Post Your Original (Or Favorite) Christmas Dessert Recipes Here, Please!

Cafe Society
1

Links are welcome too.

I like to make Holiday desserts for my coworkers who have to work the Christmas/New Year’s Holidays, so I’m always looking for something unusual. Since we have such an international “cast” here on SDMB, I thought I’d ask y’all to post your favorites. Liqouer (sp) ones are okay, as I will warn them beforehand just to take them home and not try to care for our patients with the confections onboard! :smiley:

As many of you know, I’m no Zenster or Chefguy (and many other great cooks on SDMB whom I may not know about), so simplicity of preparation appeals to me.

I do have a food processor, mixer and measuring cup as well as some big aluminum bowls, so with all that in mind, I’d appreciate any help I can get!

Thanks und Fröhliche Weihnachten (ein tad early!:D)!

“Glühwein-Quas’”

2

My inlaws are pretty crazy about my orange brownies.

They’re a basic brownie recipe (I usually use Joy of Cooking’s Brownies Cockaigne), with a little bit of orange zest added to the batter. I chop up a 4-oz bar of Ghirardelli’s chocolate and spread it on top of the hot brownies, where it melts into a nice layer. Finally, I candy the peel of one or two oranges, chop the candied peel up into little triangles, and scatter the triangles across the top of the brownies.

They come out looking vaguely mosaic-like, and they’re damn tasty.

To candy an orange peel:
-Peel an orange with a sharp knife, trying to get as little of the white part as possible.
-Throw the peel into a pot of boiling water, and boil it for about fifteen minutes.
-Scrape off any remaining white stuff with that sharp knife; you’ll now have a bunch of pieces of tender peel.
-Throw the scraped peels into a pot of sugar syrup – maybe one cup sugar, one cup water? I forget proportions, but you want it fairly strong. Boil it in there for another fifteen minutes.
-Drain the peels.
-Dredge each peel in sugar.
-When the peels are dry, cut them up. They’ll look like pieces of colored frosted glass.

Daniel

3

Do cookies count? I make these very easy drop cookies with fruitcake fruit every year – and a major fan club has sprung up, so I usually do a quadruple batch.

4

twicks’, of course they count, sweetcakes! :slight_smile: So post you reecipe or link me to 'em! :smiley:

Daniel: Thanks. “Dredge each peel in sugar”. Regular or confectionary?

>Joy of Cooking’s Brownies Cockaigne<

:smiley:
Q

5

I’ll post it this weekend sometime – it’s something that I cut from a magazine 10 years ago, no link.

You’re definitely thinking ahead to the Christmas season this year – does this mean you’re going to volunteer to be the Secret Santa organizer?

6

These are a HUGE hit around my house during the holidays:

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Ingredients
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup butter/margarine
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla
48 undrained maraschino cherries (about one 10 oz. and one 6 oz. jar)
1 6 oz. package semisweet chocolate pieces
½ cup sweetened condensed milk

Directions
Combine flour and cocoa in a mixing bowl – set aside. In a large bowl beat butter/margarine with a mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until softened. Add sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Beat until well combined. Add egg and vanilla – beat well. Gradually beat in the flour mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place on ungreased baking sheet. Press thumb into center of each ball. Drain maraschino cherries, reserving juice. Place a cherry in the center of each cookie. In a small saucepan combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk; heat until chocolate is melted. Stir in 4 teaspoons of the reserved cherry juice.

Spoon about 1 tsp (or more if needed) of the frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover cherry. Frosting may be thinned with additional cherry juice if needed.

Bake in 350 degree oven about 10 minutes or until done. Remove to wire rack – cool. Makes about 48 cookies.

7

I don’t think so, twicks’, but I do love the holidays. Must be a “German” thing, huh? I mean I catch myself looking at catalogs and thinking to myself, "Oh! So-and-So might like this, and I might not even know “so-and-so” that well!

Can’t put my finger on it, really. I’m not really religious, although I do believe in God. I think it’s just that I have very very fond memories of the German Christmases and of the Christ-Child, and the snow and the pealing of the bells late at night when there’s no one on the streets…

And you have succeeded in making me hijack my own thread, haven’t you??? :smiley:
Q

8

Sweet Potato Casserole
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup melted margarine
6 cups of cooked and cubed sweet potatoes or 2 (40 oz each) cans of sweet potatoes cut and drained

Mix well in a large bowl the sugar, milk, margarine, and eggs.
Add the sweet potatoes and gently mix well.
Pour into a 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish and then make topping.

Topping
1-1/4 cup all purpose flour
1-1/4 cup packed brown sugar
mix well and add:
1-1/4 cups of chopped pecans
3/4 cups of melted margarine
Mix these together well and sprinkle over sweet potatoes.
Bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 50-65 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

9

Risengrød
Danish Rice Porridge
Preparation time: 1 hour

Serves: 4-8 people
Ingredients:

2 Quarts Whole milk
1 Pint Heavy whipping cream
¾ Pound Long grain white rice
1 Cup Lignonberry or other fruit syrup
¼ Cup Cold water
1-2 Tbs Confectioner’s sugar
1 Tsp Pure vanilla extract
1 Blanched whole almond
Preparation:

Chill a large bowl and beating implements in the freezer. Wash rice until the water runs clear. Bring the cold water to a boil in a large covered pot. Add the milk and scald (removing any skin that forms). Add the washed rice and bring to a boil again. Once the mixture boils, reduce to a simmer for 30-60 minutes. Check for doneness. Rice should be fully cooked without being mushy. Nearly all of the milk should be absorbed. Allow the rice to cool completely before mixing with the whipped cream.

Use the chilled bowl to whip the cream. Try to find genuine heavy cream (without carrageenan or any mono or diglycerides). Once the cream begins to stiffen, add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Whip until completely stiff.

In a large bowl, gently fold the cooked and cooled rice into the whipped cream. Mix completely but avoid deflating the whipped cream. Bury the blanched almond off-center in the bowl. Chill well before serving. Permit diners to top their dish with the fruit syrup.
Note: This dessert is traditionally served at the end of a Danish Christmas Eve feast. Whoever finds the almond is given a small prize (like a chocolate bar). Anyone who can sufficiently revive themselves to eat a second portion deserves a prize as well.
From: American Field Service International Cookbook
Publishers: Western New York Committee for American Field Service
1[sup]st[/sup] Printing December 1958

10

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1199974#post1199974

The above is a link to my family’s Boston Cream Candy. It usually gets made for Christmas with us. It’s as sweet and rich as anything you could imagine, goes good with a cup of dark, black coffee!

11

I recommend making a trifle, a layered dessert of pound cake, syrups, fruit, whipped cream etc. It’s delicious and visually very impressive. You can assemble it the day before for ease of preparation. Do a google search and you’ll find plenty of recipes out there.

12

And don’t forget to soak the cake in plenty of sherry or other dessert wine. In the UK you can buy “trifle sponges” , which are pieces of sponge cake about 1 inch by 3 inches ,especially made to go in the trifle.

13

Thanks for the compliment, but I’m afraid I’d lose in a cookoff against Zenster. :slight_smile:

These two simple cookie recipes are basically childhood memories. I will forever associate the two flavors with my mother and my family. Everyone seems to like the orange crisps, which make nice tea cookies.

Orange Nut Crisps
Mother Chefguy

½ Cup granulated sugar
1/3 Cup butter
1 Cup sifted flour
1 Egg, separated
¼ Pound (about 1 cup) chopped walnuts
Grated rind of 1 orange
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 Tsp orange juice (delete for crisper cookies)

In a mixer, cream sugar and butter together very well. Work in flour, orange rind, lemon rind, orange juice and egg yolk. Work this all together thoroughly with hands or with mixer dough hook. Make into 24 small balls (fewer if larger cookies are desired). Roll each in slightly beaten egg white, then in chopped nuts. Place on greased sheet and flatten out with a fork to about a quarter of an inch thickness. Bake in moderate oven, 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Almond Balls (a variation of Mexican wedding cakes)
Mother Chefguy

1 Cup butter
¾ Cup powdered sugar
2 Cups sifted flour
1 Cup ground almonds
1 Tsp vanilla
18 Candied cherries, halved
Additional powdered sugar

In a mixer, cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Add everything else except cherries and extra sugar. Mix well. Form into balls and press ½ cherry in center. Bake at 325 on ungreased sheet for 20-25 minutes. While hot, roll in powdered sugar. Be careful not to over-brown the bottoms. When done right, these are light and flavorful.

I grew up eating canned cranberries. My father wouldn’t touch the real thing and my mother just didn’t want to deal with it. My present spouse looked at me in horror when I bought the jellied stuff and promptly converted me with her own version below. Very simple, but so yummy:

Cranberry Sauce
Cheflady

1 Bag of large cranberries
Orange juice
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Splash of cognac (optional, but recommended)
Finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Place all ingredients except nuts in a saucepan and follow directions on bag for cooking, but substitute orange juice for water. When cranberries are done, add chopped nuts. Serve warm or chilled.

14

(Quasi – I’ll see you in an “ambivalent about the holidays?” thread in a couple of months, 'kay?)

FRUIT DROPS

preheat oven to 325.

Beat until fluffy:

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light-brown sugar

Beat in:

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. rum or brandy extract
2 eggs

Beat in, a little at a time:

2-1/3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

At this point, your dough is going to be very thick and stiff. Give up on the mixer at this point, or it will give up on you. (I killed a mixer once by proceeding.)

Blend in, by hand:

1-1/2 cups pecan pieces (about 6 oz.)
l lb. fruitcake fruit

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2" apart. Bake until edges just start to brown, abotu 12 minutes. Let stand on baking sheets for a minute before moving to wire racks (yeah right) or the kitchen table, protected by paper towels on top of newspaper.

These are truly very yum, and you don’t have to like fruitcake to like them.

15

Slab of Stilton cheese, with some good sliced bread or Carr’s water crackers.

Bottle of decent port.

Th’ hell with all that sweet crap. We’re grown-ups now.

16

I agree, but add almonds to the mix.

17

Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to try, nonetheless? I’ve always wanted to tour Alaska anyway.

18

(Nanook slaps self on head).

 Thanks, Rayne Man, how could I have overlooked the most important ingredient??
19

Mmmmm. Big wooden bowl of almonds, walnuts, pecans, with a huge old tarnished silver nutcracker lying alongside. That says Christmas to me.

20

Baker, that Boston Cream Candy sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try it next week!