Christmas is not only about singing carols or exchanging presents with your loved ones. No festivity can be complete without satisfying your taste buds. Christmas is never an exception. Without the quintessential cakes and sweetmeats or a sumptuous dinner, the 25th of December would seem rather insipid. So why not learn about some lip-smacking Christmas delicacies?
The Much-Awaited Christmas Feast
What can be more fulfilling than being able to sit with your family and start the day with a hearty Christmas breakfast? It surely does sound wholesome. However, the much-awaited part of the celebrations is indeed the special Christmas dinner. Making some room for snacks and appetizers in your menu would be worthwhile too.
A little bit snacking won’t hurt much. It’s Christmas after all! Needless to say, but desserts on the day of Christmas always steals the show. That is to say, Christmas won’t seem like Christmas without a myriad of Christmas desserts.
8 Traditional Recipes For Christmas From Around The World
Food is the ultimate source of bliss and happiness, especially during the holidays. Here are some authentic recipes for Christmas to make your celebrations all the more memorable!
Start your day with any of these Christmas breakfast recipes:
1. Egg Croissant Casserole
This buttery delicacy with eggs in it would indeed be an amazing way to kick-start your day on the 25th of December.
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- Butter
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 30 grams sliced mushrooms
- 12 mini croissants
- Spinach
- Cheese, coarsely grated
- 8 eggs
- 2 cups of whole milk
- Kosher salt and pepper
Method:
- Firstly, apply some butter in a casserole dish.
- Heat some oil in a non-stick utensil and put the mushrooms in it.
- Keep stirring them for about 6-8 minutes, until they turn golden brown.
- In the meantime, stuff the croissants with spinach and about ½ cup of cheese.
- Put the stuffed croissants in the dish in which you had applied butter.
- Take the mushrooms and divide them among the croissants.
- Pour milk in a bowl along with beaten eggs.
- To this add ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and then pour the mixture on the croissants.
- You can sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of it.
- Cover the dish with foil and plastic wrap and put it inside the refrigerator for a minimum of 15 minutes.
- Bake it for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees-Fahrenheit after removing the plastic wrap once refrigeration is over.
- After 20 minutes, bake it again for 25 to 30 minutes once you have removed the foil.
2. Maple Belgian Waffles
If you have a sweet tooth and want something sweet for breakfast, these fluffy treats would be the right choice for you.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2½ cups of flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- Maple syrup
- Equal parts milk and cream
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Oil
- Strawberry jelly
- Confectioners’ sugar
Method:
- Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a big utensil and set it aside.
- Preheat your waffle iron.
- Prepare a mixture of beaten eggs, maple syrup, half-and-half, and butter.
- Add this mixture to the mixture of flour and other ingredients, which was prepared before.
- The batter should remain a bit lumpy.
- Apply oil to the waffle iron, put the batter in it and cook.
- Serve it with strawberry jelly on top sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar if you want some extra sweetness.
3. Baked Ham With Pineapple
Christmas ham is an essential dietary component on a special occasion. Baked ham with pineapple will surely leave you craving for more.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
- 1 fully cooked bone-in ham
- Cloves
- Sliced pineapple
- ½ cup brown sugar
- Maraschino cherries
Method:
- Make several cuts along the surface of the ham and make sure the cuts are shallow.
- Take the cloves and insert them at the joints of the cuts.
- Cover it and bake for about 1 to 1 ½ hours at 325 degrees-Fahrenheit.
- Make some pineapple juice and set aside about ¼ cup of the juice.
- Mix this ¼ cup of juice with brown sugar and pour it over the ham.
- Take some slices of pineapple and the cherries and place them on top of the ham.
- Bake it for another 30 to 45 minutes and don’t cover it this time.
How about some Christmas party food ideas? A gathering on this day will not be enjoyable unless you have made arrangements for Christmas cookies and snowball cookies, Christmas cupcakes and a Christmas candy or two for the children or even Christmas candy canes.
After all, a Christmas party without Christmas snacks is no fun. Here are a few recipes for popular Christmas snacks:
4. Biscuit-and-Jam Cookies
Cookies are a must on December 25th. Entertain your guests with Christmas cookies filled with sweetness like these Biscuit-and-Jam cookies!
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3½ cups of cake flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter
- Unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 egg
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoon raw sugar
- ½ cup of strawberry jam
Method:
- You should preheat your oven to 425 degrees-Fahrenheit.
- In the bowl of your food processor, add flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and pulse the mixture for about 4 to 6 times.
- To this mixture, add butter and coconut and pulse it for 15 to 25 times.
- In a utensil, whisk egg and cream and set aside 2 tablespoons of this mixture.
- Add the remainder of this mixture to the one made before.
- Pulse it for 20 to 30 times.
- Make sure that the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Knead the dough for some time.
- Flatten out the dough and use cookie cutters to cut cookies out of it.
- Apply the egg mixture which you had set aside on one side of the cookies.
- Add raw sugar on top of the cookies and bake until they turn golden brown.
- Spread strawberry jam on the cookies.
- You may put one cookie on top of the other forming a sandwich with jam in between.
5. Red Velvet Snowballs
In some parts of the world and some Indian states, snowfall doesn’t occur. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to build a snowman. So what? Even if you can’t build a snowman, you can always make these red velvet snowballs for Christmas.
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2½ cup flour
- ¼ cup of cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon red food colouring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
Method:
- Most importantly, preheat your oven to 350 degrees-Fahrenheit.
- In a utensil, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
- Mix butter and 1½ cups of confectioners’ sugar together.
- Add this to the previously made mixture and mix them well.
- Add food colouring, vanilla and vinegar to it and make a crumbly dough.
- Make small balls from the dough and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes.
- Put the remainder of confectioners’ sugar in a bowl.
- One by one, apply the sugar as a coat on the cookies.
- Let them cool and then apply another coat of sugar.
6. Kulkuls
While talking about these sweets we talked a bit about India. So, why don’t we add an Indian sweet to the list? Let’s talk about kulkuls, which is a popular sweet made on the occasion of Christmas in the Goan region. These are also known as kidiyos.
Cooking Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of flour
- ½ cup fine semolina
- Egg whites
- ⅓ cup ghee or melted butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- Salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- Oil
- Water
Method:
- Firstly, mix all the ingredients in a bowl except oil.
- Make a dough.
- After that, keep the dough aside for about 30 minutes and it should be covered with a damp cloth.
- Take some dough and roll it over a fork to lend a ring-shaped texture to it.
- Repeat the process several times to make more kulkuls.
- Fry them.
- Use some absorbent material like tissue paper or a clean and dry cloth to drain all the excess oil.
7. White Chocolate Truffles
Here’s how you can add to the sweetness of the festivity by making a Christmas candy or two. These sweet treats can serve as a nice gift to your guests and especially the young ones.
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Ingredients:
- ½ cup plus 9 tablespoons heavy cream
- A bag weighing 300 grams
- 3 cups
- White chocolate chips
- 30 gm cream cheese
- Finely crushed cookies (spiced shortcrust)
- Holly sprinkles for garnishing
Method:
- Firstly, take ½ a cup of cream and heat it until bubbles appear around the edges of the utensil used.
- After that add a bag of white chocolate chips to it (use the 300 grams bag to measure).
- Leave it for 2 minutes and then whisk it until it becomes smooth.
- Further, add some cream cheese and whisk.
- Leave it overnight or for a minimum of 2 hours until it becomes compact.
- Make small balls out of it and refrigerate it for 35 to 40 minutes.
- Subsequently, take the remainder of cream and chips and microwave them.
- After that, whisk this newly-prepared mixture until it becomes smooth.
- Dip all the truffles in melted chocolate and add the holly sprinkles on top.
8. Brioche Bread Pudding With Bourbon-Caramel Sauce
December isn’t the same without a classic Christmas pudding recipe. Otherwise, the list of Christmas desserts would not be complete. Our list would seem a little less sweet if we don’t end it with this traditional Christmas pudding recipe.
Cooking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:
For Brioche-Bread Pudding:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter:
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- Kosher salt
- 4 beaten eggs
- 30 grams Brioche (cut into cubes)
For Bourbon-Caramel Sauce:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:
- Firstly, apply butter to a baking dish.
- After that, mix milk, melted butter, vanilla, sugar, salt and eggs together and whisk them well.
- To this mixture, further, add the brioche bread and coat it in a proper manner.
- Transfer the coated bread to the baking dish and leave it for 30 minutes.
- Bake the bread at 350 degrees-Fahrenheit.
- Subsequently, continue baking until the edges of the bread turn brown.
- Meanwhile, mix sugar, lemon juice and ¼ cup of water and boil it for 10 to 14 minutes, until a thick amber coloured syrup is formed.
- To it add butter, cream, bourbon and vanilla and stir properly.
- Heat this mixture to form a thick syrup.
- Add this sauce on top of the bread pudding and serve.
From lip-smacking breakfast dishes and the special dinner recipes to snacks and desserts, such as cookies, candies, Christmas candy canes, Christmas plum cake and Christmas cupcakes, food indeed plays a major role to make the occasion worth cherishing. These recipes for Christmas are a sure hit and filled with nostalgia. Now you know about authentic dishes meant for celebrating the festival with vigour. Since gifting is also a key part of christmas celebration along with food, check out 6 DIY secret santa gift ideas for your colleagues here.
