Pumpkin pie and cornbread dressing.  National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  Reading The Night Before Christmas to my kids at bedtime.  Watching my children count down the days until Christmas on our advent calendar.  My son’s excitement as he gets to turn on the lights on the tree each day.  My wooden nativity set with the little baby Jesus that looks like an almond.  Singing along to holiday music as I wrap presents.  Setting out homemade cookies for Santa, along with a glass of milk in case he gets thirsty.  Seeing the wonderment and awe in my children’s eyes on Christmas morning as they see that Santa has visited in the middle of the night.  Gathering with our family on Christmas day.  The beauty of giving to others.  Joy.  Contentment.  Peace.  Gratitude.

I hope you have a Christmas filled with love and happiness. From my family to yours, merry Christmas!

Somehow it’s the eve of Christmas Eve, and I’ve still not completed my dessert plans for our Christmas day dinner. Pumpkin pie will be on the menu for sure. It just wouldn’t be Christmas at our house without pumpkin pie. I made a pie recipe from Bobby Flay at Thanksgiving using my homemade pie crust, and it’s a definite winner. I keep going back and forth between a cheesecake. or an almond cake, or perhaps an olive oil cake. I have six Meyer lemons from our little tree just waiting to be used, so I’ll probably try to work them into a recipe somewhere.

Speaking of sweets, let’s talk fudge. With the abundance of gorgeous cookies and desserts that appear this time of year, sometimes it’s the simple things that I crave. Melt-in-your-mouth, creamy chocolate fudge fits in that category for me. I’ve made fudge for years and years, and the recipe I use is the easiest one I’ve ever found. It’s also fail-proof. Whenever I make it and serve it to friends, I inevitably hear stories about how they’ve made fudge and it won’t set up or it just doesn’t turn out right. This fudge? It always turns out right. Always.

The recipe comes from the back of a jar of marshmallow creme, I believe. I have a handwritten recipe card with the recipe on it, and I think I wrote it out back when I was a freshman in college, when I first discovered it. You could probably make it with marshmallows, but this is really the only opportunity I have to use marshmallow creme, so that’s how I make it.

What desserts are you serving Christmas day? Do you go for the fancy ones, or is there a simple sweet that you absolutely must have?

Yield: About 3 pounds

No-Fail Chocolate Fudge

This recipe is tweaked from one that came off a jar of marshmallow creme. It's so simple, yet so incredibly perfect. I never add nuts, but feel free to do so if that's your thing.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups granulated sugar
1 pinch kosher salt
5 ounces evaporated milk
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, either chips or chopped
7 ounces marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract

Directions:

Line a 9-inch square baking pain with non-stick aluminum foil (or use regular foil and lightly grease it).

In a heavy saucepan, stir together butter, sugar, pinch of salt, and evaporated milk. Bring to a full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue cooking until the mixture registers 234°F on a candy thermometer, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate, marshmallow creme, and vanilla. Mix until smooth, chocolate is melted, and all ingredients are incorporated fully.

Pour into prepared pan and cool at room temperature. Once fudge is firm, lift foil from pan, set on cutting board, and cut fudge into squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature for up to one week.

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Here it is, the Sunday before Christmas. The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care [Well, not really. They’re hung by our staircase. We have no chimney.]. I’m almost certain that all of the presents have been bought. Most of them have been wrapped. Christmas dinner plans are in the works, and except for a couple more days of work, I’m ready for this holiday.

I even bought myself a present yesterday – a bottle of St. Germain elderflower liqueur to play with. I heard a podcast about the liqueur earlier this year that piqued my interest in St. Germain. The liqueur is made from fresh elderflowers that grow at the foothills of the French Alps, and they only blossom during a two to three week window in the spring. The St. Germain website has lots of cocktail recipes, and I’m considering making each one of them over the holidays.

Today, though, to celebrate having all of our Christmas shopping done and only two more days of work before some much needed time off, I give you the Châtelaine. The original recipe calls for gin, but I don’t have gin. I used vodka instead. I also had some pomegranate arils stored in the freezer, and I thought the frozen arils made a nice little garnish.

Cheers!

Yield: 1 drin

The Châtelaine

Slightly adapted from this recipe in Food and Wine. The recipe calls for a crisp white wine, and I think Sauvignon Blanc fits that bill quite nicely. I used POM Wonderful pomegranate juice.

Ingredients:

2 ounce Sauvignon Blanc
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1 ounce pomegranate juice
pomegranate arils (i.e, seeds) for garnish

Directions:

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add Sauvignon Blanc, vodka, St. Germain, and pomegranate juice. Shake well. Strain the drink into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with 5 or 6 pomegranate arils.

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