Sweet Anticipation

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house . . .

The Wenches are kicking off our annual Twelve Days of Christmas posts today, and the classic lines above reminded me that when I was very little, all through the house wafted the scent of my Swiss grandmother's cookies. One of her traditional recipes called for a (complicated) yeast based dough that neded to sit for several hours under tea towels before having a design pressed into them with carved wooden cookie molds—I was allowed to help! Then we popped them in the oven to bake . . .

Another traditional family favorite is a cookie called "Hasselnuss Stengeli". It's quite simple and quite delicious, so I thought I'd share it with you as you anticipate Santa's arrival in the midnight hours by leaving a plate full of goodies by the chimney!

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 sticks butter
8 oz. ground hazelnuts
1 T lemon extract
4  cups all-purpose flour

Cream butter, add sugar slowly and beat until light. Beat in eggs, ground nuts and extract. Add flour and mix well.

Chill for an hour.

Roll out dough into fingerthick logs. Cut into 3 inch lengths. Place on buttered and foured cookie sheets. Baste with egg white. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees

Brush with a glaze of lemon juice and confectioners sugar.

So, do you have a special childhood memory or tradition from Christmas Eve? Please share!

Happy Holidays, everyone! May you all find lots of good books under the tree tomorrow!

Comments

[Shannon]

Your recipe made me think of cookie-making. That was usually done the Saturday before Christmas but sometimes, I'd be baking an extra batch for giving on Christmas eve. I can remember putting together the plate of Christmas cookies with my Dad telling us that he thought Santa especially liked the Russian tea cakes and the rosettes. My little brother insisted Santa wanted Santa Claus' and Snow Men that were decorated with icing. Dad asked if Pat thought Santa was a cannibal? And after the cookies and milk were set out, we were shoo'd off to bed, usually with a reading of The Night Before Christmas with dire threats of waking the parents before five.

The other tradition was my parents taking tea before unwrapping presents, while we wiggled in anticipation. It's amazing how long tea and conversation can take.

[Andrea Penrose]

LOL on the guidance of what kinds of cookies santa would like! And laughs on the dire threats of not waking until 5 am. It was TORTURE not to be able to open the bedroom door and tiptoe down to the tree to peek!

Love the tradition of tea before presents. Very civilized!
We also had a tradition of opening ONE gift on Xmas Eve. That was fun, thinking(Family presents went under the tree on Xmas Eve . . .Santa's presents arrived that night, of course. It was fun thinking all through dinnerabout which which one to open.

[Mary Jo Putney]

My sister and I used to make Christmas cookies together--thin sugar cookies cut in the shapes of stars and bells and angels and iced with colored frosting. The only non-traditional part was that we flavored them anise, which was quite nice and rather different. Someone suggested it to my sister, I think. It wasn't a family tradition. (I do not come from a family of cooks. )

I've always been particularly fond of Russian tea cakes, which I used to make. Basically a short bread dough with lots of chopped walnuts mixed in. Shape into little spheres, bake, then roll in powered sugar. Messy and yummy!

And Andrea, we also opened one present on Christmas Eve. I think parents agreed to that to shut us up. *G*

[Anne Gracie]

My godmother used to make cookies every Christmas and bring us a tin (she always spent Christmas and Easter with our family) and those cookies were part of our Christmas tradition. They were always the same, and came in special shapes — she used some kind of cookie press, I think. I used to eat them by carefully breaking off each section.

I love wooden cookie moulds — I have one that's a big round shortbread mould, with a Scottish thistle design carved into it. The other is a small individual Scottish thistle cookie stamp. Seems to be a Scottishs shortbread theme here.

[Karin]

I love that recipe, it reminds me of the cookies my mother used to make. She was from Vienna. For some reason Europeans seem to use hazelnuts a lot more than we do. I don't have any cookie molds, but I have a large collection of cookie cutters, as well as a cookie press.