FoodieTots.com

The weather here’s been more wet and dreary than crisp and wintery of late, so comfort food in the form of holiday baking has definitely been in order. I’ve had a cider-based cookie in mind ever since I made boiled cider for those doughnuts a while back. I was envisioning something a little more crisp than your typical apple cookie, so I decided to substitute the boiled cider for molasses in a spiced cookie, resulting in a lighter, more soft and mellow ginger snap type treat.

Recipe: Cider Snap Cookies
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup boiled cider*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Additional cinnamon sugar/maple sugar for rolling cookies

Instructions:

*About the boiled cider: If you don’t have boiled cider prepared (or purchased), boil down 1/2 cup apple cider over medium heat until reduced by half and slightly thickened. Cool to room temperature before using.

1.  Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt together in a large bowl.

2. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add egg, boiled cider and vanilla and mix until well combined.

3. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix on low until just combined.

4. Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes to make it easier to handle. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls, then roll each quickly in cinnamon sugar or maple sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges are firm and cookies appear set in the middle, 10-15 minutes. Cool on cooling rack. Makes about 3 dozen.

Note: I mixed equal parts maple sugar and turbinado sugar for the coating, but a cinnamon-sugar mixture will work as well if you don’t have maple sugar on hand.

Hopefully by now you’ve consumed the last of your Thanksgiving leftovers, and perhaps you’ve already plunged head first into holiday baking. Me, I need a little time to detox, especially as I’m still coming off the dairy binge that was my November visit to Wisconsin. And there’s no better way to cleanse your diet than with this super simple massaged kale salad. (Look for kale at the farmers markets — it’s one of the heartier greens that can be grown after weaker varieties have called it quits for the winter.)

I’d seen massaged kale salads around the web, and a similar marinated kale version, but it was my friend Jill’s kale with apple salad that finally prodded me to make it. I started simple with just the four basic ingredients — salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and Lacinato kale — and proceeded to devour the entire bowl. Well that’s not entirely true, I had some competition from the foodie bebe. I don’t know if it was the bright green color that drew her in, but each time I’ve made this now she slurps it down like pasta. (She even had three helpings while sick with a cold this past weekend — hooray vitamin C!) We haven’t even branched out yet to add fruit or cheese. We also haven’t shared with the boy or kale-and-tofu-fearing husband yet, so I don’t know if the kale-salad love is limited to those without a Y chromosome. Let me know if you’ve shared it with the men in your life. For now, it’s our little girls’ lunch secret.

Recipe: Four Ingredient Massaged Kale Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale, Lacinato or  curly preferred
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Rinse the kale and spin or pat dry. Cut the leaves off the stems and then into thin 1/4-inch ribbons.
2. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage the salt into the kale for two minutes.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice.
4. Toss dressing with the massaged kale and let stand five minutes before serving.

Serves 1 to 4, depending on your family’s love for kale.

More kale salad variations from around the web:

• Massaged Kale Salad Three Ways at Frog Bottom Farm
• Jill’s Apple Kale Salad at Heavy Table
• Raw Tuscan Kale Salad at 101 Cookbooks
• Fully Loaded Kale Salad at Healthy. Happy. Life.
• Kale Salad with Fried Pear Chips at Food52

It’s hard to believe, but here we are at the start of the holiday shopping season. Oh, and Thanksgiving, too. As we surround ourselves with delicious food, friends and family, it’s too easy to stay caught up in our own little world. Of course, this is also the season for giving, and opportunities to do so are plentiful.

This year, I’ve tried to select methods that will resonate with my five-year-old son and help him begin to understand gratitude. Yesterday we dropped off our shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, a small selection of toys, school supplies, superhero toothbrushes and warm socks that will travel to a 5-9-year-old boy in a yet-to-be-determined country. We’ll be able to check our tracking number to see where it winds up, but naturally Africa came up as I explained to my son why there were kids who needed our kindness in order to celebrate the holiday.

It seems most people of my generation were raised with the stern admonition at the dinner table that “there are starving children in Africa who would love to eat your meal.” I remember cutting and pasting pictures of Ethiopian children from National Geographic for an elementary-school report about the famine. It’s almost incomprehensible that that saying, which we treat as a cliché, is every bit as true today.

A representative of the ONE Campaign (you know, Bono’s anti-hunger nonprofit) recently asked me to share this virtual recipe card with a Somali recipe for Date-Filled Sambusas, adapted by Sarah Commerford of What’s Cooking in Your World. The recipe is meant to help raise awareness of global hunger and the escalating famine in the Horn of Africa. You can view the recipe below, or download a PDF copy here. And click here to learn more about the situation in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and how we can help.

I’m not sure if we’ll get to it for Thanksgiving, but I look forward to making these with my kids soon. And I hope you’ll consider working it into your holiday baking plans this season as well. It can be hard to imagine that the food that connects us is so scarce for so many — but hopefully by sharing recipes like these we can spread awareness and band together to help others, at home and abroad.

Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours!
Colleen & the Foodie Tots

One of my favorite things about the holidays is learning the stories behind treasured family recipes. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to holiday meals, and yet I can’t resist the occasional tinkering or experimentation. While our Thanksgiving menu generally resembles the meals I had growing up, I’ve taken a few liberties with some dishes. We rarely spend the holiday with my own family, so I make the sweeter cranberry sauce we prefer instead of my aunt’s cranberry-orange relish, and add blue cheese to my mom’s green bean amandine. Other things, like sweet potato casserole, have made their way to our menu even though I don’t recall having had them as a kid.

For one of the first Thanksgiving meals my husband and I hosted, I decided to add a Southern twist to that ubiquitous sweet potato and marshmallow casserole. (This Oregon girl and New York boy now reside in Virginia; though just slightly in “The South,” there are a few Southern favorites we’ve embraced, like bourbon.) A splash of bourbon and crunch of pecans counters the sweetness, and the result is a fully-loaded crowd pleaser of a casserole that’s earned its place on the table every year. The kids go nuts for the marshmallows while the grown-ups like the sophistication of the bourbon. I’m kidding of course, the grown-ups go just as nuts for the marshmallows as the kids. After all, at what other meal of the year can you get away with topping the vegetables with candy?

Recipe: Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes (about 6 large potatoes)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pecan halves
• 1/8 cup bourbon whiskey
• 2 cups marshmallows

Instructions:

1. Wash, peel and cut potatoes into large chunks. Place in a large pot and fill with cold water to one inch above the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender. Drain.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread potatoes in an 9×12-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, brown sugar, pecan pieces, and bourbon. Place marshmallows on top.

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until marshmallow tops are golden brown. Makes 6 servings.

~~~

What’s your family’s favorite holiday dish? Macy’s wants to know: Macy’s is cooking up a storm at its Facebook page and asking fans to share their most-loved recipes here. Then, fans can vote for their favorites for a chance to win fun prizes! The Facebook contest is open until November 30.

And, you can enter to win a prize right here: Macy’s is offering one lucky FoodieTots reader a choice of one of four products:

–          Martha Stewart Professional Cookware Ceramic Covered Casserole Dish (perfect for sweet potato casserole!)

–          Martha Stewart Professional Cookware Hard Anodized Fry Pans (set of 3)

–          Martha Stewart Professional Cookware Stainless Steel 15” Roaster with Roasting Rack

–          Macy’s Culinary Council Thanksgiving and Holiday Cookbook

To enter, simply leave a comment below sharing which item you would choose and what you’d cook with it. The giveaway ends Friday, November 25 at 11:59pm, Eastern time. The winner will be notified by email so be sure to leave a valid email when you comment (will only be visible to me). For additional entries, tweet or share the contest on Facebook, then leave an additional comment here letting me know you’ve done so. Good luck, and happy cooking!

Update: Thanks everyone for entering our holiday giveaway — the contest is now closed and the lucky commenter is #13, Sara. Check your email, Sara!

You know the drill. The crowd has gathered for the holiday, friends and family are seated around the table and lovingly-prepared food is passed from plate to plate. Just as the chatter dies down, while people dig in for their first bite, your charming child loudly declares, “Ew, this is disgusting!” We’ve all been there. (We have, right?) Well local parents rejoice: The Grille at Morrison House hosts a monthly story time tea with Mrs. B. Who’s Mrs. B, you ask? A children’s etiquette teacher.

The monthly themed teas cater to the children with an introductory activity, kid-friendly menu items (pb&j and egg salad sandwiches, naturally), and story time. All the while, Mrs. B works in subtle tips about proper tea time manners casually throughout the afternoon. Tea is served in the hotel’s elegant tea room (available for afternoon tea for grown-ups every Saturday, 2:00-5:00pm).

We were invited to attend the Spooky Halloween tea and my five-year-old son had an absolute blast. He was smitten with Mrs. B, delighted to hear they had a “special hot chocolate” just for him and thoroughly enthralled the entire time.

Spooky Tea with Mrs. B

The breaks between the savory and sweet courses helped keep him entertained, and the champagne cocktail for mama made the afternoon even sweeter. As we left he declared that he wanted to return every month. The November and December teas feature Thanksgiving and Christmas themes, naturally, but story-time teas are held the third Saturday of every month. See details below for reservation information. And visit Mrs. B’s website for more info about her other classes and birthday parties. (I foresee a birthday tea party for the foodie bebe someday.)

MONTHLY STORY TIME TEA with MRS. B

The Morrison House
Old Town Alexandria, Va.

Every third Saturday of the Month, 2pm

November 19: Giving Thanks
December 17: A Very Merry Christmas Tea

All ages welcome

$38 adult / $28 child

RSVP
703-838-8000
storytime@morrisonhouse.com

Disclosure: We attended the tea as guests of the Grille at Morrison House. As always, all opinions and reviews are our own.