We’re so close to Christmas, but I’m only making my first batch of Christmas cookies today! That’s just been the state of our Advent. In searching through my online filing system, I came across this article that appeared in the 2014 Woman Alive December issue, with a few recipes of our favorites at Christmas. Complete with photos of the CutiePyeKids.
For more recipes, and to hear about my sad first Christmas in England, check out the 10th anniversary edition of my first book, Still Finding Myself in Britain.
Happy Thanksgiving week! I love the holiday of US Thanksgiving, not least because the holiday itself is probably the least commercialized celebration (not, of course, the day after though…). We usually go to the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral (for anyone interested, it’s at 11am and I do recommend it) on the day itself, and sometimes have our big feast that day too. But as it’s just another Thursday in November here in Britain, with people working and at school, we often celebrate at the weekend. And usually that’s the weekend after the holiday, but this year we’re marking the day today, as I’m speaking next Saturday. And unlike most years, when we gather many around our table, we’re only hosting family this year because I’ve been traveling so much. Which means I even have time to go to the gym this morning and to post this recipe for you!
One of my favorites about turkey day is this frosty pumpkin pie, which has become a regular at our table. I’ve found that most guests who haven’t grown up eating pumpkin-flavored this and that don’t always care for the taste of pumpkin, so adding the ice cream softens the flavor and makes it more palatable. And it’s just good!
I give you our Frosty Pumpkin Pie, with love from our table to yours. Enjoy!
The frosty pumpkin pie, just created, pre freezing and without whipped cream on top…
This recipe and others, such as my cranberry stuffing, appear in Finding Myself in Britain. You can also read about my and Nicholas’ experience at the US Ambassador’s residence one year! Available in the UK from Christian bookshops, or online from Eden and Amazon. Available Stateside from Amazon.
My dad was raised on a farm in southern Minnesota, and when he was 10 his father died, spiraling the family into poverty. Out of this background he retains a practical approach to life – why eat a processed, expensive version of an ice cream cake from a popular chain when you can make your own version better and more cheaply? This recipe is perfect for family birthday feasts, like the one we just enjoyed for our daughter.
Makes 32 standard servings – but most people eat 3–4 servings per slice!
14.3 oz (405 g) package Oreo cookies
16 oz (450 g) tub ready-to-spread chocolate frosting (buttercream icing)
1⁄2 gallon (1800 ml) vanilla ice cream (softened)
1⁄2 gallon (1800 ml) chocolate ice cream (softened)
1 cup (120 ml) milk approximately
Before you start, make sure you can assemble all of the ingredients quickly because the ice cream soon makes a melty, sloppy mess. Crush all of the Oreo cookies, except 5, in a bowl. Add the milk gradually and stir to make a slurry – a mixture the consistency of a thick cake batter. Fold in the chocolate frosting (icing). Set aside.
Spread the chocolate ice cream evenly into the bottom of a 9-in (23 cm) springform pan. Spoon in the Oreo slurry. On top, add the softened vanilla ice cream. You’ll discover that the pan will not hold the full amount of the vanilla ice cream, so you will need to pile it up toward the middle.
Crush the remaining Oreo cookies and sprinkle them on the top. Cover with aluminum foil and freeze for several hours or overnight.
By popular request, here’s the recipe for Oreo truffles. Very simple and so wonderfully scrumptious. The key is using high-quality chocolate. When I made these this year, I used Green & Black fairly traded chocolate (70%), and then ran out towards the end so threw in some Costco chocolate chips (less than 50% chocolate I think). My goodness, that chocolate sure didn’t melt and became a sticky mess. Enjoy!
(See notes below for the British conversion.)
Makes 48 truffles
36 Oreo cookies
8 oz (250 g) cream (soft) cheese, softened
16 oz (450 g) semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
Crush the Oreo cookies (or Bourbons if you can’t find Oreos) – crush finely if you prefer a soft interior, or leave big chunks if you prefer some crunch. Add to the cream (soft) cheese, and mix until blended. If you prefer a smooth, non-crunchy interior to your truffle (which I do), chill for an hour. Roll cookie mixture into 1 in (2.5 cm) balls. Dip in melted chocolate (using two forks) and place on wax paper/baking parchment to cool. Refrigerate until firm; about an hour.
My notes: The first time I made these, for the ingredients I included four 154 g packets of Oreos, half a packet of Bourbon biscuits I had in the house, and two 250 g tubs of soft cheese – one full fat and one half fat. For the melted chocolate, I used up some leftover plain and milk cake covering. But I thought the nicest of the truffles were those made with the fairly traded dark chocolate that I used when I ran out of the others.
Make sure you don’t scorch the chocolate when you’re melting it – I did, even though I thought I was being careful. (Melt in a bowl over gently boiling water.)
My first recipe! Yep, suitable for coffee parties…
Writing Finding Myself in Britain held many surprises for me. That may sound odd, for you may think, you’re the writer! But that’s the joy of the creative process – things bubble up out of seemingly nowhere, and those helping to birth the book-baby can see hidden things that should be brought into the open. Such as lovely Michele Guinness.
I wept when I first read her foreword to the book; it felt like Christmas and my birthday all wrapped into one as her words washed over me and touched me deep within. In the email she wrote when she sent me the foreword, she included one little line that I could have skimmed over:
Really wanted you to put all your recipes at the end!
Yes, I thought, what a good idea. And so began what turned out to be hours of assembling the family recipes for the various feasts and festivals, along with many phone calls to my mom to make sure I had the instructions down clearly. My editor Jennie Pollock was a Briton who had lived in America, so she was helpful in clarifying things further, as was a friend who was becoming a chef, who helped me realize even more Americanisms that I needed to clarify. And then Becky Fawcett, who did the final copyedit/proofread, went the extra mile and tested out many of the recipes and brought my sometimes erratic measuring system into line. I’m so grateful.
Here’s what you can look forward to with the recipes in Finding Myself in Britain:
Thanksgiving Feast
A VW (vicar’s wife) After-Church Buffet
Christmas Eve Feast (with Christmas cookies)
A Festive Easter Brunch
A Fourth of July (or Father’s Day) Barbecue
An Extra Helping (bonus recipes)
To whet your appetite, below is a recipe excerpted from Finding Myself in Britain for next month’s American Thanksgiving feast, which yes, I will certainly be making.
Minnesota Wild Rice
To me, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Minnesota wild rice. It’s not actually a rice, but a cereal grain that grows in the many fresh, cool lakes in northern Minnesota. For centuries, the native peoples in Minnesota have harvested this grain by hand, travelling throughout the lakes by canoe. Look for it in large supermarkets in the UK, but for this recipe avoid buying the packets combined with white rice.
Serves 10
2 1/2 cups (450 g) wild rice
4 cups (1 litre) stock, either beef, poultry, or vegetarian stock
3 sticks celery, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 cups (225 g) chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
Olive oil
Soak the rice for an hour in cold water, then rinse and drain. Sauté the celery and onion in a large pan with the olive oil until soft, then add the rice and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the mushrooms and cook at a higher heat for the last 5 minutes, until all of the liquid has evaporated.
