Who remembers hard sauce?

[Breezy_Carol]

When I was growing up, my mother bought small jars of hard sauce, Cross and Blackwell I think. We would have it on plum pudding or mincemeat pie. It was yummy. I have looked up the recipe and it is basically sugar and butter with brandy or whiskey or vanilla.

I was at the grocery store today and asked it they carried it and two younger employees had never heard of it.

So, does anyone remember this, or am I that old?

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

This... the home made version.
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes...tuffings-and-sauces/brown-sugar-brandy-butter
It is still sold here at Christmas time.
https://www.tiptree.com/index.php/brandy-butter-170g.html

 

[tvguy]

Never bought it. My mom always made it to go with various desserts.

 

[ImDMous]

I've never heard of it but it sounds delicious! I've also never eaten plum pudding or mincemeat pie.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I got a jar of mince meat and am planning to make a pie because my 93 year old MIL wanted one. My adult children have never had it and I'm not sure they'll try it because of the name. It is basically a winter fruit pie with a lot of sugar and raisins. I like it, especially with hard sauce, which I will make.

Growing up we also had plum pudding and it was a favorite of mine. Cakey, with fruit and nuts but moister than fruit cake.

 

[georgina]

We always made ours. Yep, put it on mince meat pie. Very easy to make - butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla, optional alcohol. (You may be that old, I'm 57!)

 

[LCoulter]

I had never heard of it growing up. My MIL introduced me to it when she made blueberry cobbler with a side of hard sauce to put on it. It was sugar, butter and vanilla. It was really good added to cobbler.

 

[georgina]

Can't go wrong with sugar and butter! I think I ate the leftovers straight out of the bowl as a kid. (non-alcohol version)

 

[fla4fun]

I got a jar of mince meat and am planning to make a pie because my 93 year old MIL wanted one. My adult children have never had it and I'm not sure they'll try it because of the name. It is basically a winter fruit pie with a lot of sugar and raisins. I like it, especially with hard sauce, which I will make.

Growing up we also had plum pudding and it was a favorite of mine. Cakey, with fruit and nuts but moister than fruit cake.

When I was a child, there were two different pies. Mince pie was all fruits, but mincemeat was the fruit with ground cooked pork and beef roasts in it also. I hated the mincemeat pie, but liked mince pie fine. We didn’t have sauce on it though. I have never been a big fan of meat with sweet sauces, so I think that’s why I didn’t like mincemeat.

I do recall hearing about hard sauce, but have never eaten it.

 

[MrsPete]

I have a vague memory of this. Maybe it wasn't a regular at our house?

 

[NotUrsula]

It's a favorite in Louisiana as well; a bourbon version is commonly used to top Bread Pudding.

It probably isn't all that profitable to sell pre-made, because it is so easy to make yourself. The key is using quality butter and not over-melting it; I recommend KerryGold salted.

Ree Drummond has a nice illustrated recipe: https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/hard-sauce/

(PS: It's not at all the same thing as a brandy butter. Hard Sauce isn't really sauce; it has the consistency of whipped cream.)

 

[Breezy_Carol]

(You may be that old, I'm 57!)

I'm 66., but a young 66. LOL

 

[Dan Murphy]

Never heard of it. but sure sounds good, Carol.

 

[Diznotyzed]

My mom would put it on fresh baked gingerbread (cake style) if we didn't have whipped cream. Thanks for the memory - haven't had that in years.

 

[eileenjez]

When I was working in the stores it was with the canned pie fruit on the bottom shelf. I hung price tags. It would also be on the bake display for the holiday. funny my husband and I were just talking about this.

 

[wishing4PA]

I read the thread title and my first thought was of plum pudding with hard sauce on top. Both homemade, most recently maybe about 40 years ago?
So you might indeed be "that old", but so am I, and now I can dream of plum pudding and hard sauce.

 

[ronandannette]

Stupid question maybe but never having had it, how is this topping much different than buttercream icing? The ingredients seem to be identical (except thinned with liquor instead of milk) and the method is similar.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I don't think I ever had it as a kid, but I've definitely heard of it (and I'm only 49.)

 

[jrmasm]

When I was growing up, my mother bought small jars of hard sauce, Cross and Blackwell I think. We would have it on plum pudding or mincemeat pie. It was yummy. I have looked up the recipe and it is basically sugar and butter with brandy or whiskey or vanilla.

I was at the grocery store today and asked it they carried it and two younger employees had never heard of it.

So, does anyone remember this, or am I that old?

I remember that I ate it plain. Blech to plum pudding and mincemeat pie.

 

[tvguy]

I got a jar of mince meat and am planning to make a pie because my 93 year old MIL wanted one. My adult children have never had it and I'm not sure they'll try it because of the name. It is basically a winter fruit pie with a lot of sugar and raisins. I like it, especially with hard sauce, which I will make.

Growing up we also had plum pudding and it was a favorite of mine. Cakey, with fruit and nuts but moister than fruit cake.

Mincemeat is a lot of diced apples, raisins, some have citrus peel , spices and sugar. I bought a jar to snack on. I'm the only one who likes it so too much work to make a whole pie. There are also varieties of mincemeat that have rum and brandy flavor added.