Butter and Jam Cookies

These buttery cookies were dotted and filled with bright red plum jam. The slightly tangy taste of plum jam is just right to balance the no-so-sweet cookies.

I often feel cookies are for festive seasons. Whenever any festive seasons come, especially Christmas, we like to have some and feel the atmosphere.

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Chocolate Crackle Cookies (Christmas treats)

We’re going to enjoy a very hot Christmas festive season as usual in a few more days. Although I still haven’t got myself used to celebrate Christmas in summer, I’ve learned to create imagery pictures of snowing scenes in my mind by enjoying some cold desserts or something look like snow. What I like about these cookies is their snowy look with natural cracks produced by both of the magic of baking powder and icing sugar, giving me more of a Christmas feel. Best of all, the crunchy outside and the fluffy, soft inside make these cookies so enjoyable.

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Panettone for Christmas

Tonight’s the Christmas’ Eve in Australia. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all my readers. Your encouraging, lovely words and frequent visits are the energy to keep this blog going.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and enjoy happy holidays!

This is the last post before Christmas. I baked this Panettone, originated from Italy that is now widely spread around the world, usually baked for Christmas day. Traditionally, Panettone is baked in tins lined with baking paper, with a rustic look. After cooling down, you can keep it in an airtight container or wrapped in a plastic bag. It tastes even better after 3 days. I grabbed the ramekins that already sit in my kitchen cabinet and baked these lovely mini sized Panettone.

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Christmas Grilled Veal with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Still looking for Christmas recipes ? Traditional roast turkey, glazed ham or cookies might have been on your list already. How about a spicy, quick dish that can be cooked on the spot to entertain your guest with no fuss?

Apart from those must-have Christmas dishes to celebrate the season, as our Aussie friends love enjoying BBQ at the backyard, I’m thinking of making a different savoury one, that is suitable for catering a bunch of people in a festive party. This grilled veal with spicy tomato sauce doesn’t need any complicated preparation work and long cooking time. It can be whipped up on the go once you have done the minimalist preparation. The tender and juicy veal that freshly grilled on the spot will surely warm up the hearts of your guests and family.

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Smoked Salmon Salad

Christmas is coming closer and closer. Would you go for any Christmas party or throw a party yourself? This Smoked Salmon Salad could be a good choice for party snack, or just have it as an ordinary day’s side dish. This salad went very well with the pan-fried lamb steak I cooked the other day. The choice of baby greens for this salad is quite flexible that you can use any veggies you like. The colours of this snack really caught my family’s eyes. Best of all, I could prepare this salad on the go, or make it in advance, pop it in the fridge, and grab it out to enjoy in the last minute. Keep me free enough to enjoy chatting with my family and friends.

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Baked Turkey Leg with Mushroom Gravy

A whole baked turkey is one of the traditional Christmas dishes. What a sensational enjoyment it would be when tasting the tender turkey meat going with some favourite salad.

It’s quite challenging to bake a whole turkey evenly with moist meat inside without burnt outside anyway. So before gathering guts to bake a whole bird, I tried to experiment with a turkey leg. The dish turned out really wonderful and more delicious than I thought. The turkey meat was tender enough, going really well with the delicious mushroom gravy. Best of all, this dish costs a few dollars, guaranteed with 100% success rate.

I love eating turkey not only in festive seasons, but also at anytime I think of it. Here’s the dish that I used a turkey leg with thigh that weighted 1.6 kg, enough to feed my whole family of three. My daughter dressed up the salmon salad for us. Yum…. I guess I would bake it again when the warm Christmas comes down under in two weeks’ time as this dish would take shorter baking time without heating up my kitchen too much.

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White Chocolate & Brown Sugar Cookies

This is a very special festive treat. To make chocolate cookies, coco powder are commonly used to give an attractive look and brownish color. Here I made a little tweak of using brown sugar to replace the coco powder. The flavor of white chocolate blends with the aroma of brown sugar so well.

I made two dozens of these special cookies just in case of any friends of mine dropping by during Christmas holidays.

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