I would like to bring some homemade desserts to Christmas dinner at my
in-laws this year. I was thinking of making either pfefferneusse or a buche
de noël. However, being Jewish, I have no favorite family recipies for
either of these, or any other traditional Christmas food. Do any of you
have especiialy delicious recipies for Christmas treats? I would definately
appreciate some.

Thanks,
Adam

"Adam Schwartz" > wrote in message
news:WYaBb.468563$HS4.3657125@attbi_s01...
> I would like to bring some homemade desserts to Christmas dinner at
my
> in-laws this year. I was thinking of making either pfefferneusse or a
buche
> de noël. However, being Jewish, I have no favorite family recipies for
> either of these, or any other traditional Christmas food. Do any of you
> have especiialy delicious recipies for Christmas treats? I would
definately
> appreciate some.
>
> Thanks,
> Adam
>
>
Why not take a traditional Jewish Hanukah dish? Share your culture with
them. They'd probably like that. No law says you have to bend totally in
their direction.

"L Beck" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Adam Schwartz" > wrote in message
> news:WYaBb.468563$HS4.3657125@attbi_s01...
> > I would like to bring some homemade desserts to Christmas dinner at
> my
> > in-laws this year. I was thinking of making either pfefferneusse or a
> buche
> > de noël. However, being Jewish, I have no favorite family recipies for
> > either of these, or any other traditional Christmas food. Do any of you
> > have especiialy delicious recipies for Christmas treats? I would
> definately
> > appreciate some.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Adam
> >
> >
> Why not take a traditional Jewish Hanukah dish? Share your culture with
> them. They'd probably like that. No law says you have to bend totally in
> their direction.
>
>
That's what I did last year. However, as a cook, I'd like to try
expandig my own cooking horizons, and cooking from cultures that aren't my
own.
-Adam

>From: "Adam Schwartz"

> I would like to bring some homemade desserts to Christmas dinner at my
>in-laws this year. I was thinking of making either pfefferneusse or a buche
>de noël. However, being Jewish, I have no favorite family recipies for
>either of these, or any other traditional Christmas food. Do any of you
>have especiialy delicious recipies for Christmas treats? I would definately
>appreciate some.
>
>Thanks,
>Adam

I highly recommend English Trifle. There are an abundance of recipes online -
from the most basic to some fairly elaborate. My recipe is a cross between
summer pudding and trifle...lol.

I start by putting a good cup or two of sugared berries (raspberries,
blackberries and blueberries - frozen works fine) in the bottom of a deep glass
bowl. Then a layer of cubed pound cake sprinkled with sherry. Then a layer of
vanilla custard (or cooked french vanilla pudding) and a layer of sweetened
vanilla whipped cream. Then another layer of pound cake sprinkled with sherry,
a cup or so of berries, the custard, the cream and one more layer...ending with
the cream on top and sprinkled with toasted sliced almonds.

"Adam Schwartz" > wrote in message
news:WYaBb.468563$HS4.3657125@attbi_s01...
> I would like to bring some homemade desserts to Christmas dinner at
my
> in-laws this year. I was thinking of making either pfefferneusse or a
buche
> de noël. However, being Jewish, I have no favorite family recipies for
> either of these, or any other traditional Christmas food. Do any of you
> have especiialy delicious recipies for Christmas treats? I would
definately
> appreciate some.
>
> Thanks,
> Adam
>
>

A Buche de Noël is a showstopper....and easier to make than most people
think. You'll need a good genoise recipe (sponge cake) or you can do a twist
on the theme and use an angel food cake, bakes in the jelly roll pan rather
than the traditional angel food pan. The one I made last year had a
chocolate genoise, filled with a white chocolate raspberry mousse, and
frosted with a rich chocolate buttercream. You can also use meringue
mushrooms and chocolate twigs to decorate. Flavor the filling to your
tastes...orange, raspberry, white chocolate, mint, and coffee flavors go
especially well with a chocolate cake. Orange, raspberry, strawberry,
blackberry, whipped cream, and dark chocolate mousse go especially well with
the angel food cake.

Chocolate Genoise:
6 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons kahlua (if using an espresso, coffee, or chocolate filling) OR
2 Tbsp frambois (if using a orange, white chocolate, or raspberry filling)

Preheat oven to 400*f
Line the jelly roll pan (12x17") with parchment.
Using a whisk attachment on your mixer, beat the egg yolks until pale and
thickened. This will take about 5 minutes, so don't stop too soon. Set aside
while you beat the whites.

Thoroughly wash the whisk attachment (if you don't have a second mixer bowl,
transfer the yolks to another bowl and thoroughly wash the mixer bowl), and
dry it well. Any yolks left on the whisk or bowl will keep the whites from
reaching peaks.

Beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Increasing the
speed, slowly "rain" in the sugar. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

Slowly fold the egg yolks into the egg whites until the color is uniform
throughout.

Sift cocoa and flour together over the eggs, and gently fold until again the
color is uniform.
Pour over parchment lined pan and use a spatula to smooth all the way to
corners and edges.

Bake 8-10 minutes until it springs back when lightly pressed. Immediately
remove from pan by inverting onto a wire rack lined with fresh parchment.
Peel parchment from top of cake and allow to cool completely.

Make your filling (I'll include a couple recipes for filling). Use an offset
spatula to spread filling over cake, within 1/2 inch of the edges. If adding
cherries, berries, nuts, chips, coconut, etc, sprinkle over the filling.

Begin rolling with the short end facing you, using the parchment to help you
guide the cake. Once it's completely rolled, wrap in clean kitchen towel and
secure tightly. Place on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least 2-3
hours.

Remove from fridge and unwrap. On the serving platter, line it with several
sheets of parchment, overlapping, none going all the way across. This way,
when you finish frosting the cake, you can remove the parchment and the
platter is clean.

Using a bread knife (serrated), slice off each end at an angle, using the
same angle for both. Place these pieces, sliced side up, on the cake to
represent cut branches. Prepare your frosting. Coat the log, and the sides
of the branches. Do not cover the sliced ends of the log or the branches.
Decorate with meringue mushrooms, snowcaps, evergreens, currants, etc.

White Chocolate & Raspberry Mousse:
1 envelope unflavored powdered gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
12 ounces quality white chocolate, roughly chopped (I use El Rey, it's
wonderful!)
2 cups heavy cream, separated
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed

Press raspberries through a fine sieve to make a seedless puree.
Bloom the gelatin by sprinkling it over the cold water and allowing it to
sit for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the chocolate until finely chopped.
Heat 3/4 cup of the cream until just boiling and remove from heat. Stir in
the gelatin, dissolving completely. Add the chocolate and stir until smooth.
Allow to cool, stirring often, until slightly thickened.
Whip remaining cream. Fold together with chocolate mixture, then drizzle
with raspberry puree. You don't want to mix it in completely, it should be
swirled throughout. Cover tightly and refrigerate until needed.

Chocolate Buttercream
4 large egg whites (1/2 cup)
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 ounces finely chopped semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate (I prefer
Valrhona Manjari)
4 Tbsp hot coffee (or milk)

Melt chocolate together with hot coffee (or milk). Set aside.

Place egg whites, sugar, and salt in the top of a double boiler over gently
simmering water. Whisk constantly, not too rough, until hot to the touch and
sugar is completely dissolved.
Remove from heat.

Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whip the egg whites until
thickened and cooled, about 5 minutes. Beat in butter 1/2 stick at a time
and then beat until smooth. Add chocolate, a bit at a time, and again beat
until smooth.

Meringue Mushrooms:
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup superfine white sugar (if you don't have superfine sugar simply take
granulated white sugar and process it for about 30 seconds in a food
processor).
small amount of both dark and white chocolate, melted
cocoa powder


- Make sure egg whites are at room temperature and free of any specks of egg
yolk.

- Make sure the bowl and beaters are clean and free of grease to obtain
maximum volume

- Use parchment paper or aluminum foil to line baking sheets, not wax paper.
The meringue will sometimes stick to wax paper.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C) and place 2 oven racks in the
upper and lower thirds of the oven.

In bowl of electric mixer, at moderately slow speed, beat the room
temperature egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat at
medium speed until soft peaks form. Continue beating (increasing speed to
high), gradually adding the superfine sugar, until the whites are very stiff
and glossy. (You want to make sure that the sugar has dissolved
completely - to test rub a little of the meringue between your fingers.)

Using a clean rubber spatula, place meringue in a clean pastry bag fitted
with a large round tip. To make mushrooms, pipe the meringue, using even
pressure until a round builds up. Sharply twist the bag at the same time you
release the pressure. Don't worry of there's still a bit of a tip there,
just wet your finger and smooth it. Next, do the stems. Pipe, pulling
upwards, into a cone shape, making the base a little wider than the top. Try
to keep it straight as possible. Make a few extra, just in case!

Bake for about 1 hour, until firm and they can be lifted without sticking.
Using a parking knife, carve a small indent on the underside...this is here
your stem will go. Spread a thin layer of melted dark chocolate on the
underside of the caps and allow to set. Repeat with white chocolate. Using
the tip of your paring knife, make sliced through white chocolate to expose
the dark, creating the mushroom "gills". Dip the tip of the stems in
remaining melted white chocolate (or dark) and press to the indent in the
cap. Allow to set. Dust the tops of the caps with cocoa powder.



Hope this helps! It's a little time investment, but not difficult and it
certainly wows a crowd. It's also delicious!


kimberly