Christmas Roundup

A roundup of sweets & treats that could warm your home this holiday week. I've been prepping away for all the family to arrive in Arizona for a desert Christmas, so here are some recipes we love that you can use to welcome the ones you love! For more holiday pie recipes, please see Thanksgiving roundups One and Two, which list almost all of our favorite pies.

Holiday Snacks
Orange Chipotle Spiced Pecans: A great Christmas gift, or a snack to be made in advance of carloads of family arriving at your door. 

Cranberry Chutney with Baked Brie:  This recipe was included in a past Thanksgiving roundup, but really belongs in your holiday party or lunch line-up, so I'm cross-posting here. 

Baked Feta: Writing this roundup reminded me that I haven't written up a recent Parady sister discovery: almost all baked cheese is magic, feta included.

Ricotta and Roasted Grape Crostini I pulled some recipes from an impressive party menu Sarah once created, but I'm pretty sure I've had these elsewhere and they were excellent.

Stuffed Dates: Sarah does hers with bleu cheese & marscapone, I've had them with parmesan and drool just thinking about it.

Roasted Tomato and Rosemary White Bean Dip: K made this for a Christmas spread one year, and it's perfect party fare - a lovely warm dip, without being too heavy.

Gin-Marinated Olives

Cookies!

Holiday Cookie Roundup  I shouldn't even need a cookie section, because almost all the cookies you could need can be found in this post here, from a year where Sarah was clearly amped on holiday cheer and let it all out in the form of baking.

Spicy Gingerbread Cookies: The way gingerbread is meant to be: dark, strong, and with a kick.

Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies: Another place these flavors blend together perfectly is this pie. 

Sweet Potato Biscotti: A guest post by one of our mum's co-librarians!

G-Free Salted Oatmeal Cookies

Grown-Up No-Bake Cookies

Flourless Mexican Chocolate Cookies

Christmas Wreath Cookies Inexplicably, these cookies that I made as a college student in a tiny apartment reign supreme as one of the top five  most popular recipes ever posted on this blog. 

Eggnog Florentines

Pie & Other Desserts

Chocolate-Covered Candied Oranges My favorite stocking gift as a kid were those chocolate oranges that you "whack and unwrap".  Here, a much classier version. 

Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Pie: A recent original Parady pie recipe.

Black-Bottom Citrus Pie: Four & Twenty Blackbirds makes a black-bottom lemon pie that is a dream during citrus season, but I've played with the idea of hearkening to the above-mentioned chocolate oranges by replacing the lemons with oranges here. Let me know if you try it!

The Molasses Pie!: Another cross-post...I know I tell you to make this every Thanksgiving, but you should make it every Christmas, too.  

Egg N' Grogg Pie: Another Four & Twenty Blackbirds creation - all the boozy, creamy goodness of eggnog wrapped up in a pie. 

Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Cake: Can you think of anything else a dessert needs to contain? I can't. 

For Christmas Morning: Growing up, our family used to be gifted with a homemade potica by an old family friend, and I would always have a slice on Christmas morning. Seeing as how I haven't yet mustered the energy to tackle that kitchen challenge, I'm forever in search of a Christmas breakfast that is both festive and minimal effort the morning-of, lest breakfast stand in the way of present-opening.

Applesauce Sticky Cake with Dates

Stromboli: This is a guest post by my very good friend, whose family is filled with chefs, and who whip this up quickly for their family each year while making hundreds of cinnamon rolls for family and friends. 

Orange, Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

Green Chili Souffle K & S made this for a long-ago Christmas morning for which I was not present, so I'm thinking I'll force them to make it again this Christmas, no? 

Gingerbread Dutch Baby: Dutch Babies are SO much easier than pancakes and waffles, and here's a perfect Christmas one!

Dark, Stout Gingerbread

Drinks - the warm and the boozy

Winter Marshmallow Trio: Chai, Peppermint, and Espresso: If you're going to get fancy enough to make your own marshmallows, you might as well go to town on the flavors, too. 

Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix: I often find myself disappointed in hot chocolate, and have searched high and low for a recipe that's foolproof to creating a rich, sturdy mug of hot chocolate without being sickeningly sweet.  Deb, of course, had the answer.  You will never need another hot chocolate recipe again.

Italian Amaretto Cookies and Bourbon Hot Toddys: Our hot toddy recipes on this blog are extensive (here, here and here). In this edition, Kate paired them with some lovely cookies for a Christmas celebration.

Coconut Curry Hot Chocolate: Make your hot chocolate with coconut milk and add curry marshmallows, because we all need a little sweet & spicy for our holidays. 

Gingerbread Latte Make a batch of syrup in advance and you're set for holiday coffee without the drive-through line.

Cranberry Sorbet Fizz

Fairytale of New York: This is described as a "winter-spiced old-fashioned", so I made a batch of the syrup in advance of our whiskey-loving family arriving.  It made my kitchen smell like heaven. 

Baked Feta

K told me a secret about a year ago - that Brie isn't the only cheese that gets 5x dreamier if you slip it in the oven before serving.  She has a different baked feta recipe, but below is the version I've been adding to every cheese plate since.  It's a simple way to knock your hor d'oeuvres spread out of the park. I'm confident it would be excellent with any manner of herbs.

Ingredients:

1 block of feta (doesn't need to be fancy, as you're about to fancy it up anyways)
Crushed Red Pepper
Oregano
Olive Oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover the top of your feta liberally with herbs and crushed red pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake until just soft, 10-15 minutes.  Serve immediately with your favorite crackers.

Winter Salad with Pear and Pomegranate

When I'm planning my week's lunches, I often shy away from salads because I convince myself that it won't be enough food, or that they won't be as good as I want them to be.  A few years ago, I threw this salad together and it proves both of the above fears unfounded. It also shows that winter salads can be a dream, not just a sad echo of summertime.  It's my favorite desk lunch for this time of year, a welcome contrast to holiday potlucks and winter's more carb-heavy offerings.

Spinach
Pear (I've happily substituted apple as well)
Pomegranate Arils
Pecan Pieces
Cooked Quinoa (I use red here)
Feta
Olive Oil
Balsamic

I unfortunately don't have exact measurements for you, because I think most of us like different proportions in our salad and I tend to just make one serving.  I wash my spinach and cut it with clean kitchen shears into small pieces.  Then I cube the pear and remove the arils from pomegranate before adding them, the pecans, and the quinoa.  Last, I crumble the feta over the salad and drizzle it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Pie

Rich, easy and a show-stopper, this is a recipe that I dreamt up for our Thanksgiving meal, but that I think may actually belong on the Christmas table. My inspiration came from pomegranate bark, where one nestles pomegranate arils in dark chocolate so that the tart juices bursts in contrast to the bitter and sweet.  I'm pleased with the results, but it is incredibly rich, so enjoy in thin slices. If you're worried about the richness, you could reduce one of the ganaches by 1/2, but I recommend keeping the amount of arils consistent regardless.

Ingredients:
For the crust:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved, seeds scraped, bean reserved (or sub with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Truffle Ganache:
4 oz semisweet choc
4 oz bittersweet choc
1/2 cup cream
1/2 pomegranate worth of arils

Ganache Glaze:
4 oz bittersweet choc
1 cup cream

For top:
1/2 pomegranate worth of arils

Preparation:
Before you begin:
Preheat the oven to 350.
Remove arils from pomegranate.

For the Crust:
Combine butter, sugar, vanilla seeds, and salt in a large bowl, stir until incorporated. Add flour, stir until just combined and a dough begins to form. Sprinkle dough over the bottom of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (alternately, a shallow pie pan also works just fine). Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes, until brown.

For the Truffle Ganache:
Chop both types of chocolate very finely.  Heat the cream until hot, just before simmering.  Add the chocolate and stir continuously, until the mixture is glossy.  Stir in the pomegranate arils. Pour into crust and chill in fridge for at least 20 minutes, until firm.

For the Ganache Glaze:
Chop chocolate very fine, heat cream until hot, add chocolate and stir until glossy. Pour over chilled truffle filling.

Sprinkle remaining arils on top in a decorative pattern.
Chill in fridge until firm, at least a half an hour but I recommend 2 hours.