Rebecca or Diane's Pascha Cheese 2012

Just a quick note about Sirnaya Pascha, aka Pascha Cheese.

If you've been reading my cooking blog, you know all about my search for the perfect recipe for Pascha Cheese, and also for my endless search for Tvorog (fresh farmer's cheese) to make it.  Here in the deep, deep south, it's really difficult to get some food items, and farmer's cheese is one of those hard to get ones.  However, a couple of years ago, Publix and Fresh Market began carrying it!  My life was complete!  Kindasorta.  It was very, very expensive, $6 for 8 oz in one store, and $9 for a pound in the other.  I sprung for it the first year, but then in 2011, my friend Ksenia posted on Facebook that she was making her cheese.  A light went off for me - I've made yogurt and buttermilk before.  I've drained yogurt to make cheese.  I've made a stinky, but delicious, middle eastern cheese that my father-in-law absolutely adored called shankleesh.  Why not farmer's cheese?  Ksenia gave me her recipe, and I looked online as well.  It was a success!  One $3 gallon of milk plus one $3 quart of buttermilk yielded just about 2 lbs of farmer's cheese!

Yulinka has a great tutorial on how to make it.  Click here to check it out.

So, this year, I made it again, with great success, though I drained it overnight which produced a very, very dry and dense cheese, about 1.75 lbs.  It's enough to make enough pascha cheese to fill my little red plastic mold, though.

What recipe will I use for Pascha Cheese this year?  I haven't decided.  I have two absolutely AMAZING recipes here on my blog:  Diane's Perfect Pascha Cheese and Rebecca M's Sirnaya Pascha.  After many years of experimentation and searching, I have finally completely given up on the cooked custard based recipes because they never seem to turn out any tastier than these two recipes, and oftentimes don't set up as well.  There is also a recipe making the rounds that calls for lots of American-style cream cheese which is very tasty, too, but I guess I hung out with Russians too long to make that one.  Anyway, one of my church folk makes it every year, so I always take a taste. I, however, am true to the two recipes which are more traditional - either Diane's or Rebecca's.

Try one of these great recipes this year!  I guarantee that you will not be disappointed!

Christmas Kutia

Many Slovak Orthodox Christians prepare a traditional dinner on Christmas Eve called the Holy Supper which consists of 12 dishes for the 12 apostles. Included in the tradition is Kutia. Kutia is the Slavic version of Koliva, a sweetened boiled wheat and fruit dish which is served at services for the dead. Here is some information and a recipe for the Lebanese version from a prior post about that.

For the past six or seven years, my parish has come to together for the Holy Supper just prior to Christmas Eve Great Compline and Matins, and each year, our celebration seems to become a little more traditional. I usually am the one to make the wheat for the Holy Supper, since I'm the only one who makes this traditional food in my parish. This year was no different, but I decided to make it Russian style instead of Lebanese style. It was a big, big hit! Maybe even a bigger hit than my Lebanese style - and let me tell you, that is VERY popular! I did receive the highest of praise when my dear Russian friend told me that my kutia was just like her mother's, only better, because I put more fruit in it. High praise, indeed.

I do have a photo, but no way to get it off my camera right now. I'll post it as soon as I can.

Christmas Kutia
2 1/4 C soft wheat berries, soaked for 24 hours and strained
6 3/4 C water
1 C poppy seed
1 C sliced almonds or chopped walnuts, toasted till fragrant
1 lb honey
1 C white raisins
1 C chopped dried fruit, such as apricots, craisins, berries or cherries
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs cinnamon (heaping)

Drain the wheat berries well and put them in a dutch oven type pan with a lid. Stir in the water and loosely cover the pot. Crack the cover open so the steam can escape a little bit and it won't boil over. Simmer the wheat for 2 - 3 hours until very tender.

After the wheat has simmered for about an hour, you should prepare the poppy seeds by scalding them. Put them in a heat-proof dish, cover them with boiling water and let them soak for half an hour. Drain them well, then grind them in a blender or food processor. Continue your preparations by toasting the nuts and chopping the fruit.

Once the wheat is tender, drain the kernals, reserving about a cup of the water, and put them in a very large bowl together with the ground up poppy seeds. Add the honey and mix well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, adding a little bit of the reserved water if it seems too thick and the honey won't mix well.

You can eat it just like this, which is what we did this year, but there is an additional step to this which makes it even more yummy. Once everything is mixed together, bake it in a 3 qt casserole, uncovered, at 325F for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Kutia is best if you put everything together 2 or 3 days in advance and bake it right before serving. This is yummy hot or cold or room temperature. This recipe makes a lot, but that's ok because it freezes extremely well too!, and will last about two weeks in the fridge.

UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 7, 2016:  
It has become increasingly difficult to find soft wheat berries in Savannah, and I'm simply not organized enough to order them online in advance.  I've begun using pearled barley (in equal amounts to the wheat) which is barley with the fibrous outer hull and bran removed, and cooks on top of the stove in one hour, without soaking. It's very similar to the Romanian arpacas which is traditionally used for coliva in Romania. Arpacas is not necessarily wheat berries with the hull removed - it can also be spelt or barley. My use of barley is not noticeable in this dish, and as it is a seed, it retains the significance of a seed dying to give new life inherent in this dish.  An excellent recipe for Romanian style coliva is in the works for this blog, once I perfect it.  Soon....

Here is a link to my tried and true .Lebanese style koliva

Easy Kulich

I love kulich! I love panettone! They are two very similar breads from two different parts of the world, shaped completely differently. Kulich is always a tall, cylindrical loaf full of fruit and nuts, originating in Russia, and is traditionally served at Pascha. Panettone is a round boule-shaped loaf full of fruit and nuts, originating in Italy, traditionally served at Christmas. I've been letting my bread machine knead and rise my panettone for years with great results, so this year, I decided to try this for my kulich.

The first thing you have to do is to decide what you are going to cook it in. Most recipes call for 1 or 2 lb coffee cans, but nowadays, coffee comes in cans with peel-off tops, and have a half-inch or so inner lip which makes getting the kulich out in one piece pretty much impossible. A large tomato can isn't really large enough in my opinion, though I nearly used one this year.

Then I remembered an old, hippy style vegetarian cookbook - one of the very first cookbooks I ever owned in the mid or late 1970s - Laurel's Kitchen. She advocated baking a dozen loaves of whole wheat bread at a time. Now, how can anyone possibly fit 12 loaves of bread in the oven, you ask? Easy! Use juice cans to bake them! I did this successfully for years and years while I was in my hippy phase... pretty much until I moved to Georgia from California. That was when I sold my blackened and well loved juice cans at a yard sale - yes, someone bought them to bake bread in! So, one can of pineapple juice later, I was ready to make my kulich.

Kulich dough is famously tempermental. It is very, very rich with many eggs, butter and fruit, which makes it difficult to rise. Sometimes, the gluten isn't strong enough to support the air pockets caused by the fermentation of the yeast when the dough is so very heavy and wet. Every year, at least one of my friends laments a flat or dry kulich.

This is what I did this year. Follow your bread machine's instructions as to the order ingredients should be added - my machine (a cheapie from Walmart) requires liquids to go in first with dry ingredients on top. I'll probably play with this recipe a bit, since it's not quite perfect yet...

Bread Machine Kulich

1/4 C Sherry or warm water

1/2 C dried fruits of your choice (I used raisins, dates and chopped apricots)

1/2 C milk (I used heavy cream)

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C sugar

zest of one lemon

1/4 C softened butter at room temp

2 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 Tbs yeast

1/4 C slivered almonds (opt)

First, plump your dried fruits in 1/4 C sherry for about a half hour. You should use 1/2 C of dried fruit. Drain the fruit and set aside, but reserve the soaking liquid to add to the bread machine with the milk.

Put all ingredients except the fruit and the nuts into the bread machine on the dough setting in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Turn the machine on.

While waiting, prepare the can by buttering it very, very well. Make sure that there are no sharp edges sticking out as sometimes happens when you open a can. Set the can aside.

At the appropriate time (mine beeps when ready), add in the fruit and nuts and let the machine do the work of kneading and rising.

When the rising is completed, take the dough out of the bread machine and place into the prepared large juice can. The dough will be very wet and sticky - you will probably need to use a spatula to scrape the dough off the sides and paddle of the bread machine. It will plop into the can. Use the spatula to "stab" it a few times to make sure that there are no major air pockets in the can, then smooth the top as best you can. Let it rise for about 20 minutes until it has nearly reached the top of the can.

Place into a preheated 350F oven and check after 40 minutes. It should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Mine needed 10 more minutes, so the total baking time was 50 minutes. Let it sit in the can for 5 or 10 minutes, then carefully slide the bread out - mine came out very easily. When I used to bake bread in cans, it always came out as long as I used butter or crisco to grease the cans.

I started this at 7:30 pm last night, and it was ready (still hot, but ready just the same) when I left for church at 10 pm. I didn't bother with any icing, firstly because I prefer my kulich without icing, and secondly because it was still hot from the oven!

Yummy, and so very easy! A picture will follow once I take one!

All About Pascha Baskets

ALL ABOUT PASCHA BASKETS

A couple of people have asked me some questions about traditional Russian Pascha baskets.

Here at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Fr. James will pass out red hard-boiled eggs at the end of the Paschal Divine Liturgy, which are then taken home and eaten. The traditional egg game is played with great gusto at the agape meal - last year, Pat Popiela vanquished all comers with her egg! I have an egg with your name on it, Pat!

We customarily share the contents of our baskets with each other. It is great fun to sample the different breads, meats (especially the sausage) and cheese:

How to Put Together a Traditional Pascha (Easter) Basket

Following the Resurrection Matins and Liturgy, it is traditional among Slavic peoples to have their "Pascha baskets" blessed. The gathered faithful place their baskets in a designated place in the church or parish hall and place lighted candles in the baskets. After the crowd has quieted down, the priest will begin the opening chant: "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The congregations replies with "Amen!" and the foods are blessed, in three different groups, with three different blessings. The bread products are blessed first, then the dairy products, and finally, the meat products.

There are traditional foods among every Slavic group: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Ruthenian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian, Croatian, Slovenian, Montenegrin, etc. Following is a list of foods commonly included in the basket. It is not necessary to include every item, nor are Pascha baskets restricted to the items listed below. The general rule is to place in the basket foods which will be eaten during the Paschal dinner and from which one has abstained during the recent Great Lent and Holy Week.

BREAD (Kulich/Pascha): A sweet bread is always included in the basket, leavened with yeast. This is a symbol of the New Covenant; the Jews made unleaved bread, and we, the Children of the New Covenant, make leavened bread. Pascha and Kulich normally refer to the same thing, a sweet yeast bread rich in eggs, butter and fruit. In the Russian tradition, it is baked as a tall, cylindrical loaf, with white frosting and decorated with “XBâ€� on the top. The abbreviation XB is in Cyrillic writing and does NOT equal "ex bee" but "cha veh," the initials for "Christos Voskrese!" - "Christ is Risen!"). This bread is symbolic of Christ Himself, He Who is our Bread of life. In other Slavic Orthodox traditions, the bread is called Pascha and baked as a round loaf with a golden crust decorated with some symbol indicative of Christ, such as a braided cross, a lamb or something similar. Sometimes a cross of dough is placed on top, and the entire loaf rimmed with a braided plait of dough giving it a crowned effect.

However, there are ethnic groups where Pascha and Kulich do not signify bread, and are quite different foods. In fact, among those groups, the Pascha becomes the bread and the Kulich becomes what will appear below as Sirets or Hrutka. The Greek version of this bread is called Tsoureki and is braided with three strands with red hard boiled eggs. The three stranded braid is a display of the Holy Trinity

CHEESE (Sirets): There are different types of cheese which are traditional, depending on the ethnic group. Sirnaya Paska is a sweet cream cheese which is formed in a carved, pyramid-shaped mold, making a spectacular appearance when unmolded on Pascha night. This cheese is eaten alone, with fruit, or is spread on slices of the traditional Kulich. Hrutka is an egg custard-type cheese shaped into a ball which has a rather bland but sweet taste, and is intended to indicate the moderation that Christians should have in all things. Also, cream cheese is sometimes placed in a small dish and decorated with initials or patterns by placing peppercorns or cloves in appropriate patterns.

MEAT: Meat is included in remembrance of the sacrifice of the Old Testament Passover, which has been replaced by Christ, the New Passover and Lamb of God. Ham (Shoon'-ka) is the flesh meat popular among Slavs as the main dish for several reasons: a) the richness of its meat is symbolic of the great joy and abundance of Easter and b) of the richness of the joy in Christ we ought to have, and c) our freedom from the Old Law, now that all things have been made clean in Christ (as indicated to the apostle Saint Peter in the dream on the rooftop at Joppa [Acts 10:9-16]). Being freed from the Old Law and from the curse of death, which is the wage of sin, all things are now permissible to eat - and ham, the most forbidden of all the "unclean" foods is now symbolic of our total redemption. Many of the faithful will include meats like roasted veal, roast beef, and other foods prepared well ahead of time - foods which can be enjoyed without a lot of last-minute preparation. Those who have been preparing all week are already exhausted, but, being filled with joy at Our Lord's Resurrection from the dead, are looking forward to sitting down to a celebratory feast. Other ethnic groups, such as Greeks and Arabs, may traditionally bring some lamb in their basket.

BUTTER (Mas'-lo): The butter is usually shaped into a figure of a lamb or of a three-barred cross and decorated in much the same fashion as the sirets (cheese) above. Butter is to remind us of the goodness of Christ that we are to demonstrate to all men by our lives in Him.

SAUSAGE (Kohl-ba'-ssi): A spicy, garlicky sausage of pork, veal, beef and other products. This is indicative of God's favor and generosity to us sinners.

BACON (Sla-ni'-na): A piece of uncooked bacon cured with spices. This symbolizes of the lavishness and overabundance of God's mercy toward sinners.

SALT (Sol): A condiment necessary for flavor reminding Christians of our duties toward others to "flavor" the world. This is a reminder to us that we are the salt of the earth.

EGGS: Red eggs are commonly placed in the baskets. Red eggs are likened to the tomb from which Christ arose. This is because of the miracle of new life which comes from the egg, just as Christ miraculously came forth from the tomb. Pysanky (Py-san'-ky): These are highly decorated eggs with symbols and markings made with colored dyes and beeswax. Covered with extremely complicated and intricate designs, some of these eggs take a full week to complete. The word "pysanky" derives from the verb "pysat'," meaning "to write." A pysanka, then, is an egg which has been written (drawn) upon. Eggs represent the new life and Resurrection. There are some fascinating pious legends concerning the origin of these pysanky. Pysanky are not for eating -- they are kept for years simply for their beauty. They are also a very popular Paschal gift.

BITTER HERB: The bitter herb, often horseradish (Hrin) or garlic, serves as a reminder of the first Passover (horseradish is eaten as a traditional part of the Jewish Passover meal) and of the bitter sufferings which Christ endured for our sake. Sometimes the herb is colored red with beets, symbolizing the Blood of Christ spilled for us during His Passion, which is still in the minds of the faithful, but which is now sweeted with some sugar because of the Resurrection.

WINE: In some places, it is also customary to include a bottle of wine or Vodka. Poorer areas of Eastern Europe tended to ignore this element of the basket (e.g. Southern Poland, Northern Czechoslovakia, Northeastern Hungary), but American descendants are beginning to include them once again.

All the food articles are placed in a wicker basket, and a ribbon or bow is tied to the handle. A linen cover, normally quite intricately embroidered with various Resurrection themes and symbols of Christ, or simply an intricate multicolored border and the words "CHRISTOS VOSKRESE" or "CHRIST IS RISEN," is placed over the food when it is brought to the church. At the time of the basket blessing, the decorative cover is removed and a lit candle is placed in the loaf of bread.

Another update on Pascha Cheese 2008

Today I unmolded the three little cheeses and found them to be perfect! In fact, they were actually firmer than any pascha cheese I've ever made before. I don't know if they needed to drain another day or two, or if the fact that they were room temperature when I first tried to unmold them on Pascha night made them too, too soft, but they sure are really yummy now.

Today is something called Confederate Memorial Day, and as a state employee, I have today off. I'm enjoying eating little bits of leftovers and generally relaxing after the strenuous Holy Week that I had.

Hm.... maybe some more pizza gaina! Check my archives for a series of posts about this quintessential Neapolitan Easter pie!

Pascha Cheese 2008 Results

Dear Readers,

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Well, the Larousse recipe stunk. It didn't get firm and was still runny in the center. It was completely unmoldable. However, before I flavored it, the taste was really yummy, and afterwards... well, it was sublime!

The favorite was definitely the pizza dolce, the second favorite was nutella, and third favorite was panettone, but I think that was because non-Italians have difficulty picturing what panettone actually tastes like - there is no taste memory there. The panettone flavor was my personal favorite.

So, as I've been sipping my espresso (with a slice of panettone spread with a little panettone flavored pascha cheese even if it is runny), I've been pondering how to save my three cheeses. I think the easiest will probably be to soften some more butter and mix it in.

Next year, I'll probably go back Diane's delicious recipe, but using ricotta. I think half of it will probably be pizza dolce flavored. Tune in next year to find out what other flavors I make!

This is the Day of Resurrection! Let us be illumined by the Feast! Let us call brothers even those who hate us, and forgive all by the Resurrection! And so, let us cry: Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life!

Pascha Cheese 2008

In my never-ending quest for the perfect Pascha Cheese recipe, this year I tried the recipe from Larousse Gastronomique circa 1938, slightly adapted. I tried this recipe because it uses cottage cheese rather than farmer's cheese, pot cheese or even ricotta - all of which are outrageously expensive this year. Fresh Market will gladly order me the first two, at $8.50 and $9.00 per pound!!!! Yikes!

Once again, I broke the recipe into thirds and flavored them according to my own tastes. The most popular flavor last year at the Agape meal following the Paschal liturgy was the orange and almond flavor which is a riff on the famous Italian Easter dessert pie, Pizza Dolce. There is something about those flavors that mean Pascha to me and makes my Italian heart happy! I was feeling particularly Italian, so the second flavor is chocolate and hazelnut, which I'm calling Nutella. Original, eh? Since I had a theme going here, I decided to make the third portion to mimic my most beloved Grammie's pannettone - butter, lemon, honey and anisette. Oh yeah!

So, this year's flavors are: Pizza Dolce, Nutella and Pannettone! I'll let you know how they went over on Sunday!

Here is the basic Larousse recipe which I adapted to ingredients available to me:
4 lbs creamed cottage cheese (or 3 lbs dry curd cottage cheese)
1/2 C sour cream
1/4 lb salted butter, room temperature
2/3 C white sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Prepare creamed cottage cheese by placing in a fine mesh colander and rinsing under running water until the water is completely clear. Place the rinsed cheese curds in a large square of cheese cloth, tie tightly, and place back in the colander. Place the colander in a bowl to catch the drippings. Weigh the cheese curds down with a large can of tomatoes and set in the fridge for 2 days. At the end of the two days, the curds should be very, very dry and there should be a lot of water in the bowl. Discard the water. If you can get the dry curds, you can omit this step.

Place the dried curds into a food processor and whiz until smooth. Add the sugar and whiz some more. Then add the sour cream, vanilla and the butter and whiz for a couple of minutes until it is perfectly smooth and creamy. You can stop at this point and set it to drain as one large pascha cheese, adding fruit and nuts as you desire.

I then divided the vanilla mixture back into the three large cottage cheese containers for individual flavoring

Pizza Dolce: 1 scant tsp finely grated orange zest + 3/4 tsp almond flavoring

Nutella: 1 1/2 tsp hazelnut flavored coffee flavoring syrup (Torani brand is what I have) + 2 - 3 Tbs chocolate syrup

Pannettone: 1/2 tsp butter flavoring (I would have used more butter but I didn't have any since we are vegans!), 1/4 - 1/2 tsp anise flavoring, 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest, + 1 1/2 Tbs honey

To see my prior years pascha cheese recipes, go here and here.

I'll take a photo of this year's batch later on when DD is home from school, since the camera was last seen in her hands.....

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Warak Enab)

I've had a couple of jars of grape leaves sitting in my pantry for a while now, so I decided to roll them while The Ex is here. My thought was that we could teach our daughter how to roll them and have a feast all at the same time! With the three of us rolling, it took only around 40 minutes or so to roll 2 lbs, which is a record!

Rolling grape leaves is something that you truly need to be shown. You just can't learn to do it by following directions in a book - you need to be able to see what you're supposed to do. Its a delicate business because if you make them too thick, the center will still be crunchy while the outer edges will be soggy. If you roll them too tightly, they will burst once they start cooking. If you roll them too loosely, they won't remain rolled for long and you'll have grape leaf flavored rice and meat soup in the pan. If you pack them too tightly in the pan, they won't cook properly. If you pack them too loosely in the pan, they won't stay rolled and they won't stay submerged which means that they won't cook properly. Like I said, its a delicate business, but one that is very easily learned.

Many, many countries have their version of stuffed grape leaves, though here in America, I think that the Greek style ones are the most well known. Greek ones tend to be fat and squat, and they are usually served at room temperature dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, or dressed with avgolemono sauce. Arabic style grape leaves are always shaped more like your index finger, like a cigar. They are longer and slimmer. They are usually served hot or at room temperature, wrapped in a single thickness of pita and dunked in yogurt. Georgian grape leaves are usually served with sour cream mixed with garlic and salt, or sometimes with melted butter and garlic poured over them.

Personally, I have never met a rolled grape leaf that I didn't like, though I'm partial to the Lebanese style. When I eat traditional Lebanese food, it brings back pleasant memories of sitting around my mother-in-law's table on lazy Sunday afternoons, eating up a storm. My mother-in-law was the best cook in the family, and let me tell you, that is saying something! I loved trying all the exotic Lebanese food she served - at least it was exotic to this little Italo-Acadian girl!

Today is Christmas, and TE and I showed our daughter how to roll grape leaves. She had a taste of a traditional middle eastern meal, something as common as hamburgers are to Americans. Here is how it is done:






The grape leave should be carefully flattened out, with the flat side down. The veins should be on the surface facing you. If there is a small hole or tear, you can patch it with a piece of another grape leaf. Save the torn ones for this purpose.



Form the stuffing into a small log, about the size of your index finger. When you place it on the leaf, you can adjust the length to fit the leaf - a little longer or a little shorter. Make sure that there is enough empty grape leave all around that can be folded in.

If you have ever made a burrito or made a sushi roll, then you will instantly recognize the method of rolling grape leaves. Fold the bottom of the leaf up, fitting it smoothly around the log of stuffing. It can't be too tight or too loose. The one above is perfect.

Fold the sides in, and when you do, smooth the edges around the log of stuffing so that the roll will be neat and well-tucked. Remember to keep from pulling the grape leaf too tightly or the leaf will burst when it cooks.

Now all you have to do is to roll it up like a cigar. There are two tricks to making grape leaves that stay rolled. First, use your index finger to gently stroke the pointy end of the grape leave around the roll, sealing it with your finger. Second, once you are done, give the roll a slight squeeze. Be careful - if you squeeze too hard, you will split the leaf before it even gets cooked!

If there is any stuffing left, you can use it to fill other vegetables or other leaves, like chard or cabbage, but if there is just a little bit left, I usually just make a little ball and cook it with the stuffed leaves.

To pack the leaves into the pot, you should start with a layer of the torn and unrollable grape leaves on the bottom of the pot. I had a lemon that needed to be used, so first I sliced the lemon very, very thinly, laid that all over the bottom of the pot, and then I put a layer of unrolled grape leaves. After that, I began to layer the stuffed grape leaves, alternating the directions with each layer. You cannot pack them too closely together or they won't cook, but you need to allow them to gently touch each other so that they will stay wrapped and in place. Between each layer, sprinkle a little salt, a few cloves of garlic, and a little mint. You can also add some tomato slices between the layers, too.

One the pot is packed, you should place an upside-down plate over the grape leaves, and fill the pot with water and lemon juice until the weight of the water keeps the plate submerged. The plate, in turn, weights the grape leaf rolls down and keeps them submerged in the water.

Bring to a gentle simmer and simmer for about 40 minutes, until the leaves and the rice are both tender.

Sahtein!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Orange Cranberry Drop Cookies

Today was a flex day for me, so I got home about 2:00 pm. I had planned to start right away on my pizzelles, but it was such a damp day, that I decided to forego them altogether this year. Sniffle.... Anyway, it just isn't Christmas without some cookies, so I proceeded on to Plan B, or should I say, Plan C for Cranberries, Cummaquid and Cape Cod! I was looking at cookie recipes this week, and saw one from the Acworth Inn Bed and Breakfast in Cummaquid, Cape Cod which looked yummy, so that's what I made instead of pizzelles. Of course, I couldn't help but tweak it a little.....

Orange Cranberry Drop Cookies

1 C butter, softened

1 C white sugar

1/2 C brown sugar, packed well

1 egg

grated zest from one orange

2 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C green pumpkin seeds or chopped pistachios

2 C chopped cranberries (not the dried ones - use the raw ones)

Cream the butter and sugars together till light and fluffy, then beat in the egg, zest and OJ. In another bowl, stir the flour, soda and salt together well, then add to the butter, a half cup at a time, beating until incorporated fully. Stir in the cranberries and the pumpkin seeds. Use a 1" cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, spaced at least 2" apart. Bake at 375F for 14 minutes until the edges turn golden. Remove from the cookie sheets and cook on wire racks. Makes around 4 1/2 dozen.

These could have an orange flavored drizzle on top, but I like them without it - they're so pretty!

So far, The Ex and DD have eaten about half of them. Well, I ate a few too.... These are some of the best cookies I've ever made that weren't chocolate! And they just look like Christmas! I'll be making these for many Christmases to come, I'm sure.