"A Christmas Ball" Guest Post: Special Christmas Treats!!

Contest - 2 winners today

Thanks for having us here today at THE ECLECTIC READER, Sheree! A CHRISTMAS BALL will hit the bookstores on September 29th, so we thought we’d get your readers into the Christmas spirit with a little Christmas food!

In Regency England, Christmas dinner was typically served at 4 PM. Turkey did not feature prominently on the Regency menu (that came during the Victorian era.) Roast beef or venison was the mainstay of the meal, along with goose, capon, pheasant, bustard (!), swan and peacock. The fowl would be stuffed (and so would the diners after filling up on all those different meats!) If the household had a small oven, a baker would be engaged to cook the roasts and fowl and after church service, the family would stop by the bakery to pick up the meat for their dinner on the way home.

Mince Pie was a favorite holiday treat. This concoction included beef, suet, sugar, raisins, lemons, spices, orange peel, goose, tongue, fowls, eggs, apples and brandy. Originally called 12th Night Pie, it was made with the leftovers from Christmas dinner and would be eaten for the next 12 days (in a time when there was no refrigeration. Yum! Thank goodness the ice man cometh!)

And of course, there would be a Christmas pudding. Made from 13 ingredients (to represent Christ and the twelve apostles), the pudding was boiled for as long as 8 hours in a pudding cloth. Common ingredients were suet, brown sugar, raisins, currants, citron, lemon and orange peels, spices, crumbs, flour, eggs, milk and brandy. (Not exactly Jello!)

Now we’d like to share some of our favorite Christmas recipes!

From Alissa Johnson: This recipe contains three of my favorite things—sugar, cream cheese, and no need for me to actually use an oven. I’m just not a baker.

Christmas Mints
You will need:
One 8oz package of cream cheese
One 2 lb. bag of powdered sugar
1 tsp Mint flavoring
1 cup (more or less) of granulated sugar
Red or green food coloring if desired (paste is best, but dye will work)

1. Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar (yes, the *entire* bag) and mint flavoring in large bowl.
2. Knead by hand or in mixer until smooth. I recommend using the mixer as this process takes some time.
3. Use food coloring sparingly until you reach the desired color.
4. Refrigerate dough 3 hours or overnight.
5. Put granulated sugar in bowl.
6. Roll small (walnut sized) bits of dough between hands to form a ball, then roll ball in sugar, coating well.
7. Use a rubber mint mold to form your cookies, or simply flatten with a fork (might want to use wax paper if you go that route) onto a cookie sheet.
8. Place cookies in freezer for 3 hours or overnight.
9. Transfer to plate or tin and keep frozen until ready to eat.
10. Enjoy!

This recipe makes. . .I have no idea. A lot.


From Jennifer Ashley: I live in the Southwest, and Christmas lets me indulge in tamales, Mexican chocolate, and a New Mexico favorite--crumbly, anise-flavored cookies called biscochitos. (Warning: They are addictive! If you are on a diet, run the other way).

Biscochitos

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup Sugar

2 teaspoons anise seeds (less anise is more—you can overdo it)

2 eggs

1/4 cup brandy

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Beat sugar and shortening together until light and fluffy. Add anise and beat in eggs one at a time. Add brandy and beat. In a separate bowl, combine or sift together flour, salt, and backing powder. Add flour mixture and combine until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.

Chill dough for one hour 1 hour. Combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon.

Remove dough from refrigerator and let rest 30 minutes. Roll dough to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and place on baking sheet.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking OR roll hot baked cookies in the bowl of cinnamon sugar.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

From Emily Bryan: When I first learned to cook (and my DH will tell you I’m still learning!) I used to hate it when my mother or grandmother gave me recipes without definite portions in the ingredients. Yet, that’s what I’m going to share with you today because it is my family’s favorite Christmas dish - Homemade noodles

3 eggs (all of them! No separating out the yokes for this recipe. You can diet after New Years!)
¼ cup of milk (if you want more noodles, use more milk)
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cream of tartar
Flour (lots of it)
A stock pot full of turkey broth

Mix the eggs and milk together as if you’re going to scramble them. Add in the dry ingredients, saving the flour for last. Then add the flour in ½ cup increments “until it feels right” (Those are my grandmother’s words and I hope they mean more to you than they did to me!) You’ll have to get your hands dirty kneading the flour into the egg mixture, yet if you knead it too much, the noodles get “tough” (again, my grandmother’s pearl of wisdom!) This is a trial and error sort of recipe, but my DH swears even the failures are terrific.

What you want to end up with is a ball of dough you can roll out on a floured pastry cloth. Bear in mind, you’ll be adding more flour as you roll the noodles because you’ll dump an extra ¼ cup on them before you start rolling to keep them from sticking to the pin. Once you roll the noodles out (this should give you about a two foot square slab of future noodles, give or take, depending on how much milk and flour you used) you need to let them dry out for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight. You don’t want the dough sticking together when you start cutting it into very thin strips. Because of the baking powder, the noodles will plump up, so you want them cut thin (no more than ¼ inch).

Bring the turkey broth to a rolling boil and add the noodles. Stir frequently in a back and forth motion. If you stir in a circle, you’ll end up with a rather large dumpling (voice of experience!) You can lower the heat so the boil is less furious, but the noodles will need to cook for an hour.

It’s labor-intensive, but since I spend the other 364 days of the year avoiding cooking, I figure the noodles are a fair trade. My DH thinks so!

Thanks again for having us today, Sheree! Hope you all enjoy the Christmas recipes and if you’d like to try A CHRISTMAS BALL, there are excerpts of each of our stories on our websites!

Jennifer Ashley http://www.jennifersromances.com/NewSite/Books/ChristmasBall.html

Alissa Johnson http://www.alissa-johnson.com/sneakpeeks.html

Emily Bryan http://www.emilybryan.com/A%20Christmas%20Ball.htm

RSVP at your favorite bookseller!

A CHRISTMAS BALL buy link: Amazon

AND PRESENTS TOO...
We’d also like to spread a little cheer by offering a book from the back list of Alissa Johnson or Emily Bryan to 2 people who leave comments today. What’s your favorite holiday dish?

This month on The Eclectic Reader you could win Fire by Kristen Cashore OR Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick OR Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Check this blog post for details. International entrants welcome.