BOOKS TO SPICE UP THE HOLIDAYS : HOT FUDGE SAUCE.Byline: Renee Enna Chicago Tribune There are all manner of cookbooks to make the holiday season special, with recipes you can make for your own celebrations such as Christmas dinner, tree-trimming parties, New Year's Eve parties or as gifts that will sweeten sweet·en v. sweet·ened, sweet·en·ing, sweet·ens v.tr. 1. To make sweet or sweeter by adding sugar, honey, saccharin, or another sweet substance. 2. To make more pleasant or agreeable. up someone else's holiday. Here are a few titles that can add a sparkle to the season along a sampling of some of the recipes. ``Chocolate for Christmas'' by Maria Robbins (St. Martin's Griffin; $6.95). This diminutive cookbook contains 47 recipes from around the world that share one mouth-watering mouth·wa·ter·ing or mouth-wa·ter·ing adj. Appealing to the sense of taste; appetizing: the mouthwatering aroma of a baking pie. Adj. 1. ingredient: chocolate. double chocolate almond biscotti Biscotti (plural of Italian biscotto, roughly meaning "twice baked") are crisp Italian cookies often containing nuts or flavored with anise. Traditionally, biscotti are made by baking cookie dough in two long slabs, cutting these into slices, and reheating them to dry from Italy, chocolate lebkuchen leb·ku·chen n. pl. lebkuchen A chewy, usually honey-flavored Christmas cookie containing nuts and candied fruits. [German, from Middle High German lebekuoche : lebe-, from Germany and cowboy cookies from Colorado are among the offerings. Geared for use during the season, it includes a baking timetable and tips, seasonal anecdotes as well as advice on packing cookies to mail. ``Camille Glenn's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook'' (Algonquin Books; $21.95). Glenn, author of ``The Heritage of Southern Cooking,'' assembles more than 100 traditional holiday recipes, together with their rituals and stories. Menus are offered for tree-trimming, fireside and tea parties and full-course holiday dinners. Among the more festive recipes is Good Fortune Tea Cake for a New Year's party: A small mirror is placed atop the cake and each guest must look in the mirror and make a wish before the cake is sliced - and whoever finds the almond in the cake gets a year of harmony and good luck. ``Heavenly Feasts'' by Marcia M. Kelly (Bell Tower; $16). Menus get a spiritual boost with recipes from monasteries, abbeys and retreats. Kelly has assembled 39 menus, featuring 146 recipes, from across the country. There's sour cream-cinnamon breakfast cake from St. Mary's Episcopal Retreat and Conference Center in Sewanee, Tenn.; clam chowder chowder, stew of fish or shellfish with potatoes, onions, and pork (usually salt pork), thickened with crumbled hard bread. The name chowder seems to have originated from the French word chaudière from Portsmouth Abbey in Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. ; and Southern pecan pie from Holy Name Monastery Holy Name Monastery is Benedictine convent located in Saint Leo, Florida, United States. History In 1889 five sisters founded Holy Name Convent and Academy in response to a need for teachers for children of immigrants in the San Antonio and Saint Leo area. in St. Leo, Fla. Also included is mail-order and visitors' information. ``Holiday Entertaining'' (Williams-Sonoma; $14.95). A seasonal addition to the Williams-Sonoma kitchen library, this comprehensive book contains six holiday menus, including Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners, a holiday open house and a New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. buffet. Accompanying each menu are drink strategies, a timetable for preparation, decorating ideas as well as color photographs that offer additional guidance for making each dish a success. ``Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook'' (Time-Life; $24.95). This book's subtitle, ``A Treasury of Holiday Recipes, Crafts, Gifts and Traditions,'' summarizes the bounty of information in its 221 pages. More than 250 recipes take center stage in 14 chapters, ranging from appetizers and beverages to meat and, naturally, cookies, candies, cakes, pies and desserts. Color photos of various dishes are included. Sprinkled throughout are Victorian-type etchings of holiday scenes. The book also lists 20 complete menus, serving 4 to 36. A pretty jar of Hot Fudge Sauce is a luxurious and indulgent gift. Accompany it with a small card telling your lucky recipient that the sauce should be refrigerated re·frig·er·ate tr.v. re·frig·er·at·ed, re·frig·er·at·ing, re·frig·er·ates 1. To cool or chill (a substance). 2. To preserve (food) by chilling. ; can be eaten as a spread when it is cold or can be warmed by placing the jar in a pan of hot water. When it is hot, it can be spooned over ice cream, cake or brownies. 2 cups whipping cream 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 8 ounces semisweet sem·i·sweet adj. Having a small amount of sweetening: semisweet chocolate. Adj. 1. semisweet - having a taste that is a mixture of bitterness and sweetness bittersweet OR bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. chocolate, finely chopped 2 tablespoons unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 tablespoon vanilla In a large saucepan, bring cream to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until cream is reduced by 1/2, about 20 minutes. Stir in sugar and cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in both chocolates and butter. Keep stirring until all chocolate is melted and very smooth. Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature and pour into small jars. Sauce will keep in refrigerator up to 1 month. Makes about 3 cups. From ``Chocolate for Christmas'' by Maria Robbins (St. Martin's Griffin). SUGARPLUMS The original sugarplums were made in Portugal of fresh black figs or green plums, cooked and recooked for days on end in ever-thickening sugar syrups to produce a sort of glaceed fruit. Prunes, figs, dates and other dried fruits are now prepared as sugarplums. They can be wrapped in plain or colored foil, to be hung on the tree or given as small gifts. 3 pounds combined pitted dates, figs, raisins and dried currants, coarsely chopped 1/2 pound blanched blanch also blench v. blanched also blenched, blanch·ing also blench·ing, blanch·es also blench·es v.tr. 1. To take the color from; bleach. 2. walnuts OR almonds, coarsely chopped 1/2 pound unsalted shelled pistachio pistachio (pĭstăsh`ēō, pĭstä`shēō), tree or shrub (of the genus Pistacia) of the family Anacardiaceae (sumac family). The species that yields the pistachio nut of commerce is P. nuts, coarsely chopped 1/2 pound crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped Grated peel of 2 oranges 3 tablespoons lemon juice OR brandy OR as needed as needed prn. See prn order. Powdered OR granulated sugar In a large bowl, combine fruits, nuts, ginger and orange peel. Add just enough lemon juice to enable mixture to stick together. With your hands, pinch off pieces of mixture and shape into balls 1 to 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll balls in sugar, then wrap in plain or colored foil. Makes about 4 pounds. NOTE: Vary assortment of fruits and nuts to suit your own taste, using any one or all of those suggested. From ``Time-Life Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook'' by Time-Life Books. GINGER STEAMED PUDDING 2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour 1 teaspoon baking soda baking soda: see sodium bicarbonate. 1/8 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons ground ginger 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 1 cup packed dark brown sugar 4 eggs 6 ounces crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped and lightly dusted with flour to prevent sticking 1 cup whipping cream 2 to 3 tablespoons powdered sugar 1 teaspoon grated orange peel Butter a deep, heatproof heat·proof adj. Unaffected by heat. Used especially of plastic, glass, or ceramic utensils that may be used directly over a flame or in an oven. 1 1/2-quart bowl, a metal steamed-pudding mold with a cover (preferably with a tube) or similar mold. Set aside. Place a wire trivet in a large, deep pot and fill about 1/4 full with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low but keep hot. Bring a teakettle of water to a boil; keep warm. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and ground ginger. Set aside. In a bowl, combine butter and brown sugar using an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a rubber spatula spatula /spat·u·la/ (spach´u-lah) [L.] 1. a wide, flat, blunt, usually flexible instrument of little thickness, used for spreading material on a smooth surface. 2. a spatulate structure. , fold in flour mixture, 1/3 at a time, until well blended. Stir in chopped ginger. To avoid air pockets, carefully spoon mixture into prepared mold and then tap mold on countertop to level off. Mold should be about 2/3 full, to allow for expansion. Attach cover or fit a piece of parchment paper or foil greased with butter over top (buttered side down) and secure with a kitchen string. Place mold atop a trivet in pot. Water should reach about halfway up sides of mold; add more boiling water as needed. Bring water in pot back to a low boil, reduce heat, cover pot and simmer gently 2 hours, if using a heatproof bowl, or 1 1/2 hours if using a metal mold. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick toothpick, n a wood sliver used to cleanse the interdental space. toothpick, balsa wood, n a triangular wedge of balsa wood used to clean the teeth interproximally and stimulate the interdental gingival tissues. into center of pudding; it should come out clean. Transfer from pot to a rack. Uncover and let stand 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, using a whisk, beat cream until it begins to thicken thick·en tr. & intr.v. thick·ened, thick·en·ing, thick·ens 1. To make or become thick or thicker: Thicken the sauce with cornstarch. The crowd thickened near the doorway. 2. . Add powdered sugar to taste and orange peel. Continue whisking until soft folds form that hold their shape. Do not beat until stiff. Invert in·vert v. 1. To turn inside out or upside down. 2. To reverse the position, order, or condition of. 3. To subject to inversion. n. Something inverted. pudding onto a serving plate. Slice warm pudding into wedges and transfer to plates. Top with whipped cream and serve. Makes 6 to 8 servings. From ``Holiday Entertaining'' with Chuck Williams, general editor, Time-Life Books. SMOKED SALMON OPEN-FACE SANDWICHES Sandwiches to serve with champagne and caviar. Can you think of a better way to greet the New Year? 1/2 pound smoked salmon 2/3 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice OR to taste Cayenne pepper to taste 1 loaf (1-pound) fine, moist white bread, thinly sliced 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature Chop salmon fairly coarse. Mix salmon lightly with mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with cayenne. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (It will keep several days). Using a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut bread into rounds. Spread butter over bread and top with salmon mixture. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate a short while. Once made up, these sandwiches do not keep well. Makes about 16. VARIATION: Substitute crayfish crayfish or crawfish, freshwater crustacean smaller than but structurally very similar to its marine relative the lobster, and found in ponds and streams in most parts of the world except Africa. Crayfish grow some 3 to 4 in. (7.6–10. , lobster, shrimp OR crab meat for salmon. From ``Camille Glenn's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook'' by Camille Glenn (Algonquin Books). CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) No Caption (Cookbooks) |
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