and sit by the log fire and yarn long.
The recipe for Ivan's Roasted chicken
6 lbs organic chicken - Kosher or non-Kosher
6 large parsnips, carrots, turnips sliced slim. Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes for fluffy roasting.
1 lemon
rock salt
4 peeled garlic or power
snuff of parsley
pepper, cayenne and paprika
3 tsp Olive oil
1. Rub the rock salt over the chicken, and then mix dried ingredients with the olive oil and the lemon and pour over and into chicken.
2. Put the veggies along side, put a bit more olive oil if needed. You can add a touch of water so the veggies don't stick to the bottom.
3. Ivan always roasts hot for about 30 minutes, then brings it down for the last hour and half. It is delicious and as long as you remember the veggies full of nutrition.
My family celebrates Jolabokaflod the tradition of giving/getting books on Dec 24 and reading all evening and late into the night while having mugs of hot chocolate. Heat water, put cocoa mix powder in mugs, add hot water till mugs are 3/4 full, stir, then add 1 shot peppermint schnapps* and whipped cream topping for garnish.
* an alternative is to use Irish cream instead of schnapps
Until recently, I hadn’t baked (or really) cooked in a VERY long while. It has been quite fun and therapeutic, even, not to mention outstanding source material for my writing
Can't wait for the launch of the foodletter, Amie!
As for baking: I made some mince pies for my husband last week, and in fact I've just made a marmalade cake to freeze in slices for his work lunches - not festive baking, as such, but a happy Christmas is partly down to what's in the freezer, right?!
Glad to oblige, Amie! It's just a standard sponge sandwich cake recipe, really - you know, same weights for every ingredient - just with a load of marmalade thrown in, too! I'm not sure where you're based - I'm in UK - so weights and oven temp might look unfamiliar, sorry. To make 2 x 7" layers you need:
3 medium eggs, 175g self-raising flour, 175g sugar, 175g margarine, 175g marmalade (divided: 150g + 25g) and 150ml double cream for whipping.
Use a hand blender and the all-in-one method (what I call the 'chuck it all in at once' method) to blend everything except 25g of the marmalade and the double cream, and divide the resulting cake mix into two greased and lined 7" tins.
Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C.
Whip the cream until thick, then add the remaining 25g marmalade and continue to whip until stiff. Sandwich the cooled cakes together with this. Refrigerate for at least an hour before attempting to slice!
I like to use lime marmalade for this, but all work jolly well. The volume of marmalade and sugar make it very sweet, but compromising on sweetness by reducing the amount of sugar to take the marmalade into account makes for a much less impressive tender texture and mouthfeel.
I make one of these cakes often, and wrap individual slices to freeze. My husband just helps himself to a slice straight out of the freezer in the morning to take to work, and by elevenses it's thawed and perfect to eat. It's also a pretty easy birthday cake.
My mom and sister and grandmother all subscribed to the original C&T and whenever I would visit them, I’d squirrel away and read the newsletter.
I think my mom ordered me a gift subscription in the 90’s and then my grandmother gave me her old copies. I still have them and can’t even remember how many things I’ve made from them, but pretty sure my favorite is the pot roast and one time I saw a recipe for Almond Tea Cakes that I’d been searching for and saw it was submitted by my oldest sister!
The only baking I’ve done so far is a batch of Peppermint Puffs, but some pressed butter cookies could be in the works.
How great that you have a connection with fans of your mom's newsletter! I used to bake many types of cookies, but these days it is just Stollen and English Toffee.
My mom was also a long-time subscriber of Cook & Tell and has also passed away. I cannot wait for the upcoming foodletter! I remember she used to collect the mail before leaving to run errands and she'd tuck the latest edition of Cook & Tell in her purse to have it to read while she waited in the school pick-up line or waited in the car during orthodontist appointments. I always checked to see if she had the newest issue and would pour over it, mentally noting what recipes I wanted to try later.
One of my holiday traditions is not so much Christmas holiday related, but at the start of the fall season, I have to make the apple cider pot roast from the past issue of Cook & Tell. I'm not much of a baker, but I try to make my favorite Gingerbread Butterscotch cookie for the holidays and stash some dough in the freezer for later in the winter.
While we make a lot of cookies before Christmas, my favorite family tradition is that we decorate sugar cookies on New Year's Eve.
I'm cooking up a storm, but not much in the sugar department as we try and limit our sugar intake.
However, today I'm going to make a hot cocoa mix as I'm weary of all the chemicals in the instant cocoa mixes I buy at the stores. Your treats look delightful!
Cooking is a superpower!
I like to do the two ingredient pizza dough (greek yogurt , self raising flour) because it is both meditative and I know a pan style pizza will come out of the oven in minutes. Also Its a great way to say thank you when Im staying at someone’s place
I make chocolate chip cookies for my next door neighbors.
Sharon, how thoughtful! Sending peace and cheer.
My brother Ivan comes over from Brighton, by the sea with the kids on the 26th December. He always brings many veggies, baskets of them, half of which he forgot to roast. He starts cooking early, and makes every one a Bloody Mary or two. On goes classical music, in another room pantomimes play out, and it takes all day for Ivan to cook and we always eat too late, and they are all a bit tipsy, the kids are lost in Christmas Films and Ivan and I toast our father Marius who died on the 6th December, was buried on the 16th, and whose birthday is on the 31st. After eating, however wants comes with us for a long slow walk to a Christmas tavern by the old Wellington Rocks and sit by the log fire and yarn long.
The recipe for Ivan's Roasted chicken
6 lbs organic chicken - Kosher or non-Kosher
6 large parsnips, carrots, turnips sliced slim. Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes for fluffy roasting.
1 lemon
rock salt
4 peeled garlic or power
snuff of parsley
pepper, cayenne and paprika
3 tsp Olive oil
1. Rub the rock salt over the chicken, and then mix dried ingredients with the olive oil and the lemon and pour over and into chicken.
2. Put the veggies along side, put a bit more olive oil if needed. You can add a touch of water so the veggies don't stick to the bottom.
3. Ivan always roasts hot for about 30 minutes, then brings it down for the last hour and half. It is delicious and as long as you remember the veggies full of nutrition.
Enjoy!
Sounds tasty, Jeanne! I may give this a whirl soon. Joyeux Noël à toi.
My family celebrates Jolabokaflod the tradition of giving/getting books on Dec 24 and reading all evening and late into the night while having mugs of hot chocolate. Heat water, put cocoa mix powder in mugs, add hot water till mugs are 3/4 full, stir, then add 1 shot peppermint schnapps* and whipped cream topping for garnish.
* an alternative is to use Irish cream instead of schnapps
I'm so excited for "Cook & Tell"! I haven't baked in quite a while...but those cookies look delicious enough to inspire me to get out my mixer.
Until recently, I hadn’t baked (or really) cooked in a VERY long while. It has been quite fun and therapeutic, even, not to mention outstanding source material for my writing
Can't wait for the launch of the foodletter, Amie!
As for baking: I made some mince pies for my husband last week, and in fact I've just made a marmalade cake to freeze in slices for his work lunches - not festive baking, as such, but a happy Christmas is partly down to what's in the freezer, right?!
Marmalade cake? I need to know more about this, Rebecca. Marmalade was one of my mom’s favorite toppings on a scone at tea time.
Glad to oblige, Amie! It's just a standard sponge sandwich cake recipe, really - you know, same weights for every ingredient - just with a load of marmalade thrown in, too! I'm not sure where you're based - I'm in UK - so weights and oven temp might look unfamiliar, sorry. To make 2 x 7" layers you need:
3 medium eggs, 175g self-raising flour, 175g sugar, 175g margarine, 175g marmalade (divided: 150g + 25g) and 150ml double cream for whipping.
Use a hand blender and the all-in-one method (what I call the 'chuck it all in at once' method) to blend everything except 25g of the marmalade and the double cream, and divide the resulting cake mix into two greased and lined 7" tins.
Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C.
Whip the cream until thick, then add the remaining 25g marmalade and continue to whip until stiff. Sandwich the cooled cakes together with this. Refrigerate for at least an hour before attempting to slice!
I like to use lime marmalade for this, but all work jolly well. The volume of marmalade and sugar make it very sweet, but compromising on sweetness by reducing the amount of sugar to take the marmalade into account makes for a much less impressive tender texture and mouthfeel.
I make one of these cakes often, and wrap individual slices to freeze. My husband just helps himself to a slice straight out of the freezer in the morning to take to work, and by elevenses it's thawed and perfect to eat. It's also a pretty easy birthday cake.
I’m excited for the reboot!
My mom and sister and grandmother all subscribed to the original C&T and whenever I would visit them, I’d squirrel away and read the newsletter.
I think my mom ordered me a gift subscription in the 90’s and then my grandmother gave me her old copies. I still have them and can’t even remember how many things I’ve made from them, but pretty sure my favorite is the pot roast and one time I saw a recipe for Almond Tea Cakes that I’d been searching for and saw it was submitted by my oldest sister!
The only baking I’ve done so far is a batch of Peppermint Puffs, but some pressed butter cookies could be in the works.
Peppermint puffs! Even the name sounds yummy!
How great that you have a connection with fans of your mom's newsletter! I used to bake many types of cookies, but these days it is just Stollen and English Toffee.
That gorgeous toffee from your newsletter last week is still on my “to bake” list!
My mom was also a long-time subscriber of Cook & Tell and has also passed away. I cannot wait for the upcoming foodletter! I remember she used to collect the mail before leaving to run errands and she'd tuck the latest edition of Cook & Tell in her purse to have it to read while she waited in the school pick-up line or waited in the car during orthodontist appointments. I always checked to see if she had the newest issue and would pour over it, mentally noting what recipes I wanted to try later.
One of my holiday traditions is not so much Christmas holiday related, but at the start of the fall season, I have to make the apple cider pot roast from the past issue of Cook & Tell. I'm not much of a baker, but I try to make my favorite Gingerbread Butterscotch cookie for the holidays and stash some dough in the freezer for later in the winter.
What a sweet memory, Amy! Thanks for sharing that and being part of the 2G (second generation) Cook & Tell subscribers.
Be on the lookout for the cider pot roast in early 2023. And I’m gonna need the butterscotch gingerbread recipe at some point.