Sandra Merville Hart's Blog, page 36
December 19, 2021
Yule Log Cake
by Sandra Merville Hart
Burning large yule logs for the entire Twelve Days of Christmas celebrations is a centuries-old tradition. A recipe for a sweet dessert by that name was first published in The English Huswife by Gervase Markham in 1615.
The yule log (also called buche de Noel) is a traditional Christmas cake filled and rolled into the shape of a log. French bakers began to place intricate decorations on the buche de Noel cakes in the 1800s. The cakes became a popular dessert that was served after Christmas Eve midnight mass.
Yule logs are usually made of sponge cake that is baked in a shallow Swiss roll pan. A creamy filling is rolled inside the cake before it is rolled into a log shape. The outside is typically iced with buttercream or ganache.
Decorations vary for the yule logs. Christmas decorations like holly leaves or Christmas trees make a festive holiday dessert. Yule logs are often decorated with marzipan or meringue objects one finds in the forest such as mushrooms.
I decided to make a yule log cake for the first time. I found a wonderful recipe on Life, Love and Sugar that included some helpful hints.
I followed this recipe and took the yule log dessert to a family gathering. It was a big hit! Everyone loved it.
Though the chocolate cake had a delicious cocoa flavor, the cream filling was the star of the dessert for me. It wasn’t too sweet. The mascarpone cheese wasn’t too heavy for the whipped cream filling. I splurged and ate a piece for breakfast the next morning. Delicious!
Sources
Butler, Stephanie. “The Delicious Tradition of the Yule Log,” History, 2020/12/21 https://www.history.com/news/the-delicious-history-of-the-yule-log.
Collins, Ace. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, Zondervan, 2003.
“Yule Log Cake (Buche De Noel),” Life, Love, and Sugar, 2020/12/21 https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/yule-log-cake-buche-de-noel/.
“Yule Log Cake,” Wikipedia, 2020/12/21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log_(cake).
December 15, 2021
Ten Christmas Songs that Mention Angels
by Sandra Merville Hart
Angels are an The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to let her know she’d bear the Son of God. His name was to be Jesus. (Luke 1:26-38)
An angel appeared to shepherds the night Jesus was born, telling them the “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Then many other angels joined them and sang praises to God. (Luke 2:8-14)
Here’s a list of ten traditional Christmas songs that mention angels:
“Angels We Have Heard on High”“Angels From the Realms of Glory”“Angels and Shepherds” “The First Noel” – The First Noel, the angel did say“Gentle Mary Laid Her Child” – Angels sang about His birth“O Little Town of Bethlehem” – The angels keep their watch of wondering love“God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen” – “Fear not, then,” said the angel“Mary’s Boy Child” – Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today“O Holy Night” – Oh, hear the angel voices!“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”Can you think of others?
Merry Christmas!
https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Merville-Hart/e/B00OBSJ3PU/
December 14, 2021
Christmas in Winter Hill by Melody Carlson
by Sandra Merville Hart
This contemporary novel is set during the holidays and snagged my attention right away.
Krista moves her daughter to Winter Hill to accept a position as city manager. She soon learns the town has a Christmasville celebration—and it’s part of her job description.
The trouble is, Krista doesn’t like Christmas. She grew up in various foster homes that made celebrating the holiday a challenge.
That’s not the only challenge with the job, but Conner Harris and his daughter certainly make Krista long for the move to a new state to work out.
The characters in this contemporary romance tugged at my heart. I was especially caught up in the struggles of Krista’s daughter, who had such a likeable, fun personality. As trouble escalated, I didn’t know how it was going to end. The festive names of different businesses in the city added to the holiday fun.
Recommend!
https://www.christianbook.com/christmas-in-winter-hill/melody-carlson/9780800736101/pd/0736104
December 12, 2021
Reindeer Cupcakes
by Sandra Merville Hart
Are you looking for a fun treat to make with the children in your life? These reindeer cupcakes are a lot of fun to create. My two-year-old granddaughter decorated several. For her, getting the nose, eyes, antlers and mouth somewhere on the cupcake spelled success. Her older brother, after making a few with facial features in the proper spots, had a lot of fun making “silly” faces.
Making this a successful adventure required advance preparation. You can do this and have a blast yourself if you plan ahead.
Learn to be flexible with the child’s own creative spirit. They’ll have more fun … and so will you.
What a fun activity for the children in your life! Maybe it will become a family tradition.
December 8, 2021
Ten Christmas Songs About Santa
by Sandra Merville Hart
Stores often play Christmas music to get shoppers in the holiday spirit. It works for me! Listening to holiday music while shopping puts me into the mood to buy gifts. 
Here’s a list of ten traditional Christmas songs that mention Santa Claus or St. Nicholas:
“Must be Santa”“Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” “Here Comes Santa Claus” “Nuttin’ for Christmas” – I won’t be seeing Santa Claus“I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” – I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?“The Night Before Christmas” – In the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – Santa came to say“Silver Bells” – This is Santa’s big scene“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”“Up on the Housetop” Out jumps good old Santa ClausCan you think of others?
Merry Christmas!
https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Merville-Hart/e/B00OBSJ3PU/Sources
“Christmas Lyrics,” Mikeleal.com, 2021/10/04 http://www.mikeleal.com/christmas/son....
December 7, 2021
Under the Texas Mistletoe by Karen Witemeyer
by Sandra Merville Hart
This trio of Christmas historical romance novellas put me in the mood for the holidays.
In A Texas Christmas Carol, Felicity Wiggins tackles the tough task of collecting donations for Christmas baskets—and the even tougher shell surrounding Evan Beazer’s heart that keeps him from giving. She somehow convinces Evan to join her in collecting, but he shields his heart from falling for her—until a chance meeting with three men who keep popping back into his life at the oddest times.
This creative retelling of the classic Dickens story hearkens back to the original story in many ways. One of them is using similar names, such as Evan Beazer for Ebenezer Scrooge. I enjoyed the story.
In An Archer Family Christmas: An Archer Brothers Epilogue, Jim and Cassandra Archer are mourning the loss of their son, who lived one day and died on Christmas Eve three years before. Despite this grief, they are looking forward to spending Christmas with Jim’s brothers and their families when danger comes knocking.
The story moves at a slow pace until the danger arises. Then my attention was captured. I hadn’t read the series but that didn’t hinder my love for the characters in this captivating story.
Gift of the Heart is about a widow who accepts a new job to build a home for her and her daughter in Hope Springs despite difficulties caused by Beauregard Azlin, the town’s owner. I had read this novella story before and enjoyed the gentle romance between a man who feels no one will love him for anything but his wealth and a woman who fears no one will touch her heart the way her husband had.
This story had stayed with me from the first reading and I enjoyed spending time with characters I cared about once again.
A wonderful collection filled with lovable characters! I love the small town historical settings in each story. This is a nostalgic collection of Christmas novellas set in Texas, filled with the type of stories I love reading during the holidays.
Recommend!
December 5, 2021
Traditional Sugar Cookies
by Sandra Merville Hart
Holiday traditions are a fun part of the season for so many of us. I had been doing different Christmas activities with my preschool and toddler grandchildren. They helped “build” our artificial Christmas tree. They decorated the house with us. We’d watched some holiday shows together and lit Christmas scented candles.
It was time to make Christmas cookies. I made the dough ahead of time from a trusted recipe in my Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.
Traditional Sugar Cookies
¾ cup shortening (I use butter, softened)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl and set aside.
Blend the butter and sugar together with a pastry blender until thoroughly combined. Add beaten eggs and vanilla until mixed. Blend in the flour mixture.
Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly flour the surface and roll out the dough. Cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake 6 – 8 minutes or until lightly browned.
I selected some cookie cutters that don’t have lots of nooks and crannies for the dough to get stuck in and gave them their choice from those shapes. I demonstrated cutting out the cookies. They did a great job and had lots of fun with this part.
After the cookies baked and cooled, I showed them an easy way to decorate. At 4 and 2, they did a great job. What fun for all of us! Taking turns made it easier to monitor and keep the mess to a minimum.
Of course, they sampled their handiwork and we saved their very first cookies as a treat for Mom and Dad.
Delicious, light cookies made a wonderful Christmas cookie.
What a sweet adventure and hopefully a fun memory for both children.
Sources
Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, General Mills, 1969.
November 30, 2021
A Sassy Creek Christmas by Shelia Stovall
Sassy Creek Series
Ovaleta Mayhew can’t enjoy the coming Christmas holidays because of her worry for eight-year-old Ava Roberts. The remission of Ava’s leukemia was welcome news to all the residents of Sassy Creek, yet Ava is still in the hospital. Her parents had a huge hospital bill and were behind in their house payments. How could a retired couple help?
Pastor Seth Walters visits Ava often at the hospital, and is dating one of her nurses. He dreads introducing Lila to his congregation, fearing the pressure they’ll put on the relationship.
Ovaleta can’t help the Roberts family on her own. It’ll take the whole town to rally around them. Then she has a brilliant idea.
I loved meeting the lovable characters of Sassy Creek in this Christmas novella! The author has created a town full of sassy, believable characters and I kept turning pages to see what adventures they’d get into next.
If you like reading books in a series that are set in a small town, I believe you will love the folks at Sassy Creek.
I will look for more books by this author!
-Sandra Merville Hart
November 28, 2021
Pumpkin Cheesecake Dessert
by Sandra Merville Hart
In the fall, I love to make desserts with delicious fall flavors. I had discovered this great pumpkin cheesecake several years ago and then forgotten it. Last weekend, I made it again for friends. They loved it!
The crust takes the longest to prepare. Chopping ¾ cup of walnuts didn’t take long.
Chopping Graham crackers into smooth, even crumbs usually takes a few minutes since I didn’t have access to my chopper or food processor. I decided to try the blender to finely chop ¾ cup of these crackers. It worked so beautifully that I wondered why I never tried it before.
Sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves are blended into the cracker crumbs and walnut before adding melted butter. The recipe is shared on the Taste of Home website.
This crust is all pressed into a springform pan as the bottom layer.
The cheesecake filling made up of cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin, and eggs takes about five minutes to prepare. I used a mixer for a smoother blend of the ingredients.
Everyone gobbled up the delicious dessert. They enjoyed the fall flavors in this cheesecake. It’s a lighter, creamier cheesecake that works well for holiday dinners.
I had made whipped cream and forgot to serve it! Whipped cream is delicious on this dessert but it’s a tasty cheesecake without it. My guests didn’t miss the topping.
Sources
Taste of Home’s Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2002, Remain Media Group, Inc., 2002.
“Cheesecake Pumpkin Dessert,” Taste of Home, 2021/10/18 https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cheesecake-pumpkin-dessert/.
November 24, 2021
Excerpt from A Musket in My Hands by Sandra Merville Hart
My third Civil War romance, A Musket in My Hands, follows two sisters as they disguise themselves as soldiers and join the men they love in Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee—just in time for the war to grow progressively difficult for Southern soldiers.
While the War Between the States rages, Callie Jennings reels from her pa’s ultimatum that she must marry his friend, a man older than him. Her heart belongs to her soldier hero, Zach Pearson, but Pa won’t change his mind. Callie has no place to go. Then her sister, Louisa, proposes a shocking alternative.
Zach still hears his pa’s scornful word—quitter. He’s determined to make something of himself as a soldier. He’ll serve the Confederacy until they win the war. If they win the war.
Times are tough and getting tougher for the South in the fall of 1864 when Callie and Louisa, disguised as soldiers, muster into the Confederate army. Louisa keeps an eye on her soldier fiancé, Nate. Callie is thrilled to be near Zach again though he seems more interested in being a soldier. Shooting anyone, especially former countrymen, is out of the question.
Tough marches lead them to the Battle of Franklin. How can anyone survive?
Excerpt for A Musket in My Hands :
August 1864, just outside Cageville, Tennessee
CHAPTER ONE
Clopping in the yard drew Callie Jennings’ hand to her throat.
She rushed to the window and lifted the curtain. A moment of relief washed over her. It wasn’t Yankees looking for food again, thank the Lord. Pa had returned. He never said much about being a ranger, one of those irregulars who participated in guerrilla warfare for the Confederate States of America. The irregulars cut telegraph wire, pulled up railroad tracks, and worse—so some of the townsfolk said. His mood—and his drinking—depended on the success of their last mission. Would he be the even-tempered pa of her childhood today, or the drink-induced stranger she barely recognized?
Porter Jennings rode his horse into the barn and disappeared from sight. Callie dropped the curtain and hurried to the stove. Frying a batch of corn cakes didn’t take long, thank goodness. Pa would have a hot meal waiting when he got done brushing down Midnight. Must have been a hard night’s riding to take nigh onto noon to get back.
She didn’t like the Yankees all over Tennessee any better than Pa, but she’d heard rumblings about the irregulars catching one or two of the enemies alone and hanging them on a tree. That didn’t set well with her. It didn’t seem fair, though she kept those thoughts to herself. He wanted to protect his daughters and, being past the draft age of forty-four, this seemed his only choice.
Her shoulders rose and fell with her sigh as lard melted in the skillet. She patted three generous portions of corn batter onto the skillet as the door slammed open.
She cringed.
“Why ain’t you working at Mrs. Hobson’s today?” Pa tossed his wide-brimmed hat onto a wall hook. “Ezra Culpepper said she has an order.”
She glanced at Pa’s clenched jaw. His friend knew the town’s gossip almost before it happened. “She does. Mrs. Robbins needs a dress. That job won’t pay enough for Mrs. Hobson to hire me to help.”
“That ain’t good enough.” The gray streaks in Pa’s auburn hair were as wide as the calloused fingers he ran through it. “You need to pull your weight around here.”
“Hardly anyone hereabouts has money to pay for seamstress work.” Her cheeks burned hotter than the sizzling cakes warranted. Not pull her weight around the house? She was the one who cooked and cleaned and tended the vegetable garden, for all the good that did. Yankees passing through got most of the crop. “She hasn’t needed me regularly for two years.”
“When the Yanks took over Tennessee.” He pounded a fist into his hand.
“The same year Mr. Hobson died at Shiloh.”
His brown eyes shifted toward the back window where his cornfields used to be. “Another widow left to raise her children without a pa.”
Callie caught her breath as worry for another soldier arose, one she prayed for daily. Best think about that later, when she was alone.
Pa’s neck turned scarlet. Time to give him something else to think about. “Are you hungry?” Her stomach rumbled at the appetizing smell. She turned a corn cake with a spatula too quickly. Oil splattered the stove.
“Yep. Starved.” He pulled a chair away from a rectangular table in the middle of the large front room and sat. “Pity Jeb Booth can’t use both you and your sister at the Mercantile. Louisa’s job puts food on the table.”
Such as it was. They’d all grown accustomed to getting by on less since the Northern invasion. Callie rubbed her sleeve against her forehead. More than August heat stifled the air in the clapboard home. “Here it is.” She placed a plate with two corn cakes and a cup of water in front of him. “We’ll have fried tomatoes from the garden for supper tonight.” She retrieved her plate with a single cake from the narrow table next to the stove.
“I’ll drink whiskey.” Pa started eating without saying grace.
This early in the day? Callie swallowed and plonked her plate back on the side table. Ma would be turning over in her grave at the sight of hard liquor in the house. About a lot of things, in fact.
Callie hated Pa’s angry mood when he drank.
