Candy Cane Dessert

Christmas week in a Jewish household is a strange thing — the neighborhood goes very quiet and very bright simultaneously, every house strung with lights, and we are not doing anything in particular except experiencing the ambient hum of someone else's holiday. I don't begrudge it. I grew up in the Bronx, where December belonged to everyone a little and no one completely, and the Santas on the Grand Concourse were decoration rather than theology. Marvin's family was the same. We celebrate what we celebrate and we appreciate the lights in the way of people who did not hang them but are glad they're there.

I used the week for deep kitchen work. Winter break means I have time — real time, unscheduled time — and I have learned over the years that unscheduled time in December, if you are a cook, means baking. I made the New York cheesecake: the definitive article, the kind that requires a water bath and a full hour in the oven and another twelve hours in the refrigerator and which has exactly the right density, the right creaminess, the kind that gives you pause before the first bite because it is clearly a serious thing, a cheesecake with opinions. My mother made hers in the same pan I use — a nine-inch springform that I have owned since 1989 and which I intend to use until one of us gives out.

Marvin and I watched old movies. We watched "The Apartment" and "Some Like It Hot" — he knows them both so well he quotes them before the characters speak, and last night he did it again, and I thought: the movies are in there. The Wilder films are in there. The jokes are in there. The disease attacks the new things first: the appointments, the names of the newly-met, the plans for next Thursday. But the old things — the movies, the prayers, the rugelach recipe, the way he takes his coffee — these seem to be holding. For now. I know not to assume for now means forever. I know this and I am grateful for every for-now I get.

It was a quiet week. Quiet can be either mercy or dread, and this week it was mostly mercy. I was grateful for the cheesecake, for the movies, for the lights our neighbors put up so I don't have to, for the way Marvin laughed at Jack Lemmon in a dress. Some weeks the gratitude is complicated and some weeks it is simple. This one was simpler than I expected.

I made the cheesecake early in the week and it lasted two days, which is exactly how a proper cheesecake should behave — serious enough to command attention, gone before it overstays its welcome. On the final evening, with the neighbors’ lights still glowing and Marvin dozing in his chair after Jack Lemmon, I wanted something lighter, something that felt like a small celebration without requiring much of anyone. This Candy Cane Dessert is what I turned to: cool and gentle and just sweet enough, the kind of thing that suits a quiet house in December when the work of the week is done and what’s left is simply being glad you’re there.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes (includes chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (such as Oreos, filling removed)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 envelope (1/4 oz) unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
3 to 4 drops red food coloring
2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
1/2 cup crushed candy canes, divided

Instructions

Make the crust. Combine chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter in a medium bowl and stir until evenly moistened. Press firmly into the bottom of a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Bloom the gelatin. Sprinkle gelatin over the cold water in a small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes until softened.
Heat the milk mixture. Warm the milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming but not boiling. Add the sugar and salt, stirring until fully dissolved. Remove from heat.
Combine and flavor. Stir the bloomed gelatin into the warm milk mixture until completely dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Stir in peppermint extract and red food coloring, adjusting color to your liking.
Fold in whipped cream. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled peppermint mixture in three additions, taking care not to deflate the cream. Fold in 1/4 cup of the crushed candy canes.
Assemble. Pour the filling evenly over the chilled crust, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup crushed candy canes over the surface.
Chill. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until fully set. Cut into squares to serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Candy Cane Dessert — A Sweet Quiet for the Week Between