I do a lot of scratch-made cooking all year round, so my favorite holiday treats are usually the ones made by someone else. My honey loves to take over the holiday baking and candy making, which is fine by me. This year he made a new kind of fudge, and wow! It's a keeper!
Peppermint Bark Fudge from Sugarspunrun.com is smooth and creamy and has the perfect level of mint with a light crunchy texture. Yum! I like to pair it with a small glass of Oat Nog dusted with freshly grated nutmeg, for those of us that have to limit our dairy intake.
There is one Holiday bake that I've been planning for a couple of months. A couple of years back, the Great British Baking Show challenged the contestants to make a steamed Christmas Pudding. I like to try my hand at many of the technical bakes from the show, so I made a gluten-free version last year from Every Nook and Cranny While the recipe isn't GF, I subbed GF ingredients for the breadcrumbs and self-rising flour, and the author does have a note about how to adjust it to be GF. It takes some planning as the dried fruits are soaked in Frangelico for at least a month. This year a quadrupled the recipe, ran out of Frangelico, and added some Bailey's Irish Almond Cream to supplement. It's going to be awesome!
The steamed pudding is best prepared weeks in advance so the flavors can mature, but I'll be making mine on Christmas Day, with extra puds to share.
Traditional Fruitcake is unfairly criticized. This steamed pudding is light, moist, slightly boozy, and utterly packed with delicious fruit and nuts. I made the cream sauce last year, but it really doesn't need it.
Whatever holiday treats you enjoy this year, may having a merry time of it!
- Karin
Comments