Make an Old Fashioned Plum Pudding for Christmas

Old Fashioned Plum Pudding

Plum pudding, a Christmas pudding, has been served on Christmas day for centuries. The traditional plum pudding is served in a blaze, with a sprig of holly stuck on top. For the plum pudding sauce, a little brandy is poured over the Christmas pudding and lighted at the last moment to produce the desired effect.

Plum pudding is best when made four or five weeks prior to Christmas and can be stored for months. During the Victorian era, a silver coin was baked in the pudding, with a promise of wealth in the coming year.
Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, some handed down through families for generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients, notably the sweet spices, that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet.

Ingredients:
1 Cup light molasses
3/4 Cup melted butter
1/2 Cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Cup all-purpose flour, plus more to toss fruit
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 pint candied mixed fruit
1 Cup raisins
1 1/2 oz. brandy, plus 1 oz. for sauce
Holly sprig, for garnish
1/4 lb. butter
1 Cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Prepare wet and dry ingredients
In a mixing bowl, combine the molasses with the melted butter, milk and eggs. In another, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture at a time, combining thoroughly. Add fruit and bake

Coat the candied fruit and raisins with a little flour by tossing, then add them to the batter, along with the one and a half ounces of brandy. Mix well and pour the batter into a greased, sugared steamed pudding mold. Place a rack into a large pot of water and stand the pudding mold on it. The mold should be half submerged in the water. Cover the pot and steam for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary. Prepare the hard sauce and serve

Allow the pudding to cool in the mold for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the quarter-pound of butter, the sugar, a pinch of salt, the vanilla extract and the remaining ounce of brandy. Turn out the pudding and garnish with powdered sugar and the holly sprig before serving with the hard sauce.

Making A Traditional Yorkshire Pudding

Traditional Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire pudding is an English food made from batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is often served with beef and gravy and is part of the traditional British Sunday roast.

You will need a solid roasting tin measuring 11x9 in.

Ingredients:
6oz of flour
2 eggs
6fl oz milk
4fl oz water
2 tbsp beef dripping
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 425F
Begin by placing a sieve over a large mixing bowl, then sift the flour in, holding the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down into the bowl. Now, with the back of a tablespoon, make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt and pepper.
Now measure the milk and water into a measuring jug. Then begin to whisk the eggs with an electric whisk and as you beat them the flour around the edges will slowly be incorporated. When the mixture becomes stiff simply add the milk and water mixture gradually, keeping the whisk going. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula so that any lumps can be pushed down into the batter, then whisk again till all is smooth. Now the batter is ready for use and although it's been rumored that batter left to stand is better, I have found no foundation for this - so just make it whenever is convenient.

To cook the Yorkshire pudding, remove the meat from the oven, and turn the oven up to the above temperature. Spoon two tablespoons of beef fat into the roasting tin and allow it to pre-heat in the oven. When the oven is up to temperature remove the tin, and place it over direct heat (turned to medium). Then, when the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour in the batter. Spread it evenly all round and then place the tin on a high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

The Best Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole With Marshmallows

Time for a good old fashioned Sweet Potato (Yam) Casserole With Marshmallows

Sweet potatoes are a new world tuber, although they weren’t present at the Original Thanksgiving. Native to Central and South America, they were introduced to the North via colonists from Europe. Columbus is credited was transporting them home to the Old World, and by the 16th century they appeared in a British herbal encyclopedia, which recommends serving them “roasted and infused with wine, boiled with prunes, or roasted with oil, vinegar, and salt.”

It wasn’t until after the 1740’s that the term sweet potato began to be used by American colonists to distinguish it from the white (Irish) potato.
by 1880 Americans were enjoying some sort of variation of candied sweet potatoes. American cookbooks, such as the widely published 1893 Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer featured a recipe for glazed sweet potatoes. Likewise, in 1896 Texas Farm and Ranch published Sweet Potato Culture for Profit: A Full Account of the Origin,History and Botanical Characteristics of Sweet Potato, which included a recipe for glazed sweet potatoes.
Now you are probably hungry, and ready to make that Sweet Potato Casserole!
Ingredients:
1 (40 ounce) canbruce cut yams, drained
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 (16 ounce) bag miniature marshmallows *Note: I used the large marshmellows, and cut them in half.
Directions:
Butter 1 quart baking dish.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash yams in a large bowl and add brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, egg, and melted butter. Mix well.
Line bottom of baking dish with 1 cp of chopped pecans.
Place 1/2 mixture in baking dish. Top with a layer of marshmallows, then add remaining mixture, and top with the remaining marshmallows.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with remaining marshmallows.
Bake for another 10 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned.

The History of Shortbread, and a very old Recipe

Shortbread is a type of cookie with a high butter content: The traditional recipe is one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. It has been called the ancestor of all butter cookies. The original shortbreads were made with oatmeal, white flour came later and lightened the cookie. The addition of rice flour gives shortbread a grainy, crumbly texture, while cornstarch (corn flour) gives it a more dense texture.

Shortbread originated in Scotland in medieval times. Scottish shortbread evolved from medieval biscuit bread, a twice-baked, enriched bread roll dusted with sugar and spices and hardened into a rusk. Eventually, butter was substituted for yeast, and shortbread was born. Shortbread may have been made as early as the 12th century, but its invention is often attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) in the 16th century. She had a team of French chefs who had the time, labor and ingredients to perfect the recipes. Shortbread recipes first appear in cookbooks of the time, although origination often precedes the first reference in print by a significant number of years. The following is an early 18th Century for traditional Shortbread
Ingredients:
2 1/4 Cups of Flour
1 Cup (2 sticks) of Butter
1/2 Cup of Sugar

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 F Cream butter, and sugar. Slowly add the flour, and knead on floured surface, Form into a roll, and chill for 2 hours. Remove, and roll out on to a floured surface. If you are using a springerle rolling pin as pictured, you will spread out the dough before rolling with this pin. After rolling, and transferring the imprinted mages into the dough, cut and place upon a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F. for 12 to 18 minutes, until the edges are light brown.

As you can tell by the list of ingredients, this is a very easy recipe to make, and I can tell you it has been enjoyed by many. Let me know how it turns out for you.

Original 1963 Lemon Bar Recipe

Lemon Squares Just a little history... Citrus curds have been popular for about 125 years and shortbread for much more than that, but it was none other than Betty Crocker that invented the lemon bar, They published the first known printed recipe in 1963.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup (1 stick) of Butter
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Confectioners' Sugar
Topping:
2 large eggs
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons of Lemon Juice, Fresh is best.
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Cut the butter into the flour and confectioners' sugar and press into a 9-inch square pan. Bake 20 minutes or until light brown. Combine the topping ingredients. When the bottom is done, and still hot, pour the topping over it and continue baking for about 25 minutes. Let cool, and sprinkle top with confectioners' sugar.

It's a wonderful treat that brings back so many memories for all of us. Please let me know if you try it out. I think you will be as pleased as I was.