Christmas/Yule recipes

[Darlica]

Christmas's coming up with festivities and family dinners.
In our little family it's usually my mother who prepares the must haves like the ham, the pickled herring, the meatballs etc. I help her if I have the time, but I'm allways in charge of the desert and beverage department (planning, buying, making). It has been a lot of cakes, drinks, and assorted cheeses over the years... 

In the Yule is Cool thread Opsa asked if anyone wanted her fudge recipe, and I also have a recipe I would like to share:

Saffron parfait with Raspberry coulis a fancy name for an easy to make ice-cream and cold raspberry sauce!
6 servings

You'll need
2 fairly big bowls
1 smaller bowl (for the raspberries)
1 baking tin round, square or rectangular, depending on how you plan to serve it (I usually use a round  23 cm diameter baking tin that have a removable bottom)
Cling foil to cover the inside of the baking tin.
1 whisk
1 plastic/rubber spatula
Assorted spoons
Food processor (or a fork  )
Freezer

The Parfait
Saffron 0,5 g (around here that is one envelope of saffron)
3 egg yokes
1/2 dl* sugar
1/2 dl honey
3 dl heavy cream

Whisk egg yokes, sugar, honey and saffron until it becomes a very puffy batter.
Whisk the heavy cream heavily until you can turn the bowl upside down without the the cream landing on the table. But don't turn it in to butter...

Gently turn down the the whipped cream into the egg batter (do not stir) until it's evenly distributed.

Cover the inside of your baking tin with cling foil.

Pour the batter into the baking tin, cover with cling foil and put in the freezer over night or for at least 8-10 hours.

The Raspberry coulis
200g Frozen or fresh raspberries
Icing sugar to taste
water

Mix the raspberries (save some for decoration, to a smooth sauce,
add sugar to taste (not too sweet, the ice-cream is sweet) if the sauce it too thick add water teaspoon by teaspoon. The mixing is best done with a food processor but can be done with a fork too.

Serving
Take out the ice-cream from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving, if it's stuck in the tin flush the baking tin with hot water for a couple of seconds.

I usually serve it portion by portion in cake like pieces, with some whole raspberries some lemon balm leaves on top and the sauce in a pool around it.

Enjoy! 



*decilitre

[Opsa]

Wow, that sounds fantastic!

I have the easiest fudge recipe in the world, here. It's so fast and easy to do that it's almost embarrassing to give it out, but people love homemade fudge and seem to appreciate anything anyone bothers to do for them personally these days, so if you have access to a microwave, go for it.
******************************************************
HAPPY HAPPY FUDGE FUDGE!

You'll need:

1 lb. (16 0z) box or bag of 10x confectioner's sugar

1 stick butter or margarine (doesn't matter! I use margarine to keep the cholesterol down for my hubby)

1/2 cup cocoa powder (generic works as well as any other)

1/4 cup whole or 2% milk

Dump sugar into glass bowl (microwavable with steep sides works best). Pour cocoa powder on top of sugar. Cut the stick of butter in half and cut each half into four slices. Place all eight pieces in "clock" fashion around the bowl. Pour milk over top. Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes (3:30 works for me) or until milk bubbles and margarine melts. Mix very well with spoon, then whisk or electric mixer. Pour into buttered or wax-papered 8x8 inch pan. Let cool.

The same bowl can be used for several consecutive batches without washing in-between. Nuts or marshamallows can be added at mixing.

This year I tried pouring the fudge into star-shaped foil cupcake cups bought at the dollar store. I could get five very generous filled-to-the-rim   star-cups out of each batch.
I wrapped each in colored plastic wrap and tied with a gold ribbon. Very festive!