Happy St. Nicholas Day!

I am reading the most interesting little book right now, called The Autobiography of Santa Claus.  It starts out as a historical account of Christmas through the eyes of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra.  Then the story takes a fun twist into fiction, but it's still fun to read.  I can't remember when I realized the truth about Santa, but I know it wasn't a traumatic experience.  We hung our little red felt stockings on the west front door of our house.  Our mother hung some kind of banner on the door and the stockings were pinned there.  We would wait in such anticipation for Christmas Eve, wondering what would be brought and stuffed into our stockings.  I do remember NOT being able to sleep at all on Christmas Eve and we would shout out to our parents..."Is it Christmas yet?"  We would hear tired mumblings of  "no... go to sleep..."  Our poor parents had to wait a long time for us to truly fall asleep.  Even as older kids, we would sneak out in the night, hopeful of getting a glimpse of our presents. 

Here is a wonderful recipe for the second week of Advent:  Speculaas.  Enjoy!

Saint Nicholas Day Baking Project

The following recipe, for "speculaas" (speculations) ginger cookies are served especially on Saint Nicholas Day. The recipe is from A Continual Feast, by Evelyn Birge Vitz (Ignatius Press), and is traditional in the Low Countries. (In America these cookies are called "windmills", usually embellished with almonds, and can be brought at the grocery store.)
This cookie dough may be cut into the shape of Saint Nicholas, following our pattern here, which can also be used for coloring. When cool, the cookies can be decorated with icing "paint" -- thinned icing colored with food coloring -- and applied with brushes.
This delicious ginger cookie might also be cut into other shapes, recalling other aspects of the kindly bishop's legendary life and work: such as the three young girls to whom he threw the three bags of gold for their doweries, or the three little boys whom he brought back to life, or the sailors whom he saved from the storm.
Speculaas cookies
1 Cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, at room temperature
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
Grated rind of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or mace
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Optional: powdered sugar for decorative icing
In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, blending thoroughly after each addition. Stir in the lemon rind.
Sift the spices and salt with the flour and baking powder, and stir gradually into the butter mixture. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight. (If you are in a hurry, start the chilling process in the freezer: leave the dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes.)
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch, or for larger figures to about 1/4 inch. Cut out with cookie cutters, or trace around a heavy paper pattern with a sharp knife. This dough can also be used with a cookie mold, or can be molded by hand.
Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned. If you like you cookies soft, remove them from the oven when they are just set -- the longer the baking time, the crisper the cookie.
Optional: Paint when cool. These cookies ­ especially when baked in the form of Saint Nicholas ­ are fun to paint with colored icing.
Icing "paint"
In little pots or plastic containers, mix powdered sugar with a little bit of water (or lightly beaten egg white, or lemon juice) and a few drops of food coloring, to produce the desired shades and the desired consistency for painting. Apply with small paintbrushes.
Yield:: approximately 3 dozen cookies or fewer large figures.

credit:  http://www.wf-f.org/st.nicholas.html