During the 12 days until Christmas break, the King Street Chronicle again presents staff favorites from the holiday season. This final edition will not include seven swans a-swimming but beloved Christmas songs, memories, recipes, movies, and activities.
Song: “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” performed by Mr. John Lennon.
Recipe: “No-Bake Chocolate Mocha Yule Log“
Total Time: Five hours and 30 minutes
Quantity: Six to eight servings
Ingredients:
Instructions:
- Whip one and one-half cups of the heavy cream, the confectioners’ sugar, and espresso powder in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form (about two to three minutes).
- Spread a heaping tablespoon of the whipped cream onto one side of 39 chocolate wafer cookies (wipe the spoon clean with a rubber spatula between dollops). Spread the whipped cream out on the cookies with a small offset spatula. Stack five cookies on top of each other. Repeat this with the remaining cookies (including the one without whipped cream) to have eight stacks total. One of the stacks will have a cookie on top with no whipped cream. This stack will be the top stack.
- Lay out a piece of plastic wrap about 20 inches long on the countertop. Working across the entire length of the plastic wrap, lay one of the cookie stacks on its side. Gently press the remaining seven cookies stacks together, end to end, finishing with the top stack, to make one long cookie log that’s about 15 to 18 inches long. Wrap the log up in the plastic wrap and chill for at least four hours and up to overnight.
- While the stack is chilling, make the ganache. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the remaining one and one-half cups of heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for ten minutes, then stir until completely melted. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and refrigerate until completely cool, about 30 minutes. Just before frosting, whip the ganache until it just begins to loosen up, turns lighter in color, and is spreadable (about 30 to 45 seconds). It is important not to over-whip or it will become grainy.
- Cut a two to three-inch diagonal piece from the top end of the log and place it on top of the log at an angle. This will be the branch. Spread the ganache over the log to cover it completely. Heat a metal fork. Use the tines and the back of the fork to draw a bark pattern in the ganache, running it along the surface in short strokes.
- Shave the tops of six of the meringues with a rasp grater until they are smooth and round and resemble mushroom caps. Smooth the tops with a wet finger. Mix together two tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar with one-fourth teaspoon water in a small bowl to make a glue. Smear a little of the sugar glue on the bottom of each meringue and stick a marshmallow to it to make a stem. To make a shorter stem, simply cut the marshmallow in half with kitchen shears. Let the mushrooms sit for 30 minutes until the sugar water has hardened. Dust the tops with cocoa powder.
- Decorate the cake with mushrooms, rosemary, mint, and cranberries. Shave the remaining meringue over top of the cake to make snow. Slice the cake on a diagonal for serving.
Movie: Miracle on 34th Street
“In this Christmas classic, an old man going by the name of Kris Kringle fills in for an intoxicated Santa in Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Kringle proves to be such a hit that he is soon appearing regularly at the chain’s main store in midtown Manhattan. When Kringle surprises customers and employees alike by claiming that he really is Santa Claus, it leads to a court case to determine his mental health and, more importantly, his authenticity,” courtesy of rottentomatoes.com
Activity: Mason Jar Santa Suit Cozy
Supplies:
- Colored Duct Tape (1.88 inch width in red and white)
- Paper
- Black button (two per jar)
- Scissors
Instructions:
- Cut a piece of paper ten and one-half-by-two and three-fourth
- Cover the ten and one-half-by-two and three-fourth strips of white paper with white Duct Tape. Save two lengths of white Duct Tape to cover the width of the cozy. Trim excess at the ends.
- Cut a strip of red Duct Tape about two inches longer than the cozy length (12 and one-half inches long). Lay down the center of the cozy, leaving a little less than one-half inch of white Duct Tape exposed on either side.
- Trim the red tape on one end flush with the cozy length and leave about one-half to three-fourths extra length of red on the other end. The extra one-half to three-fourth inch of red tape will line up to to secure the cozy around the jar
- Add two black buttons on each jar, using a small folded-over piece of Duct Tape on the back side of the buttons to secure.
Memory: Mrs. Meghan McMahon
“One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to see the Nutcracker performed by the New York City Ballet. I have seen it every year since I was 4 years old and now enjoy bringing my children to see it each December. In addition to seeing the Nutcracker, I also performed in Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker as a polichinelle, reindeer, and candy cane when I was in middle and high school.”
Featured Image by Gianna Rodrigues ’27
