Murder on Parade Read Online Free Page A
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We didn’t do any baking the night of the parade, though I did put some raisins in a jar to soak in rum. The key to great gingerbread is rum-soaked raisins and candied ginger minced super fine. Lots of people only use ginger powder and it makes for anemic gingerbread.
The next morning’s weather reassured me that I wouldn’t be needed at work— the snow had fallen all night long and there was at least a foot and half on the ground. It was the perfect morning for enjoying omelets and coffee and for me to teach Alex some of my favorite cookie recipes. If you don’t care for baking, you might want to move on to Chapter 5.
I loaded the CD player with Johnny Mathis and Perry Como and began setting out ingredients. I also had a stern talk with the stove. It is old and cantankerous. Being gas rather than electric it often hisses and sputters and sometimes refuses to light until someone is dumb enough to lean down and look through the glass window where they can be startled by a flying fireball. That morning it was feeling cooperative and started without protest. Perhaps it knew that it was being used for the highest of purposes: Christmas baking.
The first two recipes are family favorites; Aunt Crystal’s Almond Crescent Cookies and my Grandpa Mac’s Prettiest Sugar Cookies. I can’t imagine Christmas without them.
Almond Crescents:
½ pound salted butter (use the real thing—this is no time to be health conscious)
4 T powdered sugar (make sure it is new and sift it for lumps)
1 tsp vanilla (again—use the good stuff)
1 C almonds (the fresher the better. You can substitute macadamia or pecans— both are great)
2 C flour (again, sift, it makes mixing easier)
1 T water
Cream butter and powdered sugar. Add water, vanilla, flour and nuts. Refrigerate at least one hour. I usually make my next cookie dough while the first is firming. Preheat over to 350* and shape dough into crescents. Bake for three minutes on bottom rack. Move to top rack and cook until golden (this will depend on your over. Mine is old and cantankerous so it takes almost ten minutes but yours may be faster. Watch closely!). Roll in powdered sugar (or cocoa powder if you feel reckless).
Alex did really well with these, though he had a slight mishap when he dropped the mixing bowl of powdered sugar and it exploded like a bomb. By the time it was cleaned up off the floor and appliances the cats and dog had tracked some into the living room. I would have to vacuum.
Feeling Alex was ready for something slightly more complicated, I put on some Celtic Thunder and pulled out more ingredients and we started the sugar cookies.
Sugar Cookies:
1 C butter (don’t make me repeat myself—use butter)
1 C sugar (the finest grain you can find)
1 C powdered sugar (not the stuff swept off the floor L)
1 C vegetable oil (not olive)
2 eggs
4 ¼ C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter, sugar and oil together in large bowl. Add eggs. Beat until smooth. Add flour, salt, cream of tarter, baking soda and vanilla. Mix well. Here you can do variations. I sometimes add lemon zest, powdered coffee, cinnamon or cocoa powder.
This dough needs to refrigerate over night so it is not a spur of the moment dessert (I’ll give you one of those later). Preheat oven to 375*. Form dough into balls and place on greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper. I love parchment because clean up is super easy). Flatten cookies with the bottom of a glass dipped in 2 T sugar and 1 T nutmeg (if dough is plain—plain sugar if it is not). Bake at 375* for 8 minutes. Cool on rack (easy if you use parchment paper).
If you want frosting:
1 box powdered sugar
½ c softened butter
flavoring of choice (rum, chocolate, lemon, coffee—you pick what matches your cookie)
and milk until creamy.
If I am doing chocolate sugar cookies I often add coconut and/or pecans and go for a kind of German chocolate
We didn’t do any baking the night of the parade, though I did put some raisins in a jar to soak in rum. The key to great gingerbread is rum-soaked raisins and candied ginger minced super fine. Lots of people only use ginger powder and it makes for anemic gingerbread.
The next morning’s weather reassured me that I wouldn’t be needed at work— the snow had fallen all night long and there was at least a foot and half on the ground. It was the perfect morning for enjoying omelets and coffee and for me to teach Alex some of my favorite cookie recipes. If you don’t care for baking, you might want to move on to Chapter 5.
I loaded the CD player with Johnny Mathis and Perry Como and began setting out ingredients. I also had a stern talk with the stove. It is old and cantankerous. Being gas rather than electric it often hisses and sputters and sometimes refuses to light until someone is dumb enough to lean down and look through the glass window where they can be startled by a flying fireball. That morning it was feeling cooperative and started without protest. Perhaps it knew that it was being used for the highest of purposes: Christmas baking.
The first two recipes are family favorites; Aunt Crystal’s Almond Crescent Cookies and my Grandpa Mac’s Prettiest Sugar Cookies. I can’t imagine Christmas without them.
Almond Crescents:
½ pound salted butter (use the real thing—this is no time to be health conscious)
4 T powdered sugar (make sure it is new and sift it for lumps)
1 tsp vanilla (again—use the good stuff)
1 C almonds (the fresher the better. You can substitute macadamia or pecans— both are great)
2 C flour (again, sift, it makes mixing easier)
1 T water
Cream butter and powdered sugar. Add water, vanilla, flour and nuts. Refrigerate at least one hour. I usually make my next cookie dough while the first is firming. Preheat over to 350* and shape dough into crescents. Bake for three minutes on bottom rack. Move to top rack and cook until golden (this will depend on your over. Mine is old and cantankerous so it takes almost ten minutes but yours may be faster. Watch closely!). Roll in powdered sugar (or cocoa powder if you feel reckless).
Alex did really well with these, though he had a slight mishap when he dropped the mixing bowl of powdered sugar and it exploded like a bomb. By the time it was cleaned up off the floor and appliances the cats and dog had tracked some into the living room. I would have to vacuum.
Feeling Alex was ready for something slightly more complicated, I put on some Celtic Thunder and pulled out more ingredients and we started the sugar cookies.
Sugar Cookies:
1 C butter (don’t make me repeat myself—use butter)
1 C sugar (the finest grain you can find)
1 C powdered sugar (not the stuff swept off the floor L)
1 C vegetable oil (not olive)
2 eggs
4 ¼ C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter, sugar and oil together in large bowl. Add eggs. Beat until smooth. Add flour, salt, cream of tarter, baking soda and vanilla. Mix well. Here you can do variations. I sometimes add lemon zest, powdered coffee, cinnamon or cocoa powder.
This dough needs to refrigerate over night so it is not a spur of the moment dessert (I’ll give you one of those later). Preheat oven to 375*. Form dough into balls and place on greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper. I love parchment because clean up is super easy). Flatten cookies with the bottom of a glass dipped in 2 T sugar and 1 T nutmeg (if dough is plain—plain sugar if it is not). Bake at 375* for 8 minutes. Cool on rack (easy if you use parchment paper).
If you want frosting:
1 box powdered sugar
½ c softened butter
flavoring of choice (rum, chocolate, lemon, coffee—you pick what matches your cookie)
and milk until creamy.
If I am doing chocolate sugar cookies I often add coconut and/or pecans and go for a kind of German chocolate
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