Christmas in July

we'll be celebrating Christmas in July with a friend down the road. She's Finnish and bakes a mean Finnish Christmas vegetarian dish. I'm providing my Christmas Cake and brandy custard.

So today's recipe is for custard, but not just any custard, brandy custard.

here goes:

make custard according to directions on the pack (you thought I'd give you recipe for making custard, bah humbug!) and measure a quarter of a cup of brandy, rum, grand marnier etc for every 3 cups of warm custard. Mix in till smooth then keep at room temperature till you put it on your cake or pudding. To stop a skin forming on the top of the custard place some cling wrap on it but if you are like me you just loove the skin that forms on top and if you aren't careful you end up eating half the custard.

If you like a runny custard just increase the amount of milk or alcohol to the custard mix.

I like to make a thicker custard rather than flavoured runny milk.

Well, there's my recipe. Enjoy!

2009 First bake

First Christmas Cake of the Season

up close and personal

naked cake

pretty in red

Traditionally I cover the top of the Christmas cake with walnut halves and cherries

Christmas, it's that time again!

well its that time of the year again.
time to give Christmas cooking a thought.
just to get us into the right frame of mind
I will post some Xmas decos.
Enjoy the frosted glass bauble!

yes, I know, I know it's not Christmas any more but I'm going to continue with recipes that can be both Christmas and non christmas and pretend Christmas recipes. So here's the next one

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

110g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup plain flour, sifted
¾ cup shredded coconut
4 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder, plus 1 teaspoon extra
1½ teaspoons baking powder
chocolate ice-cream to serve

Preheat oven to 180°C. In a bowl, beat butter and sugar together until pale, then add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour, ¼ cup of coconut, cocoa and baking powder and mix well. Pour batter into a 12-cup greased muffin pan. Place in oven and bake for 12–15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a wire rack. In another bowl, toss remaining coconut with extra cocoa. Serve muffins topped with coconut mix and chocolate ice-cream. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Best ever Rumballs from Pauline

I have to translate the recipe from imperial to metric
5oz copha
2oz drinking choc or cocoa
1 cup mixed fruit
4oz icing sugar
3 tabsp rum or brandy
1 teasp vanilla essence
1/2 lb crushed biscuits

soak fruit in rum. sift icing sugar & cocoa and mix all ingredients except coconut. Add melted copha when cool and mix together. Shape into round balls and roll into coconut. makes around 40.
can't show a photo because I ate them all :-)

Easy Ukrainian Borsch Aussie style

Borsch is not specifically an Aussie Christmas recipe but is always used as part of the Ukrainian Christmas meal so I'm placing it on this Christmas blog.
Borsch is a wonderful soup that you can eat hot in the cold months or cold in the hot months. Cold borsch is really very refreshing during hot weather because of its tartness. This recipe is easy and quick to make. As everyone says "borsch is best eaten the day after it is prepared". By doing this you give the flavours a chance to 'marry'. I know some people add sugar to sweeten their borsch but as far as I am concerned it is not a sweet soup but a tangy one. The vegetables give the borsch the sweetness it needs by cooking them in the stock pot. I don't use stock cubes but some people use them instead of boiling the bacon bones. If you want a meatless borsch just omit the bacon bones and add a packet of mushroom soup to the borsch towards the end of the cooking time and simmer for1 hour only.

1 large potato
1 large carrot
1 large onion
2 large beetroots
1 cup saurecraut
tabsp tomato paste
tin of diced tomatoes
tin baked beans (optional)
couple of cloves of garlic
bacon bones
sprig of bay leaves
6-10 black peppercorns
bunch of parsley
teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients in a stock pot and cover with water. Stir from time to time.
Bring to boil then simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours. Remove any scum off the top.
Cool. When cool enough to handle dice potato, carrots, onion.
Either grate beetroot or finely dice.
Remove parsley and finely dice tops, return to pot.
Take bacon off bacon bones and give bones to dog who will love you for ever.
Stir everything, adjust seasoning, bring to boil again, cover and leave to stand till the next day.

To serve hot
gently heat to simmer, put a ladle or 2 into bowl and top with sour cream.

To serve cold
don't reheat and don't add sour cream, just enjoy.