My mom made divinity every Christmas, along with fudge and peanut brittle. I was never a big fan of the divinity. I have no idea how to make it, or even what’s in it, but I also associate it with the South.
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Dad has taken on mum’s former Christmas baking tasks, so mostly eating parental shortbread.
As mum did, he makes both traditional flat ones and these super-light piped ones that are like buttery clouds. But in the spirit of creating new traditions, he’s been flavouring the traditional ones with either orange oil, cardamom or maple essence. All amazing.
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Linzers would be delicious! Let me know how they turn out…
Those sound amazing!
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I hadn’t heard of Spritz cookies, but judging by the recipes online they’re very similar if not exactly the same. I grew up thinking of them as “grandma’s shortbread” - it was my great-grandmother who first made them.
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My dad’s mother was German (born in the U.S., but spoke German at home) and he used to talk about the Spritz cookies she made at Christmas.
He also would talk about the little dog she had—a German Spitz breed.
Guess what small-child-me thought the cookies were called, for the longest time?
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spetzl, spritz or spitz,
just don’t do them in the sitz.
schnitzel, snausage, schnauzers, too…
if it barks, it bites you!
ETA: apologies to Ogden Nash. my doggerel verse just wanted to play!
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Now I’m thirsty…
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I will. I’ve made them before, but I want to get a different rolling pin. I had trouble controlling the thickness of the cookie dough. If anyone has a recommendation, I’d appreciate it. I also want to make my mom’s fudge. I’ll have to ask her for the recipe. All I remember is that it involved unsweetened chocolate, sugar, and marshmallow creme. And the first time I ever tried to make it, about 25 years ago, I screwed it up somehow and essentially made some kind of chocolate based cement. I need to avoid that mistake this time.
ETA: Has anyone here ever tried to make panettone? I don’t really care for it, but it looks like it’d be interesting to make.
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I’m on a professional bakers forum, and panettone is a major topic all year round due to the many questions and requests for help. It takes days to make and is quite difficult to get right. Not saying you can’t do it! Just, be forewarned.
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Good to know. I think I’m mostly curious about the hanging it upside down after baking part.
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To get even sheets of dough, you need something to rest the rolling pin on as you roll. A pair of wooden dowels, or square lengths of balsa wood the size you want works well. For small bits of dough you can use chopsticks. I’ve gotten square metal tubing for professional kitchen use. A straight, plain pin works best in my opinion. You can get a length of 2” hardwood dowel from a lumber yard, sand it a bit, oil it and it will be a nice heirloom.
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I don’t think I had it growing up, but I knew what it was because Linus was fond of it.
There was also a recipe for it in Joy of Cooking, which I read at a young age, so I think I understood the candy definition before I knew the religious one.
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Your cookie looks haunted! 
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We are not very tidy and the chocolate streaks give it personality.
Other ones have lots more dark chocolate on them.
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They look quite tasty! Great work!
I might try some chocolate in my gingerbread cookies this year!
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It’s super dark 90%+ which is a bit much for me to be honest. That and they had a heavy hand with the ginger. I didn’t have any of the root in syrup which I love for getting chewy chunks so it’s real grated ginger ftw. I’d love to have some Indian spiced tea with them but it’s a bit late for me. But Indian spiced tea is the taste of Christmas season!
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You’ll Scream with delight with every Munch.
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