Getting ready for Christmas. I spent the entire day cooking and baking with Paisley. There’s lots to get done – Christmas is a mere week away. For an eleven year old, she’s really great in the kitchen. We have our favourites that we make every year – our tradition – and she is right on top of things. Or into things. Let’s just say she managed to get chocolate in her hair and molasses on the wall. Don’t get me wrong – I am not complaining – far from it – it was a lovely day.
This mother daughter festive scene was not a part of my childhood. Hazel was a great mom – but baking was not her thing. As a kid I would wish so hard that my mom would one day bake even just chocolate chip cookies – or buy Kraft Dinner to at least to make up for not baking. I would trade my store bought treats for homemade ones during school lunches. (Now my kids do just the opposite – I think they wish – “if only my mom would buy Oreos!”) I took matters in to my own hands one day when I was in grade six. While she was still at work, I baked my first batch of cookies, but used cornstarch instead of flour…they turned out a little “dusty”….
Today Paisley and I made buttercrunch – a recipe I have been making for years and years. It’s from Nick Malgieri – I took a class with him when I was pregnant with Read – so that’s fourteen years ago. Its fun to make – and you get to break out the candy thermometer. Although last year my thermometer broke and there was mercury everywhere – HAZMAT!! I had to start all over. Paisley loves to stir the buttercrunch until it gets too hot – and she loves to paint the candy with chocolate and then cover it with chopped almonds. We always make a massive batch – it was one of my Mom’s many favourites, and I like to give it as a gift. (The crumbs are superb on top of vanilla ice cream too….)
Tourtiere and tomato relish were also on the agenda. I grew up in Montreal – but the tourtiere tradition actually comes from my mother-in-law – another once upon a time Montrealer. The Copelands always had tourtiere (or as my kids call it TORTURE pie) on Christmas Eve. In my small family every Christmas was a little different – there really wasn’t a set of things we always did. Sometimes my mom and dad entertained, sometimes we got all dressed up and ate out somewhere super fancy (like Ruby Foo’s!) and sometimes we went to friends. Every year was different – our only tradition was fun, friends and lots of good food.
Many moons ago when the butcher the Copelands always went to for tortiere closed down – I decided I should make the pies from scratch – I did not want to see the end of their tradition! I use an old recipe that calls for a blend of beef, pork and veal – and a rich pastry recipe I have created on my own – half lard (for flakiness) and half butter (for the delicious factor). We would never even consider eating ‘torture’ pie without Nana Bonham’s Quick Tomato Relish….once it was forgotten and I swore never again – it’s just not the same without it.
Paisley and I finished baking the spice cookies – these are great with tea or cocoa on a cold afternoon – and actually get better with age. The tiny bit of cracked pepper in the recipe brings all the spices to the forefront.
We still have to make Toblerone “stuffed” Shortbread – a recipe that has me swearing each year “never again!” and then when I eat one, I smile and remember that the effort is worth it. I have been known to even stash a few away for emergencies – like late night present wrapping – after all Cam and Read chow them down like popcorn. I can be stingy with these precious gems, and make these cookies last to ensure there are some left for Christmas day. My mom used to complain – “I did not get very many of those Toblerone ones in my goodie bag – you do know they are my favourite!” And I’d roll my eyes and think to myself…gee, you never ever mentioned that…..
Cam did his part today and made the Maple Leaf cocktails – mixed in the Copeland antique nickel pitcher – 3 parts Canadian Rye, 2 parts Maple Syrup, 1 part lemon juice – they need to mellow between now and Christmas day. Served up in a small nickel cup with lots of ice – they help take the edge off any family affair. I usually start drinking them when the roast goes in the oven.
A few days before Christmas, Maria will stop by and we will go into mincemeat tartlet production. She is a whiz at the filling – made with real suet – don’t ask me how she gets it into the country from the UK – I have never tried any better. She and pastry simply do not see eye to eye – never have – so together she and I will make sweet little buttery-fruity tarts and share a glass of wine or two. Two years ago my mom joined us – however, my mom did not roll pastry or help fill tarts, nor did she help with the little star shaped pastry cutouts for the top…she would not even man the oven. No, my mom just liked to be with Maria and I while we slaved away baking one of her many Christmas favourites – she adored Maria’s mincemeat, and Maria, and having a glass of wine, and telling us stories to make us laugh. It was one of the last times mom came to my house – she passed away only eight weeks later.
So the tree with a special ornament for each year is up. The dreaded annual newsletters are in the post. Tortieres and relish complete. Paisley and I are making lots of headway on our baking. I have even started wrapping presents. These traditions are mostly things Cam and I have built together. Things we love. Things my mom loved so much. For a mom who did not have a lot of traditions – she really embraced all the ones Cam and I are building with our own little family. So while I love Christmas, and all the goodies that come along with it, I can’t help but wish she was still here to complain about how I don’t give her enough Toblerone shortbreads, and how she has run out of buttercrunch. Hazel would not be impressed with any ‘pity parties’ as she called them, so I best go pour myself a small Maple Leaf Cocktail – even if it has not had time to mellow – she’d approve of that.
Old Fashioned Buttercrunch
Here is the recipe based on Nick Malgieri’s Buttercrunch – I have doubled it – because if you are going to go to the trouble of making it and digging out the candy thermometer – you’re gonna want to have lots around to share – let your mom try some – I am sure she’d love it.
Get all your ingredients ready and have two large cookie sheets lined with parchment – you need to move quickly once the candy reaches 300F – as it starts solidifying immediately.
Buttercrunch Mixture:
1 lb unsalted butter
3 cups sugar
6 tbsp light corn syrup
6 tbsp water
2 cups chopped toasted almonds
Topping:
1 lb semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped toasted almonds
- Melt butter in saucepan
- Remove from heat and add sugar, corn syrup and water
- Cook, stirring constantly until reaches 300F on your trusty candy thermometer
- Remove from heat and quickly add the 2 cups chopped, toasted almonds
- Pour onto prepared cookie sheets, allow to cool 1 hour
- Melt chocolate chips
- “Paint” buttercrunch with chocolate and sprinkle with chopped almonds
- Allow to cool 20 minutes
- Carefully flip over buttercrunch, and “Paint” with chocolate and sprinkle with chopped almonds
- Optional – sprinkle a small pinch of sea salt on one side
- Share with special people
