Mylene Sherrin is raising a very willful border collie and caring for chickens, sheep and a garden on Salt Spring Island, Canada. She loves to ramble, to adventure to faraway places, and to sip good coffee.
In December, I love our family traditions and the rituals that bring magic and create a festive feeling.
My Oma would begin weeks before Christmas. Stocked with special spices from Germany and pounds of ground almonds, she would start baking everyday until she had made enough Christmas cookies for the whole family.
Every year she made the same five kinds of traditional German cookies. She didn’t just bake a few batches; she made enough to fill five ice cream buckets for every household in our family, one with each kind of cookie.
When I married and had my first child, I, too, became the yearly recipient of these many pounds of goodness. My favourite was always the Mandelmurbchen; my dad loved the Pfeffernüsse, which he affectionately referred to as dog biscuits. Every year, near Christmas, I pull out these beloved recipes and invoke the spirit of my Oma by baking her cookies.
About ten years ago, our friend Kate invited us to join her family for a Winter Solstice ramble at a beautiful local place, Daffodil Point. When we arrived at the point, she pulled out parchment paper and tea lights and showed us how to fold origami floating lotus lanterns. We each placed our lit candles inside and set them adrift on the ocean, and with them, we symbolically sent away our grudges, regrets, and ill feelings.
My family instantly adopted this lovely tradition, but we decided to do it at night to better see the candlelight. The Winter Solstice is not generally the balmiest of nights where we live. We have had some laughable family bonding times trying to keep candles lit long enough to set them afloat, in the dark, in high winds and sleet, while sipping rum-enhanced hot chocolate.
My mother-in-law, Anne, was a firecracker, a moody, quick-to-ire woman. But she could create magic, and she loved Christmas. We inherited her Christmas decorations: vintage hand-blown glass ornaments, a flock of tiny hanging sheep, and a large assortment of wonderful handmade treasures.
Everything is carefully nestled in tissue inside antique Christmas tins, all packed into beautiful vintage suitcases. Every ornament holds a bit of Anne, and her unique spirit is celebrated and remembered as we deck our tree each year.
Our family has these and many other traditions that are revisited every December. This is, for me, what makes the magic: festive traditions, family, and a lot of love.
Omas Mandel Murbchen
This is a double recipe. It uses Oma’s traditional method of mixing on the counter. I use a bowl - it’s tidier.
On the counter create a heap of the following:
- 500 grams flour
- 300 grams unsalted butter in small chunks
- 250 grams ground almonds
- 2 heaping tablespoons vanilla
- 240 grams sugar
- 2 packages vanilla sugar
- 2 heaping tablespoons cocoa
- Beat two eggs in a cup and place in a depression in the heap.
- Use hands to mix all well until a smooth dough is formed.
- Make dough into a ball and cut in half.
- Flour counter and dough and roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Use a small round serrated cookie cutter to cut out cookies.
- Place these on a sheet, barely touching.
- Bake at 350* until light brown (about 8 min).
- When cold, ice with glaze of icing sugar and warm water.
- Place half an unpeeled almond in the centre of each.
READ MORE > Her Story, Ramblers Cafe Blog.
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