Chocolate Pepper Cookies

I started making these cookies every Christmas back when I was a newlywed and my brother-in-law gave me Martha Stewart's Christmas. They are the one cookie about which John asks every year, "Hey, are you going to make those cookies with the pepper in them again?" To which I always reply, "Yes dear, again."

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1/4 teaspoon finely ground pepper, plus more for sprinkling
* 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon good-quality instant espresso powder
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* Coarse sanding sugar, for rolling

Directions

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, pepper, espresso powder, and cinnamon into a large bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
3. Turn out dough onto a piece of parchment paper, and roll into a 2-inch-diameter log. Roll log in the parchment. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove log from parchment paper. Let soften slightly at room temperature, about 5 minutes. Roll log in sanding sugar, gently pressing down to adhere sugar to dough. Transfer log to a cutting board, and slice into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 1 inch apart. Sprinkle each round with freshly ground pepper.
5. Bake cookies until there is slight resistance when you lightly touch centers, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

St. Nicholas Speculatius and Spiced Wine

From

FAMILY ADVENT CUSTOMS

by Helen McLoughlin

THE LITURGICAL PRESS St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota


ST. NICHOLAS DAY

St. Nicholas' feast day, December 6, is one of the highlights of
the Advent season. It is on this eve that our children hang their
stockings. From babyhood they learn to love the kind bishop with
his mitre, staff and bag of gifts--whose name has become parodied
as "Santa Claus" and whose memory is tarnished by commercialism.
In addition to the toys received on this feast, the Christ-Child
and His angels bring other gifts on Christmas Eve; and the Magi a
few more on Epiphany.

Placing less exclusive emphasis on December 25 as the day of
presents and also curtailing its gifts somewhat makes it easier
to place more emphasis on the religious aspects of that great
holy day. Do other children think ours are queer? Not at all. If
anything, they are a bit envious of children who receive Yule
gifts so early and who enjoy such a happy feast as our
traditional St. Nicholas Day party. Having an early gift day also
makes it possible for the children to give some of these gifts as
Christmas presents to other less fortunate children.

Treats of the St. Nicholas party are the exchange of gifts,
genuine Dutch cookies and Bishopwyn (bishop's wine). For children
the wine is grape juice. But the grownups who face the high
December winds along the Hudson River to pick up their children
at our house always welcome the mulled Bishopwyn. Its recipe is
from our favorite cook book, "Cooking for Christ" by Florence
Berger.

1 bottle of Claret 6 cloves 4 inches stick cinnamon

Break cinnamon into small pieces. Simmer wine and spices for
about five minutes. Strain wine. Serve hot.

The Speculatius, a spice cookie from the Netherlands, like all of
Mrs. Berger's recipes, is foolproof.

1 cup butter 4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup lard 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 cups brown sugar 1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup sour cream 4-1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. soda 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Cream the butter, lard and sugar. Add sour cream alternately with
sifted dry ingredients. Stir in the nuts. Knead the dough into
rolls. Wrap the rolls in wax paper and chill them in the
refrigerator overnight. Roll the dough very thin and cut into
shapes. Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) for 10 to 15
minutes.

The dough may be cut into St. Nicholas shapes, or into the shape
of birds, fish or animals. We also like to cut out stocking
shapes and ice them in honor of St. Nicholas, patron of school
boys.

During the party we light the Advent wreath candle, and the
children sing Advent hymns. All classes at Corpus Christi School
have wreaths, but some of the children do not have them at home.
We have found that parents, enjoying their Bishopwyn, have become
interested in the wreath and have integrated the Advent program
of school and home as a result of the St. Nicholas Day party.

Flax Oatmeal Cookies from Cathy D.

-Not a breakfast food I guess, although we eat them for breakfast, especially when we're in a hurry.
-My boys think these taste better than sugar cookies. I didn't call the cookies by their name until everyone had tried them and said they loved the taste.
-Don't overbake these. They don't taste really good when they are too hard.
-We've added cinnamon and that tastes great. I'm going to try adding a bannana or two next time we make them.

"We make a batch almost every Monday and eat them for snack, deserts, breakfast, etc. They're a cookie you can feel good about giving your kids. They keep well if you store them in an airtight container."--Cathy D.

Flax Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1-1/3 cups butter
1-1/4 cup sugar (we use turbinado)
1-1/2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
2-1/3 cups flaxseed meal (high in omega vitamins)
3 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3-1/2 cups white flour
1 Tb baking soda
3 cups rolled oats

In bowl, cream butter and sugars; add flaxseed.

In another bowl beat eggs and vanilla together and then add to falxseed mixture.

Sift together flour and baking soda. Mix in oatmeal and combine with other ingredients.

Form dough into 1-1/2" round logs. Place in frezzer and chill.

Preheat oven to 350. Slice dough logs into 1/4" medallions. Place on parchment lined baking sheet leaving about 2" space btwn. cookies.

Bake 13-15 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

Makes approximately 108 cookies

Nonna's Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

When I was a little girl my nonna used to make these gigantic oatmeal cookies loaded with chocolate chips, raisins, and walnuts. This recipe is sturdy enough to support all those morsels, and still soft enough to make them heavenly!

Nonna's Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

If you prefer a less sweet cookie, you can reduce the white sugar by one-quarter cup, but you will lose some crispness. Do not overbake these cookies. The edges should be brown but the rest of the cookie should still be very light in color. Parchment makes for easy cookie removal and cleanup, but it’s not a necessity. If you don’t use parchment, let the cookies cool directly on the baking sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
INGREDIENTS
2 sticks unsalted butter (1/2 pound), softened but still firm
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt, omit if using salted butter
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg or cinnamon, or 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins or craisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut

1. Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.
2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together, then stir them into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, raisins and nuts.
3. Form dough into sixteen to twenty 2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper–covered, large cookie sheets. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies on parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Buon apetito!