Twelve days of vintage treats

I have never in my life done so much holiday baking — and steaming and rolling and churning.

A few months ago, I had the grand idea to recreate vintage Free Press recipes for this year’s annual 12 Days of Christmas feature. I had a great time searching the archives for sweet treats from the last 150 years, but the actual cooking process has aged me by at least 150 years.

I’ve spent the seven days covered in flour and hunched over my kitchen counter trying to decipher 100-year-old recipes while making various doughs, candies and icings from sun-up to sundown. I am not a baker by any means and this whole experiment has reinforced my ineptitude. All that said, I have been pleasantly surprised by the results.

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The first feature kicks off Saturday, Dec. 10, with a lovely Homemade story about a local family and their 180-year-old fruitcake recipe, and you can follow along until the 23rd for recipes through the ages dating back to 1893.

Marj Birley and Wendy Barker are keeping their family’s fruitcake tradition for Christmas. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

There’s going to be recipes for ye olde plum pudding, marshmallowy fudge, caramels, honey spiced cookies, cranberry pie and, of course, shortbread. Get ready for lots of recipes involving dried fruits and booze!

Despite having a heck of a time whipping it all up, everything tasted wonderful. There isn’t a single treat I wouldn’t serve to guests, and several items are worthy of becoming annual holiday fixtures — hello, scratch-made eggnog and Christmas ice cream.

This Tutti Frutti Ice Cream recipe from 1936 was a surprising winner. (Eva Wasney / Winnipeg Free Press)

I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. The inclusion of these recipes in the paper speaks to an extensive testing process, either by newspaper staffers or readers sharing long-time favourites.

Aside from enjoying the fruits of my labour, the highlight of this project was perusing Christmas traditions of yore and old-timey gift guides — details of which I’ll be sharing with the forthcoming recipes. Hope you’ll follow along!

A note to those with the Homemade community cookbook on their Christmas wish list: We are sold out of physical copies of the book and there are unfortunately no plans to do a second printing at the moment. We will be releasing an e-version of the cookbook in the future, which you will be able to download here.

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Tasty tidbits

Back before it was home to Little Goat, West Side Grill, the Brit Cafe, J.C.’s Tacos and More or Rustic Restaurant & Bakery (among others, incredibly), 2615 Portage Ave., was home to Pizza Express. And while the two Winnipeg Pizza Express locations vacated many moons ago, the eatery carried on in Brandon. Well, Pizza Express is returning to Winnipeg in early 2023, according to a post on social media. They’re setting up in Charleswood (at 3116 Roblin Blvd., where Fast Fired by Carbone used to be), and apparently have more news on the way for both Winnipeg and Brandon.

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Speaking of Brandon, Manitoba’s newest brewery just opened its doors in the Wheat City. Section 6 Brewing Co. on Princess Ave., is the second craft brewery to open in Brandon, following in the footsteps of Black Wheat Brewing Co.

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The flora at Assiniboine Park’s new horticultural spectacle, The Leaf, looks pretty impressive — and their accompanying eatery, Gather Craft Kitchen & Bar, doesn’t look too shabby either. Gather opened Dec. 5 and features small plates and a range of mains from chef Mike de Groot, who has worked in the park in a number of culinary capacities for a decade.

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The short-lived Garden House East Indian Cuisine, located at 789 Portage Ave., in the old Paradise Restaurant space, is no more. Garden House opened near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; the Portage Ave. space has now been painted black on the outside and is slated to open as Seven8nine Hookah Lounge.

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Beaujena’s French Table on Hamel Avenue has also shuttered its doors, with a note on their website stating owners Randy and Beaujena Reynolds have decided to retire from the restaurant business.

Recommended fare

Ben: I finally finished the 12 episodes of Andor on Disney+ last week, which was so good it almost made me un-regret that Star Wars tattoo I got at age 18. There’s no mention of lightsabers or the Force in this gritty drama — what viewers get instead is the kernels of the Rebellion, the inter-office ladder-climbing politics of the Empire and more, all revolving around Cassian Andor (played by the excellent Diego Luna), who first appeared in the film Rogue One (which is the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy — don’t @ me). It’s my second-favourite series of the year (behind Station Eleven).

Eva: I’ve gotten into watching Christmas movies earlier than usual this year. I’ve already checked off one of my all-time faves, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — which you can catch in-theatre at Cinematheque on Dec. 22. I’ve also watched Spirited, a musical spin on A Christmas Carol starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. It’s not quite Elf-level hilarious, but there are plenty of funny moments and it definitely has replay value.

Homemade

Please enjoy a sneak peek of tomorrow’s Homemade fruitcake feature with this recipe — allegedly the same recipe as Queen Victoria’s wedding cake — submitted by Marj Birley.

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