One of my favorite websites just ran a “Christmas Food Memory” contest and –Woohoo! — I received an honorable mention for my entry. It’s about dark chocolate, of course. I thought I’d share with you & ask about YOUR favorite holiday food memory.
Here’s my story:
It was the fudge. Oh, god, how I waited for Christmas each year, because my mom only made her two specialties then: cinnamon shortbread cookies and her famous fudge. My mom’s fudge was deeply, darkly chocolatey, and she tossed in a tiny bit of crushed candy canes for a teensy bit of peppermint. Once the fudge was set, she cut it into little one-inch squares, so one pan yielded hundreds!
Here’s how I ate that fudge (and I still eat it this way today): open mouth, insert one piece. Close mouth. Do not chew… just let it dissolve. Ooh, feel the buttery, chocolatey, slightly granularness of it on your tongue. Mash it up against the roof of your mouth with your tongue. Feel the chocolate juices running out of it. Patience…. do not chew. Feel the silky softness, and then the tiny shards of peppermint that touch the tongue as the fudge dissolves. Close your eyes and swim around in the darkness of it. Mmmm. Patience… wait for it…. and when there is nothing left but the peppermint with just a little pool of fudginess… it’s OK to chew up the rest.
You know, once I grew up and started cooking for myself, I learned that the Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge was the simplest thing in the world to make. Still, it’s never tasted as good as when I was a kid and it was a mystery. Merry Christmas!
If your mouth is watering, you can get the recipe here — including specific instructions on the proper method and accompaniments for eating great dark chocolate fudge!
And now, the question: What’s YOUR favorite Christmas/Holiday food memory? Please share in the comments