Santas From Around The World: Thailand- Elephant Santas (Advent 2020, Day 21)

Thailand is a mostly Buddhist country steeped in ancient traditions. But Thailand is also one of the most cutting edge Asian countries to become Westernized in the past 50 years. With this mix of old and new, a lot of Thailand's beliefs about Christmas have morphed in some very unusual ways.

1. The Thai people believe that Santa Claus is the father of Jesus. Every year, Santa celebrates his son's birthday by giving all of the children of Thailand toys. 

2. Christmas trees don't go inside. Some of this is due to superstitious belief in upsetting nature's balance as preached by Buddha. So the trees are artificial instead of cut down. But a lot of the reason behind the Christmas tree being set up outside is because Thai families compete to see who can own the largest tree possible. One company called Bangkok Christmas Decoration Exporters Ltd. manufacture trees as tall as 60 feet in height! 

3. If you thought your grandma was overdoing it with a dozen live poinsettias at her house- she's got nothing on the people of Thailand. They will literally flood their homes with hundreds of fragrant bouquets made of endless varieties of flowers. The florists of Thailand work triple-time to keep up with orders that must be filled before December 24th. The floral arrangements of Pak Khlong Talat are considered some of the best in the country. And some families will travel hundreds of miles just to obtain a couple of floral pieces to decorate their home.

But I think my favorite holiday tradition that I've learned about in Thailand is the elephant Santas! This tradition began about 16 years ago. An elephant rescue camp sought to bring awareness to the abuse and ecological threat towards elephants while bringing a smile to the faces of some lucky students. 

Just before the children of The Jirasartwitthaya school in Ayutthaya depart for a short holiday break, they are visited by the elephants of the Ayuttahaya Elephant Palace. Wearing Santa hats, the elephants deliver candy and toys to the children before doing a few tricks that they've learned in their new sanctuary. The elephant finish the festivities by hoisting children with their trunks to help them decorate the highest parts of a Christmas tree. Then they elephants head back home for some fruit and other goodies in celebration of a job well done!

For a job well done for you visiting Thailand with me, here's a recipe for Pandan Coconut Cookies. You will need to head to an Asian grocer for Pandan. But it's so worth it!

Enjoy!

Pandan Coconut Cookies

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups (425 mL) all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened, plus extra for garnish
• 1 ½ tsp (7 mL) cornstarch
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
• ½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup (125 mL) Becel® Original margarine
• ¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (60 mL) unsweetened applesauce
• 3 Tbsp concentrated pandan juice (recipe follows, see note)
• 2-3 drops green food colouring (optional)
• ⅓ cups roasted chopped cashews
• 30 whole roasted cashews for garnish, optional

CONCENTRATED PANDAN JUICE

• 8 pandan leaves, washed and chopped
• ½ cup water

• Instructions

  FOR THE PANDAN JUICE:

  1. Blend half of the pandan leaves with the water until fine. Strain, then put the juice back into the blender.
  2. Add the other half of the pandan leaves in the blender and blend until fine and strain.

  Notes:

  • I’m blending half of the leaves at a time because the blender cannot process all the leaves at once with this amount of water.
  • This makes more than you need in the recipe, but I find that the blender needs at least this much volume in order to blend effectively. You can make pandan tea with the leftover juice—simply add water and sweetener of your choice and enjoy it hot or iced.

  FOR THE COOKIES:

  1. Whisk together flour, shredded coconut, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
  2. Beat Becel® Original margarine and granulated sugar using electric mixer until light and creamy. Beat in applesauce, pandan juice and green food colouring until blended.
  3. Gradually add in flour mixture and beat on low speed, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, stopping just as the flour is almost completely blended, but not quite.
  4. Add cashews, and use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to fold them in until they are evenly distributed and the dough is well blended (do not overmix).
  5. Refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes or until chilled. You can make the dough up to 2 days in advance, keeping it well covered in the fridge.
  6. While cookie dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and set the rack in the middle of the oven. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  7. Drop cookies by tablespoonfuls on prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
  8. Optional cashew garnish: place a whole roasted cashew on top of each dough ball, pressing them in so that the bottom half is buried into the dough. Optional coconut garnish: Roll the top side of each dough ball into shredded coconut. If you want to garnish the cookies with both cashews and coconut, make sure you put the cashews in first before rolling them in the coconut.
  9. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden. (Shorter baking time yields softer cookies.)
  10. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes, then transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely.