[FHCx358] National Pfefferneuse Day

8 daaaaaaays remaining!

TODAY IS NATIONAL PFEFFERNEUSE DAY!

Bless you!

Pfefferneuse, or more appropriately “pfeffernüse,” are little spice cookies from central Europe. They are traditional to December in Germany, Denmark, and the like, specifically around the time of the feast of Saint Nicholas around December 5/6. Despite being named “pepper nut,” these contain no nuts. Or peppers. Who comes up with this anyway?

The cookies came over here with the Dutch Menonites, so they aren’t too unfamiliar for most living in the Eastern states. They aren’t hard to find in grocery stores around this time of year.

“I’m glad they’re soft,” AK exclaimed. They taste gingerbready and cardamomy and such and so on. If these were around during the rest of the year, we would probably get them again.

Tomorrow is National Egg Nog Day!

-SPAK

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[FHCx347] National Gingerbread House Day/National Ambrosia Day

Sweet!

IT’S NATIONAL GINGERBREAD HOUSE DAY AND NATIONAL AMBROSIA DAY!

One of these is an appropriate Decembertime food. The other is definitely a Southern USA summer dish. So Southern that we used Alton Brown’s recipe for it. Ambrosia is basically an extension of fruit salad, and not the drink of immortality of the Greek pantheon. Oh well.

Makin’ some whipped cream.

Mini marshmallows, fruits, coconut shavings, and chopped pecans.

Gooey and fruity and sugary.

Because we couldn’t get enough of a sugar high off of that, we also made and ate some Gingerbread House! Gingerbread used to be restricted to professional bakers in Germany and France except on Christmas and Easter, when anyone could bake it. It got to the point where there were fierce competitions of professional gingerbread bakers. The shaping into houses made it all the more fun.

Current record for size is this dude from Texas who made a 2520-square-foot home. That’s more than 1.5 times as big as SPAK‘s house. It used up 1800 pounds of butter. And the total calorie count? Estimated at 35.8 million. That’s enough calories for an adult male to eat for 49 years.

And here we are, building ours from a kit.

The required statement of any food-house we build together.

It was hit by a snowcandy storm before it was disassembled and partly eaten.

All these sweets put us right in the mood for bedtime. ‘Night everybody!

Tomorrow is National Ice Cream & Violins Day and National Cocoa Day.

-SPAK

[FHCx300] National Pumpkin Day/National Mince Meat Day

Can you believe it? 300?!

IT’S NATIONAL PUMPKIN DAY AND NATIONAL MINCE MEAT DAY!

Mince meat isn’t really meat. Well, it was at one point. Some recipes for it contain beef suet, a.k.a. beef lard. But it used to be a pie filling of mutton or beef with the suet to help bind it into a filling. Add some dried fruits like prunes and raisins, and you’ve got a mince meat. This is coming from the same group that calls non-pudding things “puddings.”

You read that right: 190 calories for 1/3 cup.

You can use it to top ice cream or make a pie out of. We were going to make the recipe on the side of the jar, but ran out of time, so we had it with our pumpkin bars.

The only ingredients you need for these pumpkin bars.

Mix them well together.

Pour into a pan (here is 9×9) and bake at 350 for 35 minutes

Squishy, tasty, and lots of great pumpkin flavor from actual pumpkin.

We were surprised pumpkin day was not October 31, but we’re happy to celebrate regardless. Unfortunately, our plans to carve our Halloween punkins aren’t until Saturday… but we’ll post pictures on 10/31.

Tomorrow is National American Beer Day.

-SPAK

[FHCx157] National Gingerbread Day

Very gingerly…

TODAY IS NATIONAL GINGERBREAD DAY!

Gingerbread isn’t really a bread. But it was a way to spice things up as early as the 10th century, when a monk named Gregory of Nicopolis moved from Armenia to France and taught the Catholics there how to make gingerbread. Go figure.

Well, to celebrate, we want to call attention to Kellogg’s most awesome flavor of pop tart that was super limited edition. Though pop tarts aren’t really part of our regular rotation of pantry foods anymore, this one was a favorite of SP through college.

Such a radical ski jump!

They’re very gingery, which is probably why the flavor didn’t make the mainstream so well. But the icing inside is nice, and these don’t have the often-opinion-generating frosting on top. If you can find them, they’re worth a try!

Tomorrow is National Applesauce Cake Day

-SPAK