December 23rd
2006
...and what have you done?
Well, here we go, in no particular order:
Shop for Christmas presents
Have your share of Munich's many Christmas markets (especially Marienplatz, Weissenburger Platz, Schwabing)
Send out Christmas wishes
Watch Zürcher Verlobung, an old romantic comedy... (a must, although I have a suspicion that Oliver's sudden disappearance has to do with it)
Wrap Christmas presents and tag them
Pack Christmas packages/gifts and ship them (after waiting in line at the post-office for more than half an hour)
Decide on our menu for Christmas eve
Sautéed duck foie gras with brioche and caramelized apples
Homemade pasta with white truffles
Granny Smith sorbet
Venison braised in port wine with celery puree and baby carrots
Bread and butter pudding with cinnamon ice cream
Shop for Christmas eve dinner (well sort of, still need to get Granny Smiths and lamb's lettuce)
Bake tons of Christmas cookies (but where have they gone???)
Set up an iTunes Christmas playlist
Have a merry little Christmas - Perry Como
Santa Baby - Louis Armstrong & Eartha Kitt
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire - Nat King Cole
Baby It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
Christmas Day - Dido
Once upon a long ago - Paul McCartney
Blue Christmas - Elvis
The first noel - Jaci Velasquez
Walking in a Winter Wonderland - Dean Martin
Winter Wonderland - Doris Day
Feliz Navidad - Celia Cruz
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Christmas - Darlene Love
Sleigh ride - The Carpenters
I'm gettin nuttin for Christmas - Eartha Kitt
Driving home for Christmas - Chris Rea
Mistletoe and Holly - Frank Sinatra
I'll be home for Christmas - Barbara Streisand
Rudolph the rednosed reindeer - Harry Connick Jr.
Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade
Last Christmas - Wham
The river - Robert Downey Jr.
So this is Christmas - John Lennon
The power of love - Frankie goes to Hollywood
... anything missing?
Bake Stollen (baked 4 - 3 to go...)
Clean up apartment (got to be kiddin' me)
Make Mozartkugeln
Visit friends and family
Baking this years cookies was a story in itself. One thing I learned was that reliable recipes aren't easy to find. Two of my newly acquired recipes were a total letdown, so I reverted back to known and actually working ones and made them over and over again. But even with those, there is still room for error (see below). Either my imagination played a trick on me (about the correct baking time) or I got distracted and simply forgot. Anyway, more than one tray ended up getting just a little too much heat...
And if that didn't teach me a lesson about being a little too confident, my self developed poppy seed Stollen turned out pretty weird looking (like exploded), on the brighter side, it did taste great.
But this year's absolute favorites were the chocolate coconut cubes. How so you think? Well, I had to make them four times and considering the yield of one batch, that's quite impressive. Extremely yummy I find, so, by the way, do our neighbors!
Anyhow, we wish you all very happy holidays, some deserved down time and of course many culinary highlights with the extra cookie!
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Line a baking dish/tin with parchment paper (mine is about 20×20 cm/8×8 inch).
Combine butter, sugar and honey until foamy, then add the egg. Mix cocoa, flour and baking powder. Now add flour mix and milk and blend well.
Pour the rather gooey dough in the prepared baking dish and evenly spread out using a knife or similar. It helps to occasionally dip the knife in cold water and the dough won't be clinging as much to the knife. Bake for about 25 minutes, then check if it's done by poking in a wooden skewer - it should come out quite dry and almost clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Cut the cake into ~3x3cm (~1.2 x 1.2 inch) large pieces.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Please see here for proper melting (tempering) instructions for chocolate or simply do it by guess and by gosh. The only possible drawback of not having the chocolate tempered would be a little less crisp chocolate coating.
Dip cookies in melted chocolate & make sure you don't miss a spot, finally roll them in coconut flakes. Chill all cookies at a cool place for about an hour, then store them in an airtight container. I like to store mine in the fridge, since they give such a nice "cracking" sound with every delicious bite...
Chocolate Coconut Cubes
Recipe source: unknown, old note of mine
Prep time: 10min., baking: 25min., finishing: 20-30min.
.
Ingredients (yield: around 50 pieces):
75g butter, at room temperature
2 tsp honey
100g white sugar
1 large egg
175ml milk
250g flour
1 tsp baking powder
75g cocoa powder
~400g milk chocolate coating
250g coconut flakes (shredded) for coating
Well you've checked many more things off your list than I have off mine! I am so far behind this year, I don't know where the time went! Your cookies are gorgeous and the chocolate coconut cubes sounds amazing! I wish you a very merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year!
very impressive list and these cubes sound decadent! Happy Holidays!
missing from your Christmas playlist
"Fairytale of New York" The Pogues with Kirsty McColl the best Christmas song by a mile
and please can I eat at yours this Christmas? ;)
These candy-coloured Xmas cookies are so adorable! We're hosting the Xmas meal tonight, and have done a fair amount of cooking and baking, though nothing as impressive as you! Also, thanks for the Xmas music list - very inspirational and handy for a party next week:)
Merry Christmas to both of you!
Another lovely sounding cookie recipe! I tried your blackberry smacks and unfortunately they are all already gone! So delicious! Merry Christmas to you!
I love the "Cookie Monster" cookie, so cute! Merry Xmas to both of you :)
Oh please the recipe for the venison? Sounds so delicious!
Thank you for another great post! Although I'm not that much into cooking, I like it very much to read your articles/recipes — and the pictures are great!
Happy Holidays to you as well!
Coconut and chocolate are two of my favorites, so I instantly bookmarked your recipe. Merry Christmas to you!
Respekt, ganze sieben Stollen? Vielleicht fällt da auch noch einer für mich ab? Mohnstollen täte mich in jedem Fall auch interessieren, Deiner sieht doch ganz ok aus und wenn er dann auch noch schmeckt!
Hi, Merry Christmas!!
Thank you for another year of great pictures and recipes. Some of your recipes have been such a success in my little kitchen. Hope you had a wonderful Xmas and have a great New Year's ahead! Let's have another great year in 2007 ;-)
I'm writing from Puglia, exactaly from Cisternino ( Brindisi) on the Itria Valley, another beautifull place, and I'm glad to know that our places are appreciate from people abroad, also for our delicious food, our frendly,hitory and our trdition.Thank you to everybody for choose this land, you will be always welcome
we call the last recipe (chocolate coconut squares) lamingtons. a very popular dessert in australian/new zealand.
Absolutely amazing! I don't think I've ever seen such perfect icing!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season surrounded by your loved ones :)
It's official, I'm addicted to your site! The recipes are fabulous, the stories are great, and the pictures are spectacular! How do you get such great close-ups, do you have a special camera? I'm in complete awe of what you put together with such apparent ease!
Hi Nicky!
Merry Belated Christmas & Happy New Year 2007!
I'm from Mauritius, I just found your site & I'm hooked! Just wanted to say I tried your chocolate coconut cubes & they were wonderful (except that I had some difficulties when melting the chocolate:) Thanks for sharing the recipe & the cook's tips:)
I know it's a bit late but here's wishing everyone a merry xmas and a happy new year. I recently returned from a holiday in Germany and I had a wonderful time. Reading this blog reminds me of all the fun I had. I spent 2 days in Munich and I loved the shopping, eating, sightseeing and the huge Marienplatz christmas market. I would love to return soon and spend a longer time to further explore this wonderful place!
Janelle, The venison turned out incredible, the sauce was prepared with orange-juice and port. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures that evening, but I'm more than positive that we'll soon have venison again and the additional time to take pictures and write about it.
Hi Stephanie, Thank you for kind feedback. Please see our About/FAQ section for more details on our equipment…
I tried the chocolate cubes over the weekend and am sorry to report, that they are already gone! My two kids loved them! Since my husband is not very fond of coconut, I will try to roll them in chopped almonds the next time. Thank you for the recipe.
Dieser Blog ist super, wo find ich das Rezept für den poppy seed Stollen?
EDIT Nicky: Dazu gibt es leider noch kein Rezept auf delicious:days..., aber vielleicht komme ich ja die nächsten Tage dazu ihn nochmal zu backen ;)
seeing what you have done,i would love to cook a hundred things for christmas, but it's not possible, you know. This year i had the idea of baking a stollen myself, i have reserved two recipes, but my mind stopped me by noting that the christmas pudding has enough raisins itself:) so on came tosca-buns! but it is true that traditions must be respected, even if only a bit.