Sweetacular Star Mints

My fabulous friends do 2 incredible things for me: Send ideas that grab attention, and loan equipment to try them out. Hats off to Jeanne Ambrose at Taste of Home Magazine for finding the star mint idea - and to Trish Ballard for loaning me an oven - she is always willing to watch what happens.

Jeanne knows I like to melt things down, like Jolly Rancher candies to make "stained glass" images. She sent this link to the star mint trick of melting ye old holiday beauties and cutting them into shapes. http://abc.tv/VEGlzY

In a nutshell, get yourself a sheet pan, parchment paper and a bag of star mints. I found them at Walgreens - there seemed to be a shortage of mints in the grocery stores.

Whack the oven up to 350 degrees. Remove candy papers from mints, and line them up on the pan, about 1/4 inch apart, leaving room at the edges of the pan since these will spread. Bake up to about 7 minutes (keep an eye on them)and see that hot sugar move out.

Remove pan from oven, set on counter and place cookie cutters into the sugar. Leave cutters in place as the sugar cools. Careful, they are hot to the touch.

As the mixture cools, it will become hard enough to "break out" the sugar pieces, if you're careful. No need to rush this; they will separate.
 
The idea's original intent was to make serving trays, but I like cutting them into shapes even better. 

Next, I'll try cutting them in truly small shapes to make cupcake toppers.

It's been a busy season at my home base, Singing Wheat Kitchen, with many classes to teach at Sur La Table. Kitchen and Sur join me in wishing you passionate baking and delicious moments with family and friends this holiday season. 

What does that look like? At Singing Wheat we always pause to attend the Stimson Family Christmas Party on Dec. 23. Charlie, Meredith and their children preserve for me the essence of my Christmases in Connecticut in olden days. Yes, in their house you'll find wonderful food and friendship - but it's the mandatory singing around the piano that grabs my heart. Charlie brings out the kid in all of us as he plays the piano - and sometimes the sax or ukulele. He has the good songs, too, you best be armed with a hanky. 

There's a reason the word "Singing" is a part of my bakery name, and I'm told there's an old Jewish saying that music and singing touch the deepest part of our soul. This I do believe.

Good food, good friends and a songbook are the recipe for a joyful heart. Lift a friend, a cookie or a song this holiday season. Get a lift, is what I'm saying.

Holiday Cookie Tips

If you were in my holiday cookies class at Sur La Table, you heard me say "Vodka!"

Let me explain. We were flourishing the royal icing onto gingerbread, and I was giving caution that these white icing surfaces need time to dry before painting designs on top. If you missed how alcohol entered the conversation, here it is:

To paint any design on the royal icing of your cookie, first let it dry completely. To apply the paint, mix a little gel food coloring with a splash of vodka. You can stir it up with a toothpick until you get the color you want. The vodka helps hold the gel paste in suspension for brushing.

Simply mix - I use an old muffin tin and mix in the different muffin holes - then apply with a brush. If you want to check your color before committing yourself on the cookie, use a broken cookie or one you don't like and make it your test version. Practice on that.

Friends, it can be hard to get everything said in a 2-hour class, so let me offer a pledge that if clarification is needed, I'll use this space to add background. Helping you get a handle on breads, French pastry, macarons, cupcakes, chocolate, all things involving butter, sugar, flour and eggs is a pleasure and a joy.

Please let me know what I forgot to blurt in class, and let's get it solved.

Head to your rolling pins and take off!

(Photo: Hand-painted Highland Park Scots and tuile-batter peppermint sticks)