Other Christmas Baking.........

I know, I know! It's the middle of January, but I took some pictures of some spectacular baking that I did for Christmas and figured that while some of it looks or tastes extremely festive, one can really make these things all year round. Here, I present to you Panforte, Linzer cookies, and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Panforte

Panforte, or Italian Christmas Cake as it is sometimes called, is a confection that originated in the Middle Ages. Panforte translates to strong bread which might refer to the heavy spicing of it or to the density. Apparently Crusaders and Pilgrims used to carry this bread due to its high nutrition and ability to keep for a long time. Although the original recipe is not known, it is believed that Panforte traditionally consisted of a combination of nuts, fruit, honey, and spices. Modern recipes include all these things, but also include some kind of chocolate, which did not exist in the Medieval European world.

The recipe I used is from the joy of baking website, and includes citrus, almonds, hazlenuts, cinnamon, semisweet chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, and honey. It was a simple recipe to make, because you melt the chocolate, create a honey/sugar sirop on the stove, toast the nuts, and then combine everything together, spread it in a pan, and bake it off. The result was intriguing and delicious, because it becomes more of a confection than a bread, and is heavily flavoured with citrus and cinnamon. On Christmas day, my family found it really interesting and everyone tried it!

Linzer Cookies

These Linzer cookies are one of my favourite things to make for Christmas and this is the second year I have made them. They are basically sandwich cookies that usually consist of ground almonds and some sort of jam in the middle. For these, cinnamon and lemon zest are also added for flavouring. Since my sister and I love raspberry jam so much, we used that for the filling.

You can purchase Linzer cookie cutters from a store like Bulk Barn, which allows you to cut out one solid cookie for the bottom of the sandwich, and a cookie with a shape for the top. We purchased Christmas ones that have shapes like a Christmas tree, candy cane, angel, star, and snowman. To finish, you can dust them with confectioners' sugar. If you would like to make these too, check out the joy of baking website where I found the recipe.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

The Earth to Table book includes a terrific recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding with a caramel sauce that I tried a couple weeks before Christmas. The recipe included medjool dates that were boiled until tender, and then pureed in the food processor before being mixed with all the other ingredients. I baked them in muffin tins which allowed for nicely portioned desserts.

This was my first time successfully making a caramel sauce which looked pretty and tasted delicious. I topped them with some walnuts for extra effect.