When it comes to creative sparks, Susan Hable is more like a creative firecracker. Co-founder of the textile company, Hable Construction, she and business partner (and sister) Katharine Hable Sweeney started redefining how to make it as artists in the highly competitive world of manufacturing in 1999. The surface design team creates artwork in-house, then hires USA-based artists and artisans to create the final products.
Smith brings that same eye for detail and color punch to her parties. A self-proclaimed mad scientist, she throws holiday parties that are laced with unexpected touches and handcrafted projects for her guests to enjoy. Hable is so serious about color experiments that she built a color lab in the back of her Athens, Georgia, country cottage home. An early 1900s renovated farmhouse design studio is carefully nestled in the back of the property. It’s a place of work, craft and design afflatus, and for the hardworking mom that Hable is, it’s the perfect balance of work and family. Naturally, her entire house is a powerful visual feast, quirky and full of great energy, with an eclectic mix of artwork and treasures.
Every year before the holidays ramp up, the hostess invites her Hable Construction creative team to her home for holiday cheer, sweet treats and of course, a little hot toddy. “Celebrate with zeal and don’t sweat the small stuff. If you are wearing a fabulous red dress, no one will notice little imperfections,” advises Hable, whose first interior design book, A Colorful Home: Create Lively Palettes for Every Room (Chronicle Books), releases this spring.
Peach Pie
2½ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
½ teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup (two sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Pie filling
3 pounds of peaches halved, pitted and cut into ½ inch slices (eight cups)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Crumble
⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
⅔ cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
⅔ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
To make the crust: In a food processor, pulse flour, salt and granulated sugar until combined. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 6 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. (If necessary, add up to 2 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Do not over mix. Form two disks with dough, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to overnight).
Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack at the bottom of the oven. Lightly flour a rolling pin and work surface to roll out one disk of dough to a 12-inch round. Place in a 9-inch pie plate and trim with kitchen scissors. Fold overhang under, and crimp edges. Transfer to refrigerator while making filling.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, toss together peaches, brown sugar and flour until combined.
To make the crumble: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and oats; using your hands or a pastry cutter, work in butter until large clumps form.
Transfer peach filling to pie shell, then sprinkle crumble evenly over top. Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until juices are bubbling and topping is golden, 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 1½ hours before serving.
Molasses Brown Sugar Cookies: Makes 2½ dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
¾ teaspoons ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 large egg
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅔ cup mild-flavored (light) or robust-flavored (dark) molasses
¼ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
Coarse sanding or raw sugar (for rolling)
Place racks in lower and upper thirds of oven; preheat to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, salt, pepper and cloves in a small bowl. Whisk egg, butter, granulated sugar, molasses and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Mix in dry ingredients just to combine.
Place sanding sugar in a shallow bowl. Scoop out dough by the tablespoonful and roll into balls (if dough is sticky, chill 20 minutes). Roll in sugar and place on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until cookies are puffed, cracked, and just set around edges (overbaked cookies won’t be chewy), 8–10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.
Side note: This cookie dough can be made and rolled into balls two weeks ahead. Freeze on a baking sheet; transfer to resealable plastic bags. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling in sugar.
Hot Toddy: Makes 1 serving
2 tablespoons bourbon (Bulleit brand)
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ cup spicy ginger ale (Red Rock brand)
½ cup boiling water
1 sliced lemon
1 cinnamon stick
Whole cloves
Combine bourbon, honey, lemon juice and ginger ale in a mug. Add ½ cup boiling water and stir. Garnish with a lemon slice pierced with a cinnamon stick and a few cloves.
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