The Christmas Table

ingredients into the wet mixture and whisk. Add a half cup of milk and stir, then add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir to combine. If the batter is really thick, add a little more milk till it reaches the desired consistency. If the batter is thick the pancakes will be thick; a thinner batter will produce a thinner pancake. Spoon the batter onto a lightly buttered griddle set on medium heat. If desired, add a few white chocolate chips on top of each. When several bubbles appear on the top of the pancake, flip it to the other side to continue cooking. Serve with warm maple syrup. Feeds five hungry eaters or six polite ones.

CINNAMON BREAD

We tried a loaf of cinnamon bread at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, once and have been hooked ever since. It is a buttery, sugary confection that truly is for a special occasion like Christmas breakfast. I make dough for dinner rolls and use that dough in this recipe, but if you don’t have homemade yeast dough on hand, it may be easier to buy frozen bread dough. Either way, it’s delicious! I don’t know if this is Dollywood’s exact recipe, but it’s pretty darn close!

BREAD

1-pound loaf of frozen bread dough

½ cup sugar

1½ tablespoons cinnamon

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup of roasted pecans broken into pieces (optional)

GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ tablespoon milk or orange juice (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Coat two 8½-inch loaf pans with vegetable oil or butter. Combine the cinnamon and sugar on a plate or a baking mat and set aside. Cut the bread dough lengthwise into two pieces and then make four crosswise slits across the top of each. Don’t cut all the way through, but do cut deep enough for the cinnamon sugar to get pretty far down. Brush both loaves with butter, making sure you get deep into the cuts. Roll each loaf in the sugar mixture and pat it into the creases. If desired, cover each loaf with a half cup of roasted pecan pieces. Put each loaf in a bread pan and cover with a dish towel. Set it in a warm place to rise for thirty minutes. Bake the bread for thirty-five minutes or until it’s nice and golden on the top, turning the pans once in the middle of the baking time. Remove the bread from the pans.

To make the glaze, mix the first three ingredients until smooth. Add the milk or orange juice if needed. Since not everyone may like glaze, each person can drizzle the glaze over the top of their piece, but if you know that everybody likes it, drizzle away while the loaves are nice and warm! These are best eaten on the same day. Makes two loaves.

TOFFEE POPCORN WITH CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

This is yummy for family movie night. Unfortunately, it’s hard to stop eating!

32 cups plain popped popcorn (approximately 1 cup of popcorn kernels will yield 32 cups of popped popcorn)

2½ cups brown sugar

1½ cups butter

½ cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Coarse-grain sea salt (optional)

Preheat the oven to 225°F. Pop the popcorn and remove any unpopped kernels. Put the popcorn into a large roasting pan and set aside. (If you have a roasting pan that can fit a turkey, it will have room to spare for 32 cups of popcorn. If you have a small roasting pan, you may need to use an additional 9 × 13 pan.) Combine the brown sugar, the butter, the corn syrup, and the salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat and stir occasionally for eight to ten minutes or until the mixture comes to a full boil. Continue cooking for five minutes more. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the popcorn in the roasting pan and stir until well coated. Bake one hour, stirring every fifteen minutes, or until there is a crispy coating on the popcorn. Spread out the popcorn on parchment paper and cool. Microwave the bittersweet chocolate chips, stirring every thirty seconds until they have melted. Drizzle over the cooled popcorn. If desired, sprinkle with coarse-grain sea salt. Let stand until drizzle is firm. Store leftovers in an airtight container. Makes two gallons of toffee corn.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Troy, Gracie, Kate, and David, who are always up for me trying new recipes, and to Jen Enderlin and everyone at St. Martin’s who continue to believe in the power of story, especially at Christmas. And many thanks to my mom, Alice Payne, who passed on the love for a good recipe and taught me how to cook.

Dear Sam’s Club Friend,

Merry Christmas! I am so honored that you are taking time out of your busy holiday season to enjoy The Christmas Table. The story is a labor of love for me because I love what Christmas means, and I love to cook! I wanted to write a story that would encourage us to think about our own family table and the people around it. I hoped to encourage us to remember the ones whose places are empty at the table and to cherish the memories that have been forged through years of family meals together.

Around that table food is shared, dreams are planned, wounds are mended, arguments are fought, and laughs take our breath away, and no matter our age, that’s what we want going forward—what happens around that table. For many, home is four-letter word—an unthinkable place filled with inescapable memories. But even then, we are homesick for a place where we are loved and accepted, warts and all, and there is a waiting chair for us at the kitchen table. Especially at Christmas.

Food reminds us of home. Especially at Christmas. Many times, the smell can take us hundreds of miles and several decades back to home. It’s amazing how a simple whiff can take