I'm hosting a party on Saturday afternoon, to which you are invited. It's a Christmas cookie party, which means the primary food will be Christmas cookies. (I had to explain this to a co-worker today. He didn't quite seem to understand the point, but is going to come anyway.) I intend to serve four varieties of cookies at my party. The chocolate chip are done. The sugar cookie dough is chilling. I have what I need for linzer tarts. It's only the gingerbread which remains an open question.
Christmas cookies are an important part of my Christmas traditions. There is a cupboard in my Mom's kitchen which, come Christmas time, always had sprinkles (chocolate, rainbow and colored sugar), those crunchy silver balls, food coloring, and assorted tubes of colored frosting with a variety of decorating tips. All this so that my gingerbread men would be indentifiable from my brother's, and our sugar cookie trees and reindeer would have appropriate ornaments.
My local grocery store should take a page out of my mom's book.
I made myself a shopping list and went to the grocery store after work. I got the spices I needed. Got the orange juice for the mulled wine. Got extra flour. And then stood for a very long time in front of the decorations shelf. It's not that big, so I'm sure my fellow shoppers were wondering what there was to contemplate.
There were the shiny crunchy silver balls. There was food coloring (imported from the US). I even found some smallish tubes of colored writing frosting. But where were the rainbow sprinkles? Where was the green and red sugar? Everything was pink and white! Apparently the only occasions for which the English decorate cakes and cookies are Valentine's Day and 5 year old girls' birthdays.
And then there was the molasses for the gingerbread. I didn't see it anywhere, so I stopped a passing store employee to ask if they carried it.
"I don't know what that is," she replied.
"It's like black treacle, " a helpful older lady offered.
"Oh we have that!" said the store lady, relieved to recognize the ingredient.
"The taste isn't exactly the same, of course," the helpful older lady told me. "What do you want it for?"
"Gingerbread" I told her.
"Will it be for American people or English people?"
"English."
"Oh. Well they won't know the difference then!"
At this point, her friend joined the conversation, suggesting I try a local health food store. I thanked them and moved away toward the checkout, but before I could get there, the friend chased me down with a box of Molasses Sugar. (This stuff is brown sugar like you've never seen it before. The color of dark chocolate. I could write a complete post about the spectrum of brown sigars available in England. Some other time.)
So my current plan is as follows:
A) Health food store.
B) 3/4 cup Molasses sugar + 1/4 cup water
C) Black treacle
Will let you know the outcome on Saturday, unless you want to come see for yourself!
~~ LeAn
Christmas cookies are an important part of my Christmas traditions. There is a cupboard in my Mom's kitchen which, come Christmas time, always had sprinkles (chocolate, rainbow and colored sugar), those crunchy silver balls, food coloring, and assorted tubes of colored frosting with a variety of decorating tips. All this so that my gingerbread men would be indentifiable from my brother's, and our sugar cookie trees and reindeer would have appropriate ornaments.
My local grocery store should take a page out of my mom's book.
I made myself a shopping list and went to the grocery store after work. I got the spices I needed. Got the orange juice for the mulled wine. Got extra flour. And then stood for a very long time in front of the decorations shelf. It's not that big, so I'm sure my fellow shoppers were wondering what there was to contemplate.
There were the shiny crunchy silver balls. There was food coloring (imported from the US). I even found some smallish tubes of colored writing frosting. But where were the rainbow sprinkles? Where was the green and red sugar? Everything was pink and white! Apparently the only occasions for which the English decorate cakes and cookies are Valentine's Day and 5 year old girls' birthdays.
And then there was the molasses for the gingerbread. I didn't see it anywhere, so I stopped a passing store employee to ask if they carried it.
"I don't know what that is," she replied.
"It's like black treacle, " a helpful older lady offered.
"Oh we have that!" said the store lady, relieved to recognize the ingredient.
"The taste isn't exactly the same, of course," the helpful older lady told me. "What do you want it for?"
"Gingerbread" I told her.
"Will it be for American people or English people?"
"English."
"Oh. Well they won't know the difference then!"
At this point, her friend joined the conversation, suggesting I try a local health food store. I thanked them and moved away toward the checkout, but before I could get there, the friend chased me down with a box of Molasses Sugar. (This stuff is brown sugar like you've never seen it before. The color of dark chocolate. I could write a complete post about the spectrum of brown sigars available in England. Some other time.)
So my current plan is as follows:
A) Health food store.
B) 3/4 cup Molasses sugar + 1/4 cup water
C) Black treacle
Will let you know the outcome on Saturday, unless you want to come see for yourself!
~~ LeAn
Wish we could make it - maybe next year! Have fun!
ReplyDeleteSo how did it go?
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