All About Americana
By The Foodies./ foodie@longislandernews.com

When it comes to the holidays, Mary McDonald, the owner of A Rise Above Bake Shop in Huntington village, doesn’t like to rush the season.

At her shop, Christmas music doesn’t start until at least a week after Thanksgiving. This year, with that holiday falling about as early as it can – on Nov. 22 – it allowed her to slowly ease into the season.

“We’re kind of slowly going into it,” she said. “I figure by [this week], we’ll have all the cookies we normally make for Christmas.”

This time of year, her kitchen is working overtime, baking dozens of cookies. Many are a blend of year-round favorites like Chocolate Chewies and Kitchen Sink cookies, accented with holiday-shaped spice cookies, shortbread, spritz, orange crisps and pecan puffs.

With about three weeks to go before Santa makes landfall in Huntington, McDonald and others are now on their annual mission to bring good taste and great food to tables all over town.

For Mary Alice Meinserman, proprietor of Bon Bons Chocolatier in Huntington village, the next year’s mission begins right after Christmas wraps up – as early as January.
“All the gift items, paper goods, they’re all bought ahead so we can get some kind of selection,” she said.

What she gets in January guides her later that fall as she decides what to feature during the holidays. This year, she snapped up a collection of candy-cane boxes, and peppermint is abundant in her chocolate range, paired with staples like sugar and spice pecans, Marzipan, Christmas crackers, chocolate pops and hollow chocolate molds of Santas, angels, snowmen and more, ranging from $6 to $100. On Thursday, her executive chef, Eric Lobignat, was decorating sugar-plum cottages in the kitchen, trimming them with white chocolate blended with corn syrup to get the right consistency.

Wherever you go, shops are playing to their strengths as the big day approaches. Jess Kennaugh, owner of Blondies Bake Shop in Centerport, is gearing up. Last week she rolled out “all things gingerbread,” like loaves, muffins and cupcakes. This week, she’ll be rolling out a selection of egg nog delicacies, including cakes and cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream icing. After a successful Thanksgiving season where pies were king, she said she’ll be keeping apple offerings going “as long as we can.”

“We’re expanding the cookie line to add some holiday favorites – we have iced sugar cookies and a few other things in the works,” she said.

A one-stop destination for foodies is 278 Main St., where Ideal Cheese and The Crushed Olive share space. In front, The Crushed Olive is presenting specialty gift baskets with flavored oils, which can be used to prepare a wide range of dishes. Manager Dana Coletti said that oils are a great gift for a teacher, mailman or your holiday host.
Popular flavors include Tuscan herb, traditional balsamic vinaigrette, fig balsamic vinegar, and garlic olive oil. Coletti suggested health enthusiasts try her blood-orange olive oil as a salad dressing. Gift boxes and baskets can be custom ordered; small boxes range from $5-$20, and larger gifts are priced from $35 to $80.

Meanwhile, in the back, Ideal Cheese offers imported cheeses fresh off the wheel. For their first Christmas in Huntington, owners Julius and Chris Binetti hope to bring the holiday spirit into the workplace, with antipasto platters and decorative baskets filled to the brim with chunks and wedges of their favorite cheeses. When serving cheese, never do so straight from the fridge, Julius said.

“Cheese is always better when you leave it out for two to three hours before you serve it,” he explained. “That way, you get 100 percent of the flavor.”

Italian specialty stores and butchers are always busy this time of year as Italians prepare for their Feast of the Seven Fishes. At Mr. Sausage (6 Union Place, Huntington), the Baldanza brothers offer authentic assortments of Italian staples. Antipasto platters are a hit during the holiday season, they said, and popular orders often include fresh mozzarella, salami, olives, soppressata and lasagna, all prepared on site. Cold and hot platters typically start at $80 for up to 20 people.

If your sweet tooth is particularly persistent, Chip’n Dipped is chock-full of chocolate, cookies and other assorted candies at their 342 New York Ave. location. The store offers chocolates in both Christmas and Hanukkah-inspired designs, such as large chocolate Santas ($39.95) and chocolate lollipops shaped like dredils ($5.95).

Wild Flours Bake Shop (11 New St., Huntington) caters to a gluten-free audience, offering customers with dietary restrictions the opportunity to indulge with their family and friends over the holiday and year-round, too. The store has pre-made baskets with seasonal baked goods, such as peppermint scones and brownies, gingerbread scones and seasonally decorated cupcakes. Owner Carolyn Arcario said she plans to offer customers three types of baskets, including a breakfast basket for an office holiday party that includes gluten-free oats, maple syrup, fresh breakfast pastries or organic coffee, an assortment with a variety of baked goods, and a pasta dinner basket, including sauce, baguettes and pasta.

And Reinwald’s Bakery (495 New York Ave., Huntington Station) thrives during the holiday months, as store owners Richard and Carole Reinwald see a season shift in customer’s requests. According to the couple, the Thanksgiving season is all about producing pies, whereas December brings a large volume of cookie and cake requests.
“When you see a cookie platter on your kitchen table, it makes it really feel like home,” Rich said.

Tradition and family are cornerstones of the bakery, and the couple said they enjoy introducing their patrons to traditional German desserts that they were raised on. Holiday favorites include their spekulatius cookies, a spiced cookie rich in butter and ground nuts. The Reinwalds also said their authentic gingerbread recipe offers a different flavor than others, because the recipe is over 100 years old and was passed down from relatives in Germany. The gingerbread recipe calls for baking soda and is unique because there is no sugar added, and no fat in the final product.

And in Northport, Copenhagen Bakery on Woodbine Avenue said one pastry rises above all comers this time of year.

“Cookies, cookies, cookies. A lot of cookie trays,” owner Flemming Hansen said. “You can bring flowers, wine or cookies [to a holiday party]. Those are your easy choices. It’s not refrigerated, it’s easy to grab a tray and people can pick at it.”

Special features include brunkager, a Danish spice cookie, and German spice cookies. There’s also plenty of gingerbread houses, gingerbread men, Yule logs and other Scandinavian specialties like the Paris-Brest, a large baked ring of choux pastry that is cut in half and filled with whipped cream.