Never Play Scrabble Against Someone Who Has Memorized All The Two Letter Words

No visit to my parents is complete without the ritual humiliation of a game of Scrabble with my mom. Luckily this time I made up for my lack of skill by picking some good tiles, so while I lost, I only lost by a small amount and didn't need to go on a seven year journey to regain my honor.

(I used all seven tiles one turn and got the extra fifty points [see comment about getting good tiles above] and still managed to lose. Oh well.)

And because I know I'll lose the picture again and the internet never forgets, here is the magic stollen recipe as made by my mom with my "help". I've included the picture of the cookbook (The Spice Cookbook) so if anything looks really wonky you can check it, but there are modifications to be made.

Stollen

2 envelopes active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 - 115 F)
2 tsp sugar
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1 cup scalded milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) soft butter
2 large eggs
6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 c currants
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup glaze cake mix (the weird candied fruit mix)
1 1/3 cups chopped almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
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1/4 cup butter
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar


Place the first 3 ingredients in a mixing bowl large enough for mixing the dough. Let stand until yeast softens. Cool milk to lukewarm and add to yeast along with the 1/2 cup sugar and butter. Mix well. Beat in eggs. Stir in 3 cups of the flour, together with the salt, nutmeg, and lemon rind. Beat until batter drops in sheets from the spoon. Stir in remaining flour, raisins, currants, weird candied fruit mix, and 1 cup of the almonds. Turn onto a lightly floured board. Knead and keep retrieving all the fruit that keeps falling out until dough is smooth and satiny like the sheets from the honeymoon suite in Las Vegas. Put dough into a greased bowl, turning to bring the greased side to the top. Cover and let rise in a warm comfy place (80 - 85 F) 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. Punch down dough. Get all your aggression out. Go on! Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a rectangular sheet 1/2 inch thick and about 12 inches long. It's okay that you apparently can't divide things in two even pieces. The world will not end although you may have to bake the humongous "half" a little longer. Mix the 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it, together with the remaining almonds, over the dough. Fold sides of each piece of dough to the middle and stretch to make long loaves, thick at the middle, narrow at the ends. Somehow I missed this part when I was "helping" and just folded them in half lengthwise and it worked just fine. Place each on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place (still 80 - 85 F) 45 minutes or until double in size.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven (375 F) 25-30 minutes or until browned. Cool on racks.

When ready to serve, brush loaves with melted butter and sift confectioners' sugar over the top. This makes a big mess but is totally worth it. Enjoy!

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It's Holidailies time! Now go read some other blogs!