During the twelve days until Christmas break, the King Street Chronicle will again present staff favorites from the holiday season.  This seventh edition will not include seven swans a-swimming, but beloved Christmas songs, memories, recipes, movies, and crafts.

Song: Like It’s Christmas performed by Mr. Kevin Jonas, Mr. Joseph Jonas, and Mr. Nicholas Jonas or “The Jonas Brothers” 

Recipe: Cranberry-Lime Pie

Time: Four hours and 50 minutes

Quantity: Eight servings

Ingredients:

• Four ounces gingersnap cookies
• One cup pecans
• Four tablespoons melted butter
• Three tablespoons light brown sugar
• One 12 ounce package frozen or fresh cranberries and four ounces for serving
• Two and a half cups granulated sugar
• Three large eggs
• Two large egg yolks
• Three teaspoons grated lemon zest
• One-half cup fresh lime juice
• Pinch kosher salt
• Three fourth cups

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a food processer, pulse cookies until crumbs form.  Add and combine pecans, continuing to pulse cookies.

2) Add in brown sugar and butter, pulsing to form a crumble.  Press mixture into a pie dish and bake for 10-15 minutes.

3) Add cranberries, one-half cup of sugar, and water into a saucepan and boil at medium-high heat.  Let ingredients simmer for 12-15 minutes and then pureé in a blender until smooth.

4) Add pureé, egg, egg yolks, lemon zest, lime juice, and salt to a heatproof bowl.  Let ingredients simmer on the stove over a saucepan with hot water.  Cook for eight to ten minutes until a curd forms.

5) Using a hand mixer, beat curd while slowly adding in butter.  Mix for five minutes.

6) Add curd onto the crust and let it chill.

7) Dissolve one-half cup of sugar in one-fourth cup of water on medium-high heat.  Add four ounces of the leftover cranberries to soften for one minute.  Place cranberries onto a baking sheet and let them chill for 20-30 minutes.

8) Mix leftover cranberries, sugar, and lemon zest in a bowl and top the pie with the mixture.  Add whipped cream.

Movie: Elliott: The Littlest Reindeer

“We all know about Rudolph, but what about Elliot? Truth be told, he’s not a reindeer, he’s a miniature horse. But still, he wants to compete to earn a spot on the team that pulls Santa’s sleigh,” Courtesy of goodhousekeeping.com

Craft:  Velvet Wrapped Ornaments

Supplies:

• Velvet fabric
• Round-shaped ornament
• Ribbon
• Hot glue
• Beads

Instructions:

1) Cut a square out of velvet fabric that is large enough to wrap around an ornament.

2) Take the fabric and wrap it around the ornament, leaving extra fabric to scrunch at the top of the ornament.

3) Cut a piece of ribbon to tie a bow around the excess fabric at the top.

4) Tie an additional piece of ribbon to the bow to hang the ornament.

5) Use a hot glue gun to attach beads for decoration.

Memory: Dr. Marta Napiorkowska 

“Taken last Christmas, these photos represent the last time we were able to be all together before my son’s deployment.  They remind me to never take the presence of those I love for granted, no matter how quirky family time can be.  The accidental parallel between my father’s and son’s reactions reminds me, too, of the ever-present, deep connections across generations and cultures.”

Featured Image by Claire Moore ’22