If you have never had divinity, you have probably never been to the South around Christmas. This is, of course, not the only reason you may not have had divinity. You could also be an aethist, I suppose. (Kidding.)
Divinity is a white, fudge-like candy made of sugar and egg whites. It is often called “divinity fudge”, actually. It is almost a type of nougat that has formed a lovely firm outside since it has not been enrobed by any type of chocolate, while remaining moist and creamy inside. It tastes a bit marshmallowy - though much, much creamier - and will almost always contains walnuts.
It’s traditionally made around Christmas time, which means that the local fudge shop will be making it for the rest of the month. This is indeed good news, since very few places out here in California seem to sell it. The picture is of a piece I bought this morning. I much prefer to slice pieces of divinity off a a large fudge-like block than having small meringue shaped pieces, since there is more of the creamy, chewy center that way. Check out my recipe for divinity if you are interested in trying to make this delight at home.

So, Thanksgiving has now come and gone and we are well into the holiday eating season. With Christmas and the new SHF coming up, I think I’m going to have to start planning my New Year’s Resolutions now…
But since it’s still 2004, today I baked soft pretzels.
My grandmother, who is originally from Philadelphia, came over for lunch and I thought that I would surprise her with some traditionally Philly snacks - namely, soft, salty pretzels. They were really easy to make and incredibly good dipped in mustard. They’re great for an afternoon snack or served at a party.

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 I wanted to test this recipe for Oatmeal Dinner Rolls from AllRecipes before Thanksgiving next week. I know that lots of people don’t test recipes before serving them and an equal number will never serve anything that isn’t absolutely tried and true (a number in my family, for example). I usually fall into the former category, but if you have the time, it never really hurts to be sure.

The bread turned out great. It had a great flavor and was light and moist. I was suprised that it wasn’t heavy at all. I should have taken more pictures, or at least tried to get a better shot, but we were a bit too eager to slice into it.

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To serve with my lovely bread, I made a spiced pumpkin soup.
It had a really central american flavor due to the cocoa powder and cinnamon I added. I began with the Southwestern Pumpkin Soup recipe at Epicurious, but I didn’t really have any of the spices that it called for. Consequently, I am more then happy to take partial credit for the creation of this soup - which I will be adding to my favorite recipe file. Canned pumpkin makes this soup possible all year, especially now that stores seem to be stocking it year round (it was dangerously close to a seasonal item for a long time!).

Spiced Pumpkin Soup3 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1 cup half and half (also works with fat free haf n’ half)
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
3 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (dutch process)
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt

Bring chicken stock and half and half to boil in heavy medium pot. Whisk in canned pumpkin, brown sugar and spices. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until soup thickens slightly and flavors blend, about 20 minutes. (Soup can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cool. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally.)

Serves 4, with some nice, crusty bread.

Now, let’s see if we can come up with another reason for me to bake cookies… hmm, that’s a tough one since I don’t like to bake. Wait. What am I saying! Heresy!

To atone for my sins, I chose to make Cashew-Macadamia Butter Cookies (with White Chocolate Chunks and Cranberries). I know that this second name sounds like a mouthful, and let me assure you that they are a great tasting one!
White chocolate macadamia nut cookies are one of my favorites, though I’m usually disappointed by these cookies when I have them out. Essentially, these are peanut butter cookies where I substituted the peanut butter with Cashew-Macadamia Butter, which I spotted at Trader Joes. Dressed up peanut butter cookies invloving macadamia nuts?, I thought to myself. I must have started to drool at the idea, because people started to stare. I grabbed the butter (paid for it) and headed home. If I were making these in the summer, I might toss in some coconut instead of the cranberries, and maybe some chopped acadamia nuts, too. Here, though, I think that the cranberries give it a nice tang and a holiday feel.

And, of course, here is the recipe so Santa can make these himself when he gets home:

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I adore biscotti. I am a bit disappointed with the trend towards softish, cakey biscotti, though. Biscotti should be very crisp. They should not, however, be so “crisp” as to require serious dental work after eating them. For these biscotti, neither is the case. I find them to be very crisp, yet light. They have no butter or oil in them (though I would put in a bit of olive oil if I were making a more savory biscotti).

I chose to make them for my Sugar High Friday entry instead of just submitting a classic apple pie recipe to go with the apple theme of the food blogging event. I happened to have a jar of apple butter and was keen to use it. I usually eat biscotti plain, but this time I topped them with a white chocolate almond glaze and sprinkled them with minced candied ginger. The only change I might recommend is to put the ginger in the biscotti before baking.

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