On the Edge: Holiday Style
It’s the holiday season again, and we all know what that means! It’s the season of over-eating and lazing about, and in my mind that’s a good thing indeed – but it is also something else perhaps even more important. It’s the time of year when families put aside any differences and come together for a happy holiday season.
In my home, there is no bigger day than Christmas, and this is reflected in the multitude of recipes that we create every year. Today I’ll be sharing two of my favourites, Mint Snowtops, and Butterhorns. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or don’t celebrate at all, I encourage you to try these recipes; I guarantee you’ll enjoy them!
Mint Snowtops aren’t necessarily a holiday cookie, but this seems to be the time of year when I make these cookies. They are a mint-y chocolate-y treat that evoke the snow on a mountaintop, and are breath-freshening to boot! The recipe is as follows:
Chocolate Mint Snowtop Cookies
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 10-ounce package (or 1 ½ cups) mint-flavored semi-sweet chocolate morsels. (it’s really important to get both the mint and chocolate flavor as well as the color of the chocolate, but if those chips aren’t available, you could use 1 cup of plain chocolate chips mixed with ½ cup of pure mint chips and get the same basic flavor)
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla or vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- Powdered sugar (no specific amount)
Take the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) and combine them in a bowl, but set that aside at first. Melt 1 cup of the chocolate-mint chips, making sure to stir until smooth. (I know many people insist that melting chocolate over boiling water is the correct way to melt chocolate, but frankly, if you’re careful, the microwave works just as well!). In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy, then add the melted chocolate and vanilla. Now that all that mixture is so creamy and delicious, make it more so by adding the eggs. It may look like brown goop, but have no fear! Gradually add the flour mixture, and once combined, add the last ½ cup of chips (Do NOT mix in the chips with an electric mixer. From experience, I can tell you that it will damage your mixer...)
Now, unfortunately, it is time to wait. This dough requires freezing! However, 3 or 4 hours should be enough to make the dough firm enough to continue. Once the dough is firm, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then begin shaping your dough into small balls. This is the fun part – take the balls and roll them in the powdered sugar, then place on baking sheets (don’t forget to spray your pans!). Once the balls are in the oven, let them bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tops of the cookies crack. Let them sit for 5 minutes, then dig in!
If you’re bored while your Snowtops are chilling, you could get started on the other recipe of this month, Butterhorns. These buttery pastries are very special to me, and we only make them once a year for this reason. Be warned, this deceptively simple recipe takes quite literally the majority of a day, but it’s absolutely worth it!
Butterhorns
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 packages of yeast
- 1 ½ cups warm milk
- 5 ½ cups flour
Start off by beating together the butter and the sugar. One you have done that, add in the 3 eggs. Make sure the mixture is nice and smooth before you add the flour. While the butter, sugar, and eggs are mixing, warm up milk to a temperature between 100-110 degrees. Once the milk is at that temperature (and no more, or the yeast will die), add the 2 packages of yeast to the milk, stirring it a bit to activate it. Add the liquid into the butter and sugar mixture, making sure it is again mixed thoroughly.
Add the 5 ½ cups of flour slowly into the mixture, starting with a regular mixing bowl, and shifting to a dough hook if possible after 2 or 3 cups of flour. Once the dough is consistently pulling away from the edges of the bowl, take out the dough, and PLOP it onto a slightly floured countertop. Knead the dough, just a bit, then put the dough into a glass bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, and either place it next to a fireplace, or place it in an oven at no more than 175 degrees. Let the dough raise until it is bulging against the plastic wrap, then quickly remove the wrap, and punch the dough! It will deflate and become ready for the next step. Taking small chunks of the dough, roll it out into little snakes, then curl them around themselves to form little horn shapes. Let the dough rise yet again – and once the dough has risen to about 1 ½ time the size, and bake it in the oven at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Hopefully, your dough will turn out nice and flaky!
While the dough is absolutely delicious by itself, I would suggest a simple icing for the butterhorns, a combination of butter, powdered sugar, food coloring, and milk. This process is very improvisational, so just wing it! We change the color every year, which is a fun tradition to try as well!
I know this recipe may sound complicated and time consuming, but look at the results!
I hope that these recipes treat you as well as they have treated my family over the years, and more importantly, I hope that you all have had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Let’s make this next year just as good as the one past, and earn thousands of points for Ravenclaw! (Couldn’t help myself XD)
