JUSTINE’S SHORTBREAD STARS My room-mate Justine comes from Edinburgh, hence her mastery of these glittering shortbread stars. At Christmas she makes the stars round, brushing them after baking with a thin icing of confectioners’ sugar and water flavored with cinnamon. Makes about 12 stars 1 cup/250 g unsalted butter 1/2 cup/125 g sugar 3 cups/390
VOLCANIC BAKED APPLES WITH CHOCOLATE For baking you’ll need a tart variety of apple that will be fluffy and juicy when baked; traditional favorites are Rome Beauty or McIntosh, though you can always fall back on the ubiquitous Granny Smith. All of them are liable to burst open, hence their ‘volcanic’ title! Serves 4 4
AUNTIE LOUIE’S CHEESE BALLS Grandma had only one Auntie, plump and generous, a grande dame with bouffant white hair and an English rose complexion. Her progress as she drove along the village street, bowing to left and right to acquaintances, was positively regal. Auntie Louie was famous for her luck at the tombola (she once
TAIWAN CHICKEN STIR FRY When Grandma traveled in Asia, she loved the lively little dishes served in outdoor markets. The trio of spring onion, garlic and root ginger is the classic seasoning for innumerable Asian dishes, whether or not to pick them up with chili pepper is the cook’s choice. Serves 2 2 boneless, skinless
CORNMEAL AND CHARDONNAY CAKE Yellow cornmeal, also called polenta, is what’s needed here. Grandma likes the crunch of coarsely ground cornmeal, but a finer grind does well too. As for the Chardonnay wine when kids are around, apple juice does just as well in the batter but the baking powder should be halved to 2
PEPPER STEAK For a stronger flavor, use more pepper, or to reduce the heat, scrape the crushed peppercorns from the steak before serving. You can use any tender cut of beef. Serves 2 2 tablespoons peppercorns 2 steaks, about 2 cm/3/4 inch thick (3/4-1 lb/375-450g total) 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, more for coating 1 tablespoon
CARROT CAKE This carrot cake is a request by Lucy as she loves to draw rabbits. To the basic cake, Grandma has added a generous coating of cream cheese frosting. Serves 8-10 2 cups/200 g walnuts 3 medium carrots (about ¾ lb/375 g) 1 cup/250 g butter, more for the pan 2 ½ cups/300 g
CHOCOLATE SALAMI Dark chocolate and hazelnuts are the basis of this recipe, a natural pair known in Italian by the single name ‘gianduia.’ Grandma and Grandpa came across this “salami” in a rural trattoria when the chef cut a few slices from a roll resembling the familiar salami sausage and urged us to try it
COOKIES GALORE! Here’s Grandma’s go-to recipe for the kids to use with cookie cutters to make all sorts of holiday ideas: for Chocolate Chip Cookies, simply add chocolate chips; for Mexican Wedding Cookies: add finely chopped pecans or walnuts, bake and after cooling, toss the cookies in icing sugar; for Thumbprint Cookies: before baking, make