Dishing Up Sweet Memories
...and handing down family traditions

Traditions bring us together as families and as communities. At no time is this more evident or more deliciously enjoyable than around the holidays. Many of us have memories of family dinners and special dishes reserved for this time of year. For me, Christmas wasn't complete without my grandmother's pie or mom's plum pudding or the delicious pyramid of honey-dipped fried dough that my grandfather's mother taught him to make when he was a boy.

This is the season when cookbooks are dusted off, old recipe boxes are opened and treasured dishes are recreated for friends and relatives. The best holiday treats are textured and spiced by generations of cooks who knew that food was a meaningful way to celebrate and savor the season. Food traditions, like religious traditions, make this time of year unique and significant. Here are some recipes that my family enjoys. I hope you'll find a favorite and start a tasty new memory for your loved ones.

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend
1/3 cup coconut flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons frozen, unsalted margarine or butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup flax gel* or 1 jumbo egg

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch pie plate.
2. Put flours, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt in a food processor and blend.
3. Cut margarine into small cubes. Add to dry ingredients and pulse mixture until it is the texture of coarse meal.
4. Add lemon juice and flax gel (or egg). Pulse until pastry just comes together. Do not over-process or dough becomes too wet.
5. Remove dough from processor. Dust 2 pieces of plastic wrap or a large zip-lock bag cut into 2 pieces with cornstarch. Roll 2/3rds of dough between plastic pieces until dough is larger than pie pan. Remove one piece of plastic wrap. Carefully lift plastic wrap and pastry up and flip it over to cover pie pan. Press pastry to fit snuggly into pan. Carefully remove 2nd piece of plastic wrap. Trim off excess pastry from rim, leaving enough to create an edge around pan.
6. Prebake crust for 18 minutes. While crust bakes, roll out remaining dough. Use leaf or small pumpkin cookie cutters to cut dough into shapes to decorate pie rim. Brush cut-outs with soy or non-dairy milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

*TIP
To make flax gel, combine 1 tablespoon ground flax meal with 2 tablespoons warm water for each egg. Let stand until mixture is thick, about 10 minutes.

Creamy Coconut Pumpkin Filling

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice blend (recipe below)
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup pumpkin puree
11/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup silk tofu

1. Blend sugar, spice blend, salt and cornstarch together in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and blend until creamy and smooth.
2. Pour filling into pre-baked crust. Brush edge of crust with soy milk and arrange cut-outs, overlapping to cover edge.
3. Bake pie on bottom third of oven for 25 minutes. Raise pie to middle rack and lower heat to 350. Continue baking for another 35 minutes. Turn oven off and leave pie in oven for an hour. Serve immediately or refrigerate when cool.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend

2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground dry ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon allspice
2 teaspoons nutmeg

Blend spices together and store in a sealed jar.

Plum Pudding
SERVES 10
A traditional Christmas dessert, plum pudding is best if made just after Thanksgiving and allowed to mature in the refrigerator for at least three weeks. Serve with a side dish of hard sauce (recipe below).

Brandy or cognac
1 cup raisins, currants or mixed dried berries
1 cup chopped, peeled apple
1/2 cup chopped dates
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend
1 cup gluten-free fresh bread crumbs
2 tablespoons flax meal
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter, margarine or oil
1/2 cup milk of choice
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses

1. Sprinkle brandy or cognac over dried fruit, apples and dates. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Grease a 1 - to 2-quart mold (or several smaller molds). Select a pot large enough to hold the mold so that it sits in the pot and can be covered tightly. Fill pot half full with water and heat.
3. Put salt, baking soda, baking powder, flour blend, bread crumbs, flax meal,
xanthan gum and pumpkin pie spices into a bowl. Add dried fruit, apples and dates and mix together.
4. In separate bowl, whisk sugar, melted butter, milk, egg and molasses together. Stir in dry ingredients.
5. Spoon batter into greased mold until 2/3rds full. (Do not over-fill.) Cover mold tightly. If you're using something other than a traditional pudding mold with a tight-fitting lid, wrap container in foil to keep water from getting into pudding as it steams. Place mold in hot water bath. Water needs to reach 3/4 of the way up the mold.
6. Bring water to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and cover pot. Take care that no water gets into the pudding as it cooks.* Cook pudding for 4 to 6 hours or until it feels firm to the touch. Remove from water bath and cool. Remove from mold.
7. Wrap pudding in clean unbleached muslin and then wrap it in foil. Store pudding in the refrigerator to ripen for at least three weeks. Open pudding wrap from time to time and sprinkle judiciously with more liquor or add liquor to the pudding cloth.
8. When ready to serve, return pudding to mold and steam as before for 1 1/2 hours.
9. To serve, place warm pudding on a platter. Carefully warm several tablespoons of brandy and pour around the edge of platter. Ignite brandy with a long-stemmed match and (carefully!) carry flaming dessert to the table.

*Some cooks prefer using a steamer to make plum pudding, which ensures that water will not enter the mold while the pudding cooks.

Hard Sauce
MAKES 3 CUPS
If hard sauce becomes too soft, place it in the refrigerator to stiffen.

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon brandy or cognac
Cream, if needed

1. Cream butter until white.
2. Add confectioner's sugar gradually, beating until mixture is creamy, about 5 minutes.
3. Add brandy and mix thoroughly. Serve as topping to plum pudding.