I made vanilla fudge, chocolate fudge, German nut tarts, Russian tea cakes, toffee, coconut joys and shortbread cookies for this year’s Christmas tins. Then I went to get the tins, and concluded I might have a Christmas Tin Problem problem: Seriously, I love buying Christmas tins. I’m always like YES MUST HAVE MORE! But to my considerable surprise, I filled all but four, and of those four, the train, although cool, isn’t appropriate for unwrapped treats. So I’ve been going around like the Christmas Fairy, handing out tins of goodies…
Category: Food
Recipes: Pecan Pie
We’re doing American Thanksgiving today and although it’s not on my list of usual suspects, I thought I’d try making a pecan pie. Except I have real issues with most pecan pie, which is generally Far Too Sweet (and I have a massive sweet tooth, so if I’m complaining about something being too sweet it’s weird) and doesn’t taste much of pecans. So I went and found a no-corn-syrup recipe, but then I lacked some of the ingredients and anyway, I kind of ended up inventing a pecan pie recipe…
the making of fudge
I have made just about All The Fudge In The World. I’ve added it up, and all told it’s going to be 75 pounds (there are a couple left to do this weekend). That’s a lot of fudge. A LOT of fudge. Here are the ingredients, from The Big Shopping Excursion: Prepping a 12 pound quadruple batch. This is NOT for the uninitiated: I came very close to screwing this up. Expert level fudge-maker only. This in no way conveys just how much fudge is on the platter. 12 pounds…
“Let Them Eat Cake” Recipe Roundup
Okay. I had loads of questions about the “Let Them Eat Cake” recipes, especially the gluten free stuff, so I’m doing a round-up on them. Gluten free, vegan carrot cake recipe with ‘cream cheese’ frosting. Contains flax ‘eggs’, which I’d never previously encountered and am now quite enamoured with as a substitution. Also, even fresh, that frosting tastes *remarkably* like cream cheese frosting, and if you stick it in the fridge overnight and serve it cold (it’s soft enough to spread onto a cake even when cold) it tastes exactly…
Green Tea Cupcakes
So yesterday was the 200th birthday of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish author of such gothic classics as UNCLE SILAS and CARMILLA. Swan River Press, a small Irish press specializing in gothic horror and half-forgotten Irish authors, has done a rather splendid celebration of Le Fanu, including – a track at last weekend’s Eurocon – a walk through Dublin with Le Fanu’s life & career as the path – a lecture last night by Le Fanu expert Jim Rockhill – and the release of DREAMS OF SHADOW & SMOKE: Stories…