The snow has finally arrived in Stockholm! More snow = more baking in
Kristin-world, so bring on the frosted sugar cookies, gingerbread houses, mocha
fudge, molasses cookies, peppermint bark, and maple truffles!
My students completed their unit exam this week, and as much as I’ve
enjoyed teaching journalism, I’m excited to move on to the next unit after the
holidays: we’re doing a novel and film study of “The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe.” There are so many fun things I can do with a novel study—and it will be good to
act as more of an English literature teacher than as an ESL teacher for awhile.
It’s been such a gift that I have freedom with the English curriculum
here. There is a set of national standards that the students must reach by the
time they finish Year 6, but apart from that, there are very few guidelines
regarding what is actually covered during lessons. So, while we learn verb
tenses, literary devices, and the parts of speech, I get to incorporate things that I think are
worthwhile and fun—including journalism, environmentalism, food culture, Sylvia
Plath, and the classic film known as… “The Muppet
Christmas Carol.” (What better way is there to introduce my kids to great British literature while simultaneously showing them an awesome American Christmas tradition and rewarding them for a semester full of hard work?)
Speaking of Charles Dickens, I spent this past weekend in London with my
housemate, Katy. Some highlights from the trip:
· Feeling the sun on my
face and enjoying the 55-degree air.
· Doing all sorts of
touristy things: Seeing the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Big
Ben, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, the Christmas markets, and Trafalgar
Square with its decked-out tree.
· Sitting in the front
row to see “Wicked”… it was so good!
· Not having to use a
map—Katy knows London, which made life much easier.
· Understanding signs, menus, and train announcements.
· Remembering what it’s
like to be a pedestrian in a place where vehicles WANT to run me over. After
living in Stockholm for awhile, where drivers are ridiculously generous to
pedestrians, I’ve been lulled into thinking that crosswalks are generally safe
places.
I want to share a super-simple recipe for molasses cookies that turns out so well
every time. I’ve made a few changes to it after using it as a delicious
procrastination activity countless times throughout college. This recipe makes
about 3 dozen cookies:
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter,
melted
- 1 cup
white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup
molasses
- 2 cups
all-purpose flour
- 2
teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2
teaspoon salt
- 3
teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1
teaspoon ground cloves
- 2
teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 cup
white sugar for rolling
Directions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter,
1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the
flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the
molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour. (Make sure you chill
the dough! I’ve tried skipping this step and the cookies turn out flat and weird.)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees
C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining
white sugar. Place
cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated
oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.
