Christmas Carols and Cookies

I began my Christmas baking today. This week, I'm going to concentrate on yeast breads and the usual five kinds of cookies:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Peanut Butter
Biscotti
Molasses Roll-Outs
Cherry Coconut Bars

I did the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip today after coming home from work and picking up a few things for baking. I used a recipe from the small Betty Crocker Cookies and Cakes cookbook I picked up from Pittsfield in September. It really called for chocolate-covered raisins, but I just used chocolate chips. They came out beautifully, golden-brown with a nutty oatmeal flavor.

Next week, I'll do the cupcakes and quick breads.

I ran several different versions of the classic Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol while eating dinner. The first one, the 1951 English version featuring popular character actor Alistair Sim as Ebeneezer Scrooge, is quite interesting. Sim makes for a perfect Scrooge, and while it doesn't really adhere faithfully to the book (there's a lot more emphasis on Scrooge's past, his fiancee is Alice instead of Belle and she becomes a nurse), it has a lot of nice touches of its own. I especially liked the use of the charwoman Mrs. Dawber...and how scared she gets when Scrooge "reforms" on Christmas morning. (Really, isn't that how most people would react when a man who's been a despised miser for 50 years suddenly starts laughing and pattering about Christmas and giving to the poor?)

I own at least four animated versions of A Christmas Carol. I ran the two I have on DVD this evening. Many of you, especially those of you who grew up in the 80s like I did, may be quite familiar with Mickey's Christmas Carol, one of Disney's best half-hour featurettes. The Stingiest Man In Town, a Rankin-Bass version of A Christmas Carol from 1978, is less well-known. According to Musicals 101, this was originally a live-action NBC musical special in 1956 that was remembered well-enough for Rankin-Bass to adapt it 20 years later. I can understand why. While it's not Rankin-Bass' best production, the songs are quite lovely, and Walter Matthau makes a good Scrooge. ("Yes, There Is A Santa Claus" is especially memorable.)