🎄My 2023 Christmas Cookie Box
3 New Cookie Recipes + Our Big Christmas Menu + 18 Easy Christmas Recipes To Prep Ahead
Hello, my lovely friends!
It is my last official day of work for 2023 and I am SO EXCITED! I can’t wait to wrap up cooking, writing and photographing for work. So I can go straight to cooking and photographing for leisure.
This week my 2023 Christmas cookie boxes were packed and delivered. With 10 varieties the box looked truly full and festive. We now have 7 containers of these delicious Christmas cookies that will tide us through the holiday season. I made the following,
Pistachio Amaretti (recipe below)
Shortbread (recipe below)
Cranberry & Pistachio Shortbread (recipe below)
Matcha, Citrus, Cocoa & Spice Galaxy Cookies (my recipe)
Lebkuchen Stars & Marzipan Crescents (from “Advent” Cookbook)
Miso & White Chocolate Cookies (from “A Good Day To Bake” Cookbook)
Christmas is only two days away and the year has truly flown. I like to treat Christmas as any other Sunday - relaxed, easy, and hardly any cooking at all! Being in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas always comes with the promise of a hot scorching summer day. But funnily enough, as the day itself dawns, it is usually cloudy, overcast, drizzling with a distinct chill in the air. The closest we will ever get to a cold (definitely not white!) Christmas here in Sydney. This means it is the perfect weather to have a cold salad for lunch and a comforting pasta for dinner.
It must be noted that I call myself a lazy cook (Nick says I am efficient but let’s go with lazy). I find the quickest, shortest, and most fuss-free way to do things in the kitchen, especially when entertaining. This is what a stock standard non-traditional Christmas menu looks like at ours every year, with a couple of new additions now and then.
My Christmas Menu
Breakfast
Panettone French Toast - I buy Panettone to eat and to bake with. Christmas morning breakfast is usually thick slabs of panettone dredged in a whisked egg, cream, vanilla, sugar and salt concoction and pan-fried in butter until golden. Served with whipped cream, fresh berries and some maple syrup! Simple but oh so special.
Lunch
Cold Asian Tofu - Several slabs of silken tofu on the ready. Dressing prepared ahead of time (To make this, I usually just mix light soy sauce, minced garlic, sesame oil and 1-2 teaspoons of Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil in a bowl.) When its time to serve, drizzle dressing over tofu slabs, garnish with spring onion, coriander and sesame seeds. Yum!
Prawn Mango Salad - Christmas is not Christmas without this gem of a salad. A lovely punchy Nam-Jim style dressing prepped ahead is all you need. Buy cooked prawns and toss them up with freshly sliced mango, cucumber, bean sprouts, cos lettuce and drizzle the dressing on top. Everyone loves this! Recipe Here »
Crab Fried Rice - I have a handwritten recipe for this that I have been using for years. I use cooked crab meat to stir through my basic fried rice recipe.
Dinner
I make the recipes below by feel. I have been making them for many years, only once a year at Christmas but I follow the same recipe every year.
Seared Scallops in Cauliflower Puree
Brown Butter Lobster Pasta
Dessert
Burnt Basque Cheesecake - This reader-favourite recipe can be made up to 2 days in advance. It ages like fine wine. Just blend, pour and bake. Ready in 25 minutes! For a festive twist, top with bright red berries, drizzle of fresh passion fruit pulp and dust with icing sugar or chocolate drizzle.
Tiramisu (Gingerbread Tiramisu) - No ordinary Tiramisu, this was a staple at my Christmas dinners or New Year’s Eve get-togethers for almost 10 years. A no-cook, make-ahead recipe - this Tiramisu is extra delicious because it is layered with crushed gingernut biscuits, making it taste all sugar and spice and extra nice!
More …
Drink
15-Minute Festive Fruit Punch - This is not only fun to make but looks sensational. You’ll need a big punch bowl or a wide barrel-shaped glass container/big ol glass cookie jar. You layer it with sliced green apples, pitted lychees and lots of strawberries and add your liquid. Looks gloriously like Christmas in a jar!
Espresso Tiramisu Martini - A martini that tastes like Tiramisu? Sign me up!
Easy Starters
Italian Tuna Tartare - A 5-minute starter with a restaurant-style wow factor! Fancy it up with caviar sprinkled on top. Serve with simple water crackers or thinly sliced olive sourdough.
Oysters With Mango & Chilli Dressing - If you can find a bag of frozen mango (or fresh mangoes!), you can make this easy dressing. It is slurpy and delicious and tangy and perfect for topping your oysters.
Salads
Pipiranna - Cold Spanish Seafood Salad. No cooking is required, just chop and mix!
Watermelon & Feta Salad - This gorgeous salad looks like Christmas on a plate. Bright juicy red cubes of watermelon scattered with white feta cubes, orange slices, sharp kalamatta olives, pickled onion, mint, rocket and a simple dressing. Swap feta for pan-fried halloumi and take it to the next level!
Super Green Roasted Potato Salad - Roasted potatoes with a green, briny, olive and caper-infused dressing that does wonders for the palate and cuts through the richness of all the big mains. I love how green and fresh and zingy and easy this one is!
Halloumi Lentil & Roasted Eggplant Salad - This looks super festive studded with pomegranate or cherries (whatever is in season!). Salty fried halloumi, creamy lentils, perfectly roasted eggplant, lots of herbs and a lemony dressing. 25 minutes to a bowl of substantial salad goodness!
Sides
Beetroot Carpaccio With Broccoli Crumb - Fancy veggie side with zero efforts. Delicious and looks sensational!
Crispy Bay Roasted Smashed Potatoes With Creamy Green Sauce - Yum, yum, yum! No description is required.
Sicilian Pan Roasted Chilli Garlic Brussels Sprouts - This is a 10-minute side dish like no other. 5 minutes on the day if you prep ahead. How great is that? Sticky, caramelized Brussels sprouts, pinenuts, mustard, raisin, garlic, chilli …. is your mouth watering yet?
Mains
Zuppa Di Pesce - My Italian Seafood Soup is brimming with coastal flavours and the richness of saffron. Make the broth ahead and add seafood just before serving. Serve with crusty bread and lots of greens. A show-stopping main with hardly any fuss!
Butter Roasted Whole Cauliflower With Hot Garlic Sauce - Another show stopper veg main! Baste small heads of cauliflower with butter, wrap in foil and bake until golden. Make the sauce ahead in advance - buttery, garlicky and umami, the sauce is easily scalable for multiple heads of cauliflower. Serve on its own or alongside some green herbed rice studded with cranberries.
Kale Ricotta Gnocchi In-House Italian Sauce - Another show-stopping veggie main. Potato-free ricotta gnocchi that melts in your mouth and looks so pretty studded with the chopped kale leaves. A big wide tray of this gorgeous gnocchi swimming in a delicious homemade pasta sauce can easily become the star of the festive table.
Roasted Cauliflower & Ricotta Grandma Pie - Skip the loaf of bread or focaccia. Make this instead! A deep dish, tray pizza of a kind, topped with roasted cauliflower, creamy ricotta, olives, herbs, garlic …. perfect for tearing and sharing.
Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread
Makes 16
Ingredients