Soaked in rum and layered with juicy cinnamon apples and vanilla custard, spiced gingerbread steals the spotlight in this holiday favourite.
A creamy, sweet and nutty filling takes these cakey chocolate cookies to a whole new level. Fun fact: The inspiration for them—German chocolate cake—is actually not German. They get their name from an American chocolate maker named Samuel German.
We've turned the beloved holiday drink into an extra-creamy, richly flavoured pie that's sure to be a hit with your guests. For the flakiest and tenderest crust, handle the dough as little as possible.
Instead of a traditional tourtiere, this year I'm serving a puff pastry-topped pie that's especially festive with tiny onions and chestnuts. For variety you can replace the chicken with pork or veal. To use canned chestnuts instead of the fresh, add these already-cooked nuts when adding the mushroom mixture.
This elegant dessert looks as if you have to be a pastry chef to make it. However, with several make-ahead elements and the help of frozen puff pastry, this dish is one anybody can make.
Crème anglaise, a French term for rich custard sauce, instantly elevates cake, pie, pudding or fruit. Here, we've used it to turn this swirled sweet-tart Bundt cake—which can be enjoyed on its own as an everyday treat—into a dinner party–worthy dessert.
Instead of small tarts, you could bake this in a 9-inch (23 cm) quiche pan; just add 1 more egg and increase the cream by 1/4 cup (50 mL). Making pastry in a food processor is a breeze but, of course, you can also make it by hand. Serve on a bed of vinaigrette-dressed watercress.
A touch of tart raspberry beautifully balances the sweetness of chocolate in this rolled cake dessert.
Marina Keeping didn't need to ponder over which of her mother's recipes was her favourite: it's the layered coffee buttercream-filled cake that Janet Reeves, author of One Potato, Two Potato (Ragweed Press, 1987) always made for birthdays. It's rich and buttery, in the style of Eastern European cakes, and even a small slice is enough to satisfy. Reeves, an inveterate recipe collector since the age of eight, got this recipe when she helped out as a teenager in the home of a Polish-born doctor in her home town of Kensington, P.E.I.
Each of these dramatic mini cakes has a truffle in the middle. As the cakes bake, the truffles melt, ready to flow at the first stab of a spoon. You can vary the liqueur in the truffle filling and accompanying Crème Anglaise for a new flavour accent.
