Christmas
1676 recipes found
Torticas de Morón
These delightfully sandy cookies originated in Morón, in central Cuba. Some recipes call for only four ingredients: flour, shortening, sugar and lime zest. But this one goes a step further, adding salt and vanilla to amplify the other flavors. The shortening is essential here, and traditional to the recipe. Pair a cookie with a little dulce de leche or guava paste, or serve them alongside a strong cafecito.
Salted Pistachio Shortbread
This is one of those rare doughs that’s better when made in a food processor. Dense, buttery, salty and nutty, the cookies call for pistachios, but swap in walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts, if you prefer. One thing to note: These cookies are best sliced after baking, not before. Fresh out of the oven, the cookie is very tender and easy to cut. Do it almost immediately, as the baked cookie hardens quickly. The result is an extremely pleasing arrangement of crisp-edged triangles that may look just a little like a Danish modernist interpretation of a Christmas tree.
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Many creamy vegan pasta recipes call for an arsenal of expensive ingredients, but this one relies on more approachable ones, like cashews and almond milk for richness, nutritional yeast for tang and soy sauce for complex saltiness. Sautéed onions do double duty: They serve as a thickener and help offset the sweetness of the cashews. This simple stovetop pasta is wonderful on its own, but feel free to add roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, spices, harissa or hot sauce. For a quick-baked version worthy of Thanksgiving dinner, pile the prepared mac and cheese into a casserole dish, top with panko and more nutritional yeast, and broil for a few minutes until golden brown.
Coconut-Nut Macaroons
The reward of these classic one-bowl cookies far outweighs the effort of making them. They are so easy – just dump and stir – and you don't need any special equipment. Here, Mark Bittman adds a generous handful of pistachios for crunch and color. They are also gluten-free, and the perfect treat for Passover.
Creamed Corn Without Cream
When you grate corn on the large holes of a box grater, you get a lot of creamy milk from the corn, so no dairy cream is necessary for this version of what is usually a very rich dish. If the corn is sweet, as corn should be, I prefer to let the dish stand alone with no additional flavorings; that’s why I’ve made the shallot or onion and the herbs optional.
Vegan Mashed Potatoes
If you think cream and butter are required to make amazing mashed potatoes, then this recipe might surprise you. It calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, which are naturally creamier than russets and need only to be mashed with a little of their cooking water to become rich and fluffy. Sizzling shallots in a generous amount of olive oil infuses the oil with flavor before it’s swirled into the potatoes. The finished mash is topped with the crispy shallots for a delightful, savory crunch. You could also fry a rosemary sprig in the same oil, or skip it and just add several pats of vegan butter. Whatever you do, remember to season the mashed potatoes generously. Mashed potatoes need lots of salt, especially those without dairy.
Raw Beet Salad
This is a beet recipe for someone who is skeptical of their earthy, rooty flavor. Uncooked beets are less sweet and earthy than they are when boiled or roasted. This is a messy affair, so peel and grate them near the sink.
Beet, Orange and Arugula Salad
The oranges in this sweet and pungent salad will look like blood oranges after they sit for a little while with the beets. This makes a pretty Christmas salad. Try to find the wispy wild arugula, which is more pungent than regular arugula.
Butternut Squash and Fondue Pie With Pickled Red Chiles
Cheese lovers unite: This pie is seriously, intensely cheesy. Raclette is a semihard cheese from the Swiss and French Alps that eats well when melted. If you can’t get your hands on some, replace it with equal amounts of Gruyère. The heat and acidity of the pickled chiles help cut through the richness, but a zingy green salad would also pair well here. You can serve this pie warm, but it tastes just as good at room temperature, so it's a perfect bake-ahead option.
Potatoes au Gratin
The humble potato gets the red carpet treatment in this easy yet luxurious recipe for potatoes au gratin. Sliced Yukon Gold or russet potatoes (you can use either, but don't use a combination as they cook at different rates) are layered with half-and-half or heavy cream, topped with butter and grated cheese, then baked until golden and bubbly. Feel free to play around: Add leeks, onions, garlic or more cheese between the layers. Experiment with fresh or dried herbs. It's incredibly adaptable and practically foolproof. Just don't forget to season with salt and pepper as you go. Like all potato dishes, it needs plenty of seasoning.
Open-Faced Hot Turkey Sandwiches
Sometimes life requires an open-faced turkey sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes, alongside a glop of cranberry sauce. It is neither a Thanksgiving meal nor a Christmas one, but simply a low-fi American reminder of diners and TV dinners and blankets and comfort itself: soft meat and rich, salty gravy over tight-crumbed bread, with buttery mash and a tang of cranberry. My recipe calls for roasting buttered turkey thighs in the oven while the potatoes were cooking, skin-side down to crisp the skin and allow the fat to render into the pan, creating sticky bits of fond you’ll use to build a base for gravy. Pile the sliced meat onto lightly toasted bread, drench it with gravy and serve alongside the potatoes and peas. Adding canned cranberry sauce, in this application, is no sin.
Whole Roasted Fish With Wild Mushrooms
A very large whole roasted fish brought to the table with head and tail intact is a visually dramatic and incredibly tasty dinner party main course. Even better is that it's both a breeze to cook (season it up, throw it in the oven and wait), and to serve (big fish have big bones, which makes it easy to scoop the flesh off the skeleton). Do not forget to call your fishmonger ahead to order a large fish. This recipe, with lemons, herbs and crisp wild mushrooms, will work with any 4- to 6-pounder, from delicate black sea bass to salmon-colored arctic char. The variety of fish here is less important than the size. Generally speaking, you'll need about a pound of fish per person, though three-quarters of a pound will do if you're serving it in the context of a multi-course meal. Also, if you can't find one very large fish, you can use two smaller ones, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds each. In that case, feel free to squeeze them into one roasting pan.
Spiced Irish Oatmeal With Cream and Crunchy Sugar
A shower of heavy cream and plenty of caramelized Demerara sugar may make these Irish oats seem more like dessert than something you’d serve first thing in the morning, but that’s all the more reason to bake them up for a special occasion breakfast or brunch. Cardamom and cinnamon give them an especially earthy, perfumed aroma, and toasting the oats in butter before baking them lends nuttiness and depth. They’re also extremely easy, and you can assemble the dish the night before, then bake them in the morning. Just add about 10 minutes to the baking time if you’re starting them cold from the fridge.
Cornmeal Waffles With Smoked Salmon
A touch of fine cornmeal in the batter gives these waffles a delicious crispness. For a savory approach, they are embellished with smoked salmon, crème fraîche and caviar, perfect for a celebratory soiree, midnight supper or brunch. Serve a whole waffle or cut in quarters for appetizers. If you don’t have a waffle iron, the batter can also be used to make pancakes or blini. Of course, if preferred, serve these corn-perfumed waffles with sweet toppings instead.
English Muffin Breakfast Casserole
This easy, make-ahead casserole makes creative use of classic breakfast ingredients like eggs, sausage, Cheddar cheese and English muffins. It’s a perfect no-stress centerpiece for a special-occasion breakfast: Simply assemble the casserole the night before and pop it in the oven before breakfast. Just remember to make sure to toast the English muffins until they’ve dried out a bit, which will help them absorb the egg mixture. For a vegetarian version, use vegetarian sausage or omit it altogether.
Sausage Sage Biscuits
For an easy, savory breakfast treat, browned sausage and sage are folded into biscuit dough that’s cut into squares. A generous grinding of black pepper in the mix and on top adds a bit of kick. The flaky biscuits are delicious on their own or stuffed with eggs: Scrambled, fried or poached are all great, but so is egg salad. If you’d like, you can garnish the biscuits with whole sage leaves. Simply brush the unbaked squares with a little melted butter, gently press on a sage leaf, and brush the leaf with a little more butter before baking.
Roasted Radishes With Anchovies
Crisp radishes turn sweet and juicy when briefly roasted at high heat. Here, the chef Bryan Hunt from Riverpark restaurant in Manhattan coats them in a pungent anchovy-rich bagna cauda sauce. This is best served warm rather than piping hot. You can make the anchovy mixture up to 3 days ahead. Store it in the fridge and bring it to room temperature before using.
Lemon Poppy Muffins
From supermarket aisles to those backlight bakery cases in every diner across the country, lemon poppy-seed muffins are ubiquitous, and easy to love. Buttery and soft, tart and sweet, they are soothing in their simplicity, while seeds add just a bit of crunch. This version gets a healthy dose of lemony tang thanks to an ample amount of grated zest and a zippy lemon-juice glaze. It’s important to spring for fresh fruit here, as opposed to anything that comes in a plastic bottle. The bright flavor of real lemon goes a long way.
Orange-Cranberry Glazed Cake
This orange cranberry cake is a gift to the holiday baker. It can be made ahead. It travels well. And it can be brought out any time of day — with coffee or tea in the morning or afternoon, or with Cognac or plum brandy after dinner. Dried cranberries add a jaunty burst of color that is especially nice for the most festive time of year. Don’t worry if all the glaze doesn’t stick; that is the charm of this cake.
Bacon, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
Falling somewhere between a frittata and a tortilla española, this breakfast casserole has everything you love about a classic bacon, egg and cheese sandwich: smoky bacon, perfectly set eggs, sharp Cheddar and, if you want (and you definitely do), tangy hot sauce. Thinly sliced potatoes are added for structure and heft, and cooking them will be the most time-consuming part of this whole dish. The great news is that it’s as delicious (if not more so) the next day, rewarmed or not. If you like, you can bake the casserole the night before and refrigerate, covered, when cool. To reheat, cover with foil and place in a 325-degree oven until warmed through, 25 to 30 minutes.
Dutch Baby With Bacon and Runny Camembert
Most Dutch babies are sweet and often fruity. Not this one, which is topped with runny Camembert cheese and studded with bacon. It’s savory, golden and perfect for a hardy brunch or light dinner. A word of caution: It deflates quickly, so be sure to serve it as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Fennel Rice
This is a simple Greek recipe, traditionally served at Lent, that works as a main or side dish. it calls for rice but can also be made with bulgur for a nuttier, heartier flavor.
French Toast With Cinnamon Plums
These plums can also be made in advance (though remember to reheat gently so the fruit doesn't fall apart) and their berried cinnamon-scented syrup drenches the sweet French toast gloriously. If you wish, you can remove the cooked plums and let the syrup reduce for a more intense, stickier sauce.
Mexican Wedding Cookies
This recipe was brought to The Times in a 1990 article about traditional Christmas cookies, but we think these butter-rich confections are delicious any time of year. Sometimes called Mexican wedding cakes (or polvorones or Russian tea cakes or snowballs), their provenance is often debated, but this much is true: they are dead-simple to make and addictive to eat. This version is done completely in a food processor, so you can clean-up in minutes, and get to the important business at hand: eating cookies and licking your fingers.