Category Archives: Christmas Recipes

Simple savoury truffles make easy appetizers

Here are a couple easy cheesy savoury truffle appetizer recipes I demonstrated at the Thyme to Cook kitchen store in Guelph a few weeks ago. Serve these at a party and it’s rather like each guest has their own mini cheese balls!


Ham and Cream Cheese Truffles

(Makes about 2 dozen 1-inch/2.5 cm truffles)

1 (250 g) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup (250 mL) shredded Cheddar cheese
½ of a 156 g can of Flakes of Ham or 1/3 cup (75 mL) finely chopped ham
1/4 tsp (1 mL) garlic powder
2 green onions, sliced
Finely chopped walnuts or pecans (about 1 cup/250 mL) for coating truffles, if desired

In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, ham, garlic powder, and green onions until well blended. Cover and refrigerate mixture for several hours until chilled.

Using mini ice cream scoop, melon baller or teaspoon, shape mixture into 24 (1-inch/2.5 cm) balls. Roll balls in nuts until coated. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tips:
* Cheese truffles can be made any size you wish. You can shape them with your hands if desired but they don’t have to be perfectly round.
* Roll truffles in chopped fresh parsley, shredded cheese, or toasted sesame seeds or fine bread crumbs.
* Poke pretzel sticks into cheese truffles for easy serving.
* Serve with crackers.
* Mixture can be shaped into one large cheese ball, if desired.

Sun-dried Tomato Cream Cheese Truffles

(Makes about 2 dozen 1-inch/2.5 cm truffles)

1 (250 g) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (125 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (50 mL)  minced sun-dried tomatoes in oil (well drained)
1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 30 mL) chopped fresh basil
Chopped fresh herbs or grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup/250 mL) for coating truffles, if desired

In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and basil until well blended. Cover and refrigerate mixture for several hours until chilled.

Using mini ice cream scoop, melon baller or teaspoon, shape mixture into 24 (1-inch/2.5 cm) balls. Roll the balls in herbs or cheese until coated. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tips:
* Cheese truffles can be made any size you wish. You can shape them with your hands if desired but they don’t have to be perfectly round.
* Use an herb paste instead of fresh basil, if desired.
* Poke pretzel sticks into cheese truffles for easy serving.
* Serve with crackers.
* Mixture can be shaped into one large cheese ball, if desired.

Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars. Good!

Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars

Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars

Here’s the recipe for Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars which I mentioned in my last post. It’s from Anna Olson, Food Network TV chef and cookbook author.

No doubt Anna’s original recipe is great, and I’ll have to try the recipe as written some time. When I wanted to make it recently, I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand and didn’t have time to go to the store to get what I was missing. Thankfully, my modifications worked out just fine.

Here are my substitutions:

  • quick oats instead of rolled oats
  • salted butter instead of salt and unsalted butter
  • 4 well-crushed Skor bars instead of Skor toffee bits
  • chopped walnuts instead of almonds
  • aluminum foil instead of parchment paper

These CAT Bars are good. No, very good! And, they make a great gift. If you’re giving them away, don’t forget to keep back a few pieces to enjoy yourself!

Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars
(Makes 25 to 36 squares – depending how big you cut them!)

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) rolled oats
1/2 cup (125 mL) graham cracker crumbs
1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (250 mL) Skor toffee bits
1 cup (250 mL) chocolate chips
1 cup (250 mL) sliced almonds
1 can (300 mL) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease and line an 8-inch (2 L) square pan with parchment paper so the paper hangs over the sides of the pan.

Stir oats, graham cracker crumbs and salt in a bowl to combine, then stir in melted butter. Press crumbly oat mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle Skor bits evenly on top, followed by chocolate chips and sliced almonds. Pour condensed milk evenly over top (it will sink as it bakes).

Bake until top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Cool to room temperature in the pan, then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing into squares.

Christmas Countdown: Take the stress out of meal planning and entertaining at Christmas with a freezer full of food

As a follow up to yesterday’s An Appetite for Humour food joke (The Parrot Training Course), let’s consider what’s in the freezer. (You’ve got to read the joke for that segue to make any sense!)

Keeping a freezer full of foods that can become a meal at a moment’s notice or a party without a whole of last minute effort is a stress-relieving strategy, especially at this time of year when hectic schedules and unrealistic expectations about the season tend to heighten stress levels.

If you can spare a few minutes now to stock your freezer with pre-made brunch dishes, appetizers, entrees and desserts, you will reap the benefits when unexpected company drops by…or you come home tired and hungry from a shopping marathon at the mall…or the thought of cooking Christmas dinner for 20 threatens to overwhelm you.

A little planning and effort in the kitchen now will ensure you don’t end up slaving over the stove during the entire Christmas holiday.

Home economist, cookbook author and About.com’s Busy Cooks Guide Linda Larsen offers tips on freezing foods and make-ahead recipes for the Christmas season in her article Freeze Ahead Holiday Foods. These ideas aren’t just practical at this time of year. Keeping foods in the freezer is a useful meal planning strategy to employ at any time of the year.

Christmas Countdown: Party’s in the kitchen, but what if you don’t want it there?

How often do you invite guests over and everyone ends up hanging out in the kitchen?

To be honest, it doesn’t happen too often at our house because our kitchen is soooo small. There’s just not much room for much partying if guests are wedged in between the fridge and the stove!

If your kitchen is a lovely large space, perhaps even open to the family room or great room, kitchen parties may be quite the norm when you’re entertaining, and you may be perfectly fine with this. But, occasionally you might secretly wish the guests would make themselves comfortable in other rooms of the house (logically, the living room or dining room!) – say, when you’re putting the finishing touches on dinner or if the kitchen is a mess from putting the finishing touches on dinner! Interior designer Loreen Epp has posted a few suggestions for getting the party out of the kitchen on her hot new blog – What’s New At Home (www.whatsnewathome.wordpress.com).

If you will be doing some entertaining this Christmas and would prefer that guests gather around the Christmas tree in the living room or the pool table in the family room, or in places beyond just the kitchen, check out Loreen’s suggestions.

Roasted Almonds

Roasted Almonds

One of them is to spread party nibbles throughout the house, or at least in the rooms you want the guests to be in! People tend to congregate where there is food, hence the natural inclination to gather in the kitchen.

Speaking of party nibbles, here’s a great one to serve at your next holiday soiree! Making it shouldn’t create too much mess in your kitchen – just in case you find a few guests still hanging out between the fridge and the stove!

Roasted Almonds

(Makes about 3-1/2 cups (875 mL)

3-1/2 cups (875 mL) blanched or unblanched almonds
1 tbsp (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp (10 mL) coarse sea salt
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) smoked milk or hot paprika

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment (baking) paper or foil; set aside.

In a large bowl, toss almonds with oil, salt and paprika. Spread evenly on the prepared baking sheet.

Roast in a preheated 325 F (160 C) oven until fragrant and lightly toasted and unblanched almond skins have just begun to split, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Tips:
* Sweet or hot paprika, ground cumin or curry powder can be substituted for the smoked paprika.
* Roasted Almonds can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe Source: Canadian Living magazine, December 2005

Christmas Countdown: Food & Drink magazine – a source of holiday inspiration

LCBO's Food & Drink magazine - 2008 Holiday Issue

The LCBO's complimentary Food & Drink magazine - 2008 Holiday Issue

If you live in Ontario (Canada) – run, don’t walk, to your nearest Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to pick up the holiday issue of Food & Drink magazine. This glossy magazine is always a knock-out, and the latest issue is no exception. That the magazine is free (yes, FREE!) makes it even more enticing, although I’ll bet many faithful readers would gladly pay to peruse the pages of this prodigious periodical.

Food & Drink is known for its exquisite photography, superb recipes, excellent information on wine and spirits, and inspiring ideas for entertaining and gift giving. It is published six times a year.

I drooled (figuratively, of course!) all over the 300+ pages of the latest issue, packed with holiday food and drink suggestions. The list of recipes I’d like to try is long. This is just a small portion of it!

Profiteroles with Caramel Sauce and Hedgehog Almond Praline (cover photo)…Baked Eggs with Mushroom Sauce…Caribbean Cruise Cocktail…Rich Chocolate Souffle…Individual Brie and Fig Strudels…Pecan and Banana Cake with Buttered Rum Glaze…Sesame Ginger Edamame…Raspberry Truffle Martini…Chinese Roast Turkey with Cranberry Ginger Chutney, Dry Fried Green Beans & Rice Stuffing…Butter Chicken…an Icewine Dinner Menu…Chocolate Mascarpone Cheese Ball with Dried Cherries & Bittersweet Wafers…

If your local LCBO has run out of copies of Food & Drink (they often disappear quickly), jog over to another LCBO (find the locations here). Or, let your fingers do the walking and speed-walk over to the LCBO’s web site for recipe and beverage suggestions for the Christmas season. You might not find the current issue’s contents posted yet, but recipes from past issues are online.

The Winter issue of Food & Drink will be on LCBO store shelves on Jan. 14. You’ll want to keep your running shoes handy.

A Sweet Treat for Easy Giving

chocolate-toffee-crunch.jpg

Yes, this crunchy chocolatey toffee treat is full of sugar and highly addictive, but it’s so easy to make, and it will bring a smile to your face after one bite. And it will win you rave reviews. It’s a recipe that has been around for years and it goes by a few different names. I’m not sure where it originated. I’ve made pans of it over the years and often use it for gifting. It’s a perfect sweet treat to present to someone you want to give a little something to, like a co-worker, teacher or the host/hostess at the next dinner party you go to.

To give, break up the crunchy brittle and layer it in a pretty tin or a cellophane bag. If you wish, first line the tin with tissue or parchment paper. You’ll likely be asked for a copy of the recipe so why not give it as part of the gift!

Chocolate Toffee Crunch
(Makes one 10 x 15-inch (25 x 30 cm) baking pan)

Approximately 40 soda crackers (about 1 sleeve of crackers)
1 cup (250 mL) butter
1 cup (250 mL) brown sugar
1-1/2 to 2 cups (375 to 500 mL) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 to 1 cup (175 to 250 mL) chopped nuts (optional)

Line a 10 x 15-inch (25 x 30 cm) baking pan with aluminum foil so the foil extends up the sides up the pan slightly; wrap excess foil over edges. Cover pan completely with crackers, trimming to fit if necessary. You should have 5 rows of about 8 crackers each.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add brown sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil; boil for 3 minutes without stirring. Carefully pour hot mixture over crackers. Tilt pan (again, carefully!) to spread mixture evenly over all the crackers.

Bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven for 15 minutes (mixture will be bubbling all over). Carefully remove pan from oven. If crackers have shifted a little, use a fork to quickly poke them back into position.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let stand for a few minutes until the chips are shiny and look soft, then gently spread melted chips over entire surface with the back of a spoon. If desired, sprinkle nuts over chocolate and press down lightly.

Let stand or chill until firm. Cut or break into pieces and store in a covered container. Can be frozen.

TIPS: I’ve also baked this at 375F (190C) for 5 or 6 minutes with great results. The butter/sugar mixture should be bubbling all over.

VARIATION: Graham crackers can be substituted for soda crackers. You will need about 4 rows of 6 (square) crackers or 12 double crackers. Top with mini marshmallows instead of or in addition to nuts, if you wish. After sprinkling marshmallows on top, pop the pan into the oven for 30 seconds to a minute to soften marshmallows. Then lightly spread with the back of a spoon creating a marbled effect. Top with nuts, if desired.

Building A Holiday House

The moment the roof collapsed, I knew it was all over. My career as a builder of marshmallow igloos, that is.

The writing had probably been on the wall of the igloo project from the start. (Too bad there weren’t support beams there as well!) I had initially started out using sugar cubes as the building blocks, but for a variety of reasons that had just not worked out.

When the idea to use marshmallows occurred, it seemed to make logical sense. The shape and appearance of the marshmallows would be perfect, I naively assumed. In fact, that was true. It was building the darn thing where the problems surfaced.

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