christmas – Audrey's 74 A blog by Giulia Doyle Tue, 31 Jan 2017 21:28:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.16 Vanilla Meringue Bites /2015/12/04/vanilla-meringue-bites/ Fri, 04 Dec 2015 21:41:09 +0000 http://www.audrey74.com/?p=3936 Giulia Doyle MeringueI’m hosting a cookie tasting party this weekend and these meringues are part of our contribution. I like to make meringue for several reasons: I find them easy to make and they store in an air-tight container up to two weeks, so you can make them ahead. They are naturally gluten free and they are light as a feather, making them perfect to snack along with all the heavier desserts you might be serving over the holidays.

Adding some food colouring can make these a fun conversation piece and is much easier than it appears. You could also ommit the colour and dip each meringue in some melted chocolate – mhhh!

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Vanilla Meringue Bites

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: about 20 depending on size

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 100 g of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • food colouring (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 220F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Separate egg whites and add them to a very clean heat-proof bowl. Add sugar.
  3. Place bowl with egg whites and sugar over a simmering pan of water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Whisk egg whites until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
  4. Take whisked egg whites off heat and beat until glossy and stiff with either a stand or hand mixer. This will take another 3-5 minutes.
  5. Prepare a piping bag with a large tip. On two or three sides add a couple of small drops of food colouring. Add meringue to piping bag and pipe small bites onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until meringue is hard but not golden. Let cool completely.

Notes

Use your egg yolks for other recipes, such as custards, egg wash on breads, mayonnaise or lemon curd.

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Giulia Doyle Meringue

]]> Baked Brie and Merry Christmas /2014/12/24/baked-brie-and-merry-christmas/ Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:31:35 +0000 http://www.audrey74.com/?p=3376 Baked Brie Giulia Doyle We are ready for some time off before going back to the office in the New Year. The kids are off school, my mom is visiting from Switzerland, my father in-law has been with us for the past week and we are enjoying our time together as a family. We’ve been battling some sniffles and fever, but I think we’ll all be on the mend for Christmas day!

If you are still  looking for things to nibble on the next couple of days, you might want to consider this baked brie. It’s fast, easy and perfectly creamy and cheesy. The perfect cold day appetizer. Top it with your favourite cranberry sauce, or just top crackers with the warm and melty cheese. Happy Holidays indeed!

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Baked Brie

Ingredients

  • 1 brie
  • Toasted walnuts (optional)
  • Cranberry sauce (optional)
  • Honey
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Set oven to broil. While oven is heating up, toast walnuts in a dry frying pan for a few minutes. Set aside.
  2. Unpack room-temperature brie and place on a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed cookie sheet. Place cheese in oven for a few minutes until cheese softens but doesn't collapse. This depends on the size cheese you use and can happen very quickly. Remove from oven and carefully transfer brie to a platter with a large spatula. Sprinkle with pepper and serve immediately.
  3. Serve with crackers or baguette and serve nuts, honey and cranberry sauce along with it.
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Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Thanks for stopping by my little space and making it a wonderful place for me to share pieces of my life – be it the sweet or the savoury.

]]> Red Pepper Jelly, Cheesy Shortbread and a Minted Giveaway /2013/11/18/red-pepper-jelly-cheesy-shortbread-and-a-minted-giveaway/ Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:00:17 +0000 http://www.audrey74.com/?p=2183 Red Pepper Jelly Audrey'sI’ve been a fan of Minted for many years now. I’ve ordered holiday cards, gift tags and even my sister’s wedding invitations from there. I love their selection created by independent artists, their customer service and the paper quality is amazing. This year they’ve expanded their offering to include ornament cards that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago and then I discovered personalized gift wrap! Again, I posted about it the other week. Minted saw my posts and asked if I wanted to try out their wrapping paper and tags? Of course! Wrapping paper with photos of my kids sounded perfect to add a special touch to our gifts.Red Pepper Jelly Audrey'sI’m still waiting for my paper to arrive – all of this happened rather quickly – but the personalization was really easy and allowed me to crop and adjust my photos to fit the paper design perfectly. I chose two types of paper and  some gift tags. The tags arrived within days and the quality is great! I can’t wait to wrap my gifts in the paper once it arrives.

Win $50.- to spend anyway you want at Minted!

This give-away is now closed – congratulations Laura D on being the lucky winner!

Would you like to have some personalized wrapping paper or maybe some holiday cards? Or do you need some art or stickers? Just comment below by Monday,November 25th and you could win US$ 50.- towards anything you’d like at Minted.

Winner will be chosen at random and will be contacted by email. Open worldwide, except Quebec residents – see why here.

Good luck and now on to the recipes!Red Pepper Jelly Audrey'sWith much of my family living abroad and friends scattered across the country, my holiday planning starts early. This year I decided to create a little something from my kitchen and decided on sweet pepper jelly and a batch of cheesy shortbread to go with it. I love the sweet/sharp taste of the pepper jelly with shortbread and even a piece of sharp cheese – it’s perfect to put out when you have guests over. I’m sure they’ll vanish quickly.

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Red Pepper Jelly from Canadian Family

Serving Size: 6 cups

Ingredients

  • 4 Cups seeded and roughly chopped red peppers (about 4)
  • 5 1/2 Cups granulated sugar
  • 1 Cup white vinegar
  • 1/3 Cups fresh lemon juice
  • 1 pouch liquid pectin

Instructions

  1. Place red peppers in a food processor and purée.
  2. Combine puréed peppers, sugar and vinegar in a large stainless-steel pot. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
  3. Remove pot from heat and cool for 15 minutes. This allows the peppers to cook slowly in the residual heat and prevents them from floating on the surface.
  4. Add lemon juice and pectin, and return pot to stove. Simmer over medium heat for at least 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Skim any foam from the surface.

Notes

I doubled the recipe and it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes for the jelly to thicken. I almost gave up.

/2013/11/18/red-pepper-jelly-cheesy-shortbread-and-a-minted-giveaway/

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Cheesy Shortbread from Martha Stewart

Yield: 45 pieces

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
  • 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

  1. To the bowl of a food processor, add flour and cayenne pepper; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
  2. Add cheese to the food processor; pulse until combined. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
  3. Using a fork, stir in milk and Worcestershire sauce until well combined. Have ready several pieces of parchment paper.
  4. Form mixture into two 1-inch-diameter logs, and wrap in parchment. Transfer the logs to the refrigerator, and chill until very firm, at least 1 hour.
  5. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove logs from refrigerator, and cut each one into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place the rounds on prepared baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.
  6. Bake the shortbread until golden, about 12 minutes, rotating baking sheets between shelves halfway through baking.
  7. Transfer shortbread to wire racks to cool. Bake remaining dough.

Notes

Next time I would cut mine thicker and bake them a little longer. They are very delicate and probably would not survive a trip in the mail.

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Red Pepper Jelly Audrey'sMinted generously supplied the wrapping paper and gift tags in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. I was not paid to write the post.

]]> Corn Pudding – our Thanksgiving and Christmas Tradition /2012/11/08/corn-pudding-our-thanksgiving-and-christmas-tradition/ Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:45:43 +0000 http://audrey74.com/?p=129 Corn Pudding

Every year at Thanksgiving and at Christmas my grandmother would make corn pudding. I’ve made this in Paris and in Switzerland, where getting the ingredients was quite the challenge, but then again, so was getting the turkey or any bird that fit in a tiny European oven! While my grandmother started the tradition of making this dish – I started the tradition of making it first thing in the morning and then bundling the covered dish in a beach towel and duvet to keep it warm for hours. Every year now we have this odd bundle on a bed somewhere, ready to be devoured hours later.

My grandmother told me that she used to make a different version, one more typical to New England. But once she moved to Miami in the 70s she was served this South American version and has been making it ever since.

This part of our holiday meal is my absolute favourite and everyone loves it. Will you try it?

Corn Pudding

  • 1/2 cup of butter
  • 3/4 cup of chopped green peppers
  • 1/3 cup of chopped onion
  • 1 can of cream style corn*
  • 1 can of whole kernel corn
  • 3 eggs, well beaten
  • 8.5 oz pkg of corn muffin mix**
  • 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • Heat oven to 350 F. Grease casserole dish. In small skillet, melt buter. Add green pepper and onion and sauté until tender.
  • In a large bowl, combine creamed corn, corn, eggs and corn muffin mix, blend well. Add onion mixture, mix well. Pour into casserole, sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350F for 60 minutes*** or until firm and set. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
  • Makes 12 (1/2 cup) servings.

* If you can’t get creamed corn, use the same amount of canned or frozen corn and give it a quick whizz in the blender with a splash of cream. You want it lumpy.
** In the US you can get boxed corn muffin mix in that size, here in Canada I can only get bigger sized ones, so I either use 1/2 the box or just use this recipe (only the dry ingredients).
*** If making individual servings bake for 25 minutes or until firm.

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