Wait, Christmas is on MONDAY?
You guys, I'm so confused and turned around by this week/these holidays/this year that I totally forgot it was Friday until this minute (this minute = 11:56 am on Friday). Also, needless to say, I have a zillion things I have to do for Christmas (I will be one of the hundreds of people in my local bookstore tomorrow frantically buying gifts...and one of the thousands of people in my local grocery store tomorrow frantically buying whipping cream and dark chocolate and potatoes and whatever the hell else I need for Christmas dinner). Hell, I just called to order the meat yesterday, and I still don't know if I ordered the right size, but oh well. Part of the reason I'm so off today is that I spent a few days this week in Vegas with two of my besties to see Britney Spears. Why did we do this? Because, as many of us have learned in awful ways this year, life is damn short, friends are some of the most important people we've got, and we have to find joy any damn place we can find it. All three of us had so many things we had to be doing during that time, all three of us were so so glad to spend it with one another. So that's my recommendation this week: take time out to spend time with your favorite people whenever possible.
Those of you who have reading this newsletter for a while know that I read a lot of fiction, and the non-fiction I read tends to be more on the history side. This is why when people kept recommending We Are Never Meeting In Real Life, by Samantha Irby to me, I would nod and smile and mostly ignore them. A collection of essays is generally not really my thing; they are so often either boring or depressing or make me feel like I'm doing homework. But at some point I bought it, and then then other day I made myself start it, just to see what people kept talking about, and I had to force myself to stop reading before bed last night, it's so good. It's funny, and sad without being depressing, and it feels like a long phone call with a good friend with her telling you stories about her life. Buy it for yourself to pop in and out of during this holiday weekend if you're super busy, buy it for yourself to read in a big gulp if you're blissfully on vacation, buy it for a friend or family member if you're still shopping this weekend like I am.
If you're still looking for a dessert for Christmas dinner, and if you like luxurious and impressive chocolate desserts, I highly recommend this chocolate cream pie, which is what I'm making for Christmas dinner. A friend made this for a book club meeting years ago, and I begged him for the recipe, and have made it numerous times since. And you can make it well in advance (it needs 4 hours in the fridge before eating, minimum, but you can make it say, Saturday for a Monday meal and be just fine, as long as it's well covered). And everyone LOVES it.
Chocolate Cream Pie
Ingredients:
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 9 ounce package chocolate wafer cookies (Nabisco is the only brand I can often find, and those are often hard to find, if you find them, buy more than one pack and freeze for the next time)
3 1/2 cups half and half
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup cornstartch
9 egg yolks
9 ounces semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
dark chocolate for garnish
Heat oven to 375 F. Grease a 9 inch pie plate with butter. Heat 8 tablespoons of butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Grind the wafer cookies in a food processor very finely. Pour the butter mixture into the food processor and pulse together with the cookie crumbs just until it's all combined. Press this mixture into the pie plate firmly. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake until set, and let cool while you do the rest.
Heat the half and half in a large saucepan over medium high heat until it just begins to simmer and remove from heat. Whisk together 2/3 cup of the sugar with cornstarch, add the egg yolks and whisk until smooth. Drizzle the half and half into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour back into the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until bubbles rise to the surface and the mixture is very thick, 3-4 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and add the remaining 8 ounces of butter and both kinds of chopped chocolate in handfuls at a time, whisking between every addition. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. Set a sieve over a medium bowl and pour the mixture through the sieve to strain. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap (pressing the plastic directly on the surface of it) and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours.
Remove the plastic wrap from the filling and stir. Spoon into the crust, forming a dome, and smooth with a rubber spatula. Whip the cream with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until stiff peaks form, spread it all on top of the filling. Shave some of the dark chocolate on top of the pie. Keep refrigerated until just before serving.
Have a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate it, and if not, have a wonderful long weekend.
xo
Jasmine
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