Through time, some of my Christmas rituals have changed.
New habits have replaced old rituals.
When I was a child there was, above all, the great ritual of Christmas lunch and a series of minor but no less important rituals. Now that I’m married, I love to celebrate the evening of Christmas Eve when I host my parents and family and then, the day after, taht I spend with my husband’ family. Even if this year, cause pandemic, all will change again.
Among decorations, food to cook and to taste, table setting, edible gifts to make and festive aperitifs, one of my favourite Christmas ritual calls for biscuits.
Salted peanut cookies, for example, is the new biscuit recipe I made this year.
And here today I would like to talk with you about it.
Family festive rituals and old memories. And, of course, a new favourite cookie where salted peanut makes the difference.
New and old rituals.
Once, Christmas lunch was the event I was most looking forward to. More than the opening of presents or the Epiphany. Around that table were gathered all the people I loved, there was so much love that it would have been enough to feed me even if there was nothing to eat. But when some of the seniors died, my family decided to change our ritual.
After getting married, I started spending Christmas lunch with my husband’s family while while my parents preferred to celebrate on Christmas Eve.
My rituals waiting for Christmas.
The festive period is marked by rituals. Some are collective, but most heart-warming rituals are familiar and personal.
Since I was a child and even today, Advent inaugurates the Christmas period.
And with the Advent officially starts what my grandma Sara called The Fifth Season, Christmas, which – at least for me – lasts until the Epiphany.
Even without doing anything special, on December 1st there is always a little more light in my heart.
I usually spend the days between now and 8th December, that in Italy is the holiday day of Immaculate Conception, thinking about the colors of Christmas tree and the breathe I will make. In these days I’m starting to think of Christmas Eve menu, when I gather all my family at home.
The Christmas biscuit ritual.
I have anticipated everything a little bit, maybe hoping that the magic of the Christmas lights can work a little miracle in a very hard year. Right or wrong I don’t know.
So, this year my husband and me have changed some habits and we decided to decorate the Christmas tree some some days in advance.
But Christmas tree is associated with another ritual. That of biscuits.
Since I’ve been married, the first day of Christa with the tree lit baking biscuits that smell of home.
House, Christmas tree, lights and candles, festive movies on tv, the scent of biscuits.
I think that the making of biscuits is a sequence of actions that generates happiness. Knead, bake, wait. Repeat. And hence the certainty that the spirit of Christmas must – by force – also be made of biscuits.
Would you like to know one of my favorite cookie recipes?
The recipe of salted peanut cookies.
Salted peanuts and chocolate chips: a perfect combination for those who love the sweet savory contrast.
Usually when I make a sweet recipe, I always add a pinch of salt which to enhance the flavor. And I love biscuit recipes where you can feel the little grain of salt suddenly exploding in your mouth, like in buttery and delicious shortbreads.
Going back to this recipe, I must admit that it was born for a lucky case one day when I was messing in the kitchen.
The secret is not to finely chop all the salted peanuts but to leave some roughly broken.
Among the ingredients I did not specify the flour I used, even though I made the biscuits using 0 flour, as you can use 0, 00, spelt, wholemeal flour, all purpose.
Buona cucina, Monica
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Salted Peanut And Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
about 20 biscuits
ingredients
flour 220g
brown sugar 100g
teaspoon of yeast 1
softened butter 100g
salted peanuts 100g
chocolate drops 40g
eggs 2
Directions
Finely blend 30 g of salted peanuts.
Mix butter and sugar, add one egg at a time, the flour mixed with yeast and chopped peanuts.
Add chocolate chips and whole peanuts to the dough, wrap in plastic film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Form 20 balls of the same weight, press them slightly with your hand and place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake in preheated oven (static function) at 180C° for about 13-14 minutes.
