A couple years ago, my mom gave me a vintage Better Homes & Gardens “Christmas Ideas for 1963” magazine. I look at it every year and think “It’d be fun to try and make some stuff out of there.” This year I finally did it!
Recipes below – Starting with the wrapped one and moving clockwise, we have Lebkuchen (wrapped in tracing paper), Austrian Linzer Cooky, “Wonder Fudge,” Gingery Scotch Shortbread, Fudge Snowballs, Frosty Date Balls, and an Almond Wreath. I thought they made a nice assortment together and while they aren’t all my favorite, it was well received and fun to try it out.
Lebkuchen (Honey Cakes) – This is the stickiest batter I’ve every worked with. I had it chilled for about 4 hours and even then I wound up wrapping my rolling pin in clingfilm and flouring that in order to get it rolled out. Things the recipe didn’t mention that I wish I had done:
- Leave out the yucky candied peel and fruits. My son really likes these so it worked out but personally I hate them enough that I didn’t like these cookies at all. I would have without the fruit.
- Place them on the cookie sheet before cutting. I think they would have turned out more evenly if I’d left them side to side and re-cut after baking.
Austrian Linzer Cookies – Oh man this dough was so crumbly! I didn’t have a pan the right dimensions so I sorta had to wing it with the lattice and they didn’t turn out as beautiful as they look in the image Better Homes and Gardens took of theirs. BUT they are made with raspberry jam and a crumbly pressed pie dough so there’s really not much to complain about. I saw someone on bake-off do the lattice on parchment paper and then flop it onto a pie. That’s what I should have done rather than flopping each one over individually.
Wonder Fudge – So called (I believe) because it’s less effort than the Old-Fashioned Fudge also featured in this issue. This was my first ever attempt at fudge and I had slightly less than a half-pint of marshmallow creme so I wound up halving it. Of course I forgot to halve the milk and wound up scooping ‘about half’ of the liquid out of the milk/sugar mixture when I realized my mistake. So who’s to say if this turned out as intended but it DID turn out tasting and looking like fudge. I’ll call that a success and say half a recipe was plenty for all the folks on my list.
Gingery Scotch Shortbread – I’m not a huge ginger fan so the flavoring on this was not to my liking but the texture IS very nice especially considering how easy it was to make. Other shortbreads I’ve made have required baking twice and were certainly more nerve-wracking to break apart. I might actually make this one again someday without the ginger.
Fudge Snowballs – These were wack to make. I had to cool them for a looooong time in order to be able to roll them at all and even then it was a pretty messy chocolate-covered scenario. That said, they were reasonably yummy and happened to be gluten and egg free for my family members who have allergies to one or the other.
Frosty Date Balls – I don’t know the difference between “Russian Tea Cakes” and “Mexican Wedding Cakes” but I think this is basically one of those but with dates. I think I could have chopped the dates even smaller. But hey these were pretty good.
Almond Wreaths – I wound up making these larger than directed because I didn’t have round cutters in the sizes they wanted. That said, the way they turned out for me was pretty good. The filling turned sorta carmelized and chewy and I dug it. I stood up for myself with these ones and left out the yucky candied fruit.
Wren Makes Things 