35 days to Christmas

This weekend we have the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto and the Thanksgiving Parade in New York; Time is flying by; yesterday I went out and spent 53 dollars on basic ingredients for a BASIC Traditional Christmas;

      What I mean is, that with the Recession biting back, with the costs of products escalated with the cost of oil and other necessities of production, and our utilities going through the roof, we have had to scale back to the very Basic of Traditions; which for this blog is probably a good thing; otherwise it would be a chore to read through ;-) 

        To bring you up to date on the decorations outside and inside, Thomas has finished the trees (he got the last of the garland yesterday) and he has begun decorations inside; Fred, our stuffed relative in the coffin at Halloween, may yet become Santa, but we are not sure yet; 

         As far as the baking is concerned, we are fortunate to have the Cakes, Pudding and Mincemeat made; all that is needed there is the sauce/custard and the tart shells; I am thinking of making one batch of Brokenhill Christmas Pudding, mainly for myself, no one else seems to like it ;) 

          This is the Christmas Food List as it stands now; the extra baking we have pared down to the RED recipes, which I will blog individually later; 

Cathy's Cinnamon Buns 

Noel Cookies 

Unbaked Chocolate Cookies 

Ginger Bread – For cookies, decorations, house and sleigh 

Short Breads 

Ginger Beer 

Tryfle 

Hot Apple Cinnamon Punch 

Tarts, pies 

Nuts and Candies 

Fruit 

Fruit Cakes 

Puddings

Christmas Mincemeat

Back in January I decided that I would make a batch of Christmas Mincemeat for this year, but didn't think that 1 quantity of the recipe would be enough so I tripled it; not really a big mistake, but certainly more than we can use in one Christmas; it made 20 lbs of Mincemeat; here I will Chronicle the process up to this date;
The basic recipe you have seen if you looked at the previous blog post here ( http://ourchristmasyear.blogspot.com/2010/11/mincemeat-2010-basic-recipe.html ) what I did was to multiply everything by 3; sounds simple enough, and for most ingredients it was; so here is the recipe as I wrote it down at the time; for authenticity sake, I photographed the page ;-)



(Click on picture for larger image)
For those of you who can't read my writing ;) here is what the piece of paper on the left says (with notes):

Early Jan: Mixed Fruit

1 1/2 cups mixed peel
8 cups Blk Raisins, (Thompson Seedless Raisins)
8 cups Sultana Raisins
8 cups Currants (dried black, but probably red before ;)
8 cups Brn Sugar Drk, (that is Dark Brown Sugar, light will do in a pinch)
1 cup Grd Almonds (Ground Almonds)
2 cup Suet / Beef / Chopped (I didn't increase this quantity, as I am leery of too much fat {heart disease} but if you want more triple it to 6 cups)
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, cloves
3/4 tsp mace
2 cups of Sherry (we used an almond sherry, but basically what your looking for is a high alcohol content liquid that will help marinate the mix; Brandy or Dark Rum would be my next choice; Ouzo if your into Licorice flavour, or Vodka if you want no flavour at all; not sure about Whiskey, your going to have to ask the Scots or the Irish ;)

What I haven't included here, is the 4 1/2 cups of ground apples;

*******************************************************************

ok this is how it was done in 2010 ;-) 

this is the table with the ingredients; 

Here are the apples prepared to be cut up: 

The apples crushed are in the front, the rest of the ingredients are spread around, except for the spices; 

Now for the fun part, literally we get our hands into it up to the elbows ;-) ok, a bit of an exaggeration, half way to the elbows; 

Ok in the above picture I have combined the raisins and mixed peel together, in one bowl and have the other ingredients ready to be combined in another bowl; in reality, there were 3 bowls, the raisins, mixed peel, in one, the crushed apples in the second, and the nuts, the suet and sugar in another; at this point I began to realize that I didn't have a container big enough to combine the lot; just a warning, before beginning, do realize that this recipe tripled as I did, produced a huge volume of MM ;-) so be prepared with a container that is about 12 x 18 x 5 inches in volume for easy mixing; the bowls I am using are actually meant for use on Milk Farms, I bought at Princess Auto; they make excellent mixing bowls; and in this case, were capable of containing the mixed ingredients; 

I divided up the raisins and mixed fruit after mixing, and added the dry ingredients to one part, mixed that and then combined the two into one; the method isn't important, the end product of thoroughly mixed ingredients is, so however you do, it is ok ;-) 

Now of course I couldn't leave the mix in the bowl for 11 months, so I found a container large enough to allow me to have access to mixing in the spices and the alcohol; yes, at this point I have not done that; this part took the better part of a day, from getting the places organized (cleaned up ;) and the ingredients out; then the grinding and the mixing; 

below it the mix in the container and then the fridge; 

**********************************************************

Imagine that 11 days have passed and we are now preparing to do the spices, the fruit juice and zest, and the initial Alcohol; are you ready for this ;-) 

the ingredients laid out on the table, Note the Juicer in the background; it is not strictly necessary, but it does work, bit messy though, see last picture;

here we have the juicer in action, the oranges and lemons cut up, and the Zest and spices in the small bowl; 

see what I mean about a bit messy; well, as I said it works; I have already begun to add the juice and will then add the spices and hand mix the mash; adding the alcohol as I mix it; the amount of Alcohol can vary, but assuming a high alcohol content, 2 cups is sufficient for the first round; 

I checked the Mincemeat twice; April 22nd when I added a cup of Sherry and mixed it again; then again on July 13th when I added a cup of rum; then I checked again in October, and made some sample tarts, and decided that aside from the addition of a bit of apple juice, there was sufficient alcohol; we will use a large portion, but certainly not the whole 19 lbs remaining; what remains I will fortify in January again, and am considering doing another batch; not necessarily as large; I have also found a recipe for a Dark Jamaican Rum Christmas Cake that requires steeping the fruit in alcohol for an extended period; sounds interesting ;-) 

  

The Basic Recipes of Christmas

Ok we are going to get into the basics of Christmas baking; these are the recipes that are baked in November, December, depending on you temperament and will power LOL; around these recipes are added the extras recipes that can change as you build your own Christmas Traditions;
First we will list them and then I will post on each one individually as we make them here;

Ginger Bread Ornaments or Men
Noel Cookies aka Heroin Cookies (Mint Chocolate Chip and Glazed Fruit)
Unbaked Chocolate or Stove Top Cookies, by Betty Martyn
Cathy's Cinnamon Rolls
Christmas Day Trifle
Ginger Beer aka Bob Crachit
Short Bread Butter Cookies
Pudding Broken Hill, NSW, Australia
Crock Pot Hot Apple Spice Punch

I think that those would be enough to put 20 lbs on a person, without the Puddings, Cakes, and Mincemeat that has been marinating over the past 11 months ;-)

The Forest has come to the Narnia!!

OK, we now have a forest of 16 trees in front of the house, Santa's Sleigh and Reindeer. Won't be lit up for a while, Thomas is working on stringing the lights now; we shall need more rocks to weigh down the stands as well as more lights, preferably on sale and white ;-)it is a nice day outside, warm for this time of year, the sun is warming up the air and the ground;
not much has been done inside, except the Christmas clock, without the carol chimes on; a wreath on the door and the Christmas mugs and cups out (the Halloween mugs and cups put away for another year); I have put a string of Christmas lights at the entrance to my bed-sitter, and have the decorations out for sorting; but mostly I have been preparing by re-arranging the freezers, getting at the left over cooking supplies from last year, and organizing the recipes; one new recipe will be a banana, apple, carrot nut cake, with some having Christmas peel; will be based around a banana bread, so perhaps it should rightfully be called a Banana, apple, carrot, nut bread ;-)

Mincemeat 2010 Basic Recipe

January 18th I began a batch of mincemeat 3x the following recipe; this is the single batch recipe ingredients in case anyone wants to try a small batch; I made 20 lbs, this should make a third, or approximately 7 lbs of mincemeat; it suggests jars, but I put mine in a plastic container and treated it 3 times between start and finish, twice with Almond Sherry and the last time with Dark Rum (not the white rum):

2 cups ground suet
2 2/3 cups sultana raisins
2 2/3 cups currants
2 2/3 cups Thompson Seedless raisins
1 1/2 cup apple peeled and grated
2 2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped mixed peel
rind grated (zest, not the white pith) and juice of 1 orange and 2 lemons
5/8 cups sherry
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice or cloves
1/4 tsp mace
1/3 cups ground almond
7 tbsp brandy

Combine all ingredients except for brandy. Spoon into jars, leaving 1 inch below lip.
Pour 1 tbsp brandy in each jar. Cover and store in cool dark place for at least 4 weeks

To make tarts or pies spoon into shells and place a top on them. pierce and brush
With milk and sprinkle with sugar after 20 minutes of baking at 400F.

NB I did not follow the directions per above ;-) see follow up blog for pictures and description; DJ

Candy Cane Lane Developments

Hi, November 7th and the Halloween decorations are all put away, finally, and the Christmas ones brought out of their hiding places ;-) it is becoming harder and harder to find places to put them in the off season; we now have more Candles and a Snowman, besides the 16 trees that I told you about last blog; as well as other wooden snowmen (posts) and some plastic decorations (Poinsettia and something else that I have forgotten what ;-) it really is a big production; was discussing with Thomas the plans for this year, on the stairs, going over the pros and cons of positioning of the sleigh, the snowman and the trees and lights; the sleigh will be moved back to the left side this year, and of course the wishing well, which is new, will stay where it is; the arbor from Halloween will remain up and be lit up and re-enforced for the winds ;-)

52 days to Christmas

November 1st, and Halloween is over for another year! It was again a very slow night, like the last 2 years previous; seems there are less and less children coming out, and fewer people decorating for Fall or Halloween. Whatever the reasons for it, and I believe they are multiple, the Season is dying out and no longer the precursor to Christmas that it used to be. Three weeks ago the first notice of Christmas displays showed up in our local shops, cards and some decorations, but last week Canadian Tire had most of it's display up and for sale; Home Hardware were selling lites at reduced prices to grab the market; Home Depot had half it's display in place but were not selling, while Wal-mart were also in process, but selling items. This I think reflects the mood of the country, that the recession is not over for the common folks and the stores are concerned about sales this Christmas.
Here in the Haven, we have our schedule for taking down the Halloween Decorations, starting today, and working through until the 5th of November (Guy Fawkes Day, and we are thinking of a small display, only because fireworks are illegal other than for specific holidays, and burning the guy would elicit a rather testy visit from the local constabulary ;-) and then begin the process of putting out the Christmas decorations to be completed to about 80% by November 28th, around the American Thanksgiving and hopefully before the weather becomes too frigid.
Last week I cooked two mincemeat pies to test this years batch, (20 lbs) which I began in January; and I will detail the making of, in another post. Thomas has been working on the Christmas Trees (16 this year), Santa's Sleigh, his Reindeer, and the Candy Canes for Candy Cane Lane, since early September, getting them ready, assessing the quality and needs for lights, even as he was preparing the Fall/Halloween decoration. The two seasons are the biggest in terms of preparation, though Christmas takes the most time and energy, and preparations have to be started early, to beat the cold and snow. It is no fun putting up decorations in a 40 kl wind with wind chills of -50c ;(
This month we will be getting in the mint flavoured chocolate chips and the mixed peel, and other supplies for baking. The puddings and cakes we made in January have been marinating all year, and should be in prime condition for the season ;-) only the cookies, trifle and short breads need to be made. Mark has begun a Mead, and I have some Apple wine on the go, and we have the recipes for Apple Punch and Wassail selected, along with the purchase of 11 gallons of apple juice. Enough not only for Christmas, but the Winter.
The Season is soon to be upon us and many things have to be prepared, and listed!! Come follow me on this years journey into Our Family Christmas Traditions!!