My job during the holidays becomes a balancing act of sleep deprivation, obligations and coffee-fueled energy. December is the month restaurant employees dread and owners relish. Working 14-hour days is common, and days off are rare. When everyone else in the country is putting on an extra five pounds, I always end up tightening my belt a notch or two as a result of undereating and overworking. However, I still find joy in Christmas, despite my sadistic schedule.

Tim Peters, left, and sister Nicole prepare to enjoy homemade Mint Meringue cookies from his mother’s kitchen, circa 1979.

My holiday season has been condensed into just a few days for the past 10 years. I think this compression makes Christmas sweeter, the smells more intense and the feelings deeper. Plus, a lack of free time keeps me out of the stores and away from the omnipresent holiday Muzak. Studies suggest that prolonged exposure to Christmas music can lead to an increase in violent behavior — I don’t need that in my restaurant kitchen, for sure. So when Christmas week arrives, I am ready for it, and really ready for a day or two off that no one can take away from me.

This is what Dec. 25 means to me now as an adult: the smell of our Christmas tree; watching the cats stalk shiny ornaments; contemplating the purchase of a fake Christmas tree every year; putting Irish liqueur in my coffee before noon just because I can; buying little treats for all my line cooks; and hearing my wife sing in church.

Christmas in my family was always a big deal. My mom loved the spirit of the holidays and decorated the inside of the house until it was ready to pop with Christmas-themed tchotchkes. But my father, Safety Dave, holds a general disdain for Christmas. Dad received his nickname of Safety Dave for always tucking items into our stockings such as road flares, flashlights and lock deicer. I think that he might have liked Christmas if you took away the crowds and the fear of the tree and various holiday candles burning down the house.

What sets Christmas food apart in my house are cookies and lobster. The lobster is a recent addition to Christmas in the Peters household. For the past five years or so, we have splurged on a lobster boil as our Christmas Eve dinner. After numerous trips outside with Safety Dave to man the lobsters boiling in the turkey fryer, we bring the crimson carcasses inside and feast. Five out of the six of us tear into the crustaceans with gusto. The remaining family member, my brother-in-law J, carefully dissects all the legs for every speck of meat. When the rest of us are wiping melted butter off our faces and hands, he’s still munching on leg meat. Here’s the best part: he saves the entire lobster tail for a midnight snack. At least, that’s what we think — the tail is always gone by the morning.

On to the cookies! Some were fancy cookies, but my favorites as a kid were always the ones with bad sprinkles, cinnamon dots and unnaturally-colored icing. The women of my family have not always been the finest cooks, but damn — these women have it in their genetic makeup to make trays of delicious holiday cookies. Here’s my favorite holiday cookie recipe, Mint Meringues, straight from my mother’s cookbook.

Mint Meringue Cookies
3 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 ounces mini chocolate chips
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
Few drops green food coloring

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add cream of tartar to egg whites and start to whip with hand mixer or whip. Slowly add sugar and continue to whip to stiff peaks. Fold in peppermint extract, food coloring and mini chocolate chips. Drop onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and put in the oven. Turn off oven completely and leave cookies in overnight. They’ll be dried out by the morning.
 

Underground Butter is a monthly column from acclaimed Motor Supply Co. chef Tim Peters about life behind the scenes in the restaurant world. Reach Peters by email at food@free-times.com.