4 • December 2017 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.


Redwing, MN. ~ Christmas


Eat Well & Prosper Modern


cookies trace their


history back to recipes for medi- eval European biscuits. New in- gredients such as cin- namon, ginger, black pepper, almonds and dried fruit were being introduced from the East. These new ex- pensive spices were used exclusively for holiday baking. Bis- cuit is an ambiguous term coming from


the French for “twice-cooked”, referring to breads and pastries that were baked until dry and hard. The term cookie comes from medieval Dutch meaning “little cakes”. Gingerbread has existed in some form since sugar and cer- tain spices were brought back to Europe by the Crusaders. By the mid 16th century, Christmas


“LITTLE THINGS FROM THE OVEN”


“biscuits” were popular through- out Europe. In France, chefs were created their “little oven goods” or petite fours.


examples of


by Executive Chef Ron Skaar ~ ronskaar@comcast.net would spend afternoons


and At the beginning of


the 17th century, the Dutch brought the earliest


Christmas cookies to the colonies in Amer- ica. An early recipe from 1796 uses two teaspoons of pearl ash dissolved in milk, to help the cookies rise


during baking. The 1870’s brought cookie from Germany with


cutters


highly stylized images and sub- jects designed to hang on Christ- mas trees. American children be- gan to leave cookies and milk on a table, near the tree, for Santa Clause on Christmas Eve. For one or two weeks, during the holiday season my mother


evenings baking cookies, with us kids. We would usually start out with the somewhat dry but fragile


and buttery spritz


cookie, of German origin.


The German verb spritzen means to squirt in English. The dough is extruded thru a press fi tted with patterned holes in a variety of nozzles. The press makes fast work of creating cookies in many differ- ent shapes. We would decorate the tops with holiday sprinkles and bake a large array of diverse spritz. A rosette is a very thin, cookie-like deep fried pastry of Scandinavian origin. They are made using intricately designed irons dipped into batter and im-


mersed into hot oil. Mom would get the old deep fryer up to temp and we would dip the various shapes of irons covered in batter into the grease. Once the crisp shell is removed from iron we dusted


them


with con- fectioners


sugar. The Krum-


kake is a Nor- wegian specialty


made in a special two-sided iron grid- dle. Older irons are used


directly on stove top but mod- ern electric irons offer the con- venience of non-stick surface and automatic timing. We had an old style griddle, so getting and keeping the iron to the right temperature was the challenge. Making Krumkake was a two person adventure in our family. One would pour the crepe like batter onto the griddle (okay, usually mom), and fl ip the grid- dle to get both sides toasted. Once off the griddle they are im- mediately rolled around a wood or metal conically shaped form. Asbestos fi ngers began early in this kitchen. We also produced date fi lled turnover cookies and a quantity of diverse cut-out cookies, deco- rated by the whole family, with multi-colored ices and holiday sprinkles. My Norwegian grand- mother would add the molded sugar cookie Sandbakeles and the deep-fried Fattigmann into our mix of holiday sweets. The recipe included is a new addi- tion to our treasured Christmas cookie repartee.


EW & P Recipe December 2017


POMEGRANATE THUMBPRINT COOKIES


Ingredients:


One jar pomegranate or your favorite prepared jam instead.


Dough


2 cups all-purpose fl our 1/2 teaspoon baking powder


1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 cup unsalted butter 3/4 cup sugar


1/4 cup brown sugar 1 large egg


1 teaspoon almond extract


Powdered sugar for dusting


Directions:


In a medium bowl whisk togeth- er the fl our, baking powder and salt. Mix the butter and sugars in the mixer with paddle attach- ment, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and almond extract. Reduce speed and add the fl our mixture until combined, scrapping down sides as needed. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape the dough or scoop into 1-inch balls. Place on prepared sheets, about 2inches apart. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the middle of each cookie and spoon 1teaspoon jam into each indentation. Bake until golden brown on bottom, about 15 minutes, rotating sheet half way through. Cool on rack, then dust with powered sugar. Makes about 32 cookies.


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Chef Ron


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