Rosca de los Reyes
In Spain, and especially in Mexico, a Rosca de Reyes is served for the
traditional merienda on Three Kings Day, January 6, along with chocolate
caliente. The rosca (round or oval ring of bread) is baked with a
special surprise inside: a small porcelain figurine that represented the
Infant Jesus (today a dried bean can be substituted). The person who
gets the piece with the figurine, is responsible for buying the tamales
for El Día de la Candelaria, or Candelmas, February 2.The easiest way to see how you can make this special bread is such a video:
Baked Apple
In Austria and German-speaking countries we like to eat this nice dish but not only because it tastes very delicious it is also kind of healthy sweet. Moreover the whole house smells like Christmas! Just wonderful!There are many different recipes to cook this baked apple. You can make it with honey, nuts, sultanas, oatmeal,... However, you will like it.
Here is one very easy recipe:
Ingredients:
- about 4 (depends on the size of the apple and the hole) large good baking apples, such as Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, or Jonagold, but the best for me is Boskoop
- 1/4 cup sugar - brown is the best
- 1/4 cup chopped nuts - whatever you want
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup sultanas
- 1 Tbsp butter
Skanaus!
Buche de Noel
(From France)
The first Christmas yule log cake, or buche
de Noel, recipe was cleverly created in the late 1800s by a French pastry chef
looking to replace and pay culinary homage to the original yule log tradition.
This new, gastronomic tradition caught on in spectacular fashion, and the
Christmas dessert is now celebrated worldwide. This chocolate buche de Noel
recipe showcases a light-as-air, vanilla Genoise cake rolled into a cylinder
with the richest, homemade chocolate buttercream frosting.Ingredients:
- Sponge cake:
- 4 eggs (room temperature)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cake flour
- Chocolate buttercream:
- 7 egg whites
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons butter, softened
How to make chocolate buche de noel:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 10-inch by 15-inch baking pan with a 1-inch lip (jelly-roll pan) and line it with parchment paper. Butter the parchment or spray it with cooking spray. Set the pan aside.
Beat the eggs for 5 minutes, until they turn thick and foamy. Add the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to the eggs and continue beating for 2 minutes. Fold the flour, a few tablespoons at a time, into the whipped egg mixture. Once the flour is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing. Do not overmix or the cake will bake up into a tough texture.
Gently spread the batter into the prepared pan. There will be peaks of batter; gently smooth over them, but do not press the batter down. Bake the cake for 10 minutes, until the cake is just set. Invert the baked cake onto a clean, dry kitchen towel and peel off the parchment paper. Wait 3 minutes and then gently roll the cake, still in the towel, starting at the 10-inch end. Allow it to cool completely.
To make the chocolate buttercream:
In a clean, completely dry bowl beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Set them aside for a moment.
In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and 2/3 cup water to a boil. Allow it boil until it has reduced into a slightly thickened syrup. Begin beating the egg whites on high speed again, and pour the hot sugar syrup into the eggs in a slow, steady stream. Pour the melted chocolate, espresso powder, and vanilla extract into the egg whites and continue beating them until the meringue has cooled completely, about 5 minutes.
Add the softened butter to the meringue, 2 tablespoons at a time, while beating on high speed, until all of the butter is incorporated into the frosting. If the buttercream becomes runny at any time in this process, refrigerate the meringue until it has chilled through and continue the process of beating the butter into the meringue.
To assemble the chocolate yule log:
Unroll the cake and set aside the towel.
Evenly spread 2 cups (or desired amount) of the chocolate buttercream on the
inside of the cake and following its natural curve, gently form it into a cake
roll. Cut off the ends of the cake roll on the diagonal and reattach them in
the center of the cake with a bit of buttercream to fashion a “branch” coming
off the main Yule log. Spread the exterior of the buche de noel with enough chocolate buttercream to cover it and gently pull a butter knife or small, offset spatula through the frosting to give the appearance of rough tree bark. Add a Pere Noel figure and meringue mushrooms to complete the festive look.
Chill the cake before serving it, and refrigerate any leftovers.
This chocolate yule log recipe makes 14 servings.