For the last couple years I have been trying to come up with some homemade edible gifts to give to family and friends. I figure that it’s nice to get something you couldn’t find in a store, and quite frankly, I just cannot afford to buy everyone I know a $30 sweater.
This year the gift du jour was apple butter. To say the absolute least, it was quite a chore challenge. More on that later, but let me just say that when I was in the middle of grinding up apples in my kitchen sink I longed for last year, when I handed out little bags of white chocolate peppermint bark. I should have gone against my instinct to break tradition, cause white chocolate bark couldn’t be easier to make. And seriously, people go nuts over this stuff. I missed it so much that I whipped up a batch and brought it into work. By noon the whole tray was gone, which tells me some people had this for breakfast.
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There are two clear types of holiday recipes. There are the time-tested kind, the ones that have been made over and over again, and will always be around because 1) everyone loves them and 2) the person making the recipe could do it with their eyes closed and one hand tied behind their back. There are also the newer kinds of recipes, those that are maybe a little more modern, with unusual ingredients and were probably found in a magazine or, ahem, a food blog.
This recipe is hands-down an example of the first type. My mother’s cheese dip graces pretty much every holiday party she attends in December, it is a rare occasion when she’s able to bring any leftovers home. This is the kind of appetizer that you snack on before dinner, and then return to when you’ve finished dessert. It’s the kind that you can’t stand in front of for more than 5 seconds without compulsively piling some on a cracker, until you’re wondering where all the crackers went and why you feel so full all of a sudden.
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I know that in other parts of the country it’s been snowing since October, but this is FINALLY the first week in LA that I decidedly cannot wear flip flops. I guess winter has officially arrived. Therefore, it’s also the first week that warm beverages have actually seemed appealing to me. I normally stick to iced drinks, but on a day that’s cold and rainy and leaves a thin layer of ice on my car, all I can think about is going back inside and drinking a steaming mug of hot chocolate.
Years ago when I was in high school my friends and I used to get together on a Friday nights and cook extravagant 4-course meals instead of spending our money on over-priced burgers at a restaurant. On one such night we made white-hot chocolate with ginger, and I haven’t ever forgotten it. This drink is rich and creamy with some spice to it; it’s the perfect dessert drink to warm you up on a cold winter night.
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