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Christmas Recipes from the House of Shaw
Festive recipes from our family gatherings
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Bûche de Noël
This is our family’s favourite recipe; there are loads of different ways you can make a Bûche de Noël or Yule Log, but this one, with a flourless cake and whipped-cream filling, is (in our opinion) the best one. This recipe is very quick and easy to make; on Boxing Day, I usually bake the cake in the morning before I put the turkey or ham in the oven. That gives the cake lots of time to cool, and I usually assemble it and make it presentable before the meat is done roasting. You can also make it the day before. When we’re feeling energetic on Christmas Day, we make…
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Mulled Wine – Glühwein
Glühwein translates as ‘glowing wine,’ and I agree that it adds a glow to the season. In my time at the Toronto Christmas Market, the smell of mulled wine was one of the most evocative scents of the season, and a glass of it at the end of a long, cold day sent me home with a warmth in my heart. People have been drinking spiced wines since the Roman period at least, and the earliest recipe that we have is from 1390, which is older than any of the other recipes I’ve been able to find for my other festive drinks. This is another drink that was given to…
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Lamb’s Wool
Lamb’s Wool is an old recipe, a drink that was made in celebration during the dark, festive season, often as part of the tradition of wassailing – in this case, a kind-of ritual toasting the apple orchards (and often other crops, fields, and livestock) to ask for a good harvest in the coming year. In the photo below, I’ve included some real rovings of natural wool from a sheep, so you can see that the colour is actually quite close to real wool. it also has a thick texture, that’s comforting, warm, and hearty. When I decided to try making it, I had a lot of research to do. Years…
