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Grandma's Pecan Kisses

A Classic Christmas Comfort.

By Hannah BPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
2
My grandma's well-loved and well-used original recipe card.

I'm no stranger as to why sometimes the Holidays aren't the joyful wonderland we want them to be. I'm a twenty-six-year-old social worker aiding in stopping the opiate crisis; I've got enough personal and residual trauma to make Santa want to shut off the Christmas carols at times. Most years, Christmas is a season I try to come out of the dark twisty-ness of my regular routine and use the Yuletide as a time for healing, reconnecting, and truly spreading joy. But this is my family's first Christmas without Grandma, someone who has been at every Christmas forever. And this one just really bites.

Grandma didn't even really like Christmas, or at least, not all the hullabaloo around it. She didn’t like gift exchanges and was completely horrified if you brought a gift when she asked you not to. She was stressed about hosting, or stressed about being a guest. Still, being the proper English lady she was, she would put on a beautiful sparkling gown, high heels, and her brightest lipstick for Christmas Eve. She always sang "Happy Christmas!" when she walked through the door and then proceeded to start drinking as much wine as she needed to tolerate our shenanigans for the rest of the night. She woke up on Christmas morning and began the preparations straight away, only stopping to watch The Queen’s Address. She hated cooking Christmas dinner but she did it anyway and she always forgot something, like onions in the red onion dressing.

One thing she did love was the pride she felt when she made someone the food or goodie of hers they liked the most, and she especially liked to do this at Christmas. She made butter tarts for my sister. She made scotch eggs for my dad. She made pecan kisses (sometimes out of season if needed) for my mom at Christmas. I tried to help her with her Christmas baking one year, but each time I got my hands in the recipe something seemed to go wrong. Cookies were burning, melting, engaging in gang activity. When we got to the pecan kisses, she politely asked me to go have coffee with grandpa instead.

She made the best pecan kisses. Those tiny nutty bites of meringue... they made everything feel better. I think after this year, we could all use something that makes us, and the people we love, feel better.

So in honour of a sparkling, singing woman who braved the tough parts of Christmas each year to spread joy to her family, let's make Grandma's Pecan Kisses to do the same for ours.

Grandma's Pecan Kisses

-2 egg whites

-3/4 cup brown sugar

-1/4 teaspoon vanilla

-2 Cups chopped pecans (and save some whole ones, too)

1. Put on your favourite shoes and pour a drink. A vodka martini if you want to do this "Ann style". Heat oven to 200F.

2. Whip the egg whites until they are forming stiff peaks.

3. Add the vanilla and sugar gradually as you continue whipping the egg whites.

4. Fold in the pecans until just combined.

5. Stare at the batter a little bit. Choke back tears when you realize it's hard to remember what it sounded like when she would call you darling. Remember why we do this today. Remember that a lot of the tough parts of the Holidays mean we have loved.

6. Spoon or pipe the batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and finish each kiss with a pecan on top.

7. Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the kisses to sit another 30 minutes.

8. Serve the kisses with coffee, eggnog, or another martini while watching "It's a Wonderful Life". Deliver remaining kisses to someone in your life who may be grieving this Holiday season.

Enjoy, and Happy Holidays.

recipe
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About the Creator

Hannah B

Mom, self proclaimed funny girl, and publicly proclaimed "piece of work".

Lover and writer of fiction and non-fiction alike and hoping you enjoy my attempts at writing either.

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