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English Plum Pudding with Southern Comfort Bourbon Sauce

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Who knows traditional plum pudding? Unless you have some connection to England either in heritage or destination, it is quite possible this Christmas treat may have passed you up. While it is dense and oooey gooey (and somewhat resembles a fruit cake), I PROMISE if you give it a try with some magical southern comfort bourbon sauce it just might make it into your recipe collection!

For me, this was tradition and as a little girl I wouldn’t confess to liking it but if my mom would have ventured to NOT make it, Christmas wouldn’t have been quite the same. It didn’t come from her heritage but my Dad’s. He grew up on plum pudding and to this day, I really make it not only to keep tradition passed on but also to see the smile on his face and hear the stories of by gone days. After all, this is what it is all about and I really do love it.

When I was young, this dessert was a family affair as it took a couple of days to prepare between macerating the dried fruit and then combining all the ingredients to “meld” together for a day before the “steaming” of the final product. Where we created the family tradition, this is true in England as well, is when my mom combined everything together, we would all take a turn at stirring it together and making a Christmas wish. It was so special and for many years I was sure this “locked in” the assurance that I would receive EVERY present on my list!

So next year or maybe just a snowy winters day, venture out and make this dessert and start a tradition. It’s not hard, just needs some time to rest, a good example for all of us to follow.  Decorate it with the greens of your choice, topping it with the magic of every season.

English Plum Pudding with Southern Comfort Bourbon Sauce
 
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I have to thank my grandmother and mom for this recipe! Although mine has some "additions" the taste is all the same!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: English
Serves: 20 servings
Ingredients
  • For Plum Pudding:
  • ½ Cup golden raisins
  • ½ Cup Dark raisins
  • ½ Cup Dried plums
  • ½ Cup Dried currants
  • ½ Cup Dried cherries
  • 2 oz Candied orange or candied lemon
  • 4 Tbsp brandy
  • 1½ Cups Ground suet
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 1 Cup dark molasses
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • 1 Cup Flour
  • 2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 Cup Breadcrumbs
  • ½ tsp Ground cloves
  • ½ tsp Nutmeg
  • ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp Allspice
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 Raw apple, diced
  • 1 Cup sliced almonds
  • orange, zested
  • lemon, zested
  • 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
  • 1 Cup Milk
  • For Bourbon Sauce:
  • 1 Stick butter
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • ⅓ cup southern comfort
  • 4 Tbsp Heavy cream
Instructions
  1. Two days before steaming pudding: Take all dried fruit (raisins, plums, currants, cherries, and candied orange or lemon) and put in a bowl. Pour brandy over and mix. Cover with Saran Wrap and let macerate
  2. Day before steaming pudding: Sift four and baking powder In a large mixing bowl, add suet, sifted flour, breadcrumbs, spices, salt, and sugar. Mix thoroughly.
  3. Then add macerated dried fruit, nuts, apple, and grated orange and lemon zest. Mix well.
  4. Lastly, add molasses, eggs, and milk and mix well. Cover with Saran Wrap and put in fridge
  5. Day of steaming Take a tin pudding basin and lightly grease. Pour in mixture and spread evenly, it will be very thick.
  6. On the stove, get a stock pot which holds the tin and fill with water and put in tin. Water should come up the sides but not as high as the lid, about ¾ of the way.
  7. Get water boiling and turn down to light boil and cover with lid. Steam for 5½ hours or until done. Refill water to keep it at ¾ full.
  8. Remove from heat and let rest for 15 minutes
  9. Get a serving plate and take off lid from tin and invert onto plate. Pudding should remove easily
  10. Southern comfort bourbon sauce: In saucepan over medium heat, add sugar and butter until melted and combined. Stir in whip cream and stir. Add southern comfort and stir, cook for a few minutes to cook off alcohol. Add more whip cream, if needed.
  11. Decorate with fresh holly. Slice and serve with southern comfort bourbon sauce.

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Hazelnut Cake with Pear and Ricotta

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It was a rainy Saturday and I wasn’t in the mood to clean, (who ever is?) and so often my solution is to dream up a new recipe and whisk myself away in creativity for a few hours, it definitely helps my soul and eases my guilty conscious.

On this particular day, I decided try my hand at a gluten-free dessert. There is only one problem, I LOVE cake and normally cake needs that one minor ingredient, flour and that one minor ingredient isn’t gluten-free….at least the cakes I love. Dang, maybe my dessert with be glutton-free instead since I don’t feel guilty about being a glutton……now that could be a new trend, GLUTTON-FREE DESSERTS! Brilliant!

Okay, back on focus…..so time to think of some other type of flour.  I thought about all the various kinds of nuts I love, which is all of them, but I particularly love hazelnuts, I mean I LOVE them so I decided to grind up hazelnuts for my “cake flour”. If your not as obsessed with hazelnuts, this cake would be equally amazing with ground up almonds or cashews, just fire up your imagination.

Now that I figured my cake out, I wanted to make a “filling” that would mimic something between semifreddo and gelato, how can you go wrong with that desire? I make a delicious homemade ricotta and since pears were in season  I decided to combine pears, homemade ricotta cheese, whip cream, pear brandy, and sugar together and created a creamy filling that should have been illegal! It ROCKED! Seriously, it was a miracle of flavors.

The last step that needed to happen was to take the two cake layers, gob this yummy creamy filling in between, stick it in the freezer, and cross my fingers that it “sets up”. If this worked, I was sure to eat the whole thing.

I’m not sure if that was a blessing or a curse as I really didn’t need to promise myself an entire dessert, after all I was blowing off cleaning, probably shouldn’t reward that or should I? Anyway, it worked and it worked beautifully! Good thing the bet was to myself and not someone else who would love to see me eat a whole cake into oblivion…..

So here’s a New Years cheer to indulgence, days without cleaning, and glutton-free desserts….

Hazelnut Ricotta Pear Cake
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • 2 Cups whole hazelnuts, finely ground
  • 6 Large eggs
  • ⅔ Cup sugar
  • 7 Tbsp butter, melted
  • For the pears:
  • 2 Bartlett or William pears, peeled, cored, and diced or thinly sliced
  • ½ Cup sugar
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp pear brandy
  • For the syrup:
  • ⅓ Cup sugar
  • 3 Tbsp pear brandy
  • For the filling:
  • 17 oz ricotta cheese, preferably homemade
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • For the ricotta cheese:
  • 6 cups organic whole milk
  • 2 cups organic heavy cream
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 T organic white wine vinegar
  • For cranberries:
  • 1 bag cranberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
Instructions
  1. Make the ricotta: In a saucepan on stove over medium heat, put in the milk, cream, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a medium heat and boil where it starts to separate. Put in a mesh colander over a bowl until liquid is drained
  2. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 ½ -inch springform pans.
  3. Grind the hazelnuts in a mini food processor until very fine.
  4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs and sugar and beat on high speed for 15 minutes, until the mixture has quadrupled in volume. Gently fold in the hazelnuts and flour with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the butter. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until firm to the touch. Set aside.
  5. Make the pears: In a small saucepan combine the pears, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch and simmer over medium-low heat until the pears are soft. Remove from the heat, stir in the brandy, and let cool to room temperature. Set aside.
  6. Make the syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and ½ cup water and bring to a boil. Stir in brandy.
  7. Make the filling: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the ricotta, sugar, and vanilla for at least 5 minutes, until creamy.
  8. Meanwhile, beat the cream until firm peaks form. Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the ricotta mixture. Fold in the cooled pear mixture.
  9. Assemble the dessert: Remove one of the cake layers from the pan and place on a serving platter large enough to hold the outer ring of the springform pan. Brush the cake with one-half of the syrup to moisten it. Pile the filling in the center of the cake and put the springform ring back over the cake.
  10. Gently spread the filling to the edges and then top with the second layer of cake. Brush the remaining syrup over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer until set, about 2 hours. Remove the springform ring and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  11. For cranberry decorations:
  12. On stovetop in a saucepan, put sugar and water and heat until sugar is dissolved. Pull off and let rest 10 minutes. Put cranberries in a bowl and pour sugar/water mixture over the top. Cover and put in fridge for 2 hours. When ready to decorate, take cranberries out of mixture and roll in sugar to coat. This may take a few times and then let dry on a tray lined with parchment paper.

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Dried Fig and Hazelnut Biscotti

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I love to make biscotti any time of year but at Christmas especially, they make the BEST dunking cookies (well, along with the taralli wine cookies!) and with a hot cappuccino, I couldn’t ask for a happier breakfast.  The only problem is the number I consume due to how much I love them….

It brings me back to the times when my italian grandmother made them for us, she would have never varied from the traditional recipe of anise or almond but it didn’t matter because they were one of those delectables that I waited to have every time we went to her house for a visit. I can remember the old antique plate stacked full of biscotti waiting on the table when we arrived. I am not even sure I said hello or gave her a hug, I just made a bee line to that table. Of course no vin santo for us but milk did the trick when I was younger, she probably wished she would have given us a sip or two of vin santo when she agreed to watch all 8 of her grandkids together. Oh mama mia, poor lady!

Each year during Christmas baking, I change up the dried fruit and nut mixture which makes them seem like a whole new invention and a whole new invention needs A LOT of sampling, right? Works in my world…These particular biscotti really hit my happy button because they contain dried figs and hazelnuts, two of my favorite. I also added in a little fennel seed and drizzled with really good dark chocolate.  I thought about adding a little cinnamon but since fennel seed is so yummy and not used as much, I went that route and it was a beautiful discovery,  it is a happy dance in your mouth and washing down with cappuccino (maybe some vin santo for a evening treat) just starts your day right (or ends it right!). Seriously, these are an explosion of flavors, you will love it.

So forgive me nonna for veering away from tradition but I promise if you were here to try them, you would approve

5.0 from 1 reviews
Dried Fig and Hazelnut Biscotti
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Cookies
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 2½ dozen
Ingredients
  • Ingredients
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 tsp fennel seed
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
  • ¾ cup dried figs, coarsely chopped
  • 12 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest, fennel seed and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the figs and hazelnuts.
  3. Form the dough into 2 logs. Bake until light golden, about 25-30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.
  4. Place the logs on the cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into ½ to ¾-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.
  5. Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Drizzle the chocolate over the biscotti. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 35 minutes.

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Brown Butter Sage Walnut Bread

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Everyone on my Christmas list this year got a loaf of this bread with our homemade apple butter. To me, there is nothing better than giving and receiving homemade gifts during the holidays or anytime for that matter. It takes time and love to create gifts and I completely appreciate the heartfelt effort.

Anyone who knows me realizes that I like treats that aren’t over the top sweet and this savory bread is SO good!  I didn’t want to bake traditional banana bread or cranberry bread but instead I wanted to kick things up a notch and get creative. My inspiration came from my LOVE of brown butter, I adore it with mash potatoes, over sweet potato ravioli, or sautéed with squash so I decided to try it in a bread and since sage is one of my all time favorite herbs, especially this time of year, I couldn’t imagine a better combination. It is such a surprise when you bite into a piece and taste the nutty flavor from the brown butter and the earthiness with the sage. There is just enough sugar to enhance the combinations and then add a great cappuccino to the menu and you have PERFECTION!!! So comfy food yum!

The list is endless with what you can add, bananas, pears, apples or dried figs….OMG can you imagine brown butter and bananas? Add some liquor and you can indulge in bananas foster breakfast style! Awesome!

So as I cranked out the loaves for Christmas gifts, I made some extras to freeze. After all winter is just starting and come those cold January mornings when you just want to lie in bed, I can grab a couple of slices of this, slather on my apple butter and curl up for hours.

Have fun experimenting, leave some comments, and let me know how your creative genius came out!

'Brown Butter Sage Walnut Bread
 
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This is a really wonderful savory bread that can be served with apple butter or peach butter! If you want, add pears, apples, or bananas for a wonderful addition
Author:
Recipe type: Bread
Serves: 1 large loaf
Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 4 tablespoons sliced fresh sage leaves
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 2½ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
  • Turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 350.
  2. Grease and flour (or spray) a standard loaf pan.
  3. Toast the walnuts in a skillet over medium heat, then set them aside.
  4. Add the butter and sage to the skillet and cook until the butter browns - follow your nose, it should smell nutty and sagey and not at all scorched. Turn off the heat.
  5. In a mixer whisk the eggs and brown sugar together.
  6. Add in the oil and whisk that.
  7. Mix in the flour, soda, powder and salt.
  8. Stir in the browned butter, then fold walnuts. Its thick so don't worry.
  9. Scrape and spread into the loaf pan, sprinkle with the turbindo sugar, and into the oven for 35 minutes. Test for doneness, then cool a bit before you flip it out of the pan. Slice and eat!!!

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