Friday, December 7, 2012

Advent Calendar - December 7 - Candies, Cookies and Pie! Oh, My!


The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) gives you an opportunity to write about and share your family’s holiday history 24 different ways during 24 days in December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com. This post was originally published in 2010 and has been edited slightly. It does not follow the suggested blog prompt for the day!

The post about holiday foods was just a warm-up. The only reason to eat all that good-for-you food is to get to the desserts!


By Evan-Amos
via Wikimedia Commons
Candy is a staple for the holidays. Up first - chocolate cherries! My niece Leah recently posted on her Facebook page that she was making chocolate cherries for the holidays. I admire her desire to create this delectable treat, but I will continue to buy mine at the local drugstore. Mama always made fudge and divinity for Christmas. Divinity has all but disappeared from the candy plate, but fudge is still a big favorite. My sister Deanna makes a traditional fudge, usually with walnuts, and Jennifer makes a creamy variety with a special ingredient. (No, I won't tell the secret.) In addition to chocolate cherries, my favorite store-bought Christmas candy is ribbon candy which is getting hard to find. Remember how you would suck on it until the ribbons were like little razors cutting the inside of your mouth?

By Lyn Lomasi (Own work) [CC0],
via Wikimedia Commons
Cookies were not such a big part of our holidays, but I needed the word to make the blog title work! I have had a love affair with cranberries for some years now and am always looking for a new cranberry cookie recipe. The current favorite is cranberry hootycreeks -- a cookie made with white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and nuts (sometimes pecans, sometimes macadamia nuts). In 2009 my granddaughter Krishawna and I spent an entire day baking cookies to give as gifts; we made chocolate chip, cranberry hootycreeks, peanut butter, sugar, gingersnaps, and a couple other kinds I can't remember right now.

My lemon meringue pie!

On to dessert number three - pie! Mama made her pumpkin pie using the recipe from the back of the pumpkin can, with an extra egg and TRIPLE the spices. Once you've eaten it, no other pumpkin pie can compare. The less traditional pie that Mama made and that I make for almost every special day (from the winter holidays to birthdays) is lemon meringue pie. A favorite for many of us, it makes your mouth pucker! I spent quite a bit of time on the internet looking for a recipe that replicates that wonderful tartness that Mama's pie always had.


I do believe that having a sweet tooth is an inherited condition!



© 2012 Denise Spurlock

2 comments:

  1. I've never been a fan of lemon meringue, probably because of the meringue - just never could get past the texture. Well, actually I did get past it by picking it off and going straight to the lemony goodness. My grandmother's lemon pies were the first to sell at every church bake sale. I make pumpkin pies using the recipe on the can too - it's the best!

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    1. Wendy, Lemon meringue pie has always been my favorite, but not everyone in my family shares my passion for it. Several, like you, don't like meringue. But everyone loves pumpkin!

      ~Denise

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