Some Nostalgia For The Holidays

Happy Holidays to everyone! I’m right in the middle of baking and making all of those holiday treats so I thought I’d share a few of my old school favorites. When I’m talking old school, I mean ooooold! A couple of the recipes come from the 1700’s and one has its roots going back as far as 2400BC! So grab a warming beverage and lets get to it!

Starting with one of my favorites seems appropriate. Gingerbread has long been a favorite of many cultures and has the distinction of being the first cookie associated with Christmas. To date the oldest recipe for a gingerbread type concoction dates back to Greece in 2400BC. The Germans take their gingerbread seriously and in 1293 the first gingerbread guild was formed and the cookies began being made in cities across Germany. Nurenberg became famous for their version the Lebkuchen, which is a heart shaped gingerbread cookie inscribed with messages of love. Nurnberger Lebkuchen is a Protected Designation of Origin and must be produced within the boundaries of the city. That’s how serious Germany is about their gingerbread. Gingerbread was also prominent in the early American colonies. It was said to be used as a means of swaying ones votes in congress. George Washington’s mother had her own secret recipe and made the cookies in the shape of the king before the revolution then in the shape of an eagle after the revolution. Who knew a spicy confection could make such a big impact? The recipe that follows is a pretty old one and the dough is dense and takes patience to work with, but it’s worth it!

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• Cream the butter and sugar together using a kitchen aid mixer or a hand mixer or some guy with popeye arms!
• Add molasses and lemon juice and beat again.
• Combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and blend until crumbly.
• Add the cold water and keep mixing until a dough is formed. Knead by hand for a few minutes to get the dough to hold together.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough with a rolling pin to 1/4 inch thickness, cut out shapes using cookie cutters of your favorite design. Arrange the cookies on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until edges of the cookies began to turn brown.
• Decorate your cookies once they cool and enjoy.

The next recipe is usually associated with Thanksgiving but the mighty pumpkin was a staple in Colonial homes and saved many a colonist from starvation during the long cold winter months. In fact pumpkins were so prevalent in colonial cooking that one preacher who traveled from house to house for dinners each night wrote in his journal,(I’m paraphrasing) “dear God please let me have at least one meal without pumpkin in it.” In many early recipes for pumpkin pie , it was more of a pudding than a pie and was usually baked inside another pumpkin. We’re not going anywhere near that right now, but I might consider it for a later post. Today we’re going to use the easiest recipe I know. I’m also going to use pre-made pie crust, simply because there’s some really good ones out there and they are such a time saver. Actually the whole recipe is going to use time saving ingredients.

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 -2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Mix all ingredients together until fully incorporated
• Pour ingredients into the ready made pie shell
• place in the 425 degrees oven and cook for 15 min
• turn oven down to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 35-40 minutes or until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Let cool and serve.
• If you don’t have premixed pumpkin pie spice you can add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. I like it a little spicier so I add a little more cinnamon.
• So simple and time saving for the hectic holiday season.

This last recipe is also very old and probably dates farther back than we know. It was used as a way of preserving meat and had variations such as Pemmican that was made by the Native Americans. Yes, I’m talking about mincemeat pies. When the crusaders came back from the Holy Land in the 11th century they brought with them a variety of spices. Meat was mixed with these spices and dried fruits and this mixture soon found it’s way into a pie. It was considered good luck to eat one of the small pies each day of the twelve days of Christmas. In 1657 Oliver Cromwell the Puritan and self proclaimed Lord Protector of England , banned the celebration of Christmas and soldiers were ordered to take by force any food being cooked for the Christmas celebration, which Cromwell thought to be a Pagan Ritual. This thought spread to the colonies and New England banned mincemeat pies for Christmas until 1681! Somewhere along the way the mincemeat pie transformed and the meat was removed from the recipes. I’m not certain but I’ve always wondered if Sweeney Todd had anything to do with that! Today however I’m bringing back the meat, in the spirit of tradition.

• 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat. You can cook it first then grind or chop to a course consistency.
• 5 pounds Granny Smith apples cored and chopped not peeled
• 3/4 pound of beef suet or vegetable shortening or coconut oil
• 1 1/2 pounds raisins
• 1/2 pound mixed candied peel, chopped
• 1 pound brown sugar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 pound currants
• 1 cup apple juice or Brandy
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Place the stew meat in a large pot and add enough water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and cover, simmering for 1 hour. Drain the meat and grind or chop course.
• Place the meat in a big enough pot to fit all the ingredients. An 8 quart pot should do the trick. Place meat and remaining ingredients into the pot and stirring bring to a simmer. Cover and continue to simmer for an hour stirring occasionally. After an hour turn off heat and allow mixture to cool. It is now ready to use in a pie or freeze for later use. You can use ready made pie crust and use the second pie crust to make a top for the pie or cut the 2nd pie crust into strips and weave a lattice for the top of the pie. You can also find little pastry cups and make smaller pies. I have even used the mixture to make cookies, which I find most people like if they don’t actually like the taste of the pie. Either way its a great piece of culinary history and one you should consider trying if for nothing else than for the sake of nostalgia.

That wraps up this addition of nostalgic holiday treats. I hope you give one or more of these recipes and try and if you do please leave a comment in the box below. I’m still looking for some of your traditions to place in the next post. It doesn’t have to be a recipe it can be something you’ve always done as a family or anything that sparks your holiday happiness. Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Boone Appétit!