The Kitchn Archive: Dec 2017

Ever since I was a kid, one of my favorite sounds in our house was hearing my mom’s KitchenAid mixer turn on. I knew it meant something delicious was coming our way, like chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, blueberry scones, or her famous apple cake. The sound of the mixer also signaled a chance to bake with her.

The holidays provide a chance to relax a bit, spend time with loved ones, and eat a ton of good food. The world’s celebrities certainly enjoyed themselves, whether they baked cookies at home, like Blake Lively; had a whole menu brought in, like Mindy Kaling; or hopped on a plane to Paris to celebrate with oysters, like Ina Garten. Many posted photos of their celebrity Christmas celebrations so we could share in the festivities. Here are nine of our favorites celebrity Christmases.

Martha Stewart is the queen of beautifully executed entertaining. When one pictures her holiday dinners, it brings to mind visions of spiral hams and glossy golden-brown turkeys with little paper crowns on the drumsticks. One might expect cranberries, or even figgy pudding.

I have good news for anyone with good taste in books and who loves a great adventure. Limited-edition Lord of the Rings wine is now available to purchase and it actually sounds like it might be tasty. The first thing you must know about these Lord of the Rings wine offerings is that there were only 6,000 bottles of each made.

Few things inspire more joy than a collection of beautifully wrapped presents under a Christmas tree! The problem with gift wrap, though, is that it’s often not recyclable. Even though the base of most gift wraps is indeed paper, many have overlays like metallic foil or glitter, have tape stuck to them, are saturated with problematic inks or dye, or are so thin that the fibers aren’t useful for recycling.

Have you ever seen a Christmas tree ornament shaped like a pickle? They’re surprisingly popular, and although it seems like they’d be a quirky hipster ornament, like a Christmas tree ornament shaped like bacon or avocado toast, they’re actually a long-running tradition in many parts of the country. According to the New York Times, the pickle ornaments are sometimes called Weinachtsgurke, or Christmas pickles, and they’re theoretically a German Christmas tradition.

A live Christmas tree instantly fills your home with holiday cheer — and pine needles. They land on your furniture and floor the minute you bring the tree into your house, and launch themselves into the far corners of your living room as soon as you take off the plastic netting. The branches deposit them little by little for weeks, then make one last stand at the end, showering pine needles everywhere, as you wrestle the tree out the door once its time is past.

Roasting a prime rib is much easier to pull off than you might think. In fact, forking over the dough to purchase this pricey roast is arguably the hardest part. The high cost of this cut makes any missteps especially disappointing, so here are the five mistakes you want to avoid when roasting a prime rib dinner so you can keep your money right where it should be: on your plate!

Chocolate truffles are arguably one of the easiest candies to make at home. But with just two ingredients, any error can have a rippling effect. Whether you’re making your first batch of truffles or your 100th, these five pitfalls can be avoided with just a little foresight. Here are five potential truffle mistakes to avoid, and what to do instead.

Move over, Cronut. Nigella Lawson may have just created the hottest new hybrid food. On the most recent episode of At My Table, Nigella Lawson introduced a new Christmas cookie she’s calling the “Merookie” because it’s a combination of a meringue and a cookie. “At this time of year, I like to have something sweet in a tin,” she explained as she started demonstrating the recipe for her chewy, chocolatey meringue cookies.