Tourtiere

4 pounds ground pork butts 

1 ½ cups water 

1 medium onion, ground or finely chopped 

2 tsp salt 

1 to 2 tsp cinnamon, start low and adjust to taste 

1 to 1.5 tsp cloves, start low and adjust to taste 

1 cup bread crumbs 

Your favorite pie crust 

Put meat in large pot.  Break it up and add water. Mix in onions and salt. Adjust heat to keep meat cooking at a low boil; stir at intervals to keep from scorching.  Add more water if necessary. Cook with cover on for about 45 minutes, adding the spices halfway through. 

Near the end of cooking time, add the bread crumbs.  Adjust the amount of crumbs according to the amount of fat.  The mixture shouldn’t become too dry. 

This amount makes filling for 2 large pies or 9-11 small ones.   Fill uncooked pie crusts.  Top with either a second crust or mashed potatoes. May freeze at this point. 

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes 

Note: this is Grant’s great-great grandmother’s recipe 

Chokecherry jelly

 

Ingredients

• 4 cups chokecherry juice (See chokecherry syrup recipe for method to get juice.)
• ¼ cup lemon juice bottled
• 4 teaspoons calcium water see step #1
• 1.75 cups sugar (original recipe offers a range)
• 4 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder mixed with sweetener

Instructions

• Before you begin, prepare calcium water. 

  To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.

  Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
• Wash jars, lids, and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full with water, bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and keep jars in hot canner water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small saucepan; cover and heat to a low boil. Turn off heat and keep lids in hot water until ready to use.
• Prepare chokecherry juice.
• Measure juice into saucepan.
• Add calcium water and lemon juice and mix well.
• Measure sugar or room temperature honey into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sweetener. Set aside.
• Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
• Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
  
  
  Credit: https://pomonapectin.com/chokecherry-jelly-2/

Cut-Out Sugar Cookies

From a professional baker in a Facebook group I'm in.  These were a big hit with Johnny.

• 1 lb of salted butter, softened

• 2 cups of white sugar

• 2 eggs

• Extract of your choosing (my standard for sales is vanilla almond ....1 tsp of almond and 1 tsp vanilla but for our family Christmas cutouts i use anise extract like my grandmother always did. Any extract will work)

• 6 cups ap flour (can be subbed cup for cup with either king arthur or Pillsbury gluten free ap flour just beware that the dough is much more fragile making it kinda a pita to work with)

Cream butter and sugar for 3 minutes, beat in eggs, beat in extract, add flour slowly mixing until it all comes together. Refrigerate to make it easier to work with (though in a pinch I don't and it works out fine ...add small amounts of flour if you need it immediately and can't work with it yet for looseness or stickiness ). Roll out, cut out, (at this point I freeze the cut shapes on the tray for 10 minutes to ensure perfect shape but you can absolutely skip that step) and bake at 350 for between 10 and 14 minutes (as soon as they start getting a small tinge of brown around the bottom edge they're done....the majority of the cookie should be pale).


Royal Icing:
Oh yes...you do 6 tbs of meringue powder to one regular size bag of powdered sugar and about 1 cup of lukewarm water -then beat using a hand or stand mixer for about 5 minutes on high. 

From there you can color it in batches and thin it with water or thicken with powdered sugar as desired

Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot Cupcakes:

4 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

8 large eggs

2 cups granulated white sugar

2 cups canola or vegetable oil

4 cups finely grated raw carrots

1 cup grated apple(approximately 2 large)

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 cup raisins or currants(optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine wet ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another, fold gently together until just combined.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, bake for 20 minutes.

Adapted from Joy of Baking.  Theirs was sadly lacking pineapple.

For frosting:

Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp maple flavoring

In a mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy.

Note: If you don't have maple syrup you could use milk instead and just add extra maple flavoring.

Buttercream cautionary tale

I tried to make Alton Brown's buttercream today and it was pretty much a fail. It seems to have a lot of potential, but mine fell apart after I got about 1/3 of the butter blended in. The egg foam just collapsed and it got very runny. After refrigerating and adding a bunch of powdered sugar it seems to be stable. (Of course that defeats the less-sweet purpose of the whole thing.) After reading the comments, I discovered a lot of people had the same issue. There were others who thought it was the best thing ever. Who knows?

If I tried it again, I would definitely pay close attention to the room temperature butter and egg thing (my butter may not have been quite that warm), and I would use white corn syrup instead of brown. It affects the color and flavor too much, imo.

Video here.

Carbomb Cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness
1 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache
8oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2-3 oz whiskey

Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4-8 tbsp. Bailey’s Irish cream



To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  Combine the stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.  Add the stout-butter mixture and beat just to combine.  Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed just until incorporated.  Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 to ¾ full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


To make the ganache filling, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering, then pour it over the chocolate.  Let sit for one minute and then whisk until smooth.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a double boiler or give it a very short burst in the microwave.  Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.  Set aside to let the ganache cool until it is thick enough to be piped.  (You can use the refrigerator to speed the cooling process, but be sure to stir every 10 minutes or so to ensure even cooling.)  


Meanwhile, cut out a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method (or, if they sink a bit like mine sometimes do, don't bother cutting out).  Once the ganache has reached the correct consistency, transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe it into the cupcakes.


To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Gradually add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.  Mix in the Bailey’s until smooth.  Add more if necessary until the frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading.  Frost the cupcakes as desired.

Creamy Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar (3.5-4 cups)

1/2 c white vegetable shortening

5-6 tbls milk or cream

1 tsp vanilla or 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 almond extract

Beat until icing is smooth and slightly stiff.

Source: Joy of Cooking

Caramel Frosting

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil hard for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in 1/4 cup milk. Return pan to heat and bring to a full boil. Remove from heat, cool to lukewarm. Stir in 2 cups confectioner's sugar and beat until smooth. If frosting is too thick, beat in a little milk.

I didn't have the topping ingredients for an apple cake when I baked it, so I just used this frosting later after I bought some brown sugar.

Source: Farm Journal Cookbook, 1959 edition

Old-Fashioned Caramel Buttermilk Cake

• 2 c brown sugar
• 2 c buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 2 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Soda
• 5 Tablespoons Hot water
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cream sugar and eggs. Sift together flour and cocoa, dissolve baking soda into water, and combine all ingredients.
Grease and flour pan. Bake at 350 until done (55-60 minutes for a bundt pan).

Glaze:

• 1 lb powdered sugar (3-4 c.)
• 1 8oz package of cream cheese
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients and pour over cake while still warm, but not hot.

Note: I made a half batch of glaze, and it was plenty. I also had to microwave it for 30-40 secs to get it to a pourable consistency.

Look at how well this came out of the pan. I just let it cool for half an hour and it came right out!

Source: Someone on Ravelry's grandmother

Cocoa Frosting

1/4 c butter

3 tbls milk

2 tbls cocoa

2 1/2 c powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla (or mint or orange extract)

Brown butter, then add milk and cocoa in small pan. Cook over medium heat until it boils. Remove from heat. Add sugar and extract.

Beat until smooth.

1 1/2 cups frosting

Source: Grandma Donna

A Little Dessert, Anyone?

This was about as close to perfect as dessert can get in my opinion (and that's pretty high praise from someone who typically passes on cake). I started with Grandma's Picnic Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe (a long-time favorite, as you can see)
and I topped it with Pioneer Woman's That's The Best Frosting I've Ever Had!

It's fantastic! The texture is like that frosting you can get on Sam's Club cakes (not the buttercream option), but instead of tasting like some cousin to the non-nutritive cereal varnish invented by Clark Griswold, it's a perfect combination of butter and not too much sweetness. Really, try it - you'll never want buttercream again.

I divided the batter into a 6" and 8" Wilton round pan. We ate the smaller one and I froze the other one until you all get here later this month. I think you'll be pleased.