RASPBERRY CREAMS

Is your mouth watering? Mine is!

I ate this dessert at a Christmas party I was lucky enough to be invited to. The friend who bought these had to stand in line at a famous sweet shop for a very long time.

It was so nice to taste fresh raspberries again. I always associate raspberries with Christmas because in New Zealand it falls in summer. Sometimes we spent the holiday season on my sister-in-law's farm, where there was a huge patch of raspberry bushes. On Christmas morning, after opening the presents, someone would go out to the raspberry patch and pick a huge bowl of  fresh raspberries to have with Christmas dinner.

CHRISTMAS TRIFLE

                 Image via WikipediaIn New Zealand you can't really have Christmas or New Year without trifle. And probably there are many different versions as there are cooks. Basically it's  three layers - a layer of broken chunks of sponge cake, a layer of thick custard and a layer of cream.

Many people pour jelly over the spongecake and let it set before they add the custard. Some people add fruit salad, fresh or canned. Some people sprinkle sherry or some other alcohol over the cake.

My mother used to make trifle with stewed rhubarb or tamarillos (sadly I hardly ever meet anyone who even knows what tamarillos are), and replace the custard with lime flavored instant pudding (That was an inspired combination!)

My favorite way to make trifle is very quick and simple. I smear raspberry jam (possibly thinned with sherry) over the chunks of sponge cake. Sometimes I add sliced banana. I think it's really important to have a nice creamy custard. And after adding the final layer of whipped cream, I decorate it with fruit, either strawberries or passion fruit pulp.

How can such an easy dessert be so incredible delicious?

PANETTONE

Panettone is a fruity Italian loaf often eaten at Christmas time. I especially love Panettone toasted, and it makes the best French toast I've ever eaten! (French toast with Italian bread, made by a Kiwi in Japan - how's that for fusion cuisine?!) I make this recipe in my bread-maker, and it turns out very well.

3/4 cup warm water
6 tablespoons oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
3 cups bread flour
1 packet dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon almond essence
1/4 chopped almonds (or walnuts)
1/4 raisins
1/4 lemon and orange candied peel
(you can add glace cherries and angelica too if you like)

Put everything in the bread-making machine and run the light crust setting.
(Of course you could make this by hand if you don't have a bread-making machine.
Just follow the instructions for any sweet bread recipe.)