Here's my recipe for my ideal Christmas dinner (kind of a sequel to our cookbook below and at least one of the recipes I promised earlier).
#1. A wonderful host. Here's the picture I put inside my dauther's Christmas cookbook so you can see it better. It was Christmas Eve 2005 and Caitlin just gave her Grandma a fake fur cooking apron. Grandma loved it!
No one hosts a better Christmas Eve than my Mom McClain. She loved everything Christmas.
#2 Ingredient - A lovely set table. Mom McClain always bought an ornament or figurine for each plate and we loved her little individual salt and pepper shakers. It was more the special care she put into the meal than the plates and silver that made it so beautiful.
#3 Ingredient. Cookies! Okay, I know that's not the main course, or even an appetizer, but it's my favorite Christmas food. So, here's one our favorite cookies, given to me by, of course, Mom McClain.
Surprise Meringues
Ingredients:
- 2 egg whites
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 6 ounce package of chocolate chips
Beat the egg whites, salt, cream of tarter and vanilla to a soft peak. Add sugar gradually, beating until the mixture is stiff. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Drop mixture by teaspoon. (It will not expand as it cooks, this will be the finished size.) Bake for 25 minutes at 300 degrees.
FYI - These cookies don't ship well because they're too delicate. Mom McClain tried to mail them to us one year and we got just a pile of sugar with some chocolate chips.
Well, that's all I need for good Christmas eats. Forget the turkey . . . just bring on the cookies and hugs all around!
