Christmas Countdown 18 : Moravian Spritz Cookies

http://www.ncfolk.org/moravian-cookies/

Today, 8 December, Christmas Countdown 18 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception - a Catholic Church celebration of the birth of the Virgin Mary, free from original sin. I must admit that I had not heard of Christmas cookies called Moravian Spritz, or Moravian Spice Cookies until today. They are prepared traditionally as part of the ritual of observing the Feast of the Immaculate Conception - a national holiday in many Latin countries and significant in the United States.

The spice laden cookies are said to celebrate the purity of the Virgin Mary, since Mary, too, "gave forth sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatic balm and yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh." In the spirit of Advent, abstinence is practised, for traditionally the cookies must stand for ten days in the refrigerator before baking, and are then shaped into Christmas figures, especially hearts and liturgical symbols.

How did Moravian cookie recipes become popular in the USA?

Preparing Moravian cookies , Leaksville Church, Richmond, USA http://www.newsadvance.com

Moravian Church missionaries came to USA in 1735, from Herrnhut ( modern Saxony, Germany). They came to minister to the scattered German immigrants, to the native Americans and to enslaved Africans. Winston-Salem has one of the highest concentrations of Moravians in the United States, and the city is home to companies that continue the Moravian baking tradition. Aside from the buns and sugar cakes, Moravians are still best known for their signature spice cookie. A descendent of the German Lebkuchen cookie (many Moravians fled Moravia, in the present-day Czech Republic, and settled in Germany before heading to the United States), the Moravian cookie combines a powerful and exotic spice blend with some unique baking techniques to produce a thin, crisp cookie that cannot be resisted.. from http://www.ncfolk.org/moravian-cookies/

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moravian-spice-cookies/

MORAVIAN COOKIES

1 c. molasses
1 stick butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 tbsp. soda
3 1/2 - 4 c. flour
2 tbsp. grape juice (or wine)
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix butter, sugar and molasses. Then add dry ingredients and grape juice; stir to mix well (very stiff dough). Cover and keep in cool place at least 3 days to ripen. Roll very thin (use a cloth-covered, floured board and plenty of flour). Cut with cookie cutter and gently place on cookie sheets and bake at 275 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Store in air tight container indefinitely.

from http://www.cooks.com/recipe/2f4vr283/moravian-cookies.html

Because we all love gingerbread, I think this recipe will be a hit.... I am ready to try it today - hope I am not tempted to bake too soon... at least this recipe suggests three days resting rather than the traditional ten!

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Christmas Countdown 25... Christmas Tree #1

Background : It has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me to write an Advent blog - a series of posts leading into Christmas from 1 December . In the past, I have featured Christmas characters by the alphabet, all you ever needed to know about Christmas cakes, Christmas Firsts and Christmas traditions. I usually find myself on 30 November, thinking what to do this year? However, I've had the idea of "crazy " Christmas trees in the back of my mind since last year. So this year, it's about non- traditional, unusual, crazy, weird Christmas trees. There will also be a "handmade" element to my posts, so there may even be some links to tutorials or other ideas.... So here we go. Christmas Countdown 25 - 1 December. Source : https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/455285843573622091 This is the image which started this line of thought.... a yarn bombed, crochet granny square Christmas tree. I though...

Christmas Countdown 4: Turducken

I had always thought that 'turducken' was a very modern dish - a deboned chicken inside a deboned duck, inside a deboned turkey. The birds are stuffed inside the gastric cavities and spaces are filled with poultry stuffing. There appear to be a few different earlier versions of this dish . I n his 1807 Almanach des Gourmands, gastronomist Grimod de La Reynière presents his rôti sans pareil ("roast without equal")—a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a garden warbler—although he states that, since similar roasts were produced by ancient Romans, the rôti sans pareil was not entirely novel. The final bird is very small but large enough to just hold an olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. Gooducken is a goose stuffe...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog