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Christmas insanity

24th December, 2005 - Posted by karen -

Well so far Christmas has gone quite well all things considered!

Yesterday my cousin was involved in an accident with a semi-trailer truck (!!!) and believe it or not, walked away with only some bruises. The Christmas presents she had with her were also almost untouched as well. Her car is a complete write off, though. So we’re very glad to hear that she is alright.

Dan and I slept in way too late yesterday becase we were planning to make anise cookies and bread, go to a Christmas Eve service at 5, then come home and make soup, videoconference with Dan’s family and open presents. After I started making the cookies I realised I didn’t have enough brown sugar and had to go to the grocery store AGAIN (we’ve been grocery shopping about 10 times since the 22nd) and got some other things I had forgotten (tin foil, yogurt).

When I got back Dan and I made the delicious anise cookies that his Oma always makes, which at one point I described as a “monstrosity that should never have been unleashed on mankind”. They’re wonderful cookies of course, but the problem is that a) the recipe we use makes over 100 cookies, b) there is a very special icing that must be prepared with a hand mixer over a double boiler (we don’t have a double boiler), c) to harden the icing after the cookies are made, each one must be laid out separately (otherwise the icing will stick) and baked again at a lower temperature to harden the icing and d) our kitchen really isn’t big enough. Well it was chaos, but much better than out attempt last year. Below is the halved recipe that makes 50 cookies with the credit going to Dan’s Oma!

Anise cookies
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground star anise (you can buy it whole and hand-grind it or smash in a coffee grinder for extra fun)
1/3 cup buttermilk
About 2 cups flour (I wasn’t able to quantitate this one)
Mix everything together and add enough flour so the dough is not too sticky (like regular cookie dough). Grap a piece the size of a walnut and roll in your hands. Place on a greased baking tray and press flat with the bottom of a glass. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake 350F for about 12 minutes until cookies are firm but not burned. Cool on a rack or counter and start baking the next batch.
Icing:
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 1/2 tablespoons of water
Beat with an electric mixer over boiling water (if you don’t have a double boiler, boil some water in a larger pot and then beat in a smaller pot … works best if you hav a friend to hold the smaller pot for you) for 7 minutes. Test icing by taking some on your finger - it should turn hard and crumbly when it cools. Optional: add 1/4 teaspoon almond flavouring after icing is made.
Put icing in a large bowl and add baked and cooled cookies. Shake to coat and place cookies individually back on the baking trays (do NOT stack) and bake at 200F for about 5 minutes until the icing hardens. Use a pancake flipper to scoop them off the tray (removing them with your hands will leave the icing from the bottom on the tray). Place indivially on the counter or plates until icing is completely hard.

If this were not chaotic enough, Dan was making a white free-form bread for tomorrow. Free-form breads tend to be a bit stiffer than regular bread and so he got quite a work-out. At one point when he was kneading it, he was actually jumping and punching it. I honestly had my doubts about it, but it turned out very nice in the end.

We went to the Christmas service at Christchurch Cathedral. I really enjoy visiting the inside of that church because the detail on the roof is so nice and I love the big octagonal columns. The sevice was excellent as usual and the choir is incredible. I think I experienced the best rendition of Huron Carol I have hever heard.

Off back home to make our Christmas eve soup, which seems to have become a tradition for us. This year it was chestnut soup, another Delia recipe:

Chestnut soup
1 cup (200 g) cooked and peeled whole chestnuts (you can use dried chestnuts soaked in water or fresh chestnuts, but roast them at 400F for 30 minutes before making the soup. If you use whole chestnuts, cut a cross in the shell so they peel after cooking)
1 stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1.2 liters ham or vegetable stock
salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the croutons
4 strips of bacon, derinded and very finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
4 oz (110 g) stale white bread, cut into small cubes
4 tablespoons olive oil
To make the soup, you simply place all the ingredients in a large saucepan, season lightly with salt and pepper, bring up to simmering point, then put a lid on and simmer very gently for 45 minutes. While that’s happening, you can prepare the croutons. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the bacon gently for 5 minutes, then turn the heat up to its highest setting, add the cubes of bread, together with the thyme, and toss them around (keeping them constantly on the move) until they, and the bacon, have turned a deep golden brown colour and become very crisp and crunchy. Turn them out on to some absorbent kitchen paper. Then, as soon as the soup is ready, allow it to cool slightly, then transfer it to a blender and purée until smooth. You may need to do this in more than one batch, in which case, it is a good idea to have a bowl to put the soup in as it is ready. Re-heat the soup in the pan, season to taste and serve in warmed soup bowls, with the croutons, bacon and thyme sprinkled over.
I used fresh chestnuts that I bought at Akhvan in early December. I have never seen them for sale in a grocery store before, so I just started grabbing handfuls of them and thinking “there must be a way to roast them in the oven!”. Good thing there is! We tried it with dried chestnuts and vacuum packaged chestnuts but I think the fresh ones were the best.