Untested - Croquants de flocons de maïs

Une recette mystère, prise de la carte sur laquelle Maman a écrit la recette pour les Boules de Noël.

7 oz. de Caramels Kraft

une demi tasse d'arachides salées

7 tasses de flocons de maïs

2 cuillères à table d'eau

Faire chauffer les caramels et l'eau au bain-marie en remuant souvent jusqu'à sauce lisse. Ajouter les arachides et bien mélanger. Verser sur les flocons de maïs dans un grand bol à mélanger pour bien enrober. Étendre sur une plaque à biscuits beurrée. Laisser reposer jusqu'à ferme. Rompre en morceaux.

Boules de Noël - PUBLISHED

Another long-time family Christmas recipe. I'm jazzing things up a bit to make it more lactose-intolerant friendly. I made it this Christmas on Pender Island and they were very much appreciated.

1 - I wonder if I can reduce the amount of sugar in the peanut-butter centre to good effect?

2 - I've reduced the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup, just to see. And half-way through the recipe I decided that doing it by weight makes more sense than by measure given that it all just gets dumped in a bowl and mixed together, anyway.

UPDATE - reducing the sugar for the centre has made no significant difference. Success!

3 - Very good again, but the pnut butter I used was too liquid and I think I have to chop the nuts and dates fine. I did get the weights for things (since I'm really noticing the difference when I use weights instead of volume).

4 - Yup, just really good. And less sugar works just fine. I could try reducing again to, uh, maybe 1/3 cup? Oh, and the weights work like a charm.

Centre

1/2 cup icing sugar (75g)

1 cup peanut butter (250g)

1 cup finely chopped cooking dates (140g)

1 cup finely chopped walnuts (110g)

1 Tbsp butter (15g)

1 tsp vanilla

1. Mix ingredients together until uniform. 
2. Roll into small balls and put on wax or parchment paper and let set in the refrigerator. Makes about 30.

Chocolate covering

250 grams semi-sweet chocolate

1. Melt together in bain marie, allow to cool slightly, then dip balls to cover. Set on wax or parchment paper and allow to cool completely. Refrigerate to avoid sticking.

Untested - Dill Pickles a Maman

7 lbs cucumbers (3 and one half inches long)

12 stalks fresh dill

2 cups vinegar

12 green grape leaves

1 cup salt 9 cups water

Wash cucumbers thoroughly in 2 or 3 cold waters. Pack vertically in clean, sterile quart or half gallon jars, leaving enough space in the top of jar for dills. Wash dill quickly through cold water to remove dust. Fold up compactly and stuff one stalk down between the pickles and one in top of each jar to fill up the space above the pickles. Heat vinegar, salt and water just to the boiling point; then immediately pour over the pickles, filling jars to one quarter inch from the top. Seal and store in a cool dark place. Let pickles stand at least three weeks before using. Makes 6 to 7 quarts.

NOTE: I'm not sure where the grape leaf comes in, but I'd imagine it's stuffed in along with the dill stalk.

Untested - Relish a Memère Maurice

24 medium sized cucumbers

12 medium sized onions

4 red sweet peppers

1 red hot pepper

Put through food chopper, add salt and let stand overnight. Then drain next morning. Add 6 cups of sugar, 3 cups vinegar, 1 Tblsp mustard seed and 1 Tblsp celery seed. Cook about 1 hour and bottle.

Untested - Quick sweet gherkins a tante Marielle

50 gherkins

1 cup coarse salt

3 quarts boiling water

Wash gherkins - place in a crock.

Combine with salt and boiling water - let stand until dissolved

Pour over gherkins and let stand overnight.

Next day, drain well.

Boil the following:

3 cups vinegar

1 cup water

1 and one half cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp mixed whole spices (tied in a bag)

Boil for 10 minutes

Add gherkins and simmer 2 minutes. Pack pickles only in hot jars. Bring vinegar syrup to a boil then pour over pickles in jars. Seal.

Crème de concombre (de Mme. Paquin) - Testing

1 - The first time I made this I arranged some 1.5 inch pieces of chives on top. Ben thought it was pretty, but preferred having more flavour, which seemed to be satisfied by some fresh tarragon instead.

Concombres tranchés 250ml / 1/2 of a long English cucumber, peeled and sliced

Oignons émincés 375ml / 1 medium onion, minced

Piments verts émincés 250ml / 1 yellow pepper, minced

Beurre 50ml / 3 Tbsps butter

Bouillon de volaille 1L / 4 1/3 cups chicken broth

Farine forte 30ml / 2 Tbsps flour

Jaunes d'oeufs 2 / 2 egg yolks

Lait 250ml / 1 cup milk

Sel 2ml / 1/2 tsp salt

Poivre 1ml / 1/4 tsp pepper

Concombres en dés 250ml / 1/2 of a long English cucumber, peeled and diced fine
Garnish - either with chives or with fresh tarragon.

Faire revenir dans le beurre les concombres pelés, les oignons et le piments verts. / Melt the butter and sauté the cucumber, onion and pepper

Singer (saupoudrer de farine). / Sprinkle the flour over and mix in well.

Mouiller avec le bouillon de volaille. / Add the chicken broth.

Assaisonner. / Season with salt and pepper.

Cuire à feu doux pendant environ 45 minutes. / Cook for about 45 minutes at a slow simmer.

Passer au tamis. / Run through a food mill or use an immersion blender.

Remettre à cuire pendant 10 minutes. / Cook another 10 minutes.

Lier avec les jaunes d'oeufs battus avec le lait. / In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and the milk. Whisk slowly into the soup.

Servir immédiatement et garnir de concombres pelés, épépinés et coupés en petits dés. / Serve immediately with diced cucumber garnish and, if using, tarragon.

Untested - Mouche de moutarde

3 cuillerées farine

1 cuillerée moutarde

chauffer au fourneau - appliquer sur toute le torse (poitrine et dos) laisser 15-20 minutes