Giftmas 2020: Help the Edmonton Food Bank!
I’m taking part in Giftmas again this year, an annual effort coordinated by Rhonda Parrish for the benefit of the Edmonton Food Bank. I don’t need to state the reasons why helping food banks is more important this year than ever before. We need to help each other. We can’t connect in person, but we can connect with a few bucks that will help fill bellies and add warmth to the world through kindness. If you’re American like me, your dollars will deliver extra bang with each buck, too. $1 = 3 meals.
Rhonda asked Giftmas participants to post on the subject of connections. For me, this year has featured an evolving connection with my son.
He turned fifteen in March. We didn’t get to do his annual birthday trip to IKEA, where he loves following the handout map and the big arrows on the floor, as he has since he was a preschooler. He’s autistic. He loves maps and numbers, and IKEA is all about those things.
Last year, he started high school. It was not a transition without hiccups. He needs routine and quiet. He struggles to understood the chaos of other people. The lead-in to his birthday was the start of virtual high school. It was… tumultuous, to say the least. The kid who needs routine, losing all semblance of it. Me, I’m diagnosed OCD and not much better at handling this stuff than he is, but I have to be the cool-headed parent because if I crack, he will really crack.
I’m also the at-home parent as I do this writer thing. I was the one who had to talk him through the fear, the unknowns. I had to talk myself through, too.
As April chugged along, as masks became the thing, his school days began to find more of a groove. He did, too. He actually found it easier to focus on his work in the online school format. I enjoyed having him around, too, preparing lunch for him and checking in during breaks to see how things were going. It became a situation that bonded us more, as we talked at lunch about the new COVID-19 case numbers for the day and what they meant for our family.
We’ve continued to work through, day by day, as his sophomore year began in the fall. He started out online, then got to return to school for two days a week for three weeks before an outbreak shut his school down in early November. Soon after that, rising case numbers for Arizona forced his entire district to return to online learning to finish out 2020. He’s handled these transitions oddly well. I’m proud of him. This year has been hard, but he has grown in this time. So have I.
That said, I selfishly would like fewer growth-through-adversity moments in 2021, for our sakes and for everyone else, too.
Thank you.
Follow the entire blog tour through RhondaParrish.com and her social media.
Bready or Not Original: Honey Spritz Cookies
These Honey Spritz Cookies are perfectly sweet, and with some added sanding sugar, will make cookie plates bright this holiday season!
I have a love and hate relationship with my cookie press. Sometimes I try to use it for recipes and it is a disaster. Not so with this recipe!
This dough was soft and dreamy to work with. I can only hope that you have a similar experience.
As I used a tree-shaped disc to make my cookies, I added some green sanding sugar. The fun thing about this recipe is that you can make it any time of year and customize it to the season.
Really, the most difficult thing about this recipe was rearranging my fridge to fit in the cookie sheets for their chill time.
Bready or Not Original: Honey Spritz Cookies
Equipment
- cookie press
- 2 large cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- sanding sugar or coarse sugar or other edible decorations
Instructions
- Place two cookie sheets in fridge to completely chill.
- Arrange oven racks at top and bottom of oven, then set to preheat at 350-degrees.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, honey, and vanilla. Gradually add in the dry mixture until just combined. Dough will be super-soft.
- Cookie presses vary in how they work–fill the device with dough, however required, and add decorative disk or nozzle. Press out cookie dough directly onto the cold cookie sheets, spacing 1-inch apart.
- If desired, add colorful sanding sugar or other decorations. Bake for 7 minutes. Switch placement of cookie sheets within oven. Bake for another 7 minutes, until set. Let cool on pans for about 5 minutes then transfer to racks to completely cool.
- Store in sealed containers at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Noel Cookies
We made it to December! Let’s celebrate with these Noel Cookies.
These cookies are a fun mixture of textures and flavors. Chopped nuts crust a soft cookie, everything complemented by a zing of jam.
I used good ol’ Smuckers strawberry preserves for this recipe and avoided large chunks of fruit. Really, use whatever jam you like!
I was a bit concerned about how these cookies would travel to my husband’s work. I didn’t want jam to get everywhere and make a sticky mess. I found, though, that the dabs of jam stayed put and that waxed paper between the stacked cookies kept everything from going sticky.
These cookies will keep for at least 3 days in sealed containers. They might last longer, but you’ll need to test your restraint to find out!
Recipe modified from Taste of Home Best Holiday Recipes 2008.
Bready or Not: Noel Cookies
Equipment
- teaspoon scoop
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter half stick
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup finely-chopped nuts
- 1/3 cup seedless fruit jam or preserves, avoid big chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a big bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- In another bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture while also intermittently adding in the sour cream.
- Use a teaspoon scoop to measure the dough. Roll into balls, then roll each ball in the chopped walnuts. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Use the end of a wooden spoon or another kitchen tool to create a deep indentation in the middle of each cookie. Add a dollop of jam to fill each well.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until set. Let cool on cookies sheet for a few minutes, then move to rack. Store in a sealed container with waxed paper between the layers. Keeps for at least 3 days.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Hard Maple Candy
This Hard Maple Candy garnered the name “Canadian meth” at my husband’s work. By that nickname, I take it that they 1) liked it, and 2) kept eating it.
On a more personal note, this candy could also work as a shiv, because this stuff is like GLASS. Trust me when I say that if you decide to break this into pieces with your hands, you will get little cuts all over. Ow.
So maybe tap the candy gently with the butt of a butter knife or use a little mallet, whatever you have that will break the candy apart without harming your pan, counter, or you.
Once you survive that stage, though, wow will you have a lot of candy to enjoy. Definitely make this to share with a crowd, or you just might go into diabetic shock.
It’d be a delicious way to go, but seriously, I don’t recommend going at all. We’ve made it this far in 2020. Hold on a while longer.
Bready or Not Original: Hard Maple Candy
Equipment
- 15x10x1-inch pan (jelly roll pan)
- candy thermometer
Ingredients
- nonstick spray
- 3 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup water
- 3 Tablespoons maple flavor
Instructions
- Heavily apply nonstick spray to the jelly roll pan.
- In a large saucepan, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Start heating up. Set up candy thermometer and stir frequently as the heat rises to 300-degrees, which is hard-crack stage.
- Remove pan from heat. Stir in maple flavoring. Immediately pour candy into the prepared pan. Cool completely, which won’t take long.
- Carefully break into pieces. Note that this stuff is like candy glass, and if breaking with hands, it can and will cut the skin.
- Pack into individual bags or tins for gift-giving, or stack it in a large sealed container with waxed paper between layers. Can keep for weeks.
