What is a Holiday Dessert Party?
Originally, the Holiday Dessert Party was just what it sounds like: I made my favorite holiday desserts, friends made their favorite holiday desserts, and we all gathered at my house to share the desserts. And then one year, someone showed up without having had dinner and was hungry for real food. For some reason, I just happened to have a tray of ziti or macaroni and cheese in my refrigerator ready to go into the oven. So we all dug into the cheesy pasta in addition to the desserts and were happy. So the following year, I offered tray of baked ziti (or macaroni and cheese) with a spiral cut ham and a basket of biscuits in addition to the table of desserts. And everyone enjoyed having a savory plate and a sweet plate, so it became customary to offer both. As my friends have had children and increased career responsibilities, the party became more about my preparing my favorite desserts to share with my friends and their enjoying a night off and/or out together.
Although I celebrate Christmas, I have always billed my party as either a Holiday Dessert Party or a Winter Dessert Party. Not all my friends celebrate Christmas, and besides the party is usually the week of Winter Solstice (21 December).
Planning the Holiday Dessert Party
This year I started planning for the Holiday Dessert Party at Thanksgiving, because that is when I knew I would have the free time to do the work. Usually what I do is make a list of my favorite desserts – especially the ones that are too time consuming to make for weekend dinner parties – and then supplement that list with “wish list recipes.” The “wish list recipes” are recipes that I’ve cut out of magazines or marked in books as one that I really want to try, but have never had the time and/or the occasion to do so. The Paleo Gingerbread was last year’s “wish list recipe;” although that didn’t get baked for the party, it did get turned into some fabulous gingerbread houses in the New Year.
Something else that I considered in my planning this year was the success of last year’s Holiday Baking Marathon, which resulted in two large flat rate boxes of cookies going out to friends stationed overseas. This year, a really good friend from DC (let’s call her Little Z) was planning to come up a day or two early to help me bake for the party. So I figured that, with two of us baking, we could knock out an unusually ambitious list of cookies and candies for the party. With the leftovers, we could set aside what I had promised my parents and then package up the rest for my friends overseas.
By the end of the Thanksgiving holiday, I had decided on the following list to encompass the Holiday Dessert Party, the holiday packages, and my parents’ requests:
- Chocolate mint martinis
- Peppermint candy shot glasses
- Cheese tray with crackers
- Spiral cut honey ham with biscuits
- Jane’s Macaroni and Cheese, or Baked Ziti
- Chocolate mousse
- Cheesecake with gluten free crust
- Dark chocolate hazelnut fudge
- “Cheater” amaretti
- Sambuca cookies
- Wonder bars
- Bourbon caramels
- Divinity
- Gluten free rum balls
- Mom’s sugar cookies
- Rice Krispie squares
- Coconut rice pudding
I was definitely going to need Little Z’s help to get this all accomplished!
No Plan Survives First Contact
My original plan was to finish all the grocery shopping and start all the refrigerator cookie doughs before Little Z arrived. But then a work project went off the rails, and I ended up spending too much time and energy at the office (and the gym!) to complete either task. I got most of the shopping for groceries and paper goods done before Little Z’s flight landed, but was still short the ham. By the time I had finished running around the grocery store gathering all the baking supplies, I really didn’t feel like fussing with the meat counter. I knew that there was a grocery store within five miles of the house, and the weather forecast looked clear for the next few days, so it would be very easy to pick up the ham as late as the morning of the party.
.
I was so excited for Little Z’s visit that I planned a surprise activity for us to do together on the night after she arrived. But I had to work that morning, so we only had four or five hours in the afternoon to bake and prepare for the party. After looking at my list, Little Z decided that we needed some fruit for the party. Specifically, she wanted kumquats. And when I told her that I had never had a kumquat, she wanted them even more. So we planned to leave the house at 5pm to go to the fancy grocery store a few towns over to look for good fruit, then have a quick dinner before we were off to the surprise activity.
In the few hours prior to our departure, Little Z made her first ever batch of Rice Krispie squares. Although I was distracted by making the three ingredient coconut cookies, I tried to talk her through the recipe the best I could. And Little Z executed my instructions to the letter, right down to counting out exactly 40 marshmallows and leaving less than half a dozen left in the bag. She even decorated them with stripes of red and green sugar! But by the time we were done with all that, it was time for me to shower and change for our outing. Little Z was a champ and handled the Wonder Bars all by herself from the family cookbook recipe while I was getting ready.
Unfortunately, we failed to find kumquats at the fancy grocery store. But Little Z did find raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and a pomegranate. I traded her the pomegranate for the pomegranate seeds. I didn’t find the blood oranges that I was looking for, but I did find a Buddha Hand citrus fruit. That got Little Z excited about the prospect of Buddhacello, which is a limoncello-style liqueur made with Buddha Hand. I also didn’t find the almond paste that I was looking for either. Which meant that we definitely had to go to the grocery store after our surprise activity or early the next morning.
I was very impressed with myself that I managed to keep the surprise activity a secret until after dinner, despite walking past the location three times. But Little Z was thrilled when she learned that we were going to a paint bar to do a colorful trees painting. And it was a bonus that there was wine and Christmas carols too!
My painting:
Little Z's painting:
The next morning, Little Z and I decided to divide and conquer. She made breakfast and I made the base for the rum balls. After we finished breakfast, Little Z made a lovely peppermint swirl cheesecake – her first time ever making a chesecake! As soon as the cheesecake was pulled from the oven, I left for the grocery store while Little Z finished the rum balls and baked the chocolate sambuca cookies from the batter in the refrigerator. Surprise! At the local grocery store, I found several packages of kumquats. I picked the best two packages of kumquats, grabbed some packages of blueberries, chose a spiral cut ham, finished the rest of the list and headed home.
By 3pm – t minus one hour – we were still not ready to host guests. The ham still had over an hour left in the oven. The main serving table was in the center of the room, rather than behind the couch. All the paper goods were still in the trunk of my car. And I still had to make the chocolate mousse!
The Party
A little after 4pm, shortly after I had finished the chocolate mousse, my really good friend and her crew arrived – with more food! They brought ziti baked in a crockpot, tacos, and plates of cookies. They even used the Ninja Bread cookie cutters on their leftover gingerbread dough!
The crew helped us set up the fruit, cheeses, crackers, and desserts on the tables. My really good friend’s sister made a pitcher of chocolate mint martinis, improvising when the liquors required by the recipe ran out. And my really good friend even fixed the Faberware saucepan that lost its handle while Little Z was cooking macaroni for Jane’s Macaroni and Cheese.
Between the five of us, I thought we had everything out on the table and ready to go by the time the next set of guests arrived – a work colleague and his French wife. They brought a lovely homemade caramel flan, for which we found room on the table. At that point, I remembered that we still had the mousse chilling in the refrigerator, so we attempted to find room on the table for it. Of course, when I went into the refrigerator for the mousse, I discovered the cheesecake that Little Z finished earlier in the day. There was just barely enough room on the table for it!
When the ham came out of the oven, there was no room for it on either the little table with the savory foods or on the big table with the sweet foods. So I left it on the stove and put both the macaroni and cheese and the biscuits into the oven. When those came out of the oven, they were also served on the stovetop in the kitchen. As friends from graduate school and the military trickled in, savory Indian snacks were added to the little table and a few more desserts or cookies were added to the big table. The gathering spilled over from the living room into the kitchen as my friends circulated to get savory foods from the stovetop and stretch their legs. Fortunately, we had enough space for the rescue pup and the toddler to coexist without either freaking out!
The party was such a good time that my really good friend and her crew stayed chatting in the kitchen with our beloved friend from NYC and her rescue pup for at least an hour after they came in to say their farewells. The toddler and the rescue pup eventually warmed up to each other, to the extent that the toddler and his parents were the last to leave.
In the end, it was just Little Z, our beloved friend from NYC, the rescue pup, and me. We broke open a bottle of red wine and put the perishables in the refrigerator. Then we settled into our spaces on the couch and in the comfortable chair, broke open the purple box of conversation, and chatted until I started to fall asleep. After the third time the ladies suggested we break up and get some sleep, I agreed. Little Z had an early flight in the morning, and the party was bound to break up some time!
The Verdict
Although there were quite a few cookies and candies on the list that Little Z and I did not make, there was more than enough for our guests to enjoy and to take home. One guest happily took home a majority of the mousse and a large chunk of cheesecake! There were even enough of the cookies that my parents wanted to take home to them on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, with all my other preparations for the holidays, I didn’t get the chance to box up extra cookies into overseas shipments. So I will just have to do another holiday baking marathon in the beginning of January to get those in the mail by Three Kings Day.
The Recipes
Chocolate Peppermint Martini
Don’t substitute the Melitti Cioccolato if you don’t have to. It has the consistency of Hershey’s syrup and makes the drink nice and thick. In a pinch, dark crème de cacao will work.
½ cup peppermint schnapps
1 cup good unflavored vodka
2 cups Melitti Cioccolato liqueur
½ cup Vandemints chocolate mint liqueur
(or Cask & Cream Caramel Temptation)
(or crème de cacao)
(or more Melitti Cioccolato)
- Stir together all ingredients in a pitcher. Chill.
- To serve: Shake single serving with ice and strain into a martini glass.
Rice Krispie Squares
This also works very well with cocoa rice krispies. And you can leave out the peanut butter, but why would you want to? A silicon pan works best because you can just peel off the pan to cut into squares on a cutting board.
¼ cup margarine
10 oz package marshmallows
5-6 cups rice krispies
1. Melt margarine in a large saucepan over low heat.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.
3. Add 3 cups of rice krispies and combine. Add remaining rice krispies gradually, stopping when marshmallow mixture doesn't coat cereal.
4. Press into buttered 13 x 9 pan.
5. Allow to cool to room temperature and cut into human sized pieces.
Snowballs (these were a big hit at the 2006 Dessert Party):
♥ Add enough rice krispies to make the mixture slightly drier than usual.
♥ Use your hands to roll into appropriate sized balls. Don’t handle too much or you’ll lose the stickiness needed for the next step.
♥ Press coconut into the sides so that it looks like a snowball.
Rum Balls
You can make these weeks ahead of time and keep refrigerated – they get better with age.
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
2 cups confectioners' sugar (plus extra) 2 cups ground walnuts
4 tbsp cocoa powder 4 tbsp honey
½ cup rum, whiskey, Kahlua, amaretto, other liquor or coffee
1. Combine crushed vanilla wafers, confectioners' sugar, nuts and cocoa powder
2. Add rum and honey
3. Shape into balls; coat with additional confectioners' sugar
4. Chill until firm
♥ To make things really easy, use graham cracker crumbs from a box instead of wafers.
♥ Chopped nuts are really optional, but it may be necessary to use more vanilla wafers to absorb the liquid. The recipe works without honey, but it would be better to use it when possible.
♥ Do NOT refrigerate dough before rolling. It will be too brittle to work with, but still can be cut into small squares like fudge.
♥ If the dough is too sticky to roll into balls, add equal parts of crushed wafers and confectioners' sugar until the dough is dry enough. (Okay, you can also use just confectioners' sugar if you want, but it doesn't work as well.)
Dad's Cheesecake
Dad’s classic dessert is simpler than you may think. You’ll definitely want to put a baking tin under the springform pan, just in case the crust over flows.
2 cups crushed graham crackers
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup melted butter 16 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 well beaten eggs 2 tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract (optional)
3 cups sour cream
1. Mix crushed graham crackers, walnuts, cinnamon and butter.
2. Press graham cracker mixture into the bottom and ½” up the sides of a springform pan.
3. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, eggs and extracts until smooth.
4. Fold sour cream into the batter until just blended.
5. Pour batter into prepared crust.
6. Bake at 375F for 45-60 minutes, until set in the center.
7. Let rest in the oven with the door cracked for about an hour.
8. If time permits, cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill 4-5 hours prior to serving.
Peppermint Swirl Cheesecake:
♥ Pause after completing Step #4.
♥ In a pot over simmering water, melt 36-40 Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses (only available in December). If a more intense peppermint flavor is desired, crush 4-5 mini candy canes and quickly stir into the melted chocolate.
♥ Take the chocolate off heat. Mix in ¾ cup cheesecake batter, in ¼ cup increments. Add a few drops of red food coloring if a more intense color is desired.
♥ Pour plain cheesecake batter into prepared crust.
♥ Dollop peppermint batter into four corners of the pan. Swirl very gently, taking care not to disturb the crust.
♥ Continue recipe at Step #6.
Simplifications (these are things that Lisa does that Dad does not endorse):
♥ Use a pie plate instead of a springform pan. To make it even easier, buy a pre-made graham cracker crust.
♥ An extra ½ cup of graham crackers can substitute for the finely chopped walnuts in the crust. The cinnamon can also be left out of the crust without much trauma.
♥ 3 cups of plain yogurt can replace the sour cream. Low fat varieties of cream cheese, sour cream and/or yogurt can be used, but the texture will be more spongy than dense.
Other Notes:
♥ Top the cheesecake only after it has been thoroughly cooled
♥ Adding "stuff" to the batter doesn't work too well
♥ Stephanie used amaretto liqueur instead of vanilla in the batter.
Chocolate Sambuca Cookies
This simple recipe is one of Dad’s favorites, and a lot of my friends agree! The original version was just selected by Gourmet magazine as its “cookie of the year” for 1999. Don’t forget a shot of sambuca (or amaretto) for the cook!
1 12 oz package semisweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp butter
2 eggs
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
½ cup sambuca (or anisette)
2 tbsp white sugar
1 ¾ cups white flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Confectioners’ sugar
1. Whisk eggs, walnuts, sambuca and sugar in heatproof mixing bowl until pale yellow.
2. Melt chocolate and butter together in double boiler. Stir until smooth.
3. Slowly whisk chocolate mixture into sambuca mixture until completely combined.
4. Gradually stir in remaining ingredients. Dough will be thin.
5. Refrigerate tightly covered until firm.
6. Roll heaping spoonfuls of dough into balls between palms. Roll in confectioners sugar to coat. Place 2" apart on nonstick or lightly greased baking tin.
7. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes until puffed and cracked, but still soft.
8. Cool thoroughly on racks.
♥ White Chocolate Cookies: Use 12 oz white chocolate chips instead of semisweet chocolate chips and skip the butter. The white chocolate version works well with sambuca, anisette or amaretto
Mom's Chocolate Mousse
The original recipe calls for German Sweet Chocolate, which yields a sweeter dessert.
½ lb semisweet chocolate
6 eggs, separated
3 tbsp water
¼ cup liqueur (kirsch, crème de menthe, kahlua, grand marnier)
2 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp sugar
1. Melt chocolate and let cool in a large mixing bowl
2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and water until thick
3. Add liqueur and beat to a hollandaise sauce
4. Add the hollandaise sauce to the melted chocolate and blend thoroughly
5. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until almost stiff.
6. Add 2 tbsp sugar and beat until stiff (Be careful not to turn the cream into butter)
7. Fold beaten cream into the chocolate mixture, taking care not to deflate too much
8. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, gradually adding 4 tbsp sugar
9. Fold beaten whites into chocolate mixture, taking care not to deflate too much
10. Chill before serving.
11. Smaller portions can be frozen. Just be sure to set out an hour or two before serving.
No comments:
Post a Comment