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The whole house smells like Christmas - wood burning and spices.  The signature Christmas cookies are served - some hanging on the tree, some in a nicely decorated box. What I love the most about these cookies is not so much preparing them, not even baking them, although the heat helps all the aroma to gently fill every corner of the house. The strongest tease to all my senses is opening the cookie box. After few days of aging in the air tightly closed container, the cookies exude the most perfect aroma - the combination of the spices blooms the nicest smell. No need to have a bite even - so satisfying!  I kept the old tradition this year of making the old-fashioned Lebkuchen cookies . I am on a journey to make it a family tradition of baking these for every Christmas. While I was growing up in Bulgaria, they were simply called honey cookies. In North America a variation of these is popular under the name of gingerbread, or 'spicy bread' in France, but everywhere ...

The things we learn from people are amazing! How important is communication, how enriching! This cake was mentioned to me last week. After six years of visiting Ana's violin teacher, I got to learn that his heritage is Icelandic. The Icelanders had the tradition of making this cake for Christmas. I only received a rough description of the cake, but got inspired to look for it - many layers of cake and dried-fruit filling is something that is worth researching. My research led to a crossroad. It was like opening the Pandora box. Instead of finding out the information and sinking into reading, I had to choose what road to follow. Apparently there are different variations of this cake. The original recipe is from sometime of 1860. The most interesting fact is, that today's Icelanders themselves have not heard of this cake. I guess, the tradition got lost in Iceland through the centuries, but very well kept here, in Canada, in the families with Icelandic heritage.  Wha...

12 days till Christmas! And the snow has just arrived!!!  It is so clean out there...  It is white! It is quiet! Our every day running is slowing down - our hearts beat normal. Our worries got buried under the heavy blanket.  The Earth is moving at a normal pace. The air is so crisp and clean - the children's laughter is ringing, the tree branches are singing, the birds wings are drawing pictures in the clouds. The chimneys' smoke is knitting a sweater to the wind. The footprints are writing a poem. It is so white! Our souls are sparkling white! We are better people! It feels like rebirth and a white beginning. It feels like a fairytale. It feels like a miracle. 12 days till Christmas! The white canvas out there temptingly invite us to write our story, to make our wishes, because the magical season has started.  Happy Christmas, everyone! What did you wish for today? My seasonal Christmas cake - surely very much chocolaty, and garnished wi...

It is this time of year, when the fragrant spices are very popular in my kitchen. There are certain types of spices that I use only at Christmas time. I feel that I ignore them for the rest of the year, but this is something I am not forcing myself on doing, it just happens... I reach for the cinnamon from time to time (rarely) in a non-seasonal time, but definitely it is the queen of the spices at Christmas time. The nutmeg is present in my savoury cuisine through the year, but I do not touch the cloves and the cardamom in any other time of the year, but for Christmas. In this cake, all these spices meet together and really bloom the taste.  It is an easy and fast desert, baked in a bundt cake form and topped with a light cream cheese frosting. The apple caramel sauce makes it extraordinary and certainly delivers the warm and cosy sense of Christmas. for the cake: 225 g unsalted butter at room temperature 380 g custard sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla e...

Traditions are sculpted by the memories of the people. For some traditions is particularly easy to cross time and geographical borders, because of the taste. The well known gingerbread houses today are the young ancestors of the lebkuchen houses, born in Germany two hundred years ago, when Brothers Grimm wrote "Hansel and Gretel". German bakers were inspired by the descriptive story and freed their imagination into baking differently shaped and coloured small and big delicious houses.  Decorated with candies, small cookies, chocolate pieces and lots of icing, the houses are extremely appealing not only because of their whimsical appearance, but because of the heavenly aroma of the spices as well. Make this in advance and you will have Christmas feeling all season long.  I chose to bake lebkuchen houses because of the variety of spices used in the recipe . My houses are gently decorated with white royal icing and I did not use any candies. I like this way of decor...

Crispy cut-out cookies that are made with molasses. That is how they have the signature dark colour and are perfect canvas for decorating in snow motives with a contrastingly white royal icing. These spicy cookies are perfumed similarly to the Lebkuchen , but because of their high fat quantity, they are harder and able to keep their crispiness even after stored for months. These should be rolled out very thinly. I rolled mine to 3 mm (even less on one batch) and produced more than hundred.  for the cookies: 140 g unsalted butter 110 g molasses 125 g custard sugar 250 g all purpose flour 70 g cornstarch 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 Tbsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1/8 tsp cardamom grated rind of one lemon 1/4 cup ground almonds 5.5 cm 6-point star cookie cutter prepare the cookies: 1. In a heavy-bottomed pan, warm the butter, sugar and molasses, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Do not bring to boil. Leave to ...

Delicious desert! In its simplicity, it serves an irresistible combination of sponge roll and chocolate mousseline.  What better way to celebrate Saint Anne on December 9th?  for the swiss roll: (for a pan 48/23 cm , or 17/11") 4 yolks from large eggs 4 whites from large eggs 165 g sugar for the yolks 85 g sugar for the whites 175 g flour pinch of salt The basic bowl is the one with the yolk mixture.  1. Combine the yolks and the first sugar quantity in a bowl of a stand mixer with the whip attachment (or use the hand held mixer). Beat in high speed until very thick (for about 10 -15 min with hand held mixer).  2. In another bowl, beat the egg whites and the sugar to firm, moist peaks.  3. Fold in the yolk mixture alternating with the sifted flour in three steps. Do not overmix.  4. Immediately transfer in the pan and bake at 220° C   for about 6-7 min.  5. Prepare a piece of parchment paper the same  s...

"The Nutcracker" is a symbolic piece. Written in 1892, it became popular much later, as most of the classical music. Tchaikovsky left a print in the music history when this piece turned into a ballet performance. Since 1960, "the Nutcracker" has been a Christmas emblem in most of the big theatres across the world.  Make these cupcakes festive, make them sweet and in big number - they are delicious and celebrate the joy of the season.  for the cupcakes: (makes 24) 240 g unsalted butter 400 g sugar 4 large eggs 160 ml heavy cream 35% 160 ml milk 90 g freshly squeezed orange juice (1 orange) 2 tbsp. vanilla extract 500 g all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. pinch salt for the icing: 220 g unsalted butter softened grated orange zest - 1 orange 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 500 g cream cheese 170 g confectioners' sugar 1 Tbsp heavy cream prepare the cupcakes: 1. Combine the "wet"...

The fall is far gone. White and snowy spirit surrounds us. It is all about Christmas preparation now - Christmas lights and songs, spicy perfumed cookies, chocolate and cakes, friends and family gathering...  My macarons today are a perfect evidence for a personal historical failure. I followed a recipe for a roll out cookies, but ended up with a perfect macarons. At the time I mixed the ingredients, I noticed that the batter is too runny for rolling out. Piping it in macaron shells saved the day and produced these nice rustic white confections. for the macarons: (makes about 25) 220 g finely ground unblanched almonds 140 g egg whites (about 3 1/2 large eggs) 350 g powdered sugar 1 Tbsp lemon juice for the chocolate ganache: 125 ml heavy cream 50 g sugar 175 g dark chocolate   25 g butter prepare the macaron shells: 1. Prepare the baking tins - cover the pans with silicone sheet or a parchment paper.  2. Beat the e...