wish list

December, for me, is bundling up in the dark and following little paper lanterns through the Japanese garden to find hot apple cider and carolers huddled around the fire pit.

It's a choir concert in a 100-year-old Anglican church with my big coat just over my shoulders.

It's taking out my favourite wooden reindeer and setting it on the mantel.

It's eating as many treats as possible that feature marzipan.

And it's thinking about those I love and what they might like for Christmas. Maybe, a soft white camisole from Germany for a friend or the present that Scott always wants: wool socks.

What are your favourite things to give and receive at Christmas?

Here are a few of mine. A good number of the companies are based in Edmonton (because this city makes a lot of wonderful things), but they're almost all available online.

Beautiful, beautiful wooden lamps handmade in a little studio in South Carolina. Watch this New York Times video for inspiration.

Earrings from Prairie Smoke Glassworks. I have a little pair that are white glass studs with tiny blue squares and they're one of my favourite things. I found them at Tix on the Square in Edmonton, which sells a lot of local artists' work.

This belt solves so many problems: it lies flat against my jeans and is ethically made.

You might shop local for groceries, but have you thought about where your underwear comes from? I've just discovered this little Toronto company and they're fantastic – and fun.

A pure white beeswax candle, or a lavendar honey soap from Meadow Sweet Honey. (Find them at the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market.)

Passion paradou. Raspberry noir. Apricot caramel. Sometimes, I think that all I really want for Christmas is one huge box of these chocolates. They're handmade with a short shelf-life, so go to the shops in Calgary and Edmonton.

It still surprises me that aprons wear out. There seem to be a lot of nice denim ones around lately. I especially like the Japanese style that crosses at the back . . . but my favourite seller on Etsy stopped making them. Seen any other good ones?

The Swedish coffee and baking book, Fika. Full of simple line drawings and ideas for the most important snack of the day.

Everyone likes thinking about houses and how we make them into homes. The Not So Big House is my favourite book about this.

Finally: a splurge. This looks like a gorgeous leather bag made by Edmonton shoe company Poppy Barley. Can you imagine how lovely it would be in brown?

one year ago: shortbread peppermint pattie cookies
two years ago: annie's sun-dried tomato dip
three years ago: cheese ball!

shortbread peppermint pattie cookies

This cookie is undeniably messy.

You'll just have to get over that.

I mean, let's think about shortbread. The best shortbread has so much butter packed in that it's just waiting to scatter all over your best black sweater. But we deal with that because we love that buttery taste.

So you take that buttery, scattery shortbread and you use it as a sandwich to hold a creamy, dense, chocolate-covered peppermint patty. And what do you get?

One of my very favourite Christmas cookies.

Also: a cookie that must be eaten on a plate.

I remember encountering these at my grandma's house when we were visiting for Christmas. I think I looked at it for quite a while, dumbfounded. I mean, this was a brilliant, brilliant idea. How had I never seen it before?

I made it my business to eat as many as I could. I don't know how Grandma came up with it – maybe it was suggested in a magazine or maybe she thought it up herself. I don't think she used a special shortbread recipe, just her regular, no-nonsense shortbread that also got topped with little bits of maraschino cherries in other forms.

Somehow, I forgot about these cookies for almost 20 years, but this year I ate a chocolate-covered peppermint pattie at work last week and suddenly realized it needed a shortbread sandwich around it.

So I went into my gluten-free kitchen and whipped these up. Don't tell – they look so fancy – but they were very quick to make. Now I also know why Grandma, who was a very practical woman, liked making them.

one year ago: annie's sundried tomatoes
two years ago: potato chip cookies and cheese ball
three years ago: roasted tomato soup and asiago lace and dominosteine and christmas treats
four years ago: walnut slugs and spicy cajun almonds

gluten-free shortbread peppermint pattie cookies
inspired by my grandma, elizabeth mitchell
bakes 13 – 14 sandwich cookies

note 1: Here's the gluten-free shortbread recipe, but if you don't need to be gluten-free, go with your favourite basic shortbread recipe. Make sure you do the sandwiching while the cookies are still warm, so they slightly melt the peppermint pattie and make it stick.

note 2: I'll try to get you weights soon!

1/2 c. cornstarch
1 c. brown rice flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan or guar gum
1/2 c. icing or confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. butter
13 – 14 small chocolate-covered peppermint patties (I like York)

Prepare a pan with parchment paper or a silicone lining.

Stir the cornstarch, brown rice flour, xanthan gum, icing sugar and salt together to form one flour. Cut the butter into 6 or 8 pieces and drop into the bowl. Blend together until it forms a dough.

Shape into balls that are slightly smaller than 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Place on baking sheet at least 1.5 inches apart. Press down with a fork slightly to make a fat pattie. Chill at least 10 minutes.

Bake in 300 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 18 – 20 minutes, until the edges have just the tiniest hint of colour. Don't overbake.

Leave the cookies on the pan but place the pan on a rack. In about 4 – 5 minutes, get out a cutting board and carefully put the cookies on it upside-down. (They are in a fragile state right now.) Gently press a peppermint pattie down on one shortbread cookie and gently press another shortbread cookie on top. Place on rack to cool.

jane's pecan puffs

Growing up, I remember sugar cookies.

My mom and I would roll them out into bells and stars, and then paint them with a lemon glaze. The best part was watching the red and green sprinkles wash into the glaze like a water colour painting.

In the meantime, my dad would be down in the cold room, dousing a fruitcake with dark rum every few days in the couple months before Christmas.

When Christmas finally came, we'd pull out tins and make plates of sugar cookies, Christmas cake, brandy beans, dominosteine, stollen and mandarin orange pieces. For about two weeks, we would make a plate almost every afternoon around coffee time.

Now, Scott and I have different cookies, but we usually keep the brandy beans, the dominosteine and the mandarins on the plate. Sometimes, we add walnut slugs or shortbread or Mozartkugeln. This year, it's pecan puffs and – if I have time – these buttermilk cookies, which remind me of the sugar cookies of my childhood.

My friend Amanda gave me this recipe for pecan puffs in Victoria a few years ago. They were her mother's cookies, she reports, and she likes to make them to remember her mother. So we're calling these Jane's pecan puffs, in honour of Amanda's mother.

I am sure Jane was a wonderful baker because these puffs are fragrant with pecans and so delicate that they almost burst into sleigh bells and all things magic at Christmas as soon as they hit your tongue.

I hope you have time to make at least one batch of cookies this holiday season. I have been putting all my energy into planning special radio shows to raise money for the food bank, but these cookies help me step away from it all and remember that Christmas is indeed coming.

one year ago: hot lemon honey tea
two years ago: spiced ginger mounds and cheesy grapes
three years ago: butter lettuce for a break and tipsy rum balls

jane's pecan puffs

1 1/2 c. pecans
1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt (fancy, if you have it*)
1 c. cake flour
     or gluten-free:
     70 g. rice flour
     35 g. cornstarch
     18 g. potato starch
     18 g. tapioca starch
icing sugar, for rolling

Grease two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.

Grind the pecans in a food processor (not a blender) until small but not until they become pecan butter. Set aside. If using gluten-free flours, mix them together well. Stir salt into the cake flour or gluten-free flours and set aside.

Cream sugar and butter. Stir in the ground pecans and vanilla. Stir in the flour-salt mixture. Roll into small balls (about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter) and place on prepared cookie sheets. If using gluten-free flours, chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the cookies for 23 to 30 minutes, depending on size. Their bottoms should become lightly golden. Once they are cool enough to touch but still somewhat warm, carefully roll in icing sugar.

*I used Maldon sea salt flakes and found it worked very nicely with the pecans.

skiing toward christmas . . .

Early in 2012, snow suddenly blanketed Victoria. 

The city shut down and we took the opportunity to go skiing in the field right across from our house.

I'm not sure what exactly is chasing me, but I like to think it might be a falling star.

That was our Christmas card this year and I'd like to send Christmas greetings your way, dear reader.

I made you some cookies . . .

But they weren't quite good enough to share with you. So I thought I'd remind you about a few other good things and let you know what I've been looking at lately:

How to buy Christmas gifts for foodies. Whenever I need a giggle, I look at this photo.

I just made this almond-scented boterkoek for a Christmas Eve potluck tomorrow. It's lovely and buttery for Christmas.

Don't these spice cookies look heavenly? I wonder if I'd need to go to the work of making the candied orange peel, or could just leave it off . . .

Tipsy rum balls. 'Nuff said.

This chocolate cheesecake would make a fine Christmas Day dessert.

We made Madhur Jaffrey's chicken biryani for the eve of Christmas Eve dinner tonight. We served it with homemade mango chutney, raita, roasted almonds and slices of banana. It is certainly an involved recipe, but it is so incredibly good. As Madhur says, "Biryani is quite definitely not an everyday dish . . . It was, and is, a dish worthy of a king."

My friend has said I really must try Colombian cheese buns, called pan de yuca. I've got this recipe earmarked for the new year.

Along the Indian theme – because the holidays are a good excuse to cook whatever we want – I am longing to make Bademiya's justly famous Bombay chile and cilantro chicken from the Essential New York Times Cookbook. The sauce includes cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, walnuts, lemon and cumin. Mmmn . . .

I hope you get to do lots of skiing or whatever your favourite thing is to do around Christmas.

(Now that we live at what we affectionately call the North Pole – Edmonton – there's a lot of skiing happening around here.)

Merry Christmas!

one year ago: nougat marzipan cookies (for your leftover marzipan!)
two years ago: butter lettuce for a break and spicy cajun almonds