Favourite Christmas recipes of The Nether Footly Village Players
As compiled by Skippy Ponce, Director/SEX, LIES & Quilting & faux pearl artist
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Theater SEX, LIES & Quilting Tues– Sun, Dec 18– 23, 8pm Teatro Santa Ana Biblioteca Pública Reloj 50A 150 pesos, Show 250 pesos, Dinner Pack (show & dinner) |
Director Skippy Ponce brings SEX, LIES & Quilting to Teatro Santa Ana this week.
Rex Strayballs/Rum Balls/Bourbon Balls
Rum balls are the perfect adult indulgence in the Strayballs household. As their name implies, they contain rum, but because they aren’t baked, the alcohol flavor and kick are not sacrificed during baking.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (140 grams) toasted pecans, finely chopped (hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds can be used)
1 1/4 cups (120 grams) finely crushed shortbread or vanilla wafer cookies
1/2 cup (55 grams) confectioner’s sugar (powdered or icing)
2 tablespoons (12 grams) cocoa powder (natural or Dutch processed)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) rum (light, dark or Bourbon)
Garnish:
1/2 cup (55 grams) confectioner’s sugar (powdered or icing), sifted
Makes about 48 rum balls
To toast nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast for about 8 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool completely and then either chop up finely with a knife or food processor. Transfer to a large bowl.
Process the vanilla wafer cookies or shortbread cookies, until finely ground. Add the crumbs to finely chopped pecans. Add the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder and stir until combined. Add the corn syrup and rum and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place the sifted confectioner’s sugar into a small bowl and roll the rum balls in the sugar.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, but serve at room temperature.
Expert tips:
Mrs. Strayballs tells you to make sure you do not process your nuts to a paste.
Instead of crushed vanilla wafers, try crushed shortbread cookies, graham cracker crumbs, crushed meringues, ginger cookies or chocolate wafers.
To prevent your hands from becoming a sticky mess, Mrs. Strayballs chills the batter for about 30 minutes and lightly butters the palms of her hands before working on the balls.
Roll cookies in powdered sugar or granulated white sugar, cocoa powder or chopped nuts.
Binky Trickle’s Yule Log
There wasn’t much room in the small kitchenette of our Tooting Bec council house but every Christmas, my dear mother would allow my brother and me to ice the Yule Log. I have such happy memories of sticking my fingers in the cocoa-encrusted enamel bowl (usually used for boiling socks). I happily share the recipe with your readers:
Ingredients
1 pkt Eazi-bake chocolate sponge mix (or Mexican/American equivalent)
For the buttercream filling:
3½ oz (100g) butter
5oz (150g) icing sugar
2oz (55g) cocoa powder
A splash of brandy or rum
Caster sugar for dusting
Cocoa powder for sifting
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 23 cm x 33 cm (1cm=0.39 inch) Swiss roll tin and line with baking parchment.
2. Spoon the sponge mixture into Swiss roll tin and level the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until sponge-like to the touch.
3. Turn the sponge onto the greaseproof paper dusted with caster sugar. Peel away the baking parchment and roll the sponge with the greaseproof paper inside. Leave to cool.
4. Beat butter in a mixing bowl until smooth, then gradually beat in icing sugar and cocoa powder. Add the brandy, mix well.
5. When cool, unroll sponge carefully and spread it with half the filling. Roll it up again— without the greaseproof paper this time.
6. Spread rest of filling over the cake to cover it. Score it with a fork to resemble a log, dust with cocoa powder. Decorate with a sprig of holly.
Heather-Heather’s Florentines
After my mother’s third marriage (to Algernon, youngest son of the Earl of Smogsworthy), we were given a small cottage on the Smogsworthy estate. At Christmas time, the dowager Duchess would encourage the numerous legitimate and illegitimate children of her six sons to come to the vast kitchens of Meddlesom Hall and help bake the Yuletide fare. Although the competition was fierce, I usually managed to kick and bite my way to the mixing bowl and was allowed to lick the spoon. This was my favourite mixture:
Ingredients
2oz (50g) butter
2oz (50g) Demerara sugar
2oz (50g) golden syrup
2oz (50g) plain flour
4 glace cherries, finely chopped
2oz (50g) mixed candied peel, finely chopped
2oz (50g) mixed almonds and walnuts, finely chopped
6oz (175g) plain chocolate, broken into pieces
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line three baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Measure butter, sugar and syrup into small pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and add flour, chopped cherries, candied peel and nuts to the pan. Stir well. Spoon 1 tsp of the mixture on to the prepared baking trays, leaving plenty of room for them to spread.
3. Bake in preheated oven for about 8– 10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the florentines to cool on the paper before lifting on to a cooling rack with a palette knife.
4. Melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of hot water. Spread a little melted chocolate over the flat base of each florentine, leave to set, chocolate side up, on the cooling rack.