"Saintly" Hot Cocoa to Warm Your December Celebrations

Yesterday we had our first signficant snowfall, and the children's thoughts immediately went to sledding ... and hot cocoa! It got me thinking -- with three of our favorite saint feast days coming up this month, why not celebrate with a little twist on hot cocoa?

First, here's a basic hot cocoa recipe, if you don't already have one. I have this long-since memorized, but it's my variation of the one I'm pretty sure you'll find on any can of Hershey's cocoa.

Basic Hot Cocoa Recipe

Pour 4 c milk into a 1-qt measuring cup. Add 1 capful (about 1/2 t) vanilla, and set aside.

Place in a medium saucepan:

1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c sugar
pinch of salt

(Save yourself some trouble, as well as the juggling of multiple small measuring cups, by making several individual batches of these dry ingredients and storing each in a small zip style plastic bag. You'll be amazed at what a time saver this can be!)

Whisk in 1/3 c hot tap water, and place over medium heat. Watch carefully and stir frequently until the mixture comes to a full boil; then continue to boil, stirring constantly, for two minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in the reserved vanilla milk. Return to the stove at a low to medium setting, until heated through.

Serve as is, or topped with marshmallows or whippped cream. Guaranteed to "warm the toe bones," as we say at our house! :) Makes four (8 oz.) servings of hot cocoa.


Now then, for the "Saintly" variations:

German Chocolate Hot Cocoa for St. Nicholas (Dec. 6)

Substitute 1/2 c. brown sugar for the granulated white sugar.

Substitute 2 c. of coconut milk for half (2 c.) of the milk in the recipe.


You can use a 15.5 oz can of coconut milk, or use this recipe for Coconut-Infused Milk:

Place 2 cups of shredded coconut in a heat-safe bowl.

Bring 2 cups of milk to a boil in a small saucepan. It will foam, then boil over very quickly, so watch carefully!

Pour over the reserved coconut, and let stand for about one hour.

Place the coconut and milk mixture into a blender, and process for about 30 seconds.

Strain into a 1-qt measuring cup, pressing the coconut to extract as much milk as possible. Discard the coconut.

Fill the measuring cup to the 4 cup mark with additional milk, then continue the basic recipe as written.

Tastes great with gingerbread cookies!



Mexican Hot Cocoa for St. Juan Diego (Dec 9) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12)

Prepare basic recipe as written; whisk in 2 t cinnamon and 1/2 t chili powder with the milk.

If desired, top with sweetened whipped cream and a few shavings of dark, sweet chocolate.

Serve with Mexican Wedding Cakes for a special treat!


Scandinavian Orange Chocolate Hot Cocoa for St. Lucy (Dec. 13)

Prepare hot cocoa as directed in the basic recipe above.

Whip 1 cup heavy cream until soft peaks form.

Gently fold 2 T orange marmalade into the whipped cream.

Place a large dollop of the orange whipped cream on each serving of the hot cocoa; top with freshly-grated orange zest, if desired.

Goes exceptionally well with your favorite St. Lucy's Bread recipe! Pin It

Nothing Says "I Love You" like ...

... Banana Split Ice Cream Cake :)

My children and I made this special treat last year for our family's Valentine's Day Celebration. It was such a hit that I thought I should share it here!

Inspired by a late-afternoon Paula Deen show that was playing in the background after the kids' pre-dinner video ended, this is elegant, delicious, and unbelievably easy to pull off. It would make a wonderful birthday cake! I never looked up the actual recipe, so this may vary slightly from that offered by the show -- and I'm sure you could vary the ingredients according to your own taste, using your favorite sundae as the inspiration. Here's how we did it, using a 9" square glass baking dish:

* Butter-flavor spray, to lightly grease the baking dish (optional, but it helps)

* 16 plain vanilla ice cream sandwiches (or so, depending on the size -- ours were about 1-1/2" x 5")

* Toffee bits (found next to the chocolate chips in the grocery store)

* 4-6 ripe-for-eating bananas, peeled and sliced

* 1 (10-oz) jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

* 1/2 jar (about) hot fudge sauce

* 1/2 jar (about) butterscotch sauce

* 1 (8 oz) tub frozen whipped topping, defrosted

This is probably the most kid-friendly dish you'll ever prepare! Set the children to work peeling the paper off the ice cream sandwiches and slicing the bananas while you chop up the maraschino cherries. Then get ready to assemble!

Line the baking dish with half of ice cream sandwiches, cutting the last one or two in half to fit snugly into the pan. (Eager children will happily consume any cuttings that don't quite fit.)

Over this, layer the sliced bananas and the maraschino cherries; top with hot fudge sauce (preheating a bit in the microwave -- lid off, of course -- will help with pouring); eyeball the amount.

Sprinkle on a layer of toffee bits -- again, eyeball it. Be sure you reserve enough to decorate the top of the cake -- and for the kids to sample!

Over this, place the remaining ice cream sandwiches, layering as before. The top of the dish may be slightly wider than the bottom, so it may take an extra ice cream sandwich or so. I also laid this layer crosswise to the bottom layer, to ensure it wouldn't fall apart along sandwich lines when serving (though it does seem to come together very well upon freezing).

Pour butterscotch sauce atop this, then spread with whipped topping. Sprinkle the top with a few reserved toffee bits.

Place in the freezer for several hours or overnight.

Note: This dish is VERY heavy, and may be pretty drippy at this point! I put some parchment under it in the freezer to catch any spills. If you have the freezer space, it'd probably be a good idea to set the cake on a baking sheet.

To serve: Before cutting, run a warm, wet washcloth along the outside of the dish to help slightly loosen it from the pan (this also cleans up any sticky mess that may have occurred!) Using a sharp cake server or knife, cut into 16 equal squares. (Dipping the server or knife into a bowl of hot water between cuts helps!). Serve immediately. Store leftovers in the freezer, lightly covered, for a week or so (if it lasts that long!) :)

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Gingerbread Tool Box for St. Joseph the Worker

We’ve never made a gingerbread house in our home at Christmastime, despite the fact that doing so is very appealing to my children. Maybe that’s because we do so much else in the buildup toward Christmas that [I’m overwhelmed by the mess and the expense and the potential for disaster] it’s easy to overlook.

But in this quiet time after Easter, it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. Especially when – to my little boys’ delight – the theme is not feminine swirls of icing on a pretty little house, but TOOLS!

The use of a traditional Christmas recipe like gingerbread to commemorate this feast strikes me as especially appropriate, given St. Joseph’s significant role in the Christmas story. I also like having this tasty design as our centerpiece at this point in our history – given our uncertain economy right now, a reminder to pray especially for those in need of work (as well as for continued stability those who are fortunate to maintain their jobs) seems fitting. Who better a patron for these times than St. Joseph the Worker, after all?

I found a website describing the general process for designing a house, using posterboard as a template. If your template can be lightly taped together and stay standing, the author suggested, it’s a good bet your gingerbread structure will hold up, too.

Armed with that encouragement, I grabbed a piece of old posterboard from behind a cabinet – helpfully imprinted with ½” grid – and set to work on a simple divided box design.

It held!

“Boys,“ said I, “We’re gonna make us some gingerbread!” :)

There are many steps involved in making a gingerbread structure, and, given that I would be doing this with my children, I found it was easier to spread the activity out over several days:

• one for designing and testing the template
• one for mixing up the dough and baking (I was really surprised to discover how long the slabs needed to be baked!)
  
• and one for assembly and decorating.

Even if I were doing this entirely by myself, I can imagine getting pretty tired of the whole thing long before it was done, were I to go for an all-day marathon session. We started this on Monday, and finished today (Wednesday). Your temperament (and attention span) may vary.

Step One: Design

I just drafted a decent-sized box and set of tools, and went with it. If I had to do it over again, I would’ve cut my poster board first into pieces that fit onto my 14x18” and 9x12” cookie sheets, and scaled my pieces more efficiently from there. There really isn’t any reason for the size I went with (12”l, 8”w, 4”h), except that I think I had a large cereal box in mind as I drew, and those numbers work well with a ruler and a grid. The finished piece is pretty much “life-sized.”

For the tools, I used a bit of clipart found in my Excel program for inspiration, and eyeballed them to scale for the box. The saw, at 5x15”, is the largest.

We laid the template pieces flat out on the table, bottom edges touching, and “basted” them with a couple small strips of tape. Next, I set the handle insert in the middle, and lightly taped it to the bottom. Finally, I lifted the sides up into their box shape, taped the upper corners and secured the handle piece to the sides. I set the tool templates into the box to see if I liked the overall scale before continuing, too.

Of course, you can make any structure, with any theme, so long as your basic shape holds when you tape your template together! Box-based shapes are, of course, the easiest to work with.

Step Two: Dough Slabs

This recipe (which follows) makes 9 cups of dough, which is enough for two and a half 12x16” slabs of unbaked dough, ¼” thick (just enough to make the tool box and tools proportioned as I have here). For planning purposes, you may be interested to know that it uses most of a 12 oz jar of molasses, at least a pound of brown sugar, nearly half of a 5 lb bag of flour, and 3/4 of a pint of heavy cream.

With this recipe, you par-bake the dough for 30 minutes at 275 degrees F, then remove it from the oven to trace out and separate the pieces with a sharp knife (a pizza cutter is handy for the long, straight box lines). The dough is then baked for an additional 75 minutes (total baking time: 1 hr, 45 minutes).

Here is the Recipe (by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone for About.com):

• 1-1/2 c whipping cream
• 1 t vanilla
• 2-1/2 c firmly-packed brown sugar
• 2 T baking soda
• 1 T ground ginger
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1-1/3 c molasses
• 9 c all-purpose flour

Line 12x15” rimless baking sheets with parchment, and preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Whip cream and vanilla together until soft peaks form; set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, baking soda, ginger & cinnamon. Add to the whipped cream, along with molasses, until well-combined.

With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the flour, beating until completely mixed. (This turned out to be a little too much for my little beaters, and I stirred in the last cup or so of flour by hand.)

Of course, I had helpers.

I then rolled out the dough directly on the parchment-lined pan, after first giving the parchment a good sprinkling of flour. Place a little less than half of the dough on the parchment and flatten slightly; sprinkle with a little flour and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap to make it easier for the kids to succeed in rolling (I love doing this for myself, too). Because most of my pieces were rectangles, I added dough as necessary to fill the pan as we rolled, and squared up the slab edges with a pizza cutter before baking. I also used two ¼” dowels and an extra-long rolling pin to help maintain an even thickness.

Bake as described above – don’t forget to cut out the individual pieces using your template and a sharp knife after 30 minutes of baking! After cutting, the pieces should be loosened and separated, and extra dough removed (for grateful snacking by same crew) before returning to the oven for additional 75 minutes of baking.

Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling. The resulting shapes will be very solid and hard, and fairly easy for the novice to work with. (Thinner pieces would probably look nicer, but in the end, the thicker ones were, I think, pretty forgiving.) All three of my children found the cookies to be irresistible, and the house smelled like Christmas!

The original recipe has alternate temperatures and baking times for slabs of varying thicknesses, as well as many baking and decorating tips.

Construction

Good news on the construction front: Icing covereth a multitude of sins.

Despite my best efforts to keep my pieces square, the resulting baked pieces weren’t. In the end, it really didn’t matter, though: Thickly-applied Royal Icing makes a superb “construction cement” and dries rock-hard. I was even able to successfully repair our Carpenter's Square cookie, which my excited 3 yo dropped on the table. The only real construction challenge in my particular design was getting the center piece, which turned out to be slightly too long, to fit: I chiseled a 1/2” wide channel in one end piece, and shaved the edge of the handle piece as well, using a serrated steak knife and the bottom handle of a metal toddler spoon, until I was satisfied with the fit.

Any Royal Icing recipe will probably do, but I had success using Wilton’s Meringue Powder (available anywhere cake decorating supplies are sold). Whip together the following at high speed, until stiff peaks form:

• 3T meringue powder
• 6T water
• 1 pound (4 cups) confectioner’s sugar.

I am a stickler for not letting my kids eat raw eggs. The risk probably isn't that great, but I don't like to worry about such things, and using the powder eliminates that concern.

I used brown food coloring gel to tint a small amount (less than a cup) of the icing. The resulting shade was more or less the color of peanut butter, but I thought it looked better than stark white, since we weren’t going for a winter scene here.

To assemble the tool box, I loaded about ½ cup at a time into a quart-size plastic bag, then snipped off one corner. I squeezed a thick bead of caulk --er, frosting along the edge about to be cemented, and after setting the piece, ran a finger along the bead to smooth out the joint. I attached the two long side pieces to the bottom piece first, and was impressed with how little support was needed to keep the pieces square – though I did set a thick book next to each side, just in case. I also gave these first two pieces about 15 minutes to set before adding next one short side, then the middle handle piece. The chiseling of the final side was the only adjusting needed, and the sturdy piece was then left to dry, unsupported, overnight.

The result is a very heavy, rustic-looking, not-ready-for-Food Network tool box. :)

After that, the only thing left to do is ….

Decorate!

There are no rules here, of course – you go to town with whatever appeals to you and your kids!

We experimented with trying to make a wood grain appearance on the outside of the box. I settled for a simple glaze:

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• ¼ c milk – skim, to keep it from being too white, and to ensure it will dry completely

We glazed the entire box and let it dry; then I tinted more glaze with a whole lot of brown gel (as dark as I could get it) and painted lightly over the white glaze with a couple different kinds of brushes (sterilized 1/2” easel brush and a silicone pastry brush, mostly).

I had planned to let the kids decorate to their hearts’ content using leftover Easter candies; however, you can’t do much with marshmallow peeps. :) Anyway, once the "wood grain" dried, it looked so nice I thought adding more would be overkill. So, instead, we just opened up 8 Hershey Kisses, and used brown-tinted frosting to "glue" them on the long faces of the box as if they were screws. Ta-daah!

The rest of the Royal Icing was tinted in cheerful shades of red, yellow, green and a very pale blue, with some left white; this was used to paint the tool set.

When everything was dry, we put it all together to honor good St. Joseph. At my 5 yo son's insistence, we put out a toy set for young Jesus to play with alongside his Foster Daddy --because every little boy knows how important that is! (As he put the toys together, he was heard to say, "Oh, Baby Jesus will love this!") :)

St. Joseph the Worker, Pray for Us!

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Galette des Rois

Here is a tasty version of the traditional French Kings’ Cake, complete with a hidden feve inside, to celebrate Epiphany. It is surprisingly easy, made with frozen puff pastry and a rich, creamy filling made with either purchased or no-fuss homemade almond paste. And it looks like it came from a fancy bakery!

I found several versions of this cake recipe online, and they are all very similar. While I don’t claim that my result is exactly “authentic” from a traditional French Cuisine perspective, it makes for a beautiful presentation, and was fun to share at our Epiphany Dinner Celebration! (It would make an excellent brunch pastry, as well!)

The feve, by the way, is a small dried bean or ceramic figure – we used a little ceramic animal found in a tea box – that is hidden in the cake before it is baked. The cake is traditionally topped with a paper crown: Whoever finds the feve puts on the crown and is King for the Day!

Ingredients:
1 recipe almond paste (simple recipe follows), or ½ c purchased almond paste
¼ c granulated sugar
3 T unsalted butter
1 egg
¼ t vanilla extract
¼ t almond extract
2 T all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 (17.3 oz) pkg frozen puff pastry (thawed out of the package for about 40 minutes at room temperature)
1 dried bean or tiny toy (don’t forget to tell people it’s there – and watch small children!)
Egg wash (1 egg plus 1 T water, beaten together)
1-2 T white sugar
1-2 T sliced almonds, unsalted
Golden Paper Crown (traditional)

Almond Paste:
½ c unsalted slivered almonds
¼ c 10x sugar
¼ c granulated sugar
¼ t almond extract
2-3 T water

In a food processor, process almonds until a fine powder. Add sugars and extract, and blend thoroughly. Add enough water to make a paste consistency. Refrigerate until ready to use in above recipe.

Directions for Pastry:
Place prepared almond paste into a food processor. Add about half of the sugar, and process until well-blended. Add butter and remaining sugar, and process until smooth; blend in 1 egg, vanilla, almond extract, flour and salt. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.

Dust the parchment lightly with flour, and unfold one sheet of pastry onto it. Roll lightly in all directions, from the center out, until you have an 11” square. Using any circular dish or pan that measures about 11” across, trace a circle onto the dough with the tip of a sharp knife. Remove excess dough, and place pan in refrigerator.

Prepare second sheet on a cutting board in the same way, dusting with flour, rolling out and tracing a circle. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Take first sheet out of the refrigerator.

Place the almond filling over the pastry circle, spreading to about 1-1/2” from the edge. Place the bean or feve into the filling. Remove top sheet from the refrigerator and place atop the filling, lightly pressing edges to seal.

Brush the top crust with the egg wash (using about ½ of the prepared wash); then score in a diamond pattern all across the top. Make several small slits to allow steam to escape (if you scored a little too deeply in a few spots, this will suffice!)

Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. (Caution! Any peeking during this time will result in under-puffed pastry!) Remove from the oven, and brush lightly one more time with remaining egg wash. Sprinkle with almonds and sugar. (The almonds and granulated sugar are not a traditional topping for this cake, though it’s gorgeous and flavorful! As an alternative, you can skip the second egg wash and sprinkle the top with 1 T of 10x sugar instead at this point, which will glaze the top and really show off your cut pattern!)

Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is a deep, golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool (I used a cookie sheet to facilitate this).

Finally, set a crown atop (or, as we did, beside) the cake. We made a game of choosing slices: I cut the pastry into six equal slices (for the six of us at home, of course), and then, starting with the youngest, let each person choose a slice. (Use your best poker face while you slice, lest you inadvertently discover – and give away! – the location of the feve!) When everyone had a slice, we all lightly poked our slices with a fork to see who would be King for the rest of the night! (Then I quickly cut the children’s slices in half before they started eating, and saved the rest – this is pretty rich!)

Makes 12 servings.

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Una Fiesta Mexicana

For the Feasts of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, my children and I are pulling out a few of our favorite Mexican and Mexican-inspired recipes to share with you today. One of the most delightful things about this particular selection of Mexican fare is this: Not only are these recipes supremely easy and delicious, they are nearly all exceptionally kid-friendly to prepare!

First, a simple tortilla recipe:

Flour Tortillas

• 3 c unbleached flour (or whole wheat, or regular all-purpose, if that’s what you’ve got)
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• ¼ c (plus a little (1-2 T) extra – no need to measure exactly) vegetable shortening
• 1 to 1 ¼ c warm water

Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Add the shortening, and let the children squeeze and mix them together with their (sterilized, I’m sure) fingers, as if lightly playing in the sand, until the shortening is evenly incorporated.

Next, add the warm water a little at a time, tossing together (still with your hands, if you like!), until the mixture forms a soft dough that is not sticky. Go ahead and knead it a few times, adding a sprinkling of flour if needed, to make it smooth.

Now divide the dough into 12 evenly-sized balls, and let rest for 10-15 minutes, while you straighten up and set up your work area for rolling out!

Here’s how we do it: Each “roller” gets a piece of parchment or “press-and-seal” (sticky side down) sprinkled with a little flour. One dough ball is lightly flattened in the center of the paper, then sprinkled with a little more flour. On top of this, a piece of plastic wrap is carefully laid across. Then the child rolls out a circle – starting each roll in the center. It helps if the first few rolls are done somewhat lightly, until a reasonably circular shape is achieved – though, of course, perfection is unnecessary. Roll them fairly thin, or to about 8-10” in diameter. (Also, it is easier for kids to roll these out if they pick up the whole paper/tortilla package and quarter-turn it, rather than trying to readjust the rolling angle each time.)

We then flip the two layers of paper with the tortilla in between upside down, and carefully peel off the parchment for re-use; the unbaked tortilla is then placed, plastic-wrap side down, in a pile with each of the other tortillas as they are rolled. If desired, a moist paper towel can be placed lightly on top of the pile to keep the top tortilla from drying out. (If you find that the tortillas are sticking to either paper, just use a little more flour when rolling out.)

Once the rolling is well-underway, heat a 12-15” dry frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. It should be well-heated and ready by the time the last tortilla is rolled.

The next part is best handled by an adult: Each tortilla is then peeled off the plastic wrap, and placed in the hot, ungreased pan to be cooked on each side. The tortilla may bubble slightly and appear slightly dry as it bakes, and will have brown speckles on the underside when it is ready to flip/remove. It will take less than a minute on each side, so watch them carefully!

Place the tortillas atop each other inside a warm, clean kitchen towel until all are baked. They are best served immediately, but can be stored in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag (and can be reheated in the microwave before filling).


Homemade Tortilla Chips

Warning: These are so tasty, you may never want to go back to those pre-packaged imposters again!

For every 16 chip-serving, you’ll need one (preferably homemade, but prefab work well, too) 8-10” flour tortilla.

Using a pizza cutter, slice each tortilla into 16 (8, for larger chips) wedges. Fill a large frying pan with about ½” of vegetable oil, and heat to medium-high (lower heat immediately if it begins to smoke!) Place a small scrap of tortilla in the oil as a “test;” when bubbles begin to sizzle around it, the oil is ready.

Again, this part is best done by an adult: Place 6-8 wedges into the oil (don’t let them touch) using a pair of tongs, and watch them carefully; they cook very quickly! The chips will form bubbles and appear slightly dry around the edges when they are ready to turn. If they begin to brown, they are overdone! Flip them, and remove as soon as they appear firm.

Drain on a paper towel-lined tray, and sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool somewhat before eating. Continue to cook in small batches until all the chips are done. Enjoy with your favorite jarred or homemade salsa – or with this next yummy dip!

Tortilla Chip Dip

• 1 (8 oz) container of Bison-brand French Onion Dip (you can try a different brand if you can’t get Bison in your area; but since it’s the best French Onion Dip ever made, bar none, you may want to consider moving.) :)
• 1 (8 oz) bar of cream cheese
• 1 package of Taco Seasoning Mix (or one recipe of seasoning mix, to follow)
• Shredded lettuce, cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes (optional)

Soften the cream cheese in a medium-sized mixing bowl with beaters or a fork, until light and fluffy; mix in remaining ingredients until thoroughly combined. Serve as is, or topped with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and/or shredded cheddar. Serve tastefully surrounded with freshly-made tortilla chips.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

This is easy and delicious, and a great help if you are all ready to make tacos and suddenly realize you have no mix on hand! Since it’s made from common kitchen spices, you may never need to make an emergency taco-spice run to the convenience store again! You can vary any of the spices to taste, to make your own custom blend. One recipe equals one package of mix (suitable for seasoning 1 lb of meat for tacos).

• 1 T flour
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t paprik
• ¾ t salt
• ½ t onion powder
• ½ t cumin
• ¼ t cayenne pepper
• ¼ t garlic powder
• 1/8 t oregano, crushed
• ¼ t sugar (optional)

Mix all together in a small bowl, and use in any recipe calling for one package of taco seasoning. If not used immediately, store alongside other spices, in a small sealed container.

(To make taco filling, brown 1 lb of ground beef in a large skillet; drain fat. Add seasoning mix, and 2/3 c water; mix thoroughly. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes enough for about 12 tacos.)

Finally, no Christmas Season in our home would be complete without one of our all-time favorite cookies:

Mexican Wedding Cakes

• ½ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter (not! Margarine), softened
  
• 1 t vanilla
  
• 2 ¼ c all-purpose flour
  
• ¼ t salt
• ¾ c very finely-chopped pecans
  
• More confectioners’ sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix thoroughly sifted sugar, butter and vanilla. Sift in flour and salt; work into creamed mixture with nuts until dough holds together.

Shape into 1” (about thumb’s width) balls. Place on ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet; bake 10-12 minutes or until set, but not brown.

While still warm, roll in confectioners’ sugar. Cool completely, then roll in sugar again. (Don't skip either rolling -- this is what makes these cookies melt in your mouth!)

Makes about 4 dozen.

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In Honor of the Korean Martyrs

Note: Since I’m posting this before the feast, the pictures will be added later! But don’t let that stop you from enjoying some of these yummy recipes honoring the Saints of Korea! (ETA: Pictures added!)

This Saturday, we commemorate the Korean Martyrs –Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and their Companions. Because of our two little Korean boys, these Saints have come to have a very special meaning for our family.

Catholics comprise only about 10% of the population in Korea, but they have an inspiring faith history! They boast one of the largest numbers of canonized saints (103!) of any country in the world.

An interesting note about the history of Catholicism in Korea, as I understand it: Our Faith came to Korea, not from missionaries, but rather through the study of some scholars, who were investigating Christianity for themselves. They were so taken with the truth they found in their study of Catholicism that they began its practice all on their own. In fact, they were celebrating their own Mass for many years, until finally a missionary was able to come from China, and informed them that they needed an ordained priest for the celebration to be valid!

St. Andrew Kim Taegon was the first native-born Korean to become a priest, and provided an heroic example for others to follow. Paul Chong Hasang, aptly named!, was a great lay apostle for the faith. For centuries, the Korean dynasties were actively resisting influences from outside their country which they felt threatened the integrity of their native culture. In the face of severe persecution, Paul Chong Hasang wrote an important letter to his emperor explaining that the Catholic faith posed no threat to his rule. For over 100 years, however, Catholics were horribly persecuted, and thousands lost their lives for their faith. All of the 103 saints commemorated on September 20 were martyred, many facing unspeakable torture prior to their deaths.

Our family is proud to honor these great Saints. Both our sons have middle names honoring them, and in turn, we honor our sons and the culture into which they were born, in our celebration of this feast.

And feast we do!

Our favorite Korean dish is Pork Bulgogi, a delicious and spicy Korean barbecue. (It’s a very widespread Korean dish—I once heard it referred to as “The National Dish of Korea!” Once we stopped for a picnic along the NYS Thruway during a long trip, and a Korean family was cooking up some bulgogi on the grill at the next table!) What follows here is my own version—we like to call it “Eileen’s Irish Pork Bulgogi”—but the flavor is pretty authentic. What I’m most proud of, in addition to it being very tasty and easy to pull off, is that it is created from ingredients readily available at our local grocery store, here in the middle of nowhere!

The most fun thing about Bulgogi is the way it’s eaten. Once you prepare the meat from the recipe below (or a more authentic one – try this one (for a less spicy beef) from a recent Food Network show, or from the book, Cooking the Korean Way, if you like!), you’ll need the following for each serving:

• 1 leaf Romaine lettuce (or any large green leaf lettuce other than iceberg), with the hard core cut out


• 1 clove of fresh garlic (I usually halve or quarter them, depending on the size)

• 1 (1/2" or so) piece of green pepper

• 1-2 T boiled white rice

• a few pieces of prepared Bulgogi

• Yangnyum Kangang Sauce (spicy and delicious -- recipe follows!), to taste, as a seasoning or for dipping

Place everything in a small mound on the bottom third of the lettuce leaf, being careful not to overstuff. Wrap and roll the lettuce leaf into a small package – sort of like a 2-3” soft taco. If you can, pop the whole thing into your mouth at once, for full flavor (I usually end up taking bites, but then you end up with all of the garlic on half, and none on the rest. Either way: Mmmmmm!)

So now that I’ve (hopefully!) got you wanting to try this for yourself--and with apologies to anyone who has "real" Korean cooking skills!--here’s how I make it!

Easy Pork Bulgogi

• 2 lb boneless pork tenderloin, sliced thinkly as for stir fry


• 3-4 T Hot Chili Garlic Sauce (Sun Luck brand is the only kind our grocery sells, and the closest thing to chili paste that I could find)

• 3 t cooking oil


• 1/2 to 1 t finely-chopped ginger (we use jarred, but fresh is great)


• 1-2 T honey


• 2-4 T low-salt soy sauce

(I usually double the marinade recipe above, and use it as described in the instructions below.)

Mix all ingredients except pork in a small bowl—go easy on each ingredient so you can adjust the flavor to taste (more honey if it seems too salty; more soy if it seems too sweet, more heat from the chili garlic sauce, etc. I’ve found that the heat increases in cooking, so keep that in mind, too.) Add the pork, being sure to coat the pieces evenly; allow to marinate for about 15 minutes or so (you can marinate it much longer, even overnight, if you want—we usually don’t).

Cook in a single layer over a grill (on foil, or a very narrow grill grid), or in a frying pan, over medium-high heat; or under the broiler. Carmelization is key, but you don’t want to burn it! It should only take a few minutes per side. When all the meat is cooked, bring the remaining sauce to a full boil in a saucepan, and continue to boil for at least one full minute; toss with the cooked meat and serve.

Yangnyum Kangang Sauce

• 1/4 c low-salt soy sauce


• 2 T water


• 1 T rice wine vinegar


• 2 t hot chili garlic sauce


• 1-1/2 t toasted sesame seeds, ground

Mix all ingredients together. You can divide the sauce among several small individual dishes, or pass to serve (American style). We usually spoon a small amount over the filling before wrapping up the lettuce, but you could also dip the finished wrap into the sauce.

If you really want to be authentic, you’ll want to serve Kim Chi on the side. Kim Chi is a spicy fermented cabbage dish, which I have not yet tried to make. At this Irish-German-Korean home, we pair up Bulgogi with one (or both!) of the following tasty side dishes: Colcannon—a cabbage and mashed potato staple in Irish homes, which we “kick up a notch” by adding crumbled bacon and onion; and Creamy Coleslaw.

(We’re a very multi-cultural family, what can I say?) :)

The coleslaw in particular is a terrific complement to the spicy pork, at least to this American palate. At our home, at least, our little Korean men give this collection of dishes “Two Thumbs Up.” We hope you will, too!

Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions, Pray for us!

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A Quick Little Post for St. Lawrence

As part of my planning for our upcoming school year, I was, just this morning, putting together a list of our family's Patron Saints-- something I hadn't done before, and so was not aware of the actual dates of each Patron Saint's feast. One of them is St. Lawrence, who, had it not been a Sunday, would have had his Feast Day, today!

(St. Lawrence is my own dear husband's Patron Saint, so I'm actually glad to have "caught it" on time!)

Obviously, I am not prepared to do justice to this right now, but just in case you want to honor dear St. Lawrence in your travels today, you may want to know the following:

• St. Lawrence, who was martyred over an open flame (and is famous for quipping, "You can turn me over now, this side is done!") is the patron saint of cooks! Perhaps you might present your cares to him for his special intercession, as you're preparing meals for your family today.

• Because of the manner in which he was martyred, it is a tradition to eat a cold meal on St. Lawrence's feastday. Sandwiches, subs, cold soups or any chilled entrees in your repertoire would certainly be appropriate (if you're like me and are still puzzling over what to have for dinner!)

• Finally, I can't think of a better reason to go out for ice cream! :)
  

Dear St. Lawrence, pray for us! Pin It

Kids in the Kitchen

Blessed Imelda (d. 1333), whose feast is celebrated as a memorial on May 13, is the patroness of First Communicants. From the tender age of 5, she longed to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, but was repeatedly denied due to her age (at the time, children were not allowed to receive their First Communion until age 12 or 14). So intense was her longing that Our Lord finally came to her Himself as she prayed following Mass, in the form of a Sacred Host hovering over her head. The priest, who witnessed the miracle, took hold of the Host and offered it to 11 year old Imelda. Upon receiving, Imelda went into spiritual ecstasy before immediately joining her Lord in Heaven. Her miraculous First Communion paved the way for eventually lowering the age at which children are allowed to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

I find it touching and special that the patroness for First Communicants – most of whom are little children themselves – should be one so young! How often our little ones hear the word “No,” as did little Imelda – especially when it comes to their desire to help out in the kitchen. In honor of this young saint and the children for whom she intercedes, then, I thought it might be appropriate to write a bit about the joys of including little ones in the making of our daily bread.

Be Prepared.

While I have many times included my children in “spur of the moment” cooking/baking activities, we have had the greatest success when I have adequately prepared for cooking ahead of time. This may involve such things as making sure there’s plenty of room for everyone; that I am positioned to provide greatest assistance and safety to the littlest and/or “grabbiest”; that ingredients and measuring tools are at the ready and easily accessible so I don’t have to keep leaving the work area; you get the idea. Thinking through these things ahead of time ensures that the activity will go smoothly, and “nobody gets hurt.” :)

But I find that my children and I have the best experience of all when I try to match their kitchen activities to their developmental level – meaning, I try to look at what they already love to do and are good at, with an eye to the skills needed to complete a given recipe from start to finish.

All children enjoy having access to real kitchen tools, and all children love to participate meaningfully in the cooking activity. When I was little, nobody ever let me help except to grease the pan. Now, greasing the pan is rarely a “fun” thing (beyond, say age 2-3), if that’s all you’re ever allowed to do. (To this day, I avoid recipes that call for it!!) But cracking eggs and whisking them before dumping them into the batter – that’s a hit at all ages! (Even a 2 year old can learn to do this successfully, by the way. Just have a separate bowl for cracking the egg, a place to put the empty shells, a napkin or towel for wiping hands, and an extra spoon for retrieving bits of shell before adding it to the batter, all right there handy before the cracking begins!)

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the things children especially like to do at different stages of their development, and consider how these skills might be put to good use in the kitchen! For this post, I’m loosely grouping kids this way: Little Kids (ages 2-3); Preschoolers (ages 4-6); and Big Kids (ages 7-10). Of course, there’s lots of overlap between these groups, but as a general rule kids falling into these age ranges tend to be more alike than different. Since I currently have a child in each of these categories – ages 2, 4 and 8 – the groupings work for me! :)

Anyway, here’s some of what I’ve noticed about children at these levels:

Little Kids (2 – 3 years old) enjoy:

• Smooshing, squeezing, spreading, patting and poking with their fingers (Foccacia, anyone?)
• Dumping
• Squirting
• Crushing and pounding things
• Stirring
• Watching and/or making things change color
• Smelling herbs, spices and extracts
• Licking beaters, eating dough and tasting everything that goes into the batter
• Splashing, spraying, scrubbing and dumping liquids back and forth
• “Process” is more important than “product” -- hands on, full sensory experience of the activity is what matters most, while achieving an edible or appetizing end product matters least
• Every step of the process, when lovingly facilitated, can be an occasion for wonder and joyful surprise
• Waiting, turn-taking and maintaining safety are the biggest challenges

Preschoolers (4 – 6 years old) enjoy:

• Pretty much everything that the Little Kids love, but they’re much more intentional, and like to know how what they’re doing will be used
• Using real or modified kitchen tools to chop, spread, slice, whip, peel and stir
• Cleaning and prepping fruits and vegetables
• Comparing sizes – can even aim for a given uniform size, if it suits their fancy
• Making shapes, like balls, logs, snakes, twists, donuts and pretzels
• Creating open-ended designs
• Following a simple recipe, especially in pictures
• Singing about what they’re doing
• Seeing (and tasting!) a finished product
• Helping prepare a simple menu
• Taking “orders” and other restaurant-type play
• Naming ingredients and showing off what they know about them
• Identifying ingredients by taste and smell, and expressing opinions about them
• Love being acknowledged as a “Big Kid” and praised for their efforts
• “Process” is still important, but there is also joy in the product as well
• Waiting and turn-taking are still hard, but can be easily facilitated with a song (we like “He is stirring, he is stirring, watch him stir” to the tune of “Are You Sleeping” as the bowl is passed from one child to another, but any simple, short tune will do)
• Often impulsive – safety is still a major concern

Big Kids (7 – 10 years old) enjoy:

• Learning real cooking skills – they love to learn and follow rules, and enjoy being seen as competent at “grown-up” skills
• Measuring – including “scoop and sweep” vs. “firmly-packed”
• Operating the mixer and other equipment
• Being allowed to work directly at the stove (with supervision, of course)
• Reading and following a recipe
• Looking at cookbooks and planning to try new recipes
• Making lists
• Shopping for menu items
• Showing littler kids “how it’s done”
• Being “in charge” of some aspect of the cooking activity
• Supervision is still necessary, of course, but children at this age are ready to take on aspects of the activity independently, and can be genuinely helpful in carrying it off successfully

A few notes on logistics.

It really isn’t necessary to have all of the children involved in all of the activity all of the time (though if you're set up for it, it can be fun). Because the littlest ones can have a very limited attention span and want to touch and taste everything, I try to keep “whole group” time to a minimum – for example, just for dumping ingredients and stirring, or just for forming cookies, etc. It also helps tremendously if I only attempt cooking with all of the kids together when a teenager or my husband is available to help out – then each of the youngest children can have a grown-up “buddy” to walk them through each step, and one adult can be available as a “runner” as needed, while the other is up close and personal at all times. (And of course, naptime is your friend.) :)

If the children are already happily engaged in other activities, it’s easy to quietly draw one of them away for “their part” of the set-up – prepping – mixing/forming – cooking/baking – cleanup sequence. My 8 year old is great at set up, my 4 year old loves simple prepping, they all love mixing, the 8 year old loves being allowed to help out at the stove, and my 2 and 4 year olds will splash in soapy water with the measuring cups, bowls and spoons all day if I let them, while the rest of us clean up the mess.

I keep my hiking backpack handy in case the 2 or 4 year old needs to be held, while my hands remain free – say, if the 2 year old is on the fussy and tired side. My little ones can be quick to “fall apart” at times, and there’s no better way to calm them than to pick them up and carry them around – but if you’re in the middle of a cooking activity, that’s not always practical or even safe.

God bless the backpack.

Be there.

All children enjoy having special jobs in the kitchen; the trick is to set up the activity so that each one has a special job that they are particularly good at, and can pursue with some degree of independence or happy cooperation with each other.

But you need to be fully present to them throughout the activity. This can’t be stressed enough. Even if you set aside the dangers inherent in any cooking activity – and there are many – the presence of lots of tempting, messy and normally off-limits tools and ingredients can lead very quickly to chaos.

Chaos isn’t fun.

So turn off the phone, forget the dishes and laundry, hearken back to a time before frequent e-mail checking was the rule, and stop multi-tasking for a little while. Make the world go away, as the song says, and set aside an hour or so to “take chances, make mistakes and get messy” in the kitchen with your kids!

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