It all started in October. That was the month Auntie Kay chose to begin her Christmas baking.
I was reminded of this occurrence upon receiving a wonderfully informative email by Lea Pinske who mentioned that she had worked with Auntie Kay at various church sponsored teas, bake sales, and other social events. I then realized that most of my columns are written about Wally and his activities. It is time for one about Auntie Kay.
Auntie Kay started with making Christmas cake. She always made the dark one first because once finished, it would go into the cool basement where it would sit in crock pots and age. Some of the ingredients were candied fruit, green and red maraschino cherries, walnuts, filbert nuts, and currants. I don’t recall what gave the cake its rich dark color.
Later on the lighter Christmas cake was made. It didn’t seem to need the aging that the dark one did, but neither was it as tasty as the dark one. The fruit and nut ingredients were similar and they both had almond paste icing on them when served.
When the cakes were finished Auntie Kay would make the mincemeat. She would store the product in fruit canning jars until she had enough to make all the pies and tarts she wanted to for that festive season.
The mincemeat was my favorite. It had nuts and raisins in it to mention the recognizable ingredients.
She also made Christmas pudding with lots of fruit and nuts in it. It had a special flavor that I’m unable to describe but it was like no other product she made. Accompanying it was a hard sauce also home made. I didn’t eat much of the pudding because it wasn’t a favorite and I’m not sure I liked that unique taste.
The last item Auntie Kay made was short bread and lots of it. Actually, she made lots of everything. Her cupboards were always full it seemed. She never had to apologize for running out.
I didn’t eat much short bread for like the pudding it was not a favorite. The mince meat pie I could eat all day. When there was no pie I would eat the tarts.
I don’t know how much of her Christmas baking she gave away, but she seemed to make enough for everybody. I know I was a glad recipient of her products, and to this day I have fond memories of Auntie Kay and her Christmas baking.