Fifth Day of Christmas

Anne's 12 Days of Christmas Recipes

 On the fifth day of Christmas, for my family, I cooked...

~ Five Gold Rings ~

 Anne presents...

Rosemary-Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Anne's Fun Facts:

Cost of 5 Gold Rings (2010 Christmas Price Index) = $650.00
Cost of 5 Pineapple Rings = $0.77

Did You Know...??  Regarding the original intention of the song, five gold rings did NOT represent jewelry.  Instead, it represented the gold-colored rings around a Pheasant's neck.  So the beginning 7 items in the song were ALL birds.    

At the time the song was written, eating pheasant was only for the rich or royal, so a gift of 5 pheasants would have been very special.

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I had a lot of options for 5 Gold Rings. Should I go with the original intention and cook pheasant? Nah. Golden onion rings? Nah. I wanted to bring a dessert to my extended family's Christmas celebration, so I decided to make Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with 5 rings of pineapple.  I actually made two in 9x9 pans, one with rosemary and one without.  My relatives ended up picking off all the rosemary, or "spiky needles" as they called it.  I guess I should have crushed them first.  The recipe was just okay.  I should have made a better recipe from scratch but I was short on time so I took the easy way out by using yellow cake mix.

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Recipe

Rosemary-Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

3 eggs (or as called for by cake mix)

1/3 cup oil (or as called for by mix)

1&1/3 cups water (or as called for by mix)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/4-1/2 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

1 can sliced pineapple

maraschino cherries (optional) 

fresh rosemary sprigs (optional) 

Directions:

Follow instructions on cake box and prepare batter; set aside.  Pour melted butter in pan specified on cake box.  Generously sprinkle brown sugar over the butter.  Sprinkle rosemary.  Top with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries if desired.  Pour cake batter over the pineapple mixture.  Place in oven and bake as directed on box.   As soon as it's out of the oven, turn upside-down onto a serving plate and remove pan.  Garnish with rosemary sprigs if desired.

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Anne's 12 Days of Christmas Recipes  
(I will be posting one per day from Dec 26 thru Jan 6th, 2010).  Feel free to comment!

1st Day: Partridge in Pear Tree             7th Day: Seven Swans a-Swimming
2nd Day: Two Turtledoves                    8th Day: Eight Maids a-Milking
3rd Day: Three French Hens                 9th Day: Nine Ladies Dancing
4th Day: Four Calling Birds                  10th Day: Ten Lords a-Leaping
5th Day: Five Gold Rings                     11th Day: Eleven Pipers Piping
6th Day: Six Geese a-Laying                12th Day: Twelve Drummers Drumming