Christmas Desserts to Make Your Holiday Special – Javier Burillo
Chef Javier Burillo shares his favorite Christmas dessert recipes.
Curacao
Curacao is delicious cookies made of flour, sugar, butter, and egg yolks with raisins mixed at the end. This delicacy is enjoyed on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The tradition of eating curacao during the holidays is that the fishermen used to make these cookies to send them as gifts for their families; their wives would put a letter inside it.
The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar, 1 cup of butter, 5 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons raisins, 1 tablespoon bitter orange juice or rum.
Before getting started, prepare a plate with flour and wrap the curacao dough in plastic while still warm but stiff.
Preparation: Heat the stove at medium while stirring the margarine and sugar until dissolved to make a syrup; add one by one the yolks. Stir for about 10 minutes without stopping so that there are no lumps and the mixture becomes creamy; add raisins and bitter orange juice or rum. When the mixture starts boiling, remove it from the stove and stir vigorously for another ten minutes. When cold, take out of the pot and knead on a floured surface to make dough. Break off pieces and roll out each one with a rolling pin. Wrap the dough around the plate since it is very soft.
Makes 40 cookies.
Gingerbread
Gingerbread is a delicious cookie made of flour, sugar, butter, egg yolks, cinnamon, anise seed, and ginger. The tradition of eating these cookies during the holidays comes from Germany, where people used them to celebrate Christmas or New Year’s Eve because they believed that these treats bring good luck for next year.
The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar, 4 tablespoons margarine or butter, 3 egg yolks, ½ teaspoon aniseed powder or ground aniseed, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder or ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger powder or ground ginger, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 4 tablespoons cold coffee.
Before getting started, prepare a plate with flour and wrap the dough in plastic while still warm but stiff.
Preparation: Heat the stove at medium while stirring margarine or butter until dissolved; add sugar and stir for about 10 minutes without stopping so that there are no lumps and it becomes creamy; add yolks one by one making sure they do not get lumpy, aniseed powder or ground aniseed, cinnamon powder or ground cinnamon, ginger powder or ground ginger. When the mixture starts boiling, remove from stove and stir vigorously for about 5 minutes until it cools; take out of the pot and knead on a floured surface to make dough. Break off pieces and roll out each one with a rolling pin. Wrap the dough around the plate since it is very soft. Dip your fingers in flour and press down for them to take their usual shape; bend them as you would do with gingerbread men or women and decorate with icing snowflakes.
Makes about 24 cookies depending on their size.
Fruit Cake – Cornucopia
Although this fruit cake is made without alcohol that is usually added to help preserve cakes, this cake nonetheless keeps fresh until Easter, thanks to the curacao from Curacao Desserts Recipe. This fruit cake can be presented on any occasion but is most frequently served during Christmas time since people usually make them to give away as presents.
The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients: 3 eggs, 1 cup sugar, ¼ cup margarine or butter, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder or ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon of aniseed powder or ground aniseed, ½ teaspoon cloves powder or ground cloves, ½ teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup of candied orange peel, 1 cup of candied citron or lemon zest, 2 tablespoons curacao.
Preparation: Heat the oven at 350 ºF while beating egg yolks and sugar in a bowl; add one by one egg whites, butter, or margarine melted in a small saucepan. Stir for about 10 minutes without stopping so that there are no lumps. Add flour and curacao one by one alternating between each other. Add candied orange peel or citron zest, cinnamon powder or ground cinnamon, cloves powder or ground clove s, aniseed powder or ground aniseed, vanilla extract.
Makes 2 medium-size fruit cakes, each one 5 inches diameter, and 2 ½ inches height.
