Another plus: the recipes here are so simple kids can help you do it, and there's no better bonding or teaching tool than a kitchen. That's where the happiest memories are made. What better gift?
So here are a few simple treats from Sandy Claus you can whip up, wrap up and hand out. Some are new, some repeats from posts past.
Chocolate Truffle Cake
1/2 lb dark chocolate (more than 70% cacao)
1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick)
4 large eggs
pinch of sea salt
1 1/2 c mixed dried fruits, nuts and/or coconut *
1/4 tsp orange flower or rose water (optional)
1/4 tsp spice (your choice: cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, anise--a mixture?)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
*use dried figs, dried dates, dried cherries or dried cranberries, toasted pecans or almonds, pistachios, toasted coconut, candied ginger....
Preheat the oven to 350º. Heavily butter or line with parchment a 6-7" cake or pie pan.
In a double boiler or bain marie, over barely simmering water (in the bottom pot) on low heat, melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove from heat. One by one whisk in the eggs. With a wooden spoon, stir in the salt and your fruit/nut combo and flavoring/spices. Blend so it's all very smooth and shiny. Pour everything into the prepared pan, level the top and smooth it. Bake 15-20 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the cake is solid. Let it cool at least 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and dust the top with the cocoa. That's it!
Spiced Nuts: Vanilla Walnuts
These are what everybody waits for every year so I get into production mode. Happily they are ridiculously simple to make. Kids can do it. I usually go to Chinatown to buy festive but cheap tea canisters to put them in, that pretty storage can being the lasting and infinitely useful part of the gift. Some years I've posted a cocoa pecans recipe so you can scroll back to find that if you prefer. Or curried walnuts. But these have always been the killer. Some folks are deadly allergic to walnuts so be careful who you hand them to.
This makes 4 cups, which easily fills 6 standard tea canisters
1 lb walnut halves
1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 tbsp corn oil (do not try to use olive, please)
1 tbsp vanilla (be generous not skimpy, this is the key here)
1/2 tsp salt (fine works best)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground allspice
(not to worry if you don't have all these spices, just make your own flavor combo)
Preheat oven to 325º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat. (This is just to keep it clean and make it easier, so if you have neither, no worries.)
Combine the corn oil, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Blanch the walnuts in boiling water 60 seconds. Drain well. While they are still hot, blend them with the corn oil mix. Let them sit in it 10 minutes, then spread them on the baking tray (aka cookie sheet) and bake 30-35 minutes until they are brown and crisp. Try to flip them over at least once and also check that none are burning.
While they bake, clean the bowl, dry it carefully and mix the salt and spices in it. As soon as the walnuts come from the oven, stir them into the spice bowl to coat them. Let them cool either in the bowl or spread back out on the cookie sheet (baking tray). Distribute them in airtight containers like tea canisters.
Spanish Dried Fig and Almond Cake (Pan de Higos)
Another admission: my Catalan friend remembers making these with her grandmother. Back then they hand cut and flattened each fig, slipping an almond in as they went. I just toss all the stem-free figs into a food processor and voila! in seconds fig cake! I can't taste any negative difference between these methods.
1 lb dried figs, stems removed
1 tbsp brandy
1/4 tsp anise seed
pinch of ground cloves
1 tbsp honey
10 raw almonds
Put the figs, brandy, anise, clove and honey in a food processor and whir 3-5 seconds to get the figs chopped. Add the almonds and whir just long enough to get the chopped figs to stick together. You should be able to see the almond pieces. Don't pulverize them if you can help it.
Line a shallow, flat 5" baking dish or straight-sided bowl with enough parchment paper to eventually cover over the top completely. Dump the contents of the food processor onto the parchment and using a spatula of some sort flatten the mixture into a "cake" that fills the dish. Level the top. Cover it over with the parchment paper. Now, put some heavy weight on top to press this down for 24 hours and set is aside on the counter til then. I use a big can of tomatoes with a smaller can on top or a heavy stone Buddha statue --anything that weighs heavily will work. After 24 hours, remove the weight, open the parchment and stick your finger on the cake to see if it's solidly congealed. Remove the parchment with the cake in it from the dish, wrap it around the cake tightly and you're done. I store mine in the fridge until I wrap and give them away.
Dilly Beans
Because kids love 'em and everybody can use a little ferment in their lives. You can also do this with asparagus (pictured here) but that veg is very out of season and not so native right now as green beans.
To present as a gift, wrap in tissue paper: place jar in the center of two pieces and raise the sides up. Gather at the top with thin ribbon.
4 1-quart canning jars with
new lids
2+ lbs.
green beans
8 lg
garlic cloves, halved and smashed
2 tsp red
pepper flakes
4 tbsp
dill seeds
2½ cups
white vinegar
2½ cups
water
¼ cup
kosher salt (not regular salt)
Sterilize jars in boiling water.
Pull the “twiggy” ends off the
beans and wash them. Dry carefully. Put one into the jar to measure how long it
can be to be slightly shorter than the jar and cut it. Use this to cut all the
beans into that same length. Put 4 garlic halves, 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
and 1 tbsp dill seeds in each jar. Fill each jar tightly with the green beans,
trying to keep them all standing up in the same direction.
In a large saucepan, combine the water, vinegar and salt.
Stir to dissolve salt and bring to a full boil. Ladle the hot liquid into jars,
filling to ¼” of the top. Shake jars to remove air bubbles. Seal jars. Put back
in boiling water 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Listen for the lids to “pop” so
you know the jars are securely sealed
More in the next post and then back to chickpeas, the little black dress of the kitchen, part 7.
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