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All in Food
This sweet bread recipe is what Joan Mansfield of Rockport, Massachusetts, has been making as long as she can remember; Simple but redolent, it’s a traditional treasure, probably what’s been coming out of country ovens in Sweden since the Vikings returned with the first cardamon pods.
My family is kind of traditional and kind of not. Since I’ve been a child my mother and I have made our own wreaths and garland for Christmas, only we don’t do it every year. Some years someone’s too busy, or not around, or we can’t find the clippers. My family is also members of that mocked tribe of humanity who eat fruitcake. My grandmother - not a warm, round gramma type but a bony, mascara-ed, glamorous Daaahling of a grandmother, made a moist, black glistening loaf every year.
Paris is, of course, the land of gilded meals, meals meant to be shared and celebrated with others, but I learned that the city is also brilliant at serving the lone diner, making them feel nourished spiritually and otherwise.
Marzipankartoffeln - or Marzipan Potatoes - are a German tradition, often passed out to friends in small bags at Christmas time. I’m not German, but long ago adopted these sweet little tubers for the adorable joke of them. As marzipan shapes go, I think these are the funniest and the easiest.
In Europe this time of year one can buy a pound of fresh marzipan to take home and shape into little mushrooms as easily as one can buy Brie. As far as I know there is one, and only one, source for Christmas old world staples like fresh marzipan and fresh citron by the pound in the Northeast: Polcari’s Coffee in Boston’s North End.
Recently, lead by Jason Grow, a bunch of us spent an afternoon putting together tamales. It was so much fun, it made me think there really is no reason why New England shouldn’t abandon the gingerbread-house making business and start embracing tamales as a Christmas tradition. Which project would you rather choose, one at which eggnog is traditionally served, or tequila?
Cilantro and ginger root get in the blender with margarita elements - lime, tequila and sugar - to create a lively emerald cocktail. Herbaceous and citrusy, with that sweet, vegetal tequila note, it’s the exact sip while assembling the Christmas tamales.
Tiny ice cream sandwiches guarantee to amuse and delight the children’s table and the adult table this Christmas. Maybe even the teenagers’. Lark Fine Foods just began making their Cha-Cha's in a mini size.
In these cookies the coconut oil produces a batter that crunches when it’s baked, so you can taste at least two different textures in one bite of cookie: crisp batter and soft chocolate chip. Add oats, walnuts and dried cranberries, and you add three more textures, making a cookie that is now an orchestra, not a marching band, all horns.