Monday, 8 December 2008
It's Mince Pie Time!
9th December 2008
Requests for Mince Pies have been happening since October in the shop. I have to admit, I've never had a mince pie until a couple of a weeks aago, and I wasn't quite sure I wanted to make them at all, considering all the labour in rolling out the doughs when I don't have a pastry brake. And then I bought some standard supermarket ones.
I've already gone through about 6 boxes so far. To say I'm a fan is taking it lightly. So how can I do justice to Mince Pies in our shop? Well, we'll find out this afternoon. I've had the mincemeat soaking in rum and grand marnier for about 2 weeks now, chock full of candied peel, sultanas, apples, raisins, apricots and some dried sour cherries to boot. The mixture was so thick, I actually omitted the butter/suet which actually makes the mincemeat a lot brighter and citrusy.
Hopefully the first batch will turn out okay. Cross your fingers! Also, there's plenty of more items up for grabs this Christmas---we're doing quite a few gluten-free and dairy-free items that taste amazing, and yes, I will make more Sea Salt Caramels (even though it's sprained my wrist doing so!)
So far here's what I'm making for Christmas:
-bea
Requests for Mince Pies have been happening since October in the shop. I have to admit, I've never had a mince pie until a couple of a weeks aago, and I wasn't quite sure I wanted to make them at all, considering all the labour in rolling out the doughs when I don't have a pastry brake. And then I bought some standard supermarket ones.
I've already gone through about 6 boxes so far. To say I'm a fan is taking it lightly. So how can I do justice to Mince Pies in our shop? Well, we'll find out this afternoon. I've had the mincemeat soaking in rum and grand marnier for about 2 weeks now, chock full of candied peel, sultanas, apples, raisins, apricots and some dried sour cherries to boot. The mixture was so thick, I actually omitted the butter/suet which actually makes the mincemeat a lot brighter and citrusy.
Hopefully the first batch will turn out okay. Cross your fingers! Also, there's plenty of more items up for grabs this Christmas---we're doing quite a few gluten-free and dairy-free items that taste amazing, and yes, I will make more Sea Salt Caramels (even though it's sprained my wrist doing so!)
So far here's what I'm making for Christmas:
- Mince Pies (vegetarian, but definitely boozy)
- Lebkuchen (a nod to my Austrian husband, they're gluten-free and lactose-free!)
- Sea Salt Caramels (very limited quantity, best to order ahead of time.)
- Christmas Cupcakes --we're selling assorted cupcakes by the dozen, and decorating them specifically for Children to enjoy. Flavours include our infamous Red Velvets, Chocolate Peppermint, Gingerbread, and Chocolate Rum and Baileys for the Adults.
- Spicy Nuts---this is my American ode to Harry and David's, a popular gift ordering site whereby you get a 10 kg box full of nuts---ours nuts are spiced with Cayenne and consist of Brazilnuts, Pecans, Cashews and Almonds.
- Valrhona Chocolate Sampler-Valrhona chocolate is hard to find! I've made it easy---we have 8 percentages of Valrhona Chocolate (Abinao at 85% down to Jivara Lactee at 44%) in pretty sampler boxes, ranging from 3-8 different tastes. Chocolate, pure and unadulterated. This is for real Chocolate Lovers only.
- Meringues, Meringues, Meringues
- Fruitcake! Christmas Cake as they say, but our version with lots of rum, dried sour cherries, and other yummy dried fruits.
- Gingerbread Men. We had to have them!
-bea
posted by Bea # 23:55 
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