Avocado potato salad. Photo courtesy
AvocadoCentral.com.

Like guacamole? Like potato salad?

Combine the two concepts in this Hass Avocado and Red Potato Salad Recipe from Avocado Central. The green accents are festive for St. Patrick’s Day, although this recipe rocks from Super Bowl Sunday through Christmas (when you can add sliced red cherry tomatoes for a red-and-green effect).

As we showed yesterday in the Corned Beef & Cabbage Potato Salad recipe, you can add a tantalizing twist to traditional potato salad by incorporating non-traditional ingredients. If you have a favorite unusual potato salad recipe, let us know!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients

 
*A large avocado averages about 8 ounces. If using smaller or larger size avocados adjust the quantity accordingly.

 
Preparation

1. PLACE potatoes in a medium pan and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and cook potatoes for about 15 minutes or until just tender when pierced with a fork. Drain well and transfer to a bowl.

2. COMBINE mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Add dressing and green onions to potatoes and gently toss. Stir in avocados.

3. REFRIGERATE for 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

February 11th was National Peppermint Pattie Day and we forgot to publish this delicious cocktail recipe from Partida Tequila.

But it tastes just as good as a Valentine treat (or a Christmas treat or a “because it’s Thursday” treat).

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT COOKIE COCKTAIL

Ingredients Per Cocktail

A “candy cocktail.” Photo courtesy Partida Tequila.

Preparation

1. RIM a Martini glass with chocolate syrup and crushed candy canes.

2. COMBINE ingredients in a shaker with ice; shake and strain into glass.

4. SERVE with a kiss!

Crown your “king cake”; the person who
finds the charm gets to wear the crown.
Photo courtesy BainFrance.Blogspot.com.

Bûches de Noël, fruitcake and Christmas cookies are enjoyed throughout the holiday season. In France, the celebratory confections continue into January with an Epiphany cake, or galette des rois, French for kings’ cake (a galette is a flat pastry cake).

In January, the windows of French pastry shops showcase galettes des rois to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th).* The cake is enjoyed beginning a few days before Epiphany, and continuing for a few days after. Some families get a new cake every day!

Epiphany Cake/galette des rois is traditionally a puff pastry (pâte à choux) cake filled with frangipane (almond cream). Other fillings can be substituted, from almond paste to chocolate ganache to sliced apples. In the south of France, brioche is often substituted for the puff pastry.

But one thing can’t be substituted: the charm (originally a baby, representing baby Jesus) or other trinket that is hidden inside. It can be anything from a miniature car to a cartoon character (Hello Kitty? Sponge Bob Square Pants?). When we made this cake for a group of adults, we used a key chain featuring a miniature bottle of Champagne.

GETTING THE SLICE WITH THE CHARM

The person who gets the slice with the charm becomes “king” or “queen” for the day and gets to wear the gold paper crown (provided by the bakery or your nearest party store, if you bake your own cake). But it’s an entailed honor: By tradition, the king has to provide next year’s galette. You can forgo that French tradition in favor of making the Epiphany Cake your annual party treat.

Hiding some type of token in food is a pre-Christian tradition, with roots in the Roman feast of Saturnalia.† A dry bean would be hidden in a dish prepared for the household staff. The slave who got that helping would be given the “kingship,” which included drinking, gambling and “general bawdiness.”

In fact, in France the charm/trinket is known as la fève, the French word for bean. Americans have adopted the idea as the Mardi Gras king cake (Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is celebrated from right after Epiphany until Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday).

French chef Héléne Darroze, who commutes each week between the kitchens of the Connaught Hotel in London and her own two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, recalls celebrating the Epiphany feast as a child. Growing up in southwestern France, “each year there would be a series of family parties and the person who found the token in the cake would buy the charms for the following day’s galette.”

She’s provided this recipe:

HÉLÉNE DARROZE’S EPIPHANY CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

Héléne Darroze’s epiphany cake is filled with chocolate ganache. Photo courtesy Héléne Darroze.

Preparation

1. ROLL out the puff pastry to a thickness of 3/4″ (2mm) with a rolling pin and leave it in the fridge for 1 hour. Cut two rounds of pastry (9-10 inches in diameter) and leave in the fridge.

2. MAKE the frangipane: Mix the butter, sugar and almonds with a spatula. Add the egg and crème pâtissière little by little and finish with the zest.

3. PLACE one of the rounds of puff pastry on a pastry tray and brush some egg yolk around the edge. Pipe frangipane into the middle, add the “feve” and cover with the second round of puff pastry. Press the edges a bit and leave in the fridge for an hour.

4. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F (180°C/gas 4). When at temperature, brush the top round with egg yolk. With the back of the knife, make small score lines from the center to the edges in a crescent shape. Repeat all the way around. Pierce with fork tines to vent. Bake for about 40 minutes. Serve warm.

Variations

 
TO SERVE

 
Find more of our favorite cake recipes on TheNibble.com.

  
*Epiphany derives from the ancient Greek theophany, “vision of God,” referring to the revelation of the divine nature of Jesus Christ as told by the Magi. The holiday traditionally falls on January 6th. The night before, the eve of the Epiphany, is called Twelfth Night, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and “a time of merrymaking.”

†Saturnalia, a festival spanning December 17-23, honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.

Cut the air vents on the crust with
star-shaped cookie cutters. Photo courtesy
Betty Crocker.

Last month, chef Johnny Gnall suggested creative ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers. Today, he does the same with Christmas leftovers. If you have questions or suggestions for tips, email Chef Johnny.

This past Thanksgiving, I got creative and turned my leftovers into dumplings: from turkey, to Brussels sprouts, to cranberry sauce, to some mascarpone leftover from making scrumptious mashed potatoes, I made sure all leftovers were represented, resulting in a delicious array of flavor combinations.

Now, what to do with the Christmas in the fridge? Make a delicious pot pie!

CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS POT PIE

One dish with universal appeal is the classic turkey pot pie. You can substitute ham, lamb or whatever your holiday protein.

Pot pies are a refreshing and different way to turn leftovers into excitement. What might have seemed boring becomes nestled in a savory sauce beneath a savory, gold-brown crust.

MAKING THE PIE CRUST

Making the pie dough is pretty simple:

MAKE THE FILLING

When it comes to making the filling for your pie, the goal is a moist, flavorful base, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to ingredients for filling.

You can also make individual pot pies. Photo courtesy McCormick.

MAKE THE SAUCE

You need a sauce to bring everything together in your pot pie; the type is up to you.

 
ASSEMBLE

 
Don’t worry if your first pie isn’t perfect. You may need to scale up the dough recipe if you find that your shell or lid aren’t quite big enough, but this shouldn’t be a problem as the ingredients for crust are inexpensive.

Have fun and experiment with ingredients. You may create a new holiday leftovers classic!

Christmas cupcakes. Photo courtesy
Riya-WeddingDress.Blogspot.com.

Very Best Holiday Wishes

No-fat, no-gluten meringues are a light
dessert with coffee or tea. Photo courtesy
BellaBaker.com.

Meringues are a light dessert that go well with coffee, tea or a scoop of ice cream. They’re dairy-free, fat-free and gluten-free. They’re a treat for your guests or a a delightful gift for your holiday hosts.

Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com shows how to turn the pallid white meringue into a holiday meringue bursting with red and green accents.

CHRISTMAS MERINGUES: RED, GREEN & WHITE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 200°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. ADD the egg whites, sugar and vanilla in the metal bowl of a stand mixer add. Place over a medium saucepan of simmering water. Stir until the sugar melts and the mixture is almost clear.

3. PLACE the bowl into the stand mixer and, using the whisk attachment, whip for 8 minutes on medium-high. The meringue should be glossy and stiff.

4. BRUSH a line of red food coloring onto the inside of the piping bag, using either a small paint brush or a lollipop stick. Repeat with the green on the opposite side of the bag. Fill with the meringue and pipe into roses or star dollops onto your baking sheets.

5. PLACE in the oven and bake for 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Candy cane fudge brownies? How can you resist this delicious recipe from Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com.

The recipe becomes “Peppermint Brownies” any time of the year: Just crush hard peppermint candies instead of candy canes.

CANDY CANE FUDGE BROWNIES RECIPE

Ingredients

For The Ganache

A minty, chocolaty Christmas treat: Candy Cane Fudge Brownies. Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

Preparation

1. CENTER a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Generously butter a 9×13 glass baking pan.

2. PLACE butter in a microwave safe bowl; top with the chopped chocolate. Microwave for 45 seconds, then remove and stir vigorously with a whisk until the ingredients are just melted (you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates). Microwave for another 30 seconds if needed to melt the chocolate completely.

3. WHISK in the sugar. Whisk in the eggs one by one. Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts and whisk vigorously to bring the batter together and give it a shine before gently stirring in the salt and flour; stir only until incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in 2 cups of the candy cane pieces. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

4. BAKE the brownies for 30 to 33 minutes, or until the top is dull and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (The tip of the knife may be a touch streaky.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.

5. MAKE the ganache while the cookies are cooling. Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil. Once heavy cream has reached boiling, pour half the heavy cream over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds, then gently stir chocolate and cream together with a rubber spatula in a figure eight motion. Pour remaining heavy cream over chocolate and continue to gently stir. Add butter, one piece at a time, until ingredients are fully incorporated and ganache is smooth and glossy.

6. POUR ganache over brownies and smooth with rubber spatula to completely cover top of brownies. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of crushed candy canes on top of ganache.

7. REFRIGERATE brownies for one hour until ganache has set before cutting into squares.

Turn your Martini into a Candy Cane Martini. Photo courtesy Bagatelle Restaurant | NYC.

You can turn any Martini into a Candy Cane Martini by adding a half ounce peppermint schnaps (or more to taste).

At Bagatelle, a bistro with locations in Los Angeles and New York, they’ve turned the concept into what they call the Père Noël (Father Christmas):

CANDY CANE MARTINI RECIPE

Ingredients Per Drink

Preparation

1. RIM glass with crushed candy canes.

2. LAYER puree/grenadine on the bottom of a Martini glass.

3. COMBINE, shake and layer the vodka, peppermint schnapps and crème de cacao.

4. COMBINE, shake and layer the cream and sugar.

5. TOP with candy cane crumbles and garnish with a candy cane.

VANILLA SUGAR RECIPE

Ingredients

You can buy vanilla sugar or make it by placing a vanilla bean in an airtight container of sugar. It’s a great way to use a vanilla bean that’s already been scraped for a prior recipe. Use vanilla sugar anywhere you’d use plain table sugar, for some added flavor. You can also make it for gifting.

 
Preparation

1. PLACE sugar into an airtight container.

2. SLICE a whole bean down the side with the back of a knife and scrape the seeds into the container.

3. SUBMERGE the bean itself in the middle of the sugar.

You can buy vanilla sugar if you don’t have time to make it. Photo courtesy Bakto Flavors.

4. SEAL tightly with lid and let the flavors infuse for 1-2 weeks.
 
Cheers!

A limited-edition treat: grab a bottle or two.
Photo courtesy Grand Marnier.

Grab a bottle of the limited release Grand Marnier Cherry, the new, elegant, complex expression from Grand Marnier.

In fact, grab several: one for yourself and others for gifts.

Grand Marnier’s famous flavor of wild tropical oranges and fine Cognac is enhanced with European griotte cherries. The result is a treat that stirs up the holiday spirit.

Grand Marnier Cherry is available in limited quantities, a USA release only…and a guaranteed treat for anyone who enjoys fine spirit.

Enjoy it neat, over ice, with club soda or in a signature cocktail (there are recipes on the Grand Marnier website).

We loved it poured over sorbet (cherry, lemon, mango, peach) and drizzled over pudding, pound cake or angel food cake.
 
Find more of our favorite spirits in our Cocktails & Spirits section.

Make your holiday salad more Christmasy with beet ribbons, stars, dice or julienne strips.

You can curl beets (as well as carrots, turnips and other root vegetables) by cutting a continuous ribbon from the raw vegetable; then steam lightly.

Add baby lettuces, toasted walnuts, and your choice of blue cheese, feta or goat cheese for a flavorful Christmas salad.

Other ways to make curled vegetable garnishes:

Here are more ideas for Christmas salads and a beet salad recipe.

Add some beets to your Christmas salad. Photo courtesy Triomphe Restaurant | NYC