By Relishportugal.com/ Evanne Schmarder
Maybe it’s because I’m a confirmed foodie. Perhaps it’s because I’m far from the hometown where I grew up. But either way, ask me about gift ideas and – like a broken record – I’m all about memory-making food, glorious food. While that’s my standard go-to all year long, the holidays make this topic tiptop Christmas tree talk. After all, food is fun to make, a delight to give, and an absolute pleasure to enjoy with friends and family. Plus, there’s nothing more from-the-heart than preparing and gifting recipes that are handed down through the generations, becoming traditions themselves.
LABOUR OF LOVE
Preparing them is a labour of love. Phooey on new-fangled recipe delivery apps on my iPad and other sterile devices. The drops and splotches on my old handwritten recipe cards are a testament to times in the kitchen with my beloved mother. Life was simple, sweet, and full of love. Thumbing through the recipe box that I carefully packed in my suitcase when I moved to Portugal, I occasionally catch sight of one of my fondest childhood memories, a recipe my mom and I baked every Christmas season. I see us laughing, hear her gentle patience as she taught me how to roll her famous Christmas snowball cookies, and vividly remember the way the powdered sugar melted on the warm, fresh-from-the-oven spheres and stuck to my fingers as we removed them from a paper shaker bag.
Mom’s long gone now, as are most of her contemporaries, but she lives on in snowballs. These memories are a precious gift. I consider it a privilege to carry on, making new traditions with my Portugal friends as we celebrate the season. Boas festas everyone, from my humble cozinha to yours.
TO MAKE 4 DOZEN:
- Confectioner’s sugar (icing sugar)
- 226 g of butter
- 1 tsp of real vanilla extract
- 2 cups of sifted flour (240g)
- 1/4 cup of sugar (50g)
- 1 cup of chopped pecans (110g)
Preheat the oven to 300°f (150°c) degrees.
Cream butter until soft. Add sugar, pecans, and flour. Mix well. Add vanilla.
Shape into balls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes.
Put the confectioners’ sugar in a paper bag and gently toss cookies in the sugar while still hot. Toss again when cookies have cooled completely. This makes them nice and covered.
Package these in a tin or wax paper bag with a pretty ribbon and a note that reads: “How about a snowball fight?”
Anita na Cozinha show’s us how to make Evanne’s recipe
Relish Portugal, the award-winning, online, quarterly, free with subscription, English language, food and culture magazine for Portugal lovers everywhere. It delivers recipes, curated playlists, and fascinating food- and Portugal-related stories from both expat and Portuguese culinary luminaries, top bloggers, artists, makers, and foodies just like you. Think; creative process from Chef José Avillez, reflections on natural Portuguese wines and the families who make them from Real Portuguese Wines, a peek inside the workshop of Paulo Tuna, The Bladesmith, considered by some to be the best manufacturer of knives in Portugal, perhaps in the world, dishes from best-selling cookbook authors, and more. Much more. To subscribe, visit RelishPortugal.com and click on any of the red bars. You’ll get immediate access to the most recent issue and a link to all back copies.
