FReeper Canteen ~ Favorite Christmas Treats ~ 23 DEC 2008

Serving The Best Troops And Veterans In The World | The Canteen Crew

[laurenmarlowe]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Favorite Christmas Treats

Gingerbread has been baked in Europe for centuries. In some places, it was a soft, delicately spiced cake; in others, a crisp, flat cookie, and in others, warm, thick, steamy-dark squares of "bread," sometimes served with a pitcher of lemon sauce or whipped cream. It was sometimes light, sometimes dark, sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, but it was almost always cut into shapes such as men, women, stars or animals, and colorfully decorated or stamped with a mold and dusted with white sugar to make the impression visible.

During the nineteenth century, gingerbread was both modernized and romanticized. When the Grimm brothers collected volumes of German fairy tales they found one about Hansel and Gretel, two children who, abandoned in the woods by destitute parents, discovered a house made of bread, cake and candies. By the end of the century the composer Englebert Humperdink wrote an opera about the boy and the girl and the gingerbread house.

Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society, throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.

With global travel becoming widespread at that time, cookies made a natural travel companion, a modernized equivalent of the travel cakes used throughout history. One of the most popular early cookies, which travelled especially well and became known on every continent by similar names, was the jumble, a relatively hard cookie made largely from nuts, sweetener, and water.

Cookies came to America in the very first century of English settlement (the 1600s), although the name "koekje" arrived slightly later, with the Dutch. This became Anglicized to "cookie". Among the popular early American cookies were the macaroon, gingerbread cookies, and of course jumbles of various types.

The most common modern cookie, given its style by the creaming of butter and sugar, was not common until the 18th century.

The earliest Fruitcake recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.

In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added and the name "fruitcake" was first used, from a combination of the words "fruit" (Latin: fructus, Old French: frui), and "cake" (Old Norse: kaka, Middle English: kechel).

Fruitcakes soon proliferated all over Europe, however recipes varied greatly in different countries and throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients as well as in some instances on church regulations of the use of butter, regarding the observance of fast (e.g. "Butterbrief" or butter letter by Pope Innocent VIII). Pope Innocent VIII, (1432 – 1492), the Holy Father softened his attitude and in 1490, he sent a permision known as the “Butter Letter” to Saxony, stating that milk and butter could be used in the North German Stollen fruitcakes.

Starting in the 16th century, sugar from the American Colonies, and the discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits, created an excess of candied fruit, thus making fruitcakes more affordable and popular.

In the 18th century in some areas in Europe, fruitcakes were made using nuts from the harvest for good luck in the following year. The cake was then saved and eaten before the harvest of the next year.

What is your favorite Christmas Treat?

Merry Christmas!

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

[Arrowhead1952]

Thanks Meg. Merry Christmas to you too.

[beachn4fun]

Merry Christmas, acad

[PROCON]

Good morning Lauren!!

What is your favorite Christmas Treat?

My wife's FUDGE!!!

Of course I start my diet January 5!! :=)

[PROCON]

G'morning Beachie!!

Suppose to be another winter storm passing our way by Christmas Day, would only be the 4th white Christmas in 110 years!!

Paging Algore....

[PROCON]

Paging Algore...

[PROCON]

Paging Algore...

[PROCON]

Paging Algore...

[PROCON]

Paging Algore...

[PROCON]

Paging Algore...

[PROCON]

Paging Algore...

[beachn4fun]

CHEATER!

[beachn4fun]

ok....ok.....i guess I gotta.....Christmas spirit and all......

#450

[PROCON]

:=)

Merry Christmas!!

Heh, heh...

[MEG33]

Beautiful!

[Lady Jag]

Lady Jag’s Personal Horrorscope for Tuesday, December 23, 2008   I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants

---

 

Aries (March 21 - April 19)

.syas enoyna gniht elgnis a dnatsrednu ot elba eb t'now uoy yadot, ylddO

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)

Beware of turnips.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)

Today may fail to live up to your expectations, but remember: it's what it's not that makes it what it is.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

Bide your time, and don't do anything rash or in anger. Remember: Revenge is a dish best served cold, with a light béarnaise sauce.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)

Your cat will go thundering past you on the linoleum, but will miss the doorway by an inch or so. You will hear an odd "ping!" sound as her head hits the doorjamb. No harm will be done.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22)

Good day to learn to do more with your toes. Start off by tying knots with them, and who knows? You could end up being able to accompany yourself on the piano!

Libra (September 22 - October 22)

Despite your best efforts, you will be unable to get your book published. But all you really need to do is change the title! "A Comparative Study of Invertebrate Parasites" is not likely to be published. But "A Bucket Full Of Leeches"? Now that's another story.

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)

Good day to start learning the violin. Interestingly, your neighbors will volunteer to pay for lessons. It's selfless gestures like that which really help friendships blossom.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)

Excellent day to be boisterous. Avoid obstreperousness, however.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 20)

You will win 12,000 cases of peanut brittle today, on a call-in game show. That's a LOT of peanut brittle, as it turns out.

Aquarius (January 21 - February 18)

Beware of poltergeists, today.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)

In a strange turn of events, it will turn out that people wearing glasses not only look smarter, they ARE smarter (and have better memories). You'll forget all about that when you take off your reading glasses, of course.

[kalee]

Molasses cookies are one of my favorites too. I also like gingerbread hearts with royal icing.

[Lady Jag]

Lady Jag’s Personal Horrorscope for Tuesday, December 23, 2008   I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants

---

 

Aries (March 21 - April 19)

.syas enoyna gniht elgnis a dnatsrednu ot elba eb t'now uoy yadot, ylddO

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)

Beware of turnips.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)

Today may fail to live up to your expectations, but remember: it's what it's not that makes it what it is.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

Bide your time, and don't do anything rash or in anger. Remember: Revenge is a dish best served cold, with a light béarnaise sauce.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)

Your cat will go thundering past you on the linoleum, but will miss the doorway by an inch or so. You will hear an odd "ping!" sound as her head hits the doorjamb. No harm will be done.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22)

Good day to learn to do more with your toes. Start off by tying knots with them, and who knows? You could end up being able to accompany yourself on the piano!

Libra (September 22 - October 22)

Despite your best efforts, you will be unable to get your book published. But all you really need to do is change the title! "A Comparative Study of Invertebrate Parasites" is not likely to be published. But "A Bucket Full Of Leeches"? Now that's another story.

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)

Good day to start learning the violin. Interestingly, your neighbors will volunteer to pay for lessons. It's selfless gestures like that which really help friendships blossom.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21)

Excellent day to be boisterous. Avoid obstreperousness, however.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 20)

You will win 12,000 cases of peanut brittle today, on a call-in game show. That's a LOT of peanut brittle, as it turns out.

Aquarius (January 21 - February 18)

Beware of poltergeists, today.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)

In a strange turn of events, it will turn out that people wearing glasses not only look smarter, they ARE smarter (and have better memories). You'll forget all about that when you take off your reading glasses, of course.

[jagusafr]

Good morning, it’s a privilege, and Yum, indeed - it’s served with lingenberry sauce - like raspberries only smaller. Have a blessed season.

Colonel, USAFR

[jagusafr]

Thank you, thank you - now I’ll have to stop training on my Christmas dessert eating skills, I have 7 more years in which I have to make my weight and my run time!

Colonel, USAFR

[kalee]

These are lovely for a cookie exchange or an afternoon tea.

Viennese Jam Cakes

3/4 cups cold unsalted butter cut into pieces
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Raspberry Jam
Confectioner’s Sugar for dusting

Preheatoven to 350 degrees F.

In food processor chop butter with sugar until size of small peas. (4-5 pulses)

Add sour cream, vanilla,and salt. Blend just to combine about 8 pulses. Sprinkle in flour and blend just until wet granular crumbs form, about 15 seconds.

Press generous tablespoon into wells of miniature muffin tins. (Should make 24.)

Bake about 22 minutes, just until golden. Using handle end of
wooden spoon, make small indentation in center of each cake. Fill each with about 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack to cool.

To freeze for later servving, wrap them well and freeze. Defrost them before dusting with confectioner’s sugar.

To serve, dust with confectioner’s sugar.