Cookies for Santa

In Poland, Santa doesn’t come on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, but on 6^th December – saint Nicholas day. For that reason, 6^th December marks the beginning of Christmas preparations, at least for me. Traditionally, he comes at night and leaves presents under the pillow, though I don’t remember that ever happening in our house. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with Santa not having all the gifts quite figured out on the night on 5^th, which is why he always dropped by on the evening of 6^th. Whatever the reason, the anticipation made the day even more magical…

This year, instead of searching the skies for the reindeer drawn sleigh, we took a road trip with couple of friends, but I couldn’t resist baking few cookies for Santa, just in case…

They are incredibly delicate, buttery, and Christmessy with just enough sweetness and crunch.  Plus… nothing sets the mood better than the evening of aromatic tea, holiday songs and baking!

230-240 g flour

50 g powdered sugar + some for decoration

1 tsp chai masala

170-180 g cold butter

1 egg yolk

Raspberry (or any other) jam 

Quickly mix butter, flour, sugar, spices and egg yolk. You can do it by hand (I did) but it gets quite sticky so I wouldn’t recommend it. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

Sprinkle the working surface with flour and roll the dough with the rolling pin. If it’s too sticky, keep adding small amounts of flour.

Cut stars with the cookie cutter, then cut out smaller stars in half of them. You can roll out the smaller stars and make more big cookies, but I think they look adorable and make the cookie platter more decorative.

Bake 10-12 minutes in 170 degrees and let them cool down on the cooling rack.

Sprinkle the top cookies (the ones with star shaped holes) and half of the little star cookies with powdered sugar. Spread jam on the bottom cookies (the whole stars). Be very careful – cookies are extremely delicate and break easily.

Place the top stars on the bottom stars and refrigerate for an hour or two. Strictly speaking, it isn’t necessary, but it will allow the jam to set and make cookies a bit more stable.

Christmas tea

Since I can remember, entering December meant visiting the lovely tea shop in my hometown. I guess it has something to do with the cold and the snow, and the comfort of a good cup of tea on long, dark evenings.  

My favorite tea shop is locate right next to the market square, where the Christmas fair is held. This is one of the reasons why buying tea in December became my private tradition, without which Christmas simply could not happen. Since I always make a point of not shopping at the fair until 6^th December, passing through the square to get to the tea shop, was always a great excuse to glimpse the lights and decorations.

Christmas fair aside, visiting the shop is a treat on its own. As soon as you enter the tiny space, you are surrounded by the unmistakable aroma of thousand exotic flavors. Different teas are stored in large metal tins stacked from floor to ceiling and beautiful china fills glass counters. It is one of those places that transport you to a different era…

And then there is the Advent tea – the whole point of the visit. I christened it Christmas tea, and, even more often, I call it Christmas tree by mistake, but the actual name is more than appropriate.

It smells of spices, wrapping paper, baubles and snow. It’s the elixir that makes you believe in Santa; the essence of December, the preparations and longing for Christmas.

Needless to say, I was over the moon, when I found this little brown bag of magic in care package from home. It saved the Christmas!

10 minutes salted caramel sauce

I don’t know about you, but for me December is the time to try out all those recipes that seem way too decadent, complicated or scary for any other month. Caramel fits this description perfectly. I mean… sugar, butter and cream? Candy thermometer? That’s exactly the sort of recipe I would save… for later. And then December comes, and suddenly nothing seems impossible, even salted caramel sauce!

Incidentally this recipe is not only quick to make but unbelievably easy… no thermometers required! I made it twice already, though, admittedly, the first time I was distracted and burned the syrup slightly.

It’s not only insanely yummy, works great on everything you can think off (pancakes, coffee, ice cream…) but it’s also a perfect addition to other recipes. I had loads of fun experimenting with it.

Plus having a jar of caramel sauce really makes me feel like it’s this special time of the year again…

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup fresh cream
4 Tablespoons salted butter (plus a pinch of salt if you want the “salted” part to stand out more)
Vanilla/ hazelnut/ almond essence (optional)


In thick-bottomed pan combine sugar and water and dissolve it over low heat. Don’t stir the syrup (no idea why, but every caramel recipe says so), just swirl the pan if needed. Increase the heat and boil for about 5 minutes (until golden brown). Be careful not to burn the sugar syrup – it will make the sauce taste bitter.
Remove from the heat and add cream, butter and few drops of essence. Stir it carefully until well blended.