The Bright Side: Cardinals and cookies
We are midway into December. The darkest month of the year brings celebrations of light and love to most of the northern hemisphere. Humans have created rituals to bring them through this cold dark time. One of my favorite rituals is making cookies. I also enjoy eating them. My Father receives the credit for bringing this ritual into my life. He enjoyed cooking and he loved making candy and cookies at Christmas time. I remember trips to the old City Market in downtown Indianapolis to buy the special spices he needed for Cardamon Drops, Anise cookies and Springerlees. I loved tagging along after him as he talked to the merchants and gathered his supplies. Visiting the Market was an experience that thrilled all of my senses. The rich aromas of the spices were delightful. Cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, mingled with ginger and other savory spices. A delight for all the senses.
Making cookies is on my agenda for next week. I will not be making Springerles. I love the hard spicey sweet bites, but I do not have the board with the designs carved into it that is needed to make the cookies. My sister Becky inherited that. She hates to make cookies. So no Springerles for us. The commercial ones are not the same. I will be making my famous Mexican Wedding Cakes. They are one of the easiest cookies to make and evidently one of the easiest to eat. A bowl of the white little balls will disappear in a flash. I do not know why they are called Mexican Wedding Cakes. I think I would call them Snowballs. That is what they resemble. Another favorite is plain old sugar cookies cut into Christmas shapes and decorated with icing and sprinkles. I have fond memories of making those with my children. The results were not always perfect Often the icing was smeared, the sprinkles heaped on in piles, and the colored sugar burnt, I cherish those hours together, laughing and creating cookies. It was chaotic and messy, but wonderful. This year I will make them with my great-granddaughter.
Here is the recipe for Mexican Wedding Cakes in case you want to whip up some easy treats.
2 cups of flour 1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup of powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon of salt 1 cup chopped pecans
Powdered sugar for coating. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter, add sugar and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour and salt a little bit at a time. Stir in nuts. Form dough into a ball a chill for an hour in frig.
Roll the dough by hand into 1 inch balls and place on a un-greased cookie sheet. Bake about 12-15 minutes, until the edges of the cookie just start to brown. Cool the cookies a few minutes. While warm, not hot, put them in a bowl or a bag a few at a time and roll or shake them in the powdered sugar to coat them. I sometimes will do this twice to get a good coating of the powdered sugar on each cookie. Store in an air tight container for two weeks or so. They never last that long in my house as they are gobbled up rather quickly.
The cardinals are back. A few weeks ago, I put my bird feeders out. The lack of birds was disappointing. Last year several different species came to visit including woodpeckers, blue jays, doves, gold finches, wrens and cardinals. This year I have seen very few birds. The crows are here and a hawk occasionally. Even the sparrows are avoiding Cementville this season. This week I saw a pair of Cardinals at the feeder in the pine tree. A cardinal in a pine tree is an iconic Christmas scene. I was thrilled to know they were back. The brilliant crimson of the male’s feathers was a welcome sight. His mate with her more subdued tawny coat was pecking at the sunflower seeds that had fallen to the ground.
Cardinals usually do not roam around. If they establish a home, they like to stay put. Cardinals prefer bushy areas for shelter. The birds will not find much shelter here, but we do have these pine trees. I do hope this pair decides to stay with us. The sweet song of the cardinals can bring joy to all of us from the safety of those trees.
Hopefully, other birds will return soon. Watching the hairy woodpeckers march up and down the tree trunks was delightful last winter.
‘til next time,
Annie
This article originally appeared on Evening World: The Bright Side: Cardinals and cookies
