Christmas Baking Fun and Delicious Holiday Treats
The Christmas season is a magical time—sleigh bells ringing, puffy snow flurrying, a cozy fire crackling, and wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen as families make yummy Christmas treats.
The Christmas season is a magical time—sleigh bells ringing, puffy snow flurrying, a cozy fire crackling, and wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen as families make yummy Christmas treats. Christmas Baking will make the holiday season even more magical with fun and simple recipes that are sure to become Christmas traditions in every home.
Prominent Swedish pastry chef Mia Öhrn offers thirty-eight of her amazingly creative and delicious recipes for cakes, cookies, candies, truffles, cupcakes, tarts, and breads that are tasty, colorful, fun, and decorative. Learn how to build and decorate the perfect gingerbread house, create marzipan elves, make toffee sticks, ginger-flavored chocolates, a gingerbread bowl, fig pie, and decadent chocolate cake with blood oranges. Aside from the sweets, Öhrn includes recipes for a fruit and nut bread, saffron bread, and poppy crisp bread.
Along with the recipes, the author provides helpful hints for choosing the best ingredients, gives you valuable baking tips and decorating ideas, and shows you how to properly preserve your finished creations. The beautiful photographs of the delightful treats and winter scenes by Ulrika Pousette make Christmas Baking a very special book filled with treats that everyone will love.
Mia Öhrn is a pastry chef and food writer, and leads cooking and baking courses . She has created recipes for popular food magazines in Sweden including Allt om Mat, Elle Mat & Vin, and Lantliv. She also runs a small publishing company in Stockholm called Parasoll.
Cinnamon Cookies, Toffee Lollipops, Milk Chocolate Truffles
Cinnamon Cookies
Generously big and scrumptious cookies!
About 15 cookies
7 tbsp (100 g) butter
1 tsp ground ginger
3⁄5 cup (120 g) brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg
about 2.6 oz (75 g) dark chocolate
4⁄5 cup (120 g) flour
2⁄5 cup (125 g) hazelnuts, preferably roasted and peeled
4⁄5 cup (125 g) oats
1 tsp baking powder
2⁄5 cup (about 50 g) dried cranberries
1. Melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar.
2. add the egg, flour, oats, baking powder, and spices, and mix to make a thick batter.
3. Chop the chocolate coarsely and work into the dough along with the hazelnuts and cranberries.
4. shape the dough into balls and flatten them slightly. spread them out on trays covered with parchment paper. The cookies will expand a lot during the baking process.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10–12 minutes, or until the cookies turn golden brown.
TiP!
If you want to make fun and thoughtful gifts, pour the batter into beautiful jars or containers. Then the receivers can bake the cookies whenever they want to fill their kitchens with the lovely aroma of freshly-baked cookies.
Toffee Lollipops
Create some variety by pouring half of the batter into toffee molds and the other half into small paper cones. stick cocktail sticks into them, and you’ll have beautiful toffee lollipops.
You can see the toffee on page 36.
About 8–10 lollipops and about 25 small toffees
1⁄3 cup (50 g) flaked or chopped almonds
4⁄5 cup (200 ml) whipping cream
4⁄5 cup (280 g) light corn syrup
4⁄5 cup (180 g) granulated sugar
1. lightly crumble the almonds.
2. Bring the whipping cream, syrup, and sugar to a boil in a wide saucepan with a thick bottom. lower to medium heat once the mixture has boiled, and simmer on medium heat until the toffee has reached 252°F (122°C) and passes the cold water caramel test (see below). stir the mixture occasionally. Meanwhile, place toffee molds on a tray.
3. Remove the pan from heat and stir the almonds into the batter.
4. spoon the toffee into the molds and allow to cool. if you want to make lollipops: fold small pieces of greaseproof paper into cones, staple them, place them in small glasses, and fill with the toffee batter. Press little cocktail sticks into the cones. store in the refrigerator.
Cold Water Caramel Test
Do a cold water caramel test by dropping a little bit of the batter into a glass of ice-cold water. Wait a few seconds and then try to shape the dough into a ball. This allows you to check the consistency of the toffee once it has cooled. If the ball is too soft, you will need to boil the toffee a little bit longer.
Milk Chocolate Truffles
I never get tired of these truffles! With a soft and creamy interior and a crispy shell, they are perfect for all milk chocolate lovers.
Measure and weigh all the ingredients for the truffle carefully to get the right consistency.
About 25 pieces
Truffles
about 8.8 oz (250 g) milk
chocolate about
2/5 cup (100 ml) whipping
cream
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp (25 g) butter
Decorating
4/5 cup (125 g) chopped hazelnuts
7 oz (200 g) milk chocolate
1. Break the chocolate for the truffles into small pieces.
2. Put the whipping cream, honey, and butter in a saucepan. add the chocolate and melt the ingredients at low heat on the stove. stir occasionally and remove the pot from the heat
when the truffle mixture is smooth and shiny.
3. let the truffle cool slightly and then solidify in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. You can also place the truffle in the freezer to make it firmer and easier to handle.
4. spread the nuts in a baking dish and roast them in the middle of the oven at 450°F (225°C) for 8–10 minutes, or until they become golden brown and smell good. keep an eye on them so they do not burn, and stir occasionally. allow them to cool and rub off the loose peels.
5. Roll the truffle into balls. Dry your hands well with paper towels in between each ball so
that it’s easier to shape them. let the truffle balls set in the freezer for about 20 minutes until they are firm enough to dip in chocolate.
6. Chop the nuts, and melt the chocolate. Dip the balls in the chocolate, and then in the
chopped nuts. allow the balls to solidify and store in the refrigerator.
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