NEW CELEBRATION TREATS: BUBBLES & SWEETS

We’ve rounded up some beautiful celebrations to eat, drink and be merry with. From twists on classics to sweet leaps, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our assignment. Add them to your party repertoire.

Photo: Courtesy of From Buenos Aires to Paris. Mendiants.

Mendiants are discs of pure chocolate, topped an eclectic array of fruits and nuts, that are perfect for your holiday celebrations table, or bring them to someone else’s party table.

 

Cristina, of Paris Luxury Cakes and From Buenos Aires to Paris blog, takes you through a beautiful photo-essay, capturing every step of to making white chocolate mendiants, like jeweled patches of snow.

Photo: Mimi Thorisson. Mendiants.

Mimi Thorisson takes the classic recipe and tops them with a holiday blend. She shares her method with us here.

 

MENDIANTS

(makes approximately about 15 mendiants)

 

Ingredients:

 

• 230 g/ 8 ounces good-quality black chocolate
• A small mix of pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, dark & golden raisins, dried apricots, dried figs.
   

Instructions:

 

1. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl. Melt the chocolate ‘au bain-marie’ – Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water on a low heat. Gently stir until the chocolate is glossy and melted. Take off the heat and set aside for a few minutes.
    

2. Prepare sheets of parchment paper on a flat surface or large tray.
    

3. Drop a small teaspoon of melted chocolate onto parchment paper, about 5 cm width. You want to create pretty little disks. It is preferable to drop about 6 to eight disks at a time, so you can have adequate time to place the toppings.
    

4. Decorate with almonds, apricots (or figs), raisins, and hazelnuts/ pistachios for classic mendiants. Then you can let your imagination run wild. I used pomegranate seeds and dried coconut for the other disks.
    

5. Leave the mendiants to set and harden for about 10 to fifteen minutes in a cool room. Gently lift them off the parchment paper and place on a serving plate

Photo: Courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Eggnog Florentines.

Eggnog has been a celebration drink since medieval party times. People love it, not only because it’s rich and sweet and comforting, but because it’s a great way to sneak a little alcoholic holiday spirit into something that looks so innocent.

 

In fact, an Eggnog Riot occurred at the United States Military Academy on 23–25 December, 1826, when whiskey was smuggled into the barracks to make eggnog for a Christmas Day party. Twenty cadets and one enlisted soldier got court-martials in their Christmas stockings.

 

Deb Perelman, of Smitten Kitchen, figured out an ingenious way to sneak some eggnog into an innocent little cookie. She says these cookies are "... rich and spiced and so, so, so very December.” We think her beautiful Eggnog Florentines are nothing short of divine!

Photo: Courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Eggnog Florentines.

EGGNOG FLORENTINES

By Smitten Kitchen

Pecan florentines:

 

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (6 tablespoons or 45 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (about 55 grams) pecan halves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I halved this, found it to be just-enough)
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt (I recommend doubling this)
• 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold is fine
• 2/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar (I would drop this by a tablespoon or two next time)
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup, honey, or golden syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Eggnog filling:

 

• 4 large eggs, hard-boiled
• 4 tablespoons (55 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups (300 grams) confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I halved this because I’m a spice wimp)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I halved this too)
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons dark rum (can be skipped or reduced)

 

Instructions:

 

1. Make the florentines: Heat oven to 350°F. In a food processor, combine the flour, pecans, cinnamon and salt and pulse until the nuts are very finely chopped, about 1 minute. Turn the nut mixture out into a large bowl.
    

2. In a small-medium saucepan set over high heat, combine the butter, sugar, heavy cream and syrup and bring it to a boil. Boil the mixture for one full minute, then turn off the heat and add the vanilla. Pour this caramel mixture over the nut mixture and stir to combine them. Set aside for at least 30 minutes, until it has cooled. Mixture will firm up and seem worrisome, but you should not be worried.
    

3. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a 1/2 or 1 teaspoon measure (the original recipe recommends a 1/2 teaspoon measure to scoop the cookies but I misread this and used a full teaspoon scoop — mine became 2 1/2 inches in diameter on average, which felt like a good size), scoop the dough into small balls and place them 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
    

4. Bake until the cookies are thin and golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes. They will not crisp until they are cool, so don’t worry if they’re soft.
    

5. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 or so minutes (so they’ll set up a little) before using a thin metal spatula to carefully transfer the cookies to paper towels to blot excess oil for a couple minutes.
    

6. After they’ve been blotted, transfer cookies to a cooling rack, though they should be pretty cool by now. If any butter is left puddled on the parchment, wipe that off too before repeating the process with the remaining cookie dough.
    

Make the eggnog filling:
 

1. Peel the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Save the whites for another use. Press the egg yolks through a fine-mesh strainer so that they become mashed and powdery.
    

2. Place in a large bowl with butter, confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Beat together until smooth, then raise mixer speed and beat until mixture is thick and frosting-like, about three minutes. Stir in the rum by hand, if using.
    

3. Spread a dollop of eggnog filling on one cookie, then gently press a second one on top of it. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Place them in the fridge for 10 minutes before serving, to firm up the filling.
    

Do ahead:

 

The dough and the icing can be refrigerated in an airtight container or up to 3 days before baking. The baked, unfilled florentines can be stored in a loosely covered container at room temperature for up to two (though I had them longer) before filling them.

 

Humidity is their enemy, makes them stick together. The original recipe says that once filled, the florentines need to be eaten immediately but our held up crisp in the fridge in a loosely covered container (not airtight) for a couple days.

Photo: Courtesy of Spoon Fork Bacon. Pear & Bubbles.

Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park, of Spoon Fork Bacon, concocted a gorgeous celebration of pear and champagne that you should definitely invite to your party. Pear & Bubbles is a joy, with warm spices and floral fruit, all sparkling and ripe for a dance.

 

PEAR & BUBBLES

By Spoon Fork Bacon

 

Serves 6

 

Ingredients:

 

• 6 bosc pears, peeled and chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch ground cardamom
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 (750ml) bottle sparkling wine or Champagne, chilled

Garnish:

 

• 1 bosc pear

 

Instructions:

 

1. Preheat broiler to low setting.
    

2. Place pears, sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom onto a baking sheet and toss together until pear is well coated.
    

3. Place under broiler for 3 to 4 minutes or until pears begin to caramelized.
    

4. Pour mixture into a blender and add lemon juice. Puree until smooth.
    

5. Strain mixture and chill for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
    

6. Divide pear juice between six glasses and top each with sparkling wine/champagne. Top with pear-flower garnish and serve.
    

7. For garnish: Using a 1/4 inch melon baller, scoop out six small balls (skin-on)from one side of the pear. Set aside.
    

8. Slice a ¼ inch slice from the remaining sides of the pears. Place each slice cutside down onto a cutting board and thinly slice. Pierce three or four of the thin pear slices, and finish with a pear ball.

Photo: Courtesy of Foodess. Sugared Cranberries.

Cranberries are the berries that come last to the party. Harvested in Autumn, long after the tender berries are gone, they are tough enough to last, in cold storage, into the winter, when we long for something tart and juicy to brighten our palates.

Photo: Courtesy of Foodess.  Sugared Cranberries Manhattan,

Celebrate a cocktail with a skewer of cranberry crystals. We like them in vodka. And they are way better than those process-red Franken-cherries in a good stiff Manhattan. They are beyond easy to make. Add them to your next cocktail. Check them out in Foodess’s Merry Manhattan.

 

SUGARED CRANBERRIES

 

1. dissolve sugar in water

2. give the cranberries a quick dunk, and

3. roll the sticky cranberries in granulated sugar.

 

These jewels can also party-fy cakes, ice creams, and cheese platters.

Read more about Beautiful Celebrations, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact in our posts throughout this week, including 10 Beautiful Celebration Books and Celebrating Winter’s Nature.

 

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Celebrations. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 12.23.13.

 

Photo: Courtesy of InterActiveMediaSW.

 

Also, check out our special competition: The Most Beautiful Sound in the World! We are thrilled about this effort, together with SoundCloud and The Sound Agency. And we can’t wait to hear what you’ve got! Now closed for entries. Judging is in progress. Finalists announced and voting begins 01.02.14.