During the twelve days until Christmas break, the King Street Chronicle will again present staff favorites from the holiday season.  This final edition will not include 12 drummers drumming, but beloved Christmas songs, memories, recipes, movies, and crafts.

Song: “Cradle Hymn” performed by the Nidaros Cathedral Girls’ Choir.

Recipe: Snowy Cookie Truffles

• Total time:
  • 30 minutes
• Makes: 
  • 18 servings
• Ingredients:
  • One 14-ounce package of vanilla sandwich cookies
  • One eight-ounce package of cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 14 ounces of white chocolate chips
  • One-half teaspoon of vegetable oil
  • Desiccated coconut
  • Chocolate and vanilla frosting
  • Smarties and nonpareils
  • Semi-sweet chocolate, melted
  • Mini sandwich cookies
  • Black sanding sugar
  • Red, green, and white candy melts
  • Mini and regular M&M’s
  • Pretzels
  • Fruit leather and spice drops

• Steps to decorate:
  • 1) Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  • 2) In a food processor, pulse cookies to form fine crumbs.  Add cream cheese and pulse until mixture forms a ball.  Form mixture into 18 balls (about one and one-fourth ounces each) and transfer to the prepared baking sheet.  
  • 3) Freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes.  Reroll balls to make smooth surfaces and return to the freezer.
  • 4) Place white chocolate in a small measuring cup and microwave at 50 percent power in 30-second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.  Stir in vegetable oil. 
  • 5) Working one at a time, stick a wooden pick into each truffle ball and spoon chocolate over it.  Gently tap off excess.  Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, remove stick, and refrigerate until all balls are completed. 
• Steps for the polar bears:
  • 1) Immediately after dipping truffles into chocolate, sprinkle with desiccated coconut to coat completely, and let set. 
  • 2) Using additional melted chocolate or frosting as “glue,” stick on white Smarties for ears, a white candy melt as the muzzle, and a mini brown M&M onto the candy melt for the nose.  
  • 3) Then, pipe chocolate frosting on for the eyes.
• Steps for the penguins:
  • 1) Dip one side of white-chocolate-coated ball into melted semi-sweet chocolate and let it set.  Remove cream from one mini sandwich cookie and cut the cookie in half.  Brush some melted chocolate on flat side of halves and dip into black sanding sugar for wings
  • 2) Cut a thin slice from the flat side of an orange spice drop and cut the slice in half to make feet (two semicircles).  Then cut a small wedge from the remaining part for the beak.  Attach the wings with some melted chocolate on sides of penguin.
  • 3) Pipe chocolate-frosting eyes.  Attach feet and beak with some white chocolate.
• Steps for the snowmen:
  • 1) For hats, dip top third of white chocolate-coated ball in either red or green melted candy melts and let excess drip to the tip to create top of “hat” and let set.  Pipe a line of frosting around the hat and sprinkle with nonpareils or desiccated coconut.
  • 2) To add earmuffs, cut a strip of fruit leather for the band across the top.  Add a slice of spice drop or gumdrop for the ear coverings.  Attach with melted white chocolate.
  • 3) Then, for both, pipe chocolate-frosting eyes and a mouth.  Add an orange spice drop wedge for the nose.
• Steps for the reindeer:
  • 1) Use melted chocolate to glue on an M&M for the nose, then use a wooden pick to make a hole on each side of ball and press in pretzel halves for antlers.
  • 2) Use vanilla frosting to add tufts of hair and attach holly sprinkles between the antlers.  Pipe on chocolate frosting for eyes and to stick on M&M nose.

Movie: The Muppet Christmas Carol

“Jim Henson died during pre-production of this 1992 film, but his spirit lives on in its seamless blend of zaniness and heart–both of which help make this musical Dickens adaptation an underrated triumph,” courtesy of esquire.com.

Craft: Santa Beard Craft

• Supplies: 
  • Paper plate
  • Ivory paint
  • Paint brush
  • Scissors
  • Hole punch
  • White yarn
  • Glue
  • Red and white construction paper
  • Circle punch
  • Googly eyes
• Instructions:
  • 1) Start by cutting half of the paper plate outer rim.  Punch holes along the edges.  Cut big strands of white yarn, fold them in half and thread them through the holes.
  • 2) Paint the inside circle of the paper plate with ivory paint and set it aside to dry completely.
  • 3) Draw a large triangle on the red  paper and cut it out.  Fold down the top triangle.  Glue a white paper circle to the top of the hat.  Cut a strip from white  paper to glue at the bottom of the red triangle.  This will be the hat brim.
  • 4) Once the paint on the paper plate is dried, you can glue the googly eyes.  Use a circle punch to make a red circle for the nose and draw Santa’s mouth with a black marker. 
  • 5)  Now, assemble Santa together by gluing his hat and beard onto the paper plate

Memory: Ms. Agatha Ryan ’16, Broadcast Journalism Assistant
“My favorite Christmas memory is sitting on top of the stairs Christmas morning with my sisters waiting to see if Santa came,” Ms. Ryan said.  “Before we could see if there was anything under the tree, my dad would have us spend time reflecting on our year with a letter from Santa.”

Featured Image by Charlotte Burchetta ’22