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Winter Forest Sherry Cake
Here is a recipe for a winter cake from my grandmother’s cookbook, Gram’s Kitchen. It was one of her most popular bakes during the holidays.
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Posh Sausage Roll
Last night I baked a posh take on a sausage roll and it was so scrumptious I couldn’t wait to share it with you all. I was watching chef Glynn Purnell cook up this much-loved savory pastry on a Christmas-themed cooking show hosted by chef Michel Roux, Jr., and I was so intrigued by what I saw that I went out and bought the ingredients to make it the very next day.
This roll is made posh by the addition of some delicious and unique filling ingredients not usually found in sausage rolls, such as toasted chopped pistachios, dried apricots and a festive pinch of ginger and nutmeg. Of course, it wouldn’t be a sausage roll without a meaty base, so plenty of streaky bacon, minced pork and sausage meat covers that nicely. To make life easier, you can use a store-bought puff pastry as well. Once baked, the pastry was golden and crispy and the filling had a rich flavor, accented nicely by the sweetness of the apricots and the subtle crunch of the pistachios.
I can picture this roll being enjoyed at Christmastime, when friends and family drop by the house and you need a delicious pick-up food to serve in the midst of all of the madness. My husband and I enjoyed it with a bottle of red wine and a light green salad. I will definitely be adding this Posh Sausage Roll to my Christmas cooking repertoire. Give it a try!
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9 Best Christmas Sweets by The Chic Brûlée
With Christmas fast approaching, I wanted to share some of my most popular recipes for holiday treats that I’ve baked here on The Chic Brûlée! Simply click on whichever picture you chose and it will bring you to the post page with a full recipe. Each one of these recipes is special to me (and tried and true favorites in my family) so I hope you will give one of them a try this year. Happy Baking!
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Twice Baked Shortbread
Shortbread is the ultimate indulgence. With an ingredient list traditionally comprised of one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour, these Scottish “biscuits,” popular since the 16th century, have surely stood the test of time. On my last trip to the U.K., I took home a box of shortbread from Harrod’s famous upscale “food court” and savored every last bite while back home in New York. I made a double batch to bring home for Christmas since both my Dad and my fiancé love shortbread as well ~ a win-win situation for all! This recipe calls for you to double bake the shortbread and from my experience is the best method to cook this delightful buttery treat. Because there is only a short list of ingredients, the quality of each is very important. In light of that, I decided to use European-style butter to elevate the richness of the shortbread and provide the most flavor possible. If you can’t find European-style butter at your grocery store or market, you can certainly still use regular butter for this recipe. After baking the shortbread twice (first in a pan and then cut into fingers on a baking sheet), it came out rich, crumbly and the most beautiful golden butter color. I hope you enjoy this little taste of Scotland in your kitchen for the holidays this year!
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Christmas Cookies with Royal Icing
There is nothing like a batch of freshly baked, buttery Christmas cookies frosted in rich royal icing and dusted with colorful sugar. I can guarantee that you will not find a better, more delicious recipe for cutout sugar cookies anywhere. These festive cookies are favorites of kids and adults alike and are truly a work of art! This year, I decided to do trees, stars, snowflakes, candy canes and reindeer, and I’m thrilled to share with you my recipe for these scrumptious frosted cookies along with a few helpful tips and techniques for frosting the cookies. So, throw on some Christmas carols and get baking!
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Knob Creek Balls
Known as “Southern Truffles,” I couldn’t wait to make a batch of fun, boozy bourbon balls. Most of all, I wanted to impress my fiancé, quite the bourbon aficiando, with a dessert made of his favorite Kentucky bourbon, Knob Creek. These no-bake balls are easy to make and pack quite the punch. Inside the balls is a mix of crushed Nilla wafers and pecans for just enough crunch. I rolled them in chocolate sprinkles to make them beautiful enough to serve at any of your holiday parties this year. Enjoy!
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Pecan Pie Biscotti
This week my grandmother and I stumbled upon a scrumptious looking biscotti in the newspaper. The warm color of the cookies and the addition of pecans, which you do not usually see in biscotti, was especially intriguing this time of year. We noticed there was not any butter or oil in the cookies – quite the rarity in the baking world! I did a quick Google search and found out that there are 2 varieties of biscotti: simply put, ones that are made with butter and ones that are not. Armed with this information, we set out to bake what turned out to be a delightful, light and crispy biscotti full of crunchy pecans and sweet brown sugar. They are wonderful to make around Christmastime and I highly recommend adding them to your assortment of cookies this year. Try one with coffee or a cup of tea for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Enjoy!
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Pfeffernüsse
I have many fond memories of enjoying Pfeffernüsse cookies during the holiday season while living in Switzerland. Pronounced [fef-fur-noose], these delightful German cookies translate to “pepper nuts” and are truly one of my favorite holiday treats. These spicy cookies, full of cloves, nutmeg, ground black pepper, ginger and cardamom, are not for the faint of heart and best reserved for those who love these distinct spices (although I challenge the non-spicy folks to give them a try as well – they are delicious and so worth it!). In Germany (and its neighboring Switzerland), Pfeffernüsse is a very old, if not ancient, recipe that has been passed down for generations and enjoyed throughout many European countries. I recall picking up a box of Pfeffernüsse from my local bakery
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Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Ever since I saw pictures of Martha Stewart’s scrumptious Chocolate Crackle Cookies, I had to make them. As any chocolate-lover would agree, the flaky texture and beautiful cracked tops, oozing with light-as-air powdered sugar, is irresistible. This recipe uses high quality bittersweet chocolate, melted over a double boiler, in addition to dutch cocoa powder to create a rich, chocolate flavor in the form of light, flaky cookies. Dutch Cocoa powder is different than regular unsweetened cocoa powder. You can find it in many gourmet shops or high-end supermarkets such as Whole Foods. I used Whole Foods’ luxurious Valrhona cocoa powder, imported from France. Valrhona is actually the name of a manufacturer based in the small town of Tain-l’Hermitage in Hermitage, a region near Lyon, France, that produces arguably the finest chocolate in the world. Chocolate Crackles make for a delicious chocolate treat during the Holidays or anytime of year!
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Saltine Toffee
One of my favorite holidays treats is homemade Saltine Toffee. This recipe uses Saltine crackers as a base to make a delicious and easy candy that’s crunchy, salty, sweet and full of rich chocolate. You can be as creative or gourmet as you wish by adding chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, colored sprinkles, dried fruit or drizzled white chocolate to decorate and embellish your toffee. Saltine toffee makes for an impressive holiday gift that any candy lover is sure to enjoy.
