snow, a tree and cookies

Saturday was a wierd day. I woke with a hurting heart, aching for those families in CT and those lost children. I hugged my 1st grader tight, grateful that my own was safe, wishing that everyone's little ones could be safe as well. We went on with our day - first up was soccer. In the cold and wet and wind, the numbers were down but the boys were as enthusiastic as ever. Luckily for them (and for us) this week's snack parents appeared with hot chocolate and donuts for everyone - a wonderful treat for frozen and damp boys and parents.

When we got home I got to work making Almond Cookies and the boy (with a bit of help from his dad) got down to the serious work of decorating our tree. A couple of hours later the house was filled with the aroma of baked cookies, butter and almonds and the twinkling lights of a decorated tree. It didn't cure my aching heart or stay my tears (as my cousin wrote - do they know we are crying with them?) it did feel a tiny bit better in our house.

Almond Cookies
1 c soft butter
1 c sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp almond extract
2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c ground almonds (do this in your food processor)

Preheat the oven to 300 deg F.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and almond extract and beat until incorporated.
Add the flour, salt and ground almonds and mix until all is blended in. Scoop dough in approximately 1 teaspoon scoops of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, flattening the dough with the bottom of a drinking glass.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are very lightly browned. Lift the cookies off the sheets and let cool on a rack. The cookies will keep in an airtight tin for a couple of weeks. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Note: ground almonds with the skins on with give the cookies brown flecks as pictured above. Ground almonds without skins will give a more uniformly coloured cookie. Both ways taste delicious.

learning to give

It's a busy time for our almost 6 year old. There are parties and concerts and cookies and visits to a jolly elf. Today was a chock a block day for our boy. We had notices home yesterday about all the goings on and what would be required so we sent our lad off today with money in hand, dressed in pajamas, clutching a carry bag and his hot chocolate mug. For today was Santa's workshop at his school. I didn't really understand the concept until today - a few weeks ago we were asked to donate things that could be used as gifts, with the proviso that you wouldn't mind getting it back yourself as a gift. And if you had extra, please to donate wrapping paper, tape, ribbon, etc. It is a fundraiser for the school's sister school, for books and teachers, etc. The children go to Santa's workshop, where items are laid out in tables - gifts for Mom, gifts for Dad and gifts for brothers and sisters, old and young. The children each buy an item for mom and dad and any siblings for the price of $2 per item. The process starts with the K classes and they are helped with the wrapping of the gifts by their school buddies (Grade 6/7 students who are with them all year for concerts and special events). Afterwards they got to exchange handmade cards with their buddies and have hot chocolate and treats with them (hence the need for the mug). The pajamas were just as it was deemed to be Pajama Day at school.

After swimming, we picked up our boy and his presents for us, all wrapped.

My man's was a huge bag and barely 15 seconds after our boy was with his Dad he told him, "I got you a pirate ship". Getting into the car, holding a birdhouse shaped package, our boy told me "I got you a house for small animals, Mummy." Once we arrived home, our boy wanted us to open our gifts. We tried to talk him out of it, to save them for Christmas but it was fruitless. So my husband went first. Based on the size of the bag and the "pirate ship" description we both thought it was going to be some kind of toy pirate ship. But it wasn't. It was a model of the HMS Endeavour, complete with stand, rigging, anchor, etc. Wow.

My present, not surprisingly, is a birdhouse. Rustic but perfect for our garden.

He did well, our boy. And he loved choosing gifts for us and having us open them. Now, if we can just get him to wait until Christmas.

handmade Christmas

This year, apart from T and D, almost everyone else on my list got handmade presents. Most were made by my hands and some came from craft fairs (soap, candles) or specialty shops (tea, chocolate). Kata Golda's Felt book was a huge inspiration to me. A couple of people got a set of pot holders,

some got mug cozies and those who wear reading glasses got glasses cases.

T's teachers and others got boxes or bags of cookies, fudge, and peppermint bark. And yesterday I gave away 2 loaves of Dana's holiday bread. Once was apricot almond and the other was cranberry pistachio. They looked gorgeous and smelt delicious when baking, D swore I had picked them up at a bakery despite having seen me mixing and rolling the dough both nights and the whole house smelling of baking bread!

I made a mistake with the first loaf by not reading the instructions properly and skipped over the part about adding hot water. So after 90 minutes of rising time, the dough hadn't really budged. I parked it next to the heating vent and waited another 30 minutes. Then I reread the recipe and realized my error. So I punched down the dough (it wasn't very risen) and shaped it and put it into a warm oven and prayed. It rose enough for me to bake it and still look like bread. (I added cranberries as per the recipe but subbed pistachios for the walnuts). The following evening I made a second loaf, following the instructions this time and the dough rose. I subbed apricots for the cranberries and almonds for the walnuts. I hope they are as delicious tasting as they looked.

rolling out the bottom of the loaf

finished loaf