You know, it's not that I hate Christmas Music. I've even been known to throw Xmas in Frisco on while I work. But the 24 hours, 7 days a week, of the same 30 or so song starting the week before Thanksgiving drives me into a twitching hatred of all living beings. As it would be a bad thing for me to act of suicidal/homicidal ideation while behind the wheel, I have to find alternate radio arrangements in the car from late November through New Year's. As a result, I've been listening to NPR a fair amount, which plays the BBC World Service in the mornings.

That's all a rather long lead-up to this random phrase I heard during the morning commute:

The world's tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards.

So, um. Yeah.

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I have a handful of recipes for Christmas Cookies, but there are even more in this thread at Monkeyfilter

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Waste time - Chaos Theory - Winter Bells.

Made these with a friend about a gazillion Christmases ago.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup crisco

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp almond extract

2 1/4 cups flour

maraschino cherries

• Preheat oven 350
• blend butter and crisco
• add sugar slowly while mixing
• add extract and blend well
• add flour and blend, but not over do it
• place in ungreased cookie sheet in tablespoon sized balls
• Place a sliced bit of cherry firmly into each ball of dough.
• Bake about 20 minutes (until slightly brown at the edges)

Ok, this is not at all seasonal, but I found this in some old notes and figured I might as well post it so I have a record.

This is from my mother's old handwritten recipe binder. It is credited "From: Mom", which I take to mean my paternal grandmother.

It's quite good. It's not as sweet as a white cake and has a very nice rich flavor. I often go generously with the spices.

Ingredients

3.5 C flour, sifted

2.5 t baking powder

1   t baking soda

 .5 t salt

1   t cinnamon

 .5 t ground cloves

 .5 t ground nutmeg

 .25t ginger

1   C sugar

3   eggs, separated

 .25C oil

1.33C honey (1 lb)

1.33C warm black coffee

 .25t cream of tartar

Almonds for garnish, if desired

Procdure

Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, spices, and sugar into a bowl.

Make well in center of dry ingredients. Add yolks, oil, honey, coffee. Beat until smooth and blended.

Add cream of tartar to egg whites. Beat into very stiff peaks.

Gently fold batter into whites. Do not beat/stir

Pour batter into ungreased pan or pans.

Bake 55-60 minutes at 350 degrees

Be sure to cool completely before loosening.

So, I was talking with arikbet the other night and I mentioned an article about curry I thought he'd like. I was just about to email it to him when I decided that maybe other people might be interested, too. So,

• How to Make a Simple Curry "Anything"

The author basically figured out what the core of an Indian curry is. The comments are kind of interesting, too.

The original recipe for these calls for almonds, but I think they are scads better with pecans. I suppose they could probably be made with any kind of nut, really. But I like pecans.

creme:

1 C butter

add:

1 C sifted confectioners sugar

½ t salt

stir in:

2 C ground pecans

1 t vanilla

add:

2 C flour

shape into smallish balls (maybe 2-3 cm diameter) on ungreased pan

bake 15 minutes at 365 °

when done, roll in confectioners sugar and let cool

I usually don't so much "roll" them in the sugar as put a little sugar in a paper sack, drop a couple of cookies in the sack, and shake gently. You have to be gentle to avoid too much breakage, but that works pretty well.

Honestly, I don't know if you have to sift the confectioner's sugar, but it sure cuts down on lumps. If you don't have a sifter, you can use a mesh strainer for about the same effect. A sifter is actually a pretty handy baking tool, if you can get ahold of one. It gives you a lot better control when adding dry ingredients.

Oh, the recipe also says that you can substitute brown sugar for confectioner's sugar (in the dough, I presume). I've never tried that, although I suppose it would give the cookie a more butterscotchy flavor.

This recipe is also from my mother's little brown notebook.

Irish Cream I

1 ¾ C liquor (irish whiskey, brandy, run, bourbon, scotch, vodka or rye whiskey)

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

½ pt whipping cream

4 eggs (grade A uncracked)

2 tbsp chocolate syrup

2 tsp instant coffee

½ tsp almond extract

Blend (in blender) until smooth. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. Shake before serving. Keeps up to one month.

Irish Cream II

1 ½ pt Irish or Blended Whiskey

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 qt non-dairy creamer

2 tbsp chocolate syrup

2 drops coconut extract

3 drops vanilla extract

Mix in a blender

Let sit in refrigerator for a couple of hours to thicken.

 

Someday, I shall have to do a taste-off on these two recipes

This recipe is much like a quiche, but I like it better. It has a much stronger cheese flavor. It's a bit more work, as you scald the custard bit before baking.

It's from the old Joy of Cooking, which has a cute story about their bad-tempered chef. Why doesn't the modern version have these anecdotes?

It wants an 8" pie pan or dish, but depth is more important than size. 1.5" deep is best. That means if you're buying instead of making your own, get the "deep dish" kind.

You'll want to pre-bake the crust for 10-20 minutes before you add the liquid. Either puncture the bottom with a fork or fill with dry beans to keep the crust from deforming. (They actually make ceramic beads for just this purpose, but that's taking things a bit too far). If you don't pre-bake, the crust will be very soggy. This works for other custard pies, too, by the way (e.g. pumpkin or lemon).

Scald:

1.75 C top milk or cream

Reduce the heat and add:

1 C grated cheese

Stir until the cheese is melted. Add:

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp grated onion
a few grains cayenne

Remove the mixture from the stove and beat in, one at a time:

3 eggs

Fill the pie crust and bake it in a slow oven at 375 F until the custard is firm, about 45 minutes.

Another hint for baking liquid center pies: Put the pie crust in the oven and then pour, rather than carrying the filled pie over to the oven. Also, if you have two racks, you can bake on the top rack and line the bottom rack with tinfoil, so you don't have to scrub off burned spills later.

This is from my mom's old handwritten (okay, some of it was typed) recipe book. That's actually where just about all of these recipes are coming from, or from cookbooks I inherited from her. Why am I posting them now? I'll tell you later.

Anna Mann is one of the dormitories at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

C = cup
T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon
degrees are in Farenheit (or however that's spelled)

Graham Cracker Crust

20 graham crackers, crushed

one stick (1/4 C) butter

3 T sugar

• press into pan
• bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes

Filling

12 oz cream cheese

1/2 C sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 t vanilla

• cream cheese and sugar
• add eggs and vanilla
• bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

Topping

1 C sour cream

1 T sugar

1 t vanilla

• mix
• pour on filling
• bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes

let stand overnight in refrigerator

Cream:

0.75 C butter

Gradually mix in:

1.25 C sugar

Beat in:

1 egg
1 egg yolk (save the second egg white - you'll need it later)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon rind

Gradually stir in:

3 C all purpose flour

You can usually start the flour with the mixer, but eventually you will have to stir by hand or even knead a little.

Chill the dough for several hours.

Roll the dough very thin, cut with cookie cutters and place on a greased tin.

Use a pastry brush to brush the egg white over the tops of the cookies (I told you you'd need it later). Decorate with sugar (or nonpareils - red hots will melt, though, so be careful).

Bake in a quick oven at 400 F for about 8 minutes.

This pumpkin pie is very dense because it's actually a pumpkin pie as opposed to a pumpkin custard pie as is more common. I happen to prefer it, but that's possibly because this is the pie I grew up with.

Ingredients

1 large (3½ C) can of pumpkin

½ C flour

4 C sugar

1 T ginger

1 t cinnamon

½ t salt

3 C milk

Filling

mix flour and sugar and add to pumpkin in large bowl

add spices and milk, stir

Bake

15 minutes at 450°

45 minutes at 350°

This makes two pies

Although the recipe technically only calls for two spices, I traditionally spice to taste. Allspice and nutmeg both go well with this.

You can make the pie a little richer by substituting half-and-half for part or all of the milk.

We always served this with fresh whipped cream.