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Get ready for holiday dessert

Welcome to December! It really put on the racing shoes to get here so quickly! We all knew it was coming, but lots of us (like me!) were not at all ready to deal with this busy, busy month. I guess we will just have to take a double dose of vitamins, keep the tea kettle on, put a fixed smile on our faces and do the best we can to enjoy the season.

If you survived Black Friday (and Black Weekend!), you know you can handle it the rest of the month, especially if you finished your shopping during the sales. Lights and Christmas decorations are appearing everywhere and putting us in the holiday mood. Take a break from rushing around and take your little ones out to “see the lights”. It will be good for all of you. After all, this is a precious season and one that we should embrace and enjoy. What one gets done is done — and no one will know what else was planned!

There is one somber remembrance that occurs this week. Seventy-five years ago, on a beautiful December day in Hawaii, December 7th, our world changed in the worst way. Pearl Harbor was viciously attacked and hundreds upon hundreds of our military members were killed in the most horrible ways. The Pacific Fleet was totally destroyed. Through modern DNA work, the remains of many are still being identified from the graves where they were buried and being sent “home” for burial.

Much history is not thoroughly studied in schools these days and many young folks have not learned about what happened that day and how it changed our world and not a lot of people are still alive that have personal memories of that time. The December issue of Reader’s Digest has a portion of a book, ALL THE GALLANT MEN, written by Donald Stratton, a survivor of that day of infamy. I recommend everyone reading it or going on the Internet to study about Pearl Harbor. It was a very important part of our history and has lessons for us now.

Now, when something bad happens, we know about it in minutes due to TV and even cell phones. Back then, there was only radio and little of that, so most folks read it in the newspapers the following day if they took a newspaper (and many didn’t, especially in the rural communities). I was in first grade and when we went back to school the Monday morning after the attack, our teacher was listening to a radio and crying. A radio in school — what in the world could have happened?! Our world changed.

We learned how to have the “blackouts” practice, the periods when ALL lights were out in case an enemy would know where to bomb.

In the rural areas, a plane would fly over to let residents know when to shut off their lights, and then again later to let them know they could turn them back on. I remember getting nearly hysterical when Mom wouldn’t turn off our lights when I heard the plane. She told me that no one in the world would be bombing Stanleyville (near Marietta) but I wasn’t sure about that! In later years, I met folks my age from Europe who told of the terror they had growing up during the war in their country. We NEVER want our young people to go through a war here!

The entire country came together and helped over the next few years, doing anything and everything to save our country and the world. Women took on men’s jobs (unheard of!) and all able men who didn’t have a job crucial to the war effort joined the military. Women working in shipyards (Rosy, the Riveter) and elsewhere even started wearing long pants — unheard of before.

Food and some personal items were rationed. Nylons were not available and since all women wore them, they learned to fix a “run”. Sugar and meat were two food items that were scarce. School teachers sold the ration books that every family had and kids would take their pennies to school to buy stamps that turned into war (savings) bonds. The foil on cigarette packages and milkweed pods were collected. Everyone grew “victory gardens” and canned the food grown.

Few of the men and women who served in the services then are still living, but if you have anyone in your family, or know anyone, who did, honor them and try to get them to tell you about their experiences. It is important history that we all should hear. We have all heard the message that if we don’t learn our history, we are doomed to repeat it.

Back to this year — and this season — I have the sugar, flour, nuts and recipes to get busy with goodies for the season. This is already the second Sunday in Advent, so time is marching along quite briskly! Recipes today are two of my favorite Christmas cakes. Be certain to try some of the ones in the Cookbook — there are lots and lots of really good ones. Homemade goodies make great gifts for anyone, so cook away but take a break and have a cup of tea. Give thanks for all your blessings and for our country and those who protect it. Keep those who face danger every day in your prayers.

God Bless!

***

SOUTHERN LANE CAKE

(My favorite Christmas cake, a repeat by request)

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

8 egg whites

Lane Cake Filling

Seven Minute Frosting

Pecan halves

Cream butter. Add sugar gradually, besting well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Combine flour and baking powder and add to creamed mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest. Beat room temperature egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Pour batter into 4 greased and floured (or lined with parchment paper) 9-inch cake pans. Bake in preheated 325-degree oven for 18 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks. Layers are very tender and fragile, so handle them carefully. Place first layer on a serving plate, then add other layers as follows. Spread Lane Filling between layers and on top of cake. Spread Seven Minute Frosting on sides and around rim of top. Garnish with pecan halves.

***

LANE CAKE FILLING

8 egg yolks

2 cups water

1 cup butter

2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup currants or chopped raisins

1 can (20-oz.) crushed pineapple, well drained

1/4 cup bourbon

Combine egg yolks, sugar and butter in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in pecans and remaining ingredients. Cool filling completely.

***

SEVEN MINUTE FROSTING

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler except the vanilla extract. Beat at low speed of an electric mixer 30 seconds or just until blended. Place top pan over boiling water in the bottom pan of the double boiler and beat constantly at high speed for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Beat 2 minutes or until frosting is thick enough to spread.

***

YULE LOG

(My second favorite Christmas cake)

Vegetable oil

4 eggs, separated

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (2nd measurement of sugar)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 tablespoon rum extract

Mocha Filling

Chocolate Frosting

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Meringue mushrooms, if available

Grease a 15x10x1-inch jellyroll pan with vegetable oil, and line with waxed paper. Grease waxed paper lightly with vegetable oil (or use parchment paper), and set pan aside.

Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored; gradually add 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, beating well. Stir in water and vanilla.

Beat egg whites (at room temperature) in a large mixing bowl until foamy; gradually add 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in egg yolk mixture.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; mix well, and fold into egg mixture. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 15 minutes.

Sift powdered sugar in a 15×10-inch rectangle on a linen cloth. When cake is done, immediately loosen from sides and turn out onto sugar. Peel off waxed paper. Starting at wide side, roll up warm cake and towel together. Let cake cool completely on a wire rack, seam side down.

When completely cool, unroll cake and remove towel. Sprinkle rum extract evenly over cake. Spread with Mocha Filling and reroll.

Diagonally, cut a 4-inch piece of cake from the roll. Place rolls on a serving plate, positioning cut edge of short piece against side of longer piece to resemble a tree branch. Frost with Chocolate Frosting and lightly score with fork tines to resemble bark. Press chopped pecans into frosting on each end.

Add meringue mushrooms, dusted lightly with cocoa powder, around edge of Log for a nice presentation.

***

MOCHA FILLING

1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1 cup whipping cream

Combine powdered sugar, cocoa, and coffee granules. Mix well. Beat whipping cream until foamy; gradually add sugar mixture, beating until soft peaks form. Enough filling for 1 Yule Log.

***

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

2 (1-oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter

2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Melt chocolate and butter over hot water in top of a double boiler. Remove from heat and cool. Add powdered sugar and milk to chocolate mixture; beat until smooth. Stir in almond extract. Enough frosting for 1 Yule Log.

***

Patty Christopher is a longtime food columnist for the Parkersburg News and Sentinel.

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