Merry Christmas!

Christmas Yule Log (Bûche de Noël) with Chocolate Frosting Recipe

So this year my sister requested a Yule Log (or Bûche de Noël) to accompany her turkey dinner. Since I grew up in Montreal and am one-quarter French Canadian, I think of this as a standard Christmas dessert, but many of my Toronto friends don't seem to know it.

It's basically a rolled-cake version of the wooden Yule log, usually filled with a whipped-cream filling (or a hazelnut or chestnut cream) and iced to look like a log with lots of edible embellishments.

I surfed online to find instructions for meringue mushrooms, and I used the cake recipe from the jelly roll pan label. It's filled with raspberry jam I made from berries I picked in my neighbourhood last summer. I made some chocolate holly and a fondant banner. But the real winner part of this cake is the icing, a recipe from my mother's mother that mom has been raving about for years; she finally got a copy from a cousin, and here it is:

Jeanne Mallory's Fabulous Frosting

• 4 to 5 squares of unsweetened chocolate
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 2 cups of icing sugar
• ½ cup of milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• ice cubes

1. Place chocolate and butter in top of double boiler.
2. When melted, add sugar and milk, mixing.
3. Remove from heat and add eggs and vanilla.
4. Set in a pan of ice cubes and beat until thick.

Notes: Refrigerate any unused (remember, it contains raw eggs!) Don't make this on a muggy humid day. It won't beat up very successfully.

Two Days Until Christmas...

...but at least my Christmas baking's done!

Clockwise from top: The stars and shapes are Sablés (Joy of Cooking recipe), brandy-soaked Christmas cake with lots of figs and ginger (basically J. of C.), Estonian Gingersnaps (a recipe out of the Toronto Star), traditional shortbread (also basically J. of C.) and hot, spicy Mayan Chocolate Sparklers (a great recipe from Robin Hood). Wish you could taste 'em all!

Cranberry-orange Marmalade Recipe for December's Final Can Jam #tigresscanjam

Twelve months, twelve jams, jellies, chutnies or pickles: this is the end of Tigress' 2010 Can Jam, and it's been fun. I've discovered things I never knew about food in jars, and I've made some online friendships that I hope will last even longer than the food I've preserved. Thank-you, Hungry Tigress!

This month's challenge was dried fruits, and since I was in the Christmas spirit (also, because it's the most characteristically local thing I could think of for this time of year), I started with the idea of cranberries. It went through numerous permutations in my head (briefly, it was going to be a chutney), but it's turned into a marmalade, because that's where my jammin' heart is drawn in wintertime. The other dried ingredients are apricots and candied ginger.

If you want to give jam as a Christmas present, but neglected to make enough with summer fruit, this would be a fine fallback. The dried ingredients become completely reconstituted, and the taste is tart and sunny.

Cranberry-Orange Marmalade

Makes 8½ half-pint/250 mL jars

Oranges and lemons sing the bells of St. Clemens...

• 5 smallish lemons
• 4 medium navel oranges (Cara Cara would be nice.)
• ¼ cup of candied ginger (cut into small cubes)
• 12 dried apricots, sliced into thin strips
• 1½ cups of sweetened dried cranberries
• 4 cups of water
• 5½ cups of sugar

Directions

Before you start, read the complete instructions for sterilizing and processing jars safely.

1. Scrub the citrus fruit in warm soapy water.
2. Combine all ingredients except the sugar in a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for about 4 hours, until citrus fruits are completely softened. (If the lemons soften before the oranges, take them out earlier. Or vice-versa. You want to be sure that all the citrus rind is nice and soft.)
3. Sterilize jars and warm up your lids.
4. Gently remove the oranges and lemons from the pot. Halve them and scoop out the insides over a strainer to save all the juice, which goes back into the pot. Discard seeds, pulp and membranes.
5. Slice the citrus peel into thin strips about an inch long. Return them to the pot. (You should now have 6 cups of proto-marmalade, to which you will add 5½ cups of sugar. Measure and adjust the quantities if you fear you have much more or less.*)
6. Add sugar and bring to a boil, stirring to incorporate the sugar, and boil until the mixture reaches the setting point (probably about 20 minutes).
7. Ladle into jars, seal with warm lids and process for 10 minutes at a rolling boil.

*You could top up with cranberry or orange juice if you don't have enough volume; if you have too much, you could add a bit of extra sugar in proportion.