Christmas recipes

[Dasla]

Chocolate Orange Truffles
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (or 200g if you use my method)
• 1/4 cup thickened cream
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 teaspoon orange rind
Step 1
Combine 200g chocolate and cream in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on medium (50%) for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, or until melted and smooth. Stir in orange juice and rind. Cover. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours or until firm.
Step 2
Line a tray with baking paper. Using 2 teaspoons of chocolate mixture at a time, roll into balls.
Step 3
Sift cocoa into a shallow dish. Roll balls in cocoa to coat. Place on prepared tray. Refrigerate until firm.

[Dasla]

Basic Truffles
200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup thickened cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder


Step 1
Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on medium (50%) for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, or until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla. Cover. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours or until firm.
Step 2
Line a tray with baking paper. Using 2 teaspoons of chocolate mixture at a time, roll into balls.
Step 3
Sift cocoa into a shallow dish. Roll balls in cocoa to coat. Place on prepared tray. Refrigerate until firm.
I like to add some icing sugar to the coco to sweeten it

[Dasla]

• Ingredients
• 3 cups almond meal (ground almonds)
• 2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
• 2 eggwhites
• 1 large orange, rind finely grated
• 1/4 teaspoon almond essence
• 24 cloves

• Method
1. Step 1
Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 flat baking trays with baking paper.
2. Step 2
Combine almond meal and 1/2 cup icing sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add eggwhites, orange rind and almond essence. Using your hands, mix until dough comes together in a smooth ball. Roll walnut-sized pieces of mixture into 24 small pear shapes. Insert 1 clove (stem side up) into top of each pear.
3. Step 3
Place almond pears upright, 5cm apart, on prepared trays. Bake, 1 tray at a time, on lowest shelf in oven for 20 minutes or until firm to touch. Place remaining 1 1/2 cups icing sugar in a deep, small bowl. Dip hot almond pears, 1 at a time, into icing sugar and turn to coat. Return almond pears to warm tray. Dust heavily with remaining icing sugar. Allow to cool on trays.
4. Step 4
Place almond pears in small paper cases before packing in a gift box.

[Dasla]

Shortbread
225g Plain flour, sifted
115g Rice flour, sifted
115g castor sugar, sifted
1 pinch of salt
225g butter, at room temperature
1/2tsp Vanilla extract

1. Preheat an oven to 150C.
2. Grease a baking tray or lamington tin
3. Combine flour, rice flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
4. Add vanilla and mix well
5. Rub in butter and knead gentle until a smooth dough forms
6. Either transfer to a floured surface and use a cookie cutter or shape as desired, press into the lamington tin (my method) or shape into a round shape about the size of a small pizza (traditional method)
7. Bake in the oven for 40min until golden brown.
8. While still warm cut into bars (lamington tin) or pizza wedges.
9. Cool

[WildaBeast]

"Magic" Cookie Bars. They may not be a traditional Christmas recipe, and it came from the label on a can of sweetened condensed milk, but my family makes them every year at Christmas.

[Dasla]

Some of the recipes I use as gifts over christmas. The shortbread is of the rice flour packet. The other ecipes are off the internet (Taste.com) and adapted a little.

I usually insert a macadamia or hazlenut into the centre of the plain chocolate truffles. The recipe I use suggests using the same amount of chocolate and coating the formed tuffles in chocolate. I have never brothered to do this.

[Dasla]

I should give the address that most of the recipes are from.

http://www.taste.com.au

[GaryM]

Do Australians really call shortbread petticoat tails "pizza wedges"?

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by GaryM

Do Australians really call shortbread petticoat tails "pizza wedges"?

No that is purely how I described what I do, mostly because I baked it on a pizza tray.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by Dasla

Chocolate Orange Truffles
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (or 200g if you use my method).

I find this intriguing. What's the difference between the two sets of 200g?

I made brownies, applesauce cake and ciabella (Italian anise cake) for my open house. I also make a pumpkin chiffon pie for holidays. I do not, however, have any of the recipes at my fingertips (I'm old fashioned; they're all on paper).

Seaboe

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

I find this intriguing. What's the difference between the two sets of 200g?

I made brownies, applesauce cake and ciabella (Italian anise cake) for my open house. I also make a pumpkin chiffon pie for holidays. I do not, however, have any of the recipes at my fingertips (I'm old fashioned; they're all on paper).

Seaboe

In the recipe in the link, you use 200g to make the truffles and then melt the other 200g to coat the truffles.

My recipes are also on paper. At first they were in a food magazine I buy, which I can no longer find. So I googles choc truffle recipes...and printed them out.

I should add the recipe say good quality dark chocolate, but I just use the store brand dark chocolate

[Mateus]

Are there any good holiday-related vegetarian entrees? I can make a veg dish easily, but I don't know if there's a dish that veg*ns customarily eat.