Advent Week 3: Ordinary Riches Can Be Stollen
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
“You have a wonderful personality. Develop it. Be yourself. Don’t imagine that your perfection lies in accumulating or possessing external things. Your affection is inside of you. If only you could realise that, you would not want to be rich. Ordinary riches can be stolen from a man. Real riches cannot. In the treasury-house of your soul, there are infinitely precious things, that may not be taken from you. And so, try to so shape your life that external things will not harm you.” ― Oscar Wilde
I’m behind schedule with my holiday baking. This month has been awful, the waiting for decisions and events draining, time broken with disruptions. Even the December sky reflects the void where things haven’t arrived or occurred as they should.
I don’t write this asking for sympathy because we are all human and travel the same road, follow the arrow of time in the same direction, moving toward greater entropy. Yet the waiting this season is painted with stress and tinged with dread because family members are ill. At least one is and has been in a mortal battle — this holiday is likely their last Christmas.
All of us in our lives have and will face this same limnal space where the edges aren’t defined, the end isn’t clear and the beginning beyond it even less so. I can almost feel wings brushing by as the end coalesces; it feels familiar, like the dark night in deep labor not knowing exactly what will come and wanting an end, expectation shaping whatever is ahead of birth.
I should be baking even now, flinging a cloud of flour around the kitchen in the absence of flurries this El Niño winter. But I’m dragging my feet because we don’t know where the holiday will be spent. Why spend the effort to make baked goods when there’s no scheduled feast at which to serve them?
Bake I must, though. One of the baked goods will be shipped across the country tomorrow. It constitutes a long-distance communion with family.
The other baked good is a practice piece because I’m trying out a new recipe. If it’s good I will make it again next weekend for the holiday to share with yet more family, whenever we learn where and when we will gather.
This is the deep end of Advent. The darkest night of the year is four days ahead, a mere 100 hours until the winter solstice.
Prepare your candles and bonfires to light the way.
~ ~ ~
Following is the stollen in progress. I’ve pulled a no-knead recipe to try since I don’t know how much time I’ll have to bake later in the week. A no-knead recipe also offers the convenience of scale. I can start several loaves so long as I have enough roomy bowls, unlike my other bread recipes for which I use my bread machine.
No-Knead Stollen
Ingredients:
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsalted butter melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries
1/2 cup raisins – your choice golden sultanas or dark
1/2 cup candied citron
1/4 cup orange juice or rum1/4 cup butter melted
1/2 cup powdered sugarInstructions:
Night before baking: In a small glass bowl add dried fruit, and candied citron with orange juice or rum. Cover and let stand to absorb fluid.
In a large bowl add flour, salt, cardamom. Stir together and set aside.
In a separate bowl mix eggs, water, vanilla, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in yeast and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes; it should be slightly foamy.
Whisk into the wet ingredients the melted butter until smooth.
Incorporate wet mixture into dry mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon/rubber spatula/dough whisk until ingredients pull together and no dry flour remains. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or lid; let stand for 1 hour; dough should be puffy.
Drain any excess liquid from dried fruit and citron. Uncover dough and add fruit and citron, lifting edges of dough over the fruit and pushing the fruit into the dough; repeat until fruit has been evenly incorporated into the dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly-greased or well-floured surface. If two smaller loaves desired, divide in half, and shape each portion into an oval. Otherwise shape into one large oval for one loaf.
Place on a parchment- or silicon baking mat-lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel in a warm place and let rise for about an hour; dough will have roughly doubled when ready to bake.
Bake in a preheated 350F degree oven for 35-40 minutes for two loaves, 40-45 minutes for single large loaf. Check internal temperature using an instant-read thermometer; bread is done at 190F degrees, crust will be golden brown.
Brush still hot loaf/loaves with melted butter. Allow to cool slightly, then dust with powdered sugar to finish. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
I’ve not made this before, can’t make any claims about the results at this point. But I will share the results as an update here once completed.
Welcome to the limnal space of Advent, where we wait the unknown with expectations of stollen riches.
~ ~ ~
Giving myself over to Advent this past week, I went digging in the Christmas decorations where our family’s advent wreaths of seasons past have been stored. Lo — there were several advent observation booklets stored with the wreaths and candles.
What a coincidence that December 15th one year included a blurb about fruit cake:
Fruitcake seems to be related to the English “plum pudding” which was served on festive occasions. (There was a “plum cake” too which, unlike plum pudding, was not steamed.)
“Plum” was used as a generic word for dried fruit which, along with nuts, became the primary ingredients for fruitcake.
Since Christmas came at a time of year when fresh fruit was not available, cakes with dried fruit became more and more associated with this feast.
Fruitcake is nutritional, and keeps for a long time. Over the course of time, this has given it a number of uses. For example, fruitcake was useful for nourishment to carry on long journeys.
In some places, the top layer of the wedding cake was fruitcake. The other layers were served to the guests, but the top layer was saved for the bridal couple so that they could save it and enjoy it on their anniversaries.
This family will have a traveling fruitcake this year. Possibly two, depending on what happens over this last full week of Advent. Seriously hope the these stollen fruitcakes aren’t lingering around next holiday, though.
~ ~ ~
This is an open thread. What fruited cakes have you run across this past week? Have you baked? Don’t forget this is a stollen election — be prepared to throw your vote at a fruitcake.
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Thank you.
No stollen or other baked goods here, sorry. I’m just an oldie who grew up sponging off of, first, a Hungarian mother, and second (to this day), a Slovenian/Italian spouse. Plenty of great bakery there; my mother’s makos kalacs (poppy seed) and dios kalacs (walnut); then the potica that I first encountered when dating; and now the Easter bread we make every year as a family. And, of course, we will be doing the usual assortment of Christmas cookies, including two I can actually cobble together –salami cornucopias and rum balls.
It does feel different this year – I have been to three family funerals in the last ten months, and there are a lot of stars that just aren’t aligning as I’d want them to. But then I remember things like how my son noted, as we were driving to my father-in-law’s funeral (quoting Yogi Berra), that “You have to go to other people’s funerals, or they won’t come to yours.” And I smile.
Your phrase “grew up sponging off of” seems a bit off. I’m sure what you meant was “who grew up appreciating and knowing I could never hope to approach the deliciousness of the baking of . . .”
There is no shame in appreciating the skills of others.
Though given your comment about family funerals, it might be worth getting the recipes and the unwritten “how to” advice from such bakers.
Excellent and agreed, thank you.
Perhaps what is meant is actual sponging – in many yeast recipes, the first step is to create a sponge, to which the rest of the ingredients are later incorporated.
As to Yogi (the best yogi of all!), my fav for a long time has been:
“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice – in practice there is.”
Did you know that there is only one fruitcake in the entire world? I’m convinced of it. It just keeps getting recycled and never eaten. It comes in a fancy tin all wrapped in celophane and never opened, so as to insure freshness at its next stop where it also never gets opened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjfQEgXUI7U
Ode to Fruitcake
I hope that I shall never make
A food so awful as Christmas fruitcake.
All full of nuts and fruits and such,
But all stuck together, much too much.
In fact, it’s quite a puzzle why
With all that sticky, the thing’s so dry!
Oh, I know all about its making,
All the chopping, all the baking
And though they say it’s made with love,
They come from below, and not from above.
Despite the claims that this be manna,
We all know it’s from Corsicana.
In fact, a little doubt persists
That only one such cake exists
In all the world, and every year
It’s passed around to stifle cheer.
To ruin tastebuds here and there
And upset stomachs everywhere.
From house to house that ONE cake’s sent
(For no one really likes its scent)
From friend to friend it goes around
Until it’s crisscrossed all the town,
And every Christmas, it’s one year older
Its sticky pungency all the bolder.
So tell me, friends, be honest now
And speak the truth– come, take your vow:
Of all the things you REALLY hate
Is there anything worse
Than Christmas fruitcake? — https://chappelltemple.com/2012/12/13/ode-to-fruitcake/
Happy baking, Marcy, and I hope your ill relative has a soft landing. The spouse and I will be without family here in Cabo San Lucas, but will have our family of friends to cheer us up. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Rayne, I think I would adjust the name of your stollen to the “Needed Stollen”. It is needed by you to try to maintain some normality in a fraught time, both personally and throughout the world. I hope it all works out for you and your family.
This time of year is bitter sweet. It becomes a condensing of times with past and present swirling around us. We find our memories and feelings welling up, unbidden, sometimes prompted by a carol heard in a grocery store, sometimes by an old ornament, sometimes by the taste or smell of a seasonal specialty. That is when I try remind myself to be grateful for what I have and what I have experienced, both good and bad.
Hazy Shade of Winter
Time, time, time
See what’s become of me
Time, time, time
See what’s become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hear the Salvation Army band
Down by the riverside
There’s bound to be a better ride
Than what you’ve got planned
Carry a cup in your hand
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That’s an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again
Look around
The grass is high
The fields are ripe
It’s the springtime of my life
Seasons change with the scenery
Weavin’ time in a tapestry
Won’t you stop and remember me?
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
You might be surprised who does an excellent cover of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxrwImCJCqk
Oh, that’s not surprising at all, the Bangles were kick ass.
This one will play north of the 49th:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cNeXWpTVlo
Man I can’t believe I had completely forgotten that excellent song!
I made my first mincemeat this week from dried plums, dried cranberries, raisins, apple, and
walnuts and substituted Anisette for brandy. The I made an oil crust and made a mincemeat galette. Delicious.
Wow. That does sound delicious! I never would have thought of anisette. I wonder if I could substitute my homemade limoncello or arancello?
My strength is my ability to fail and not care so I say go for it.
Mincemeat, up here in the Crown of Maine, has usually been a more red blooded affair; chutney for the great unwashed. Traditionally, it’s made with venison; neck meat in particular. It’s the way our grandmothers and their grandmothers made it. I found a wonderful Hank Shaw version that I use now. …when hunting success smiles upon me. That being said, I’m always open to a good vegan mincemeat, too.
Mrs Dr Peterr is the star baker in our house, but we’ve had a crazy December with little baking to date. Some will get done in the next couple of days, but more will happen between Christmas and New Years, when *my* schedule lightens up considerably and I can help out.
And The Kid (who is now taller than both of us) came home yesterday, and he too will take up the baking tasks. He learned long ago that cooking and baking is fun, and at college he saw that he could stretch dollars a lot farther by cooking meals rather than doing the fast food thing. God knows he enjoyed eating his own meals more than eating the cafeteria food during his dorm years. Also, he discovered that good cooks/bakers seem to attract more than a few friends. Who could have anticipated . . .
Amazing, isn’t it, when the kids learn about value of the kitchen and cooking while away from home? My son worked in his university’s cafeteria for most of 3 years. Before then he was a horribly picky eater; now he not only appreciates a much broader range of foods but he’s willing to cook them! That cafeteria gig was a manifold blessing!
One of the other things is that he grew up knowing that cooking was something both mom and dad did. Both Mrs Dr Peterr and I love to cook, and he not only caught that bug but avoided the nonsense that cooking is “women’s work.”
His girlfriend definitely appreciates this.
Son here knows dads cook, but his dad’s job kept him away from home 3 out of 4 weeks. Son of mine also knows everybody was expected to kick in — a 5-year-old can peel carrots, a 7-year-old can make French toast. But Mr. Picky Buns preferred a narrow range of foods like mac-and-cheese, burger, ramen, grilled cheese versus the broad range of foods the rest of us can cook. Aggravating back in the day.
Girlfriends do like the boyfriends who cook. I can tell when he’s more serious about a girl because my son will have made them his favorite pumpkin pie — it’s girl bait, apparently.
One of the things that amazed his roommates and friends was that The Kid viewed ramen as a starter ingredient, not the finished product. “What have we got in the fridge? Broccoli? Green peppers? As The Kid has said to us, ramen isn’t done until there is some veg in it.
I should have taken note of my son’s opinion about cooking earlier. Found this today along with other similar specimens in a recipe box; it’s definitely his work.
LOL. I, uh, did not learn much about cooking growing up. A favorite memory is a Thanksgiving Weekend with my post-college Boyfriend and another couple. The men were the cooks, and we women hung out in the living room chatting. We did do the clean up.
I think there’s a generation of American women who didn’t learn about cooking. I’m an oddity in my cohort; I learned some cooking from my mom but most was either specific generational recipes or extremely utilitarian stuff. Mom had her own career, worked mostly second shift so I had to learn how to cook on my own because it was simply expected of me as the oldest kid to get dinner ready before dad came home. (I think my folks also believed keeping me busy with cooking dinner would also keep me out of mischief — LOL no, latchkey kids could multitask.) Thank goodness for PBS rebroadcast of Julia Child’s The French Chef because she taught me what the latchkey sink-or-swim method didn’t.
Glad you had a memory like that; my dad learned to cook over time rather like I did, trial and error, eventually took over the T-day turkey. But I was still living at home during the trial-and-error era…yeesh. His Hawaiian urge to put fruit in foods etched some memories I wish I could purge; still can’t grok how he assumed if apples were good with pork, grapefruit surely would be, too. *ka-ack*
When I was 12 years old my mother started in a PhD program. Cooking became a distributed function in the family. We were used to good meals and we learned quickly.
Cooking as kids really does help, IMO.
My son just called me at lunch today, admitted he took advantage of being enabled when it came to food and cooking while he was a kid. Offered to cook a nice meal for his dad and me over the holidays.
One year in college my brother rented a house with 9 other people. He ended up doing a lot of the cooking, because some of them were clueless.
He still cooks, and he’s the family pie-maker.
Two things cut down my beer expenses in college: (1) I could cook, and folks were willing to bring beer to compensate me; and (2) I could sew buttons back on shirts and fix hems on pants, and bringing beer to pay for it was not uncommon. In an environment (dorm or frat) where women who did either were in short supply, I made out quite well.
The second job of my life in high school was as a short order cook at HoJo’s. That skill allowed me to pay for rent and food in college when tuition at state colleges was less than $500/semester (easy to find another cook’s job when you had to quit one during a study crunch). I’m back to cooking more now that my partner has Parkinson’s but the baking (whole grain sourdough) is something I’m unqualified for. Keeping sourdough starter alive is like having a pet, you don’t leave it with just anybody.
My contributions, for whatever they’re worth, are to use less sugar than a lemon merengue pie recipe calls for (1/4 to 1/3 less) and to add extra lemon zest (increase by 50-100% of what the recipe calls for).
For stuff that uses cinnamon, like apple pie, buy cinnamon sticks and use an electric coffee grinder to churn it into powder—it’s far more pungent than pre-ground cinnamon. You may need to run the powder through a sieve, but I usually grind it longer and a sieve isn’t needed, though the powder is like talcum! Cloves are also far more pungent when ground like this, though I cannot remember a baking recipe that called for cloves.
Happy baking
Baked apples.
I always put a dash of cloves in my pumpkin pie; and my mother used to put 8 cloves in her apple pies. With 5 kids and 2 parents, that meant that whoever got two cloves got the extra piece of pie.
Just about to start a couple of sourdough loaves to give away. Going to friends for Christmas and promised to bake a pecan pie. Any recipes that don’t call for corn syrup out there? I’ve never made one.
Mrs Dr Peterr makes a great pecan pie. According to her, unless you find some 1850s cookbook, no. Pecan pie uses corn syrup.
Well since I am making it for someone whose favorite pie is pecan and he is an amazing cook, maybe I should just use corn syrup. Would Mrs. Dr. Peterr share her recipe?
Mrs Dr Peterr: “There’s no great secret to making good pecan pie, except getting good pecans,”
She uses a Betty Crocker recipe, which assumes a 9″ pastry crust:
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup pecan halves
Heat oven to 375 F. Beat eggs, sugar, salt, butter, and syrup. Stir in nuts. Pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Bake 40-50 minutes or until filling is set.
Same recipe my mom has always used. So easy, so good.
Corn syrup (Karo) is 100% glucose. – no fructose. It is only when it is made even sweeter by converting part of the glucose to fructose that we get the abomination of high-fructose corn syrup. So go ahead and enjoy your pecan pie in moderation. Use lots of pecans and a “good piece of butter” (my grandmother’s instructions).
[Welcome back to emptywheel. SECOND REQUEST: Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. We are moving to a new minimum standard to support community security, **as noted in the first comment of this comment thread.** Because your username is far too common (there are several Bryan/Brian in this community) it will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. Thanks. /~Rayne]
Beard’s “American Cookery” allows sorghum syrup or light molasses instead of corn syrup. I suspect molasses was used in the earliest pecan pies.
soundgood2, this pecan pie is outstanding. I have made it for the last two Thanksgivings.
Bourbon-Pecan Pie
INGREDIENTS
Yield: 8 servings
• 3eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• ½ cup dark corn syrup
• ⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons bourbon [be generous]
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
• 2ish cups coarsely chopped pecans
• Whole nuts to decorate the top
1. Step 1
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together eggs, sugar, corn syrups, butter, bourbon, vanilla and salt until well blended.
2. Step 2
Spread the pecans on the bottom and pour the mixture over them. Arrange pecan halves on top. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until just set around the edges but still slightly loose in the center. (It will continue to set as it cools.) 200 * on thermometer in the center
3. Step 3
Place on a rack to cool slightly.
Thank you both!
*wondering if my spouse would notice if I used his Weller bourbon for pecan pie*
Do you enjoy life??
But would he notice? That’s the question.
I can take him three out of four falls, odds are in my favor. LOL
He won’t notice 4 (+) tablespoons. Unless he is keeping track on the side of the bottle with a marker, hahahaha !
Oh, he will know.
Any sentence for the theft might be suspended if Rayne turns the pie over to him, thus returning the bourbon.
No, cheap bourbon works fine for cooking, don’t waste the good stuff. That is a crime.
ha ha!
I really don’t think he’d notice — he and his buddy sloshed that much on my counter during their last bourbon sipping session last month thawing out after the last golf outing of the season. Wouldn’t likely notice if I cut into his Calumet, either.
He’d only notice if I cut into his 40-odd-year-old bottle of Yukon Jack which hasn’t been cracked since he finished his master’s.
Ahem, golf is pretty good here this time of year….
(Bourbon too)
Sorry to say if there’s golfing this winter it’ll be in Florida with my dad who is playing every morning before his radiation treatments in the afternoon. Best possible therapy.
Not a direct analog, but his reminds me of the English “treacle tart,” which is basically a pie shell, generously sprinkled with flaked coconut, then a bunch of treacle poured on top and baked until the pie shell is done. Very very very sweet. Basically sweetened pastry.
True, but yours is missing the pecans, AND the bourbon.
Btw, I highly recommend oil crusts as there is no cholesterol in them and they are so simple to make.
I am in the middle of a generational lineage of cooks. everyone in my family cooks, males and females: my children, their spouses, my in-laws, everyone except dearest hubby. Two m-i-l’s, one biological and one step, were both seriously into food. My kids both catered/worked in restaurants, and can turn out wonderful cuisine without breaking a sweat, and their spouses are accomplished too.
The holidays are a marathon, physical and emotional, much of it performed willingly by women, who wish to make special memories for their loved ones. When I think about what I used to do—sewing/knitting gifts, making the cards with my daughter on our own little kitchen counter art studio, baking (used to do 18 -36 loaves of Norwegian Christmas bread), fetching and getting, mailing – well, it is astonishing.
Now, I make a very large recipe of uniquely excellent eggnog and drift more amiably through the whole intense period. But this year has been dogged by death, strife, and unease. Hope the eggnog works.
I’ve been making and gifting these cookies for years, although in an adapted form X2 that is LOL somewhat “healthier.” They have become an eagerly awaited family tradition.
soft ginger cookies
¾ c butter 1 ¾ c flour 1 t cinnamon
1 c sugar 1T baking powder ½ t salt
¼ c molasses 1 t cloves (freshly milled)
1 egg 1 t ginger
cream butter and sugar, add molasses and egg. Sift together dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheets using #40 purple scoop and bake at 350F about 13 minutes. Bake only until slightly puffed and raw looking; do not allow to brown.
Cool 2 mins before removing from cookie sheets.
It has been a long year. Unfortunately, next year may be worse.
Stop it, bmaz! In the past two months I’ve lost my dear sister and my niece (brother’s daughter), both much younger than me. I have to convince myself that next year will be better. (Even if it turns out not to be.)
Next year will be better. Take it from Annie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PtdpI-D6mM
Thanks for the recipe! For folks who don’t bake a lot: #40 scoop = 1.5 tablespoons. (Older scoops have a black or metal handle, don’t worry about the color, just the scoop size.)
A post with a stollen recipe and a discussion of fruitcake! What a great counterpoint to the winter solstace!
My beloved wife is the main baker in the family, though I am the primary biscuit chef. She isn’t enough of a rule follower to bake good biscuits (if the recipe says knead 12 times, neither 11 nor 13 is right!). Today she made two batches of bagels. One onion for egg sandwiches, one cinnamon raisin. I think we still have a couple of orange cranberry ones from last week too. The mix of fruits and spices for julekake that I posted last week also makes an excellent bagel if one believes in fruit in bagels.
Both of our kids make bread, though our daughter is the champion of that. She makes all of her bread, and typically has 2 50-lb sacks of flour running at once. One all purpose and one extra high gluten that she and her Punjabi boyfriend use to make roti. We are only on 25-lb sacks, mainly for storage reasons.
Hi. I’m Dave. Thanks ever so much for this site.
This year I’m making Sfogliatelli frollo for Mr. NAVGL. He loves them with espresso, and first fell for them when bought from Fico cafe in Piazza Dante in Napoli, Italy. I have converted the recipe from grams to American measurements, but it’s a forgiving recipe. They call for candied fruits, which can be anything from Citron to cherries to raisins to all of the above.
For the short dough: 3 1/2 cups pastry flour; 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 2 sticks salted butter; 5 tbsp water; 1 egg; dash more salt; 1/3 tsp baking powder; 1 1/2 tsp honey; zest of one lemon or orange. Stir together dry ingredients then work in butter well. Add water, egg, and honey and stir until it comes together in a ball. Flatten into a disc in a plastic bag and chill until firm or overnight.
For the filling: stir 1 cup of semolina into 2 cups of salted (pinch of salt) boiling water slowly to avoid lumps. Stir until well cooked then let it cool. Once it has cooled, mix with 14 oz fresh Ricotta cheese; 2 cups powdered sugar; 1/2 cup candied mixed fruit; 1 teaspoon vanilla; a pinch of cinnamon; and zest of 1 orange and stir until well mixed. Cool thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 365°F.
Roll out pastry on a floured surface until approx 1 cm thick. Cut into 4 1/2″ to 5 ” circles using a straight sided floured bowl or cutter. (I use a small bowl.) Place a generous tbsp or so of filling onto the center of each circle, then close them up like a raviolo, brushing the edges with water to make sure they are well sealed. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal and decorate.
Using a well beaten mixture of 1 beaten egg, 1 tbsp milk and a pinch of salt, brush each sfogliatella on the top and sides. Bake them on a parchment sheet covered baking pan for 20 to 25 minutes until they are golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve when cooled. They can keep for days in an airtight container, but are best eaten fresh.
If anyone asks, I’ll post my recipe for Cuccidati too! Happy holidays, whatever they are!
OMG sfogliatelli frollo! You’re awesome for sharing this and for making them for a loved one! I’ve been scared to try making these, guess I’ll have to take the plunge. Thanks for this recipe!
One of my BFFs is in Italy right now; I think I will have to ask them to look for sfogliatelli frollo to sample and send me some photos, assuming they’re heading to Naples next.
We’ll gladly take your recipe for cuccidati — I have figs in my cupboard as well as apricots and dates. Welcome to emptywheel!
Thanks so much for your warm welcome Rayne. I got a little choked up as I’ve been lurking for quite some time. I learn so much here and really appreciate the firm moderation. All of it.
Cuccidati!
The filling
1 cup packed soft dried mission figs (hard tips discarded)
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 honey
3/4 cup brandy
2 tbsp orange zest
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground gloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup toasted chopped almonds
3/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
The dough
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tbsps granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2″ cubes
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp orange zest
Icing
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 to 2 tbsps brandy
Multi-colored non-pareils/ sprinkles
Instructions
Pulse the figs and raisins in a food processor (or chop well) until well mixed and no big pieces remain, add the remaining ingredients and pulse(stir) until well mixed. Chill until firm.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and and mix between palms of the hands until it is coarse with small lumps of butter.
Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and zest and mix until a soft dough forms. Separate into 2 or 3 discs in plastic bags and chill until firm.
Roll dough into a rectangles approx 1 cm thick. Cut into equal strips about 3 inches wide. Roll a portion of the filling between your hands until a 1/2 inch cylinder and place in the center of the dough strips. Continue until they are filled. Fold the dough over the filling and turn it seam side down and flatten slightly. Cut on diagonal into 1 to 1 1/2 inch long cookies and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 16-20 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Repeat until all the filling is used. Extra filling can be used to make jam turnovers/thumbprint.
While they are cooling scoop the powdered sugar into a plastic bag or bowl and mix well with brandy. You use vanilla and orange juice if you prefer (or any flavor liqueur to your taste). I mix the icing in a strip lock plastic bag, then use a twist tie to close it firmly with the icing in one corner. Then cut the corner carefully to get a small opening and pipe the icing on each cookie (or drizzle with spoon). Sprinkle each with the non-pareils to get the traditional decorated look. We call them kooky-dotty cookies. They keep well in air tight containers in the freezer.
Wowowow. This recipe I *must* do. I’m going to use some of my homemade arancello instead of brandy, though, to boost the orange flavor with the zest.
Thanks so much for sharing this, can’t wait to try it!
My dear mother makes profiteroles for the holiday meal. Strawberry ice cream and chocolate sauce, of course.
Have you ever tried them with peppermint Ice cream and hot fudge sauce ?
Family illness, distance, incarceration and the resultant depression is affecting our Christmas, so our number for gathering is small this year and we plan to eat Chinese. I’m still making a bunch of cookies to give away, like I always do.
I was inspired by the original fruitcake/stollen discussion and found a recipe for Fruitcake Cookies by Ina Garten that I am going to try out (it got really good reviews).
You’ll never go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe. Just ensure you get the recipe from a trusted source such as Barefoot Contessa | barefootcontessa.com/recipes
Do share how the cookies turn out!
Chinese food is always good for the holidays. I’m making jiaozi to take to the family gathering once we nail it down.
Hope the next year will be better than this one for you and yours.
Thank you much, I wish the same for you!
America’s Test Kitchen chocolate chip cookies. The trick is to brown the butter.
So much trouble in the world. Let’s get together to cherish the Stollen moments in our lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A9XsIjr-R4
The company Christmas party, at the head office in Paris last week, enjoyed various traditional English seasonal baked goods such as Christmas pudding (flaming, with brandy, and served with brandy butter), Christmas cake, and mince pies (the last also with brandy butter).
Regarding the scurrilous rumours that I may have illicitly imported foodstuffs to the EU from the UK, I have no comment at this time.
I have a love hangover. And not so much a sugar hangover, since I have type 2 diabetes diet controlled, no meds. (Which means I’ve lost 130 lbs by eating mindfully and lovingly. No meds needed today, not judging for those who need them and would use them again if necessary!)
I tasted cookies. Probably ate the equivalent of 2 cookies. It doesn’t matter. I was focused on the love in the room.
Days like today give meaning. Remembering the years of “last christmases.” So hard but so poignant.
For me this time of year is a flood of memories and making new ones. Being together. All but one of my 4 kids popping in while daughter in law, my daughter, my grand daughter and I baked 6 different type of cookies.
We shared lunch and then dinner later in the evening after baking was done.
At 62, I did less and the girls did more. I chased my 3 year old grand daughter. My job to buy the groceries, provide the space, and chase the 3 year old. The girls flew through the kitchen like youth does. My son joined later to help.
Kora sat on the counter at 3 and was the dipper, dipping round cookie balls into sugar. She helped. She was so proud to help us.
We made molasses cookies using my grandmothers recipe in her original handwriting. Discussing her contribution, her memory every year.
My mother in the nursing home but never having a tradition to bake together the way I have with my girls. But my mother always baked. Just didn’t have the patience to do it together.
She doesn’t bake today but she will tear up when she comes to holiday, has one molasses cookie as was her mother’s recipe and tradition.
So grateful every year they want to do it together. They want to spend time together. This is so different than my mom and her mom, me and my mom. Breaking cycles. I never baked like this with my mom.
So blessed. For every moment with them. We made lemon cookies, I still remember the first year we tried them. Such a hit. Double chocolate peppermint. A new Taylor swift recipe this year, (no big Swifties in the room my daughter had been more Miley Cyrus, but fitting) always one new recipe, chai cookies, they are delicious!! Pretzel, peppermint kisses style. Christmas crack, Diabetes on a plate and so grateful not to be compulsively eating but mindfully enjoying the love in the room as my snack!
The boys joining later. The 3 year old even took a good nap on the couch. So much love. So much noise.
It’s a no present Christmas as we are taking a trip up to grand Marais MN to see our beloved Lake Superior, (in January!!) and to visit for the first time since my parents sold the property and my dad died. My kids begging, needing to go there.
Celebrating the past. With sadness of those missing. But so much love in the room. Tears of joy as I am still buzzing from the love hangover as I read these shares at 4 am.
Tis the season. Whatever the tradition, it’s the fusing of past present and future memories. Stay in the moment for every single moment that feels good. There is something very special about that feeling of past, present and knowing you are making future memories just by sharing the love.
And this place always part of what keeps me sane and grounded. Happy holidays to you all.
I envy you your impending trip to the Big Swamp. I haven’t spent enough time watching my favorite lake in the winter. Hope it will be a restful, restorative trip for you and yours.
Lake Superior storm southwest of Grand Marais: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IciCXDPheCQ
I’ve never been there in winter, just during Mosquito season. I envy you as well.
Rayne,
And to think, since there is no salt, some people call this “sweet water.”
datnotdat
It *is* sweet water. Some people can only handle its soft summer sugar like https://youtu.be/E7F2gszp3KA
Some of us from the fresh coast appreciate the rock candy, too. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0wOgdaSBLy4
Peacerme, What a lovely comment! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Congratulations on your skillful handling of T2. I can really appreciate that!
Christmas Bread Pudding
It’s the traditional holiday potluck season at work. Last weekend after spending all weekend in a wintery adventure with some friends, I came home around 09:15 pm to being making Christmas Bread Pudding. Got it done, in bed by 11:00 pm, up at 03:45 am to be at work at 06:30 am (Have to take a ferry to work), even though I was under a lack of sleep, it felt good that I was contributing – only to find out the potluck is today 12/18/23. I was a week early.
Remade the Christmas Bread Pudding this past weekend.
3 cups Organic Egg Nog (has cane sugar instead of corn syrup)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
12 cups Brioche bread cubes (about 12 slices bread)
1 cup dried cherries (soaked in milk for one day)
1 cup of toasted slivered almonds
In large bowl, beat eggs and whip in egg nog. Stir in bread cubes. Pour into buttered 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Place half of soaked bread into casserole dish. Add and spread now plumped cherries and toasted almonds evenly. Add rest of soaked bread.
Bake at 350F for 45 mins.
This sounds fabulous! I’m sure it was appreciated more fully being a week early. LOL
Egg nog-based recipe is jogging my memory but I can’t pull up what dish I’m thinking of…seems like a cake or bread recipe I used to make decades ago had egg nog in it. Now I’m inspired to look for a recipe!
I have been baking within the parameters of “gluten free” for a number of years, and yes, at first it is a constraint.
But the stiffer, crunchier aspect of gf flour can be a benefit in certain recipes, such as crisps and cobblers, and I have modified my old recipes for pancakes and pizza with excellent results, with the caveat that you just don’t get pillowy soft pancakes and pizza with gf flour.
Another recipe that, to my taste, is improved with gf techniques, is the graham cracker crust pumpkin pie I’m baking today. The gf grahams are grittier and denser than their gluten brethren, and I love the different texture.
On a related note, this year my daughter,a senior in college, is more interested in helping grandma in the kitchen making lefse and tunnbrod, traditional Scandinavian flatbreads that we make every year.
Still waiting for her to appreciate pickled herring.
We’ve had to try more GF cooking and baking over the last 10 years. Along the way I’ve made a few personal cooking discoveries now that my kitchen is stocked with a range of GF flours. Rice flour, for instance, has been a better thickener for some dishes than cornstarch or wheat flour. Don’t know why I never tried tapioca as a thickener in pies and other fruit dishes, probably because I only thought of it as pearls for pudding and boba tea. But it’s another nice change from cornstarch or flour.
Has your daughter tried pickled herring in sour cream? I think that’s what I was introduced to first as a kid. I can’t recall the Finnish name for this, only the pickled herring — etikkasillia or lasimestarin silli. Perhaps you could ease her into it with Hawaiian poke salad first made with salted raw fish, then seviche/ceviche.
My mother always used tapioca in cobblers!
That’s a good idea, I’ll try it. My mom and I are the only ones that eat pickled herring, so far. Daughter does love poke, and most seafood. I catch a lot of salmon, Columbia river spring chinook, which is THE BEST salmon in the world (it has to do with the large fat stores in the fish as it has a very long trip up river to the spawning grounds, and they don’t eat in the river) and she eats it like crazy. It’s like a well marbled steak.
For Thanksgiving I took a dozen Dungeness crab to grandmas and she liked that, too.
Oh salmon! There’s the entry ticket: gravlox! Try making some of your own and then ease into pickled herring!
Does steaming count? If so, my 16 yr old daughter and I make tamales each year, usually around 160 or so. We bring plates of 15-25 (depending on family size) to bring to friends.
I started making tamales around 2001. I learned the secrets of masa from my grandmother, who learned (in the early 1950s) from my paternal great nana, who learned (in the 1930s) from her mom. This year, my daughter asked to learn how to make the masa, which means she needs to get up a lot earlier than she wants to (ha!). So we’re getting close to a 100 yr old family recipe!
Oh gods, tamales!! What I would give for a homemade tamale! I can’t remember the last time I had one. Steaming is just fine with me if tamales exist at the end of the process!
Come to Phoenix, Christmas tamales are everywhere.
*picturing streets lined with tamales*
It’s the same in Southern California. The Vallarta’s markets seem overflowing with corn husks, masa, lard, and steamer pots. And the chili pepper selection, wow.
And in VT? You can find a bag of masa every now and then, but corn husks? Nope. And lard? No way. If I had known that before I moved here….
Rayne,
Thank you for this post. It has indeed been an out-of-sorts season. We started a big very needed house restoration/repair a year ago and the Ukraine War caused big delays on supply chain; consequently, we have a bit of chaos in our surroundings. We have never been upset about the delays because – war – which is causing folks to be displaced or killed. So our delays are nothing in the big picture.
This project delay made it so a tree cannot go up this year, only a small table top tree. We awaited family to share in the annual tree cutting at a veteran owned tree family we’ve gone to forever! On our way, there was a car accident that closed the highway for 1.5 hours and we were caught in the middle. Once we got through, it was close to closing time for the farm. We continued the drive nonetheless to enjoy the scenery. Of course the farm was closed. We headed back home and a storm, remnants of the east-coast storm, spun up a huge funnel cloud. We luckily had enough distance going in the opposite direction to speed up and increase the distance to safety.
“Where” Christmas day meal will happen is up in the air here as well. And baking…not sure what will get done there either. The day did supply nice scenes of bare Winter trees.
Tried to attach an image but running into tech challenges.
Chaos — absolutely the right word. Cosmological and mythological definition are spot on — the void primordial before creation. Your Christmas tree and baking exist in that state from which they will eventually emerge.
Serendipitously, someone shared this in my timeline this morning:
(via https://nitter.net/pmgentry/status/1379093511539150852)
Wishing you and yours fewer cows, less chaos, more light in the days ahead. :-)
😂😂😂😂😂
Cows!
This. Is. Perfect!
Which makes Devine Nune’s Cow’s social media account and his subsequent attack even more hilarious!
Love it, Rayne!
My childhood Christianity had no liturgical calendar, the closest we got being a three-year Sunday school curriculum with lessons appropriate for each age group. I would joke that the only way I knew it was Easter was when the preacher taught us why we didn’t celebrate Easter. That was the truth, however.
But this year I grabbed an intriguing Advent coffee calendar. A cup of coffee from around the world every day… it’s very nice. Rwanda today, in case you were wondering. I quickly learned to describe it as a holiday countdown calendar at Instagram, though, because, dear Lord, spare me from the algorithm-driven ads of your followers!
Rayne,
Thank you and please indulge on this post which may be OT, but it may be cathartic for me.
Your lead with the Oscar Wilde quote struck a nerve.
The person who has the most things when they die wins. Dunno who that can be attributed to, but it is rubbish.
My six year younger brother passed away in hospice care on 15 Dec 2023 after suffering a TBI in what would have been a routine lower speed car accident on 2 Sep 2023. All belted in etc, but it looked like he might have suffered a stroke while driving home on city streets. He did suffer a stroke, but doctors could not tell when in the sequence and he suffered severe diffuse axonal injury type of Traumatic Brain Injury among other brain injuries and bleeding. I had to make the care decisions including the final one and let me tell you that SUX.
Side note: be sure you have your affairs and desires enshrined “legally” and take care of yourself physically. Mike didn’t. He was not a healthy person and the outcome possibly would have been different if he had been healthy – not from those injuries ( they are virtually unrecoverable), but from the initiating event whatever that was (it was the stroke).
But the real story is rather uplifting when you get around to it and thus the trigger by Wilde’s quote.
Mike did not have many physical assets at the end and never did. He was a local late model modified race car driver who self taught himself to be a rather good suspension mechanic and mentor of younger drivers on the local south – and then central Florida scene. Auburndale Race Track was his last venue though he lived most of his life, including at the end, in Miami.
Over 50 years of racing he made literally hundreds if not more than 1,000 friends. And I mean close friends who all mourn his loss. I am stunned by the level of outpouring that this passing has triggered, but probably could have realized because many also traveled from all over to visit him in a coma at Jackson Memorial Hospital ICU early on. This interested can search for “Mike Toemmes” on the hell scape that Zuckerberg hath wrought (at least for Mike it has redeemable value).
So, maybe the person who wins at the end is the one who has the most close friends and it does not have to be hundreds. Just a few will do.
Thank you for the indulgence.
Pete
Condolences.
I’m very sorry for your loss. My younger brother passed away three years ago in similar circumstances — walked into the hospital in the middle of a stroke. Family had to fill in a lot of blanks over the course of the month he was hospitalized before he died after a series of successive smaller strokes which occurred in his brain along an area where he’d been injured in a car accident 30 years ago. Not a lot of assets, just much love left behind.
I’ll second the plea to folks to get your affairs in order even if you are healthy — make it a holiday gift to your loved ones to prepare a Healthcare POA/Advance Directive, a Durable POA in case you’re incapacitated, and a will if you have assets which might cause friction among loved ones.
Been dealing with these same issues this last eight weeks; it’s so much more stressful if the persons who are ill/incapacitated are suffering from some degree of mild cognitive impairment. Should also note that a substantive number persons who get COVID are likely to suffer some degree of cognitive deficit for a period of time — take this out of the equation by preparing your paperwork long before you get sick.
Word.
Did the directive and the POA before I started chemo. (They were giving me 2:1 odds that it would be successful, and I wasn’t betting on getting the 2.)
I had to do both when I had the kids as part of pre-admission process. Given maternal mortality rates in the US it’s essential.
Thank you for sharing. Our family experienced a shocking loss at the end of October, when my oldest daughter’s beautiful, complex, dearly beloved partner committed suicide. Your story resonates…grown men coming to stand at the door, tears running down their cheeks as they learned he has gone, his phone ringing for months with calls from far-flung friends who do not know he passed, endless reverberations. In this mind-bending, new reality, Rayne’s thread reminds: We are not alone.
I have a mother who makes the most excellent fruitcake–no recipie, unfortunately, but her secret is having about 50% fruit/nut to the cake, which makes it very flavorful and moist; one year she made it for my birthday cake!
In our home, my wife makes anise-based pizzelles every year for family and friends with her grandmother’s recipie. My assistance is mainly adding the powdered sugar and keeping the dogs away from the finished product.
Keeping the pets away is as challenging as keeping the toddlers and preschoolers away. The latter find it difficult to jump on the counter; they may also be bribed. Good luck, dog warden!
Dear Rayne,
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for this series of Advent posts.
LOVE to ALL at emptywheel.
– harpie
Always happy to see you in our threads, harpie! Wishing you and yours much light and joy this holiday season!
Baking is my love-language: steamed persimmon pudding and stollen, both recipes cut out of the newspaper 40-some years ago and made every Christmas since then. Searching through my recipe boxes/books/notebooks and finding my husband’s grandmother’s recipe for Joe Frogger cookies (molasses/spice keepers for sea voyages). My daughter’s favorite Mexican wedding cakes, pecan tassies (like mini pecan pies!), and chocolate quake cookies. Ten of us for Christmas brunch, and then I get to head upstairs for a long post-Christmas nap with TCM old movies for a day or two.
I know this is a baking thread mostly, but after hearing a podcast this weekend talking about SCOTUS taking up the Fischer obstruction of justice case, I was wondering if this still could spell trouble for Trump’s Jan 6 prosecution.
I realize that the “corrupt purpose” angle is easy to argue in Trump’s case, and that Smith wisely built the indictment around the fraudulent electors scheme, thereby solidifying the nexus of a 1512(c)(2) charge to documentary evidence (per Nichols’ opinion).
However, what I’m concerned about is all the OTHER J6 cases which may be in jeopardy if there are no documents involved. While many of them will have no bearing on Trump, what about the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys cases? It’s possible that cooperating witnesses in those cases may have plead out because they were facing 18 USC 1512(c)(2) with its possibly max 20 year sentence as the most serious charge over their heads. If they offered cooperating testimony that would implicate Trump’s involvement in any obstruction scheme, I could see Trump’s attorneys contesting their cooperation agreements and asking to bar entering any of that testimony into evidence. And actually, now that I think about how Federal plea agreements work, it may not just only pertain to the the obstruction scheme, it could be on any of the counts because Federal cooperators are supposed to tell EVERYTHING they know about any alleged crimes committed, not just the ones they are charged with.
How would Jack Smith’s prosecution fare in that case? Are there any prominent witnesses we know of who have plea agreements where this could be a problem?
Thank you Rayne, and all who have contributed to this *brilliant* thread. So much generosity, vulnerabilty, kindness and compassion! The sun will surely wish to extend its visits, just to bask in the rays of your friendship and comradery.
Today I was gifted some pieces of shortbread topped with pecan pie filling. OMG so good! Looking forward to figuring it out in the kitchen with my son, when he’s home for the holidays.
Wishing you all peace and ease in this and every season.
Doug
Shit! Forgot the (underscore) in my name in that last post. Sorry, Rayne… :-|
[Thanks for the heads up, I’ll fix it this time. /~Rayne]
First, thanks to emptywheel for this uniquely valuable website.
I’ve only commented here once before, but I was charmed by this posting because I’m a big fan of the much maligned fruitcake. The recipe I use comes from Hoppin John’s Lowcountry Cooking. There are some key ingredients and methods he suggests, but I insist on, that make this recipe a southern gem: the nut mix MUST contain around 1/8c black walnuts (but not too much – their flavor is strong) and 1/2c pecans, the remainder being walnuts and almonds. The fruit mix MUST contain some candied citrus peel (I use grapefruit, orange and lemon). A combination of dried (not candied) dates, cherries and figs are best for finishing out the fruit mix. And most importantly, the cake MUST be wrapped and stored in bourbon-soaked cheesecloth for at least a month. I usually make my Christmas cakes at Thanksgiving. Also, I bake my cakes in a Savarin mold, not a loaf pan, because it increases surface area contact with the cheesecloth and provides the right size small slices. Try this on someone who swears they hate fruitcake! Hoppin John’s holiday eggnog is also the best. Recipes follow:
Fruitcake:
INGREDIENTS
1½ pounds (about 3 cups) mixed dried or candied fruits, including some candied citrus peel, diced
¾ cup bourbon or dark rum
1 cup shelled nuts (pecans, walnuts, black walnuts and/or almonds in any combination) or pecan halves
¼ pound (about 1 cup) unbleached (all-purpose) flour
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus butter for greasing the pans
¼ cup sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
pinch of salt
METHOD
Soak the fruits in the liquor overnight.
The next day, grease a standard loaf pan with butter, line it with parchment paper, then grease it again.
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, toss the fruit and nuts in about ¼ cup of the flour. Cream together the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is fluffy. Sift the salt and remaining flour over the fruit and nuts, tossing all together. Fold the mixture into the butter and eggs, then turn the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1½ hours or until a straw inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The top should be browned and the edges should be just pulling away from the sides.
Set the cake in its pan on a rack and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Turn the cake out on a plate, and, if desired, sprinkle liberally with the liquor of your choice. Fruitcakes keep very well. Store for a month or more in a plastic bag in a cool, dark place, or wrapped in liquor- soaked cheesecloth in an airtight container, before serving. Keeps for several months.
Eggnog:
To make ~2 quarts:
8 farm-fresh eggs, separated
1 quart cream (minimum 20% milk fat)
1 1/3 cup bourbon (Wild Turkey or better if you like your guests)
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg
Whisk egg yolks thoroughly until light golden and fluffy in a large (>2.5 quart) glass or stainless steel bowl. Gradually whisk the sugar and bourbon into the egg yolks, and continue whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Let the yolk mixture stand at room temperature for ~30 minutes (to allow the alcohol to “cook” the yolks and remove the raw taste). Using a food processor or mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the yolk mixture. Add the cream and a heavy grating of nutmeg (to taste or ~1/8 teaspoon) into the egg mixture and mix well. Pour the eggnog into pitchers and keep well refrigerated. (Note: the mixture may separate some after standing for several hours; just stir to remix before serving). Serve each cup of eggnog topped with a light grating of fresh nutmeg. Because it’s made from raw eggs, the eggnog should be drunk within a day or two.
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the same username and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. Perhaps you’ve forgotten but this is your 8th comment at this site to date. In addition to MaryKayCat, you’ve published comments here as Efloyd15, Eugenia Floyd, and Kyla15. Please stick with the same name each time you comment as multiple usernames constitute sockpuppeting and is not permitted. Thanks. /~Rayne]
The specificity regarding nuts and amounts is both interesting and tasty. Black walnuts would definitely overwhelm this. Thanks for sharing these recipes!
My sis-in-law uses a round pan that’s smallish diameter but 3 or 4 inches deep.
Happy to comply with new regs. New user name now saved. I guess I forgot I’d posted comments multiple times – old age kicking in. And old age is not for sissies as a late relative of mine used to say…
(so moms for libs knew they were gonna march to the capitol building…)
(…)
Officials with the National Park Service who were involved in permitting and preparing for the rally expressed shock when Interior investigators showed them the text exchange.
“One official stated it ‘bl[ew her] mind’ because the NPS repeatedly asked WFAF whether there would be a march and, according to the NPS official, the WFAF representative ‘was just adamant there was gonna be no march,’” the report states. “Another NPS official with whom we spoke similarly stated, ‘we asked [the WFAF representative] repeatedly if she was going to do a march … So, um, basically she lied to all of us.’”
“NPS officials stated that, even though knowledge of the march would not have led to denial of WFAF’s permit, it would have affected how they prepared for the demonstration and engaged with other affected jurisdictions and law enforcement officials,” investigators wrote in the report.
“Specifically, NPS officials stated that, had they known there would be a march from the Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol, they would have requested information from WFAF regarding the planned march route and expected time of the march and coordinated with law enforcement and other relevant officials,” the report continues. “They also stated that they would have made sure WFAF had enough marshals to help safely direct people from the Ellipse to the march route and that the appropriate roads were closed. The NPS officials explained that these actions would have been taken to ensure that the march was ‘conducted in a safe manner’ and ’that the Capitol [wa]s aware that there’s a march coming up to their jurisdictions.’”
(more)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interior-watchdog-january-6-report_n_658081d0e4b036ecab461422
In the early 1960’s in Fresno CA, we lived next door to Mr. Taylor & family. Chief Petty Officer, RN (Ret), who had a 100 ft shortwave antenna with 5 guy wires decorated with RN Signal Flags, so that he could listen to his “footie and the BBC”.
Absolutely could not get lost on way home from kindergarten.
My Mom and Mrs. Taylor, both good cooks, agreed that traditional English Trifle needed modification for a climate like Fresno in the summer.
Using the largest deep rectangular Pyrex dish you have (at any party I’ve made it for, demand exceeded supply).
1st day
• bake a pound-cake layer about an inch deep & let cool.
• When cool, make 10-20 butter-knife incisions through pound-cake
• (quick) drained can fruit cocktail evenly arranged
• (experimental) drain syrup from poorly made jam, use ragged lumps of jammed fruit or your imagination
• make enough hot jello to just cover tops of fruit, pour slowly to soak all the pound-cake
• cool over night
2nd day
• arrange about an inch of (your choice, except chocolate) pudding
• let cool again
• Whip Cream to height & transportation limits
• Maraschino Cherries & Slivered Nuts to taste
Traveling to Niece’s home for Christmas, will try to make this again. Made it before for her Dad’s Funeral, but it fell off back of truck and the dogs got it. Got to just keep trying.
[Moderator’s note: Username edited, please use the same one on all future comments. Comment formatted to match intended indent (multiple blank spaces will not work, instead use ASCII characters to indent). /~Rayne]
My Russian emigre grandmother spoke very little English and was clearly suffering from PTSD from her experience with the Pogroms. We were too young to understand that.
But what we sought out and were delighted by were her Rugelach! Hers were crescent shape and typically Raspberry or Apricot.
My favorite are dried currant and walnut.
The Serious Eats recipe of course gets deep into the history including the addition of cream cheese to the batter when Rugelach came to North America.
https://www.seriouseats.com/classic-rugelach-recipe
Rayne, I think you opened the door to Stollen/Stolen pun-ishment. LargeMoose posted a link to the original Oliver Nelson recording of Stolen Moments. I was beaten to the punch. However, this gives me an opportunity to share the Bette Carter/Carmen McRae duet version from their Live Duets album, 1987.
Bette (like me) was raised in Detroit and was the only singer who was a true post-bop singer who hung with Miles as an improviser.
https://youtu.be/90lnFIv8Dac?si=WIul5a478WzLNhvh
Lyrics
Carmen McRae & Betty Carter – Stolen Moments – Live (1987/San Francisco)
“How I miss all our stolen little moments
The many times I’m not with you
They are such precious stolen moments
That are meant only for us two
Whenever you’re gone and I know you’re not here
It’s so hard to remember when you disappear
With your face always there
Right in front of me dear
But you belong to her
But you belong to her
Why do we have to have stolen moments
Why can’t I always have you near
Holding you in my arms forever
When I never have anything
Whenever you’re gone and I know you’re not here
It’s so hard to remember when you disappear
With your face always there
Right in front of me dear
But you belong to her
I have heard when you have stolen moments
It is called an affair
I don’t want to have just stolen moments
So be mine and I’ll always care
Whenever you’re gone
and I know you’re not here
It’s so hard to remember
When you disappear
with your face always there right in front of me, dear
But you belong to her”
Stollen moments. LOL good one, thanks for sharing that Bette Carter number!
Thanks, too, for the SeriousEats’ link. It’s funny how the dough for rugelach/kolache/whatever other name satellite cultures call these rolled cookies has changed over time and location. My daughter just made some with Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese or cottage cheese.
Hadn’t thought of using that dough with a savory filling as that SeriousEats link suggests. I think might try it with a mixture of gochujang paste and muenster cheese for something with a bit of bite.
Placing this here so as not to clog up other threads.
Little Donny Drummer Boy
Come he said to me
Trump Trumpa Trump Trump
A brand new king to make
Trump Trumpa Trump Trump
I’ll pay your bail he said
Trump Trumpa Trump Trump
A king can open that jail
Trump Trumpa Trump Trump
Trumpa Trump Trump
Trumpa Trump Trump
I’m in my cell I say
Trump Trumpa Trump Trump
Trumpa Trump Trump
Trumpa Trump Trump
Nice work! And a shout to our Savage Librarian for providing sustained inspiration — what other site can expect these kinds of gems in their comments?
“STOLEN TIME by Lou Lyne”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysvFwLPhQPU
Mmm…stollen time. :-)