Celebrating Martinmas

"The most common, and universal, harvest and thanksgiving celebration in medieval times was held on the Feast of St. Martin of Tours (Martinmas) on November 11. It was a holiday in Germany, France, Holland, England, and in central Europe. People first went to Mass and observed the rest of the day with games, dances, parades, and a festive dinner, the main feature of the meal being the traditional roast goose (Martin's goose). . ." 

- The Holyday Book: The Celebration of Holydays, Feastdays & Festivals

Here are a couple suggestions for today's feast from the archives: 

St. Martin Cookies for Martinmas

St. Martin's Bags

(you can download printable tags over at Shower of Roses) 

Scroll through the archives for even more recipes: 

St. Martin of Tours

Additional ideas can be found over at Shower of Roses: 

Celebrating the Saints :: St. Martin of Tours

O God, Who seest that we exist by no power of our own, mercifully grant that, by the intercession of blessed Martin, Thy confessor and bishop, we be strengthened against all adversities. 

St. Martin of Tours, Pray for us!

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His name shall be called Jesus

Spectacular Nativity Cookie Mold and Silent Night Table Runner (also available here)

Come, sweet Lord Jesus, 

Into the hearts and lives of all our dearest

Priests, Religious, families and friends.

Wishing you all a Blessed and Joyful Christmas! 

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St. Martin Cookies for Martinmas

After seeing the beautiful and amazing All-Saints Themed Cookies shared by Lynne last month I decided to order a cookie mold and see if I would be able to make them as well... Looking through all the links she shared I had a hard time deciding which mold(s) to order!  Since we have plans to celebrate Martinmas with friends this year I ended up choosing the St. Martin mold (as well as a St. Nicholas and a Christmas mold which I hope to use to create Christmas gifts for some of our friends and godchildren next month)! 

The St. Martin Mold: A wondeful, dimensional, German depiction of the famous episode when Martin cut his cloak in two, giving half to a shivering beggar. St. Martin became a patron saint of France. Actual Size: 3.5 x 5.25 inches.

I used my new favorite sugar cookie recipe along with some awesome "rolling sticks" from a friend of mine. (Thank you Erica!)

Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Dough 

Mix the following:

• 3/4 c. butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine the following dry ingredients and combine with the wet (or add part of the flour and then the salt and powder followed by the rest of the flour):

• 2 1/3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder

Chill until hard. Roll out on floured surface to 3/8" inch thick. Cut out shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes (for 3 inch cookies) or 9 minutes (for 1 1/2 in cookies) OR until bottoms of cookies are barely browning.  

Note: I used the mold as a guide for cutting out the St. Martin cookies and baked them for approx. 15 minutes. 

After the cookies had been baked and cooled I started creating the fondant tops.

Next time I plan to make our own marshmallow fondant, but this time I kept it simple using a package of pastel yellow pre-made fondant.  

Rolling the fondant to the recommended ¼ inch thickness I was able to decorate nine large cookies with the St. Martin design.  

I followed Lynne's directions and it was just as easy as it sounded:  Lightly dust your mold with powdered sugar. Press the rolled out fondant into the mold starting from the center of the mold and working your way to the edges. Be sure to press the fondant into all of the deep areas of the design, you can feel the indentations as you press down on the fondant. Starting from the edge carefully peal the fondant from the mold. Trim the edges of the design then ‘glue’ the fondant to the cookie by brushing the top of the cookie with light corn syrup.

These cookies were so much fun to make and I can't wait to share them with all the children tomorrow after we read about St. Martin and decorate lanterns! 

Happy Martinmas! 

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