This time of year might just be the most jam-packed when it comes to traditions, rituals, food and special music, so you can bet Cultures Capsules has something special going on.
This is the story our our own family’s favorite tradition, told through lots of recipes, a great playlist, and a fun art project. Merry, Merry!!
story
Traditions
This time of year, conversations naturally turn to traditions. No matter what you celebrate, the fact is that in most locations around the globe, school lets out, some offices shut down, and families and friends come together in some way, shape or form.
For us, it’s time for a tradition our family looks forward to year round: our annual Cookie, Cocktails and Ornament-making Party! It’s an open house to get the Christmas spirit flowing, with friends and family coming and going all day, sampling our holiday treats to sample, making ornaments, and spending time together.
If you know Cultures Capsules, you won’t be surprised that this event fun takes old traditions and spices them up with even more resonance and meaning for our own family. We are nearing two decades of this ever-evolving tradition and it just keeps getting to be more and more fun.
It started many years ago when I didn’t want to decorate my Christmas tree alone, and I also didn’t have a lot of ornaments (and didn’t want to just buy some meaningless ones). So called up some friends to help me make ornaments, decorate my tree, and fill my apartment with merry vibes.
I made them Christmas cookies from my childhood, which included the early versions of the famous Garam Masala Oatmeal Raisin cookies, played Christmas music, and my home did in fact overflow with Christmas cheer, so we continued to do it each year.
Over time we’ve had to adjust to accommodate children and lack of space in our small Brooklyn apartment, and even a last minute postponement to January due to flu, but we’ve never skipped it.
music
Cookie Party Playlist
Our Christmas Cookie & Cocktail Party Playlist (with some missing, like Wynton Marsalis’ incredible version of Rudolph)
Fav Holiday tunes of course! Mostly all upbeat for a party, but gotta throw some slower classics on there, too. It’s nice and long already so just put it on shuffle repeat… and we’ll of course keep adding to it (particularly when I figure out how to add non-Spotify stuff! of rind an alternative to Spotify?!). Also check out the Christmas Tree playlist and the related portrait as well!
story
The Menu
The 2018 menu was mostly classics, save for the Mochi as a nod to our family trip to Japan.
- Garam Masala Oatmeal Raisin Cookies – Always.
- Candy Cane Kulfi – For several years already.
- Cardamom-scented Chocolate Pistachio Cookie – added maybe in 2012, but only started adding cardamom 2014
- Gingerbread Cookies, with saunf, used interchangeably with raisins
- Mochi – representing our visit to Japan this year
- The Cookie Formerly Known as Christmas Twist (Almond-y Sugar Cookies with Saunf) – meant to have a naming contest. Next time
- Pralines – Easiest, most delicious (if finger burning) recipe.
recipe
Cardamom-scented Chocolate Pistachio Cookie
Cardamom-scented Chocolate Pistachio Cookie
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups salted, shelled pistachios (not dyed red), finely chopped (7 oz)
- 1 rounded cup fine-quality bittersweet (70%) chocolate pieces (~6 oz) not unsweetened!
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour T65 in France
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tsp cardamom powder (at least!)
- 133 g butter softened ~1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
- 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar light preferred, but dark works
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Put on some good music and prepare something nice to drink because the chopping part is hard work.
- Measure and separate chocolate. Finely chop 3 1/2 oz of it (just over half to stir into the dough), and the rest broken into larger pieces to melt a few steps later. On the same board, finely chop the pistachios and keep aside.
- Set a small pot with an inch of water high. When hit boils, reduce it to a simmer, and melt the larger-chunked, smaller amount of chocolate via the steam of the simmering water. Continuously stir until smooth and fully melted. Remove bowl from heat and keep aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift (or just stir) together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cardamom.
- Beat together butter and brown sugar with electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, then beat in egg and vanilla until combined well. Add flour mixture in batches and mix at medium speed until just combined, then beat in melted chocolate until incorporated. Stir in pistachios and chopped chocolate. You will think there is too much pistachio and chocolate to mix in but it's not!
- Divide dough into 6 equal portions and roll each piece into a 12-inch long log (3/4 inch thick). Wrap each log in parchment paper (to also cook on later), and put all of them in a ziplock bag. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.
- Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line the parchment paper on cookie sheet. Slice logs into 1/4 – 1/3-inch thick rounds and arrange about 1 inch apart (they will spread slightly).
- Cook for 7 minutes, or until tops have cracked. I prefer just barely cracked, but some may prefer a crisper cookie, so cook less or more according to your taste.
- Transfer to rack to cool. Watch them disappear and grab one for yourself before the do! Leave a log or two in the freezer for easy slice and bake at a moment's notice.
Notes
- Adapted from sister-in-law KD, Dec 2008.
- USA – had used Lindt 70% dark chocolate bars, and needed 2 bars
- France: Used Côte d’Or l’Original Noir “idéal pour patisserie.” 200 g = 7oz to use whole bar.
recipe
The Cookie Formerly Known as ‘Christmas Twist’
The Cookie Formerly Known as Christmas Twist (Almond-y Sugar Cookies with Saunf)
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened salted butter (originally called for margarine but I rarely have it around)
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (originally called for egg yolks -no whites- but I stopped discarding the whites and it’s still yum/works)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- food coloring (optional)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- saunf* or crushed candy cane, or rainbow sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Carefully soften butter in microwave (on defrost) if not very soft. Mix butter and sugar on high until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and almond extract and beat on high until fluffy.
- If using, add a few drops of food coloring to desired color (mindful that the flour will lighten the color some).
- While mixing at medium speed, add baking powder and the flour in 1/2 cup increments, just to combine. Do not over mix.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour. This will help the dough and also make it easier to handle. Dough keeps in the fridge for a few days, or roll into 1.5 inch diameter logs and freeze, for slice and bake!
- When beginning to roll cookies, preheat oven to 350.
- Roll out with a bit of flour to about 1/3 inch thick and cut with desired cookie cutter. Add any toppings, as desired.
- Cook on an ungreased cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. for mini-cookies, 6 minutes or until they begin to crack slightly on the top.
- Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer directly to a wire rack to stop the cooking.
Variations
- Twists: The original recipe was a twist of 2 colors, by making thin logs (or snake of each and then twisting them together). For this make 2 batches, and freeze any extra in logs for easy, small-batch slice and bake.
Notes
recipe
Gingerbread Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies
Equipment
- cookie sheets
- parchment paper (recommended)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup softened butter =113g, but I think 125g worked better.
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 3 1/4 cup flour
Optional toppings
- red hot candies make great hearts
- sounf makes nice buttons and crunch
- raisins the classic
Instructions
- Carefully soften butter in microwave (on defrost) if not very soft.
- In a mixer, beat butter and sugar on high until creamy.
- Add eggs and molasses and beat on high until fluffy.
- Add baking soda, salt and spices, and then add flour in 1/2 cup increments, while beating on medium low, just until combined.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and chill for at least an hour. This will help the dough and also make it easier to handle. Keep in the fridge for a few days, or roll into 1 1/2 inch diameter logs and freeze, for slice and bake!
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F (180C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper (or leave ungreased). Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into shapes using cookie cutters of your choice, careful to fit as many in (like a puzzle) to limit touching working the dough. Add raisins, red hots or sounf, as desired.
- Cook until they they just baerly begin to crack on the top (about 5 minutes for mini cookies, but ovens vary, and it depends on the thickness of your cookie!).
- Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer directly to a wire rack to continue to cool completely before storing.
Notes
- Original recipe from my childhood was margarine, and I tried that Christmas 2023. We didn’t love the consistency nor flavor (but that part might have been more about the spices), however Heloise said it was her fave! 🙂
- You can find saunf (candied fennel) at your local Indian or maybe Asian store, or on Amazon here.
recipe
Pralines
I almost never have the exact amount of one of the ingredients so I’ve been fudging it each time, but it’s generally aligned with this recipe. Haven’t’ found a foolproof so I wont share a definitive, but I will share lessons learned (Update 2021: here’s our recipe).
- Be ready to burn your fingertips. The exact moment that the temperature of the mixture is good to drop onto the wax paper in neat, pretty little piles is when it’s thickened up but also still very hot. If it cools too much, it will get a bit chunkier. It will still taste good though! Yes, I’ve tried with spoons but I find a spoon and a finger easiest.
- You know your microwave best: I end up nuking it longer than recipes say because our microwave is so crappy.
- While it’s cooling, don’t walk away cuz you’ll forget and it will harden too much and you’ll be really annoyed.
- Trial & error – The first time I made it I rushed things and the mixture was too runny. The good news is that you only need to try one little pile to know if the mixture is at the right temp / has been nuked enough. If it’s spreading a ton, or it still looks shiny when spooned out, nuke it another minute. If it’s hardened too much, add a tad of cream and nuke it, but it’s better not to get to that point.
recipe
Matcha Mochi
Each year we also love to challenge ourselves to add something each year that tips our hat to recent family travels. For 2017, that meant that we tried our hand at Matcha Mochi to remember our trip to Japan. Matcha Mochi with Anko was a way to recall the formal Matcha tea service we participated in a Tokyo tea house, but in a fun, party-friendly way.
I used a combo of this recipe for the sticky rice coating, and a different recipe for the Anko (red bean paste) filling the bean paste, but I can’t find that in my notes. At any rate, it was tasty, but our version needs more tweaking before I share it confidently.
recipe
Candy Cane Kulfi
Last, but definitely not least is our annual favorite: candy cane kulfi! While I can’t exactly claim to have invented it, I did think it up all on my own circa 2003/4. And a couple years after that when I googled “candy cane kulfi” to see if others were doing it, my recipe was the only thing that came up. Hey, now! Hands up.
Candy Cane Kulfi
Ingredients
- 2, 12oz cans condensed milk 2 x 382ml
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 10 cardamom pods
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract OR 4 more candy canes
- 3 peppermint candy canes see prior ingredient!
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
Recommended
- small silicone molds (we like these mini-cupcake molds because they also make it easy to eat: just pop it out and use the mold as a way to hold it and catch melting drips.)
Instructions
- Open cans and pour milk into a saucepan. Â Add sugar, cardamom pods and peppermint extract (or additional candy canes). Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, taking care not to let it boil, and scraping the sides and bottom of pain continuously.
- Turn off the heat and let it cool, and remove the cardamom pods. Continue to stir it intermittently to help it cool and not clump.
- While cooling, arrange silicone molds in a sturdy and level box or platter that will slide easily in and out of your freezer. Sometimes we need to make a bi-level situation with a piece of cardboard.
- When cool, stir in the heavy cream. Â Using a lipped ladle (save yourself the cleanup), carefully pour the milk into the molds, but do not fill to the top (to allow for expansion and possible spilling when moving in into the freezer.
- Put them in. the freezer. In about an hour, when they begin to solidify (depending on your freezer), sprinkle the last of the candy cane atop the kulfi, to make a pretty garnish and add a nice crunch.
- Let them freeze overnight (unless your freezer is a lot better than mine, in which case 4-5 hours might actually work).
Notes
- Red and white candy canes are preferred because the ones with green melt into a less appetizing colorÂ
- In recent years we used peppermint extract instead of melting candy canes for taste. If you aren’t in the USA, you may have a hard time finding peppermint extract (like here in Paris) so just use 4 candy canes melted into the milk).
Bonus
Simple Ornaments
At first glance this might appear to be quite boring or simple, but there are three reasons this type of ornament making is what I return to:
- They suit people of all artistic levels,
- All faiths can get behind peace doves, candy canes and mittens,
- I LOVE the idea that all of us can take one small thing and all create something SO UNIQUE out of them.
We’ve done a few different shapes over the years but my favorites are the mitten, bulb, candy cane, tree, and new this year: the dove. Download this and cut out the shapes. Then use the cutouts to trace shapes into whatever color paper you want. Of course, cardstock or at least thicker paper will last longer (both in terms of the template and the ornaments), but use what you have and it will be great.
When provided template is printed as possible on an 8.5 x 11 inch paper, then each individual shape will fit at least twice 2 on Paper Source’s A7 cardstock paper (some need some playing with tilting but they fit! Less waste!). For this project, we usually use their Chartreuse, Red, shimmery white Star dream?), sometimes Royal Blue, and next year, Shimmery Gold.
Poke a hole and use a traditional ornament hook, or use ribbon or string. We also like to hang all of ours up using tiny clothespins, which is a holdover from the mittens year.
