Thai Spice Nut Mix
Nuts
1 cup each pecans, almonds, and cashews, roasted and salted
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Dressing
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp olive oil
4tsps red curry paste
Melt honey and whisk all dressing ingredients together, bake in a 300 F oven for 20 minutes, stir as they cool to break up chunks.
Eggnog Cookies
Preheat oven to 300oF
Ingredients
2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¾ cup soft butter
½ cup eggnog
1 tsp vanilla
2 large egg yolks
Directions
• In your second best mixing bowl whisk all dry ingredients together. This is Bowl A.
• In your best mixing bowl cream the sugar and butter together – you should end up with a grainy paste. This is Bowl B.
• Add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks to Bowl B and beat until smooth.
• Empty Bowl A into Bowl B and beat until smooth – do not overmix. Thank Bowl A for its service.
• Distribute scoops of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet (leave space in between), and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar.
• Bake at 300oF for 23-25 minutes or until bottoms turn light brown. Transfer to cooling rack. Consume as needed.
This recipe is a recent addition to our Christmas line-up. It was given to us by a long-lost niece that we had reconnected with after many years. We all love eggnog so this turned out to be a delicious reminder of new family, renewed relationships, memory-making and the spirit of giving. During a season of long-held traditions, it is nice to discover a new way of getting sugar into our bodies for Christmas.
CHERRY FLIPS COOKIES
Ingredients – Cookies
• Large bottle of maraschino cherries, drained and air dried, saving the juice in a bowl
• 1 cup of butter
• ½ cup of icing sugar
• 2 cups of sifted flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons of almond extract
• 1 package fine shredded coconut
Ingredients – Icing
• 1 ½ cups of icing sugar
• ½ cup cherry juice
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
• Cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks together. Blend in the flour, salt, and the almond flavouring.
• Take a piece of dough in the palm of your hand and insert the cherry, pinch together so the dough covers the entire cherry, 1 inch in size total
• Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake it like shortbread in a 300 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes so lightly browned
• Roll in the icing and the fine shredded coconut while still hot and place on a piece of wax paper till cool.
Buche de Noel with Marzipan Mushrooms
Ingredients:
Sponge Cake:
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup sifted cake and pastry flour (the sifting is important if possible)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 eggs
¾ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon icing sugar
Ch0colate Bark
8oz bittersweet baking chocolate or 1 cup dark chocolate melted and poured onto parchment covered baking sheet, then when cooled, broken into pieces.
Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling and Whipped Cream Frosting (From Marthastewart.com)
1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin
¼ cup Nutella
2 ¼ cup whipping cream
¼ cup icing sugar sugar
¼ cup cocoa
Instructions.
Cake:
1. Heat oven to 350 degree F.
2. Heat milk with butter until melted. Put plate over top to keep warm,
3. In separate bowl, whisk together cake and pastry flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Separate 3 of the eggs, dropping egg yolks and whites into separate bowls. Beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in ¼ cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time until soft peaks form.
5. Beat together egg yolks and remaining whole eggs and ½ cup white sugar until pale in colour and quite thick (About 5 minutes). Fold in (with spatula) one third of the egg whites. Fold in remaining whites.
6. Sift flour mixture over top. Fold with spatula until mixed. Pour in milk mixture and fold in until blended.
7. Spread out in 15X10 inch (40X 25 cm) parchment lined rimmed baking pan.
8. Bake cake until golden and cake springs back when lightly touched, about 12 minutes. Loosen edges with knife. Invert onto icing sugar-dusted tea towel. Starting at corner, carefully peel off paper. Starting at short side, roll up cake in towel; let cool on rack. (I make ahead, wrap in plastic, place in sealed bag and freeze).
Chocolate Hazelnut Filling and Whipped Cream Filling
1. Place 2 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan’ sprinkle with gelatin, and set aside to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk Nutella spread with ¼ cup whipping cream; set aside.
3. Heat gelatin mixture very gently over low heat, stirring just until dissolved. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, use mixer to beat remaining 2 cups whipping cream with sugar and cocoa powder until soft peaks form. While still beating, pour dissolved gelatin mixture over cream all at once (gently reheat gelatin mixture first if it has stiffened).
5. Fold half of whipped cream into Nutella spread mixture, This is the filling. Unroll gently the cake and carefully spread with the filling and reroll the cake up.
6. Ice the log with the remaining whipped cream.
7. Before you ice the log, you can cut the end off and place it next to the main log as if it is a cut off piece of log.
8. Cover the icing with the chocolate bark for log texture.
Marzipan Mushrooms (I usually buy marzipan or almond paste available in a tube or containor around Christmas in baking or ask at bakery).
(recipe from allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
2 cups icing sugar
½ lb. finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites
1.2 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon almond extract.
Instructions:
1. Blend ingredients in blender until perfectly blended. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Form into mushroom shapes and dust with cocoa powder.
Recipe Story
Growing up Christmas Eve was just as exciting as Christmas day, because on Christmas Eve we got to eat my Mom’s homemade Bûche de Noël or yule log. Although my family is not French Canadian, we are firmly English, Scottish, and Irish, my mom started to make Christmas Eves all about French Canadian traditions when she learned about it in school. When my mom was a child, she and her mother learned how to make Bûche de Noël and tourtière (a French Canadian meat pie) together. My mom continued the tradition she started with her mother with me and my sister. When I was very little the log cakes we made were very simple – or as simple as a rolled and filled cake can be – but as we got older and eventually moved out my mom got fancy with it. Whenever possible, me and my older sister come home for the holidays and help her prepare the Bûche de Noël and most importantly the marzipan decorations. We spend hours moulding little mushrooms and decorating the top of the cake to look exactly like a log, complete with chocolate bark and patches of whipped cream snow. The latest addition are some tiny elves all the way from Norway which now always get placed on top of the log. I always felt very Canadian with our Christmas Eve meal of tourtière and Bûche de Noël and now can not imagine a Christmas without the beautiful looking desert.
Buche de Noel with Marzipan Mushrooms
Ingredients:
Sponge Cake:
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup sifted cake and pastry flour (the sifting is important if possible)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 eggs
¾ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon icing sugar
Ch0colate Bark
8oz bittersweet baking chocolate or 1 cup dark chocolate melted and poured onto parchment covered baking sheet, then when cooled, broken into pieces.
Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling and Whipped Cream Frosting (From Marthastewart.com)
1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin
¼ cup Nutella
2 ¼ cup whipping cream
¼ cup icing sugar sugar
¼ cup cocoa
Instructions.
Cake:
1. Heat oven to 350 degree F.
2. Heat milk with butter until melted. Put plate over top to keep warm,
3. In separate bowl, whisk together cake and pastry flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Separate 3 of the eggs, dropping egg yolks and whites into separate bowls. Beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in ¼ cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time until soft peaks form.
5. Beat together egg yolks and remaining whole eggs and ½ cup white sugar until pale in colour and quite thick (About 5 minutes). Fold in (with spatula) one third of the egg whites. Fold in remaining whites.
6. Sift flour mixture over top. Fold with spatula until mixed. Pour in milk mixture and fold in until blended.
7. Spread out in 15X10 inch (40X 25 cm) parchment lined rimmed baking pan.
8. Bake cake until golden and cake springs back when lightly touched, about 12 minutes. Loosen edges with knife. Invert onto icing sugar-dusted tea towel. Starting at corner, carefully peel off paper. Starting at short side, roll up cake in towel; let cool on rack. (I make ahead, wrap in plastic, place in sealed bag and freeze).
Chocolate Hazelnut Filling and Whipped Cream Filling
1. Place 2 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan’ sprinkle with gelatin, and set aside to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk Nutella spread with ¼ cup whipping cream; set aside.
3. Heat gelatin mixture very gently over low heat, stirring just until dissolved. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, use mixer to beat remaining 2 cups whipping cream with sugar and cocoa powder until soft peaks form. While still beating, pour dissolved gelatin mixture over cream all at once (gently reheat gelatin mixture first if it has stiffened).
5. Fold half of whipped cream into Nutella spread mixture, This is the filling. Unroll gently the cake and carefully spread with the filling and reroll the cake up.
6. Ice the log with the remaining whipped cream.
7. Before you ice the log, you can cut the end off and place it next to the main log as if it is a cut off piece of log.
8. Cover the icing with the chocolate bark for log texture.
Marzipan Mushrooms (I usually buy marzipan or almond paste available in a tube or containor around Christmas in baking or ask at bakery).
(recipe from allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
2 cups icing sugar
½ lb. finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites
1.2 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon almond extract.
Instructions:
1. Blend ingredients in blender until perfectly blended. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Form into mushroom shapes and dust with cocoa powder.
Recipe Story
Growing up Christmas Eve was just as exciting as Christmas day, because on Christmas Eve we got to eat my Mom’s homemade Bûche de Noël or yule log. Although my family is not French Canadian, we are firmly English, Scottish, and Irish, my mom started to make Christmas Eves all about French Canadian traditions when she learned about it in school. When my mom was a child, she and her mother learned how to make Bûche de Noël and tourtière (a French Canadian meat pie) together. My mom continued the tradition she started with her mother with me and my sister. When I was very little the log cakes we made were very simple – or as simple as a rolled and filled cake can be – but as we got older and eventually moved out my mom got fancy with it. Whenever possible, me and my older sister come home for the holidays and help her prepare the Bûche de Noël and most importantly the marzipan decorations. We spend hours moulding little mushrooms and decorating the top of the cake to look exactly like a log, complete with chocolate bark and patches of whipped cream snow. The latest addition are some tiny elves all the way from Norway which now always get placed on top of the log. I always felt very Canadian with our Christmas Eve meal of tourtière and Bûche de Noël and now can not imagine a Christmas without the beautiful looking desert.
Lovelies
Family lore has it that my mother and aunt created a special Christmas recipe using Eagle
Brand milk for a contest in the early 1950’s. They always called it ‘food for the gods’ and it has
been a favourite for generations now. A no bake chocolaty confection that even the great grands
can whip up.
Food for the Gods – Kay Masters
Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk..original
4 squares semi-sweet chocolate
3 cups min marshmallows
1 jar red cherries cut in smaller pieces
1/2 cup walnuts chopped
1 tablespoon butter
3 cups graham wafer crumbs
1 to 2 cups shredded coconut
Wax paper
Method
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave in large bowl
Stir in all ingredients except the coconut
Blend together
To form
Cover a 12 inch sheet of wax paper with a thin layer of coconut in the center
Form a log of the mixture on the coconut
Secure ends of wax paper
Place in plastic bag
Keep refrigerated
Slice in /2 inch rounds to serve
