In the run-up to Christmas, I have been making a few more homemade gifts. While I usually stick with making fudge, this year, I also made these chocolates. Rumkulgeln are a pretty staple German Christmas item, and the Eierlikörkugeln (Eggnog Balls) is a modification of that recipe. Note that these do have alcohol in them that has not burned of… certainly far from getting you drunk, but a noticeable taste, if you are alcohol-averse.
You know me, bars are almost as popular in my world as cookies, whether it be shortbread crumble bars or brownies or in this case, blondies. Very delicious. Just the right amount of spice cut my the vanilla of the white chocolate chips. A great addition to a holiday cookie platter and ready in under and hour, start to finish. Yummy!
Now that the Christmas Cookies are done, I’m focusing on making some other treats for Christmas. Up this time: Holiday Chocolate Peppermint Bark. “Bark” is such a strange term for this type of candy. Then again, so are “brittles”. Historically it comes from chocolate barks looking like yes, the bark of a tree. Peppermint and white chocolate really don’t, but I am going to go with it anyway. And no matter what it is called, it is delicious.
As we get closer to Thanksgiving, I usually find myself wanted to make a variation on the “cranberry sauce” theme, and this is the 5th variation of a “sauce”, “preserve” or”chutney” that I have made. It’s not really like “the stuff from the can” but is very fresh, very flavorful and is a great combo of cranberries, apples and rhubarb. Yes, rhubarb. It’s nearly impossible to find right now and definitely not “in season” but I had stashed some in my freezer, for occasions just like this. It’s got a little bit of a kick with hot pepper flakes and a little bit of warmth from just a smidge of clove. Quite nice, actually. Will keep in the fridge probably through Christmas.
This is a trend that I’ve been seeing recently on some of the bread-baking sites that I follow: shaping a regular loaf of bread (a standard boule) into a pumpkin loaf. There is nothing pumpkin or pumpkin-spice flavored about this bread: it is just a regular loaf of my standard artisan sourdough bread. But to make it a little festive, you can imprint the loaf by loosely tying cooking twine around it before baking. I used a cinnamon stick as the “stem” just to complete the look. Makes a nice presentation for a harvest / autumn / Thanksgiving meal.