Professor Butter Beard and “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
“I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn’t have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is all about. Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
“Sure, Charlie Brown,” said Linus. “I can tell you what Christmas is all about….”
Good grief, Charlie Brown! Maybe Lucy is right! Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you are the Charlie Browniest! But don’t you worry. You are the foundation of my holiday season. Yes, I watch “White Christmas” every Thanksgiving evening, and “Babette’s Feast” every December 1st, but you, Charlie Brown, fill my screen during the first snowfall with your self-doubt, your directorial ponderings and your eventual re-awoken belief in humanity. When I am with you CB, Christmas time is here.
But “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a gift that almost wasn’t.
According to Jennings Brown, writer for New York Magazine, “What most people don’t realize is that the holiday classic barely made it into production — and was almost buried forever.” In early 1965, no one believed that Charles Schulz’s story of an underdog sticking to his principles in the face of constant bullying would make for good TV. Brown writes, “No networks had wanted it, but after Charlie Brown and the gang were featured on the cover of Time magazine, Coca-Cola’s ad agency, McCann Erickson, got the idea for a holiday special and approached the producer Lee Mendelson. Mendelson called Schulz and told him they’d sold a Charlie Brown Christmas special. Schulz said, ‘What’s that?’ And Mendelson replied, ‘It’s something you’re going to write tomorrow.’”
Lee Mendelson had just read “The Fir-Tree” by Hans Christian Andersen and suggested the Peanuts story include a tree that is as sad and misunderstood as Charlie Brown. Immediately, they cranked out an outline and put it in a Western Union shipment to Atlanta. Several days later, the agency told them they had a short six months to deliver the animated special.
For the music, the newly formed production team had courted up-and-coming jazz musician Vince Guaraldi, whose “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” seemed to strike the same balance of somber enlightenment and childlike enthusiasm that Charles Schulz achieved in his weekly comic. But when they previewed the introduction song as the Peanuts gang skated on the frozen pond, Mendelson realized it was way too slow and solemn. It was missing something. He sat down at his kitchen table and wrote out the words to “Christmas Time Is Here” on an paper envelope. Guaraldi enlisted the children’s choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California, to sing the lyrics. And a holiday trigger was born.
When Schulz, a Sunday school teacher, suggested Linus should recite from the Gospel of Luke, Mendelson and director Bill Melendez protested. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Well, there goes our careers right down the drain,’” Mendelson recalls. “Nobody had ever animated anything from the Bible before, and we knew it probably wouldn’t work. We were flabbergasted by it.”
In a recent interview with Jennings Brown, Mendelson reflects that Linus’s segment probably made the entire project work. “That 10-year-old kid who recited that speech from the Bible was as good as any scene from Hamlet,” he says.
When CBS finally saw the finished product, they were sure it was doomed. They believed it was too slow, there was no action, the kids weren’t polished, the jazz didn’t belong. But when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired at 7:30 pm on December 9, 1965, half of American TV viewers tuned in. The reviews exploded! Washington Post TV critic Lawrence Laurent wrote, “Good old Charlie Brown, a natural born loser … finally turned up a winner.” The show won a Peabody and an Emmy Award and CBS immediately ordered four more specials.
“I never thought is was such a bad little tree,” Linus said as he wrapped his blanket around its base. “It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.” And a little love is what fills this week’s just a wee bit nutty Charlie Brown head-shaped macarons. The almond flour meringue cookies are laced with hazelnut extract and sandwiched together with white chocolate ganache and an interior heart of seedless raspberry jam.
I agree with Linus. “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
May all our heart be merry and light. Happy Holidays!
Hazelnut Macarons Filled with White Ganache and Raspberry Jam
3 ½ dozen finished macarons
2 ¼ cups almond flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
3 cups confectionary’s sugar
8 large egg whites (separated into four and four)
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
Fine sea salt (total of ½ tsp)
½ tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp hazelnut extract
8 ounces of white chocolate, chopped (or purchased morsels)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
½ cup seedless raspberry jam
1) Prepare a template using a 1 ½” biscuit cutter to draw twenty circles on a piece of parchment the same size as your baking sheets. Space the circles at least 3/4” apart. Line four baking sheets with parchment paper cut to fit the pans.
2) In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, confectionary’s sugar and ¼ tsp fine sea salt. Make a well in the center and add four of the eggs whites. Fold this mixture together until you have a thick paste. Set aside.
3) Place the remaining four egg whites in a smaller bowl and add the granulated sugar. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and gently whisk until the sugar is melted and the mixture reaches 150 degrees F. (I use a digital thermometer.)
4) Pour the egg white/sugar mixture into the bowl of a standing mixer and add ¼ tsp fine sea salt, the cream of tartar and the hazelnut extract. Whisk on high speed until the mixture transforms into a glossy meringue. This could take between three to five minutes.
5) Gently fold the meringue into the almond paste. Start with ¼ of the meringue to lighten the paste and then fold in the remaining meringue.
6) Slide your template under the parchment on your first baking sheet. Use a piping bag with a small round tip to pipe the mixture, filling the circles. If necessary, wet your finger and gently tap down any tips on the piped cookies.
7) Gently slide the template out and follow the same procedure to pipe the circles on the remaining four pans. Leave the pans, uncovered, for thirty minutes to dry the tops of your macarons before baking.
8) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Bake one pan at a time for 12 minutes, rotating after 9 minutes, until the cookies are just beginning to turn golden. Leave the macarons to cool completely on the baking sheets on a wire rack.
9) Heat the heavy cream to a simmer in a small pan. Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate and let sit five minutes. Add the vanilla paste and gently whisk until the ganache is smooth and silky. Let cool completely to a piping consistency. This could take an hour or so.
10) Using a piping bag with a small round tip, pipe a little ganache into a circle around the edge of ½ of the cookies. Fill the center with a dap of seedless raspberry jam (see photo). Sandwich the cookies together and refrigerate the finished cookies until you are ready to serve.
