Decorated trees, lights, candles, poinsettias, holly, special baked goods– there are some things that just define Christmas. When I was growing up, Christmas baking was such a major event my mother undertook. Although she put many hours of work into her baking, I think she really enjoyed it. Many of the ingredients for the special things she would bake at this time of the year were just too expensive to have on hand all the time. Somehow, she would work her magic and make that grocery money stretch to include these things. During my childhood fruit mincemeat was a pie or tart that we looked forward to having. Today, it seems – not so much.
As with many traditional recipes, especially the ones we make and enjoy around big holidays or life events, mincemeat pies are steeped with tradition and customs. Mincemeat would often be made on ‘stir-up’ Sunday along with the Christmas pudding, the last Sunday before Advent. Stirring the mincemeat was quite an event, and English tradition dictates that it should only be stirred clockwise. Stirring the mincemeat anti-clockwise would lead to bad luck and poor fortune in the coming 12 months. To spread the joy, it was tradition in England that each member of the family gave the mixture a stir, while making a wish. And if you wanted to be ensured good health and happiness in the upcoming year, you should eat one mince pie every day for the Twelve Days of Christmas, from Christmas Eve until the 5th of January.
Today’s modern mincemeat is a boozy, sweet, fruit filling for tarts and pies as well as a variety of other desserts. While mincemeat often plays a supporting role to the apple pie here in North America, the English mincemeat pie is only a two-bite size.
Both Brion & I still enjoy the taste of mincemeat. It just wouldn’t seem like Christmas if we didn’t have some version of it.
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Mincemeat Tart
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Instructions
Pastry
In a medium bowl, cream butter with sugar, salt & vanilla; add the egg yolk. In a small bowl, whisk together flour & baking powder; add to creamed mixture. Blend well. Press into a 13 3/4" x 4 3/8" (35 x 11 cm) tart pan. Cover with plastic wrap set aside in freezer or refrigerator until needed.
Filling
In a large baking dish, combine all the ingredients except the alcohol, stirring well to make sure they're evenly distributed. Cover with a tea towel & leave overnight for the flavors to marinate together.
Preheat the oven to 230 F.
Remove towel & cover the pot with foil & place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven & stir mincemeat mixture well. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally. The stirring is essential to distribute the fruit as the mixture cools.
Once cooled, stir the mincemeat again, add the alcohol & stir one more time. Spoon into pastry shell & level out gently.
Crumble Topping
Beat butter, brown sugar & salt in a bowl with mixer on high speed until light & fluffy. Blend in flour & oatmeal just until crumbly. Crumble streusel mixture over filling.
Bake on bottom rack for 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown & filling begins to bubble. If topping is getting brown too fast, cover with foil. Cool completely on wire rack.
Recipe Notes
- SPICE COMBO
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- This amount will be enough for 2 recipes of mincemeat filling in case you want to make a dozen tarts as well!
One thing that really makes muffins and coffee cakes of all types extra special good is a sweet and crunchy streusel topping. These fluffy vanilla rhubarb cupcakes are topped with a swirl of cream cheese frosting, drizzled with poached rhubarb and then sprinkled with some crunchy, spicy, baked streusel.
The simple addition of Chinese 5-spice powder makes for a delicious aromatic streusel. Five spice powder combines Chinese cinnamon with anise, cloves, ginger and fennel in a delicious balance that complements rhubarb, coaxing out more of its natural aroma. Adding pepita seeds and baking the crumble separately, creates a special crunchier topping.
The basic streusel is very versatile in that it can be customized to your personal preferences or what you have on hand. Here are a few suggestions:
- Use 2 cups flour OR 1 cup rolled oats * 3/4 cup whole-grain flour * 3/4 cup cookie or cracker crumbs
- Use 3/4 cup sugar OR 3/4 cup brown sugar * 1/2 cup raw sugar * 1/2 cup maple syrup
- Use 1 cup butter OR 1 cup brown butter * 1/2 cup nut/seed butter * 1/4 cup coconut oil * 1/4 cup oil or sesame oil
- Add-Ins .. 1 cup coconut flakes or nuts * spices & zests * 1/2 cup toasted seeds * 1/2 cup cocoa powder or wheat germ
I realize, this is a lot of steps for just a cupcake, but I think you’ll love them.
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Crunchy Streusel Rhubarb Cupcakes
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Ingredients
Sour Cream Rhubarb Cupcakes
Ingredients
Sour Cream Rhubarb Cupcakes
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Instructions
Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line 9 muffin cups with large paper cups.
Wash rhubarb & trim ends. Cut rhubarb into a 1/4-inch dice. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt & cinnamon. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together sugars, eggs, sour cream, melted butter, vanilla & orange zest. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir until the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over-mix. Fold in rhubarb. The batter will be thick. Scoop the batter into 9 muffin cups, evenly distributing batter.
Bake for 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, decrease the oven temperature to 350 F. & bake for another 12 - 15 minutes or until cupcakes test done. Remove from oven & cool completely on a wire rack.
Poached Rhubarb
Place rhubarb, water, sugar, food coloring (if using) & cardamom in a saucepan. Simmer very gently for about 3-5 minutes or until rhubarb is soft but NOT mushy! Put a strainer on top of a bowl. Pour mixture into strainer & put the rhubarb pieces in another dish to cool. Pour the liquid back into the saucepan & let simmer until slightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Pour into a bowl to let cool. Gently combine rhubarb & syrup.
Pepita 5-Spice Streusel
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir until incorporated. Using your fingers, form fine crumbs. Spread the crumbs on a small cookie sheet and bake on a rack in the middle of the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until light golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely to room temperature. Crumble with fingers.
Frosting
Beat butter until pale. Add powdered sugar & beat until smooth & pale, about 1 minute. Add softened cream cheese & ginger; beat until smooth.
Assembly
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle with frosting. Top each cupcake with a dollop of frosting then using a spoon, create a well in each dollop. Spoon a bit of poached rhubarb inside of each well. Sprinkle with pepita streusel.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Chinese 5-spice. The aroma and flavor are just pure magic. This peppery-sweet mixture provides endless options for its use.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this spice blend is how well it compliments both sweet and savory dishes.
In this recipe, the apricots offer a subtle sweetness to these cookies, while the Chinese 5- spice adds a spicy perspective and chopped pepitas add a nutty crunch. Blend that all together with oatmeal & raisins and you get a nice range of flavors.
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Apricot Raisin Five-Spice Oatmeal Cookies
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Instructions
Cream butter & sugars together well. Add egg & vanilla; beat until light & fluffy.
Sift together flour, five-spice powder, nutmeg, salt & baking soda.
Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. When the dry ingredients are almost incorporated, add the oatmeal, raisins, apricots & seeds.
Chill the dough for about an hour before baking for best results.
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Scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes. Do not over bake or the cookies will lose their chewy texture.
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Homespun desserts such as crisps, cobblers, betties, slumps & pandowdy’s are all variations on the same theme. As much as we like to be definitive, these old fashioned desserts are ‘folk-food’ passed down orally from mother to child and like all folk culture slight variations arise from kitchen to kitchen.
My spice drawer gets a good workout in the fall. I want to add fall spices to as many things as possible. Warm fruit desserts are a perfect candidate for doing just that.
The filling for this cobbler is a combination of peaches, brown sugar, butter and some added spices. All of that is cooked briefly to give it a caramel-like flavor. The topping is a simple one but the combination of spices adds such amazing flavor and is the perfect complement to the peaches. I’ve added cardamom to both the filling and topping. If you follow the blog, you are probably aware of my obsession with cardamom. Definitely feel free to use your favorite combination and ratio of spices.
I think this Chai-Spiced Peach Cobbler is everything you could ever want in a fall dessert.
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Chai-Spiced Peach Cobbler w/ Pepita Oat Crumble
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Instructions
Topping
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, rolled oats, pistachios, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom & sugar.
Using a pastry blender, combine flour mixture with butter until it resembles a coarse meal. Store the mixture in the fridge until ready to use.
Filling
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Place a large saucepan over medium heat & add in butter. Once the butter is melted, add in the (thawed) peaches, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom & black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer & cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Pour cooked peaches into a large casserole dish & evenly top with the pistachio-oat crumble.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden-brown & the sauce bubbles around the edges.
Once finished baking, serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream if you wish.
For many, orange juice and oatmeal are seen as breakfast food. I like both, so using them in baked goods works for me.
Most of the time, when it comes to cake or cookies, extract is where your flavor will come from. I recall an orange loaf my mother made by first cooking the sugar with orange zest and adding it to the batter. It gave the loaf such a bold orange flavor.
In these cookies, I’m using both the zest and juice of a fresh orange and a tiny bit of lemon zest to add another dimension of citrus. The oatmeal is processed to an oat flour.
The use of both butter and olive oil further enhances the flavor of the cookies. Butter is smooth and creamy, adding the dairy richness, while the oil provides a unique flavor and aroma.
Once the cookies are baked, a glaze using more fresh orange juice and zest makes these orange slice cookies ‘addicting’ as Brion says.
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Orange Slice Cookies
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Instructions
Cookies
In a bowl, combine sugar, butter & oil; beat until fluffy. Add yogurt, vanilla, orange juice & zests.
In a food processor, pulse oatmeal for a few seconds. Add oat flour, white flour, baking powder, cardamom & salt. Blend ingredients together well to form a soft dough. Evenly divide dough into 10 pieces; form each into a ball. Cover & refrigerate for 20 minutes so that the dough becomes a little firmer.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper.
Remove cookie dough from refrigerator; slice each ball into 4 pieces & shape each piece to resemble an orange slice. Place on baking sheets spacing about 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies about 20-25 minutes or until the sides of the cookies become a light golden brown.
Glaze
Combine remaining orange juice & zest with enough powdered sugar to make a glaze consistency. When cookies are cool, brush with glaze,
Not whole muffins, just the tops. The idea was first conceptualized by Elaine Benes, a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I was not a Seinfeld fan and rarely even watched the show but the series lasted for nine years so obviously many did. It centered around four single friends dealing with the absurdities of everyday life in New York City, USA. Something as simple as soup or muffins became the focal point of the show but with a unique twist that only the actors on the show could make funny and memorable.
In a 1997 episode, The Muffin Tops, Elaine helps her old boss open his own business where they only sell the tops of muffins. ‘It’s the best part (nobody likes the stumps), it’s crunchy, it’s where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does its own thing’.
Nowadays we have specific baking pans made just for making muffin tops and I think most food stores sell them. Muffins are an item I’ve certainly made my fair share of over the years in the food industry. But I have to say, I love the whole thing, especially if its soft and cakey.
This time of year is usually filled with pumpkin and sweet potato dishes and treats. These muffin tops are quite special with a slight sweet potato flavor packed with plenty of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and an added bonus of some pepita seeds.
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Sweet Potato Muffin Tops
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Instructions
Streusel Topping
In a small bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon & salt. With a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add pepita seeds, mix & set aside.
Muffin Tops
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a MUFFIN TOP PAN or line with paper cups. (This recipe makes 10 muffin tops the size shown in the blog picture). Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt & spices. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar & eggs together; add sweet potatoes, oil, milk & orange zest (or vanilla) & whisk again. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients & stir until JUST combined. Do not overmix the batter.
Scoop batter into muffin top pan; Sprinkle with streusel topping.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
