GASP! A regular Wednesday Post!

Oh ho! I wasn't full of talk yesterday! I'm still in New Jersey, spending time with my family, and I still don't have my camera cord, so you'll have to wait to see how yummy these cookies look until I get back to LA on the 4th.

Today my mom and I baked our traditional cookies: Russian Teacakes. These are small, powdery, butter and sugar cookies that taste really, really good. We make them before Christmas most years, but since I didn't get down until right before and we had so many things to do, we baked them right before New Years instead this year :)

You will need the following:

1 cup (2 standard sticks) of butter (this recipe is easily made vegan by substituting margarine. But my personal opinion of margarine is extremely low. Butter is where it is at!)

1/2 cup powdered sugar (aka 10x, aka confectioner's sugar, depending on where you are from)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat that oven to 400 degrees!

First, soften the butter either in the microwave, or if you are like me when I am in my apartment and do not have one, by heating it very carefully over the store. Do not melt it. Just get it nice and creamy.

Then mix the butter, the powdered sugar and the vanilla until it is a delicious cream with a very similar texture (and indeed, the same ingredients) to my homemade frosting.

Next, add the salt and stir, then add the flour about a half cup at a time, continuing to stir it in. At some point, you may need to abandon your spoon and use your hands. The texture once all the flour has been added will be more powdery and flaky than doughy. This is OK.

Next, add the nuts. If you are going to chop or grind your own nuts, try to get them to about the size of an M and M mini (NOT A REGULAR M and M!) When you add the nuts, the texture will change and the dough will be easier to deal with.

Now, roll the cookies into one inch diameter balls. These cookies do not spread, so make them look like you want your cookies to look. You can also make them into finger shapes, but we never do that. Balls are easier for the last step.

Bake the cookies for ten minutes at 400 degrees. Take them out right away and go on to the last step.

Get two plates. Cover one plate in a big pile of powdered sugar. While the cookies are still pretty hot, roll them in the sugar so they get totally covered on all sides. Then put them on the other plate, from which they will be picked up and eaten by your adoring friends and family.

OM NOM NOM!

Christmas tradition (and recipes!) in a blended family

With the holidays come a spate of food traditions, among others. My family includes my four siblings, my mom, my dad and stepmom, and her ex-husband. With so many members, my family has plenty of Christmas traditions to share!

My step-siblings' father is from Denmark, and his Christmas specialty is Danish sweet potatoes...not like the orange potato things that are sometimes (incorrectly) called yams. I found a recipe on About.com to illustrate the tooth-explodingly sweet goodness of the potatoes Jens makes.

Ingredients:
12-15 small new potatoes
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp. water

Directions:
Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Remove, drain, allow to cool slightly, and peel. In a large frying pan, brown sugar over medium-low heat just until sugar begins to darken around the edges. Stir in the butter until mixture is smooth and slightly bubbling; mix in water. Add potatoes to pan, shaking pan to coat them evenly with caramelized butter. Allow potatoes to brown briefly, 5 to 10 minutes.

Seriously, though, don't load up your plate with these like you would regular potatoes. You will pass out and wake up diabetic!

Beetus

My stepmommy makes baked beans every Christmas from her mom's special recipe. It seems weird, yes, but they pair wonderfully with ham and fill the house with the smell of molasses, brown sugar, and sweet, sweet bacon. Here is a recipe from Paula Deen (Paula knows about bacon).

BACON!!!

Ingredients
6 slices bacon, diced
2 cups chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cups brown sugar
2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 cup water
4 (28-ounce) cans pork and beans, drained and rinsed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until browned and crispy. Add onions and a dash of salt and pepper. Allow to cook for a few minutes. In a large bowl, mix together pinto beans, brown sugar and diced tomatoes. Add to Dutch oven and allow cooking. Add 1 cup of water and pork and beans to pot. Cook for 30 minutes.

Now lets talk about the only holiday tradition from my mom and dad that I can think of. The whipping of the cream. The whipping of the cream come with much fanfare. There is a big to-do that morning when somebody announces that they are CHILLING THE BOWL. After dinner we pull the cold bowl out of the fridge and whisk the ever-loving crap out of the cream (by hand), passing it around as our arms become too sore to whip.

Ingredients:
Heavy whipping cream

Directions:
Beat the cream like a fi-dolla ho.

Not pictured: paralyzing arm pain (photo courtesy Toni Metzger Horrace)

No, we don't sweeten the cream. It's so wonderful, and adds richness to every dessert without making it sickly sweet. It is also excellent to dollop into your coffee if (like me) you don't take sugar in your coffee. You COULD add a little confectioner's sugar, and you COULD make it with a mixer, but it tastes so much better sweetened only with the pain and suffering of your entire family.

Regular Monday Post...

Moved to Tuesday! Why? Because I am making a pumpkin cheesecake tomorrow night for our office Christmas luncheon on Wednesday! So tune back in tomorrow night, for either a glowing success or a terrible bawling failure! Wheeeee!