When things don't go to plan . . .

 

Every have one of those days?  One of those days when all that you turn your hand to ends up as dust?  I had one of those days yesterday.  I have a day like that every now and then. I just don't tell you about them.

Days where I forget to put water in the bread machine and come home from church to find that I have a lovely bread pan of toasty buttery flour, but nothing else.

 

Or days when I try out a new recipe only to discover that the recipe is a dud.  The cake has fallen. The cookies have burnt.  The casserole tastes blah . . . 

We all have them.  Days where all of our brilliant plans turn into dust. When things just don't go to plan . . .

 

Like these Easy Christmas Pudding Cookies. I saw online where someone had used Tunnocks Tea Cakes to make these cute little Christmas Puddings.  

I didn't have any Tunnocks Tea Cakes, but I had Chocolate Mallows,  so I thought I would try out the idea. My thinking was the grandsons would really enjoy them.

What I got was Mallows with a decidedly grey looking glaze on top.  For some reason the dark chocolate of the cookies bled through the glaze. There was no white brandy cream on top!

And not only that, but as the glaze spread so did the decorations. Never mind, the boys will eat them anyways, but they are not picture perfect by any stretch and were a huge disappointment to me! 

 

Likewise, my Mince Pies.  They look picture perfect eh?  The pastry turned out beautiful as well.  I always use my Butter and Lard pastry. It is impeccable. 

It always turns out light and flaky, perfection in and of itself. I could just sit and eat the pastry all on its own and in fact often do.

 

All of the leftover scraps get pulled together and rerolled, spread with butter folded, cut into squares and baked. In my family we have always enjoyed this treat.  So flaky and buttery. We eat it spread with more butter, or better yet, butter and peanut butter! (I know! Yikes!)

Sometimes I will spread the rerolled scraps with butter and cinnamon sugar, rolling them up and slicing them to make Pets de Soeur, a French delicacy from my father's heritage, which translated in English is not a very nice name and used to make us giggle a lot when we were children. (Nun's farts.)

 

The problem with my mince pies yesterday was not the pastry, nor even the filling, but my lack of filling.  I was so concerned that I would have blowouts that I don't think I put enough mincemeat into them.

They still taste good, but there is very little of that burst of mincemeat spice and sticky fruity sweetness to feed your Christmas senses.

 

So, after the spectacular failure of my Christmas pudding cookies and then the disappointment of my Mince Pies, I decided to hang up my pinny for the day.

Hence, no new recipe to share today . . . and I really had such great plans for the holidays. All these recipes that I was going to cook and bake that never came to fruition.

 

I'm tired now and lacking in inspiration. I still have to bake my whipped shortbreads and make my mother's Feather Squares before my family arrives.

I sure hope that they turn out. 

I also want to clean out my fridge for all of the holiday goodies that I still have to pick up!  Yikes!  And they are calling for some very nasty weather on top of it all! 

 

I am doing a Beef Tenderloin Roast on Christmas Eve and I haven't been able to find Brussels Sprouts anywhere to cook as a side.  The few that I saw were the size of small baseballs.  Why not call them cabbages and be done with it!

I think sometimes we put far too many expectations on ourselves, and into our holiday celebrations, don't you?

We want everything to be picture perfect and, indeed, the internet is filled with images of other people's picture-perfect lives and creations.

 

What we fail to see is the chaos going on just outside the camera's eye.  I have always tried to be pretty honest with you.  Sometimes you get some really good photos, some of the time not so great photos, but always food that tastes good and that is easy to prepare.

I share my chaos and will continue to . . .  with Christmas Pudding cookies that are dismal and Mince Pies that fall short of what I wanted them to be.

 

That is just to say that I am only human, and I don't live a perfect life, or even always cook perfect food.  But what I do choose to share,  is always very good.  I share in the hopes that you will enjoy it.

I am done for Christmas 2022.  Next up is New Years and then we have a whole new year of delicious Cooking Adventures to explore together. I, for one, am looking forward to it all!

In the meantime, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  May all your Mince Pies be flaky and filled with flavor. May your Christmas Puddings have the wow factor and may all your dreams come true.

Be happy, be blessed and be content.  I will catch you on the flip side!  I'll just be here with my family eating not so perfect mince pies and Christmas pudding cookies, and hopefully some shortbread, feather squares, and a darn fine roast!

Happy Holidays!

 

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