With Christmas a few days away, I figured it was time to write about three foods that I miss this time of year. The first two items are pecan pie and egg nog. Being diabetic, the sugar content in both of them would send my blood sugar somewhere into the stratosphere.
Fortunately there are sugar free alternatives to both of these items, which are easily found on line. I have made the sugar free pecan pie and it really doesn’t taste that bad. The egg nog is something I’ll probably attempt later in the week.
The third item on the list that I miss, are my mother’s Christmas cookies. Now this is something where there is probably no sugar free alternative. Maybe I could use a sugar substitute? But how good would they really taste? I know I have the recipes somewhere, and if I was ever bold enough to give these a whirl, I just know they wouldn’t be the same. There are two things I am resigned to never attempt to duplicate: my Uncle GiGi’s cooking and my mother’s baking.
Every year my mother would make her Christmas cookies as well as her strufoli. The latter for those of you not of Italian descent are honey balls with colored confections sprinkled on top. Trust me they are delicious, decadent and addictive!
Mom’s cookies included butter and a lot of sugar. She used a silver colored cylinder with copper colored ends. There was a screw knob on one end and the opening on the opposite end where the dough would come out. There were also various discs with different shapes for different styles of cookies. My favorite was always the ones shaped like Christmas trees.
I can still see our kitchen in the projects on baking day. Mom would have the table cleared and the ironing board lined with wax paper. By the end of the baking session, that Ironing board would be lined with about four or five layers of cookies. Our close friends and neighbors always received a tray of cookies. In addition, I would always get a plate to bring into my grade school teacher. On Christmas day a tray would always grace my Aunt Nannette and Uncle GiGi’s table as would a plate of struffoli.
One year after Thanksgiving I bought mom a motorized cookie gun. I figured this would make her cookie baking a little easier. That year on baking day, she took the gun out of the box, read the instructions and began to use it. I was out of the house and down stairs to play football with my friends. After a few games of two-hand touch, I went back up to the apartment to get lunch. There was mom with the old cookie maker. The motorized cookie guy was on the table back in its box.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I can’t use that thing; I gotta do things my way!” She replied.
So I guess the old adage is true – with a twist, you can’t teach an old baker new tricks. Mom was set in her ways and there was no changing that. Mom has been gone for 37 years now and boy do I miss those cookies. Maybe next year I’ll dig out the cylindrical cookie maker and her recipe book and try to re-create her magic. The cookie gun is long gone, either thrown away or given to another baker.
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