I had every intention to have my first December post be a holiday recipe. I even have one stored away as a draft, just waiting to be published.
But then I made these muffins.
December what? Christmas who?
Growing up, whenever my family would go and visit Grandma, she always had some baking ready for us. My mom would always rave about her buttertarts, which is something I never understood until I was in my early teens. Up until then, I did not like pies or tarts of any kind.
I mourn those lost years of missing out on these irresistible tarts.
I’m not sure what the best part is of my Grandma’s recipe. It could be the end result of a light, flaky crust which I just found out is her rendition of the Tenderflake crust recipe found on most Tenderflake packages. It could also be the rich, gooey, buttery filling that puffs up and crisps slightly to a golden brown when baked.
However, I think it could also be the crunchy, chewy addition of pecans and raisins. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to what goes in a buttertart, but I find that I’m partial to pecans and raisins.
Whenever my Grandma would make the recipe, she would use a large, round cookie cutter with flower petal edges. I have fond memories of picking off the petals from my tart, one by one and eating them before I would devour the entire thing. I wasn’t able to find a similar cookie cutter, but I did find one with small ridged edges that came in a pack of 6 from Dollarama.
This isn’t an important part of the recipe, but I find that it helps with the end presentation. 🙂
When I sit down to write a blog post, sometimes I know exactly what to write and the words flow out naturally.
Other times, I really struggle with it. It becomes a war of incomplete sentences, misspelled words and run-on ideas that just turns into so much garble that I have to close my browser, step away from the keyboard and leave it alone for a few hours….or a few days.
Recently, I’ve come to also realize that I’m one of those people who, when stuck in a boring situation like waiting for a bus, starting to form blog posts in my head.
“So when I talk about the pancakes and how the napkin I used as a colour-pop is yellow, I should mention that I was inspired by the fact that up until the day I made them, I was tired, grouchy, and had not seen the sun in exactly six days…….”
Yeah, I’m not so smooth in my head either.
With October now over, it’s nice to be able to kick back and take a break from the sugar and chocolate coma created by the craziness of Halloween.
I’m kidding, of course.
Although with the sugar-sweetness of Halloween now in the past, I believe it’s time for a more grown-up chocolate taste.
Just in time for the Halloween season, I thought I would give a quick run-down of some of my favourite candies I stocked up on during my three weeks in Japan. Most of these items can be picked up in Japanese or Chinese grocery stores in bigger Canadian cities for 3 or 4 times the price I paid for, so in a few weeks time I’m sure I will be mourning the loss of these goodies and the prices I paid for them.
Above is some of the chocolate available in Japan. I found Japanese chocolate to be less sweeter than Western chocolate, with a more enhanced cocoa-flavouring. I could not get enough of the plain Meiji milk chocolate bars which, in only in texture, is the same as a Hershey milk chocolate bar. Supporting my love of mint, I also picked up the Meiji Feel Mint cool tasting chocolate sticks. The strawberry Meiji chocolate cones (middle) and the Meiji Choco Babies are chocolates I’ve enjoyed since I was a little kid and I was happy to stock up on. Choco Babies are little nubs of unsweetened dark chocolate and the strawberry chocolate cones taste similar to that of Neapolitan ice cream (at least according to Trevor). Each chocolate was less than a dollar in Japan, whereas in Canada I’ve seen them priced from $3-$4 each.
Poifull are a candy I almost forgot about until my Mom starting buying them at every Japanese convenience store we stopped in at. Roughly $4 in Canadian stores, these fruit-flavoured little candies (similar to a jelly bean) are a mere 100 yen (roughly a $1.25) in Japan. The inside texture is chewy and soft like gummy candy and the fruit flavouring in much more real and intense than any Jelly Belly I’ve ever had. I’m not ashamed to say that on our last night in Japan, my Mom and I cleaned out a local store’s supply to take back with us.
Canadian food blogger, baking and eating her way through life. Musical theatre fanatic. Personal finance nerd. Sometimes runner/yogi. Green smoothies are pretty amazing.
