Christmas
1676 recipes found
Spiced Chocolate Marble Shortbread
Chocolate, toasted sesame, candied ginger and citrus! These cookies are a wonderful combination of intense flavors that pair really well together. The alternating layers of a chocolate dough and one spiked with warming spices are reminiscent of marble swirls, zebra stripes, rock strata layers — take your pick. They are as pleasant to look at as they are to eat, and they will add some flair to your holiday cookie tin. (This cookie is one of six cookies that you can make with this Butter Shortbread Dough recipe. If you make that dough, you can make a double batch of the Marble Shortbread or try any of the other five recipes.)
Savory Shortbread Cookies With Olives and Rosemary
An unusual combination for a cookie, the flavors in this shortbread will appeal to those who appreciate a little pop of savory in their sweets. The olives used here are fruity kalamata, which when surrounded by a buttery shortbread crust and baked, become like little jewels studding each cookie. Rosemary and lemon balance the robust flavors of the olives by adding refreshing pine and citrus notes. Your cookie dough can be made ahead of time, rolled into logs and kept refrigerated or frozen. Slice and bake while cold, or from frozen, to serve.
Roasted Salmon With Miso Cream
A whole fillet of salmon cut from one side of a fish looks spectacular but takes only a little longer to cook than smaller portions. Crème fraîche spread all over the fish keeps it moist as it roasts and adds a savory richness when a dollop of miso is stirred into the mix. That same pair is gently warmed into a sauce that’s finished with tart citrus juice so that it tastes both creamy and light. This can be served simply with salad and bread or be offered with other vegetables, like potatoes, asparagus or brussels sprouts.
Peppermint Patty Shortbreads
With chocolate ganache, peppermint-flavored marshmallow and a shortbread base, these cookies may seem like a daunting task, but each step of this recipe is simple and will result in a show stopping treat. Reminiscent of a warm cup of peppermint hot chocolate, each cookie is topped with crushed candy canes, but peppermint extract is the key to getting that minty flavor to pop. You can make the shortbread base ahead to save some time; it will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 3 days. And to get nice peaks on the marshmallow tops, make sure it is significantly cooled before you pipe. (This cookie is one of six cookies that you can make with this Butter Shortbread Dough recipe. If you make that dough, you can make a double batch of the Peppermint Patty Shortbreads or try any of the other five recipes.)
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
These cookies take familiar ingredients into the realm of something truly special, celebrating the floral vanilla notes of real white chocolate and the buttery richness of macadamia nuts. Milk powder is sizzled in butter, turning into bonus brown-butter bits that make the cookies sandy and crisp on the outside and fudgy on the inside, all while amping up the macadamia’s nuttiness. If using the optional vanilla bean, the hit of vanilla is amplified by steeping the pod in butter and adding the seeds to the dough along with the extract. An overnight chilling before baking deepens all the flavors and improves the cookies’ final texture.
Brown-Butter Toffee Sandwich Cookies
These crisp butter cookies incorporate blitzed toffee in place of some of the sugar and butter for a rich caramel flavor. To really amplify that almond-toffee essence, the cookies are topped with sliced almonds, and a nutty brown-butter icing is sandwiched in between. Be sure to roll the cookies very thin (about the thickness of two stacked pennies) so they stay crisp and light. The sturdy sandwiches have a long shelf life, making them ideal for shipping.
Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Shortbread
Simple mix-ins of crushed hard caramels and smooth peanut butter create a soft baked cookie that is simple and distinct. The crushed candies melt when baked creating craters filled with chewy caramel, and the peanut butter swirl adds a nutty depth. This cookie will appeal to anyone who enjoys their dessert with a salty pop. You can prepare these ahead of time; just scoop and refrigerate the dough on a sheet pan, then bake the chilled dough to order, sprinkling with a little flaky salt to finish. (This cookie is one of six cookies that you can make with this Butter Shortbread Dough recipe. If you make that dough, you can make a double batch of the Caramel Peanut Butter Shortbread or try any of the other five recipes.)
Paris-Brest
Named for a bicycle race that runs between Paris and Brest, France, this show-stopping dessert is an assemblage of praline-flavored mousseline piped inside a ring of pâte à choux designed to resemble a bike wheel. The recipe might appear daunting, but all of the components can be prepared separately and in advance, so assembly isn’t a monumental effort.
Butter Shortbread Dough
Shortbread dough is renowned for its simplicity, versatility and forgiving nature. With the right ratio of flour to butter — and egg yolks for moisture and binding — this dough delivers crisp and crumbly cookies that melt just after the first bite. Six different types of cookies can be crafted from just three batches of this basic dough. You can certainly take on just one of these recipes at a time, but in a single day you can make all six: Sparkling Shortbread Cookies, Strawberry Jam Bars With Cardamom, Spiced Chocolate Marble Shortbread, Cheddar Chive Crisps, Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Shortbread and Peppermint Patty Shortbreads. The dough can be divided, wrapped and refrigerated (or frozen) ahead of time and brought out as needed.
Salted Caramels
Despite being primarily made of sugar, these soft caramels are wonderfully complex in flavor, as the sugar is cooked to a deep amber before fresh dairy is added and the mixture cooked again. Infusing the cream with coffee is optional, but it lends a pleasant bitterness to the candies.
Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
These two-bite treats are for anyone who loves the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts. Hidden beneath a crunchy topping of toasted nuts is a dollop of chocolate hazelnut spread, which oozes like the middle of a molten lava cake when a cookie is served warm. For the creamiest centers, drop or pipe teaspoonfuls of the chocolate hazelnut spread on a parchment paper-lined pan and freeze until firm. Press those frozen mounds into the centers of the raw cookie dough rounds and bake. Whether you do that or simply drop the spread straight from the jar (as instructed below), you’ll end up with crackly-edged, fudgy cookies.
Callaloo (Leafy Greens With Tomato and Onion)
Callaloo is a simple stewed dish of greens, tomatoes, onions and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. The dish is eaten across the Caribbean, but this version comes from Hazel Craig, the mother of the pastry chef Jessica Craig of L’Artusi in Manhattan. Hazel makes the dish every Christmas exactly as she ate it in Jamaica: with saltfish, which adds heft and a pleasant funk. If you’re not able to get callaloo (which can be found in fresh or canned form at Caribbean markets and some international grocery stores), any sturdy green will do, like kale or Swiss chard.
Gingerbread Latte Cookies
Biting into one of these cookies is like taking the first sip of a festive beverage, and their spiced coffee fragrance gives your kitchen cozy holiday vibes. A combination of fresh and ground ginger adds an extra note of warmth that accentuates the coffee flavor and other spices, while the espresso-sugar coating creates crisp edges that yield to pillowy-soft interiors. Pair it with your milk of choice and you have a gingerbread latte in a single bite.
Nougat With Honey and Pistachios
Nougat is not exactly for the faint of heart: Preparing it involves heating honey and a sugar syrup separately to different temperatures and streaming them into beaten egg whites in rapid succession. Make sure you have all of your ingredients ready before you start cooking, and the reward is a candy unlike any other with a snow-white color, fresh honey flavor and lots of toasted pistachios to temper the sweetness and add crunch.
Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
This gingerbread is maxed out on spice, packed with two types of fiery ginger and lots of prickly black pepper. Cozy from all the warm spices as well as from molasses, they’re perfect for munching on while tree-trimming. The center of the cookie is fudgy and dense, while the outside edges stay crisp — like the best brownie, but in gingerbread form. That chewy-crispy texture is thanks to the confectioners’ sugar in the dough and a light coating of ginger-spiced sugar. Be sure to use true molasses and not blackstrap molasses; blackstrap molasses has less sugar, more salt and acidity, and can change the way the dough browns, spreads and interacts with the leavening.
Minty Lime Bars
These rich yet refreshing lime bars are for citrus lovers who appreciate puckering acidity in their desserts. The curd filling contains a bit of cornstarch, so it sets firmly in the oven, allowing you to slice, stack and store the bars easily. A little fresh mint inside the shortbread crust — which is made entirely by hand — adds an herbal complement to the lime.
Peppermint Brownie Cookies
Brownies can be contentious. You may be an edge person or someone who loves middle pieces, a fudgy fanatic or a cakey purist. These cookies will please all brownie lovers, with chewy edges, tender centers and crunch from crushed peppermint candies. While any unsweetened cocoa powder will work in this recipe, Dutch-processed cocoa will make the cookies taste more chocolaty and round out their peppermint flavor. Whisking the eggs and sugars for a long time may seem fussy, but this process gives the cookie body, makes the batter easier to scoop and ensures a shiny top, the hallmark of any good brownie.
Chocolate Fudge
Fudge can be fickle, easily becoming grainy and hard if it’s beaten too much or if the sugar mixture crystallizes, the result of undissolved sugar crystals. Try to make fudge in a cool environment that is not humid, and, if the final texture isn’t quite what you desire, know that cooking the fudge at a temperature that’s a few degrees lower the next time will result in a softer fudge, while a few degrees higher will make it firmer. Fudge also dries out easily, so make sure it’s well wrapped.
Eggnog Snickerdoodles
These pillowy, festive cookies are great to have in your back pocket when you’re in the mood for a quick holiday treat. Rum extract, widely available during the holidays, is the secret to replicating that classic eggnog flavor. An extra egg yolk in the dough and a dusting of nutmeg-sugar yield a cookie that’s custard-like on the inside and crisp on the outside. These are even better the second day, and keep very well in an airtight container at room temperature. This season, forgo the eggnog altogether and enjoy these cookies with a bourbon neat. (Watch Vaughn Vreeland make his Eggnog Snickerdoodles.)
Purê de Mandioca (Creamy Yuca Purée)
For some Brazilians in the United States, yuca purée takes the place of mashed potatoes on the Thanksgiving table. In Brazil, where yuca is indigenous and abundant, the root vegetable is often peeled, boiled and mashed. Milk and butter make the purée rich and creamy. This recipe was provided by Thailine Kolb, who learned the dish from her mother, Liomar dos Santos Paula Araujo. In Brazil, her mother serves the dish at Christmas, but Mrs. Kolb, who lives in New Haven, Conn., has embraced it as a Thanksgiving tradition. You can use fresh or frozen yuca, with similar results. If using fresh, be careful when cutting the firm vegetable and removing the outer bark. When using fresh or frozen yuca, be sure to remove and discard the starchy core before eating.
Brown Sugar Roulade With Burnt Honey Apples
If the flavors of winter could be rolled into one, then this meringue roulade would be the result: Warming cinnamon, burnt honey, sweet apples and tangy orange come together to make a dessert fit for the festive season. Make sure all your individual components have completely cooled before assembling, as you don’t want to create any excess moisture in the roulade. Get ahead by making the apples and cream the day before, then keeping them refrigerated until needed. Feel free to make this roulade your own by swapping out pears for apples, cardamom for cinnamon or more whipping cream for mascarpone. So long as you stick to the basic technique, the flavors are yours to play with.
One-Day Fruitcake
Though this cake requires you to soak dried fruit overnight in a mixture of rum and orange juice, allowing it to become plump and soft and flavorful, before you assemble the batter, it’s exceedingly faster (and every bit as delicious) as a traditional fruitcake that takes weeks to age. For the best flavor, use the highest-quality dried fruit you can find.
Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard
Orange butternut squash, golden custard and fiery-red pepper and sesame topping reflect the colors of fall in this dish. It’s perfect for a festive brunch, as it’s filling enough to keep you going until the big feast, and special enough to really feel like you’re celebrating. Serve this with some lightly cooked greens, if you like.
Chocolate Chile Biscotti
The word “biscotti” comes from the Latin biscoctus, or twice cooked: The dough is rolled into logs and given a spell in the oven, then cooled, sliced and slotted back in to bake a little more. The second turn in the oven essentially sucks them dry and gives them that signature crunch. Too much crunch, however, and they can be a little flinty. The pastry chef Mark Sopchak makes biscotti that are shorter and narrower — “Biscottini!” an Italian passerby once said — and ever so slightly softer, with the addition of butter. These cookies are thin enough to snap smartly under the teeth and then obligingly crumble. Inspired in part by Mexican mole, they have a touch of creaminess from cashews and a wild streak of chile powder, just enough to make you hum.