For at least six generations, Maria Walley’s family has made torrone for Christmas and Easter (torrone, pronounced toe-ROE-nay, is Italian for nougat).

Her ancestors brought the recipe to America from Viterbo, Italy in 1910. It was made with almonds and hazelnuts and wrapped in pieces of wax paper with the ends twisted.

Maria has turned the family recipe into a commercial venture, Daelia’s Honey Nougat. She separates the flavors into your choice of Almond or Hazelnut.

The all-natural confection is made with egg whites, honey and nuts; the almonds come from California, the hazelnuts from Oregon. There is no corn syrup—an ingredient used by many nougat manufacturers that cheapens the flavor and texture.

The bars of nougat are formed in wood molds, then cut by hand. A 3.53-ounce bar is $9.99 on Amazon.com:

A delicious stocking stuffer, party favor or small gift, nougat is delicious with tea or coffee…or just by itself.

Daelia also makes delicious biscuits for cheese. Check them out.

—Steven Gans

This photo from Italian gelato maker Vivolo inspired a recipe idea:

Serve “fruitcake” ice cream/gelato for Christmas.

Start with vanilla ice cream. You can soften it and mix in the ingredients (and return to the freezer to harden), or simply top the ice cream, sundae style. Use:

 
Good fruitcake is a real treat. It has a bad reputation because of the many inexpensive, mass-marketed versions made from cheap ingredients that simply don’t taste good. The candied fruits are mediocre (or worse), the cake is mediocre, and no one wants to eat it.

But start with top ingredients, and you’ll have a hit—with very little effort.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ICE CREAM & GELATO

Pete Palazzolo, of Palazzolo’s Artisan Gelato & Sorbetto in Saugatuck, Michigan, sums it up: “Gelato is simply ice cream,” he states, “Ice cream the way it was before the American Industrial Revolution blew it full of air and artificially flavored it.”

In other words, gelato is:

 
Here’s more on gelato.

A no-bake bar, the basic recipe consists of a graham cracker crumb-based layer topped by a layer of vanilla custard, which is then topped with a thick layer of chocolate. There are numerous variations on the recipe, including mint and mocha versions.

While there are differing claims to the cookie’s origin, the earliest printed recipe using the name “Nanaimo Bars” appears in the Edith Adams Prize Cookbook (14th edition) of 1953.*

“Nanaimo bars are unbelievably rich, incredibly indulgent, and completely irresistible,” says Jesse Oleson Moore. “This version embodies the festive flavors of the holiday season. The classic bar gets a minty makeover, yielding a rich, creamy, buttery, and refreshing treat that is the kind of confection that peppermint patties hope to be when they grow up.”

Jesse adapted this recipe from the Official City of Nanaimo recipe. We make our own “technicolor” holiday version with a white chocolate top, tinted with red food color, atop the optional-green-tinted middle layer.

How can you resist? Photo © Closet Cooking, which has a different, no-mint recipe.

Ingredients For 24 Bars

Bottom Layer

 
Top Layer

Preparation

1. PREPARE the bottom layer. Melt the butter, sugar, and cocoa in the top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press firmly into an ungreased, parchment-lined 8″ x 8″ pan. Let chill in the refrigerator until cool to the touch.

2. MAKE the middle layer: Thoroughly cream together butter, cream, custard powder, peppermint extract, and confectioners’ sugar. Beat until light; it should be a thick consistency, but still spreadable. If desired, stir in food coloring until completely integrated. Spread over the bottom layer, making sure that it is as flat as possible (use a metal spatula to “scrape” it into a flat top). Return to the fridge until the middle layer is completely set; alternatively, you can put the pan in the freezer so the layers will be extremely firm before adding the top layer.

3. PREPARE the top layer: Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Add the peppermint extract and stir until incorporated. Cool. Once cool, but still liquid, pour over the second layer, very gently spreading so that it covers the entire layer (you will need to do this fairly quickly so that the second layer doesn’t start to melt or meld with the top layer). Let chill in the refrigerator for at least a half-hour. Serve lightly chilled, or let come to room temperature.

4. TO SERVE: Use a sharp knife to slice the bars; keep a towel on hand to clean the knife frequently between cuts to ensure clean, good-looking bars which showcase the pretty layers.

Try this alternative recipe from ClosetCooking.com.
 
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*Edith Adams, a fictional persona like Betty Crocker, was the face of the food pages of the Vancouver Sun newspaper from 1924 to 1999. From the 1930s to 1950, the publication issued annual compilation cookbooks of recipes sent in by readers for a chance to win prize money.
 

What’s Christmas Milk, you ask?

It’s egg nog. How did it get a new name? From Joey Fausel.

Heidi and Shane Fausel, the company founders, adopted Joey at age eight. He kept asking his new “forever family” for a drink that he had enjoyed in a foster home. He knew neither the name nor the ingredients. All he could remember was that it “tasted like Christmas.”

Finally, during holiday season, his parents gave him a taste of eggnog. He excaimed, “That’s it! It’s Christmas Milk!”

A few months later, Heidi lost her job, and was pondering her next move. She remembered Christmas milk. They couple thought about entrepreneurship, called a dairy and created an eggnog that “tastes like melted vanilla ice cream.”

We can confirm: It is delicious. And there’s also equally delicious Christmas Milk ice cream, in Original French Vanilla Eggnog Ice Cream, as well as Chocolate Swirl and Sea Salt Caramel.

The Fausels, who have since adopted two sisters and a brother for Joey, donate 10% of sales to Second Chances, a program at the Fort Worth, Texas Gladney Center for Adoption, which works to find foster children “forever families.”

So Christmas Milk not only tastes great; you’ll feel great about buying it.

Learn more and find a store near you at ChristmasMilk.com.
  

Gingerbread frozen yogurt. Photo courtesy
Pinkberry.

A few weeks ago we suggested a Pumpkin Pie Frozen Yogurt Sundae, inspired by Pinkberry. It’s their holiday flavor of the year.

Last year, the seasonal specialty was gingerbread frozen yogurt. If you miss it, you can make your own gingerbread frozen yogurt sundae.

The key flavors of gingerbread are allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, molasses and often, black pepper. Just mix the flavors you like into softened plain or vanilla frozen yogurt, to taste. You can return the mix to the freezer to harden, or enjoy it soft-serve style.

For toppings, consider:

Want to bake gingerbread to go with your sundae? Try these recipes: