September 2013: My Most Cherished Canadian Recipe
Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 08:43AM This month’s challenge for The Canadian Food Experience really had me spinning my wheels and asking myself the same question over and over again. “What IS my cherished Canadian Recipe?” Having grown up in a predominately Italian household I struggled to even determine what would make a recipe qualify as ‘Canadian’.
Did it need to include Maple Syrup, venison or poutine in order to fit the bill? Would my mother’s gnocchi recipe not qualify (even though when I know she is making it I tend not to eat anything past breakfast so I can completely gorge myself on dinner)?
I was born and raised in Alberta, so I contemplated putting forth my Auntie Dena’s meatloaf recipe which I always make with Alberta beef that my sister ships to me from her farm every year. If the ingredients are Canadian does that make the recipe Canadian?
After a while, I decided that really there is no right answer. I am Canadian and even if this recipe happens to have been passed down to my mom from my Nona and then passed down onto me, it is still the Canadian recipe that I cherish the most.
Why do I cherish it? There are many different answers to that question. The most obvious being that it is delicious and every single person who has ever tried it – loves it. The less obvious reason is because this recipe has so many different memories interwoven into it.
My nona used to make these on her wood burning stove in the basement and as a child I wouldn’t even wait for them to fully cool on the counter before I ate them. My mom taught me how to make them and each time I make they get closer and closer to being as good as hers, but I know I still have a long way to go. And finally, my mom made them for dessert at my wedding and it was great to be able to share them with all my closest friends and family on such a wonderful day.
You may be wondering what these delights are – well they are called Butterhorns and I am really excited to be sharing the recipe here again on my blog.
Mouthwatering Butterhorns
Ingredients:
Yeast mixture
1 cup of lukewarm water
2 tbsp yeast (2 packages traditional not quickrising)
2 tsp sugar
Butterhorn Mixture
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
4 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
1tsp salt
2 egg yolks
Icing
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk (if you need more add a little at a time)
1 cup of walnuts
Instructions
Scalp one cup of milk in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove. Add 1 cup of butter, stir and then cool in the refrigerator until cool to the touch.
In a separate bowl combine lukewarm water, yeast and sugar and stir until fully mixed. Sit on the countertop for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to rise.
In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt and egg yolks and then add the fully risen yeast mixture and the cooled scalded butter/milk mixture. Stir until fully mixed. Cover the top of the bowl with saran wrap and leave in the fridge for approximately 5 hours or overnight.
Remove the mixture from the fridge and on a large cutting board or flat surface, sprinking a light layer of flour to ensure the dough mixture does not stick. Cut a softball size piece of the mixture using a small knife and using a rolling pin, roll the mixture out to the size of a medium pizza (approximately 8-10 inches in diameter). Grabbing one side of the mixture roll the dough into the shape of a sausage roll and cut into 2" strips. Take the individual strips and put down into a small flat ball and place on a cookie sheet coated with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
Cover with clean dish towel and let rise for 40 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.
While the butterhorns are in the oven, prepare the icing mixture. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl including the walnuts. Add additional milk slowly if the mixture is not spreadable.
Once butterhorns have cooked fully, remove from the oven and add the icing mixture immediately. And if these babies straight out of the oven with the icing sugar mixture still melting don't make your eyes roll back a little in your head, I don't know what will.
So make yourself a batch, sit down somewhere nice and quiet and take a look at all the amazing Canadian stories being shared through the Canadian Food Experience from east to west. We hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity.
Reader Comments (8)
I don't think that your favorite Canadian recipe has to be Canadian. Canada is a beautiful melting pot of cultures, so having something not entirely Canadian is as Canadian as you can get! These look amazing!
Thanks Colleen. That is obviously the conclusion I came to after pondering it for a bit. The butterhorns are SOOOO good. If you decide to make them let me know what you thought. And thanks for stopping by ;)
I must correct the information in the comment. Canada is not a melting pot. We are a cultural mosaic. There is a huge political difference and cultural difference between the US and Canada - the US is a melting pot. The expect and work toward assimilation and "in God we trust". We do not. We honour individual ethnicity and welcome cultural diversity as it promotes tolerance and understanding. In 1981 Pierre Elliot Trudeau was the Prime Minister who developed the initiative and worked to have it part of the Canadian constitution for over 10 years... from the late 60's - and so it is.
That aside, my earliest memories on road trips with my dad were coffee stops in road side cafes where he would order me a toasted butterhorn with butter. Deadly. Oh, what a treat. The road trips stopped as I grew older. The cafes disappeared as did the butterhorn. I haven't seen one anywhere for years in Alberta. I am so thrilled that you have posted this recipe as it is more than a blast from the past for me. It brought back vivid memories of love and of a time that was slow and delicious.
Big hug to you. I WILL be making these and I cannot wait. As soon as dad gets out of the hospital, these will be on the welcome home table.
XO
Valerie
PS - please post the meatloaf recipe, too. I LOVE MEATLOAF! My mom's is my FAVOURITE home food recipe - and my girls have found this a favourite of theirs, too - yet I made another one wrapped with bacon that I didn't think compared to hers.... until I made them side by side to compare - and the other one was actually better. YIKES. But, it is still mom's that I crave. I would love to try your auntie's too!
:)
V
OK - read the entire recipe, but I do recall the shape being in a crescent, too - do you recall this? Horn-like... as well as this way.
Have you read the origin? I just did - so interesting... do you have family roots there? I think they were just so good that the cafes learned to make them - they were novel and delicious and not hard to make... ???
:)
V
I will most certainly post the meat loaf recipe...as it is almost meat loaf season as the leaves begin to drop from the trees. I think it is the caramelized onions that make the recipe so tasty.
As for the butterhorns, I can honestly say that I have only EVER had them home made and made this way. They very well may have been made in a crescent shape elsewhere, but in my house they were always like a little bun sent down from heaven ;)
I hope your dad is feeling better...been thinking about the both of you and sending good vibes your way.
They look so light and tender! Definitely need to give them a try. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
My pleasure. I hope you decide to give them a try. Trust me...they are worth it!