a little zaftig

Pfeffernusse with Rum and Orange Liqueur Glaze

by Laura 17 November 2010

My Dear Husband’s wonderful grandmother baked peppernuts, or Pfeffernusse, every year for Christmas. They were spiced little bite-sized cookies which she cut into squares, and they were distinctively hers. I have her recipe, but not her guidance, and though we’ve been without her for some years now, it’s still too hard to think of baking [...]

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Chocolate-dipped Lebkuchen

by Laura 16 November 2010

My Honey Girl is a sculptor, and when she was younger she made busts of culinary heroes for me. An animated, joyful Julia Child sits on my crowded cookbook cases across from a serene looking Marion Cunningham. If she ever offers to make another, Duluth, Minnesota native Beatrice Ojakangas will be next on the shelf. [...]

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Sugar Cookies with Almond Cream Icing and Luster Dust

by Laura 15 November 2010

The kitchen nisse were looking over me last night. I was so tired while I was baking that I left six baking sheets of more than 100 sugar cookies in the oven. Overnight. And they were still delicious the next morning! They needed just a couple more minutes when I last checked them, not six [...]

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Almond Biscotti

by Laura 13 November 2010

I don’t think of biscotti as particularly festive, but they’re awfully nice with a couple of shots of espresso, so one year I made a few batches to tuck into my Christmas cookie and candy boxes. They were declared the favorite cookie of the year by my beloved butcher, Austin, and I haven’t been able [...]

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First Snow

by Laura 13 November 2010

How can you help but be a little giddy, when you wake up and this is the view from your window? I squealed a little and Annie and I skipped around the house. Then I put on some Christmas carols, pulled on some clothes and an apron, and started baking Lebkuchen and Pfeffernusse. Oh how [...]

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Snow Light

by Laura 12 November 2010

The snow light has come today to Minnesota, leaden and soft. And it smells like snow is coming, the first of the season. The sky is ashen, colorless; soon the long winter will be here. I’m suddenly aware that the birds have gone. I snapped a few pictures on the trails this morning with one [...]

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Teeny Tiny Spritz Flower Cookies

by Laura 11 November 2010

These are my Honey Girl’s favorite Christmas cookie and the first thing I bake each season. When my Dear Husband and I were first married, my sister-in-law Osa gave me a little Spritz press and inside the box was tucked a little printed recipe. It’s a magical one. The dough is supple and soft, it [...]

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Cookie Baking and Candy Making Plan for Christmas 2010

by Laura 7 November 2010

Every year around this time of year, I pull out my thick, green ring binder. It’s full of lists from Christmases past: menus and recipes, card lists, ideas, letters my children have written. I lug it along with a stack of cookbooks and magazines to a greasy spoon and have a long breakfast all by [...]

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Fall Supper: Pork Tenderloin with Autumn Sauce, Butternut Squash & Buttercream Potato Gratin, and Dark Magic Gingerbread with Butterscotch Sauce

by Laura 3 November 2010

Thumbnail image for Fall Supper: Pork Tenderloin with Autumn Sauce, Butternut Squash & Buttercream Potato Gratin, and Dark Magic Gingerbread with Butterscotch Sauce

I remember the first day I joined my book group. They had been meeting without additions to the group for about a decade, so I was a bit puzzled about why I had the good luck to be invited. They were smart and well read and covered a wide political and religious spectrum. But most [...]

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Pumpkin-shaped Iced Sugar Cookies for Halloween

by Laura 31 October 2010

Except for the years we lived in Tokyo and didn’t have an oven, my Honey Girl and I have made these cookies together every year for each of her 19 years. The icing has become neater, and the faces more symmetrical over the years. And I sometimes miss those wonky cookies with their messy icing [...]

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