Sugared pecan balls
2 cups pecans
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 F. Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool. Grind pecans in food processor.
Mix pecans, flour and salt. Set aside.
Beat the butter and 1/3 cup of the sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy (2 to 3 mins). Beat in the vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture.
Shape the dough into 1 tbsp balls and place on baking sheets.
Bake, rotating halfway through for 12 to 14 minutes.
Roll the cookies in the sugar to coat.

Flourless peanut butter cookies
2 cups creamy peanut butter or almond butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt.

350 F oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Mix together the peanut butter, sugars, eggs, baking soda and salt until smooth.
Shape the dough into balls (about 1 tbsp each) and place on baking sheets. Use tines of fork to flatten each ball.
Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until puffed and golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

4 medium flounder fillets
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tbsps vegetable oil
2 tbsps white wine vinegar
8 tbsps freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp pressed garlic
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp salt

In small nonreactive bowl (not that I know what that means …), combine basil, oil, vinegar, 6 tbsps Parmesan, garlic, pepper and salt. Place fillets in baking dish and pour marinade over them. Marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, turning once.

Spoon excess marinade from dish. Sprinkle 2 tbsps Parmesan over fillets. Bake at 400 until fish flakes easily with a fork — about 12 to 15 minutes. Cut into halves.

Christmas cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sgar
2 large eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Decorating sugar

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla and salt.

2. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined. Shape into 1-inch-thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

3. Heat oven to 350. On a floured surface, roll the dough 1/4-inch thick. Using lightly floured 2- to 3-inch cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes, flouring the cutters and rerolling the scraps as necessary. Place them 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Sprinkle with decorating sugar.

4. Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the edges just begin to brown, 12 to 1 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Real Simple (modified)

Hank made the pizza.

Hank used store-bought frozen dough and topped the pizzas with three cheeses. On one pizza, he put bell pepper one one half for me, and on the other half he put pineapple and fresh jalapeno. He also made a cheese pizza for Georgia.

Georgia helped make and decorated the cake.

“I like good, strong words that mean something.”
-Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

3 apples cores, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Bake in 350 oven for 1 hour.

Wayne's brined and roasted turkey was better than ever.

• Being able to bask in the sunshine under a blue sky
• Hearing young laughter
• Enjoying the company of those much wiser and kinder
• Working in concert with Wayne to cook a meal to be enjoyed by so many
• Knowing that family members are healthy and strong
• Having special people in my life who’ve helped me come to a peaceful, gentle place in life
• Having a job that challenges me and yet allows me to be able to spend this holiday away with those I love
• Being able to take an endorsed stroll with little ones around the block
• Feeling touched every day by God’s grace

My favorite holiday dessert.

Pecan pie
1 cup chopped pecans
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
Dash salt
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
Single pie crust

In mixing bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork. Add sugar and salt, stirring til dissolved. Stir in dark corn syrup and melted butter. Mix well. Stir in the pecans. Place a pastry-lined 9 inch pie plate on oven rack; pour in pecan mixture. Cover edge of pie with foil; bake about 25 min. In 350 degree oven. Remove foil. Bake about 25 min. more or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool. Chill.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, slightly modified

Egg Nog
12 shelf eggs
1 cup sugar
4 cups nonfat milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whipping cream
Groung nutmeg

Beat eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and salt. Chill. Whip cream. Fold together. Sprinkle nutmeg over each serving. Allow others to spoil theirs by adding rum, brandy or bourbon.

This was the first time we tried this complicated (for us) pie. Georgia loves chocolate pie.

Chocolate Chiffon Pie
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 9-inch baked pastry shell

Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water. Beat egg yolks on high speed of mixer about 5 min. Or til thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in 1/3 cup sugar; stir in vanilla and 1/4 tsp salt. In saucepan combine chocolate and 1/2 cup water. Cook and stir over low heat til chocolate melts. Add to gelatin; stir to dissolve gelatin. Gradually beat gelatin mixture into egg yolk mixture. Chill to the consistency of corn syrup, stirring occasionally. Immediately beat egg whites til soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating til stiff peaks form. When gelatin is partially set (the consistency of unbeaten egg whites) fold in stiff-beaten egg whites. Chill til mixture mounds when spooned. Put into pastry shell. Chill til set.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

We also prepped raw veggies — carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and bell peppers — for munching throughout Thanksgiving Day.

Cut crepe paper is used to trim beeswax candles for Moravian Christmas Eve love feasts.

Not really, but many, many scissor cuts go into making the trim that goes onto each beeswax candle used in a Christmas Eve love feast. Just tonight, in fashioning the crepe paper trim for 40 candles, I made about 2,000 cuts. Multiply that to take in all the candles that are trimmed and you get begin to get a sense of what goes into our four annual Christmas lovefeasts. Add to it the mixing of the beeswax, the stringing of the candle molds, the pouring, the pulling, pinning the trim to the candles, and the overall job that Wayne oversees becomes clearer.

Then there are the musicians, the servers, the ushers, the coffee master, the pastors and the people who volunteer to make sure these participants are well fed on the big day. The task is monumental, and it takes months of work and practice to pull off.

But it all seems quite worth it the minute during the ceremony when the dieners stride through the church doors into the darkened sanctuary, carrying trays of candles to the sounds of the Bach hymn “Break forth, o, beauteous heavenly light.” Christ said, “I am the light of the world”, and “you are the light of the world: let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father who is in heaven.”