The surge of the Covid-19 virus and the ensuing lockdown launched nearly a year of frantic baking and a run on flour and sugar in the grocery aisles. What first had become a coping mechanism during the pandemic has perhaps evolved into a new pastime (or passion) as the promise of a new year unfolds.

During the holiday season, my friend Bonnie shared her “Cathedral Window” Candy recipe with me. Sweet and yummy! Sticky, though, so have a damp napkin close by when you sample a taste.

In double boiler melt:

One 12 oz. package of chocolate chips

1/2 stick of butter

2 eggs, beaten

Mix until smooth. Cool & add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Add a 10.5 oz. package of colored marshmallows and 2 cups of chopped walnuts. Stir until completely coated.

Spoon mixture onto 3 separate sheets of wax paper (or parchment paper) and wrap paper around each to form 3 logs. Then, wrap “logs” with aluminum foil. Put into the refrigerator until cool enough to slice into cookies, about 1-2 hours. Before slicing, roll logs in confectioners sugar. You can keep candy for weeks in freezer or refrigerator. You can find a more detailed recipe here.

 

 

 

 

 


 

The colors in these candies are opaque, but as I stirred the mixture, I thought of awe-inspiring, translucent stained glass churches I’ve visited in cathedrals in France and Italy, even some close at home in a tiny church on St. Simons’ Island, Ga. And then I remembered studying George Herbert’s “Church-Windows” in an Intro. to Lit class.

George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest of the Anglican Church.

In The Windows, for example, “he compares a righteous preacher to glass through which God’s light shines more effectively than in his words.” As he meditates, Herbert believes he falls short of that aspiration, speaking of himself as “brittle crazy glass” though he wants to be a window through which grace and truth may be clearly transmitted by his actions. He longs to have God anneal the glass (temper it with heat), so that unadulterated, divine light can shine through.

For more musings on this poem, check Project Muse here.

 

Marc Chagall windows: Tnachari, Google Images

 


Have you ever made these candies, variously called Cathedral Window Cookies or Church Window Candy?

Your thoughts: stained glass windows you’ve enjoyed seeing; windows of grace; another recipe . . . whatever!

Thank you for sharing. . . .