Christmas Market Magic and Kugelhopf

When your child becomes an ex-pat in another country, f you're very lucky, your child will take you on adventures that you might have missed along the way.

The fairy-tale lover in me has always wanted to experience the Christmas markets in Germany. The nooks and crannies, the nearby gnarled woods, the light in the dark and the magical occurrences that all seem possible this time of year. 

And it happened.

Strasbourg: On the border with Germany, it is the oldest Christmas Market in Europe. Originally called the Saint Nicholas Market, it was renamed when a Reformation preacher took umbrage of having a Christmas Market named for an outlawed patron Saint. (Heavens to Betsy!)

Chandeliers in Baccarat crystal guide you to the Place de la Cathedrale, where the main market is. It's all flight and fancy. It's hard to make it to the main market, because you have to stop at every window. Every. Single One.

The Charcuterie knows what they are about.

Outside the Cathedral, there is the usual array of ornaments (yes, I bought some), cookies (yes, we ate some), nuts, Gluhwein (yes, we drank some) and artisan gifts crafted from wood and stone.

And then there is this tree. The story behind the magic is here.

After Strasbourg, we went to Matthew's "home" town of Quedlinburg. It's where I first fell in love with the Moravian star also knows as the "Herrnhuter." It's origins come from Saxony (where Quedlinburg is located). Of course, it also has a story. Find it here.

I love the smaller towns and their personalities. While Strasbourg is adorned with crystal, Quedlinburg is all about the nearby forests and Harz mountains. Timber and greens are everywhere.

You will not leave hungry.

You will be filled with music.

We took a side trip to Wernigerode near the Harz mountains. We climbed up (and up and up and up) to the castle on top of the town. It was a hike. But then there are the rewards:

The market was just getting going.

And there was Gluhwein to keep you warm.

We went to the Advent Fair in Quedlinburg. Every alley, every small park, every groove called to you with warm lights, hearty meats, wine, beer, and hand-crafted items.

Magical.

As is my way, I relive this memories with food because as much as I love the travel, I am also more than 50% "There's No Place Like Home." Home incorporates where you've been and who you are now.

German food has a lot in common with Minnesota. It's hearty for the winter. It's yeasty and earthy and is fond of calories. The Kugelhopf many have originated in Vienna, but Alsace upped their game and it is one of the most traditional Christmas foods in the region. They use a Kugelhopf pan (I used a Bundt). It's easy to make even if you're afraid of yeast (I murder yeast). I did the minimum cooking time and they were darker than I wanted. But live and learn and live to bake again.

Ingredients (from Epicurious) - 8-10 servings

• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (less than 1 envelope)
• 2 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups golden raisins (In Alsace, they marinate the raisins in kirsch)
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange or lemon zest
• About 20 whole blanched almonds (1/2 ounces) (I didn't use, didn't work with mini-bundt pan)
• 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Preparation

1. 1. Stir together yeast and water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast. (Ha! I did that!)
   2. Heat milk with 6 tablespoons butter and granulated sugar over low heat, stirring, until mixture is warm (105 to 115°F), butter is melted, and sugar is dissolved.
   3. Sift together flour and salt into bowl of standing mixer. Make a well in flour and add yeast mixture. Add warm milk in a slow stream, mixing at low speed with paddle attachment. Increase speed to medium and beat in eggs 1 at a time, then beat in raisins and zest. Continue to beat until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.)
   4. Butter kugelhopf mold with remaining tablespoon butter. (I use Pam) Put 1 almond in each depression in bottom of mold (the almonds are only decorative; you can skip them altogether if your mold has no depressions), then scrape spoonfuls of dough evenly into mold (dough will be very elastic). Cover top of mold with oiled plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place until it fills pan, about 2 hours.
   5. Preheat oven to 400°F.
   6. Remove towel from kugelhopf and gently peel off plastic wrap. Bake kugelhopf in middle of oven 15 minutes, then loosely cover mold with foil and continue to bake until golden and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes more. (20 minutes was too long for my oven. I would check at fifteen minutes even if you use a light-colored pan). Cool in pan 2 minutes, then invert cake onto a rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. Dust with confectioners sugar.

Cooks' note:

· Kugelhopf is best eaten the same day it's made; however, leftovers are delicious toasted.
· Use a light-colored metal pan. Because they retain more heat, dark metal pans, including nonstick, will likely make your baked goods darker and decrease the cooking times.

Wishing you holiday enchantment and wonders and goodness in 2019.

A Traditional Christmas: Citrus Cookies and Ricotta Cookies

"Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang "Cherry Ripe," and another uncle sang "Drake's Drum." It was very warm in the little house. Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, and then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird's Nest; and then everybody laughed again; and then I went to bed. 

Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept." - Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas is Wales

There's comfort for me in the phrase "Always on Christmas night..." After a ridiculous number of courses (plus some scotch or whiskey, wine and cognac), my Italian and Uncles would indeed start singing around the "adult" table while my cousins and I (at the cousins table) watched in horror. I am so glad for those days.

My husband had oyster stew ever Christmas Eve in honor of his father who was born on Christmas Eve. When my father-in-law's first grandchildren appeared, he was Santa for over a quarter of the century every Christmas Eve. Every grandchild sat on his knee. Even when the knee was giving way. I'm grateful for those days, also.

My son waited for Santa by the door and would fly into his arms. I'm very grateful for those days. And grateful that the uncles have kept the tradition for my grand-nieces and nephews (two new grand-nieces arrived this year). Grateful.

This year, I have found comfort and strength in looking back to go forward. My baking is a combination of traditional American cookies and the old Italian ones. I have shared the Italian ones before but I am revisiting them for memory brings comfort. Christmas Past, Present and Future coexist is my kitchen. Funny what a cookie can do.

Citrus Cookies (my son-in-law's favorite)

And ricotta cookies (my favorite and judging by the fact I need to make them a few times during the holiday season - it's a favorite of others).

Citrus Cookies (makes about 24)

3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter - softened and cut into pieces 

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

zest of 1/2 orange

juice of 1/2 orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 baking pans. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add the zest and juice and briefly mix. Add the flour in 3 additions and mix well. If dough is too sticky, refrigerate for an hour.

Pinch off a two-inch piece of dough. Form into a ball and then a log - about 8 inches long and  form into a lose knot or simply cross the ends. Space them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes (just until the edges look like they are browning). Can cool in pan. But I cool on a wire rack after a few minutes. 

Ricotta Cookies (makes about 30)

Ricotta Cookie Ingredients - about 30 cookies

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Ricotta Cookie Glaze (optional)

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-4 teaspoons milk

Ricotta Cookie Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set aside baking sheets. No greasing required. 
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. 
3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the zest and sugar. I add the zest for a brighter flavor - the cookies will not be lemony. 
4. Add the butter in chunks and the ricotta cheese and beat till smooth. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat till combined. Slowly add the flour mixture. Beat until all is combined. Dough will be soft and a bit sticky. 
5. Form into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. 
6. Bake for fifteen minutes - until bottoms are browned but cookies are not. If desired, glaze immediately while warm and cover with sprinkles (immediately - the glaze dries quickly) or just use the glaze. Cool and serve.

Glaze:
Combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk in saucepan. Stir over medium heat till the mixtures turns liquidy and into a glaze. Brush tops of ricotta cookies as soon as they come out of the oven and cover with sprinkles. 
These are not an overly sweet cookies, so if you like your cookies sweet, the glaze is a good idea. If you like a not-so-sugary cookie, simply cool.
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Quedlinburg: Where we visited Matthew in September and this week - Matthew comes home for Christmas. Grateful.

We visited the castle and he visited the Christmas Markets. There's at least one more trip to that medieval city in my future. Grateful.

Pino (mostly) stays under the tree these days. The bottom third of the tree remains undecorated.

And he still rings the bell every day. Many angels have gotten their wings.

Wishing you bell ringers and cookies in 2017. Say some words to the close and holy darkness before the New Year. Wish the world well.

Buon Natale

I couldn't let it pass and the day's not over. My sister and I created some of the traditional foods of our childhood Christmas. Waves of Christmastide have swept over us all day. The days of the 14 courses and ten-hour Christmas meals. If we're lucky, there's love in our live. Furry, human, nature, spiritual, angelic....

We hold on to some of the old and embrace the new - because life evolves. Traditions are both maintained and newly created. I hope this frazzled season brings you peace, merriment and joy. (And maybe some lasagne and a cannoli.)

Merry Christmas!
Later,
Claudia

Of Cauliflower Soup and the Innocence of Tea Lite Globes

It all started innocently enough.

I brought home four tea-lite globes to place by everyone's supper plate in the dark December eves. I had the best of intentions - wishing to bring holiday cheer to the table.Then, Kirsten brought me two more bird globes from the Sprawl. They're sweet little baubles. Innocent Christmas tchotchkes. Or so I thought. They light up, turn different colors, shower glittery snow and cast spells.

Shortly after that, my family started watching the globes. Forgetting to eat. And cheering when the globes were "in synch" (all displaying the same color at the same time). Harmless, right?

This developed into everyone grabbing the globes at some inopportune time (when I was eating) and we all had to turn them on at the count of "three" to synchronize their colors. (They never did stay in synch.) Then, they had the nerve to accuse me of always having a snow globe changing color one beat after all the others.

Then... my husband started displaying unusual behavior. He started going to the dinner table early and corralling all the little globes around his plate. He shook them until the glittery light threw sparkles that danced on his plate and announced that clearly he was the most celebratory one in the family.  The gauntlet was thrown down. The competition began.

By Christmas morning, the innocent little globes were being used as pawns as they were stolen to circle one plate and then another. If you reached across the table to grab a pat of butter - Boom! - your snow globe was stolen. And placed in a spoon, on the butter, hobbling precariously on a bottle or just selfishly hoarded.

Later they morphed into puppets on a set. Adorning the Gingerbread House....

Or lining up to get inside the house.

The tea-lite-globes at my mother's home were greeted with joy. My poor mother and sister had no idea what mischief could ensue at the dinner table. Soon the tea-globes were perched on spoons.

And were part of a Coat of Arms display.

And of course graced a dessert tray.

And when 3-year-old Adam patiently explained to me that Santa might not make it to my home on Christmas Eve - because we were all grown-ups - I was sure that Santa knew better.

Unfortunately, making mischief with tea-lite-snow-globes does not burn a lot of calories. And so we are in Day 2 of Christmas Recovery. I saw this on the Food 52 Digest website. It reminded me of one of the endless variations of of the Italian Aquacotta (cooked water) without the eggs. It is basically a "cooked vegetable in water" soup - perfect for the calm before the next holiday storm that is on its way Saturday night. I jazzed it up with shallots and garlic - but it does have a purity that entices during the Season of Indulgence.

Paul Bertolli's Cauliflower Soup (Serves 8 - but really 4 in my house)

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil (I added a tablespoon of Earth Balance Butter but it's vegan without it)
1 medium onion - thinly sliced (I added 1 large shallot and 1 garlic clove also thinly sliced)
1 head cauliflower - about 1-1/2 pounds - coarsely chopped
salt to taste 5-1/2 cups water - divided
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
freshly grated pepper to taste (note: Julia Child would only use white pepper in this!)

Over low heat, warm the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. Sweat the onions (and shallots) in it for fifteen minutes. Don't let them brown. If using, add the garlic during the last minute.

Add the cauliflower, salt to taste and 1/2 cup water. Raise the heat slightly, cover and cook for about 15 minutes - until tender. Then add 4-1/2 cups water, bring to a simmer and cook an additional 20 minutes uncovered.

Working in batches puree the soup in a blender. (I used an immersion blender - saves time and clean-up). Let stand for 20 minutes. It will thicken a bit.

Thin the soup with last 1/2 cup of hot water. (Adjust the amount of water to your liking.) Reheat.

To serve: ladle soup into bowls and drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over it. Add a little pepper and enjoy.

It's as white as the new-fallen snow that we don't have... yet. (Do you hear me chortling with joy?) And watch out, I will be visiting all of you for the New Year wishing you all good things.... but if you have a mini-tea-lite-snow-globe, the unexpected just may happen.

The 12 Days of an Italian Foodie Christmas

The 12 Days of an Italian Foodie Christmas

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
12 scampis scampering
11 scungillis congealing
10 olives oiling
9 rapinis rapping
8 pignolis pining
7 feasts of fishes
6 yeasts-a-proofing
5 golden figs
4 squalling squids
3 frenched hens
2 curdled doves
and Mario Batali in a pine tree.

Merry Christmas, friends! May your days be merry and bright!

Claudia