Pre-holiday

Kerri and Marian came to visit for two days. Kerri, her family and I chipped in to get a new camera for Marian, a Canon PowerShot SX210IS. Its slim, simple design contains more than meets the eye, she says, loaded with features to satisfy her experimental nature.

They have set a wedding date, August 19.

Father and daughter sat up talking until 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. Guelph is still home, she says. On some unsearchable level I'm more deeply home when they're here. Last night I slept eight hours for the first time in months.

Danny and I will still see them Christmas Day at their place. Kerri's parents are hosting dinner. We'll bring Brenna back for a few days and visit my cousin, Catherine, on Boxing Day.

Tonight I'm alone preparing for two days of family holiday time on the road, listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's Christmas Eve Suite, Hawksley's Workman's Almost a Full Moon and all my favourite seasonal indulgences. I concocted this delicious cookie based on a basic shortbread recipe.

Gluten-free hazelnut shortbread

½ cup cornstarch
½ icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
½ cup ground hazelnuts
¼ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
¾ cup soft butter

(Sorghum flour has a delicious nutty flavour, however if gluten is not a concern, you can substitute ½ cup all-purpose flour for the sorghum and tapioca flours and eliminate xanthan gum.)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Blend dry ingredients. Beat in butter until it is thoroughly combined. The mixture will be powdery, so squeeze it together with your hands. You don't need to worry about gluten-free batter becoming tough.* It will quickly become very sticky. Divide into two clumps. Place each clump on a piece of wax paper, form it roughly into an elongated lump, wrap the wax sheet around it and roll on a flat surface to make an even cylinder 2.5 cm (1 inch) in diameter. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Unwrap, cut each roll into 20 discs and place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2.5 cm (1 inch) apart. Bake 12 minutes. Makes 40 small cookies.

* Dough made with all-purpose flour should be easier to handle. Beat just until it sticks together.