Dried Fruit Sauce (Mincemeat Sauce)

Last Year's Post: Cornmeal Herb Scones
Two Years Ago:  Grilled Sweet Potatoes

The minute I saw this recipe I was entranced.  Although it was positioned as a dessert sauce, I immediately thought of waffles or oatmeal with the warm, spicy fruit sauce on top.  And if you like both mincemeat and pumpkin pie, now you don't have to choose - just top pumpkin pie with mincemeat sauce.  What a great idea!  Plus, it would make a great hostess or holiday gift as well.  Things just keep getting better and better.

A trip to your local natural foods store would be a good idea so you can buy all the dried fruit and nuts in bulk and get exactly the amount you need at a great price.  And don't be tempted to use last year's spices because they're too old.  Rule of thumb - throw out any ground spices after 6 months and any whole spices after a year.  Penzeys is my go-to spice store and I've recommended them so many times I ought to get royalties (not).  Don't risk your holiday dinners on out-of-date spices.

The benefit of making your own sauce as opposed to doctoring a jar of mincemeat filling is that you get to control the balance of sugar, citrus and spice, plus you get major bragging rights.  And it's so easy - throw everything in the food processor, then let it sit in the fridge for a few days.  The result is infinitely superior to anything you could buy.  (Did I mention the brandy?)  The flavor is very bright and fresh from the lemon and ginger.  If you decide you would like it sweeter, just add a little honey while it warms.

You can see it's pretty thick in the jar.  When you're ready to serve the sauce you're supposed to thin it with something like apple cider or orange juice or - if you're feeling wicked - dark rum.  Ooooh.  My suggestion is to wait until the sauce has warmed up in the pan at least little before you decide how much additional liquid to add because it will loosen up somewhat anyway as it warms.  If you end up putting too much liquid in, just simmer it for a few minutes longer to reduce.

This would make for a pretty special breakfast during the holidays or for a birthday.

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Dried Fruit Sauce (Mincemeat Sauce)

Makes 2 cups

Note:  this recipe is flexible; feel free to add orange zest, a mix of walnuts and pecans, apricots or other dried fruits.

1 tart apple, peeled and cored

4 ounces golden raisins

3 ounces dark brown sugar

2 ounces prunes, dried figs or dried dates, coarsely chopped

2 ounces walnut or pecan halves

1 ounces dried cherries

1 ounce cold butter, cut into pieces

½ ounce crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped

¼ cup brandy, like Cognac or Calvados

1 lemon, zested and juiced

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon freshly ground allspice

¼ teaspoon freshly ground clove

To finish the sauce:

 Dark rum, apple cider or orange juice

 Black pepper to taste (optional)

1 to 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (optional)

Combine all ingredients except those to finish the sauce in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped; do not purée. Transfer to an airtight container and let rest at least 1 day, or up to 4 weeks.

  

When ready to serve, transfer to a saucepan and add enough rum or other liquid to loosen. Heat until warm and bubbly. If desired, add black pepper to make the mixture spicier. To make a richer sauce, whisk in cold butter 1 tablespoon at a time, to taste.

Serve warm over ice cream, pumpkin pie, baked apples, waffles, pancakes or oatmeal.

Rum Cake

It's Holiday Treat Day at The Lawyer's office today.  He always gets requests from his co-workers to bring rum cake, one of his signature recipes.  He also gets requests from relatives and friends for rum cake at this time of the year, which tells you just how good it is.  We found this recipe many years ago, and I remember that it was posted by flight attendant who collected plates from everywhere she traveled to use in giving rum cakes as gifts at holiday time.  The reason I remember the story is that her final warning was to bake only one cake at a time in the oven or you risk an explosion due to the alcohol.  It sounded impressive but I was doubtful that it would ever actually happen until a certain Gourmet Club incident involving peaches and brandy that produced a pretty healthy ka-bang.  Luckily the oven survived (although it did blow the door open) and it makes for a great story.

Anyway, back to rum cake.  Think about this for your office party, book club get-together, Christmas Eve dinner, or holiday open house where you've been requested to bring something.  It will make you famous.

It's really easy but you do need a 12 cup tube pan, the simpler the better since the pecans would hide an intricate design anyway.  Did you know that Bundt cakes have become trendy again?  I attended a cooking demonstration at our state fair last summer that was all about Bundt cakes.  (Yes it was the state fair but the demo was given by professional bakers.) And be sure to use dark rum rather than light rum - that's what gives it the distinctive flavor.

Glazing the cake is the most interesting part of the process, since it takes place in stages to allow the cake to absorb the glaze gradually.  Don't dump all of the glaze on right away or most of it will just run off.  Put a light layer on and allow it to absorb, then apply more layers over time until all the glaze is used up.

click here for a printable recipe

Rum Cake

Makes 1 large cake

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

1 (18.5 oz) package yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines recommended)
1 (3.4 oz) package vanilla or French vanilla instant pudding
½ cup cold water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark rum, divided
4 eggs

Glaze:

½ cup butter
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325d.  Grease and flour a 12 cup tube pan.  Sprinkle pecans over the bottom of the pan and set aside.

To make the cake, in a large mixing bowl combine cake mix, instant pudding, eggs, the ½ cup cold water, oil, and ½ cup rum.  Beat at medium speed 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl after 1 ½ minutes.

Pour batter over pecans in pan.  Bake cake until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.  Remove cake from the oven and let cool in the pan 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze:  in a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.  Stir in the ¼ cup water and sugar; bring to boil.  Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove saucepan from heat and stir in remaining ½ cup rum.

Invert the cake onto serving plate.  Poke all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick, being careful not to dislodge the pecans.  Spoon hot glaze over the pecans and use a pastry brush to apply the glaze evenly to the rest of the cake.  Allow cake to absorb the glaze for 5 minutes.  Repeat spooning and brushing glaze and letting cake absorb the glaze until all the glaze has been brushed onto the cake; this takes about 40 minutes.

Wipe the edges of the serving plate before serving.