Comfort & Joy Food

Cookies for Santa: British Hobnobs,
Frosted to resemble Christmas Puddings!

What do we all want for Christmas? Comfort & Joy Food! Not just regular ol' Comfort Food -- but sweets and tea! First Gerry organizes all the British must haves: Christmas Cake and Sherry Trifle (his specialties); Figgy Pudding and Tiny Mince Pies (we have evolved our own British - American versions of these two).

And, lastly, for the boys-- the one and only Celestial Seasonings Nutcracker Sweet Pie. We always make a couple of these holiday favorites at Thanksgiving and -- though we don't really need it -- yet another one at Christmas!

Celestial Seasonings used to print this recipe on the inside of every box of Nutcracker Sweet Tea, but I haven't seen it there in awhile. Luckily, I have it written down; and the tea is still available. If you don't see it in your store, try amazon -- you may have to order six boxes at one time, but that's okay because a box of Nutcracker Sweet Tea makes a good Christmas present, so you can give some away!

Here are the easy instructions:

Make yourself a cup (or an entire pot!) of Nutcracker Sweet Tea

Now, boil one cup of water in medium saucepan; take two additional tea bags from the box, add them to the boiled water, and turn off the heat; steep for 4 minutes

After 4 minutes, remove tea bags, turn heat back on to "simmer"

Stir in

1/3 cup butter
2 oz. of unsweetened chocolate (I use two 1 - oz squares)

Stir until melted, remove from heat, cool for 10 minutes

Then add

1 1/2 cups white sugar (or less according to your taste for dark chocolate)

2 beaten eggs

1/2 teas. salt

Pour into an unbaked pie shell and cover with 1 1/2 cups of pecan halves (or smaller pieces, if you like)

Bake at 375 F, for 45 minutes.

I hope everyone will try it and love it! After my nephew Dan and I started making this 10 years ago or so, I gave up all other pecan pie and chocolate pie recipes. This is it for us!

Thanksgiving Rendition, Flanked by Large Mince Pies**Tradition at our house requires
large mince pies for Thanksgiving / tiny mince pies for Christmas