I am taking a trip back through time to remember Christmases past by highlighting the various holiday goodies my family has enjoyed over the years.
When I was little, Santa always left a clementine in the toe of my Christmas stocking, along with some peanuts. I think I gave the clementine to my mother, and the peanuts just got in the way when I would thrust my fat little paw in to grab a piece of chocolate. Despite my lack of exuberance for these…treats…, I never wondered why The Big Guy would do something so dreadful; I simply accepted this little quirk of his and went back to playing with my new toys. Strangely enough, however, Santa no longer deposits clementines and peanuts in our stockings.
There was a time when peanuts and oranges would have been an exciting treat to receive as a child, but those days were long gone by the time I came along. I was all about chocolate. I still am. However, I wouldn’t mind getting a Life Savers Sweet Story Book in my stocking for the nostalgia factor alone. Times have certainly changed, but the Sweet Story Book has been delighting children at Christmas since 1935. The book originally contained 12 rolls of assorted flavors, including…clove. These days it has been pared down to 6 packs of 5 Flavor Life Savors, which I love, but a couple packs of Butter Rum would not be amiss.
Speaking of hard candies, good, old fashioned Christmas candy deserves an honorable mention. Every year, without fail, my grandma would have a container of these setting out at Christmastime. While they definitely were not my favorite candy, they were candy nonetheless, and I would eat piece after piece. They were fun to eat because there were so many shapes & colors to choose from, and you never knew which flavor you were going to get. Some of them even had fillings.
While clementines, peanuts, and hard candy aren’t my favorite treats, I can still get on board with old fashioned, traditional goodies. In fact, each year I make gingerbread men cookies. And if gingerbread is not old fashioned, I don’t know what is. After all, the first known recipe for gingerbread came from Greece in 2400 BC. Although, despite it being around 4400 years old, it didn’t become associated with Christmas until recently—the late 17th century. Now, over 400 years later, the recipe I use is from Sam’s well worn, stained copy of the 75th Anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking cookbook.
These Christmas treasures are made with love. I have even started dehydrating and grinding my own ginger. Ginger is the star of the show, after all. And when the cookies are hot out of the oven, they are always brushed with a lemon glaze by my Official Glazing Elf, Sam. Some years I even attempt to pipe little faces on them and embellish their little shirts with Red Hots buttons. These cookies, which are loved by all, are chewy, spicy, and delicious. Even my picky niece and nephew like them, and you cannot get a better endorsement than that.
Another old fashioned treat I have made in the past is mincemeat pie, which is still a British staple today. I made mincemeat two years in a row, but that tradition unfortunately never took off. First of all, mincemeat gets better the longer it sits, so it should be made at least a month in advance. And I’m not really thinking of mincemeat in early November. Secondly, besides Sam and I, I’m not sure that anyone else is very fond of it. Finally, I already make a ton of treats and really do not have the time or energy to add one more goodie into the lineup.
But I do love mincemeat’s old fashioned taste. I use David Lebovitz’s recipe (I nix the currants though because I don’t like their floral flavor). I even rendered my own suet, which is another reason it’s not practical for me to make each year. Of course, you don’t have to render your own; you can always purchase it. As for me, I wasn’t about to pay close to 20 bucks for a bit of suet. If you are interested in making mincemeat and can’t get your hands on suet, you can always skip it altogether. While it won’t be traditional, it will still be delicious.
When I made mincemeat, I created individual pies by rolling out the dough and cutting out little rounds with a biscuit cutter. I then popped the dough rounds into a muffin tin and filled each with mincemeat. With the remaining dough, I used a tiny heart cookie cutter to cut out little hearts, which I placed on top of each pie. These pies are traditionally made from a shortcrust pastry, and I believe I used this recipe from trusty old King Arthur. However, you can always use your favorite dough recipe.
On the subject of suet, Dad often talked about the “suet pudding” that his mother used to make for holiday dinners. About eight years ago, I was finally able to get my hands on the original recipe card, complete with Grandma’s handwriting. It was actually called “Steamed Carrot Pudding,” and contained grated potato & carrot, raisins, suet, and was flavored with cinnamon & nutmeg. Dad said she always served it with a lemon sauce, which was also on the recipe card—sort of. Unfortunately, what wasn’t included were actual directions.
I truly intended on making this pudding for Dad, but I was always so intimidated and would put it off year after year. First of all, I wasn’t exactly sure how the recipe should be assembled. I was especially apprehensive about steaming the pudding. How should I steam it? In the oven or a pressure cooker? What bowl or container should I use? How do I know when it’s done? I didn’t even know how much water to add to the lemon sauce.
Unfortunately, by the time I decided to actually make it, it was 2018 and Dad had esophageal cancer. He hadn’t been able to eat for several months. However, around Thanksgiving that year, thanks to chemotherapy, he was eating some solids again. That is when I realized it may be now or never and decided I would make his “suet pudding” for Christmas.
I bought all of the ingredients and excitedly sent him a picture of them when I got home from the grocery store. I rendered the suet and everything, but something happened—I can’t remember what—and I was not going to be able to make it after all. That is when Dad confessed that he would not have been able to eat it anyway. I had waited too long, and I was angry with myself.
To this day, I have not made Grandma’s Steamed Carrot Pudding; it just wouldn’t be right to make it with Dad gone. While I have been curious to try it, it was meant to be a special treat for him, and he was no longer here to enjoy it.
I am also sad that I do not know the origins of this pudding. It’s obviously a very old recipe, and I do wonder if it had been passed down in Grandma’s family. Unfortunately, I will never know. All I can do now is urge others not to put off doing something special for a loved one! Our time here is fleeting; we may not be granted a “next year for sure” to finally do the thing or ask those important questions.
I have always loved how Christmas as we know it is built around traditions that originated several hundred years ago. For countless generations, we have been decorating our Christmas trees, hanging our stockings, and building our gingerbread houses. I absolutely love having that connection to the past and to those who came before us. That is why I have tried to incorporate some old fashioned goodies into my chocolate-heavy Christmas treat tradition. And by sharing a few of my own family’s traditions here, I hope I have also inspired you to try out some desserts from bygone days this holiday season.
Gingerbread Men Cookies
This recipe is adapted from the gingerbread recipe in Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary Edition.
In a 2-quart saucepan, melt:
- 2 sticks of butter
Add and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture no longer feels gritty:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup unsulphured molasses
Remove from heat and set aside to cool to lukewarm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together:
- 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp grated or ground nutmeg
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the lukewarm butter mixture, and beat to blend everything together. Work in:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
beating until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Remove the dough from the bowl and knead 3-4 times on the counter.
Cut the dough in half and wrap one half of it in plastic wrap.
On a clean, floured surface, and with a bit of flour on the dough, roll the unwrapped half of the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out your gingerbread men. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. [I am able to fit 8 gingerbread men on a half sheet pan] Bake for 7-10 minutes. Place cookies on cooling racks once they are done. Brush with lemon glaze. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
[The nice thing about this dough is you can reuse the scraps and roll it out again]
Lemon Glaze
Mix together:
- 1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- zest of one lemon
Grandma Burl’s Steamed Carrot Pudding
I love the idea of serving a traditional steamed pudding with our holiday dinner. Unfortunately, there are no directions, and Grandma doesn’t specify how much water to use in the lemon sauce. An experienced cook could probably work these issues out. However, if you are interested in a recipe that includes actual directions or one that doesn’t contain suet, there are similar pudding recipes available online.
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup beef suet
- 1 1/2 cups raisins
- 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cups grated potatoes
- 1 tsp. soda in 1 tsp. lukewarm water
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Steam 3 hours in greased mold.
Lemon Sauce
- butter size of walnut
- about 1/2 cup sugar, white or brown
- 2 Tbsp flour, add water
- Can add lemon juice
