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May your path ahead in 2022 lead to successful and meaningful accomplishments.
From the heart @mayasingredients | Maya Oryan
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Tag Archives: Christmas food
Chestnut Banana Bread
Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas to me without a lot of recipes with chestnut on the table.
I have a home-made chestnut cream that I did last week, so I decided to bake my regular banana cake recipe and add it to it, the results were simple and delicious.
I know this recipe is a keeper and definitely worth to share with you.
Chestnut Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose-flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, diced
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 small mashed ripe bananas
- 3 tablespoons chestnut cream
- ¼ cup milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, continue beating about 3 minutes.
- Add bananas followed by chestnut cream and beat until combined.
- Gradually add dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Beat in milk.
- Pour batter into pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
- Allow bread to cool for 10 minutes, then turn it out and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Caramel Chocolate Tart
Don’t you hate when you invite guests over and hear them cheering, drinking, having a blast while you’re stuck in the kitchen, running in all directions, heating dishes and making sure everything is perfect?
Thinking of this makes me have second thoughts about how much I truly love (or not) Christmas!
This is exactly the time when, I appreciate recipes like that. Recipes that can be done entirely the day before and requires minimum manipulation on the day of the event.
- This tart requires no baking.
- If using a round tin, then 20cm would be required.
- The base can be done with Chocolate Oreo or Speculoos biscuits.
- Crush biscuits in a food processor or in a plastic bag using a rolling pin.
- As for the filling, semisweet chocolate can be replaced with dark chocolate and two more tablespoons of sugar, or use milk chocolate and omit the sugar.
- For coffee lovers: caramel sauce can be replaced with 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder.
Merry Christmas food lovers!
Caramel Chocolate Tart
Ingredients
For the base
- 32 chocolate biscuits or Oreo Biscuits, crumbled
- ½ cup / 50g butter, melted
For the filling
- 150g semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp caramel sauce
- ½ tsp salt
- 25g corn flour
- 1/3 cup milk
Directions
- To make the base In a food processor, pulse biscuits, butter and salt until you have a moist sandy mixture. Press biscuit mixture into a tart tin and refrigerate for 3 hours.
- To make the filling In a saucepan, on low-medium heat, pour the chocolate chips and the cream and stir until the chocolate melts. Add sugar, caramel and salt. Stir to well combine.
- In a small bowl, whisk corn flour and milk together and, off the heat, add to the chocolate mixture and mix. Return sauce over low heat and keep stirring 5-7 minutes or until sauce thickens. Leave to cool 15 minutes.
- Take out the base-lined tart tin, pour the chocolate mixture evenly on the top and return it to the fridge to chill overnight.
Sweet Chestnut Dip
Ingredients
- 250g chestnuts, roasted and peeled and cut in 2
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250 ml / 1 cup cream
- 2 tablespoons Cognac or Irish Cream liqueur
Preparation
- Place all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir with a spoon until sugar dissolves.
- Let simmer for 10 minutes or until chestnuts have softened.
- Off heat, blend the mixture until soft and smooth.
- Refrigerate overnight or until firm and serve with apple slices or your favorite crackers.
Mistletoe Mimosas
Mimosas are astonishingly, ridiculously, exceedingly, embarrassingly easy to make. Not that simple doesn’t taste yummy and easy won’t add the sparkle you’re looking for:) The flavors are splendid! I promise you a cool drink that will deliberately take care of the mood.
Merry Mimosas everyone!
Ingredients
Serves 6
- 6 tablespoons grenadine syrup
- 1 cup cranberry juice, chilled
- 1 (750ml) bottle champagne, chilled
- Rosemary sprigs, to garnish
- Fresh cranberries (optional)
Directions
- Add 1 tablespoon of grenadine syrup in each flute.
- Combine cranberry juice and champagne together and fill up the flutes almost right to the top. Garnish with rosemary and drop the berries right before serving.
Cranberry Stollen
I love our Christmas family gatherings and all the good food that comes in between. This year I wanted to change from my ginger cookies giveaways and made cranberry bread instead. What’s better than a Stollen recipe!
The origin of this bread is German and traditionally baked during Christmastime. Sweetened with honey and packed with dried fruits, this recipe contains no sugar. I wrapped each loaf with Christmas papers and twines, the presentation and the taste were amazing.
Merry Christmas to all and happy baking during the holidays!
Follow me on Instagram @oryanmaya
Ingredients
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried raisins
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 tbsp cointreau
1 tbsp active dry yeast
¼ cup lukewarm milk
2 tsp honey
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup/100g unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
1 large egg, beaten
1 tbsp grated orange zest
½ cup peeled, slivered almonds
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preparation
- Place the dried fruits in a bowl and drizzle with orange juice and liquor. Stir the mixture to coat and set aside.
- In another bowl sprinkle the yeast with warm milk and wait until it rises and makes a good head of froth (about 10 minutes). Add honey and flour and set aside for another 15 minutes.
- In the mixer bowl, add the cranberries and raisins, the yeast mixture, butter, honey, egg, orange zest, almonds and salt. Start mixing adding the flour gradually, half cup at a time until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and is smooth and elastic.
- Wrap the dough in an oiled plastic film and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.
- Knock back the dough and divide into 2 portions. Shape each portion into an oval; alternatively roll the dough in one large loaf without dividing it. Glaze with melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon.
- Line the baking sheet with parchment paper, place carefully the dough, cover with tea towel and leave again to rise for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 185 degrees C/ 365 degrees F for 10 minutes. Place the dough in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. If using thermometer the internal temperature of the bread should reach approximately 90 degrees C (190 degrees F).
- Remove from the baking sheet and place on a rack to cool.
ITALIAN APPLE CAKE
It is said that we spend around the third of our life sleeping; I would love to know how much am I spending mine baking.
I love baking. Whether it’s sweet or savor, my pupils just grow larger in front of almost any kind of food coming out of the oven.
Yesterday I baked an apple cake and witnessed it coming out my kitchen triumphantly smelling like heaven.
I had my family over for my yearly Christmas party. I love our get-together, it’s warm and joyful. Kids were delighted with all the new gifts waiting for them under the Christmas tree and we, “grown-ups”, were happy drinking and eating merrily. A day to remember! Also was my cake☺
My daughters Kaia and Axel
ITALIAN APPLE CAKE
Ingredients
- 100g butter (at room temperature)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour, sifted
- 1tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4tbsp milk
- 3 sweet apples such as gala or golden, cored and sliced (skin on)
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1tbsp limoncello
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 180° C. Butter and flour a 22cm round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Pour milk gradually while mixing and scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.
4. Pour the batter in the cake pan and decorate with the apple slices arranging them close together and overlapping on top of the batter.
5. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle this over the apples. Drizzle with limoncello (or lemon juice).
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Check early, cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack.
6. Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired.
Vanilla Panna Cotta with Hershey’s Caramel Syrup
This version of panna cotta is honestly the easiest ever. It doesn’t take long in the fridge before it’s ready to be served. It never goes wrong, especially when you use the full fat milk and the full fat heavy cream;-) I make it in small cups to reduce the amount of calories, well it’s applicable only if you resist a second serving, but can you?
If you don’t want to buy your caramel you can make your own, but this recipe is meant to be prepared, when you don’t feel like spending long hours in the kitchen and still want to get some credits at the end of lunch or dinner. Delicious!
Am sure you’ll like the results, especially with the addition of the Daim nuggets.
Ingredients
Panna Cotta
- 1 ½ tsp unflavored gelatin
- 2 tbsp cold water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
For topping
- HERSHEY’S Caramel Syrup, to taste
- DAIM chocolate nuggets, to decorate
Preparation
- Sprinkle the powdered gelatin over the cold water and let soak for 5-10 minutes until soft.
- Pour the cream and the milk in the saucepan and heat until warm. Stir in the sugar and vanilla until dissolved.
- Remove from heat and stir in the soaked gelatine and sour cream until smooth.
- Pour into serving glasses (only half of 3/4 way) and refrigerate until firm. The time depends on the size of the glass, but be sure not to take it out too early.
- When the Panna Cotta has firmed, squeeze a layer of Hershey’s caramel syrup over each treat and decorate with Daim chocolate nuggets. Serve immediately or let set up in refrigerator.
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