Cumberland Rum Butter

A couple of years ago we took a family trip to the United Kingdom. One of the places we went to was the Lake District to visit my husband's family. Besides the beautiful scenery and the good company, I fell in love with rum butter, a local specialty. Delicious, creamy, and sweet, it is the perfect pairing with biscuits or oat cakes, and mincemeat tarts.  As this is the first year I made mincemeat with my in-laws, I thought rum butter would be a great thing to make for a homemade Christmas present, not only to pair with the tarts we made, but to bring back memories of a great family trip!

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tbsp dark rum

Method
Cream butter with sugar and nutmeg. Once you have a pale smooth mixture, slowly add the rum, continuing to beat after each addition. Add more rum to taste, if desired. Beat until creamy and smooth. Store in the refrigerator. Allow to soften slightly before serving.

A delicious treat and a beautiful homemade Christmas present!

I thought I would share a few snaps of the very charming Lake District from our trip:

Christmas Baking - Part 3 (Nanaimo Bars)

Last winter we were in Italy for Christmas and saw Panettone everywhere we went, especially in Milan. I desperately wanted to try and make it this year, but unfortunately I ran out of time to give it a go. Instead I made a good old Canadian treat - Nanaimo Bars!  My Gramp's favourite were the kind with mint filling, so that is what my Granny always made growing up, and now they're my favourite too.

Bottom Layer:
½ cup butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
5 tbsp cocoa
1 egg, beaten
1 ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
¾ cup coconut
½ cup walnuts

Melt first three ingredients in top of double boiler or in heavy saucepan. Let cool slightly. Add beaten egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press firmly into ungreased 9x9-inch pan. Cool.

 Middle Layer:
2 cups icing sugar
4 heaping tbsp butter
2 tbsp milk or cream
1 tsp (to taste) peppermint extract
A few drops of green food colouring

Mix sugar and butter until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Spread on bottom layer and cool until set.

Top Layer:
6 oz semisweet chocolate
6 tbsp butter

Melt together. Let cool slightly and drizzle over middle layer. Cool.

Christmas Baking - Part 2 (More Mincemeat)

I tried Jamie Oliver's new mince pies a couple of times this week with my mincemeat and wasn't very happy with the results. I followed his instructions from the online recipe and they didn't really work. I found 400 F is too hot to cook filo pastry, so they were a bit on the crispy side. It turns out that the instructions on his Christmas Special on the Food Network were different than the ones online.  (I hate Uncle Jamie!) Also, I think that Jamie Oliver may just be David Brent from the original British Office, so I am finding it hard to take him seriously (watch the clip of him making these tarts and you will see it too)! I gave the pies a second go and they turned out a bit better, but maybe next year I'll try just the puff pastry rolls...

To use up the extra filo dough I decided to try to make filo pastry triangles stuffed with mince and I think that these turned out great! I used about one and a half cups of mince and added a splash of dark rum, the zest of one orange plus the juice of half an orange, and a handful of almonds for crunch. I made them just like spanakopita. I took a sheet of filo, brushed with melted butter, then put another sheet on top and brushed with butter. I cut the sheet into 3 even strips, put a heaping teaspoon of mince on each strip and rolled each strip into a triangle, and then brushed with more melted butter.
Right before popping in the oven sprinkle with almonds. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 F until golden brown. Sprinkle with icing sugar fresh out of the oven and enjoy!

Unbaked triangles can be frozen between layers of wax paper in an airtight container for a few weeks. Bake from frozen for about 30 minutes and enjoy hot from the oven!

Christmas Baking - Part 1 (Mincemeat and Fudge Peppermint Balls)

This weekend was an adventure in Christmas baking. I had a few failures with new recipes that didn't work out, but I also made mincemeat for the very first time! My mom used to make it every year in the fall with fresh green tomatoes from the garden, but I've never been organized enough to remember to get the green tomatoes in the fall from the farmer's market, so I've missed out the last few years. This year my mother-in-law pulled some strings, and arranged to pick up green tomatoes at the Regina Farmer's Market this past weekend, so I could finally try my hand at it. It was absolutely delicious and the whole house smells like Christmas while it cooks!

Phyllis's Green Tomato Mincemeat

Ingredients
3 cups fresh green tomatoes, chopped
2 1/2 cups tart green apples, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp mace
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup butter

Method
Place all ingredients except for butter in a heavy sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 2-3 hours until ingredients have cooked down and no liquid is left. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and let cool.

Makes excellent filling for tarts and pies, or can be frozen in sterilized jars (or freezer bags). The spice intensity will increase when frozen, so be sure to use within a few months.

I made mincemeat tarts, but mincemeat is also delicious warm right from the stove top on vanilla ice cream.

I also made fudge peppermint balls this weekend. Another one of my mom's favourites and so easy to make.

Ingredients
Balls:
3/4 cup butter
4 squares melted unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Icing:
3 tbsp butter
3/4 cup  icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp milk

Method

Balls:

Cream butter, then add rest of ingredients. Mix well. Shape into balls, about 1 teaspoon for each ball. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10 t0 12 minutes.  Cool.

Chocolate Icing:

Soften butter, add rest of ingredients and beat well.

Ice balls with a swirl of chocolate icing on top.

The Very Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe on the blog The Inky Kitchen, and they really are the best cookies ever!

I made a few substitutions to the original recipe – I use more dark chocolate than milk chocolate, and I also add pecans instead of walnuts. I find baking the cookies for 14 minutes makes the perfect cookie – not too chewy and not too crispy.

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, melted
100g extra fine white sugar
200g brown sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or dark chocolate chips)
100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped (or milk chocolate chips)
100g pecans, roughly chopped (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 338 F and line two baking trays with Silpat (I use Magic Baking mats from Loblaws – much cheaper than actual Silpat).

Beat together the melted butter, white and brown sugars until no lumps remain, then add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix until light and creamy – around 2-3 minutes.

Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt until just blended. Stir in the chocolate and pecan chunks by hand with a wooden spoon - the mixture is very thick and chunky now and it may damage your hand beaters or stand mixer.



Drop very heaped tablespoons of the cookie dough onto the baking sheets (I bake six cookies on each tray at a time).

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 13 minutes for chewy cookies or 16 to 17 minutes for crisp cookies (I think 14 minutes is perfect!). Remove and let cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before removing to a cooling rack and baking the next batch.

Enjoy!