Nothing Says Christmas Like Gingersnaps...

Christmas is all about tradition at our house.  Despite having spent time living overseas for three years and in a few different homes...one thing always stays the same at Christmas...gingersnaps.  My kids won't have Christmas without them and this recipe is to-die-for when straight out of the oven....crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside.  This year, we were very late in putting up our tree...December 23rd to be exact...but the tree-trimming celebration still included hot chocolate and our yummy fresh gingersnaps...comfort in a cookie.

Gingersnaps

3 3/4 cps all purpose flour
3 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups butter at room temperature
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs well beaten
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
granulated sugar for rolling

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy.
Add eggs, beating until fluffy.  Add molasses, lime juice and vanilla.  Continue beating until well combined.  Gradually add the flour mixture, beating until just blended.
Divide the dough into two portion, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.  (The dough can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for a few days).
Preheat the oven to 350F  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball.  Roll the ball in the granulated sugar and place on the baking sheets.  Bake for 10 - 12 mins.  Transfer to a rack to cool.  These will keep in an airtight container for a few days...or freeze and take out as you need them.

The Annual Neighbourhood Gingerbread Build - This year...Harry Potter!

Each year my friend Dianne...lovely, brave, self-less Dianne....has a gingerbread party and invites a number of (ultra-competitive) women together to drink wine, eat yummy food and compete to see who can build the 'best' gingerbread house.  Well, there are no actual prizes...only self-proclaimed winners...but some incredible details that would blow your socks off.  Miniature lights, trees, skating rinks, Russian tea-house themes....you name it.  Each year these lovely women start drawing up blueprints around March and work, and re-work their masterpieces before coming in for the kill in December.  It's so much fun.  And lovely Dianne is the hostess above all hostesses....a beautiful lunch, ready-made gingerbread houses for everyone (you just have to bring your candy), icing tubes prepared, a beautiful smile and take home shortbread.  I LOVE being a guest, but it sounds like torture as a hostess!  Where's the fun in that?  She is obviously a better person than me...So cheers to Dianne and to my loveable neighbourhood competitors!

Sometimes it's the occasion over the recipe - Candy Apples for a brace-free smile

Sometimes, it is more about the occasion and the gesture than it is about the recipe.  FYI...that is huuuuge rationalization...but today I actually believe it!  Someone got her braces off today...over a year of no corn-on-the-cob, apples, chewy candy (or so the dentist said...), nuts or hard food...which makes this a perfect occasion for surprise candy apples!

I actually wanted to make caramel apples and roll them in an abundance of candy treats, but time was not on my side and the Bulk Barn only had a candy apple kit....some terrible sugary, red-dye concoction that is mixed with sugar and boiled to 150F....but it looks great and it's a tasty treat on a special occasion!

The (brace-free) smile, running hugs and secret photos for BBM were enough to make it all worthwhile.

Candy apples always take me back to the good ole days when Simpsons used to put on the Christmas windows.  I can play back those cold, snowy days, watching the magical windows light up with colourful animation and Christmas sparkle....and there would always be those lovely old men with their carts of popcorn, candy apples and roasting chestnuts waiting for us on the corner.  It wouldn't be the same without a candy apple and some hot chestnuts to complete the occasion.  What a warm and wonderful memory.

Although I don't have a recipe to share (it's on the back of the box)...I did take the liberty of rolling the warm candy apples in toffee bits and sprinkles.  A tip for next time....the toffee bits work the best and they taste better too!

Mixed Rice - "Maze Gohan"

This is a family favourite...my grandmother was famous for this recipe!  It took many years for me to actually finalize the recipe (it's still a work in progress), as it was 'in her head' and I needed to keep calling her every time I made it to tweak it here or there.  So this is a valuable commodity in our family and I hope this entry will help keep the tradition alive.  It travels well and feeds a crowd, so we usually make this in the summer for bbqs or picnics...but it would be equally good in the winter.  I made this last for our 'summer birthdays' pool party in July and it always meets with rave reviews and nostalgic thoughts...

Maze Gohan

2 boneless chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces - it's easier to do this if the meat is partially frozen)
2 grated carrots
One handful of green beans, cut on the diagonal
1 can of bamboo shoots (cut thin)
8 dried shiitake mushrooms (or fresh)
1 pkg kampyo (dried gourd...comes in long strips)
1/2 cup frozen green peas
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Japanese soya sauce (shoyu)

5 cups cooked rice
1.5 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vinegar (rice or white)
2 tbsp mirin
salt

Sesame seeds and/or eggs for garnish

Soak kampyo and shiitake (if using dried) in hot water for 1 hour.  Cut shiitake and kampyo small.
In a medium saucepan, boil water and add chicken for 5 mins.  Add vegetables, shiitake and kampyo.  Boil until vegetables are tender.  Mix equal parts shoyu and sugar and add to vegetable mixture.  Let marinate for at least 10 mins.  Drain and squeeze.
Mix sugar, vinegar and mirin together in a measuring cup and add to rice.  Let marinate for 15 mins.  Mix in vegetable mixture (cut, do not stir...).  Cook peas in accordance with package directions and add to rice.  Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with black sesame seeds or eggs.

Egg garnish - beat 2 - 3 egs with a bit of salt.  Pour thinly into a teflon pan.  Roll and slice thin (long strips).

Cherry Vanilla Cake with Pink Dream Icing

It's a double whammy today...Easter dinner with the family and a celebration of two lovely young girls' birthdays...So what could be more appropriate than vanilla cake with maraschino cherry bits and a fluffy pink icing with pastel Mini Eggs?
When K was just three, she had a book called 'EAT YOUR DINNER, BA'...where a stubborn little bear had trouble eating his dinner...until his Dad pulled out dessert - 'a honey cake with pretty pink icing and cherries on top'....suddenly his appetite came back!  K loved that book and was so taken with the cake image that she requested this cake for her 3rd birthday.  I made one similar, but this is the grown up version...with the cherries in the cake!  So twelve years later, we re-create a favourite!  Happy Birthday to my lovely, sweet niece and my baby girl....

Cherry Vanilla Cake
(adapted from Chatelaine)

3 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs (room temp)
4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 - 375 ml jar maraschino cherries, drained well, dried with paper towel and chopped (save some of the juice for tinting the icing)

Preheat oven to 350F

Spray 2 round 9 inch cake pans with oil and line with parchment circles.  Spray circles.  Stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat 1 cup of butter in a large bowl, using an electric mixer beat until creamy, about 1 min.  Gradually beat in sugar, then eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, scraping down sides of bowl, if needed.  Repeat, ending with flour mixture, beating just until blended.  Stir in cherries.  Divide batter between pans and bake in centre of oven for 25 - 30 mins or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool in pans 15 mins, then remove cakes to wire rack and cool completely.

Fluffy Icing 

This is an excellent icing.  Beautiful to show and easy to make.  It makes a glossy white frosting, which can easily be tinted with a bit of food colouring, or in this case some of the juice from the maraschino cherries.  

1 cup white corn syrup
2 egg whites, room temp
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla

In a small saucepan, bring corn syrup to a rolling boil.  Meanwhile beat egg whites and cream of tartar to stiff moist peaks.  Beating constantly at high speed on electric mixer, gradually add the hot syrup in a thin stream.  Continue beating until frosting hold stiff shiny peaks.  Beat in vanilla and/or food colouring.  Makes enough to frost an 8 - 9 inch layer cake.  Decorate as you see fit!