One of my fondest memories of growing up was my mother’s Christmas baking.
Butter, sugar, flour, repeat.
Most of the time my dear mother was not that charmed by domestic duties, unlike some of my aunts who could whip up a country dinner for six in the time it took you to unlace your boots, hang up your coat and hat, wash your hands and drag an extra chair over to the wooden table.
Not my ma.
But for some reason, during Christmas season she evinced her domestic diva, her mixing majesty, her baking baroness, her pastry perfection.
Now this little one is perfectly at home in the kitchen.
I remember still how, pre-walking and talking, she would sit on the counter, watching as I measured and mixed, dipping her finger into every substance on its way into the bowl.
And what I recall most was how dispassionate she was about flavours and textures. Salt, baking soda, crumbled basil, all would meet her tastebuds and she would not react, instead assessing its place in the whole mixture.
So with our homeschool agenda spreading out before us like an upturned bowl of pancake batter, we spent an afternoon in a most scientific exploration of the properties of melted butter, sugar and chocolate.
Curriculum is tough, my friends.
How do you like her sweater?
It was a gift from a fellow I knew in Gimli, north of Winnipeg.
The Princess saw it on a shelf and as usual when she walks into my closet — “Oooh! Are you going to wear that?” code for “Can I wear that?”
Oh yes. Back to the cooking demo.
Well as you’ll see there’s not a lot of sophistication in this particular batch of baking — remember, we’re here for nostalgia’s sake.
Will she remember that her loser mother did not make caramel from scratch or will she remember that her mother was so cool she let her unwrap a never-before-seen-in-her-life entire package of Kraft caramels?!
Absolutely the latter! Yeah!
Now for the math:
If I lay out three rows of four groups and if each group has four pecans, and if I used 50 caramels and if each turtle will require approximately one caramel’s worth of, well, caramel, will I need to buy more pecans?
These are most definitely the easiest Christmas candy to make and if you go for the fancy chocolate on top — we used Callebaut chocolate from Calgary — your recipients will swoon.
Turtles on the run.
I will tell you now, do not sample. Do. Not. Sample.
You will not be able to stop.
Just ask the sous-chef how things are going.
She’ll know.
Oh, my mouth is watering! I think my DD and I will have to break out the pecans. I guess I never realized it wasn’t that hard (it might be with us doing it-ha ha). And by the way, I noticed the sweater in the very first picture–LOVE it!
Joyfully,
Jackie, a Homeschooling mom who is happy to cook, clean, and even do windows…just don’t ask me to be my kid’s creative writing tutor.
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Thanks, Jackie! Nice to meet you!
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Princess is beautiful, your kitchen is spotless, and the turtles are making me salivate. I’m looking forward to a sample when you’re in Wpg.
Love, Alice
P.S. Lyla would be proud of you, Lois!
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Thanks, Alice. Some days she is very much missed. I see her especially in Liliana’s smile…
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O.K., I made the turtles. While they didn’t look beautiful, they tasted wonderful. I used toasted pecans and toasted macadamia nuts. I ended up using real butter, real vanilla, a little tiny bit of cream, and made the caramel rather than melting caramel candy. I wanted to leave off the chocolate topping, but my family wanted it, so I gave in. I am not a huge chocolate fan. Oh, and I sprinkled a little sea salt on the top of mine…yummy!
Joyfully,
Jackie
My Attempt at Blogging
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