So This Is Christmas...

The other day I was reminiscing on how much I enjoyed Christmas as a child.  I loved everything about it. The potpourri smell of my mother's kitchen, the strings of white lights, the hustle and bustle of last minute shoppers... Even the frigid 35 degree Birmingham winter weather, which I now find almost unbearable, added to the look and feel of my favorite time of year. Now that I've settled into adulthood, I abhor Christmas. With one exception: the last weekend before the big day, when I spend two days making Christmas cookies.

My Christmas cookies are good. If you're familiar with Italian desserts, they are dense, highly spiced, and not overly sweet (even a little bitter actually, but in a good way). I usually round out the holiday season by making about three hundred to give to co-workers, neighbors, and my dad's side of the family. Hey, what good is a five generations-old family recipe if you can't say, "NO you can't have it, it's a secret!"? (With all fairness, I don't think my great-great-grandmother used chocolate chips and sprinkles for hers, but we American Nicometos do.)

I was recently musing on the possibility of making a detox-friendly version of this traditional recipe. Hey, it would really be pretty simple. Replace the white flour with the whole wheat stuff, the shortening with expeller-pressed safflower oil, the cocoa with carob powder, and the eggs with one of the marvelous suggestions from the Vegan Society:

• One tbsp. chickpea or soy flour with one tbsp. water
• One tbsp. arrowroot, one tbsp soy flour and two tbsp. water
• Two tbsp. flour, 1/2 tbsp. shortening, 1/2 tsp. baking powder and two tsp. water
• 50 grams tofu blended with the liquid portion of the recipe
• 1/2 large banana, mashed
• 50 mL "white sauce" (whatever THAT is)

Aw, scratch that. I'm getting grossed out.