COLD TECH FREEZERS

Starting at the bottom of the plate…ginger snaps, then coconut macaroons, peanut butter cup cookies, peppermint swirl kisses, snickerdoodles, pumpkin pecan tassies, nut balls. We do a plate for several of our neighbors and for Father Ed & Jan- eggnog too (which we also made). Nice assortment of color, texture and taste.

Noel Nut Balls
Makes about 5 dozen

* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 1 teaspoon bourbon or orange juice (I used the bourbon-YUM)
* 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup chopped pecans (best if chopped by hand)
* 1/2 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar, plus more for rolling
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and honey until fluffy. Add bourbon, and beat to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pecans, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and beat to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 3 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats) or parchment paper. Roll the dough, 2 teaspoons at a time, into balls. Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them. Bake until brown around the edges, 12 to 13 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Roll in confectioners’ sugar to coat.

Linda loved these.
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Pumpkin Pecan Tassies

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* FILLING:
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided
* 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
* 4 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon butter, melted, divided
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon half-and-half cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon rum extract
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. In a small bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Beat in flour. Shape into 24 balls. With floured fingers, press onto the bottom and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups.

2. Bake at 325° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, pumpkin, 4 teaspoons butter, egg yolk, cream, extracts, cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon into warm cups. Combine the pecans and remaining brown sugar and butter; sprinkle over filling.

4. Bake 23-27 minutes longer or until set and edges are golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen.

Linda won’t give these away on the plates-need I say more!
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Peppermint Twist Kisses

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 egg yolk
* 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 4 to 8 drops red food coloring
* 36 chocolate kisses

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and extracts. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough in half; tint one portion red. Divide each into four portions. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Shape each portion into a 9-in. log. Place one red log next to one white log; twist gently to create one swirled roll. Roll gently until roll becomes one log. Repeat with remaining dough.

3. Cut each log into nine slices; roll each into a ball. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a glass.

4. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Press chocolate kisses into the center of warm cookies. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 3 dozen.
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Peanut Butter Treats

COOKIE:
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup creamy Peanut Butter
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

FILLING:
* about 42 miniature peanut butter-chocolate cups

1. In a bowl, combine the butter, sugars, egg, peanut butter and vanilla; beat until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

2. Roll into walnut-sized balls; place in greased miniature muffin cups. Bake at 375° for 8-9 minutes.

3. Remove from oven; gently press one peanut butter cup into each cookie, forming a depression. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: about 3-1/2 dozen.
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Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies

* 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons butter
* 1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
* 1/4 cup molasses
* 1 egg
* 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Blend in molasses and egg

Tribeca, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

The Tribeca West Historic District takes its name from the acronym TriBeCa, for Triangle Below Canal Street. Coined in the mid-1970s as the result of City Planning studies and the adoption of a Special Lower Manhattan Mixed Use District, the Tribeca name came to be applied to the area south of Canal Street, between Broadway and West Street, extending south to Vesey Street, which is larger than the zoning district. The area of the Tribeca West Historic District has a distinct and special character within the larger Tribeca community which is defined by the district's historical development as reflected in the plan of its streets and the architectural qualities of its buildings.

Early in the nineteenth century as the area was initially developed, it was a prime residential neighborhood concentrated around Duane Park and Hudson Square (renamed St. John's Park with the construction of St. John's Chapel on the east side of Varick Street). The basic residential development pattern did much to define the later architectural character of the area as it established the street grid at right angles to Greenwich Street intersecting with the street grid off Broadway, and fixed lot sizes for houses that were later reflected in the lot sizes for commercial buildings. A number of Federal-era houses, subsequently converted for commercial uses, remain in the district.

By the mid-nineteenth century, with produce and other goods arriving at the Washington Market, southwest of the area of the historic district, and the transfer of goods facilitated by extensive ship and railroad service, the area of the Tribeca West Historic District began to develop its dominant architectural character. Houses were replaced by buildings constructed to meet the changing needs and growing complexity of commerce, particularly businesses associated with the food industry.

Today the district is defined and dominated by commercial buildings of the store and loft and warehouse types, which provide a consistent architectural character although one that developed over a span of some fifty years, roughly 1860 through 1910. This is the result of a functional, yet decorative, approach to commercial architecture which produced substantial and attractive buildings whose form and appearance — generated largely by the uses of the buildings — tended to transcend the changing fashions of architectural style. Still, the buildings

encompass a range of treatments: some are utilitarian and influenced by longstanding vernacular traditions; others are influenced by popular architectural styles and ornament, consciously designed to be decorative in appearance; and, late in the century, are those warehouses reflecting contemporary high-style architecture whose architects self-consciously sought to devise an appropriate American architectural expression for the warehouse as a discrete building type. Within the district these buildings are unified by a similar scale; similar building materials, largely masonry in shades of red, brown, and tan; and similar use-generated base treatments consisting of cast-iron piers rising above stepped vaults and loading platforms and sheltered by awnings.

Folding iron shutters and wood doors historically filled the loading bay openings, and many of these elements still survive. Granite-slab sidewalks and Belgian block street pavers are other unifying elements which give the district much of its historic and architectural character.

While businesses dealing in eggs, butter, and cheese predominated, clients as diverse as flour rs, fancygoods merchants, tobacconists, and produce merchants commissioned and occupied store and loft buildings in the district. Architects for this building type ranged from such architect/builders as Bloodgood & Bloodgood to architects who specialized in commercial architecture such as John B. Snook and his sons, Berger & Baylies, Thomas R. Jackson, and William Graul.

Warehouse construction, which reached its peak in numbers in the late 1880s and continued through the first decade of the twentieth century, reflected the greater scale of commerce not only for merchants of perishables but also for merchants requiring large amounts of storage space such as grocery rs. Cold storage warehouses, many of them constructed for the Merchants' Refrigerating Company, are an important variation of this building type within the district.

Some of the city's most prominent architects constructed warehouse buildings in the area of the historic district, among them, Stephen D. Hatch, Charles C. Haight, Babb & Cook, and Edward H. Kendall. The importance of the food industry in the history of Tribeca is exemplified by the construction in 1885 of the New York Mercantile Exchange, 2-6 Harrison Street, designed by Thomas R. Jackson. Founded in 1872 as the Butter and Cheese Exchange, reflecting the concentration of these businesses in th