Winter Thoughts And Reflections
Winter is a time when our outer world begins to darken, and the air carries a quiet hush. It’s the season when we begin, consciously or unconsciously, a quiet journey where we seek to kindle our inner light. This time of year invites us to slow down, be present, and keep our inner light shining bright.
We live in a culture that quickens its pace and even accelerates in the lead-up to the winter holidays. This year, let’s choose a quieter way to live into the winter season. Let’s honor the wisdom of the natural world around us. Let’s connect with the deeper meaning of this season. Although this is the darkest time of the year when the days are shortest and the nights longest, we can kindle our inner light with seasonal rituals that we create. We can light candles, sing, craft, make a seasonal wreath, and bake. These rituals are experiences that nourish the soul and invite connection and beauty. They kindle in us what words cannot say. They create lasting memories that the heart never forgets.
As the nights grow longer and we all begin to prepare for the holiday season, it can feel as though the December page of the calendar is overflowing with obligations and tasks. There is this counterintuitive pressure to be out and about buying gifts and going to every party just as our instincts are telling us to turn inward, to bundle up, to tend to our homes. Sometimes it feels as though you cannot budget a single extra minute for resting or for slow time with your family. When I think back on my childhood, the holiday memories that have stayed with me are the moments when grown-ups actually slowed down to spend time with me. They are also moments steeped in sensory experience. I remember sitting by the hot fire while cracking that year’s walnuts with my grandfather, the nuts tasting simultaneously sweet and bitter. I remember making gingerbread cookies with my parents and pinching a few secret bites of the soft, spiced dough. I remember hiking over the green hills together to pick mistletoe, lichen and toyon for a big wreath, and coming home with my boots full of rainwater.
I hope that you find a way to take the time to do a little something that feels special everyday leading up to the holiday that you celebrate. In our house, we do get dressed up to go and see The Nutcracker, but, truthfully, my children experience the most joy on the night we make pomanders, the day we make gingerbread cookies, and the morning that we spend a little time to string popcorn and cranberries for our tree. Here I share with you a recipe for gingerbread cookies that we make every year. I usually make the dough a day ahead to simplify the flow of the project. Children love to roll balls of the dough in their hands and then roll them in sugar to make them sparkle. It is also fun to roll the dough out and cut shapes. You could do a little bit of both with a single batch. This is a recipe I came up with on a quest to find a gingerbread cookie that is easy to roll, has the right amount of spice and sweetness, and stays a little bit chewy.
Before life gets too busy, take a moment to reflect on what it is that you would like to glean from your own holiday experience as a child. What will you do to bring a little simple magic home to your family this year, and perhaps every year from now on? This is how those important traditions begin, this is the first sprout of a profound memory your child will carry into their future.
Gingerbread Molasses Spice Cookies, Sparkling or Rolled and Cut
Ingredients
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup maple sugar
¾ cup butter, softened
½ cup spelt flour
¼ cup molasses
1 extra-large egg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
For hand rolling sparkle cookies: a bit of turbinado or sparkling sugar (3/4 cup maximum)
For using a rolling pin and cookie cutters: a bit of extra all-purpose flour (3/4 cup maximum)
Method
Sift together both flours, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.
Use a stand mixer to cream butter, maple sugar, molasses and egg at medium speed for 3-4 minutes. Add vanilla extract and mix until combined.
On low speed, add dry ingredients one large spoonful at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and continue to mix until fully incorporated.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes.
To hand-roll sparkle cookies:
Line baking sheet with parchment paper and fill a small bowl with extra sugar. Use a medium sized cookie scoop or soup spoon to spoon out equal amounts of dough. Use your hands to roll each scoop into a ball, then roll in turbinado or sparkling sugar to coat.
Place on sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. The outside should be cracked and a bit crisp, the inside still chewy. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.
To make with rolling pin and cookie cutters:
Lightly dust a large board with a pinch of the extra all-purpose flour, and do the same with the rolling pin. Take about one quarter of the chilled dough, and use the rolling pin to roll it out to about a quarter inch thickness. Dust cookie cutters with a little bit of flour before pressing into the dough.
Place on sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should be soft and slightly chewy. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.
Cook’s Notes
Sometimes it is helpful for children to have a thin, flexible spatula to move cookies from the board to the baking sheet.
You can make this cookie dough a day ahead and chill it overnight. If you do this, take it out of the refrigerator about an hour before baking time.
By Katie Rose Isaacson Hames
Kitchen and Garden Steward