Yule Recipes

Recipes on this page: Plum Pudding, Winter Meditation Incense, Cocoa Snowballs, Shannon's Lemon Biscotti With Dark Chocoate and Almonds, Danish Gingerbread, Lussekattor, Almond Cookies, Thin German Crepes, and Wassail.

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Recipe for Plum Pudding

1/4 lb. flour
1/4 lb. currants
1 tsp. salt
1/4 lb. sultanas (small raisins)
1 tsp. allspice
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 tsp. ginger
1 ounce cut mixed (citrus) peel
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 oz. shredded almonds
pinch fresh grated nutmeg
Juice and grated rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1/4 lb. fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 lb. molasses (treacle)
1/2 lb. shredded suet
4 large eggs
1/4 lb. brown sugar
2 tbsp. brandy
1/4 lb. dried chopped apricots
1/4 lb. prunes
1/4 lb dates

Sift flour, salt and spices into a large bowl. Stir in breadcrumbs, suet and sugar.

Add fruits, peel and rind. Beat lemon and orange juice, molasses and eggs together and add to other ingredients.

Steam for 6 hours -- a coffee tin filled with the mixture and placed in a steamer in a covered pan does well.

A little vinegar and lemon juice in the water will prevent the pan from discoloration.

After steaming cover in a cool place and let age as long as possible - usually about 5 weeks.

To serve, re-steam for another 3 hours. Remove from tin, douse with warm brandy and set it ablaze!

If you haven't got six weeks before Yule to prepare a proper pudding a tinned one from Crosse & Blackwell will do fine. Just be sure to always heat the pudding first, no matter who made it, or all the warmed brandy in the world won't help. And don't forget the hard sauce!

Winter Meditation Incense:

2 parts Pine
1 ½ part Juniper
1 ½ part Cedar
2 parts frankincense

Cocoa Snowballs

Found at Elsangels

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered cocoa

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 containers of white frosting

2 3/4 cups flaked coconut

Beat eggs, gradually beat 1/2 cup sugar into the eggs and set aside. Combine remaining sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a pan and cook on low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Pour egg mixture into that. In a bowl, put remaining dry ingredients and slowly add the cocoa mixture, beating all the while.... fill 30 , 2 1/2" muffin cups about 1/2 full and bake 20-25 mins at 325 degrees. Cool completely and frost bottom, top and sides. Then roll them in the coconut. Let them stand at room temperature until the frosting is firm, then serve or store in a container.

Shannon's Lemon Biscotti With Dark Chocoate and Almonds

contributed by Shannon

Biscotti is a type of Italian hard cookie, meant to be dipped in a hot drink (like tea or coffee, or hot chocolate) and promptly eaten.

6tbs. butter
1c. sugar
2 eggs
1tsp. vanilla
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
about 2 1/3 c. flour (adjust as necessary for for wetness or dryness of your mixture)
1tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt.
1 package dark chocolate chips
about 2c. thinly sliced almonds toasted

Set aside chocolate chips and almonds, to be used later. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Mix all wet ingredients and sugar until smooth. Add all dry ingredients except flour and mix. (make sure there are no lumps in the salt or baking powder, no one wants to bite into a clump of that!) Add flour, starting out with 2c. and then slowly adding more until dough just pulls away from sides of bowl. (It'll be a little sticky, you want it to be somewhere in between chocolate chip cookie dough and bread dough) flour your hands and separate dough into two approx. even balls. Form dough into two logs approx. 10in (or so, doesn't have to be exact) in length and place on greased cookie sheet (make sure there's a couple of inches in between). When Shannon did this she covered her cookie sheet with aluminum foil and greased that, which made cleanup much easier. Bake in a 350 degree oven for half an hour. Take out and let cool completely. When cooled, slice on diagonal (about a 45 degree angle), and place cookies cut side up on baking sheet. Still at 350, bake cookies for about 8 min., take out, turn over, and bake for another 8 min. or so (for harder crunchier cookies, bake for longer, for softer ones, decrease cooking time. This dough is actually not as crunchy as many, so keep that in mind when adjusting for personal tastes).

Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over not in boiling water. Carefully spoon melted chocolate over 1/2 of biscotti on both sides (by one half I mean 1/2 of the length) holding it over pot of chocolate to let drips fall back into pot. Be careful, 'cause the cookies may be a little crumbly and you don't want to loose half of your cookie in the chocolate! While chocolate is still warm, press toasted almonds into chocolate, and then lay biscotti out on wax paper to let the chocolate cool. Enjoy!!

Danish Gingerbread Recipe

contributed by Ms.Deejay

1 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup honey
1 teasp grated lemon rind
1 teasp vanilla extract
1 teasp ground ginger
1/2 teasp ground cloves
1 teasp ground cinnamon
1 teasp salt
1 teasp baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add syrup, honey, lemon rind & vanilla, spices, salt & soda. Add enough flour to make soft dough. Chill until firm enough to roll.

Set oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour baking sheets. On floured cloth roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Bake 8 min or until puffed and dry. Cool on a rack and decorate with colored icing.

Icing for Gingerbread

1 1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 egg white
1 teasp lemon juice
a few drops of vanilla extract
various food colorings

(Collect flavored extracts and food colorings and get creative)

Beat everything but the colors and extracts until the icing peaks. If necessary add more sugan and egg white. Divide into separate bowls for each of the different colors and extracts...have fun!

Lussekattor

--from Auramooth's Wiccan Page

1/2 t. dried saffron

3 tablespoons boiling water

2 tablespoons dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup scalded milk

1 egg

1/2 cup dried candied fruit rinds (can be omitted but increase amount of currants added)

1/2 cup currants

4 cups sifted flour

1/2 cup raisins

1 egg yolk

Soak the dried saffron in the boiling water for about 2 hours (you can omit this step by using powdered saffron). In a large warm bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup water with 1 teaspoon sugar. Put remaining sugar, salt and butter into the scalded milk and stir until everything is melted. Strain the saffron and add the saffron water to the mixture.

Cool milk to lukewarm and pour it into the bowl. Beat the egg into it. Coat the currents and candied fruit rinds with 2 tablespoons flour. Gradually work the remaining flour into the yeast. Add fruits; turn out onto a floured board and kneed for 10 minutes or until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough in a butter bowl and roll it around to grease well. Cover with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 - 1 1/2 hours). Punch down and put onto the board and kneed a few times. Divide the dough into 24 rounded buns. Punch 2 raisins into the buns to look like eyes and place on greased cookie sheet and let rise for 1/2 hour. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes.

An alternative form is a wreath. There are several ways to make one. This is a plaited wreath: Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll them out into 24" long rolls. Start plaiting from the middle.

Alternately put the right and left roll over the middle roll.

Finish the other half alternately putting the right and left roll under the middle roll. Tuck in the ends and let rise. Brush with whisked egg before putting them in the oven.

Oven temperature: 375F for 15-20 minutes for wreaths.

Almond Cookies

--from Auramooth's Wiccan Page

1 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Cream together butter and sugar, then add egg, then flavorings

1 well beaten egg

1/2 t. almond, 1/2 t. vanilla flavoring

2 cups flour

Mix together all dry ingredients, then add to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts.

3/8 teaspoon salt

1 t. soda

1 t. cream of tartar

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Drop onto a plain cookie sheet and criss-cross with fork tines. Remove cookies before the bottoms darken: should have a golden yellow color, not dark at sides.

Thin German Crepes

--from Auramooth's Wiccan Page

These pancakes are brilliant for the morning after the Solstice, and are excellent served the European way: with a sprinkling of sugar and fresh lemon juice squeezed on top.

5 well beaten eggs...add salt, sugar and flour to beaten eggs to make a smooth paste.

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 Cups flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 1/4 cups milk

Add milk and stir well until thin and creamy. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to thicken. Stir again and cook as pancakes with a hot buttered pan. Re-apply small amounts of butter as needed. Serve with lemons and sugar, rolled up and cut, or with any accompaniments you can think of.

Wassail

--from Auramooth's Wiccan Page

The traditional, classic Yuletide hot mulled cider drink.

4 litres apple cider or juice (fresh milled organic is excellent!)

1 orange, chopped

1 lime, chopped

1 lemon, chopped

4 cinnamon sticks or 1 t. ground cinnamon

1 inch-square piece of fresh ginger or 1/4 t. ground ginger

1 t. cloves, allspice and/or star anise

Heat all and simmer in an enamel pot (aluminum can impart a metallic flavor) on low for an hour, then serve to cold, caroling folks.

brandy or rum for adults, optional

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