Happy Giftmas 2019! It’s time for Rhonda Parrish’s wonderful annual fundraiser for the Edmonton Food Bank. Details for everything are below my little story about Christmas this year… and in years past. Hope you enjoy!
Our daughter moved to Ottawa last year, and she’s coming home for Christmas. She is the Christmas queen in our family, so I wanted to have the place looking really festive when she came home. Unfortunately, my husband decided that THIS would be a good time to renovate.
“It won’t take long,” he said before he started ripping out the “temporary” handrails we’d put up around our loft twenty years ago. “I have a plan.”
I told my sisters and my mother, and they nearly laughed themselves sick, because my dad used to do the same thing. Mom would want to have the house “look nice” for Christmas. (By “look nice” she meant clean everything from top to bottom then decorate.) Dad would offer to help, but that usually meant that something was going to be torn out and replaced.
So, like my mother before me, in the midst of drywall dust and paint spatters, I’m trying to get ready for Christmas. In our house, that means a lot of baking, which was another thing my dad did. Every Christmas, he baked buns. And they were amazing!
(Here is the recipe, verbatim, because it is a delightful bit of my history. However, you WILL want to adjust the amounts. 24 cups of flour make a lot of buns!)
Buns
This is not a precise operation. Put 2 cups sugar, 1/2 lb. lard, 1 tsp salt and 2 cups water in saucepan. Bring to boil and have it all dissolved and melted. Remove from heat, add 4 cups cold water.
Set yeast cake. (1/2 cup water, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 pkg yeast) in cup. If yeast working properly, cup should be almost full in 10 minutes.
Beat 6 eggs.
Put about 18 cups flour in big bowl. Make well in centre. Put boiled stuff, yeast and eggs in. Gradually bring in flour. Add up to another 6 cups flour. Let rise twice to twice original size. Make into buns. Let rise again. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or so.
Tips: Always work at luke warm–luke is better than tepid. Keep free of drafts. Wrapped in towels (when letting the dough rise) is a good idea.
Develop bun sense.
Here is the link for the Giftmas 2019 fundraiser. All proceeds go to the Edmonton Food Bank, and every dollar raised is equal to three meals. So, even if you can only afford one dollar, it helps. This is a definite win!
Of course, we couldn’t do this without giving back to all the wonderful people who support this annual fundraiser! So, here is the link to an amazing giveaway!
And this year, there’s a contest! If you’re feeling creative, draw us a snowman, and enter the contest. Rhonda Parrish will post them all–and we will be choosing our favourite!
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, filled with good food, good friends, and very little drywall dust. Merry Christmas!