Bible Cookies for the Year of Faith

A couple years ago, when trying to come up with a snack for our Little Flowers Girls' Club meeting on the virtue of Wisdom, I came up with these cute little Bible Cookies to place on top of our cupcakes.  Lacy expanded on this idea by cleverly adding a little bookmarks made from fruit roll ups!   We just made them again, since one of our Kindergarten Themes this past week was "B is for Bible" inspired by A is for Altar, B is for Bible, and I thought I'd share the directions with you all, as we begin The Year of Faith.   

Bible Cookies 

Ingredients:

• Fig Newtons (we made these with "Gold" Peach & Apricot Newtons)
• White Icing (I used Wilton's Icing Writer, but any white icing/frosting would work)
• Red Fruit Roll-ups

Directions:

Begin by trimming off one long side of each fig newton with a sharp knife.   This creates the book, with three sides of "pages" showing with the binding on the remaining side.  

I have found that standing them on their end and cutting straight down leaves a nice clean edge, versus cutting through the cookie/cake:  

Using a sharp knife, cut "bookmarks" from the red fruit roll ups. Stick them into the end of the "book" (newton) using a toothpick (or the end of the knife, like I did).       

Decorate the cover and binding with icing to complete the "Bibles."

This idea can also be modified, using different flavored/colored cookies and decorations, like we did for our "Story of a Soul" cookies last year.  

These cookies would make a great snack anytime during this "Year of Faith."  They are also perfect for the feasts of the Evangelists, Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or for the feast of St. Paul and any other of the many saints that are symbolized with a "Book."   

Pin It

Last Minute Gift Ideas: Catholic Cookbooks

I'm often asked for recommendations for books on living the Liturgical Year in the home, in particular those wonderful Catholic feastday cookbooks. I discovered two new ones this Advent, and will also mention a few tried and true titles. There's still time to request or order these books for Christmas!

'Tis the Season to be Baking by Father Dominic Garramone, O.S.B.


'Tis the Season to be Baking: Christmas Reflections and Bread Baking by Father Dominic Garramone, O.S.B. is a small but packed little volume on Advent and Christmas baking.

Father Dominic had a PBS series, Breaking Bread With Father Dominic, and this is his fifth book on baking bread, see Monastery Greetings for his other titles. You can also read a bit more about Father in this magazine article.

I was hooked right from the preface -- Father captured exactly what I feel during the holiday seasons of the year:

One of the most common comments I hear about baking is something like this: "I don’t have time to bake bread much anymore–well, except during the holidays, of course." What an amazing paradox: many people only have time to bake during what is often viewed as the busiest time of the year! But we make time for what is most important to us. What these people are really saying is: "My family’s Christmas baking traditions are so important that I always make time for them."

I don't bake bread as often as I would like, but I agree with Father, I want to do those special breads for Christmas and Easter. I love how making bread in my home reminds me of the Holy Mass in a small way. And so for feast days, bread is the extra component I like to share.

Father explains his book:

The breads I have selected for this book are a mixture of traditional recipes and original creations. Some have been made for centureis, some I inherited from my mother or my grandmothers, others are "new traditions" of Saint Bede Abbey that have only been around since I started baking for the community. But each bread has a connection to the characters we find in the Christmas story as it is presented in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Each bread directs us to reflect on how we can better prepare to celebrate the holy days of the Advent and Christmas seasons. I hope the recipes and reflections included here will help you reclaim some of your own heritage or create a new tradition for your family, and make your holiday baking a means of deepening your own spirituality.

The recipes are wonderful, easy to follow, and most have black and white illustrations and diagrams. Included in the collection are recipes for St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, St. Joseph, the shepherds, angels, the Wise Men, swaddling clothes, and much more. There is also a wonderful menu and recipes for a Family Christmas Brunch based on Father's own family's traditions.

And since Christmas is a whole season, giving this book for Christmas Day there is still much time to try out many of the recipes!

Sacred Feasts: From a Monastery Kitchen
by Victor-Antione D'Avila-Latourette


A few weeks ago I popped into a Catholic bookstore and saw Sacred Feasts: From a Monastery Kitchen by Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourrette. Brother Victor is a Benedictine Monk and has written many different cookbooks. His religious order abstains from meat, so all his cookbooks are vegetarian, but include fish, eggs, and dairy. Brother has written many other cookbooks, such as Twelve Months of Monastery Soups and Twelve Months of Monastery Salads. All of his recipes are simple but flavorful, with a nod toward the French tradition of cooking.

This newest cookbook is one I've been hoping Brother Victor would write. All his other cookbooks would be around the seasons and months of the year, sometimes with different recipes named for feast days, and a few dishes to celebrate the feasts, but this cookbook is written around the liturgical seasons and feast days! Take a peek inside the Table of Contents to see the great variety.

When I got home from my little bookstore outing, I requested this book for a Christmas gift from my husband. I cannot wait to really read through the book and try the recipes.

A Continual Feast by Evelyn Vitz

For the newly married, those beginning a family, or families just taking an interest in a Catholic perspective on liturgical year and cooking, A Continual Feast by Evelyn Vitz is the perfect gift.

In my opinion, this is the best overall Catholic cookbook in print today. Mrs. Vitz covers all areas -- seasonal, liturgical seasons, feast days, saints, traditional and cultural recipes, and also family and sacramental feasting. Each recipe has a wonderful background and are easy-to-follow. A must for every Catholic family.



Cooking With the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf

I think Cooking With the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf is the next level of liturgical cooking. This is a beautiful book, hardcover, with full color photos of the dishes and beautiful art of the saints -- nice enough to be a coffee table book. The recipes are wide and varied, from main meals, desserts, breads, and appetizers, most traditional recipes from various countries. Included is a biography and a classic artistic rendition of each saint before the recipes are given, and usually there are several for each saint. Not all saints in the calendar are included, but there is a wide variety. If you enjoy reading Catholic Cuisine, this book would be a wonderful addition to your cookbook library.

Book of Feasts and Seasons by Joanna Bogle

I have to include Book of Feasts and Seasons by Joanna Bogle and her companion book, A Yearbook of Seasons and Celebrations. Mrs. Bogle is a British author, and she shares many Catholic traditions around the liturgical year, particularly from her country. They aren't only recipes, but provide various Catholic customs and traditions. Perhaps you have seen her on EWTN, her show Feasts and Seasons, which brings the books alive to the American Catholic audience? Check out the website for a few of her recipes. Her books are very enjoyable to read and quite informative.

Happy reading and baking! Pin It

Conversion of St. Paul

January 25 is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Since this is a special Year of St. Paul, there is special permission to have the option to celebrate this feast on this Sunday. Normally it would be the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

From the readings for the Mass of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle:

Acts 9:1-22: Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest and asked him
for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that,
if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus,
a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
He said, "Who are you, sir?"
The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do."...

Although the story from the Acts of the Apostles doesn't mention St. Paul falling to the ground off his horse, it seems that is how the scene is always artistically rendered (see Caravaggio's painting above). After all, falling to the ground from a standing position hurts, but it isn't as dramatic as a fall from a horse!

Some ideas for honoring St. Paul on his conversion (also for June 29, Saints Peter and Paul):

1. Incorporating a horse in the celebration seems most obvious to me. This previous post for Horseshoe Cookies for the feast of St. Martin has loads of ideas for other horse themed foods. There is also Podovy: St. Stephen's Horns which is a filled bread in the shape of horseshoes. How about the Giddy-Up Horse Cake from Kraft Foods?


2. Roast beef and horseradish, one of my favorite combinations would make a nice main course. And how about Garlic Horseradish Mashed Potatoes?


3. Don't forget what we feed the horse! Perhaps a plate of crudités: maybe just celery and carrot sticks with dip.


4. St. Paul followed the Jewish laws strictly, which would mean dietary laws, too. This could be an opportunity to serve a Biblical Jewish meal.


5. While thinking of a personal conversion, the image of a Black and White, those famous New York cookies came to mind.


6. Perhaps bring in the symbols of St. Paul: a book or scroll (for his letters), a sword (for his martyrdom). Book Cakes are also appropriate for Doctors and Fathers of the Church (for their writings), and Genoise Book Cake is a delicious sponge cake recipe. One could also use cake pans in the shape of a book. The white chocolate cake used for St. Gregory the Great can also be used for other book cake inspiration.


7. I'm keeping the food celebration simple at our house. I'm making chocolate cupcakes and using two symbols of St. Paul as decorations: sword and scroll. And our centerpiece will include a Playmobil horse and St. Paul (Saul) lying on the ground.

Glorious St. Paul, from being a persecutor of the Christian name you became its most zealous Apostle. To make Jesus, our Divine Savior, known to the uttermost parts of the earth you suffered prison, scourgings, stonings, and shipwreck, and all manner of persecutions and shed the last drop of your blood.

Obtain for us the grace to accept the infirmities, sufferings, and misfortunes of this life as favors of divine mercy. So that we may never grow weary of the trials of our exile, but rather show ourselves ever more faithful and fervent. Amen.

St. Paul the Apostle, pray for us!

Pin It

Memorial of St. Jerome, September 30

This is a busy week for popular feastdays, but I didn't want the memorial of St. Jerome to fall by the wayside. St. Jerome is a Doctor and Father of the Church, a very important saint in our Church history. He is most remembered for his translation of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate, which is still used today. His patronage list is more bookish in nature: archeologists, archivists, Bible scholars, librarians, students, and translators.

From My Nameday Come for Dessert by Helen McLoughlin:

Father: This is the faithful and wise servant whom the Lord has set over His household.

All: His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth; the righteous
generation shall be blessed.

Father: Let us pray. O God, may blessed Jerome intercede for us in
heaven as he once instructed Your faithful on earth and directed them in the way of eternal salvation. Through Christ, our Lord.

All: Amen. Christ conquers, Christ reigns!

The symbols of St. Jerome include a lion, a skull, and a book or scroll would also be appropriate.

As we're reading Margaret Hodges St. Jerome and the Lion and also Rummer Godden's book by the same title, lions will be roaring today. The cute lion cupcakes for St. Mark's feast day would be perfect for this feast. I think I can transform Devil's Food Cupcakes into a few lions.

My Nameday, Come for Dessert also mentioned making a lion cake for this feast. Her idea is based on the Cut-Up Cakes from Baker's Coconut, which I mentioned previously on St. Mark's feast day.

Book Cakes are also appropriate for Doctors and Fathers of the Church (for their writings), and Genoise Book Cake is a delicious sponge cake recipe. One could also use cake pans in the shape of a book. The white chocolate cake used for St. Gregory the Great can also be used for other book cake inspiration.

As far as the skull symbolism, you might not have time today, but it's a good reminder to order the materials to make Mexican Sugar Skulls for the Day of the Dead (All Souls Day) feasting, since it's in one month. Our family personally can't make these, unless someone has a substitute for meringue powder and egg whites. That is the glue to hold the sugar together, so it's indispensable. Please leave a comment if you know another way that we can avoid egg and still make those fabulous sugar skulls!

Enjoy the feast of St. Jerome. Think of him today and read a bit of Scripture, write those overdue thank-you notes or write a letter to a far-away friend.

St. Jerome, pray for us! Pin It