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.

The Sparkle and the Real

I know it's the season of "fa la la la" but I've been craving real food. Real food is pasta with maybe a meat and some vegetables. It goes into one pot. I'm sated. It's easy. Spicy Italian chicken sausages for heat, greens for reality and pasta for pleasure.

I managed a little bit of sparkle with my first batch of cookies (and so far my only batch of cookies - and yes, they're gone). They're Citrus Italian Knot cookies - just a tad sweet. Puffy and melting in your mouth. Cookies don't always need to go crunch. A touch of sparkle and a lot of pliable - and easy.

My sister and I (mostly my sister) sold a home, emptied a house and my last drive home from the townhome was filled with glimpses of 26 years of baptisms, birthdays, holidays and I was able to give Thanksgiving. For all those years.

Because we did not have enough to do, we brought this into our home.

He was found in the woods - Mom and Dad were feral and he is not. I think. I hope. Say hello to Luce. Which is what we call him when he is adorable and sweet. When he wakes up from a nap his whiskers are askew and his fur sticks up and we call him Einstein.

When he is pouncing on my head and jumping into the soup (gives a new meaning to "Beautiful Soup"), he is called Binky-Boy.

Pippin is not thrilled. (In case you were wondering, not every pampered house cat wants a new friend.) Four days after his arrival, Paul and I left for Iowa for a production of By Candlelight at Bettendorf High School. I got to be a visiting playwright for four days and Kirsten got to stay home and referee Pippin and Luce. After four days, Kirsten declared she couldn't possibly be a "crazy cat lady" (as was previously feared) because it was too exhausting.

I came home grateful for having time with teens and theatre (it's coming home for me).

During the candlelight vigil, "I Think it's Going to Rain Today" was played in the background. And after the final scene, the names of all those "lost" in 9/11 were scrolled on screens as Leonard Cohen sang "Hallelujah." The cast walked on. Nobody applauded. You could hear a pin drop. And the cast learned that sometimes silence is better than applause. It was "the Real."

Back home with very mad Pippin and the little Tazmanian Devil, Feliway became my best friend. It says it calms cats.

And on alternate Sundays it does. And when it doesn't - there's always pasta. It's not really a recipe if you're Italian - you throw these things together all the time - but it is always real. Stable. Substantial.

PASTA AND ACCESSORIES: Chicken Sausage, Bow-Ties and Spinach - serves 4-6 (in my home - 4)
little bit of olive oil
little bit of garlic and shallots or onions or all
1 pound spicy chicken sausage - cut into 1/2"-1" rounds
1/4-1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
8 cups spinach or Kale or Swiss Chard
1 pound bow-ties or favorite pasta (rotini would hug the accessories)
Save some pasta water
Herbs - your choice

Cook pasta according to directions. (Boom! Done!)
Heat olive oil and quickly saute your aromatics (garlic, shallots, onion) until soft. Add chicken sausage and and brown on both sides. Add broth or wine and stir to remove brown bits. Add spinach and stir till wilted.
Drain pasta saving a little pasta water. Add pasta to large skillet. Throw in fresh herbs at the end of cooking (parsley, basil, thyme) or dried Italian herbs at the beginning with the sausage. If dry, moisten with pasta water. Serve.

I've never been a fan of chicken sausage. Gold 'n Plump sent me a huge package in the spring - all natural, locally grown, family farms and I agreed to try them. I've always loved turkey sausage (although as I write this, I hear a specific Italian blogger largely singing "nooooo" in the distance) but chicken sausages have eluded me. They have improved in the last ten years (the last time I tried one). I will be writing more about this - which will be my last "gifted" blog. I was surprised and enamored by the chicken sausage - not greasy - but not pasty and tough and bland as the previous ones I had. Do you know you're not eating pork? Absolutely. Do you care? No. (I still hear a certain someone crying "noooo" in the wilderness.)

And because 'tis the season, I did want a touch of sparkle. I love these because they are not sweet (hence the sugar-sparkle). And the touch of citrus is welcome in winter. Find them here. Because there are times you want sparkle. Without being blinded by it.

First snow. It's December. It's Minnesota. It's real.

Twinkle lights because everyone needs a little sparkle. It helps with what's real.

Pignoli Cookies, Citrus Cookies and Italian Knot Cookies

An Italian Cookie Christmas... Pine nuts, almond paste and citrus make these 3 cookies very Sicilian. The ingredients are so sunny and bright with flavor, they shake up winter.

Pignoli Cookie


I did consider doing a post using grapefruit, cottage cheese and raw carrots. It is possible that your eyes may glaze over if you see one more preparation that includes "cream butter and sugar and add eggs mixing well." But 'tis the season of sweets and during the holidays Italians pull out all the stops. If we're putting together a Cassata, we're contemplating the wisdom of adding panforte to our to-do list. Then there's Ciao Chow Linda's boozy Baba Au Rhum or Proud Italian Cook's Limoncello Tiramsu or What's Cookin' Italian Style's Lemon Polenta Biscotti. You see the dilemma - Italians typically only do sweets on special occasions. But when they do - they do it right. I'm surprised there isn't a Feast of the Seven Dolci!

Even if you're "cookied-out," note these sweets for 2012. The pignoli cookies are classic - delicate almond-flavored puffs studded with pine nuts. The Italian knot cookies are soft, pliable, citrus billows often seen at weddings. And the "S" cookies made with olive oil instead of butter pair very well with Prosecco! Which is my best ringing endorsement for that Sicilian cookie.

Pignoli Cookies (from Tastes of Italia)
For fun: You might also want to try Mister Meatball's "Best Pignoli Cookie"
(makes 30 1-inch cookies)
1 8-ounce jar of almond paste (do not use almond paste that come in tubes - it has a different consistency)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
3 egg whites (keep 1 egg white separate)
1 cup pignoli (pine) nuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease baking sheet very well (even better, grease both sides of parchment paper and put it on baking sheet. These cookies bake better if there are no edges on your baking sheet. Cream your almond paste and granulated sugar. Add the confectioners sugar and 2 egg whites and beat until smooth. The dough will be wet and sticky. You can refrigerate to make it a bit easier to work with - I grease my hands. In a small bowl, beat the last egg white. Pour pignoli nuts in another bowl. Grease your hands and pinch off 1 inch of dough (can pinch off larger for fewer cookies). Roll into a lumpy ball and then roll in beaten egg white and then in the pignoli nuts. Place on cookie sheet - two inches apart. They will spread!

For the small 1-inch balls - bake about 12-15 minutes. Larger ones may need a few more minutes. Watch carefully that they do not brown. This are not a crispy cookie - they should be soft and chewy. Cool on wire rack. These are the fussiest of the recipes. But if you sit down and have them with a cup of coffee or an amaretto, they truly are a taste of Italy.

"S" Cookies - 24 cookies
Leave these plain, add sprinkles or brush with a citrus icing (1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 2-4 tablespoons of milk, 1/8 teaspoon orange extract)

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon orange extract
3/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your cooking sheets. In a medium bowl, sift (I don't sift) your flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat your olive oil and sugar until a bit fluffy. Add your eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add your extracts and beat for 45-60 seconds. Add in your flour - about 1/4 at a time and mix well after each addition.

Guess what? The dough will be sticky! Flour your hands and pinch off about an inch. Form into a ball, then a log and then turn your log into an "S." Put on cookie sheet. Repeat - placing your S-dough 2-3 inches apart. If using sprinkles, sprinkle now! Bake for 8-10 minutes. (You also don't want these to brown.) Cool for 1 minute in pan and then transfer to wire rack. If using, brush with icing. Let cool completely and store in airtight containers. These do keep well - at least a week - but they never last longer than 48 hours here (and I hide them!).

Italian Knot Cookies (makes 24) (I think at this point the camera lens was smudged with dough)

The orange scent while baking is a walk is a heavenly bonus. As with the "S" cookies - simply sprinkle with sugar before baking or add confectioner's icing after baking. Or leave plain and have them for breakfast. 

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 (or in my case - blobs)

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 (mine wasn't).

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. 

And an oldie-but-goodie from last year - Ricotta Cookies - creamy, snowy-sweet. Find them here.

And Orange Whiskey Cookies. Also find them here.

If you're in the kitchen a lot consider listening to Holiday Spectacular form This American Life. (It came to me from Brian Ferry's blog The Blue Hour and if you don't know it - you should.) Your baking time will fly by and I am sure everything I baked tasted better because the cookie dough also listened to the stories.

I will be stopping by all of you to wish you soft lights in the solstice, Buon Natale, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah and for the politically-correct among us, you may like the University of Minnesota's mandatory greeting "Happy Winter Celebration." 

May soft hugs, almonds, citrus, and treats be yours during this season of sweets. (And what's an extra 2 pounds among friends?)