Cathedral Window Cookies

December 29th is the memorial of St. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.  He was martyred for the Catholic Faith in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.  You can read more about this holy saint here.

Our family celebrates a name-day in our home on this day, so I usually try and serve a little treat in his honor.  One year we made Sword and Miter Cookies, last year we made a Martyr's Crown Cake, and this year I had planned to make another Cathedral Cake using this pan, until I ran across the following recipe for Cathedral Cookies!

Cathedral Window Cookies

adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 cups pastel miniature marshmallows 
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional) 
• 1 cup flaked coconut

Directions

In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir a small amount into the egg, then return all to pan. Cook and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Pour into a bowl; let cool for 15 minutes. Gently stir in marshmallows and nuts.

Chill for 30 minutes.

On a sheet of waxed paper, shape dough into a 1-1/2" diameter log.
Place coconut on another sheet of waxed paper. Gently roll log over
coconut to coat sides. Wrap up tightly, twisting ends to seal.Freeze for 4 hours or overnight.

Remove waxed paper. Cut into 1/4" slices. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Yield: about 5 dozen. (I cut mine a bit thicker and made about 3 dozen.) 

Note:  I just used what I had on hand and substituted 1 cup of white marshmallows, along with the 2 cups of pastel marshmallows that were in the cupboard.  For those that don't like coconut, you could also roll the log in chopped nuts to coat the sides as well!

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival-day in honor of the blessed martyr Thomas: at whose martyrdom the angels rejoice, and give praise to the Son of God. 

St. Thomas Becket, Pray for us! 

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Epiphany Tart

Inspired by our latest family read aloud, we looked into English Epiphany traditions and found that an Epiphany Tart (which we would consider just a simple jam tart) was considered a delicacy in the Victorian age. When done well, it is supposed to have at least 13 different flavors of jam and look like a stained glass window. Ours only had 6 flavors and while not lovely enough to hang in a Cathedral, it still looks good enough to eat!

Epiphany Tart

1 1/2 C. flour

1/2 C. powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

9 Tbl. cold stick butter, cut into pieces

1 egg yolk

an assortment of jams

In a food processor, pulse dry ingredients to combine. Add butter and pulse until coarsely cut. Break up the yolk and add in parts, pulsing for 10 seconds after each addition. When the dough clumps, turn dough out onto a work surface. Knead lightly to mix in any unincorporated ingredients. Press into bottom and partially up the sides of a buttered tart pan. Shape the wise men's star with extra dough by pinching and pressing together. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. (I doubled the recipe and had some left over.)

Prior to baking

Preheat oven to 375. Bake tart for 25 minutes. Remove and fill sections with jam. Bake another 10 minutes until jam is set and tart is lightly browned. Cool on rack until ready to serve.

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Stained Glass Cookies

The following recipe was submitted by Lisa, from Catholic Missionary Family. Thank you Lisa!

Stained glass cookies could be used on a number of occasions. The circle with the cross reminds me of a host, so it would be great for a Eucharistic feast day or a first communion party or the cross with the heart could be used for the Feast of the Exhalation of the Cross or the "T" with a blue in the heart could be for Theotokos (A Marion title in Greek meaning God-bearer). The "J"s are for Jesus.

I'm sure people far more creative than I could create a heart with blue and red rays for Divine Mercy, or a heart with a crown for the Sacred Heart of Jesus... really the possibilities are endless. So, next time you need a creative religious treat, come up with something fabulous and then send it to me, sound good?

Here's how you make them!

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 stick of soft butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
Jolly Ranchers (4 candies of 3 different colors)

Let's start with the fun part... the smashing of the Jolly Ranchers!

Step 1: Place 4 candies of the same color in a plastic bag.

Success. Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let's move on to the dough.

Step 2: Pound them. We did this in the basement because it was nap-time.

Step 3: Cream the butter and the sugar together.

Step 2: Add the egg and vanilla.

Step 3: Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Step 4: Then mix it in with the wet ingredients.

Step 5: Roll our the dough to a standard 1/4 inch thickness.

Step 6: Using cookies cutters, cut out various shapes with shapes inside of them. We also used a knife for smaller shapes, like the heart in the cross. Place your cookies on a baking sheet LINED WITH PARCHMENT PAPER... just wanted to make sure you knew that this is important.

Step 7: Fill your inner shape with a layer of crushed up candies. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 6-10 minutes. Once the candies are melted, the cookies are ready, thus the huge span of cooking time. DO NOT LET THE CANDIES START TO BUBBLE!!!... just wanted to make sure you knew that this is REALLY important. If they start to bubble they will taste like burnt sugar, not good.

Step 8: Let them cool and enjoy!

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