During the 12 days until Christmas break, the King Street Chronicle again presents staff favorites from the holiday season. This fourth edition will not include four calling birds, but beloved Christmas songs, memories, recipes, movies, and crafts.
Song: “All I Want For Christmas Is You” performed by Ms. Mariah Carey
Recipe: Cherry Mitten Home Pies
Quantity: Eight to 10 pies
Ingredients:
Filling:
- One ten-ounce bag frozen cherries, thawed, drained, and coarsely chopped
- One-third cup of granulated sugar
- One-fourth teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of kosher salt
- One tablespoon cornstarch
- One tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Crust:
- All-purpose flour, dusting
- One box of rolled refrigerated pie crusts (two crusts)
- One large egg
Royal icing and decorations:
- One pound confectioners’ sugar
- Five tablespoons meringue powder
- Blue gel food coloring
- White snowflake sprinkles
Steps:
- For the filling: Line two baking sheets with parchment. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius)
- Combine the cherries, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cherries are juicy, the sugar dissolves, and the liquid begins to thicken (after about 10 minutes).
- Stir together the cornstarch and one tablespoon of water in a small bowl until smooth. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan and continue to simmer, stirring, until thickened, one to two minutes. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the lemon juice and let cool completely.
- Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Unroll both pie crust rounds, dust them with flour, roll with a rolling pin just to flatten out any creases, and thin the dough slightly. Use a four-inch mitten-shaped cutter to cut out as many mittens as possible, rerolling the dough once. This should yield about 16 to 20 pieces in all.
- Arrange half of the mittens on the prepared baking sheets. Beat the egg in a small bowl with one tablespoon of water. Brush around the edges of the mittens with the egg wash. Spoon one to two tablespoons of the filling in the center of each mitten (the amount will depend on the exact size of the cutter but do not overfill). Cover each with a second mitten, pressing to seal with a spoon or a finger. Brush the tops with the egg wash. Cut one small slit in the top of each mitten to let steam escape. Bake until the crust is golden and crisp (about 10 to 12 minutes). Transfer the pies to a rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, combine the confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add six tablespoons of water and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, adding one to two tablespoons of water if necessary to make a smooth, slightly thick icing. Remove a third of the icing to a small bowl. Add food coloring to the remaining icing to make a light blue color.
- Transfer the blue icing to a pastry bag fitted with a number six or number seven round tip. Transfer half of the white icing to a pastry bag fitted with a three or four round tip and the other half of the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a 103 or 104 rose petal tip.
- Pipe a thin blue border around the edge of each cookie, leaving the cuff plain and uniced. Let set for a few minutes. Pipe a generous amount of blue icing inside the border of each cookie. Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread the icing to cover the cookie, still making sure to leave the cuff plain. Sprinkle the icing with the snowflake sprinkles. Use white icing with the rose petal tip to pipe a ruffle on the mitten cuff. Pipe stitching around the edge of the mitten using the white icing with the plain round tip. Let the icing harden before serving, about one hour.
Movie: Jingle All the Way
“A father vows to get his son a Turbo Man action figure for Christmas. However, every store is sold out, and he must travel all over town and compete with everybody else in order to find one,” courtesy of Imdb.com
Craft: Paper Plate Angels
Materials:
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Gold glitter
- Paper
- Gold sparkly pipe cleaner
- Tape or glue
- Sharpie or a pink crayon
Instructions:
- Start by cutting a deep triangle out of a white paper plate.
- Put lines of glue all around the plate and shake gold glitter on it.
- Cut out the angel’s face, then add facial features, hair and the hands.
- Bend a gold pipe cleaner to look like a halo and tape it to the back of the head. It is easiest to tape the bottom part of the plate on.
- Add some rosy pink cheeks.
Memory: Brianna Timlin ’26
“Every year, my grandparents host a Christmas party on the first Sunday of December at their store. This is one of my favorite memories and traditions because it really kicks off the Christmas festivities. I love seeing everyone all dressed up and spending time with friends and family. To beat the crowds, my cousins and I will sometimes go to our Nonno’s office and intercept the food on its way out of the kitchen. This is definitely a highlight for me. It is so much fun reuniting with everyone each year and getting in the holiday spirit.”