super-simple Christmas treats

it’s happening!

Santa’s coming to town!!

Christmas and winter, i love this time of year.

rain is blowing sideways here in the valley, flooding low points of parking lots and sidewalks just enough to go over one’s shoes if one doesn’t watch where one steps. an empty parking space downtown has become a myth, and the office breakroom is brimming with christmas cookies and homemade treats. (so it doesnt help that most of my coworkers are already on vacation! i find it so difficult to turn down peppermint bark.) tonight, my sister flies in from New York, and my baby brother (who turned 19 this week!) arrives from the city he lives in, about an hour’s drive away.

i’m so excited!

this year, things are a little different. yes, we wrestled another 12-foot tree into our loft; i still attended an amazing cookie swap as well as our friend’s sparkly, dress-up cocktail party; but this year we decided in my immediate family not to exchange gifts. i can’t imagine possibly having more than i already do!… i am so blessed and provided for, and i don’t need anything. (but Nathan and i couldnt help but buy a few small treats for everyone anyway!) 

but mostly because last Friday, during my office Christmas party, Nathan left me a voicemail letting me know he had unexpectedly been laid off. and i couldnt call him back, since his phone belonged to the company. we got him a new phone, yes, but things feel very different than a week ago. but we are so thankful for the Lord’s timing and hand in our lives. my new job is stable and wonderful and covers both of us with medical insurance, and for now i have a House Husband who helps with groceries, errand-running, cleaning and……. well, let’s be honest, i still do the cooking (it’s my favorite)! a definite highlight is that Nathan is no longer working on-call this Christmas, or for any Christmas, or holiday or weekend or birthday ever again. i’m thrilled!! i’ve cooked a nice Valentine’s Day dinner for one for the last time; awoken to work calls in the middle of the night for the last time. 

so much to be thankful for!

i want to celebrate every day, and of course that means i want to eat! here are some of our dinnersforwinners favorites that we rounded up to inspire your holiday kitchen…………

if you want a peek into a delicious Hawley tradition, these peppery, spiced gingerbread cookies are as tasty as they are adorable. they are super-simple to make, fun to decorate, and fill the house with a wonderful gingerbread smell!

still my most popular recipe on this blog to-date, salted butter carmels are a great way to try your hand at candymaking, if you haven’t before. they are so delicious, and so much better than anything you could purchase! wrapped in some parchment or colored cellophane, they are the perfect last-minute gift… just make sure to save some for yourself! i love the creamy caramels and flecks of salt on top.

if you need a last-minute idea for contributing to a party, this mushroom tart is one of my top favorites! it serves well at room-temperature, so, great for traveling. prep is so easy with frozen puff pastry, and i think the tart is pretty presentation. i love the flakey pastry, melty Gruyere cheese and roasted mushrooms together!

i also adore these SPAM latkes — i know, so un-Kosher, but seriously so delicious! crispy potato cakes laced with salty shredded SPAM are amazing alongside a little pickled cabbage. you could swap leftover Christmas ham for the SPAM or even skip the meat and go all veggie. i could eat potato pancakes for every meal!

i hope the season is bringing you contentment and family and champagne punch and mistletoe.

and if you’re up for it, consider a little something to raise support for those affected around Sandy Hook Elementary in a run and ride in January! this is something we can do together, no matter how far apart we may be from each other geographically. participants commit to running or cycling 26 miles in the week, in whatever manner they choose, and registration fees benefit the victim’s families and first-responders. i hope you’ll decide to meet the challenge with me! i’m a slow runner, but steady, and with each step i can pray for healing in the Newtown community.

peace on earth. yes? and goodwill toward men.

maple-oat scones

oh my heavens. home from vacation, and first-day-back i thought it would be fun to work 11 hours at the office, go to the gym, have dinner and shower, make bread dough and prep the crock pot for tomorrow’s dinner, pack tomorrow’s lunch, finish laundry and read some blogs. what? is this my normal?

yes.

and our poor dog probably thought we gifted him to our bffs Joel and Molly while we were away for eight days. psych, Wallace! you are still our stinky puppy.

we had the best time in New York, visiting my sister Celeste, and her boyfriend Luis. Brooklyn is wonderful, the weather was delightful (sunny, but chilly), our Thanksgiving dinner party was a huge success! Celeste and I cooked for two days: mushroom stuffing; kale and brussels sprout salad; potato and fennel gratin; roasted sweet potatoes with coffee-bourbon-caramel drizzle (you HAVE to try making that beauty yourself!); Celeste made an incredible pork roast wrapped with prosciutto, kale, apples and mushrooms; she also made parker house rolls from scratch and i ate six million of them!! i made white bean dip and ginger-pomegranate champagne punch for the pre-dinner cocktail hour; and for dessert there were pumpkin panna cotta with candied hazelnuts and brown-butter apple pie. some of our guests brought delights such as Tibetan dumplings and seaweed salad, which were so good! (the amount of dumplings i consumed while in new york city numbers in the hundreds.. i’m positive.) we played catch phrase with our friends til 3am, and i ate more rolls and dumplings!

our Thanksgiving dessert plate

Celeste’s beautiful pork roast!

Thanksgiving sisters!

we also saw some sights, shopped some stuff, and ate a lottt. as far as celeb-sighting in The City (cause i know you care!), Jesse Eisenberg was totally on our flight over to NYC, and we spotted Katie Holmes both in Central Park and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we saw the Warhol exhibit. which was incredible! my favorite part: seeing the Avedon portrait of Truman Capote IN PERSON, like, i stuck my face right in front of it. since studying photography in college and shooting portraiture for a living, it was breataking to see Avedon’s beautiful work, up close. just absolutely astounding… Avedeon was really the master. i’m still dreaming about it.

my husband and me, waiting for the F train on a chilly night

Soho sunshine

we had a wonderful time.

as we’re trying to keep up with catching-up, these days i am drinking large, large amounts of coffee. which i think deserve a sweet treat alongside, don’t you agree? i bring you homemade oat-nut scones — easy enough for ME to bake! i’m not that great at baking (though i land griddle scones in the winning column every time), i’ll admit. and scones, especially the store-baked type, can be a dry disappointment, filling me with simple carbs and regret. i know! combine those symptoms with the $4 i have to spend on a coffee-shop scone?….

sad sophie.

these are so easy and just as delightful as a scone should be — soft, a hearty crumb, not too sweet and not too large (go ahead and eat a whole one!) oh yeah, and coffee’s best friend. we’re enjoying these as an afternoon treat when the fifth cup of coffee for the day sounds really perfect. i really like the chopped pecans, and the nuttiness brought by toasting the oatmeal. a maple glaze gives a simple, cozy sweetness.

i hope you had a wonderful holiday, and if you’re still being stared at by leftover turkey, may i suggest my favorite part of post-Thanksgiving? turkey pot pie!

enjoy.

adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

makes 8

• 1 1/2 cups oats (Old-Fashioned rolled or quick oats will work)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (pure or homemade)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 10 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces and chilled well)

toast the oats and pecans in a 375-degree oven (or if you’re me, in a dry skillet on medium heat, walking away just long enough for them to nearly over-toast — so keep your eye on ‘em) until browned and fragrant, and set aside to cool. if you’re smart and used the oven method, increase oven temp to 450 for baking scones.

whisk cream, egg and maple syrup together, pouring just about a tablespoon of the mixture into a small bowl for brushing tops later.

in a food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder and salt until combined. add butter pieces and pulse 12 – 14 times; look for pea-sized butter in the mixture, or thereabouts. add this mixture to oats/pecans, then fold in milk mixture, just until dough comes together. (here i became worried that the dough seemed much too wet — i was imagining a dry biscuit dough — but don’t fret! press on.) turn out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a large circle about an inch thick.

cut into 8 wedges and brush tops with remaining tablespoon of milk mixture. set at least 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake at 450 for 12 – 15 minutes, until golden brown.

devour while warm with a big cup of coffee, or cool for glazing.

for glaze, stir 2 – 3 tablespoons maple syrup into 1/2 cup powdered sugar and drizzle over scones.