Bowers Sharon - Sweet Christmas: homemade peppermints, sugar cake, chocolate-almond toffee, eggnog fudge, and other sweet treats and decorations

* For Hugh and Pearse, who make life sweet every day of the year *

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Published in 2012 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of ABRAMS

Copyright 2012 Sharon Parrish Bowers
Photographs copyright 2012 David Bowers

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Bowers, Sharon.
Sweet Christmas / Sharon Bowers.
p. cm.
Includes index. ISBN 978-1-61769-000-6
1. Cookies. 2. Christmas cooking. 3. Christmas decorations. I.
Title.
TX772.B68 2012
641.5686dc23

Editor: Natalie Kaire with Elinor Hutton
Designer: Laura Klynstra
Production Manager: Kathy Lovisolo

The text of this book was composed in Filosofia and Gill Sans.

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After the publication of my first two books, my two sons and their friends, I regret to say, expected me to go nuts at Halloween and make all sorts of ghoulish goodies. They also required me to don my candy-foremans cap and oversee candy construction at birthday parties and special events. But thats the problem with being known as a mom who has truck with sweet stuff. The ante keeps getting upped, and after a while, everyone under the age of ten wonders why youre not busting a move at Christmastime, too.

Happily, Christmas is the time of year when I most want to get into the kitchen and open the sugar bin. Homemade candy seems like too much trouble for about eleven months of the year, but in December, every moment I spend watching a candy thermometer seems worth it when peoples eyes light up at the sight of that tin of homemade butter mints or that paper twist filled with sugared pecans. Extra effort when it comes to cupcake toppers or cookie dcor is in order in December, as well; its nice to have an opportunity to show off a little if youve actually bothered to make cream puffs and glue them together with frosting and chocolate sauce so they look like a Christmas tree.

Like a lot of people, however, I occupy that space somewhere between extremely busy and very lazy; its amazing how often the two go together. I cant be the only mom who finds that after a long day of working, managing my familys domestic bliss, and the constant picking up and dropping off of children, Id rather collapse on the sofa than start a new project.

Because of that feeling, I need my Christmas projects to offer some real bang for my buck, or Im not going to bother. For example, should you take the time to caramelize onions and make homemade onion dip for a Christmas Eve gathering instead of zipping open a packet of onion soup mix? Ohhh, yes, a thousand times yes. On the other hand, other projects are kind of nifty and cool for not a lot of extra effort. Unwrap white cupcakes, frost them all over with white icing, and roll them in flaked coconut and luster sugar for fabulous-looking snowballs kids will look at you like you just invented sliced white bread.

Im also a big believer in using whats simplest and close at hand, so you dont have to buy a pastry bag when a zip-top storage bag with a hole cut in one corner will do, and you dont need a lot of special cookie cutters if youve got a paring knife and a steady hand. And while I give recipes for homemade cupcakes and frosting on different projects, know that a cake mix can sometimes be the busy bakers best friend. Choose your battles, I say.

That said, choosing to make homemade goodies is one of the personal battles Ive fought and won during the holidays. As the years go by, Ive found that creating and giving homemade gifts is much less expensive than singlehandedly making my local mall prosperous each Decemberand its also much more satisfyingto me, to my family, and to the recipients of our efforts. My husband and I have found that when were not galloping from store to store, whiny children in tow, seeking the perfect (usually elusive) present, then the whole holiday season passes more calmly, more enjoyably. We actually have, and take, the time on a dark Friday winter evening to go into the kitchen and make pulled ribbon candy, which leaves my kids delirious with joy.

Its a matter of not thinking of our kitchen efforts as work but as part of the seasonal pleasure. So rather than watch TV after school (I mean, um, sit quietly and do homework), my boys are very happy to flop down and tie the ends of wrapped candy into endless garlands to loop over doorframes or around the Christmas tree and to mold little Santa mice out of sticky chocolate dough.

Get into the kitchen and create some new taste memories and traditions. Children will enjoy the holiday season that much more, and your whole family will have fun in the process.

Throughout this book, the recipes call for butter, and by that I mean salted butter. Salted butter is what I buy to eat, its in my refrigerator when I go to bake, and it usually contains enough salt that you dont need to add any more (or only a very little bit) to the recipe. If youre starting with unsalted butter, you may need a pinch of additional salt in a recipe to make it taste balanced. Even sugary dishes need a little salt to temper their sweetness and keep them from tasting flat.

My kitchen cabinets usually contain chocolate chips, so for everyday recipes, I rarely look much farther. To melt them successfully, put them in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave them on high for 1 minute, then stir vigorously with a fork. If the mixture isnt smooth by then, let it sit for a moment or twoyou may find that the residual heat will melt the remaining lumps, but if it requires more time, heat the chocolate only in 10-second blasts, stirring and letting it rest between each zap. This is especially important with white chocolate chips, which are inclined to seize up into a stiff, ruined mass at the slightest provocation.

For several recipes here, Ive specified when better chocolate might be worth the effort. But Im not suggesting you need to special-order Callebaut or Valrhona or look for rare brands at gourmet stores. Nearly all supermarkets now have Ghirardellis in their baking sections, and the 60% and 70% cacao versions will, for cooking, always give you an excellent result. Scharffen Berger is also widely available, and each of these is a