Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a happy Christmas and a wonderful 2012... and I also want to thank all of you who have read my blog and been part of my adventures this year!

My famous homemade pate'

Ok, so my homemade pate' is not actually that famous, the only thing that it's famous for is that it disappears at the speed of light every time I make it. At some parties I didn't even get to try a bite of it because it was gone so fast. Not joking. What's the secret? Easy. First of all I don't tell anyone that it's made with chicken livers. At least not until they have tried it and loved it. I'm not sure why, but most people seem to have a big problem with chicken livers, so why tell them? Second, I use a lot of butter. I can't stress this enough: if you are going to make pate' you have to use tons of butter. There's no other way around it. No making it "light". Unless you want your pate' to suck, that is.

So here's the recipe. I usually serve it along with cranberry sauce or some other type of berry jam, but it's also good on its own, with a slice of bread.

HOMEMADE PATE'

One onion
1 pound chicken livers
1 spoon of capers
Butter at room temperature

A shot of brandy
1 glass of broth
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme

In a pan, sauté the finely cut onions in butter until soft and add thyme and the liver ready cleaned and washed. Sauté them until browned. Add brandy and cook for 20 minutes on low heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Let everything cool. Add capers and place in a food processor. 

Process, adding butter one tablespoon at the time until you reach a smooth consistency. Pour in a loaf pan, cover and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  

Christmas cookies galore!

I'm working today and tomorrow, then I have four days off, which means that I will have time to start baking some Christmas cookies. Although I'm not a cookie person, I know how much people like them, so I make them every year, then take them to the office and hand them out as gifts when I go to Christmas parties. I don't know which ones I'll make this year, but in the mean time here are some recipes that I tried last year and the year before, my personal cookie hit parade.

                                            

Baci di Dama: Italian treats. I have no idea why they are called "dame's kisses", but what I know is that they rock. They are a little labor intesive, but totally worth it. Trust me.  

Pepparkakor: Swedish cookies. You can buy them at Ikea, but they are mich better when they are made from scratch. The key is to roll out the dough real thin, otherwise they don't turn out quite as good. These are perfect for those who like spices in their cookies, they feature nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. Great after meal cookie.

Brünsli: these cookies are from my nick of the woods. They ail from Switzerland and they are the perfect combination of chocolate and nuts. They are very similar to truffles and they are by far my favorite cookies. What's not to love about dark chocolate and walnuts? Careful though, once you eat one, you might want to eat the whole batch.

Vanillekipferl: as the name implies, these horseshoe shaped cookies have vanilla in them, and lots of butter, which makes them great. I especially like them dipped in Marsala wine, which shouldn't surprise you since I love pretty much any cookie dipped in Marsala =) 

Spicy Mexcian cookies: Last but not least, some dark chooclate cookies that feature crushed red pepper... Mayan style, baby! If you like the spicy and sweet combo, these cookies are for you.

Vin brulé (hot mulled wine)

                                              

It's December already. Ever since I've started working in August, time has gone by at the speed of light. So here we are, already counting down the days till Christmas. Temps are still not very wintery and I'm a little disappointed because it hasn't snowed yet, but I'm making up for it by decorating the house and preparing Christmasy foods.

Vin brulé, aka hot mulled wine, is one of my favorite things about this time of the year. I first tried it when I was about 14, mingling at a Christmas market in the Dolomites with my friend Giovanna. We were freezing, so we decided to give it a try. It was the beginning of an obession. I liked it so much I order it everwhere I go if I see it on the menu. No wonder I liked Prague so much, they sell it on every street corner at a price so cheap, you just can't say no.

Of course I also make it home. Last night I had it while putting up the Christmas tree and, I have to say, it was one of the best recipes ever. Try it, you won't be sorry.

VIN BRULE'

1 bottle dry red wine

Peel of one orange

Peel of one lemon

2 cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

8 whole cloves

1 cup of sugar

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan. Slowly bring it to a boil, then simmer for about ten minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Discard solids and serve. 

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Christmas cookies)

 

More cookies coming your way! I've never been much of a cookie baker, to be honest, but this year I've baked quite the selection of sweet treats. The main reason is that being unemployed I actually have the time to bake cookies. Also, being unempoyed means that this year I don't have the money to spend on Christmas presents, which led me to the idea of baking cookies and giving them to my friends as gifts. The third factor that tranformed into a cookie baker is the fact that when the weather outside is snowy and cold, warming up the kitchen with the oven sounds like a good idea. So here's the recipe for some vanilla cookies that are popular in Austria —where they originally come from— Germany and Switzerland. 

VANILLEKIPFERL

For the cookies:

2 oz. ground almonds 

3 1/2 oz. cold butter

6 1/2 tbsp. icing sugar

1 egg yolk

the pulp scraped from 2 vanilla beans

2 1/3 cups flour

A pinch of salt

For the finishing

1 to 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

vanilla powder

1. Brown the ground almonds in a hot skillet and allow to cool.
2. Quickly knead the butter, icing sugar, egg yolk, vanilla pulp, flour, almonds and salt into a smooth dough. Let the dough rest in a cool place for 2 hours.
3. Form the dough into about 30 crescents and place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 200°C / 400° F oven for about 10 minutes.
4. Roll the still-warm crescents in the vanilla icing sugar. Store the crescents in a cookie tin, each layered separated by parchment paper.

Brunsli (Swiss cookies)

This is going to be my first "Swiss" Christmas, so I thought it would be nice to publish a typical Swiss Christmas recipe. I am very much enjoying the cold weather, the lights, the snow and the winter foods I've experienced so far, but most of all I'm re-discovering the pleasure of drinking hot tea in the afternoon, which inevitably brings you to want some good cookies to go with it. Brunsli are usually rolled out and cut with cookie cutters, but can also be rolled into pralines, which is what I decided to do to give them somewhat of a different look. Out of all the different cookies I've made for Christmas (yes, there is more to come!) these were my favorite ones. Maybe it was the dark chocolate. Maybe it was the spices. Maybe it was the fact they are soft and decadent and bite-sized. Whatever it is, they are definitely something to try.

BRUNSLI

From about.ch

• 5 ounces sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 9 ounces ground almonds
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch of clove powder
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 fresh egg whites 
• 3.5 ounces bitter chocolate
• 2 teaspoons of rum

1. Mix sugar, salt, almonds, cinnamon, clove powder, cocoa powder and flour in a bowl.
2. Add white of egg and stir until ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Cut chocolate in real small pieces, pour hot water over the chocolate, let rest for about 5 minutes, then pour off all water except about half a tablespoon, stir until even. Now immediately proceed with the next step.
4. Add melted chocolate from the previous step and the kirsch, knead to a soft dough.
5. Roll out dough on a flat surface (it may be slightly covered with sugar), approximately 10 mm (0.4 inches) thick. Put out different shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
6. Let them rest for about 5 to 6 hours or over night in a dry place.
7. Bake for about 4 to 6 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F).
8. Let cool completely before serving.

Pepparkakor (Swedish ginger cookies)

As I'm writing this post the snow is coming down like crazy outside my hotel window in St. Cristina, Val Gardena, Italy. I'm here for a few days with my parents, back to the magical town in Sudtirol where I learned to ski when I was a child of three, when we used to come here every weekend of every winter. It's one of those places that don;t change much throughout the years and when they do, they only change for the better. The skiing is still amazing and, yes, I can still ski, even after 9 years in Florida. So people who were telling me that skiing is like riding a bike were right —I felt like only a few minutes had passed between the last time I had skied in 2001 and yesterday. My legs... not so much. Let's say they are a little sore. But today I went skiing again and loved it like I used to love it when I was a teenager. There are many other things, mostly food related, that I still love like when I was a teenager. Eggs, bacon and fried potatoes. Hot mulled wine. Bread dumplings. And, of course, Christmas cookies. Don't ask me why Swedish ginger cookies are popular here as well —I'm guessing that people who live in cold climates just cannot get enough ginger—but they are, and they are delicious both with hot tea and with wine.  

PEPPARKAKOR

3/4 cups of butter

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoons of molasses

2 cups of flour

3 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of ginger

1 teaspoon of cloves

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mix all the "wet" ingredients (up to molasses) in the order given. Mix separately the dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate the two. This will make the baking process smoother.

Chill the mixed ingredients overnight in your refrigerator.

Remove the the chilled cookie mixture from the refrigerator when ready to bake the cookies. Roll out the dough about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut cookies with cookie cutters. 

Bake them at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. 

Spiked apple cider

As I was saying in yesterday's post, while my mom worked relentlessly on getting my Christmas tree decorated I was working as relentlessly on drinking a whole pot of hot apple cider -I figured it would help ease both the pain and the boredom. I don't remember exactly when I became such a fan of hot, alcoholic drinks, but I suspect it has something to do with going to the Christmas open air market in Bressanone, Italy. Nowadays going to this quaint mountain markets has become such a fad that people jam up every possible highway and road leading to the Dolomites, but back then, in the early nineties, only locals and people who had vacation homes in the area knew about them.

It was probably 1993 or so and my family and I were staying at our place in the Dolomites for a long weekend -December 7 is a holiday in Milano because it's Saint Ambrose, Milano's patron saint; Demeber 8 is a holiday in Italy because it's the Immaculate Conception. That long weekend, every year, was also the first weekend when the ski lifts would open, which is mainly why we were in the Dolomites to begin with. But I digress. The point is that that year we decided to go check out one of these Christmas markets in Bressanone. I was 13 and was entering that age when you can't possibly go anywhere without a) your Walkman b) your friends. So we had my very good friend Giovanna in tow and, as soon as we got to the open air market, the two of us started walking a few feet behind my parents, pretending not to know them, pretending to be there by ourselves. I know, I know. But, hey, we were 13. And while my mom and dad were checking out beautiful hand made, hand carved ornaments and trinkets, Giovanna and I followed the sweet scent of cinnamon and cloves wafting through the cold December air. It led us to an old man stirring a giant pot, a cauldron really, filled with vin brule', mulled wine. It was instant love. We each bought a cup and slowly sipped on it as the snow started to fall. It was the best drink we had ever had.

That's what I was thinking about the other day, as I sipped on my warm apple cider. I was thinking about Christmas markets, snow and hot mulled wine. It made me homesick and at the same time it made me feel better. But then again, maybe that was just the Vicodin kicking in.


SPIKED APPLE CIDER

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
10 black peppercorns
8 whole allspice berries
5 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cups apple cider
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (2-inch) lemon rind strips
1 cup brandy

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar and next 4 ingredients (through cinnamon sticks); cook 1 minute. Add cider and next 4 ingredients (through lemon rind); bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in applejack. Strain; discard solids.

Spicy chocolate cookies

What is one supposed to do, home alone, with a broken knee? I wouldn't know because I never had a broken bone before, but I'm slowly learning to make the time go by a little faster and savor each daily activity like it's a treat. It helps a bunch that it takes me a good five minutes to put leggings on without bending the wounded knee and that after I'm done I kinda have to sit down and catch my breath as if I were ninety. But other than dressing myself and flipping through magazines at an alarmingly low speed I had to find something else to do to occupy my weekend. So I invited (begged) my mom to come over and make my Christmas tree while I sat next to it drinking spiked hot cider and giving her directions. While she worked on the tree I played Christmas music and went through the December issue of Cooking Light, trying to figure out what we are going to cook on the Eve for dinner and on the big day for lunch. Of course there were far too many good recipes to decide there and then, but in the mean time I bumped into these Mexican chocolate cookies, read the recipe twice and decided it was worth a try. So as soon as she was done decorating my tree I wobbled into the kitchen and we made the cookies, using Lindt chili chocolate instead of regular chocolate because, around here, we like everything spicy, including our cookies. They turned out delicious. They are light enough that you can eat more than one (or two or three), yet they are rich in flavor and go extremely well with coffee.

SPICY CHOCOLATE COOKIES
(adapted from Cooking Light)

5 ounces chili or bittersweet (60 to 70 percent) chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of black pepper
Dash of ground red pepper
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through red pepper); stir with a whisk.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg; beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla; beat just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack.

Frollini, the cookies of my childhood

Sometimes the best discoveries happen by mistake.

When I was in elementary school my mom used to bake a delicious pear and chocolate tart. It was the perfect winter treat: the pears were in season, sweet and plump, and the gooey dark chocolate complemented them both in texture and flavor. But what was even better was the crust.

Buttery and crumbly, this version of “pasta frolla” (a type of dough every Italian kid loves) was especially good when dunked in milk.

So, when on one occasion my mom made too much dough for the tart, she decided to turn the extra into cookies — and named them “frollini” (small “frolla” cookies). Ever since then — even though she doesn’t make the tart quite so often — she always makes extra dough, on purpose, so we can treat ourselves to milk and cookies.

They are perfect to snack on while decorating the house and the Christmas tree, which reminds me that I have to get my beloved boyfriend to take the tree down from its hiding space in the garage and I have to dig out the ornaments from wherever I stuffed them last January. Something tells me I'll definitely be needing cookies. And most likely crutches.

FROLLINI:

2 1/4 cups white, all-purpose flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 egg yolks

Grated peel of 1/3 a lemon

A pinch of salt

Place the flour on your work space and make a well in it. Add all the other ingredients in the well and kneed the mixture with your hands until it forms a ball of dough.

Divide the dough in two equal parts. Place the first half on a sheet of parchment paper and roll it with a rolling pin until it’s less than 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough with cookie cutters. Repeat with second half of dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until done.