maple ridge pitt meadows times christmas recipes 2012

MAPLE RIDGE & PITT MEADOWS

timesRecipes

2011-2012 Over the past couple of years, the times has

been establishing a Christmas tradition of inviting members of the community to share their recipes and special family stories or traditions. Here is a compilation of recipes and, in many

cases, accompanying tales we have published over the past two years. Enjoy!

Bob Groeneveld, Editor, Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows Times

Family ChristmasFamily ChristmasTuesday, December 6, 2011 | Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows Times

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Pre-heat oven to 375ºF.Liberally dose cooking spray over a

half a dozen cups in a muffin pan.In a separate bowl, beat the crap out of

a half dozen eggs (remember to remove the shells).

You can use more eggs than that, depending on how many pucks you want to eat.

I use a little bit of skim milk in my egg mixture.

Cut a meat of your choice into tiny pieces. I like to use Italian sausage, but skinless chicken or lean turkey are healthy alternatives. Sprinkle the meat into each cup.

Then, pour the egg mixture, followed by a palm-full of shredded cheese into each cup. I also like to use the feta var-iety.

Cut up some green onions and sprinkle the pieces on top of each cup.

To add more flavour, shake a liberal dose of pepper onto each creation.

Once the oven is ready, place the pan inside and bake the pucks for 25 min-utes.

Once the time is up, remove the pucks from the oven and scoop them out of the cups, using either a butter knife or a spoon.

Voila! Breakfast!

The nice thing about these pucks is, you can stick ’em in a plastic bag and throw ’em into the fridge or freezer for future con-

sumption.If you want to eat them later (try

to keep it under a week in the fridge, please), simply throw the pucks into the microwave – on high – for about a min-ute to warm them up again.

They actually taste better the next day.The pucks are terrific on top of toast-

ed, buttered English muffin halves. I like to layer a mound of mayo on one side of a toasted English muffin, cream cheese on the other, and make it into an artery-clogging puck sandwich.

In this case, I suggest keeping your friendly neighbourhood cardiologist on speed dial.

– Troy Landreville, TIMES reporter

This is a simple breakfast dish even I can whip up without worrying about burning the house down – or keeping my cordless phone by my side with 911 on speed dial

as I sit on the toilet with a bucket on my lap.I call it: Troy’s Breakfast Pucks. And, as I write this, two hours after inhaling a

couple of them, so far so good…

Troy’s breakfast pucksIngredientsCooking sprayEggsSkim (or other) milk (optional)Some sort of meatCheese, shreddedGreen onion, choppedPepper

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012 | Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times Family ChristmasFamily Christmas

Over the years, I have discov-ered many simple methods to help easily perfect the meals we serve. Some are

so obvious, like a meat thermometer, that it is bizarre when I come across a household that does not have one.

Always during the approach of trad-itional holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter I seem to get bombarded with questions about how long a turkey should cook.

Although I appreci-ate the opportunity for helping people in the kitchen, the answer to me always seems so obvious that it is surprising that more people don’t already have the solution.

Not only will a simple oven-proof meat thermometer help to save your turkey din-ner, it will also be the resolution to master-ing the doneness of a myriad of meat roasting recipes.

I have owned my current meat thermometer for probably close to 15 years, and it is still going strong. Not bad for an investment of only a few dollars.

Get one that is heat resistant (oven proof) so it can be left in the piece of

meat for the entire cooking process.

If an instant-read thermometer is used instead, and the tem-perature is checked at intervals, valued juices will be lost from the

meat with each puncture. One of the most important goals in cooking meat is to keep it moist while still reaching the desired doneness.

The area of a turkey where the thermometer should be inserted is the thickest part of the inner thigh, with-out touching the bone.

A stuffed turkey should be done

when the thermometer reads 82ºC (180ºF). Unstuffed, it should be 77ºC (170ºF).

You should also notice that the legs move easily when twisted, and the juices run clear.

There is a difference in the two tem-perature readings, because a stuffed turkey is denser, and the stuffing needs to reach a high enough temper-ature to kill any bacteria present.

That said, I realize people appreciate approximate cooking times to effect-ively coordinate side dishes to the main course, and it is for this reason only that I will provide guidelines for you (see box, above right).

Do not use these parameters as your main indication of doneness, but rath-er as an additional plan to your trusty meat thermometer.

There are many factors for example that will play havoc on the final accur-acy of the cooking time: the temper-ature of the turkey prior to roasting, the temperature of the stuffing (if used), or maybe the possibility that your oven is running a bit hotter or colder than the set temperature.

Where you decide to purchase your meat thermometer is not important, as they are available almost everywhere.

What is important is that you get one, and that you enjoy the benefits of it for years to come.

Thermometer worth its weight in gold

Chef Dez is a food columnist and culinary instructor in the Fraser Valley.

Visit him at www.chefdez.com.Send questions to [email protected] or to P.O. Box 2674, Abbotsford, B.C.

V2T 6R4

On Cookingby Chef Dez

Approximate cooking timesFor stuffed and unstuffed turkey

These parameters are not intended to be used as the main indicators of doneness, but only as an aid in using your meat thermometer.

If your turkey is cooked in a 160ºC (325ºF) oven, then this table will offer an approximation, to help in planning other parts of the meal.

Weight Unstuffed Stuffed3 to 3.5 kg (6½-8 lb.) 2½ – 2¾ hours 3 – 3¼ hours3.5 to 4.5 kg (8-10 lb.) 2¾ – 3 hours 3¼ – 3½ hours4.5 to 5.5 kg (10-12 lb.) 3 – 3¼ hours 3½ – 3¾ hours5.5 to 7 kg (12-15½ lb.) 3¼ – 3½ hours 3¾ – 4 hours7 to 10 kg (15½-22 lb.) 3½ – 4 hours 4 – 4½ hours


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Livia Mior has a lot on her plate since returning this fall to head up the advertising sales team at The TIMES.

Despite her new management duties, there’s always time for people – and espe-cially for her family.

As a Maple Ridge resident and mother of two, she is totally psyched about Christmas, and look-ing forward to creat-ing some new trad-itions this year – both at home and at work.

When asked about sharing a favourite Christmas recipe from her past, Mior puzzled.

“I am seriously trying to think of a family trad-ition – I think we were big on mashed potatoes,” she laughed. “Too easy?”

Instead, she picked a Christmas favourite that’s just a little more complex, but equally more tasty.

“My favourite is a trad-itional trifle dessert,” she

said. “I still make it for my kids, but my recipe is a bit loose – especially with the brandy.”

Always the proverbial kidder, she added, “Sometimes, there’s none left for the trifle.”

Mior trifleIngredients:2 boxes Jell-O – I use red or raspberry1 sponge cake1 can fruit cocktail1 tub Cool Whip

Boil 2 cups water and dissolve Jell-O crystals, pour in fruit cocktail (includ-ing the syrup). Pour this over torn apart sponge cake and refrigerate for at least six to eight hours and add whip cream on top.

“Delicious! My best Christmas mem-ory.”

– Livia MiorTIMES advertising sales manager

Trifle tops ’taters as favourite

Maddie Mior helped out her mother, offering to disolve Jell-O crystals for the trifle.

Sarah Mior is a big fan of the whipping cream that goes into her mother’s trifle.


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The bottom of the big dessert bowl at Christmas was where all

the action was. At least that’s how John Becker remembers it, when he was growing up.

Needless to say, he developed a strong appreciation for the traditional English trifle growing up, noting that his grandmother always made trifle and plum pudding for the holidays.

“Rum or cognac were mainstays of both dishes,” recounted Becker, a Pitt Meadows lawyer and TIMES col-umnist.

“In the case of the plum pudding it was burned off as part of the presentation at the family dinner table,” he said.

But in the case of the trifle, there was no loss of alcohol content.

“We kids were only allowed one small-ish bowl, whereas the adults went back two or three times.”

Literally, he said, the bottom of the big glass serving bowl was where all the action was “and if we got to serve our-selves, we wanted to get the spoon to the bottom where all the rum was sitting.”

He said the resulting small buzz was probably more placebo than anything else.

“But as kids, we looked forward to the trifle as much as the turkey dinner.”

Becker trifle(A traditional English

dessert)Ingredients:1 plain yellow, sponge or pound cakeminimum of 1 to 1½ oz. rum, brandy or sherry1 to 2 cups fresh or frozen fruit, thawed½ to ¾ cups jam, jelly or pre-serves (same fl avour as fruit)CustardWhipped cream

Slice or cube cake and sprinkle it with rum, brandy or sherry.

Place layer of cake in bottom of deep dish. Spread with jam, jelly or preserves (same flavour as fruit you are using).

Top with layer of fruit. Over this, place a layer of custard, then a layer of whipped cream. Repeat layers: cake, jam, fruit, custard, and whipped cream.

Top with cherries, shaved chocolate, nuts, or tiny candy sprinkles. Add lady-fingers around the edge.

Custard: From scratch, for the purists, or use a

packaged mix, such as Bird’s Eye or Jell-O brand. You can even use baby custard.

Suggested fruits (and jams) to use in this recipe: raspberries, strawberries, peaches, apricots, blueberries, or pineapple.

– John BeckerTIMES columnist

and Pitt Meadows lawyer

Dessert could offer a small buzz

John Becker has fond memories of his grandmother’s trifle, especially recounting the rum that gathered at the bottom of


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TortierresIngredients: 1 pastry recipe for double crust1 cup ground pork1 small onion1 tsp. savoury½ tsp. ground clovesup to 1 cup dry bread crumbs1 cup water

Combine all ingredients into a pot except the bread crumbs. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add bread crumbs to soak moisture. Spread unto pie crust and top with pastry.

Pinch edges and slit the top crust.Bake at 450ºF for 10 minutes. Reduce

to 350ºF and bake 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden.

– Marc DaltonMember of the Legislative Assembly

for Maple Ridge-Mission


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Ingredients:4 cups white sugar4 cups white corn syrup600 ml Eagle Brand condensed milk2 cups butter

Combine ingredients in saucepan; heat to slow boil.

Simmer for hours, stirring occasionally.

Test by dropping small amount into ice-water. Toffee is ready when test-piece hardens and breaks when quickly bent. Remove from heat, pour into shallow pans, and let cool.

When brittle, pig out!(Pre-arrange dentist visit to replace fill-

ings and crowns.)– Bob Groeneveld, TIMES editor

Tooth-Tugger ToffeeTThis is a favourite out of Donna’s childhood. It remains a

favourite throughout the family.A half-batch takes much less time to cook up, but this

stuff is incredibly good, and you’ll need a lot. We’ve been known to make huge amounts… and then give

some away for Christmas to assuage our guilt.


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Growing up in military bases in Germany and across Canada

didn’t mean putting aside French-Canadian traditions for Marc Dalton’s family.

On Christmas Eve, sing-ing began around 7 p.m., recalled the MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission.

“The youngest of the six children chose the first French or English carol, and it moved on to the oldest – Dad,” he said.

It was also on this occa-sion that they were given a once-a-year glass of Dad’s homemade wine.

“Then it was off to bed before being woken up to go Midnight Mass,” Dalton reflected.

“Dad always left the service early, under the auspices of going to warm up the car. When we arrived [home], pres-ents were piled up around the tree and pandemonium broke loose as wrapping paper flew about.”

About 2 a.m., with energy subsiding, it was time for the Christmas feast called Reveillons (“let’s wake up”).

“A vast and scrumptious array of French-Canadian dishes was prepared by Mom for the occasion,” he said, sharing this recipe as a reminder of those early morning feasts.

“A couple of hours later, we nestled into bed… Bon appétit et joyeux noel!”

Sucre a la CremeIngredients:2 cups white sugar2 cups light brown sugar1¹/8 cup whipping cream or evaporated milk½ tsp. maple fl avouring or 1 tsp. vanilla2 Tbsp. butter or margarine½ kg bag (or about 4) icing sugar

Bring to a full boil for 5 minutes the white and brown sugar, cream, maple flavouring.

Add the butter or margarine. Stir slow-ly and constantly.

Remove from stove and beat with mixer while adding the icing sugar grad-ually. As soon as it is thickened, pour into an 8” x 8” buttered pan.

Eat sparingly unless you want to be a Santa look-alike :).

Feast laid out after Midnight mass

Marc Dalton is MLA for the Maple Ridge-Mission riding.

– Marc DaltonMember of the Legislative Assembly for Maple Ridge-Mission

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Seeing the pre-amble of Christmas unfold through the eyes of a two-year-old can’t help but reignite any adult’s waning Christmas spirit.

I say this from personal experi-ence. After bundling up our grand-daughter, Inara, in mountains of clothing appropriate to ward off all the colder temperatures, high winds, and torrential downpours that plagued Saturday night, we set off to catch the community’s Christmas parade.

Leading up to the festivities, we talked with her about the magic of the night-time parade, telling the toddler-sized sponge (who absorbs everything we say, and too often repeats it back) that we would be hearing lots of music, seeing fire trucks and other floats layered in pretty lights, and watching dancers and bands marching down through the streets.

And we told her repeatedly about the piece de resistance (she’s incredibly bright and speaks three languages already, but French isn’t one of them, so she didn’t get that part) that she was going to see Santa Claus.

Admittedly, all the hype ahead was likely wasted. She didn’t seem too thrilled to be going out.

But the drive to the parade – meandering through the side streets en route – those sparkling brown eyes of hers quickly widened as we slowed to admire numerous homes lit up with Christmas trees and front yards adorning holiday decorations – from wood cutouts and twinkling lights, to inflatables and moving characters.

Snowmen seemed to hold the biggest appeal of all for the youngster, followed a close second by her amazement with all the trees that – covered with countless strands of colourful lights – seemed to reach to the heavens. I guess, when you’re under three feet tall, those lights on the trees might seem to go on forever.

Her chuckles of delight during the drive were enough to leave us smiling through the night. But the squeals of glee and her frantic waving and clap-

ping, as each float passed by, suc-cessfully re-ignited that sometimes faltering Christmas spirit.

Thank you, Inara. You’ve restored our child-like appreciation and love for the holidays.

I can’t wait for next weekend, when we take you to get pictures with Santa. And I can’t imagine the magic that will come spending Christmas Day with you, too.

Speaking of kids and Christmas, I want to share a special holiday

recipe with you that one day I, too, will share with my granddaughter.

Every year, a few weeks before Christmas, my mother would fill the cupboards and freezer with mountains of cookies, tarts, cakes, and other holi-day treats that could easily be pulled out whenever unexpected company showed up.

Admittedly, I loved her shortbread and butter tarts, but my all-time fave was her peanut crunch.

Peanut crunchFirst mixture:1 cup crushed Corn Flakes1 cup Rice Krispies1 cup peanut butterSecond mixture:1/2 cup brown sugar1/2 cup corn syrupPlace second mixture in pot on the stove, heat

until sugar is dissolved (do not boil). Pour this on first mixture, and mix well.

Press into a 8”X14” pan – place in fridge.Melt 1/4 cup butterAdd 2 tbsps Birds Eye Custard powder2 tbsps milk2 cups icing sugarBeat until smooth, spread over mixture in panMelt 3 squares semi-sweet chocolate and 3 tbsps

butter, then pour on top of squares.Place in fridge until chocolate is hard.Mom always doubled the recipe, since it freezes so

well. But even frozen, it didn’t last long.

Opinion

Looking Inby Roxanne Hooper

Kids can reignite magic of season


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Old baked bread pudding

Ingredients:1 lb. bread scraps (day old,

not dry)¼ lb. sugar,¼ lb currants or sultanas1 oz. fi nely chopped

suet or lard1 eggTsp. of nutmegTsp. of cinnamonPinch of salt

Cut the bread into small pieces and put into a bowl with enough cold water to cover. Soak until soft. Press water away and beat bread finely with fork. Beat egg and add to bread with fruit, sugar, spices and salt. Mix well and put into a well greased or oiled pie dish or cake pan. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

– Spencer LevanTIMES publisher

Publisher’s pudding a favourite

TIMES publisher Spencer Levan shares his bread pudding recipe.

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Nostalgic for Mum’s cooking

When asked to share one of her family’s trad-itional Christmas recipes, Pitt Meadows’s own Annette Code admitted she was hard pressed to find one – because there weren’t

many to be had.“I won’t be sending in any family recipes unless I get an

unexpected brainwave, which doesn’t happen often any more,” Code said. “So I thought you might be interested in why.”

“My mum learned to cook in England during the Second World War, during rationing. You must of heard about English cooking pre-1980.

My mum was a great pastry maker but never had a recipe. She only had one cookbook. The rest was in her head, and she never measured anything.

She used a tea cup for flour. All our veggies were cooked beyond recognition, and she had never heard, or seen broccoli before coming to Canada. I don’t think she ever ate any either.

We had the same old things all the time. Carrots, potatoes, cabbage, turnip, parsnips – corn was for cows. We had wonderful things like beans on toast, canned spaghetti on toast, herring on toast, cheese on toast.Bacon and eggs with chips (fries) or sausages and chips, a real treat, was the traditional English breakfast.Yum, black pudding! Her homemade porridge was horrid and by the time we came downstairs for breakfast and poured the milk on it

the lump of porridge rose and floated in the bowel.I wasn’t very old when I gave that up.Christmas dinner: She finally did learn how to cook a turkey, but was happier with a big chicken. Dessert was

a packaged English Christmas pudding for the grown ups with English custard, and we kids had jelly, two colours green and red, chilled each colour on an angle in a glass, with whipped cream and coloured sprinkles.

Gravy was made from Bisto. She did buy a Christmas cake, put almond paste on it and the hard icing, with a ruffled paper edging, a gold Merry Christmas on top and decorated with the hard little silver balls that are hard on fillings.

The house was decorated with holly on top of pictures and lots of metal-type paper chains that pull out and we hung these in windows and doorway and on the mantel. Bells in red and white made of paper.

I don’t make anything unusual, following in mother’s footsteps.I used to make a mean pecan pie – from a Betty Crocker cookbook – with homemade pastry from the recipe (with

the vinegar and egg) but my family prefers an ice cream cake, so I always get the DQ Christmas log as something resembling my British heritage.

We also have Christmas crackers and I insist we wear the silly paper hats.I buy my packaged Christmas pudding in England from Harrod’s store at the airport on the way home to Canada: a

small one, as I’m the only one who eats it with British custard on top, the saviour of all British desserts. Doesn’t mat-ter how it turns out, custard covers all sins.

As I get older, I miss my mum’s cooking, or at least become nostalgic about it.Cheers and happy Christmas!”

– Annette CodePitt Meadows resident and avid historian


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Christmas is a tradition-filled time in the Beechinor house-

hold, and as local singer Maureen Beechinor tells it, food is an important part of those Christmas traditions.

“Food follows those traditions closely through-out the holiday season,” she said. “From the min-ute the decorations are hauled out of the crawl space, I become my moth-er! She made our family Christmas’s so special and I am brought back to those days as I recreate almost every memory through decorating, bak-ing and cooking.”

Beechinor, is a member of the Westcoast Harmony Chorus which hit a high note in Denver this fall, taking top spot in the international harmony com-petition.

While music is a big part of the holi-day season for her, she tells how the Christmas Eve meal of mazetti and trim-mings is special to her fmaily.

“It begins with a meal of mazetti, oriental coleslaw, ham, and other side dishes,” she explained.

“Mom started making mazetti when I was a toddler, and my sister, brothers and I wouldn’t have a Christmas Eve without it. My daughters and my nieces all have the recipe and insist they will never have a Christmas Eve without it, either.”

After they are full and ready to hang

the stockings, they gather for a reading of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.

“This is as much a necessity as the Mazetti, as my dad told this story every year, even when my siblings and I became adults,” Beechinor said.

“When we had our children he told the story to them in their onesies. This made him very happy, and even when we couldn’t be together one year, he sent a cassette tape of him reading the

story, which we all played for our young children. They loved the sound of Papa’s voice.”

Her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease when Beechinor’s kids were still in elementary school.

He continued to tell the story for a couple years, until he could no longer get the words out. And after he went into care, that old cassette tape was turned into a CD and all the grandchil-dren were given one along with a book of the story.

“Every Christmas Eve, we pull it out and gather to hear Papa read the story,” Beechinor said, getting teary at the mem-ories.

“For a couple years after he passed away, there were tears as we heard his voice. Now, it is a very joyful time,” she concluded.

“So many memories of our wonderful dad and Papa, and it all begins with a traditional meal of Mazetti.”

Traditions began with mazetti meal

MazettiIngredients:3 lb. lean ground beef1 – 5.5 oz. tin tomato paste (156 ml)1 lb. sausage 1 or 2 tins sliced mushrooms4 cup chopped onion¼ bottle Italian seasoning1 – 28 oz. tin diced tomatoes (796 ml)1 pkg broad egg noodles1 – 22 oz. tin tomato sauce (680 ml)Shredded cheddar cheese to cover

Brown onions and set aside. Brown meat and drain fat. Cook noodles and drain.

Mix meat and onions with everything except cheese.

Place in large casserole (or two smaller ones), cover with shredded cheese. Bake at 325ºF covered, 1 hour. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

Freezes well, without cheese. – Maureen Beechinor

Maple Ridge member of Westcoast Harmony Chorus

Maureen Beechinor


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Kathy Booth is a “good inten-tions” Christmas baker… with bad time management skills.

“Every year, as Christmas approaches, I head to the market and lovingly purchase the finest ingredi-ents with which to bake all sorts of traditional Christmas goodies – mince tarts, Turkish delight, Christmas fruit cake, ruiskis,” explained Booth.

This kind of baking never happens, admitted the author of Early Start, a monthly early childhood education column in The TIMES.

Writer fails at baking exchangesMaple shortbread cookiesIngredients:1 cup butter1 egg yolk ½ cup pure maple sugar2 cups unbleached fl our

Place oven racks in the middle of the oven.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.Cream softened butter.Stir in the maple sugar and egg yolk.Add flour, a little at a time, stirring

until the mixture is too stiff to work with a spoon. Turn out onto a floured surface and gently knead, adding a little flour at a time, just until dough begins to crack at the edges.

Gently flatten the dough and then roll it out to ¼ inch with a rolling pin.

Cut into shapes and place on a cookie sheet.

Sprinkle a little maple sugar on top of each cookie.

Bake 10 minutes or until delicately golden at edges.Some hints:

The number of cookies depends on the size and shape of the cookie cutters. The cookies are more melt-in-the-mouth if the dough is handled lightly. Use coconut sugar instead of maple for a more exotic flavour.

–Kathy BoothTIMES columnist

Kathy Booth,

a good-intentioned

Christmas baker,

showed off her maple

shortbread cookies.

“The nuts and dried fruit, the mince, the extra butter, walnut paste, and whipping cream remain tucked in the fridge.”

Needless to say, she fails miserably at participating in Christmas baking exchanges. “The ‘ooh, I really want to do some Christmas baking’ urge comes from fond

memories of childhood, when my mom baked enough mince tarts, Turkish delight, and shortbread cookies for us six kids and anyone else who might stop by,” Booth recalled.

“I don’t know how she did it all. At the time, the lowly shortbread cookie was on my long list of things not worth eating. In my childish opinion, there was nothing remotely interesting about them.”

Her appreciation for the simple shortbread cookie has grown in direct contrast to her ability to complete any other type of Christmas baking.

The recipe, originally gleaned from a decades old copy of A Guide to Good Cooking by Five Roses Flour, is so simple and quickly made, even she’s convinced she can get it baked in time for Christmas. Over the years, she has played with the ingredients.

“It adapts well,” she said, noting that the original recipe calls for icing sugar and ¼ teaspoon of fresh ground nutmeg. She uses maple sugar instead for what she called a distinctly Canadian flavour.

“These are also a great cookie to bake with kids,” Booth said. “Wishing you Merry Christmas and bon appetit!”

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A favourite in Italy, this freshly baked sweet biscuits reminiscent of rich polenta. Grappa is an Italian liqueur made from fermenting grape remnants after pressing them for wine. (This recipe makes 8 bis-cuits.)Ingredients: 4 tbsp raisins2 tbsp Italian grappa liqueur (plus more for sipping)1 cup fi ne cornmeal1 cup milk, heated to almost boiling1 cup corn fl our²/3 cup sugar¼ cup all-purpose fl our1 tbsp. baking powder½ tsp. salt½ cup cold butter, cut in small piecescold milk, optionalicing sugar

In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the grappa.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF and prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a separate bowl, stir the hot milk and the cornmeal together. It will get very

thick as the cornmeal swells and absorbs the milk.

In another bowl combine all of the other dry ingredients together: corn flour, sugar, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

Work the cold butter pieces into this dry mixture with a pastry cutter until the but-ter pieces are about the size of peas. Do not work the butter in with your hands, as this will melt the butter.

Stir the raisins and grappa mixture into the milk/cornmeal mixture. Then mix this with the dry ingredients and butter mix-ture until it is just combined – do not over mix. If it is too dry, add a little extra milk. It should resemble a thick muffin batter.

Spoon 8 equal portions onto the pre-pared baking sheet and bake immediately for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Carefully remove the biscuits from the pan and let cool slightly on a cooling rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with a small shot of grappa, coffee, or espresso.

– Chef Dez, TIMES columnist

Biscuits and liqueur offer Italian flare to the season

One of Chef Dez’s preferred holiday treats is Italian polenta buns.

“These are not actually buns, per say, but more like biscuits, as they are essentially classified as a

quick bread, not yeast raised,” The TIMES On Cooking colum-nist explained.

“Polenta is basically cooked cornmeal, so these buns are designed to reflect a sweet version of polenta in a biscuit form. The addition of grappa soaked raisins are a wonderful addi-tion in taste, but also add a complementing visual and texture aspect,” he said.

He always has a small amount of grappa to sip when having them.

“Grappa is an acquired taste that has more cynics than lovers, as I have even heard rumours of some cafes in Italy actually use grappa to clean their windows,” said Chef Dez.

“My honest advice to you is to try it, but be prepared to hate it. Rum can easily be substituted for the grappa if you prefer.”

Italian polenta buns with grappaRecipe created by Chef Dez – www.chefdez.com

Chef Dez is a food columnist and culinary instructor in the Fraser Valley. Visit him at www.chefdez.com.


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Grandma’s PillowIngredients:¼ cup margarine or butter1 pkg. marshmallows5 cups Rice Krispies1 cup at least of coconut

Melt butter on low or medium heat.Add marshmallows. Cook, and stir constantly so it doesn’t

burn, until all is melted.

Add cereal. Stir well. Put coconut on a plate. Using a table-

spoon of mixture form a ball and roll in coconut until coated.

Arrange on a dish. No need to refriger-ate.

Disco shares Gram’s recipe

“My grandma always made the best goodies. Whenever I would visit as a

youngster, there were always baked goods,” explained Maple Ridge resident and All Star Wrestling cruiserweight champion Nathan Burke, who grapples under the alias of Disco Fury.

“I wish my Grandma was still alive. I have my Grandpa left and he resides in New Brunswick,” he added.

Nathan Burke, a.k.a. Disco Fury

TIMES files


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Ingredients:½ cup butter1 bag gluten-free arrowroot cookies crushed into

crumbs (or 1¼ cups gluten-free graham wafer crumbs)

2 blocks Philadelphia cream cheese softened½ cup sugar¾ cup sour cream2 eggs½ tsp vanilla1 tbsp lemon juice

Set over at 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Line with waxed paper, grease waxed paper.

In a medium bowl, melt ½ cup butter. Mix crumbs into butter. Press into bot-

tom of springform pan, pushing the extra up around the edges in a lip. Refrigerate.

In large mixing bowl, using electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sour cream and sugar, and beat until incorporated. Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice, mix until incorporated. Stop mixer, scrape sides and bottom of bowl, mix for 30 seconds to ensure all ingredi-ents are fully mixed.

Pour mixture into prepared spring-form pan. Bake 45 minutes or until firm. Remove from over, let stand 10 minutes. Run knife around edge of pan. Cool com-pletely, then chill for minimum 3 hours.

– Ronda PayneTIMES reporter

Cheesecake modified for Daddy

In my family, I am known as the “cheesecake queen.” I held a desserts and drinks housewarming once. I made 10 different kinds of

cheesecakes. Yes, 10.That is not a typo.

For another occasion, a family reunion at my par-ents, I made six different kinds (that was when I was crowned and given my title) and I have always con-sidered cheesecake to be my go-to dessert.

My secret is that for many of the cheesecakes I make, I have a standard base, to which I add a var-iety of things.

So whether I’m making an eggnog cheesecake with rum sauce, a pumpkin cheesecake, an Oreo cookie cheesecake, or a mango citrus cheesecake, they all start with the same base.

But, a challenge cropped up a few years ago when my dad was diagnosed as having Celiac disease. I needed to modify my base crusts. Now, I make glu-ten-free cheesecakes all the time, and no one ever notices they are any different.

Ronda’s secret (and gluten-free) cheesecake base

Reporter Ronda Payne (right) has become the cheesecake queen amongst her family (above). This picture includes her mother and father and older brother Michael.


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Born as the Second World War came to an end, Liz Hancock re-members all too well the terrible rationing that England – like so

many countries – faced.“Some say [it was] worse than during

the war and almost everything was not available at all or on short supply,” she recounted.

“I remember the lines for bread, and when sugar finally came off the list, I was given sixpence, and with the boy next door – who was older than me – we went up to the corner shop and bought a bag of broken cookies. A real treat,” said Hancock, a writer, artist, environmental-ist, and teacher of sustainable living who pens the monthly River Talk column for The TIMES.

Despite the hardships of the era, her mother always pro-duced a Christmas cake, which Hancock said must top her all-time bill of Christmas favourites.

“She would save up her ration of sugar, sultanas, and dried fruit about the begin-ning of December, and there was always an icing-covered fruit cake on the table for Christmas Day tea,” Hancock explained.

“So here, from her Radiation Cookery Book, which was passed from her mother to her, and then to me at my marriage in 1968, I set below the family Christmas cake recipe.”

Christmas fruit cakeIngredients:¾ lb. butter or margarine¾ lb. brown sugar6 eggspinch salt1 lb. fl our (self raising or plain with

2 tsp. baking powder)1 lb. sultanas1 lb. of currants¼ lb. raisins6 oz. of candid peel2 oz. cherries ¼ lb. chopped almonds2 tbsp. of dark treacle ½ tsp. of mixed spices1 glass of brandy (optional)Almond paste and Royal icing to cover the cake.

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Add eggs one at a time (add a little of the flour to stop it from curd-ling). Beat until the mixture is stiff.

Stir in remainder of the flour and all other ingredi-ents. Mix well, and transfer to a spring pan lined with baking paper which has been greased. Cook for 6 hours at mark one. Keep the cake for at least three weeks before eating.

You can have the option of putting Almond paste

and Royal icing on it, but I just like the cake by itself. –Enjoy!

– Liz HancockTIMES columnist

Fruit cake tops Christmas faves

Liz Hancock


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Magic French fudgeIngredients:3 cups (1 500g package) Semi-sweet Chocolate

Chips1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed MilkDash of Salt1½ tsp. vanilla extract½ cups chopped nuts (optional)

In top of double boiler (or heavy bot-tom pot on low heat) melt chocolate chips, stir often. Remove from heat; stir in condensed milk, salt, vanilla and nuts.

Spread mixture evenly into waxed-paper-lined 8x8 baking pan. Chill for 2 hours or until firm.

Turn fudge onto cutting board, peel off paper, and cut into squares.

Tightly cover any leftovers.– Deb Walters

Pitt Meadows Mayor

Pitt mayor shares fudge recipe


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The holiday season is a special time of year, celebrated with favourite food and drinks, with family and friends.

Of the many beverages and appetiz-ers that help capture the essence of the season, eggnog is probably the first that comes to mind.

Eggnog is a drink seems to have origin-ated in Britain, from a drink called “pos-set” – a mixture of eggs, milk, and ale, sherry, or brandy. Posset was served in small, carved wooden mugs, called “nog-gins.” Thus the name “eggnog.”

In North America, rum replaced the ale, sherry, or brandy.

Today’s eggnog is not necessar-ily served with alcohol at all, and is a favourite for all ages.

Due to the busy season’s hectic sched-ules, many consumers buy it pre-made in a carton, rather than making it from scratch. Grocery stores also include a light version that is lower in fat, and at some locations, a no-fat variety.

However, making eggnog from scratch adds an old-world classic touch to your celebrations, and the taste is incredible.

This recipe is my gift to you. This eggnog is so rich and fresh tasting that any store-bought variety will shadow in comparison. If you can, try to buy whole nutmeg and grate it fresh, versus pre-ground, as a garnish. Essential oils of the nutmeg are released upon grating, adding an extra aromatic essence to your mug of holiday cheer.

Food and beverages are a great social aspect of bringing people together, and even more wonderful when you have made them from scratch.

Seasonal beverages do not have to contain alcohol to be enjoyable. A heated cranberry or grape juice, for example, with warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and star anise can replace mulled wine. And there are many choices of fantastic herbal teas and syr-ups for coffees that capture the essence of the season beautifully.

Whatever beverage you choose to help celebrate during the holidays with your cuisine, please drink responsibly and have a magnificent time.

Homemade EggnogRecipe created by Chef Dez

/Gordon Desormeaux

The constant stirring of the egg mixture while it is cooking is vital to ensure that the eggs don’t become scrambled eggs.

Ingredients6 egg yolks½ cup sugar1 cup whipping cream1 cup whole milk½ tsp. ground nutmegPinch of salt1 additional cup whipping cream6 Tbsp. dark or spiced rum

In a stainless steel bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until smooth.

Mix in one cup of whipping cream, the milk, nutmeg, and salt until completely combined.

Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. For a more temperate heat, make sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Whisk the mixture constantly, until it reaches 175ºF.

Remove the bowl from the heat and immediately chill uncovered in the refrigerator until cold.

While the mixture is cooling, whisk the remaining cup of whipping cream until soft peaks form. Once the egg mixture is cold, gradually fold it in.

Stir in the rum, pour into glasses, and garnish with more freshly grated nutmeg.

Makes just over 5 cups

The gift of a seasonal beverage

On Cookingby Chef Dez

Chef Dez is a food columnist and culinary instructor in the Fraser Valley.

Visit him at www.chefdez.com.Send questions to [email protected] or to P.O. Box 2674, Abbotsford, B.C.

V2T 6R4


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“I eat it all the time, it’s soooo good,” the 2012 London Games silver-medal swimmer explained.

“My Grandma does some crazy stuff with her food. She’s amazing!” he added.

“He’s just partial to Grandma,” Grandma Christensen explained.

“Cheesecake is one of his favourite things, aside from lasagna. He likes to eat” she added.

Cranberry and white chocolate cheesecakeIngredients: 4 oz. white chocolate, chopped 500g cream cheese¾ cup granulated sugar3 eggs2 tsp. vanillapinch salt3 cups sour creamBase:1 cup graham cracker crumbs2 tbsp. butter2 oz. white chocolate, choppedGlaze:2 cups cranberries¹/3 cup granulated sugar1 tsp. cornstarch

Base: Stir crumbs with butter until well moistened, stir in chocolate. Press into bottom of greased nine-inch springform pan. Centre pan on 20x14 inch piece of foil; press up tightly around side of pan. Bake in 325ºF oven for eight minutes. Let cool on rack.

In small bowl set over hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate. Let cool.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until softened. Gradually beat in sugar, beat for three minutes or until fluffy. On low

speed, beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, chocolate, and salt. Stir in sour cream.

Pour onto base. Set pan in shallow larger pan, pour in enough hot water to come one inch up side. Bake in 325ºF oven for 1¼ hours or until edge is set but centre still jiggles slightly. Turn oven off, let cool in oven for one hour. Remove from larger pan and remove foil, let cool on rack. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to two days.

Glaze: In saucepan, cook cranberries and 1/3 cup water, partially covered, just until boiling. Stir in sugar and return to boil, cook for two minutes or until sugar is dissolved but berries have not popped. Drain. Set berries aside.

Remove cake from pan; place on cake plate. Return juice to saucepan, blend in cornstarch. Cook, whisking, until boiling and thickened, let cool slightly. Spoon berries around edge of cake. Spoon glaze over top.

Refrigerate for one hour or longer.

Medal winners, every one

Maple Ridge’s Home Town Hero and Paralympian Nathan Stein thinks his grandma Jan Christensen is something special. And he thinks her cran-berry and white chocolate cheesecake could win a gold medal in any competition.

Home Town Hero and Paralympian Nathan Stein and his grandma Jan Christensen.


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Ingredients:½ cup Kahlua (or as a non-alcoholic substitute,

chocolate syrup)¼ cup light corn syrup¹/3 cup chopped candied cherries¹/3 cup chopped golden raisins1 cup powdered sugar (no lumps)½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder2½ cups fi ne vanilla wafer crumbs1 cup fi nely chopped pecans

No cooking! Blend sugar, cocoa, crumbs, and pecans. Combine mixtures. Shape into small balls. Roll in desired coating. Freeze or store in an airtight container. Makes four dozen.

Cheese please!Here’s another quick and easy recipe,

one that I made up all by myself, using my natural culinary instincts.Ingredients:Microwave popcornhalf cup of buttertwo cups Smart Food White Chedder Popcorn

Cook up microwavable popcorn.Add melted butter.Mix in several handfuls of Smart Food

White Cheddar Popcorn. Shake so the popcorn mixes together.

Enjoy!

– Troy LandrevilleTIMES reporter/photographer

Troy’s cocoa ballsHere’s a golden oldie that was passed on to me by my wife. Her mom used to

mix up this holiday favourite, and the best part is, you don’t have to worry about turning the oven on.

Troy Landreville/TIMES

Reporter Troy Landreville’s cheesy popcorn is a huge hit with the toddler set, including his two-year-old son Cole.


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she’s fond of during the holidays. It’s her:

Merry ‘Chris’ mousee. Crust ingredients:18 chocolate sandwich cookies¼ cup chilled butter or margarine3 tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Process cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Add butter and sugar, and mix until well blended. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9” pie plate. Bake six min-utes. Cool completely on a wire rack.Mousse pie filling ingredients:1 tbsp. cocoa½ cup of milk¼ cup strongly brewed coffee3 eggs8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate cut into small

pieces1 tsp. vanilla extract½ tsp. almond extract¹/3 cup of sugar1 tbsp. water¹/8 tsp. cream of tartar1 cup whipping cream, whippedChocolate curls to garnish

Combine cocoa, milk, and coffee in top of a double boiler over simmering water: Whisk until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks. Whisking constantly, cook six minutes or until mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and extracts: stir until chocolate melts. Transfer chocolate mix-ture to a large bowl.

In a double boiler over simmering water combine sugar, egg whites, water and cream of tartar. Whisking con-stantly, cook mixture until a thermom-eter registers 160ºF (about 10 minutes) Transfer to a medium bowl: beat until soft peaks form.

Fold egg white mixture and whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Spoon mousse into crust. Cover and store in refrigerator. Before serving garnish with chocolate curls.

– Lorraine Bates (a.k.a. Mrs. Claus)Co-chair of Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows

Christmas Hampers

Mrs. Claus’s merry ’Chris’ mousee

She’s been dubbed Mrs. Claus because of her big heart and her involvement as co-chair of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Christmas Hamper for more than a decade.

When the Mrs. was asked to share one of her favourite Christmas recipes, Lorraine Bates admitted to not being much of a baker and said she was hard pressed to find anything that was actually in written form. Everything she makes, she usually does without the aid of a recipe.

Despite her insanely busy schedule with this year’s hamper deadline loom-ing, she did manage to dig out one recipe

Maria Rantanen/TIMES

Lorraine Bates shares her chocolate mousse pie recipe.


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Judy Daykin realized later in life why her mother always made a Yule log when company was com-ing. While it was always delicious,

it dawned on Daykin, her mom always made it because it was easy, too.

“This is a recipe from my mom, she is 90 now. She always had it hand writ-ten on a slip of paper in her well used cookbook. I don’t know where she got it from, but I assume it was passed from a friend or relative.”

It has become one of her husband’s favourite desserts, said Daykin, wife of Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin: “The family is thrilled to know that I have

made chocolate roll. And, it’s great for a Christmas dessert because it is so light.”

Log recipe may be tattered, but mayor’s wife pulls it out annually

Ingredients:4 egg yolks2 Tbsp. water½ cup sugarBeat together.Sift together: 5 Tbsp. baking cocoa¹/3 cup fl ourDash of salt

Add to egg yolks:Beat four egg whites

until very stiff, fold first mixture in carefully until just mixed.

(½ pint of whipped cream – whipped until thick, see following)

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Grease with oil. Spread batter about ½” thick.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until cake springs back to touch. Do not overbake. Turn onto clean tea towel and remove bottom wax paper. While warm, roll up gently and cool. When

cooled unroll and fill with whipped cream, reroll and chill. Can be made earlier in the day and chilled until serving. Serve with sauce.Sauce:

Melt ½ cup butter in double boiler – beat with whisk, and add ¾ cup of icing sugar, beat in 1 whole egg. It will thicken a bit – cool and serve with chilled chocolate log. Enjoy!

– Judy Daykin, Better half of Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin

Chocolate roll (Yule log)

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Anne Marrison started mak-ing meringues when she kept chickens on a rural acreage and fed them mainly bran cooked

with kitchen scraps from her big vegetable garden.

“We let them roam the place in sum-mer, fall, and winter, whenever the crops could handle chicken,” she said. “They ran fast enough to catch flies.”

They were very poor, but had lots of eggs, and meringues made nice Christmas gifts for very little money, she explained.

“In those days, I always made mer-ingues with a hand beater, and cooked them in an oil range, which also heated water for the bathroom.

“One Christmas, we got a blow-back down the oil range chimney and a whole sheet of meringues that was out to cool turned black with soot,” Marrison recount-ed. “So did I.”

“It was a tiny old house (650 square feet) built on tree trunks, and the back bedroom had been used to dry out mink skins. At night we could hear bits of wood falling from carpenter ants inside the walls. But we were young, healthy, thrilled to have a home of our own, and we had good neighbours,” she said.

“We had some very happy Christmases in that little house.”

Meringue made holiday special despite hard financial times

TIMES columnist Anne Marrison shares her recipe for upside-down meringues, and a bit of its history..

Upside-down meringuesIngredients:Parchment paperTiny amount of vinegar3 egg whitesPinch cream of tartar1 cup icing sugar

First I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.Then I wipe the bowl I’ll use with a paper towel wetted with

vinegar. It’s important to make sure no trace of fat is left on the bowl.Next I crack three eggs very carefully. If any speck of egg

yolk gets into the whites, the meringues won’t thicken prop-erly.

I dump the egg whites in the bowl and add a pinch of cream of tartar.

This stabilizes the egg whites.Then I beat the whites with an electric beater until they’re

thick. At that point I add about a tablespoon of icing sugar and beat some more.

Then add another tablespoon of sugar and beat for another minute. Keep this up until all the icing sugar is used.

When the whipped egg whites stand in stiff peaks and a small spoonful dumped on the cookie sheet holds its shape, the mix is ready for the cookie sheet.

I spoon out a tablespoon per time and flatten the top of each.Some ovens are hotter than others. Mine is cooler than aver-

age. I set the temperature for 275ºF.My aim is to cook the meringues so they’re crisp all the way

through, and I usually leave them in for two hours. People who like them soft in the middle or do tiny, teaspoon-size mer-ingues won’t need to cook them as long.Topping1 cup melted chocolatePistachio nuts, chopped small or grated

Melt enough chocolate chunks to brush over the meringues. Then sprinkle the chopped, grated, or ground pistachio nuts over the melted chocolate.

Eat the meringues with the chocolate at the bottom. The hardened chocolate makes a kind of dish and you avoid getting meringue crumbs all over your clothes.

It seems expensive to buy a whole box of cream of tartar for one pinch – but I have been using the same box since the late 1960s, mainly because I’ve never figured out what else I can use cream of tartar for.

The quantity of icing sugar needs to be increased if the eggs are huge.

Most fondue bowls can melt the chocolate if you allow enough time. Otherwise use a double boiler for melting.

You can make meringues in all kinds of sizes and colours. They keep for many months in a tin at room temperature (if you hide them).

– Anne MarrisonTIMES garden columnist

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Pie rekindles Christmas memories of spending time with loved ones

Anne Gordon endeavours to keep some of her grand-mother’s Kentucky traditions alive, including creation of her award-winning chocolate meringue pie every Christmas.

“My grandmother was known throughout Southern Kentucky for her Sunday dinners,” explained The TIMES sales rep.

“Family and friends would gather every Sunday after church, sit at her table and eat until they were stuffed. Although, I loved those Sundays dinners, my favourite memory from my childhood is Christmas at Granny Almas.”

Her home was always overly decorated, extremely comfortable, and smelled of freshly baked pies, Gordon recalled.

From homemade apple to pecan her Grandmother made – at least by her reckoning – the best pies ever.

“She would bake several pies for the neighbourhood, her church, and everyone in between for Christmas.”

There was always one pie in particular that everyone hoped to get for Christmas, and that was Granny Alma’s award-winning chocolate meringue pie.

“Being her one and only taste tester, I had my fair share of slices and will never forget Granny Alma spending that time with me and teaching me how to make it,” Gordon said, now passing on taste-testing to her six-year-old daughter Georgia.

“Since [Granny’s] passing I continue to make that chocolate meringue pie for special occasions, and although it’s not and never will be Granny Alma’s it still takes me back to a time when Christmas was about just spending it with the people you love.”

Georgia Gordon is Anne’s six-year-old daughter and her official taste tester, giving two thumbs up to her meringue pie.

Chocolate meringue pie Ingredients:¾ cup sugar 5 tbsp. baking cocoa 3 tbsp. cornstarch ¼ tsp. salt 2 cups milk 3 egg yolks, beaten 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 pie shell (9 inches), baked (make sure this step isn’t forgotten)Meringue: 3 egg whites ¼ tsp. cream of tartar 6 tbsp. sugar

In a saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt; gradually add milk. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir two minutes more.

Remove from heat. Stir about 1 cup of the hot filling into the egg yolks. Return to saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Pour hot filling into pie crust.

For meringue, immediately beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until stiff and glossy.

Spread evenly over hot filling, sealing meringue to pie crust.

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden. – Anne Gordon

TIMES sales representative


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These are chocolates made with mashed potatoes, and believe it or not, they are just as much fun to make

as they are to eat, said Pitt Meadows Councillor Gwen O’Connell.

“When my mom used to make them, she would sometimes let us help,” she recounted. “But a lot of times she would make them after we went bed, so they would be a sur-prise for us. Or, at least that is what she said. Mom would hide them in the back of the freezer. Once we got a little older, we would go snooping to find them.”

Now an adult with children of her own, O’Connell said the treats con-tinue as a family Christmas tradition. And she, too, makes them after the

kids are in bed… and does her best to hide them away.

“Merry Christmas, everyone!”

Chocolate mashed potatoesIngredients:2½ cups icing sugar¾ cup mashed potatoes; do

not add milk or butter to these4 cups of coconut1 teaspoon vanilla

You mix everything together in a large bowl and then everyone helps by rolling them into small balls. You then place the small balls on a piece

of wax paper and let them dry while you make the chocolate sauce to dip them in. Chocolate sauce:4 squares on unsweetened chocolate¹/3 of a small block of paraffi n wax½ cup of chocolate chips

Melt the above mixture in a double boiler.

Dip the balls into the chocolate mixture and let them harden on sheet of wax paper.

These are very sweet, and you can place them on a plate with other homemade chocolates to serve them.

– Gwen O’ConnellPitt Meadows Councillor

Carrying on Mom’s tradition


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Some Nordic traditional recipes are worth keeping – others not so much.

Every culture has its quirks – remember My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding? Anyone whose parents were immigrants could relate to that movie.

The Finns are no differ-ent, and luck-ily, my parents were young enough when they moved to Canada to shed some of the worst trad-itions – like liver casserole with raisins and

lye fish, and an Easter treat called mammi that I can’t try to describe in a family newspaper.

They also switched from ham to turkey at Christmas pretty quickly in the “new country.”

But we did get some Finnish dish-es at Christmas – lots of pulla (sweet bread), joulutorttuja (pastries with prune filling), and lots of casseroles, carrot casserole, turnip casserole, and potato casserole – we skipped the liver casserole.

So here’s a recipe for carrot cas-serole that would typically be served at a traditional Finnish Christmas Eve meal, taken from The Finnish Cookbook.

Carrot casseroleIngredients:1 cup cooked rice2 cups milk5 medium carrots, shredded1 teaspoon saltnutmeg, a pinch1 tablespoon dark brown sugar2 eggs3 tablespoons butter½ cup fi ne bread crumbs

Combine the rice, milk, carrots, salt, sugar and eggs. Pour into a well-buttered 1½ -quart casserole. Melt the butter in a separate pan and stir the crumbs into it. Sprinkle them on top of the casserole. Bake in moderately hot oven (375ºF) about 40 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Serves six.

Finnish traditionOne Finnish Christmas tradition

I really like is the declaration of Christmas Peace. At noon on Dec. 24, a city official of the historic capital, Turku, reads a statement declaring peace throughout all of Scandinavia. This is a legal dec-laration, and stores are closed fairly soon after – although they’ve been stretching in the past few years – and don’t reopen till Boxing Day, and then only for four hours.

Anyone caught acting in a disor-derly way during Christmas used to receive severe penalties.

I say we declare Christmas Peace in Maple Ridge, and that it is enforceable with strict penalties throughout the Lower Mainland – until Boxing Day shopping starts.

– Maria RantanenTIMES reporter

Carrots transform into Finnish casserole

Maria Rantanen and mother Helena.

My mother, Helena, with me at SFU in 1965.

My mother, Helena, with me (the baby) and my sister Heidi at SFU in 1965.


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There’s something to be said for the taste buds of dentists – especially one working in the Prairies during the 1930s.

Dr. Carson, who cared for Lindy Sisson’s mother’s and grandparents’ den-tal hygiene some 80 years ago, shared a Christmas brunch recipe that is still in Lindy’s family today.

“My grandpa Ben Young made these for Christmas Day brunch – after open-ing stockings and presents. And my par-ents, Hal and Doreen Sisson, continued the tradition,” said Sisson, executive dir-ector of The ACT and Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows Arts Council.

Now, she is passing that along, so more people can consider making it a

family Christmas tradition.She serves it with scrambled

eggs and hash brown potatoes.

Angels on HorsebackIngredients:fresh (or frozen) oysters, 1-2 tubs depending on how many you want to make (we usually do a dozen)Egg mixture:Whisk 2 eggs in bowl (do more if needed)a smidge of mustardsoda biscuit crackers (roll with rolling pin to crumble) package of bacon

Drain and rinse oysters, dip in egg mixture, roll in cracker crumbs and wrap in bacon, using tooth picks to hold together.

Place on broiling pan and broil in oven. Turn once and cook until bacon crisp.

Serve with seafood cocktail sauce

– Lindy SissonThe ACT executive director

Brunch recipe came from dentist

Lindy Sisson, executive director of The ACT, shares a Christmas brunch tradition started in Saskatchewan 80 or so years ago.


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Two for dessert:2 apples (Macs or Spartans are best)(Or one big apple – but for Donna and me it would

have to be a REALLY BIG one)A dab of butter (more is better)Cheese (sharp is best, like old cheddar, but not

mouldy like Danish blue)Syrup (maple is best, but

any pancake syrup is OK)

Peel apples and cut exactly in half. Core halves with point of paring knife, so each half becomes a bowl.

Melt butter in frying pan (you’ll need one with a tight-fitting lid), and

just as it starts to brown, add the apple halves, round-side-up, over medium heat until the flat sides are slightly toasted. If using crispier apples, put the lid on the pan for a bit to help soften them.

Turn the apples over and fill the bowls to overflowing with syrup, and top with a slab of cheese. Cover and continue

medium heat until the cheese is com-pletely melted and flows over the edge of the apple, into the buttery syrup sauce forming in the bottom of the pan. More butter and more syrup equals more sauce (and an earlier grave). Yum!

Lift apple halves into dessert bowls, and spoon buttery syrup with bits of the fried cheese over top.

Only eat as often as you dare!– Bob Groeneveld, Editor, The TIMES

Sweet cheesy apples

This started out as two separate recipes, one from some uppity cookbook that everyone likes to have on their shelf… but everything in it is so complicated that you never actually use it. I combined a “maple pear” recipe with one for fried bananas, shifted to apples, and this is what I got.

Warning: I cook like my Mom did, so it’s “a little of this, a little of that” instead of empirical measures. It’s okay to play with your food… while you’re making it.


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Never too muchChamber of Commerce

president Ken Holland keeps alive a frugal and flavourful holiday

tradition his mother started long ago.

“It’s a recipe that has been in my family forever,” he said of the stuffing balls.

“My mother has always made too much stuff-ing for the turkey, and with what was left, she made these snacks to eat prior to the actual turkey dinner,” Holland recalled.

Describing it as an easy recipe that can easily be adapted to any stuffing recipe, it’s a great addition to any Christmas day menu.

“Whether you are stuffing a turkey or a prime rib roast, these tasty little balls are an absolute must,” Holland said.

“Besides, everything tastes better with bacon.”

3 hot Italian sausages, casings removed

can of smoked oysterspine nutsCraisonsbacon

Stuffing ballsIngredientsloaf of French breadhalf loaf of brown breadpoultry seasoningsage½ onionground pork sausage

(I have left out measurements, because I always add to taste.)

DirectionsIn a bowl, tear up the bread into sugar cube-size

pieces. Add poultry seasoning and sage to taste. Fry onion in butter till translucent and mix in with bread. Fry up pork sausage and add to bread. Fry up hot Italian sausage and add to bread. Add oysters and mix in with a fork to break up. Roast pine nuts until gold-en and add to bread. Add Craisons. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Roll stuffing into balls just a bit bigger than a golf ball. Wrap balls with one piece of bacon and pierce with a toothpick. Place into a glass casserole dish, cover, and stick in the oven at 350ºF until bacon is done, approximately 30 minutes.

Enjoy.Ken Holland, Chamber president


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Country music legend Elmer Tippe shares his favourite part of Christmas dinner.

That’s turkey dressing.“We always called it

‘Stuffin’,” said the fiddle-weild-ing, guitar-strumming, country-western-singing, retired on-air radio personality.

“This is my mom’s recipe that my wife [Alice] carried on during our 54-year marriage for our Christmas dinners,” said the 78-year-old Pitt Meadows resident.

He always takes the giblets from the cavity of the turkey and chops the heart, gizzard, and some of the liver up and sautées them in butter in a small fry pan.

“Sometimes today they aren’t included in the turkey cavity,” he noted. “Either way.”

In a large bowl, break apart by hand a large loaf of day-old bread – about 10 cups for a 15-pound turkey.

Add the cooked giblets, butter, salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Then add dried crushed sage and thyme to taste.

Chop a large onion and add.“Mom always said the more

onion you add, the more moist

the stuffin’ will be,” Tippe said, recalling how his mother also liked to add chopped celery.

Then add some milk a little at a time and mix by hands until all the bread is moist and sticks together.

“Now stuff both ends of the turkey just before you are ready to bake it,” he advised.

“Of course, sew or use skew-ers to close. I guarantee you, the smell of this stuffin’ is going to make you drool!”

Stuffin’ tops for Tippe

Country musician Elmer Tippe has fond memories of his mother’s “stuffin’,” which he and his wife Alice still make as part of their family Christmas.


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Ingredients1 lb. butter3 cups fl our½ cup corn starchDirections

Cream butter and icing sugar together. Add vanilla.

Mix flour and corn starch together and add little by little to the butter mixture. Knead well. (Apparently, using your bare hands here is the secret.)

Roll teaspoon of dough into a little ball and flatten with a fork.

Bake at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Jan Unwin, Superintendent

66 years of family traditionIt’s not Christmas in Jan Unwin’s home unless her mother’s

shortbread is part of the festivities.“My mom (Gramma) has been making shortbread cookies

for my dad for 66 years, and for the rest of our family every year at Christmas for our entire life,” recalled Unwin, the super-intendent of schools in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.

“It is a very common Christmas pictures to see my mom with her hands in the butter mix,” she said.

“These traditional family cookies hold special meaning for the family this year as both my mom and dad had been in the hos-pital since the beginning of September, and only came home last

week – in time for Mom’s 86th birthday,” Unwin explained, noting her mother was so excited about being home and making the shortbread cookies again.

Gramma’s Shortbread Cookies

Jan UnwinSchool superintendent

Jan Unwin’s parents are home from hospital, in time for Gramma to bake her traditional shortbread.

1 cup icing sugar1 tsp vanilla


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My mother was always mak-ing tasty things for the fam-ily when we were growing up.

I remember round tiered trays full of tarts, cookies, and balls at Christmas. She makes a mean Tex-Mex dip, too!

“My favourite is your mom’s straw-berry trifle,” said my dad P.D. “Mmm, and her turkey stuffing is the best,” he added.

“I’ve had this rye ball recipe for about 40 years,” added my mom Karen about her famous Christmas Rye Balls.

Years ago, she chopped all the ingredi-ents by hand. Now she’s able to get things done much quicker, using a food processor.

Ingredients4 cups chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)1 cup of shredded coconut1 cup or a bottle of drained maraschino cherries,

not glazed cherries (Save the liquid)7 cups of icing sugar (2 pounds)¾ cup of rye whiskey½ cup melted butter2 packages (or 12 ounces) of semi-sweet chocolate½ block of paraffi n waxDirections

Chop nuts, coconut, cherries together, mix with icing sugar, whiskey, and but-ter. Form into one-inch balls (if it’s too dry, add a little maraschino cherry juice).

Melt the chocolate and paraffin over a double broiler (do not cook). Drop your balls in the chocolate and spoon out on to wax paper.

“Cool and enjoy! They are yummy,” said Karen.

Sylver McLaren, TIMES reporter

Christmas Rye Balls

Sylver McLaren and older sister Julie sitting on their dad P.D.’s knee in front of the Christmas tree in 1974.

My mom Karen with her daughters Lexie, myself (Sylver), and Julie (far right).


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Pan shortbread has been a holiday favourite for decades, for Pitt Meadows’s new mayor Deb Walters and her family,.

“This recipe has special meaning to me,” Walters said, noting it was passed down from her Grandma Frances Gow.

Grandma Gow, Walters’s maternal grandmother, had 16 children and made her pan shortbread without fail every year.

“It was important for her to find cost effective recipes,” Walters said, and this one qualified.

But while it’s sentimental and incred-ibly tasty, the new mayor admitted one of its biggest selling features – at least from her perspective – is the ease with which she can make it.

It’s fast and easy.While this past weekend was divided

between attending several community Christmas events and decorating their Pitt Meadows home for the festive season, Walters said baking is on the books for this coming Sunday.

“I’m going to have to find time,” she said, noting it’s a huge priority for her take at least one day out together as a family (Deb, her husband Len, and their children Cayley Wilson, 24, and Scott Walters, 26.) to bake for the holidays.

The annual Walters baking ritual begins pretty early in the day, and amid wonderful chit-chat, they listen to Christmas music and visit while bak-ing up large quantities of butter tarts, shortbread, and fudge.

The music play list for the day invariably includes Deb’s favourite, John Denver’s Christmas record – yes vinyl, no CDs or iPods when it comes to the holiday music in the Walters home.

“It’s an excuse for everyone to get together,” she said, noting that the

morning is filled with non-stop bak-ing, while the afternoon is traditionally spent decorating and sampling.

Provided her husband and children don’t consume too many of the holi-day treats, she hopes to stash some away in the freezer for when company drops by, and share some with the City staff and the new council (she’s being sworn in as mayor of Pitt Meadows tonight, during the council’s inaugural meeting).

“Christmas is everything to us,” Walters said. “We just love catching up with family. We have a big family. And it’s time when we see friends we maybe have been too busy to connect with the rest of the year. It’s just a very important time for us.”

Family bake fest high priority for Pitt Meadows mayor

Deb Walters and her husband Len took part in the Osprey Village Christmas tree-lighting celebration, among other holiday festivities in Pitt Meadows each year.


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Award-win-ning country music singer and

songwriter Rick Tippe doesn’t have a favour-ite traditional food he makes at Christmas time, but there’s a beverage that tops the list for this Maple Ridge man during the holidays.

Be told, his favour-ite food is Halva, but that’s something he buys at a store: “So it doesn’t qualify. So, for my favourite tradition-al food that I make at Christmas, I have to go with a drink.”

He’s always been a fan of rum and egg-nog at Christmas, but about a decade ago, came up with his own little concoction that has become a bit of a Christmas tradition in the Tippe house.

“I’m not a coffee drinker, but I love hot chocolate,” Tippe explained. “One Christmas, I received a bottle of Malibu Rum as a gift. I decided to add a shot of it to my hot chocolate, and voila, a new drink sensation was born.”

A little rum warms Tippe’s hot chocolate

Rick Tippe, like his father, entered the country music industry.


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Holiday ‘hot’ wingsIngredients

3 lb. chicken wings Marinade½ cup soya sauce½ cup orange juice (no pulp)¼ to 1 tsp hot sauce (your choice of heat level)¼ cup cooking sherry1 Tbsp sesame seed oil1 tsp minced ginger1 tsp minced garlic1 tsp rice wine vinegarDash of salt and pepper

Garnish¼ cup diced green onions or scallions¼ cup diced red Thai chili peppers

Combine ‘marinade’

ingredients in med-ium glass bowl.

Cut chicken wings into dru-mettes and wings. Place chicken in bowl – mix with marinade. Cover

bowl and place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 450ºF Cover cookie sheet with alum-

inum foil.

Remove chicken wings from marinade and place on cookie sheet in single layer.

Cook chicken wings at 450ºF for 10 minutes; turn over and cook for 5 more minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF and cook 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and immedi-ately sprinkle/mix scallions and Thai peppers over hot wings.

Serve and enjoy.– Ryan McAdams,

TIMES


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Leanne Koehn’s maternal grand-mother emigrated from Finland to Canada in the 1930s and passed away about 10 years

before she was born.Despite never knowing her, Koehn

still keeps her memory alive every Christmas with the creation of Anna’s traditional Finnish Boula (a type of sweet, braided yeast bread).

The recipe was passed down to her mom, then to her, and in a few years to Koehn’s daughter Zoe.

“My husband and I recently bought the Hammond house my mother grew up in, to raise our own children. And while I never met my grandmother, our tradition of making her Boula for Christmas morning, in the same kitch-en that she used to make it in, makes me feel close to her,” said Koehn, who works for the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society.

Finnish bread recipe recycled through generations

Leanne Koehn and her mother.

The next generation, Leanne Koehn and her daughter Zoe.

Leanne Koehn had her picture taken in front of the Hammond house her grand-mother Anna lived in, and which she recently bought to raise her own family.

Leanne Koehn’s grandmother Anna, with Koehn’s mother.


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Breakie that can be made Christmas Eve

There’s always so much going on in Shan-non and D’Arcy Balla’s Maple Ridge home on Christmas morning, that a little advance planning helps calm the chaos of the holiday.

Shannon Balla, advertising manager for The TIMES, encourages any mothers, wives, or busy women to take this recipe into consideration.

“Every Christmas Eve, I prepare this delicious dish and pop it in the oven first thing Christmas morning.”

Voila!“After Davis and Lauren open up all their gifts from

Santa, we sit down as a family – with the fireplace going, Christmas music going in the background – and enjoy the Christmas Wife Saver,” she said.

For her, the festive feast is augmented with a side of fruit and some much needed coffee (sometimes treated with a hint of Baileys).

An easy and tasty solution that helps destress the holidays.

Twins Lauren and Davis Balla of Maple Ridge are six now, but still look forward to Christmas as much now as they did “when they were little,” and the day’s not complete without Mom’s Christmas Wife Saver.

Christmas Wife SaverIngredients10-16 slices of bread, crusts cut off 20-30 slices of back bacon or ham2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded6 eggs½ tsp salt½ tsp pepper½ tsp dry mustard¼ cup minced onion¼ cup fi nely chopped green pepper,

optional sliced tomatoes, optional2 tsp Worchestershire sauce3 cups milkdash of Tabasco¼ cup butter2 cups crushed Corn Flakes or Special K

DirectionsIn buttered 9 x 13 glass pan, place 8 slices of bread.Cover bread with ham and cheese (tomatoes)and then lay

rest of bread on top, like a sandwich.Mix eggs, spices, milk, Worchestershire, Tabasco and

onion (green pepper). Pour over sandwiches.Cover and refrigerate overnight.In the morning, melt butter and add Corn Flakes.Sprinkle on top of sandwiches.Bake at 350ºF for 1 hour.Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Shannon Balla, TIMES


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Joan Olson’s world revolves – in big part – around food.

But rest assured she’s not what you’d call a chef or any-

thing near it.She’s the executive director of the

Friends In Need Food Bank, and as such, is immersed in the world of food almost every day of her life.

But asked if she’s one to cook or bake, Olson will quickly set that record straight: “I don’t really bake myself, just eat.”

She did, however, want to share her mother’s recipe for cream wafers, one of her family favour-ites.

Wafers top food bank boss’ holiday favesIn her role as executive director of the Friends In Need Food bank, Joanne Olson is often found out in the community collecting non-perishable food donations.

Gramma Julie’sCream Wafers

Ingredients:1 cup butter2 cups fl our

Directions:Mix flour and butter like pastry and add 1/3 cup

heavy cream. Roll and cut into little round circles. Bake at 350°F until golden brown.

Sprinkle with sugar.

Filling:1/3 cup icing sugar1/3 cup butter

Beat well and spread between two of the little cir-cles, like a sandwich… Melt in your mouth.

1/3 cups heavy creamsugar

1 egg yoke (make fl uffy)1 tsp vanilla


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Christmas chocolatesMy Aunt Vi was wonderfully

inspiring always.She was the only person

in my whole family who ever told me to go out and have fun.

Christmas at my Aunt Vi’s always included her wonderful home-made chocolates. She couldn’t eat any herself because she was diabetic.

She died years ago, but her memory is still very much alive, especially when I make chocolates.

This is a very simple, basic recipe for chocolates made with uncooked fondant – no marble slab, no cream, no paraffin wax, no tempering.

These chocolates are best refrigerated. At room temperature, they soften.

Basic fondantYou’ll need one pound of softened but-

terIcing sugar – mix in sufficient quantity

to make a stiff mixture that can be rolled into balls.

I usually split the mixed fondant into three separate bowls. They can be refrigerated to be worked on another day, if necessary.

Refrigerated fondant takes a couple of hours at room temperature to be easily workable.

Meanwhile, dipping chocolate (avail-able in supermarket bulk bins) should be starting to melt under low heat in the top of a double boiler. For dipping, it should be liquid and gently warm (not hot).

Place wax or parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Additions to the plain fondant can be: peanut butter, finely shredded coconut, ground almonds, crushed walnuts, lemon or orange peel, a little dipping choco-late, minced candied cherries, raisins, dates, crushed toffee bits or liquid coffee essence. Quit adding when it tastes right to you.

Flavourings could be peppermint,

almond essence, maple, lemon, orange, coconut – or whatever your imagination suggests.

Peel, raisins, cherries or dates could be soaked in the alcoholic beverage of your choice.

All must be well-drained before adding to fondant, or you’ll get leaky chocolates that have to be double-dipped.

Dates become very alcoholic.Roll fondant into balls, squares, what-

ever. Insert a toothpick into each one and refrigerate or freeze until the fondant is very solid.

Toothpicks should be the round, wood-en, pointed kind, because they are less likely to break. They can be washed and re-used if you’re careful.

I have had bad experiences with the cheap ones.

Check that toothpicks are intact when you remove them. Any chocolate har-bouring a broken toothpick should be garbaged.

When dipping chocolate is ready, dip fondant pieces one by one, laying fin-ished ones back on paper-covered cookie sheet.

Add fancy toppings individually, right after dipping, while they can stick to the chocolate.

Toppings can be: various nuts, col-oured sugar, crystallized violets, etc.

Leave the fondant at room temperature till toothpicks can be removed. Then mend any toothpick holes with dipping chocolate.

Refrigerate and pack while still cool. Store in refrigerator.

Anne Marrison,TIMES garden columnist

Anne Marrison is a Whonnock resident and a long-time garden columnist for The TIMES.


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Generations of recipes

Admittedly, I’m not much of a cook, or a baker, for that matter. I can

muddle through with great assistance from a recipe – if I have to. As you can tell, I haven’t starved.

What I have been able to do, intentional or otherwise, is surround myself with people who have those abilities. And from my grandmother, to my mother, to my wife – all the key women in my life have been able to cook and bake.

So while I can’t give much credit to my mother or grandmother for teaching me the way around the kitchen – and not for lack of trying – I can thank them for passing down many

recipes that have become holiday traditions.My grandmother, Beth Hooper, made a

tasty and easy shortbread and mouth-water-ing fudge. When we’d get together for family Christmases, these items always highlighted my mother’s (Ellen) holiday treat tray, along with her wicked Kid’s Kake and always scrumptious butter tarts.

While neither of these ladies is still around, the images of each of them trying to teach me to bake, and the enjoyment of savouring their creations will live on in my memories.

My mother, Ellen Hooper, (right) always knew how to put on a spread.

1 cup sultana raisins1 cup brown sugar2 Tbsp butter1 egg½ tsp vanilla½ tsp nutmeg

Scald raisins with boiling water – drain. Add brown sugar, butter and beaten egg while fruit is still hot. Stir well. Spoon into tart pastry shells and bake in 400ºF oven for 15 minutes.

Butter Tarts - Ellen Hooper

Ingredients1½ cup peanut butter1 cup Roger’s syrup1 cup white sugar6 cups Special K cereal

Icing6 oz pkg. chocolate chips6 oz pkg. butterscotch chips

Dissolve in large sauce pan the peanut butter, syrup, and sugar on medium heat. Add 6 cups Special K, and mix well.

Spread into a 13X8 inch cake pan and press to cover.

Melt in double boiler both types of the chips and spread for icing. Cut into one-inch squares after icing has set (about 1/2 hour).

Kid’s Kake - Ellen Hooper

Beth Hooper with her grand-daughter Roxanne.

Roxanne Hooper

A recipe for Roxanne’s granddaughter Inara.

Roxanne Hooper, Assistant Editor, TIMES


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Oh, Brothers! They’re delicious

Kelly Swift is looking forward to starting a new Christmas tradition with her grandkids this holiday season.

“My sister and I used to enjoy baking when we were teenagers, and our brothers always appreciated our

efforts – no matter what the end result looked like,” recounted Swift.

She was recently promoted to the position of general manager of community development and parks and recreation for the District of Maple Ridge.

Despite all the extra responsibilities recently added to Swift, who has been a parks employee for 20 years, she vows to find time to make butter tarts.

“Their [her brothers’] favourite was and still is butter tarts,” Swift said. “You can buy butter tarts in the grocery store, but they never taste as good as home-made.”

She maintains that they are not hard to make, and “are still a big treat on the rare occasion that I make them, and Christmas is the perfect opportunity.”

Begin with the pastry:When I was first married, my husband’s grandmother

told me that the best pastry recipe was on the back of the Tenderflake lard package, and that’s the recipe that I still use.

Start with5½ cups all purpose fl our2 teaspoons of salt1 pound of lard

Mix the salt in the flour, and then cut in the lard until it resembles oatmeal.

Stir in the liquid, ensuring that you don’t overmix.Next:1 egg and 1 Tablespoon vinegar

Place egg and vinegar in a measuring cup and fill the remaining volume with cold water to equal one full cup.

Roll out your pastry dough on a floured surface and use a glass or cookie cutter to create rounds that can be pressed into a muffin tins.

Press unused scraps back into a ball and roll out again to cut more rounds.

If you multiply the following butter tart recipe by four, it will make enough to use the whole pastry recipe, otherwise, wrap unused pastry dough and store it in the refrigerator for another use.

Prepare the filling:Place these first three ingredients in a sauce pan and

cook for 5 minutes:

1 cup of dark corn syrup2/3 cup of brown sugar¼ cup of butter

In a separate bowl, place 2 eggs, and beat slightly.Allow the cooked mix to cool slightly and then pour

over the eggs, beating continuously.

Add remaining ingredients:¼ teaspoon of salt2/3 cup of raisins (can replace with pecans, walnuts, or a mix)½ teaspoon of vanilla

Spoon mix into tart shells until they are 2/3 full. They will puff up as they cook. A single recipe makes 18 tarts.

Bake at 375ºF for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Kelly Swift

Melt-in-the-mouth butter tarts

maple ridge pitt meadows times christmas recipes 2012

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