During the 12 days until Christmas break, the King Street Chronicle will again present staff favorites from the holiday season.  This ninth edition will not include nine ladies dancing but beloved Christmas songs, memories, recipes, movies, and activities.

Song: “Believe” performed by Mr. Josh Groban in The Polar Express.

Recipe: Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread

Total time: Four hours

Quantity: Nine pieces of shortbread 

Ingredients:

Chocolate Shortbread:

• One-half cup (or one stick) of unsalted butter at room temperature
• One-third cup of light brown sugar
• Three-fourths teaspoons of salt
• One egg yolk
• One teaspoon of vanilla extract
• One cup of all-purpose flour
• One-third cup of Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Peppermint Meringue:

• Two large egg whites
• A pinch of salt
• Six tablespoons of granulated sugar
• One-half teaspoon of peppermint extract
• Red food coloring

Steps:

• Grease an eight-by-eight baking pan with butter and then line it with parchment.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a standing mixer (using the paddle), at medium-high speed, whip the butter, brown sugar, and salt until combined and creamy (approximately one minute). 
• Stop the mixer and with a rubber spatula scrape the sides of the bowls. 
• Add in the egg yolk and vanilla and mix for another minute.
• Add the flour and cocoa powder and mix for about one minute until the batter is combined.  Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Scrape the dough into the greased pan and press the dough into the pan with a spatula so it is evenly distributed.
• Prick the dough with a fork to ensure that there are no air pockets in the shortbread while it is baking. 
• Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
• Take the shortbread out of the oven and cool the pan for ten minutes. 
• Reduce the oven’s temperature to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Using the parchment paper, carefully lift the shortbread out of the pan and onto a wire rack that is inside a baking sheet. 
• To begin making the meringue, pour water into a saucepan until it comes up to one and one-half inches up on the pan’s sides. Simmer at low heat.
• Whip the egg whites, salt, and sugar in a standing mixer. 
• Set the bowl from the standing mixer over the simmering water in the pan, but do not let the bowl touch the water, and heat the whipped egg whites.  Make sure to stir and scrap the sides of the bowl constantly until the sugar dissolves into the egg white batter and is hot and steamy. This should take about four to six minutes. 
• Place the bowl back on the standing mixer and whip the egg whites again until stiff and shiny for about five to seven minutes.
• Add in the peppermint extract and scrape the egg white meringue on top of the shortbread.
• Spread the meringue evenly with a spatula across the shortbread. 
• Add a few drops of red food coloring on top of the meringue and swirl the color into the meringue to create streaks of color.
• Place the shortbread on the wire rack back into the oven for about two hours or until the meringue looks crisp.
• Turn off the oven and leave the oven doors open, allowing the cookies to cool in the oven for an hour. 
• Cut the cookies into pieces.

Movie: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

“After snarky youth Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) loses track of his father at the airport, he mistakenly gets on a plane headed for New York City — while the rest of the McCallisters fly to Florida.  Now alone in the Big Apple, Kevin cons his way into a room at the Plaza Hotel and begins his usual antics.  But when Kevin discovers that the Sticky Bandits (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) are on the loose, he struggles to stop them from robbing an elderly man’s toy store just before Christmas,” courtesy of rottentomatoes.com.

Activity: Spend an icy evening sipping a peppermint mocha and reading Mr. Dickens and His Carol, by Ms. Samantha Silva, a novel about how Mr. Charles Dickens originally wrote his renowned novella A Christmas Carol after his publishers gave him an ultimatum due to the ruinous unsuccess of  his latest book, Martin Chuzzlewit.

Memory: Anne Finn ’23

“My favorite Christmas memory is Christmas Eve with my family.  For all my life, we have been going to our cousins’ house the night before Christmas.  It’s really fun and magical because we all get really excited for the next morning together.  Also, all of my eleven cousins and I set up a secret Santa gift exchange after Thanksgiving where we have fun picking out presents for each other to give on Christmas Eve.” 

Featured Image by Emily Shull ’25