Townsman, 1991-11, Page 271
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Cdluffin
Sweet memories
of Christmas
baking
BY SANDRA ORR
Every year, baking is a large part of
the family preparation for Christmas.
From cutting out cookies from short-
bread, the kneading of sweet dough
and all the special buns that are made
with it, and the grand rich mixtures of
Christmas cake and pudding, the
effort that goes into a Christmas bak-
ing seems to last weeks.
To make the shortbread, butter,
flour, and a bit of icing sugar are
mixed and rolled out thinly, then cut
into many designs that represent
Christmas, such as trees, bells, and
ornaments. The shapes are decorated
with cherries, almonds, or sparkles
and baked.
The sweet bread must be pounded,
or kneaded, and allowed to rise, then
pounded again. After the second ris-
ing, the dough is cut into long braided
strips well buttered and sprinkled with
walnuts and cinnamon. Or it might be
rolled and cut into short chunks and
put face up on a pan well coated with
brown sugar, butter and nuts, called
chelsea buns. Or it might be made into
loaves called coffee cake and the
sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on the
top.
The best part of these culinary
experiments was the testing, cooked
or not. Even the taste of unbaked
sweet dough was deemed to be not
too bad at all. Then, into the oven.
The baking would be covered with
damp tea towels and stored in a cool
place for the days of feasting and the
entertaining of guests during the holi-
days.
As kids, we would eat up the sweet
buns and the shortbread and the
chocolate cookies and leave the heavy
rich stuff with fruit and nuts in it for
the guests to eat.
Christmas cake was not my
favourite especially if it had that hard,
dry icing that soaked into the cake
after it had been aged awhile, so that I
was always happy to serve it to
guests, even if I had to cut it up. It
meant we didn't have to eat it. My
mother would say in alarm, "Oh, is
that the last Christmas cake? My
goodness, it went fast this year." None
too soon as far as we were concerned.
The light Christmas cake went better
than the heavy dark stuff well -laced
with brandy, or worse, rum. Nonethe-
less, it was passed around every time
we had company.
When I was a kid, a glass of good
sherry served in a thimble -size, deco-
rated glass made me choke. It ruined
the taste of the butter tart that I was
eating. Now that I am more well-
informed, sherry is my favourite win-
ter drink. Try it after a long walk in
the cold or after skiing or snowmobil-
ing. We wait for a cold day to drink it,
one glass tasting like another. Winter
days are made for a good glass (bot-
tle) of sherry.
Now, I wait all year to have my
Christmas eve dinner followed by rich
plum pudding and sauce. I will even
douse it in brandy and flambe it and
groan with satisfaction after I have
eaten it.
The taste of a real English plum
pudding made at home loaded with
hard bits of fruit is something we
adults yearn for, that children just
don't seem to appreciate. They'd rather
have chocolate.
The cost of making a small plum
pudding is high, to buy the citron or
the lemon peel, the raisins and
almonds and cherries and spices,
eggs, flour and crumbs, sugar and
suet, far more than to buy a small
pudding in the store. If you buy the
ingredients bulk, you can make a huge
supply of plum pudding, that costs a
bit less per serving, perhaps enough
for one thousand people. By the time
you are through, you will be either
very good at making plum pudding, or
you will have made every mistake in
the book, such as forgetting to put
water in the pot to steam it.
"Isn't this pudding a little dry
around the edges?" 1 was asked. It
never stopped anyone from eating it,
particularly when it was softened up
with the contents of the rum bottle.
And of course every batch had to be
tasted to sec if it was as satisfactory as
the last when it was steamed.
No one wants to see or eat plum
pudding in January. After I have had
my feast of plum pudding and sauce, I
don't want to sec it either.
It is a hard decision to make - a
large cheap pudding or small expen-
sive on Just try and serve your Christ-
mas baking with a glass of sherry to
your family every cold winter night
until spring equinox and see what thcy
say.
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TOWNSMAN/NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1991 25