But that was not the only present that arrived early!
My wife didn't make any bones about it--she said, "You have to get this early so you can make your cookies." And that's today's task.
I usually don't use a mixer for baking, partly because I haven't had one in years. My mom gave us one when we got married, but it suffered a terrible, unfixable breakage that cannot be blamed on either me or the dogs or anyone else. I don't want to say who broke it, except it was my wife. So this is kind of a guilt present, I guess.
I'm only doing two cookie recipes this year, so I don't exactly need an assembly-line production, but I do know that a mixer makes creaming butter and sugar a much easier task, so there's that. I look forward to putting this little Cuisinart beauty through its paces.
I'll be making chocolate chip cookies and pfeffeneuse. Chocolate chip cookies may not seem very Christmassy, but they're my wife's favorite, so it's the least I can do. As for the pfeffeneuse, it's an old family recipe. Well, maybe it's someone's old family recipe. I got it out of a long-out-of-print book in the library of a publisher I worked for many moons ago. It's the only pfeffeneuse I ever tasted that could stand up to those of the great Bay Ridge Scandihoovian bakers--soft, spicy, iced, perfect. If anyone's interested, I'll post the recipe on this site.
One last note on the topic: As you enter the kitchen, tying on the ol' apron, remember the words of advice from that great lawman, Sheriff Mark Kaminski, as seen in the seminal film Raw Deal:
I became a much better cook and baker after I stopped drinking. I recall that Galloping Gourmet on TV when I was a kid was always downing wine. maybe it was practice or grape juice.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if it was the real thing, Mr. Bear -- later in life he became a kind of born-again health foodie, among other things, and renounced his old show.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost impossible to buy a present for Mrs Fert or me. I checked her Amazon wish list many years ago, was able to get her most of the books on the list. Afterward, she'd get her books before they went on the wish list. Ann Rule's estate really made out on those deals.
ReplyDeleteWe're old enough and have enough in the bank that now, when we want something, we go ahead and get it. Same goes if we want to get something for the kids or GrandFerts.
I'm in a similar bind, Dan, plus the fact that I've never had much luck buying clothes for my wife. It's always the wrong size or color. And the price of gold these days precludes a lot of jewelry buying. She dislikes silver.
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