Exclusively for Use at Christmas

My reams of Christmas music and my big down coat both come out midway through autumn. I'm one of those people easily wearied by cold, dreary weather (not to mention the accompanying cold, dreary college admissions deadlines), so as soon as it gets chilly enough to induce the blues, I consider it chilly enough to break out the carols.

And the cookies, which warrant much less of an objection from my little brother.

Some people I know (Hi, Mom!) can get downright scrooge-y when it comes to unseasonably early Christmas displays, the playing of "Silent Night" before Thanksgiving, and even the wearing of Fair Isle sweaters before the "appropriate" time. I've never really understood this. To me, Christmas music is one of the most beautiful genres in the world (with the exception of "Christmas in California", which, while catchy, isn't exactly what I'd call beautiful). Christmas displays in stores make the whole shopping experience a bit perkier. And Fair Isle sweaters are classy enough for any occasion (except for pool parties, weddings, and within 15 feet of judgmental younger siblings.)

I will confess, though, that this camp has a good point about Christmas lights coming out before Thanksgiving. It makes us mere mortals look disorganized.

I freely admit that I spent this morning listening to Windham Hill's "I'll be Home for Christmas" CD and baking a batch of cookies that the cookbook's editor had gone so far as to label with a cautionary pine tree motif - meaning, according to the chapter's introduction, "Exclusively for Use at Christmas". I brazenly made them in the first part of November, and so far as I know the sky has not fallen down. (On the other hand, neither has snow.) In case you'd like to do the same - or on the off-chance that you've been offended by my above comments and feel that I owe you cookies in compensation- here's the recipe (based on one from the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking, but with a few modifications):

1 cup nuts (I use macadamia nuts, but walnuts or blanched almonds work too)

2 cups flour

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

¾ cup powdered sugar, plus 2/3 cup for sprinkling

- Move a rack up to the upper third of the oven. Preheat to 350 degrees.

- Place the nuts in a food processor and grind into chunks about a quarter inch across. Add ¼ cup of the flour and process until the pieces are very fine, almost to the point of forming a paste.

- Beat the butter until it's creamy and pretty light in color. Sift ¾ cup of powdered sugar over the top and beat until well combined.

- Add the vanilla and ground nuts. Stir.

- Sift the remaining 1 ¾ cup of flour over the top of the mixture. Beat until well blended.

- Divide the mixture into quarters. Pat or roll each quarter out into a circle about 10 inches in diameter. Cut into 12 equally sized slices; then roll from the wide end to the narrow end to form crescent-shaped cookies.

- Place the cookies 1 ½ inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until tinged with brown around the edges, 13 to 16 minutes, rotating the sheet partway through.

- When done, let the cookies cool until firmed up; then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Sift the 2/3 cup of powdered sugar over all the cookies until they're evenly coated.

- Enjoy. Feel free to listen to carols while doing so.