..because my grandmother's (we lived with her) elderly, spinster aunts ...all three, plus their elderly bachelor brother ....lived across the street, and this was their time to come over....
..all dressed to the 9's in their best velvet and taffeta longish dresses and enjoy watching me, the only child, open gifts.
Grandmother always made her traditional fruitcake, and German fruitcake.
For these she needed liquor....(which, as a strict Southern Baptist we didn't imbibe :)
..so my elderly great uncle, who was very familiar with the local liquor store...
..would do Grandmother's bidding for Christmas and bring back the right 'spirits' to soak her Christmas cakes!
I wasn't encouraged to be loud or boisterous (with my great aunts around) ...but it was lovely all the same, though low key.
Grandmother put out her best tableclothes and dishes and the tree had been freshly trimmed...(always a live tree, of course)
....I can't even remember what we did on Christmas morn, but I never, ever had to wait to open gifts on Christmas Day :) (that joy completed the night before.)..until I was nine and we moved.
Thanks carlo for the wonderful recipes!
PEPPER AND SPICE COOKIES Pepper and spice and everything nice cookie.. It seems as though every nationality make their own kind of spice cookies, but our family added ground pepper to these fabulous cookies and now wonder why we don't put pepper in all our baked goods. Now I find that we were not that unique, because the German's have a similar cookie and call them, pfeffernusse.. The Swedish too have something close.. sheesh.. and call them pepparkakor.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- grated rind of 1/2 orange
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon orange juice
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
1) Chop walnuts finely.
2) Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and cloves. Stir in chopped walnuts
3) Cream together butter, sugar, and orange rind. Stir in egg and orange juice. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
4) Roll 1 heaping teaspoon of dough at a time into a ball.
5) Place on lightly greased baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake in center of preheated 350° F oven until firm to touch, but not browned.
Put immediately on wire rack to cool.
6) Make glaze by combining confectioners sugar and water.
Dip one side of each cookie into glaze.
Yield: 3 - 4 dozen cookies