In case you were wondering what was going to be popping up here for Christmas recipes this year, here is the todo list that I’m currently working through. Some of these are recipes that have already been posted here, which stands to reason as Christmas is a time of tradition, but some will be new to you, and some are new to me, too. I’ll link everything as it becomes available on the site. Enjoy!

The 2011 Christmas baking is completed! I nixed the cappuccino biscotti (because I ran out of eggs and had enough biscotti already) and the florentines (because Shannon is allergic to nuts and I had enough nut-based things already.) Everything turned out wonderfully!

• Fruitcake
• Mincemeat (for Tarts and Strudel)
• Peanut Brittle
• Blonde Macaroons
• Chocolate Macaroons
• Almond Biscotti
• Mocha Pistachio Biscotti
• Cappuccino Biscotti
• Scottish Shortbread
• Sablés
• Linzer Cookies (Apricot and Raspberry)
• Florentines
• Panforte
• Chewy Chocolate Cookies
• Ginger Snaps
• Butter Tarts

And, of course, for Christmas eve I will be baking up a Tourtière again.

There are three supermarkets and four butcher shops within close waking distance of my house. All but one of the butchers are Halal, which has made it exceptionally difficult for me to find any pork products (“specialty” or otherwise), but I’ve never had any problems finding anything cow, be it organ, meat or bone. In deciding to make mincemeat this year, I apparently stumbled upon one of the most esoteric ingredients to the modern butcher: suet.

There’s nothing all that special about suet. It’s trim loss. It’s discarded scraps. It is, quite literally, for the birds. Since butchers started receiving primal cuts instead of whole animals, most, if not all, of the suet has been removed by the time it arrives in their shops. There are also a million things you could substitute for suet fairly reasonably in my mincemeat recipe. I’m sure almost any saturated fat would do. Hell, you could use bacon, if you wanted to. But man, I live in a city, and a food city at that, so be damned if I’m just going to substitute anything, however delicious, when what I actually want should be found somewhere in this city.

I should’ve ruled out the supermarkets right off the bat, but I thought perhaps they had a special order around the holidays because surely there are elderly people somewhere making puddings or something of the sort. No one even knew what I was talking about, especially the one woman who looked at me cluelessly and directed me to the Swiss cheese. I know supermarkets don’t exactly have the most knowledgeable staff, but it still boggles my mind that most of the major stores stock duck fat, veal brains, horse meat and rabbits and give you a blank stare when you’re asking for beef fat.

I stopped in at Akhavan to see if they had any, but strangely I couldn’t track down a butcher, and bought some olives instead. This is clearly not an acceptable substitute, so I asked my favorite Halal butcher at Al Amana if they had any and he was also puzzled. “What is it en français?” he asks me.
“Sew-it,” I reply. “Uhhh… sew-eh?” It looks like a French word to me already and I honestly had no idea. He shrugs, so I elaborate. “It’s a layer around the internal organs of a cow.”
“It is meat? A cut of meat! You want flank steak?” he says. I usually want flank steak.
“No, it is fat. Pure fat. I want it for mincemeat. For Christmas,” I reply.
“Sorry. I do not have this one you want,” and he goes back to chopping up a lamb carcass.

It turns out suet is not French for suet, that would be graisse de rognon, or “kidney fat”. Fortunately I do not have to butcher the French language when I go to my next butcher shop, my new favorite guys at Tranzo on Somerled. Unfortunately, they do not have any either, and direct me elsewhere. It is at my last stop (because you always find things in the last place you look), Le Maître Boucher on Monkland, that I finally find the suet.

He grabs a little over half a pound and starts to trim it up. “I’m not going to grind it for you,” he says, “because it gets stuck and I will take half an hour to disassemble the machine, but I will give it to you for almost free.” “Almost free” can mean a great many things depending on who you buy it from, but true to his word, “almost free” rang in at only three cents, which ended up being free when the cashier and I had a laugh over it and didn’t want to break a twenty.

I stopped back at Tranzo on the way home, to thank them and actually buy something for dinner, both as consumer gesture of gratitude and because I was hungry. I explained that I paid only three cents for it once I found it and he said, “Three cents? I would have given it to you for free if I had it!” Apparently even among goods that cost nothing, earning loyalty is everything.

This recipe for mincemeat has an embellished amount of candied orange zest because that’s the way I like it. Feel free to cut back or (blasphemy!) omit it, if desired.

Mincemeat

• 1 tart apple, cored and chopped
• 120g beef suet, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups (275g) mixed raisins
• 3/4 cup (120g) currants
• 150g candied orange zest (from 7 oranges), roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar
• zest of 2 lemons
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Brandy

1. Combine all the ingredients, except the vanilla and Brandy, in a large, ovenproof container and mix well. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.
3. Bake the mincemeat, covered with the foil, for three hours. Remove from the oven and, periodically while it cools, stir in the melted suet and juices until it reaches room temperature.
4. Once it has cooled, stir in the vanilla and Brandy, then use the mincemeat in your favorite mincemeat recipes, or transfer and seal in sterilized jars for up to a year.

Among all the candied fruits available, and that includes ginger for that matter, I’ve never actually seen candied zest in the supermarket. I’ve seen those jujube-like wedges of fruit-flavored candies, I’ve seen a wide variety of marmalades and I’ve seen dried zests, but never pure candied zest. For this reason alone it’s nice to have a recipe for such a thing, since candied zest plays a lovely role in Christmas baking and even summer cakes.

Considering that most people just throw away the peels of their citrus fruits anyway, how simple this is to make and how much it would otherwise cost to buy, it’s nice to just do it for yourself. It doesn’t just have to be used for baking of course, it’s delicious mixed into granola and yogurt, in cocktails or just snacked on as is in large wedges.

If you’re not going to use the orange flesh or juice right away the oranges will dry out quite quickly without the zest to keep them moist. In that case, you’re best off using the juice in the recipe in substitution of some or all of the water for an additional orange flavor boost. That is, of course, if you don’t feel like having a glass with breakfast.

Candied Orange Zest

• 7 oranges
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

1. Carefully peel all of the zest off the oranges, making sure not to get the white pith attached to it. I like to use a speed peeler/Y peeler for this to get the zest all in one piece, which makes it easier to retrieve later.
2. Place all of the zest in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then drain the water and rinse until clear. Repeat once more.
3. Add 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of water and return to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the water has evaporated and you are left with a sugar syrup and some very tender orange peels.
4. Prepare a tray by lining it with parchment paper. Retrieve the orange peels with tongs and arrange on the parchment paper. Allow to cool completely, then chop into more manageable pieces, according to your recipe, and toss with the remaining sugar to coat.

Note: do not waste the remaining orange-flavored sugar syrup! Reserve the remaining syrup to sweeten iced tea, to pour over pancakes or sponge cakes, or boil down to a caramel and make into hard candies!

After years of avoiding those radioactive cherries and incredibly dry supermarket loaves, I made the conscious decision to bake a fruitcake myself to see if it has anything going for it. It wasn’t until last year, when I developed a liking for mincemeat, that I realized that fruitcake had the potential to be something extraordinary. If you like spices, nuts, dried fruits, citrus zest and alcohol, fruitcake should be right up your alley, and I love all of those things!

Needless to say, I get now why this would have become a tradition. Aside the fact that it’ll stay preserved for ages if you keep mopping it with alcohol, and preservation is a big part of any tradition, it’s just… well, it’s just so tasty. And alcoholic. It’s very alcoholic. (hic) It’s amazing to me how much Brandy a cup of currants alone can absorb if just given enough time. There’s a whopping four cups of Brandy-rehydrated dried fruit in this recipe and it has absolutely no raw alcohol bite, but nearly an ounce of Brandy per slice. By the time it’s ready for Christmas, God willing, it’ll be closer to two. Two seems like just enough holiday spirit. So, Santa’s in for a special treat this year… I just hope the reindeer can find their own way home.

Fruitcake

• 2 cups currants
• 2 cups other dried fruit (prunes, apricots, cranberries, etc.)
• 2 oranges, zested
• 1/4 cup grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup Brandy
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 ounces unsalted butter
• 1 cup unfiltered apple juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 3/4 cups (210g) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup pecans, toasted
• Extra Brandy for “basting”

1. Combine all the dried fruit, orange zest, ginger, vanilla and Brandy in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight so that the fruit absorbs all of the Brandy.
2. In a large pot, combine the rehydrated ingredients, sugar, butter, apple juice and spices, then bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and allow to simmer, then cool to room temperature.
3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with one rack in the lowest position and the other in the middle. On the bottom rack, place an ovenproof dish filled with boiling water to keep the oven environment moist.
4. Once the mixture has cooled, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, then sift into the pot. Stir well with a wooden spoon, then incorporate the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Fold in the pecans, then transfer the mixture to a greased and floured or nonstick 10″ loaf pan or four smaller loaf pans.
5. Place the loaf pan(s) on a baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven until firm and a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean, about 1 hour.
6. Remove the loaves from the oven, lightly brush the tops with Brandy and allow to cool completely before carefully running a knife along the outside of the pan to help dislodge them. Keep in an airtight container in a cool environment, moistening every few days with Brandy until it’s as smashing as you desire it to be. Alternatively, eat now, because it’s still delicious that way too.

This recipe is heavily based on Alton Brown’s Free Range Fruitcake

I’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s Christmas specials on the Food Network and have thoroughly enjoyed them. In one of the episodes he whipped up these puff pastry pinwheels in a phyllo shell that were stuffed with mincemeat and they looked so delicious I had to try them for myself. Only after I borrowed all the muffin pans from my neighbor, I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to thaw an entire box of phyllo for only five or six sheets and did something completely different.

I hated mincemeat as a kid but have recently fallen in love with it. I also introduced my hesitant wife to the idea and she loves it now also. I think it’s something about the beef suet that turns people off, but there are so many other competing flavors among the various dried fruits, candied zests, alcohols and numerous spices that you won’t even notice. Many recipes omit it nowadays anyway. These mincemeat strudels are going to be a perfect breakfast snack for Christmas morning.

Mincemeat Strudel

• 1 pound (454g) puff pastry, thawed
• 500ml jar of good mincemeat
• zest of 1 clementine or orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1.5 ounces Brandy
• 12 dried figs, chopped
• 1/2 cup roasted chestnuts or hazelnuts
• 1 egg mixed with 2 tablespoons milk
• 3-4 tablespoons coarse raw sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with the rack positioned in the lower third of the oven.
2. Roll out the puff pastry into two 12×12″ squares. If it’s pre-rolled pastry, even better. Cut the squares in half, slightly disproportionally, to yield two 5×12″ (bottom) and two 7×12″ (top) rectangles. Place the bottom rectangles on a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Combine the mincemeat, zests, Brandy, figs and chestnuts and spread evenly over the smaller rectangles, leaving approximately a 1/2″ border on all sides. You may not necessarily use all of the mincemeat, but just stir the remnants into your oatmeal in the morning or something. It’s delicious.
4. Lightly fold the larger rectangles in half lengthwise. With a knife, make interval slices in the seam so that when you unfold the rectangle again, it resembles the pattern pictured. You are making a decorative top that also acts as vents for steam to escape from. Layer the tops carefully over the bottom layers and press evenly along the sides to form a seal.
5. Brush the tops of the pastry with the egg wash and evenly distribute the coarse sugar. Bake until a deep golden brown, about 20-25 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 325 to bake an additional 10-15 minutes to ensure the bottom is fully crisp. Allow to cool before slicing.

Sometimes puff pastry will get too warm and “sweat” or the butter will ooze out a little. Simply transfer it the freezer for no more than a minute or two and it will be ready to work with again. Feel free to improvize flavor additions to the mincemeat to make it your own, virtually any nuts, dried fruit or alcohol will be a welcome addition!