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There’s a nip in the air and the leaves are changing color. Well, OK, the nippy air has only come in short bursts so far this fall, and the leaves are mostly just falling off the trees because of the drought. But anyway, it is getting to be late October, so it’s time to start thinking about Christmas.
I know what you’re thinking. As if the early Christmas displays in the stores weren’t bad enough. Don’t worry; I haven’t begun decorating or anything like that. I know we still have to get through Halloween, and I don’t like to see Thanksgiving slighted in the least.
But when you do the kind of baking I do for Christmas, you really need a head start. Actually, I won’t do any baking for about a month yet, but I do need to start planning.
Each year I make dozens of old favorites – about 20 kinds of cookies, five candies, two fruitcakes, stolen, gingerbread, not to mention several hot hors d’oeuvres for our open house. In addition to these standards, though, I try to find several new recipes to try.
I have nearly two bookshelf rows filled with Christmas cookbooks and magazines, and looking through all these books every year takes a good bit of time. Then, after I’ve come up with 30 or 40 ideas, I need to narrow it down to the few I’ll use this year.
Sometimes the new recipe ends up replacing one that had been on the list for years. For example, I used to make a thumbprint-style cookie that was rolled in chopped pistachios before baking, then filled with a dab of jelly while still warm. They were good, but rather messy both for eating and storing. Then I found another pistachio cookie which I liked better, and it’s a lot less messy. Now this is the pistachio cookie (actually, one of two pistachio cookies) on my list of every-year favorites.
Orange Pistachio Butter Balls
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp. grated orange peel
1 cup finely chopped salted pistachios
2 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar
Mix butter and ½ cup powdered sugar at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed and add flour, orange peel, nuts and vanilla. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet, 1 inch apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes. Roll cookies in powdered sugar while still warm and again after being cooled. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Hint: I chop my pistachios in a food processor.
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