As they sit down to breakfast around the new table that morning, Joan wonders if she will always remember the laughter and warmth and heart of this day. She wonders if she’ll remember the look in John’s eyes as he reaches for her hand to squeeze it during grace or if she’ll recollect her mom and dad’s voices or the squeals of delight from Gigi and Christopher as they marvel in the wonder of the day. She wonders if she’ll recount her gratefulness or feel more love for her family than she does on this day, and the answer is yes, she will. She most definitely will.
A Christmas Table Full of Recipes
There isn’t room for all of them, but these are some of the recipes that Joan, Lauren, or Alice made, plus longtime family favorites of ours that I pull out during the Christmas season. I use Einkorn all-purpose flour for the baked goods here but your favorite all-purpose will do and I always reduce the sugar at least by half, but experiment according to your taste. That is part of the joy of cooking! Merry Christmas!
AUNT DEEDEE’S PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE
This recipe was given to us by my husband’s great-aunt Dee-Dee Macdonald. It’s sweet … so sweet it might set your teeth on edge, but you can’t stop at one piece, and it is Christmas, after all!
2 cups sugar
⅔ cup milk
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Put the sugar and the milk in a saucepan and cook to soft ball. Take off heat and add the Marshmallow Fluff, the peanut butter, and the vanilla. Stir. Spread the mixture into a 9 x 11 baking dish. Let cool. Cut into pieces to serve.
CHOCOLATE CHIP CHEESEBALL
This is not the typical cheeseball. It’s great to take to gatherings or to serve if you’re hosting a Christmas party.
1¼ cups roasted, chopped pecans
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1½ cups mini chocolate chips
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Roast whole pecans on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven for ten to twelve minutes. Chop the pecans and set aside. Mix together the cream cheese, the chocolate chips, the powdered sugar, and the cinnamon and form the mixture into a ball. Press the pecans around the entire ball. Chill for several hours. Serve with gingersnaps. So yummy!
SHORTBREAD COOKIES
These are the best shortbread cookies I’ve ever made, and they have only four ingredients. My friend Val Clemente gave me this recipe, and I always quadruple it for my family because the cookies store very well. I can’t tell you how long they keep, though, because we eat them too fast!
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup butter, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Mix all the ingredients together and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about a quarter inch thick. Cut out cookies with a two-inch cutter and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies in the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes or until they are brown around the edges. Will yield approximately one dozen cookies.
TRUFFLE COOKIES
My mom had a friend who used to say about what she was eating, “This will make you want to smack your mama!” Well, these cookies are so tender they’ll make you want to smack your mama! But I don’t recommend that. Be kind to your mama.
4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
⅓ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt the unsweetened chocolate, one cup of the chocolate chips, and the butter in a double boiler or in the microwave. Let the mixture cool ten minutes.
Beat the sugar and the eggs for two minutes in a mixing bowl. Beat in the vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt and then beat into the chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining chocolate chips. Cover the mixture and chill it for an hour or so.
Once it has chilled, roll the dough into one-inch balls (you may need to lightly flour your hands) and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake the cookies for nine to twelve minutes or until they are lightly puffed. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Once they have completely cooled, sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Will yield about three dozen cookies.
THREE-CHEESE EGG CASSEROLE
Guests rave about this casserole every time I make it because it’s tender and delicious. For ease, it can be prepared in advance and refrigerated overnight.
7 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup Monterey Jack or Gruyère cheese, shredded
1 to 3 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
7 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat together the eggs, milk, and sugar. Add all three cheeses and melted butter and mix well. Mix in the flour and the baking powder. Pour the mixture into a greased three-quart casserole dish.
Bake forty to forty-five minutes or until the casserole is firm and lightly brown on top. If baking directly from the refrigerator it will take closer to an hour to cook through.
PUMPKIN RICOTTA PANCAKES
This is a nice, heavy pancake with the flavors of fall. You can easily add ground flax for additional nutrients. Unlike some pancakes, these stick with you!
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil, melted
1 large egg
½ cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
½ to ⅔ cup milk (you may need more or less, depending on how thick your batter is)
White chocolate chips (optional)
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and sugar in one bowl. In a separate, larger bowl whisk together the oil, the egg, the ricotta cheese, and the canned pumpkin. Pour half of the dry
