I made peppermint bark this week.
My family loves peppermint bark and it's super easy to make. (Anything I make has to be super easy because I'm kind of terrible at cooking/baking.) All you have to do is melt chocolate (you can do two types of chocolate if you want to be fancy) in the microwave (the melting has to be done in 30 second increments so it doesn't burn), then adding some peppermint oil, then spread the chocolate on a baking sheet lined with foil, and then sprinkle crushed peppermints on top. Let the whole thing cool, and voila! You have a super tasty holiday treat. (BTW, it's easy and fun to make with kids!)
There's the added bonus at the end of getting to crumble the cooled finished product into bite size pieces. Its messy and strangely satisfying to break it up.
The peppermint bark is something I only make during the holidays, and because we only have it around for a week or two right before Christmas it feels super special.
It's funny that there are foods that we only make during the holidays. Because honestly, I could make peppermint bark any time of the year. But if I made it in March, I don't think people would be very excited by it. I'm sure my daughter would just be confused.
It's nice that there are some special treats that show up during the holidays to add to the festive feel. There are a few foods that we consider "holiday only" foods: the peppermint bark, marshmallow salad, and Pfeffernusse cookies from Trader Joes.
Our version of marshmallow salad is a strange mix of mini-marshmallows, plain yogurt, and fruit cocktail. It's a little bit like ambrosia, but it's lighter. You let the mix chill in the refrigerator, and the marshmallows dissolve into the yogurt at bit, so you get a sort of fluffy mush of sweet fruity goop. My daughter and I love it. A lot of people think it's gross. And if we ever have guests over for Thanksgiving or Christmas, they often sort of look askance at it.
But again, it's a unique thing we only make at Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it's something we really look forward to. It makes the holiday meals feel extra special.
And the Pfeffernusse cookies...ah...my mouth waters just thinking about them. They are a German spice cookie covered in crunchy powdered sugar shell. They show up in November and they disappear after New Years.
But it's always very exciting when I see them in stock.
And again, because they only come around once a year, they feel very special.
***
Toni here:
I'm not much of a baker so my favorite holiday foods over the years have come from other people. My mom used to make the best latkes for Hanukkah (potato pancakes made with grated potatoes, flour, and eggs). My mother-in-law used to make the best cookies and candies, which she always displayed on a beautiful silver stacked candy dish. I had to keep from myself from eating everything on the dish when we'd arrive! I can still taste her rum balls and her candied walnuts.
The best I've been able to muster has been a great-tasting pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, a personal recipe I perfected over the years, including a buttery yet flaky crust. I learned to make pies when my husband was a graduate student and we lived in a tiny place in the countryside. Our cottage was at the edge of a huge apricot orchard. There were always lots of apricots left on the trees after the pickers had come through. We were welcome to them, so I made everything apricot: apricot jam, apricot butter, and many many apricot pies.
P.S. I love Mara's marshmallow salad!
So what about you? Do you have any favorite foods that you only have during the holidays that make the season extra special?
No comments:
Post a Comment