Perfect Holiday Baking: Tips and recipes

Here are my holiday recipes that I am making this year, along with tips to make them the best they can be.  I have collected links to all my favourite recipes from various websites, and have developed a new recipe myself!

As with all recipes, better ingredients make a superior product.  Wherever a recipe calls for chocolate (baking squares, chocolate chips or whatever) I always substitute 70% dark chocolate (the best quality for the best price that I have found is the huge 300g Presidents Choice brand bars sold at Superstore/Loblaws).  Whatever chocolate you choose to use, make sure to find something with the percentage of cocoa solids clearly labelled.  If it is nowhere to be found anywhere on the package, who knows what you are really getting. I find many popular brands of chocolate chips and baking squares to be overly sweet and very waxy in texture.  To get a beautiful deep chocolate flavour and smooth texture, I suggest a cocoa solids percentage of at least 50%.  Costco sells packages of chocolate chips that are 51% cocao solids.  It is also important to use pure vanilla extract or vanilla powder, and I always use butter in my recipes, never margarine.

The holidays are a time to indulge and you will see that these recipes do not call for whole wheat flour, healthy fats, or anything that is very good for you.  Eat them in moderation and enjoy!  I love to make big batches and then make little packages to give as gifts.  They make a perfect hostess gift for a holiday party or dinner, they are great for taking to work as a share-able treat, or dropping of with neighbours and friends.  Just grab some cute holiday tins at the dollar store and let the generosity of the season take over!

Here are links to the recipes!  Click on the recipe title to see the actual recipe.

Crunchy, Sweet and Salty Squares (aka crunch "bars")

This recipe from Kraft Canada is so easy, and you probably have the ingredients on hand already. This square starts with a humble soda cracker, but the result is so delicious you would never guess!  The recipe calls for walnuts as a topper, but I love to add crushed candy canes as well.  They are also great with pistachios, toasted coconut, or slivered almonds.  You can customize to suit your family's tastes or allergies!  Be sure to use salted crackers, as the sweet and salty combination is what makes these so special.

Peanut Butter Fudge

This recipe from Sorted Food is very quick and easy to make.  Watch the video to get great tips and tricks to make this turn out perfectly.  Since they are Brits, the recipe is in weight measurements. See the link for the video and instructions, and here are the North Americanized measurements as best I can approximate:
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp butter
200 mL milk
2.5 cups loosely packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 1/2 cups icing sugar

Ginger Marmalade Sandwich Cookies

I love these citrusy cookies from Rachael Ray, and the basic cookie dough can be made into so many different varieties of cookies (you can check some of them out in the link).  These are my favourites, and I use the Presidents Choice Black Label Seville Orange Marmalade from Superstore/Loblaws.  It really makes these cookies special.  Any high quality marmalade will do, but one with a nice bitter note will be best to contrast the sweetness of the cookie.

My Homemade Nanaimo Bars

Suneil grew up with Nanaimo Bars at Christmas time, so when he requested these this year I knew I needed to develop a recipe to suit my own tastes.  Since I was horrified by the ingredient list on the store-bought custard powder, I decided to experiment and come up with my own delectable filling.  This recipe is also inspired by a new friend of mine, who reminded me that the key to the success of a Nanaimo Bar is in the consistency of the filling: it should be soft enough to squeeze out the sides just a little when you bite into it.  You do not want it to gush out the sides as you eat it, nor do you want it to rest firmly in place without moving.  At room temperature, I think I have achieved that with this recipe.