On the last Saturday night before Christmas, we met up with a group of friends for the Balmoral Carols By Candlelight. The plan was to arrive early, stake out some territory then have a picnic dinner before the carols began. Everyone brought something savoury and then after the carols, they all came back to our house for something sweet. On that day I was in the kitchen whipping up sweet things.
White Christmas
I buy the most amount of cooking magazines at Christmas time. I’m always looking for inspiration in the Christmas-cooking arena and so I buy just about every foodie magazine available and have a good time doing research which is actually just a bloody good excuse for reclining on the couch.
Enjoying the carols
While horizontal on the couch, one of the recipes I was immediately drawn to is this White Christmas. It doesn’t take long to make, it’s no-bake and it makes enough for a crowd.
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I whipped up to the shops and bought all the ingredients then came home to make it. And that’s when I realised I’d made a mistake. I thought I’d be really clever and make a slightly more healthy version by using puffed brown rice instead of white puffed rice. Don’t make that mistake!
Any normal thinking person would realise this would result in Brown Christmas instead of White Christmas but no, the fact that this would turn out looking like dirty snow didn’t occur to me. So if you’d like the snow-white look, don’t try to be healthy – it’s Christmas after all.
Sour-Cherry and Roasted-Almond White Christmas
I read a great thing on someone’s status on facebook the other day – ‘Don’t worry about what you eat between Christmas and New Year – worry about what you eat between New Year and Christmas’. So let’s consider this a week off!
The sweetness of this White Christmas is balanced by the addition of the rind and the orange liquor. There are some lovely Christmasy flavours in this recipe even if the look of mine is somewhat less than pure – it tasted good all the same!
- 150ml pouring cream
- 40ml Grand Marnier
- finely grated rind of 1 lemon
- finely grated rind of ½ an orange
- 600g couverture white chocolate, finely chopped
- 100g rice puffs - don't use brown rice puffs!
- 60g dried sour cherries
- 50g glace orange, sliced
- 50g toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
- Line a 20cm x 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
- Bring cream, Grand Marnier and rinds just to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stand for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth.
- Combine rice puffs, sour cherries, glace orange, almonds and ½ tsp of salt in a bowl. Add chocolate mixture and combine well, then spoon into cake tin. Press top to smooth and refrigerate until set (about 1 hour).
- Cut pieces with a hot, wet knife and store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a month.
White Christmas
Still looks like White Christmas to me and I would love to try this version. Great excuse to buy a bottle of Grand Marnier! Research is important, whether reclining or sitting at a desk 😉 The photo of you with one of the girls (sorry, can’t tell if Rosie or Ruby!) is just gorgeous.
It’s Rosie! Thanks so much, Danielle and happy new year to you and all your family xx
Christmas is a great excuse to indulge in cooking magazines and ‘research time’, with or without a glass of wine. My dad would have enjoyed this as he was a big fan of the American Rice Krispies squares (melted marshmallows, butter and rice puffs) though he would have considered the glace/dried fruit a bit too fancy. 🙂
Growing up in Maine, I can assure you that 3 days after it snows, the snow looks dirty. Sometimes there are yellow spots from the dogs so you’ve got that covered too with the lemon zest. 🙂 (sorry)
I love that photo of you. I hope you all have a very Happy New Year.
xxoo
They still look pretty white from this angle! What a fun festive treat! Brown rice puffs, and all. 😛
We had a brown Christmas in Minnesota this year with not a flake of snow on the ground. So brown Christmas is sometimes appropriate.
I love the Auzzie Christmas’ with sleeveless shirts and swimsuits- Bring it on! Snow is soooo over rated! Looks like even your little puppies were in the spirit of the the carols. I love this little sweet ending to a perfect evening.
Such a fancy version of a childhood favourite. Love it! Happy New Year, Charlie. Here’s to a bigger, brighter and tastier year ahead 😀
Ooh yes I love white Xmas made with white choc. So much nicer than the old copha version. I buy all the mags at Xmas too. I find the non fancy ones have the best recipes rather than over fancy gourmet type mags. Have a great New Years eve.
Had you not mentioned it, I wouldn’t have noticed it was brown puffed rice. Your desserts always look sensational. The Caroling evening sounds wonderful too. We just had a few of our neighbours in last night, I may have made too much food!
These would be a considerable upgrade from the standard American Rice Krispie Squares! Grand Marnier? Yum.
The colour effect of puffed brown rice wouldn’t have occurred to me either! This still looks lovely and I do enjoy no bake treats when there’s a lot of cooking happening – and all the better for Australian summer weather too.
Those look yummy. I still don’t understand why everyone in Australia doesn’t celebrate Christmas on July 25th. Wouldn’t it seem more festive? And you could eat even heavier food? PS Check out my latest blog post. Happy New Year!
Oh, love the flavours in here – Charlie.
Oh and I meant to say a very Happy New Year to you and your family Charlie.
So much nicer than the kiddies school fete version Charlie! Love the flavours and it still looks gorgeous, might whip this up as a sweet start to the New Year 🙂 Have a lovely day sweetie, and Happy New Year to you and your wonderful family too xox
LOL…You are inspiring this Ninja Baker to pick up more food magazines and put my feet up =) Brown puffed rice still looks very yummy, Charlie Louie. Undoubtedly your visitors will testify to the deliciousness…Hard to beat the combo of Cointreau, sour cherries and white chocolate!
This looks wonderful. And thanks for those sage words. I love that…and now I won’t worry about eating until Friday! Happy New Year to you and yours, Charlie Louie!
LOL well I did dare to order some new clothes. I’m blaming the designers/manufacturers for making them so tight of course. Or perhaps I ticked the wrong size! Happy New Year to you, Drew, Archie, Arabella and Alfie and the dogs 🙂
I have always loved White Christmas and I am sure I could manage a small piece.
I was actually thinking the same thing – that the week between Christmas and the New Year has no rules. There’s the rest of the year to worry about what one eats.
They look wonderful and sound delicious! I think I would still choose the healthier brown rice. Still look white enough to me! 🙂
I’ve never had or heard of a White Christmas before – but if all “white” Christmases came with rice puffs and white chocolate, I would want a “white” Christmas every year!