Monthly Archives: January 2014

Christmas Pudding

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“But it’s January”, you say.  “Who wants to think about Christmas now?”

Exactly.

Those of you that know what Christmas pudding is, just skip ahead to find a recipe.  For those of us in the US, here goes.  It’s fruitcake.

Don’t run off, this isn’t the brightly colored stuff that rots your teeth.  It’s got real fruit in it.  And booze.  Lots of booze.  Everyone likes that, right?

So here’s the deal.  Make this now, then put it on a shelf wrapped in cheesecloth for the rest of the year.  Come next Christmas, take it out, steam it again for a few hours, and enjoy.

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Christmas Pudding
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of golden raisins
  • 1 cup of dried currants
  • 1 cup of chopped prunes (aka dried plums)
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 1½ cups AP flour
  • 2 tbps baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 tsp ground allspice
  • ⅔ cup butter
  • ½ cup brown (of if you can find it, turbinado/raw) sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • Cognac
Instructions
  1. A week before making this, soak the fruits in cognac and give them time to soak up all that alcoholic goodness. A few hours before starting, take out all the ingredients and bring them to room temperature.
  2. Put the eggs, butter, and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy.
  3. Drain the fruits, reserving the leftover cognac and then coat the fruits in the breadcrumbs.
  4. Sift together all of your remaining dry ingredients (the fruits aren't dry!) in a separate smaller bowl. Once combined, add to the egg mixture and stir a few times until combined.
  5. Add the fruits to the mixture and fold to combine.
  6. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured bundt-style pan.
  7. Cover the bundt pan with aluminum foil and poke a hole in the center to allow steam to escape from underneath.
  8. In a much larger pot, add water and bring to a boil. There should be enough water to come a few inches up the bundt pan without allowing the pan to float.
  9. Once it reaches a boil, add the bundt pan, lower the heat to a simmer and cover.
  10. Cook for 3 hours, checking every 30 minutes to add water if needed.
  11. Remove from water, allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.
  12. Pour reserved cognac from before over the cake. Cover with cheesecloth and put in a cool dry place. Periodically pour more cognac over the cake. When ready to eat, Put back in bundt pan (without foil lid) and boil for 3-4 hours or until moist and hot. Slice and eat with custard. Yum!

 

Bourbon BBQ sauce

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Bourbon BBQ Sauce
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Tasty BBQ sauce with a good bourbon taste
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup bourbon
  • ½ onion, diced
  • 2 cup ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp liquid smoke
  • 2 Tbsp tomato paste
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp hot sauce
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
  1. Put onion and bourbon in saucepot, heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
  2. Add remaining ingredients, cook for 20 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally.
  3. Puree using a stick blender
  4. Allow to cool and store in refrigerator or can.

So this is based off a recipe I found on the internet.  It’s a good base, but you can make changes based off what you want with it.

  • If you’re being adventurous, you can increase the amount of hot sauce.  Since I’m using apple cider vinegar, I have some apple-based hot sauce.  It’s the same sauce I used for my baked beans.
  • Changing the amount of brown sugar will change the sweetness and a bit of the thickness.

As with most alcohol-based recipes, use good-quality bourbon for this.  Jack Daniels is not a bourbon.  It’s Tennessee Whiskey.  One can argue the differences, but this isn’t a Whiskey BBQ sauce, it’s Bourbon.  Remember that much (but not all) of the alcohol will cook out when making this.  Be sure to have the fan in your kitchen going and optionally the windows open, lest you get a bit tipsy standing over it (unless you’re into that sort of thing).

My daughter hates anything with pepper in it, telling me it’s too spicy.  Many of the dishes I make get a nose up from her and she instead makes a PB&J and yogurt.  While making this recipe, the tomato and bourbon smell filled the house and she asked what I was making and when she could have some.

Donuts…I got donuts!

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A friend of mine recently let me borrow a mini donut maker.  He mentioned that the recipe that came with it was pretty bad and I should look for something else.  So off I went.

This isn’t like going to Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts, but if you get a good topping or make slight adjustments to the recipe you’ll find something a bit more to your liking.

I got the original for this from http://bakerbettie.com/baked-cinnamon-sugar-mini-donuts/ but made a few changes.  Notably, the wet and dry ingredients are mixed separately.  Second, make sure all the wet ingredients are at room temperature.  The butter will harden back into chunks and it’ll make it hard to pipe.

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Donuts...I got donuts!
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 5 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 egg (room temperature)
  • ½ cup milk (room temperature)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat and oil mini donut maker
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar
  3. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and mix until combined.
  4. In a separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt, and flour
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Stir only until the mixture comes together.
  6. Put into a piping bag and fill the bottom half of the donut mold. Cook until the light goes off and remove with a non-metal utensil.
  7. Add cinnamon sugar, nutella, or just eat as is.
  8. Makes about 2 dozen donuts