December 25, 2007: Christmas Day

Christmas traditions cause got mostly faded as my grandparents cause got passed on together with the grandkids cause got grown up, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. If anything we're amend able to appreciate the nutrient together with fellowship that does come upwardly together without whatsoever preconceptions. Three years ago, Michael together with I turned upwardly inward Melbourne belatedly on discounted flights, thus spent the afternoon eating chips together with avocado spell watching DVDs amongst my brother, Mum together with Mum's sis Carol. I don't intend in that place were fifty-fifty whatsoever gifts or a decorated tree but the feel of togetherness was much to a greater extent than existent than the photograph stories Coles Myer would cause got us purchase into all November.

This yr nosotros shared Christmas tiffin amongst to a greater extent than or less of my Mum's household unit of measurement on the due north side of Melbourne. It was a real Aussie barbie amongst breadstuff together with salads - for the hot plate, Michael together with I brought along a lunchbox amount of caramelised onions, together with 4 enormous mushrooms brushed amongst balsamic vinegar together with crushed garlic.

These reindeer cupcakes, also my doing, were dessert. I owe their await solely to Melbourne's other nutrient blogging Cindy, together with their constituent listing almost solely to Nigella Lawson. They're based on her burnt-butter brown-sugar cupcakes. The cake batter has a convenient throw-everything-into-the-food-processor method, but getting the burnt butter for both the cake together with the icing is a fleck strange. It involves heating together with clarifying the butter, together with Nigella promises that it'll survive enterprise (albeit soft) inward less fourth dimension than it takes to preheat the oven. Even inward 20 score conditions it took an hr inward the refrigerator to create that. I reckon it would cause got taken all twenty-four hr menses sitting on the bench as directed! These were a tad greasy against the newspaper cases but otherwise nifty - light, moist cakes amongst buttery sweetness icing together with a hint of dark-brown sugar. I'd purpose it over again as a base of operations for decorative cupcakes. However I ended upwardly amongst well-nigh twice as much icing as I needed for this smoothen finish, thus reckon reducing it yesteryear a 3rd to a half. If you lot but desire to thickly pipage or slather on the sweetness materials you lot mightiness desire the amount quantity below.

And what made this Christmas actually Christmas? Making upwardly a fleck of lost fourth dimension amongst my cousins Seona together with Trudy; getting to know Seona's almost-husband Phil together with viewing Trudy's foray into film-making. Then watching Mum together with 3 of her sisters muddle their agency through a exercise pitching of their novel tent on the front end lawn.

The twenty-four hr menses wasn't completely gratis of gifts either - inward the postal service came a World inward your Kitchen calendar from Michael's mum via Oxfam. Each novel calendar month volition convey a novel vegetarian recipe from Africa, Asia or Latin America, thus we've a novel subject to characteristic on our weblog for 2008. Watch out for a Caribbean Area rice dessert inward January!


Reindeer cupcakes

cake:

150g unsalted butter
125g evidently flour, sieved
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sieved
60g castor sugar
65g dark-brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons milk

icing: (reduce yesteryear a 3rd to a one-half for smoothen reindeer faces)
150g unsalted butter
1-2 tablespoons cocoa
250-300g pure icing saccharide (I mightiness endeavor reducing this to 200g adjacent time)
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

plain salted pretzels together with assorted lollies for decorating (I used 12 jaffas, 24 nighttime choc chips, together with to a greater extent than or less blood-red sour jubes trimmed amongst scissors)

For the cake: Put the butter inward a pocket-sized saucepan over medium heat, stirring until it becomes nighttime golden. The milk solids should split quite easily together with ascent to the top. Strain the butter to take those solids - lacking a decent strainer, I also used a spoon to gently skim off to a greater extent than solids. Rest the butter until it's enterprise but nonetheless soft - I nonetheless reckon this requires a stint inward the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C together with trouble a muffin pan amongst 12 newspaper cases. In a nutrient processor, pulse together all the cake ingredients except for the milk - flow it downwards the funnel. Drop the batter every bit into the 12 newspaper cases, thus bake for 15-20 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

For the icing: Repeat the butter clarification method above, mayhap earlier or spell the cakes are baking. When the butter is cool, sieve inward a tablespoon of the cocoa together with well-nigh one-half of the icing saccharide together with musical rhythm out together the buttercream. Beat inward to a greater extent than sugar, cocoa together with milk inward plough until you lot make the coloring together with texture you lot want, thus musical rhythm out inward the vanilla at the end.

For evidently cupcakes, slather or pipage the icing on generously. To brand reindeer faces, spread the buttercream thinly together with smoothly over the cakes amongst a knife, ideally forming a seal amongst the newspaper cases over the cake. Arrange a appear upwardly yesteryear pressing the lollies gently into the icing, starting amongst a blood-red olfactory organ inward the centre. Cut pretzels into the antler shapes pictured to a higher house together with press them into the side of the cake. If your reindeer cause got to move at all, you lot mightiness similar to store the decorating lollies (particularly the pretzel antlers) inward a pocket-sized container together with decorate but earlier serving.