Christmas
1676 recipes found
Salty-Sweet Peanut Butter Sandies
This modern classic is reverse-engineered from a cult cookie at City Bakery in Manhattan. They are saltier, richer and tangier than the usual crisscross rounds, thanks to updated ingredients like sea salt, cultured butter and brown sugar. And like any good “sandy” cookie, they have a soft, crumbly texture that melts away on first bite.
Fred’s Chocolate-Pecan Cookies
This recipe, an adaptation of a popular cookie served at Fred’s restaurant in Barneys New York, the Madison Avenue department store, is rich, chewy and dotted with crunchy pecans. If you’re into the salty-sweet thing (who’s not?), add a sprinkle of flaky sea salt a few minutes before the cookies are done baking.
Natasha And Atrina's Gingerbread Cookies
Salted Licorice Brigadeiros
Luscious Brazilian-style fudge balls coated thickly with chocolate sprinkles get an upgrade in this marvelous recipe from Melissa Clark that brings salted licorice into the mix to create something that looks a lot like chocolate truffles but tastes even more divine: creamy, smooth and just salty enough, while still remaining firmly planted on the sweet side of the equation. Added bonus: They are extremely easy to throw together, an excellent candy-making project for families or those in search of fast-and-delicious treats.
Flaming Baba au Rhum
While you can flambé pretty much any confection that’s soaked in a high-proof spirit, a baba au rhum is one of the booziest options. It’s based on an airy but rich yeast dough, which can absorb more liquor than your average cake without falling apart. And, unlike crepes, it’s easy to serve to a crowd. This is an afternoon project with delicious, sophisticated results.
Hot Chocolate Souffle
Black Cake
Although black cake is descended from the British plum pudding, for Caribbean-born New Yorkers and their children, who number more than half a million, it evokes nostalgia for the islands, where the baking was a solemnly observed annual ritual. The cake is baked just before Christmas and eaten at Christmas dinner and afterward, in thin slices, for as long as it lasts. Because of the soaking of the fruit and the use of brown sugar and a bittersweet caramel called browning, black cake is to American fruitcake as dark chocolate is to milk chocolate: darker, deeper and altogether more absorbing.
Cornmeal Lime Shortbread Fans
Buttery and crisp, with an appealing texture from the cornmeal, these shortbread cookies are baked in a round tart or pie tin, then cut into wedges to resemble slim fans. The lime juice in the glaze cuts the sweetness and echoes the zest in the dough. (You can also use lemon, orange or grapefruit — or a combination instead of lime, if you prefer.) The cookies keep for up to two weeks when stored airtight at room temperature, and freeze very well.
Brunsli
Agnes F. Hostettler, of Statesville, N.C., was 72 when she shared this recipe with The Times in 1990. She baked brunsli and zimt sterne each Christmas, as they were the cookies she baked as a child with her mother in Germany. The year she contributed this recipe, she has already baked about 1,000 cookies that she has sent to her five daughters. “My daughters all have my recipes,” she said. “But they say, ‘Mom, they never taste as good as when you make them.’ ”
Chocolate-Mint Thins With Candy Cane Crunch
This cookie is a handmade homage to the Girl Scouts’ classic combination of dark chocolate and mint. A bright, festive decoration of crushed candy canes adds color and crunch. If store-bought dark chocolate cookies are available, you can use them instead of making your own. And if you temper the coating chocolate instead of simply melting it, your chocolate shell will have a bit more snap and durability.
Robert Carter’s Braised Collard Greens
At one point, the only way people cooked greens was to boil them with a hamhock or a piece of slab bacon for hours until the house smelled so sour that it was indeed almost uninhabitable. But in this recipe, they aren't boiled to death, but braised for just 15 minutes or so in degreased ham stock. Not only is there no stench, but you get the great pork flavor that is such a compliment to greens without the fat.
Union Square Cafe’s Chocolate Biscotti
The recipe for these superb biscotti came to The Times in 2009 from Union Square Cafe, the Manhattan restaurant. Wrap a few of these up as a parting gift for dinner guests, or eat a few and stash the rest in the freezer for a treat any time.
Hazelnut Tartuffo
Although originally made by surrounding a sour cherry with chocolate ice cream, then encrusting it with a chocolate shell, the variations on tartuffo are as myriad as they are on a sundae -- the ice cream can be any flavor and so can the shell. You can freeze coconut ice cream or strawberry or Burpled Rumple; bury a fruit or a nut inside or not; helmet it with dark or white chocolate or liquefied lemon. As long as it's a globe and cold and the inside is softer than the out, it's tartuffo.
Spicy Thai Squid With Chiles and Cilantro
This tangy squid salad has shallot for sweetness, chiles for heat, lime juice and zest for tang, and peanuts for crunch. Combined they make for a deeply flavored and utterly refreshing dish. Here the salad is served as an hors d'oeuvres, either piled on cucumber rounds or scooped into shot glasses and served with a fork. But it's also excellent as a first course served over Boston lettuce leaves.
Traditional Siena Fruitcake (Panforte)
Turkey or Ham Risotto
Eggnog Crème Brûlée
A splash of bourbon and a generous grating of fresh nutmeg transform this simple custard into a holiday sensation. Make the custard in advance, but wait to caramelize the topping about 10 minutes before serving. The sugar will not hold its signature crunch if subjected to much extra time in a humid refrigerator. While it may be a single-use gadget, a kitchen torch is an inexpensive tool worth the investment. It does the best job at caramelizing the top without warming the custard, and it’s so fun to use.
Southern Whisky Cake
Tahini Shortbread Cookies
Flavored with sesame seeds and tahini paste, these sophisticated shortbread cookies, adapted from "Soframiz" by Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick, have a pleasing crumbly texture and an intense, almost nutty flavor. Serve them as part of a cookie plate for dessert, or with coffee or tea as a midafternoon snack.
Roast Leg of Lamb With Anchovy, Garlic and Rosemary
Pumpkin Gratin
Swedish Jellied Veal (Kalvsylta)
Pistachio, Rose and Strawberry Buns
Meant for breakfast or as an accompaniment to a mug of hot tea, these Danish-like yeast buns are filled with pistachio cream and strawberry jam, then soaked in a rose water-scented sugar syrup. Adapted from "Golden," a cookbook from Honey & Co. cafe in London, the buns sweet but not at all cloying, with the rose water and pistachio adding a heady perfume. Feel free to substitute apricot or raspberry preserves, or orange marmalade, for the strawberry jam. And if you’re not a fan of rose water, try orange blossom water or even brandy instead. These are best served within eight hours of baking, but leftovers can be refreshed the next day by heating them in a 300-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until just warmed through.
Spiced Pecan Date Shortbread Bars
Cardamom, allspice, clove and nutmeg are the culprits in these flavorful bars, along with molasses and orange zest.