Ogni anno la settimana prima di Natale, io vado in cucina e non esco fino a che non ho fatto tre tipi di biscotti e una montagna di pane di mirtilli rossi. Faccio tutti questi dolci per i miei ragazzi, come mia madre li ha fatti per me e i miei fratelli. È la nostra tradizione familiare. Ci sono tante cose tangibili che fanno la festa; le decorazioni, gli addobbi, il presepe, l’albero, le luci…ma ci sono anche cose intangibili come gli odori, i sapori e i suoni per sottolineare la festa. Quindi quando sto in cucina, alzo il volume della musica natalizia mentre io preparo i biscotti. La musica mi fa ricordare altri Natali passati e mi tornano in mente tanti bei ricordi.
Every year the week before Christmas, I go into the kitchen and don’t exit until I have made three kinds of cookies and a mountain of cranberry bread. I make all these sweets for my kids, as my mother did for me and my siblings. It is our family tradition. There are some things that are tangible about Christmas; the decorations, the ornaments, the nativity scene, the tree, the lights…but there are intangible things as well, like the smells, tastes and sounds that emphasize the holiday. So when I am in the kitchen, I raise the volume of the Christmas music while I prepare the cookies. The carols makes me remember Christmas pasts and the bring back warm memories.
Fra poco, la casa diventa profumata dai buoni odori e in un baleno tutta la famiglia magicamente appare nella cucina sperando di mangiare una calda fetta di pane appena tirato dal forno. Devo dosare i biscotti e il pane di mirtilli poco a poco ai ragazzi (e a mio marito) altrimenti sarebbero tutti finiti, non sono appena fatti. Sono furba però e cerco di nascondere l’abbondanza che ho appena fatto. Però i figli sono più furbi di me e sanno tutti i posti in cui io nascondo i biscotti! Va be’! Che cosa posso fare tranne unirmi a loro e godermi un sacco di biscotti. Non posso preoccuparmi delle calorie in questo momento…ci sarà abbastanza tempo per pensarci a gennaio!
Before long, the house if filled with the lovely smell of things baking and suddenly the family magically appears in the kitchen hoping for a piece of warm bread freshly pulled out of the oven. I must dole out the cookies and the cranberry bread in small portions to the kids (and my husband) otherwise they would all be finished just as soon as they were made. I am clever however, and I try to hide the goodies that I have just made. However, my kids are smarter than me and they already know all the places I hide the cookies. Oh well! What can I do but to join them and enjoy a plateful of cookies. I can’t think of calories right now…there will be plenty of time to think about that in January!
Ho ricevuto alcune richieste per la mia ricetta di pane di mirtilli…dunque eccola! / I have received several requests for my Cranberry Bread recipe…so here it is!
2 misurino farina / 2 cups Flour
1 misurino zucchero / 1 cup sugar
1-1/2 cucchianino di lievito in polvere / 1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cucchianino di sale / 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cucchianino di bicarbonato di sodio / 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 succo d’arancia / 3/4 orange juice
2 cucchiai di burro / 2 tablespoons shortening
1 cucchiaio d’arancia grattugiata / 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 uovo ben sbattuto / 1 egg, well beaten
1-1/2 misurino mirtilli rossi freschi o surgelati, tritati grossolanamenti / 1-1/2 cup Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 misurino noci tritate (opzionale) / 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Pre-riscaldare il forno a 350 gradi. Ungere una 9×5 pollice padella per pane. Mescolare farina, zucchero, lievito, sale bicarbonato di sodio. Mescolare nel succo d’arancia, burro, buccia d’arancia e l’uovo. Mescolare fino a quando miscelati. Incorporate i mirtilli e le noci. Stendere uniformemente in padella. Cuocere per 55 minuti o fino a stuzzicadenti messo in centro esce pulito. Raffreddere su rack per 15 minuti. Togliere dal tegame; raffreddar completamente. Fa 1 pagnotta.
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 inch bread loaf pan. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda. Stir in orange juice, shortening, orange peel and egg. Mix until blended. Stir in cranberries & nuts. Spread evenly in pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick stuck in center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Makes 1 loaf.
Vedo veramente che sei “Type A” Melissa! Tante biscotti!!!!! 🙂
Ora scrivo in inglese. My emails to you still bounce back. Hubby says there’s something in email programs where you can block emails from certain parties. Maybe you’ve hit that by accident in my case? I tried your “click to contact” button above, too, and can’t get it to work. Baci jann
Type A? (non hai la mininma idea!) 😉
provaci italiamelissa@comcast.net
Wow. I just discovered your blog through your twitter page and I love it! Especially the post about the presepi and the biscotti. I always wondered how those hand-made presepe are made. Now I can make one myself! Your Italian is excellent. How long have you been speaking?
Laura
Ciao Laura, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I LOVE comments and meeting new readers. Last year was the first time I had the pleasure of building the presepe with my Italian daughter…and now year 2 and it has become a new family tradition. I love the figurines and building the scene. I have basically self taught myself the Italian language and it was about twelve years ago that I jumped in and started to seriously tackle the language. I studied art in Firenze in college, but didn’t learn the language well then…but after the birth of my 3rd child was born about 12 years ago I decided to pick up the language again and really learn it well. The rest, as the say…is history!
Where are you from and how is your Italian? Are you studying it currently? Ci sentiamo! Meli
Ciao Melissa, che bei biscotti che hai fatto! Sembrano molto delioziosi!
Complimenti per questo blog – veramente sei brava a scrivere in italiano!
Keep up the good work!
Larry
Ciao Larry! Benvenuto e Buon Natale!