For many of you, the holidays might mean… Family! Food! Presents! The birth of Jesus Christ! Tradition! And more. I agree that all of these things are important, in my family we usually are with my grandparents, aunt, and uncles. All gathered around in the living room to give out presents on Christmas morning or gathered in church to sing hymns.
So we sat back and relaxed and did all the things to our heart’s desires. Sipping hot chocolate by a fire and watching the snow fall down in delicate flakes of glory – Says no Whitmore ever! From my posts, we are always on the move. Most of the time, we are in someplace new and exciting, so why not bring that with us through the holidays!
Christmas in Patagonia
What to Bring
When traveling, you always have to be careful when packing. My genius mother came up with the idea to get my family onesies. Yes, all six of us matching – wonderful, cozy, amazing – onesies! Now, folks, these things are amazing. And I will never be wearing anything else in my entire life thank you very much. Not only were the onesies a spectacular surprise, but we also did make-shift stockings! I used one of my ski socks, Bardez and Kb used their snow hats, and Zeb used his shoes! It was all quite fun and we enjoyed the little things.
As for small presents, I would recommend chocolates. Whether they be gold coins, a small box, or something else, chocolate is a well-loved substance all over the world. I also recommend games, maybe cards? Or puzzles. Also, jewelry is a great gift! My brothers got bracelets, and us girls got earrings (me) and a necklace (kb). There are so many other options like stuffed animals, candy, or adventures, and when you are with just your family and not at the comforts of your home, all of these options I’m giving were used with us this year. And they all make splendid gifts!
Making Cookies in a Foreign Country
*sigh*… Making cookies in a foreign country is no small feat of nature. And when you are American and don’t know any other measurements than cups, tbsp, tsp, and all the other bogus measurements that we use, it can be very difficult to make a solid recipe! Therefore, folks, I got to use a little thing called experimentation! The house we happened to be staying in unfortunately failed to provide adequate baking utensils… which made measuring – even in grams and milliliters! – quite difficult. So I just used the blender’s measurements to approximate things. the concoction that I made was tasty, but failed to look anything like what it was supposed to be… which was sad. But hey! When boys say its good, you can just smiled and say “Yeah…!”
This year I only was able to make one type of cookie. Gluten-Free Almond Rocha Bars. This is a traditional Christmas cookie in the Whitmore household. Usually also baked with traditional Swedish cookies like Spritz, Peper Gorger, Berliner Kranser, Thimble Cookies, Peanut Brittle (my personal favorite), and Sandbakkelse. I will provide the recipe for the Almond Rocha Bars today, and add some tips on how to make it! Enjoy!
Gluten-Free Almond Rocha Bars
Ingredients:
- 1 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 brown sugar
- 2 egg YOLK
- 2 cups cake flour (or, cup-4-cup)*
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 20 oz milk chocolate (10 hershey bars)**
- One cup of finely chopped almonds.***
Directions:
Cream butter, and both sugars; set aside for the time being. In a separate bowl, add egg yolk, flower, and vanilla in another bowl; then add all other ingredients and mix well. If the dough is not being cooperative, then feel free to sprinkle some water. But only a few drops. Continue to mix until the dough is sticky.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment and set the oven to 350F. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. NOE MORE! The cookie looks done when it is golden brown. Pull out of the oven, and immediately break up chocolate bars and place them on top. Once the chocolate starts melting, spread it around the pan for maximal thickness of the sweet stuff. Once the chocolate is fully melted and spread, sprinkle the almonds over till the pan is covered, then gently pat the almonds into the chocolate. Like you’re teaching a child to pat a puppy softly. Don’t squish the almonds into the chocolate.
Let the cookie sit in the pan till fully cooled, then cut up and serve! Enjoy!!
*Any GF flour really works. I would not use almond flour though.
**Any regular chocolate bar works, and you can do however much chocolate you want! But the minimum is put in the recipe.
*** I used whole almonds then blended in a blender them till their little bits. Anything works as long as it’s very small chunks or something like flour.
Note: For better taste, for the cake so that the chocolate melts into it. Don’t fork it to much though.