‘It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas

Ev’rywhere you go’

Do you, like I, remember this 1958 hit for Perry Como?

While out shopping the other day for some gifts for overseas family and friends, I was bombarded with the ‘Christmas is coming’ message’ which seems to get more strident every year. Christmas Carols were being piped through each shop, artificial trees and decorations were attractively displayed and the butcher was advising patrons to ‘order your Christmas ham now!’

In my family, we have usually given gifts of home baked cakes, mince pies and Scottish shortbread to friends and neighbours and each October my mind turns to making lists of dried fruits – sultanas, raisins, cherries and apricots and bottles of brandy with which to macerate the fruit until plump, ready to be added to handed down family recipes for Christmas cakes, puddings and our secret recipe fruit for mince pies and truffles.

Since I was a wee child, I have helped firstly Gran, then Mum with the preparation, baking, storing and wrapping of these family favourites from our kitchen. I have taken a special delight in using these traditional recipes for my own family Christmas celebrations and have revived the process with both of my own children when they were younger, especially having a wish with stirring each pudding and the reward of licking each sticky spoon!

What family traditions have you brought into your family?

Do they originate in your cultural background, like my Scottish shortbread? Do you remember the origins of each much loved recipe?

Have you thought of collecting all of the family favourite Christmas recipes and copying them, accompanied with both a photo of the originator and a story about that person, for the members of your family? I’d love to hear about your family recipes.

Here’s my family Melting Moments recipe to help you start your own traditional recipe book.

Annie’s Best Ever Melting Moments

Ingredients:

250 gm butter

½ cup icing sugar (not mixture)

1 cup SR flour

1 cup cornflour

Pinch of salt

Turn oven on to 160degrees C. Line 3 oven slides with baking paper.

Place butter (at room temperature) and icing sugar into bowl of food processor and whiz for a few seconds. Add other ingredients and whiz until mixture forms a ball around the blade. Using a teaspoon, roll small amount of mixture into a ball and place on lined baking tray. When tray is full, pour a little cornflour into a saucer and dip a fork into the cornflour before pressing down on the balls of mixture to flatten slightly.

Bake in oven for approx 15 minutes (don’t let them brown!). Cool on tray for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Filling:

1 passionfruit

1 cup (or more) sifted icing sugar

1 tbsp butter

hot water.

Place butter and icing sugar in a small bowl and with a balloon whisk beat until butter disappears into the mixture. Add passionfruit pulp and stir again. If mixture is too stiff & unwieldy, add a tiny amount of hot water.

Spread the icing mixture onto the unmarked side of the biscuit and place another on top, squeezing slightly until icing mixture fills the space between the two biscuits. Leave for about 30 minutes, until icing had set and firmed.

Store in an airtight container.

Tips: can also make the icing either lemon or lime by finely grating the rind of a lemon or lime and adding the juice until the mixture forms. I have also used chocolate, coffee or victoria (using sherry as the liquid) icing, but I prefer the tartness of passionfruit!

Little Miss Ruby and koala

We always had these for afternoon tea when I was a little girl in Brisbane. The passionfruit vine grew over the outside toilet at our Clayfield house, so we had them on everything!

At Christmas time, Gran used to tie a cellophane bundle of Melting Moments, tied to a bottle of beer, as a gift of appreciation for the postman, milk man, green grocer, baker and the garbage collectors.

Why not share your family recipes, Christmas memories with us? I would love to hear from you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 9:11 am and is filed under Aunt Ruby Remembers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.