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

 

 

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, lauren, for today's Favorite Christmas Treats

[laurenmarlowe]

Ahhhhhhh, NICE choice!

Big fan of Armagnac and a little ice cream here!

[Aliska]

Mmmmm, that looks good. You're welcome. I always use Crisco for pie dough. My mother could roll hers ok, I just got fed up with patching and the floury mess. My MIL used lard, and it rolled into perfect circles, but I like Crisco better. Both are probably not good for you :-).

I punch vent holes in the top of mine, but if they are extra juicy, they boil over which isn't so good. Line the oven with foil. But we'd never have pie if I hadn't started doing it the "new" way.

I use a standard pie crust recipe for 2 double crust pies for a 9X11 baking dish and before I get all the ice water mixed in, I put the reserve an 8-oz cottage cheese container full for the top after I've added just a little water, then quit the water so it will be drier and more crumbly. Then I finish with water what's left in the bowl.

Except for pumpkin pie where I use an exact recipe, I always just guess now, so it's hard to explain how to do the filling when people ask me for recipes. Cherry I usually thicken with cornstarch (and sugar) on top of the stove first, also any berry pie. Apple, peach, fresh apricot and rhubarb, I stir the flour and sugar together and toss, then fill and add the topping, sometimes dot w/real butter, sometimes don't bother. I squirt it with cold water last so the sugar will stick better.

All those neat things people posted look so good! I usually just make that marshmallow creme/chocolate chip fudge. But somebody would have to mention eggnog. I'm just craving it this year. Swiss Valley I like the best around here. I hadn't been eating well and have gone through 4 cartons already, have two more in the fridge.

[SandRat]

Mrs.SR under the Mistletoe.

[ConorMacNessa]

Kindred spirit, I see! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[laurenmarlowe]

Good evening and Mele Kalikimaka, BIGLOOK!

Great pic!

[SandRat]

Daughters of Iraq -- Kammraa, a Daughters of Iraq member, counts money she received from the Government of Iraq as her monthly salary for November in the New Baghdad District of eastern Baghdad, Dec. 18. Photo by Sgt. Jeremy Todd.

[laurenmarlowe]

ISP’s are pesky little critters, for sure!

Life is good here thanks amom, and I hope for you as well. Thanks for the updates on Chris.

I hope you have a wonderful Holiday amom!

[ConorMacNessa]

Your taking me back almost 60 years to when my great grandmother was making Christmas pies. Thanks for the memories and Merry Christmas!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Cherry cream cheese cheesecake? The no-bake kind?

My mom makes that all the time! I’ve since grown to prefer a baked cheesecake, but I still have fond memories of Mom’s cheesecake.

[MHGinTN]

Sausage balls (made with ham sausage and extra sharp cheddar) and buckeye candies (w/crunchy peanut butter and good chocolate).

[Jet Jaguar]

As suggested by BigLook, a Christmas e-card for your enjoyment.

Spread it around!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

JJ

http://www.f22-raptor.com/media/ecard08/ecard08.html

[Kathy in Alaska]

From Xerox ~ Let's Say Thanks to our Troops

Simple. Easy. Involve your kids.
We can each send thanks every single day.

[ConorMacNessa]

Not familiar with buckeye candies - sausage balls are a great favorite!

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[laurenmarlowe]

Good evening, and Merry Christmas to you and your family!
It's great to see you, and hope to see you Christmas Eve.

[laurenmarlowe]

Merry Christmas to you my! *HUGS*

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Aliska]

Merry Christmas to you, too!

I need that recipe for that blonde fudge, clicked on properties and it's peanut butter fudge! Looks yummy.

Some of those other treats sure bring back memories.

[BIGLOOK]

Mele Kalikimaka, Doc!

Giáng sinh Vui vẻ!

[laurenmarlowe]

Crisco for sure!

Really enjoying reading about your pie-making, wonderful stories for us all!