holiday Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Building an Easy Winter Cheeseboard + Beaujolais Wine

December 10, 2018 By Becky Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by Discover Beaujolais.

An Easy Winter Cheeseboard + Beaujolais Wine

This easy winter cheeseboard paired with Beaujolais wine makes holiday entertaining a snap. Plus, there’s a recipe for a five-minute pomegranate chèvre cheeseball!

Want to know the secret to super easy holiday entertaining that looks and tastes fancy and will impress all your guests? Here its is: wine and an epic cheeseboard. This is so simple to put together, but everyone loves it. Best of all, there’s no cooking required! I’ve teamed up with Discover Beaujolais to bring you this easy winter cheeseboard that pairs perfectly with their Moulin-à-Vent red wine.

Beaujolais is a region of France north of Lyon that produces red and white wines as well as rosé. The soil there has pink granite in it with streaks of manganese, which gives the grapes and thus the wine a special flavor. I would love to go see this gorgeous region for myself, but for now, I’ll be imagining it while I snack on this cheeseboard and sip on glass of Moulin-à-Vent red.

Gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprints

December 4, 2017 By Becky 38 Comments

This post is sponsored by Pamela’s Products.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

These gluten-free chocolate peppermint thumbprints are festive, delicious, and a snap to make with just one flour!

Happy cookie season! As soon as Thanksgiving is over, baking cookies is pretty much all I want to do, and these gluten-free chocolate peppermint thumbprints are going to be happening over and over again this year and for many years to come. The pairing of a buttery cookie and a rich chocolate ganache, both with just the right amount of peppermint flavor, is really hard to resist. That’s what’s so special about thumbprints–the combination of textures leads to such a satisfying chew.
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No-Bake Gingerbread Buche de Noel

December 19, 2016 By Becky 4 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This gluten-free, no-bake gingerbread buche de noel is an icebox cake yule log that’s beyond easy to make and tastes amazing. No one will guess you didn’t even turn on your oven!

A few years ago when I spent my first Christmas with Ben’s family in Chattanooga, we started a tradition of making a yule log cake. These cakes are the modern-day version of an actual yule log, a giant piece of wood that for centuries was placed on the hearth and burned for all of the 12 days of Christmas in many European households. Since we don’t have a hearth or even a fireplace and since I really like cake, I’m glad this tradition went the way it did.

Every year for the past three years we’ve made this Chocolate Peppermint Roll from Joy the Baker, but this year I laid eyes on her Chocolate Peppermint Icebox Yule Log Cake. My ears perked up, because “icebox cake” means no baking is involved. I like to make Christmas cakes with my three nieces and while they all love baking, it’s a lot of work to bake both the cake and the meringue mushrooms while making sure everyone gets a turn to do everything at each stage of the process. I wanted to roll with the icebox idea but change up the flavor profile, so I created this no-bake gingerbread buche de noel.

Persimmon Bacon Bites with Rosemary Goat Cheese

December 16, 2016 By Becky 32 Comments

These persimmon bacon bites with rosemary goat cheese are the perfect festive appetizer and only require four ingredients! This post is sponsored by Cavit in partnership with Honest Cooking.

If you’re looking for a craveworthy appetizer to keep your family happy while you finish cooking Christmas dinner or to pass around at a New Year’s Eve party, I have totally got you covered. These persimmon bacon bites are the best app I’ve eaten in recent memory, and are super cute to boot. They pair perfectly with a chilled glass of Cavit’s crisp Pinot Grigio, and the combination is pretty much guaranteed to put even the grinchiest of grinches in the holiday spirit. When you’re snacking on fruit with bacon and herbed goat cheese and sipping on tasty Italian wine, there’s just no way not to feel festive.

I just discovered persimmons this year and they’ve quickly become my new favorite fruit. They taste kind of like a delicious mashup between a mango and a papaya, and I find them incredibly addictive. I used fuyu persimmons here and haven’t had a chance to try other varieties yet, so I recommend finding fuyus for this recipe. They’re the ones that are kind of squat like little pumpkins and are not pointed at the bottom.

When I’m eating a persimmon plain, I like to let it get nice and soft so the insides are custardy and smooth. However, when you’re making persimmon bacon bites, you want to choose persimmons that are still a bit firm so the slices will hold together well. Once roasted, they’ll have that smooth texture of a perfectly ripe raw persimmon with an even deeper sweet flavor. The hint of rosemary in the goat cheese makes these bites taste fresh and seasonal, and the bacon ties everything together both literally and figuratively.

Pomegranate Roasted Jerk Chicken

December 7, 2016 By Becky 29 Comments

This paleo pomegranate roasted jerk chicken is ideal for those who want a festive holiday main with a bit of a kick. Served with baby potatoes, it’s a complete, one-pot meal. This post is sponsored by Frontier Co-op.

I especially enjoy spicy foods in the winter–I’ll take all the warmth I can get when it’s cold outside. This pomegranate roast chicken is perfect for warming up both your kitchen as it roasts and you when you eat it. If you’re spice-averse, though, don’t worry. You can customize the heat level by adding fewer habanero peppers.

The peppers aren’t the only thing bringing heat to this chicken. Spices like cinnamon, allspice, and smoked paprika also have a warming effect. Peppers and spices are combined with a hint of tart sweetness from pomegranate juice, grassy freshness from the scallions, and the savory fragrance of fresh thyme. All of those flavors come together to create a perfect Jamaican jerk paste that’s equally delicious on chicken and potatoes. Roasting the chicken at high heat for the first few minutes and then reducing the heat for the remainder of the cooking time ensures crispy skin and juicy meat.

I created this recipe in partnership with Frontier Co-op, my favorite source for spices and seasonings. Frontier is encouraging everyone to #CookWithPurpose this holiday season and all year long. I care a lot about where my food comes from and how it’s grown, which is why I get most of my produce and meat from local farms that use sustainable practices. It’s important to me to think just as carefully about where our ingredients come from as we do about which delicious dishes to cook up for our families. With spices, though, it can be trickier to know what goes on to get these essential flavorings from farm to table. It’s impossible for me to source things like cinnamon and allspice locally, so I love being able to turn to Frontier Co-op to be assured that I’m getting spices that were grown sustainably and sourced with fair trade practices.

Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

December 5, 2016 By Becky 8 Comments

These festive, grain-free chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies are just the thing for gifting, cookie swapping, and plain old snacking from now until the new year.

Looking for an adorable, two-bite cookie to enjoy and share this holiday season? I got you covered. I took a look at the cutest cookies from my archives, 2013’s sparkling sandwich cookies, and gave them a chocolate peppermint upgrade. The resulting chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies pack a lot of joy and holiday cheer into one tiny, almost-spherical package.

The cookie base here is super simple, made with just almond flour, Rodelle‘s baking cocoa and vanilla extract, butter, honey, and a touch of salt and baking soda. Rodelle’s cocoa has a rich aroma and great depth of flavor that makes it my very favorite cocoa for baking (and for turning the occasional morning coffee into a makeshift mocha). I also like to add a tiny bit of espresso powder to further deepen the chocolate flavor, but you can leave that out if you prefer.

There are no eggs in sight and of course no grains either, which make these cookies ideal for sharing with friends and family with food allergies and sensitivities. (Interested in a dairy-free version? The cookies should work with coconut oil instead of butter, and you could try sustainably-sourced palm shortening or vegan butter in the frosting.)

Grain-free Spiced Chocolate Torte

November 30, 2016 By Becky 40 Comments

This grain-free spiced chocolate torte is a great to end a festive dinner. It will satisfy any chocolate lover, but also has a delectable hint of spice.

Thanksgiving is over, and I’m planning to top everything with pomegranate arils from now until the end of the year. This grain-free spiced chocolate torte, of course, is no exception.

I love using warming spices like cinnamon and cardamom to make desserts smell and taste extra festive during the holiday season. However, I’m also a huge lover of chocolate. I didn’t want to choose between my love of chocolate and my love of a little seasonal spice, so I decided to combine the two into a spiced chocolate torte.

This torte has a perfect texture and crumb thanks to a combination of almond flour and tapioca flour from Bob’s Red Mill. Those two flours are my go-to for grain-free baking year round. The almond flour, which is made of whole, blanched sweet almonds, provides the tenderness and richness that every torte needs. And since Bob’s Red Mill almond flour is super finely ground, there’s no need to sift it before using! As an extra bonus, almonds are packed with healthy monounsaturated fats and protein, but are low in carbohydrates (and are naturally gluten free).

Sparkling Sandwich Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-free, Paleo)

December 30, 2013 By Becky 9 Comments

I subscribed to Gourmet Magazine when it was still being published, and looked forward to getting it every month. The cover photographs were always stunning, but the December 2008 cover really stuck with me. The theme was cookies, and eight different gorgeous recipes were featured on the cover in different parts of the country. I got the one with these glittering lemon sandwich cookies on it, and now, five years later, I finally got around to making my own version.

These sparkling cookies are vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and perfect for New Year’s Eve. They’re also the most adorable cookies I’ve ever laid eyes on. The cookies are richly flavored thanks to the almond flour and lemon zest, and the sugar coating provides the perfect amount of crunch. I was planning to make the lemon filling from Gourmet’s recipe, but I got lazy, and instead pulled out jars of raspberry jam and dulce de leche. The tiniest amount sticks the cookies together, and provides the extra bit of sweetness that makes these sandwiches irresistible. Also, they kind of look like miniature hamburgers! How can you say no to that?

5 Last-Minute Christmas Treats (Gluten-free)

December 24, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

Did you suddenly realize you were in need of a quick but impressive dessert for Christmas day? I have five ideas for you. You probably have most of the necessary ingredients in your pantry already, but if not, stores should be open for a few more hours! Make your day merrier by whipping up one or more of these last-minute delicacies.

Chocolate Bark with infinite variations (10 minutes to make, 30 minutes to set): If you have some chocolate on hand (milk, semisweet, white–pick your favorite!), melt it, spread it on a parchment-lined sheet, and swirl in toppings of your choice. This recipe calls for pepitas and sea salt, but here are three more ideas: dried cranberries, chopped pecans, and sea salt; crushed candy canes; chopped almonds and toffee bits. After about half an hour in the freezer, just break the chocolate up into pieces and you’re done!

Mexican Brownies (15 minutes to make, 20 minutes to bake): These are a snap to make if you have paleo flour blend on hand. If not, you can measure out almond flour, tapioca starch, and coconut flour individually. If your family enjoys desserts with a little kick, they will absolutely love these!

Happy Holidays!

December 22, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

Happy Holidays to you and your family! I am so grateful to all of you for stopping by my blog, leaving me comments, and letting my recipes happen in your kitchens! I hope you have a wonderful time with all your loved ones and plenty of delicious food over the next few weeks. Ben & I drove all the way from Boston to Chattanooga yesterday and will spend Christmas here with his family. I may manage to post one more dessert, but things will be pretty quiet around here until 2014.

If there is anything you’d especially like to see here on A Calculated Whisk during the new year, please leave me a comment and let me know!

¡Felices fiestas a todos!

Cranberry Chocolate Truffles (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten-free)

December 18, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

I promise that after today’s post we will take a *short* break from all the cranberries.

Did you make a batch of cranberry maple syrup and cran-maple compote yet? You’re going to need it for these amazing cranberry chocolate truffles!

The inside of these candies is a beautiful dark pink color thanks to the cranberry maple syrup, and has just a hint of cocoa powder. The truffles are dipped in dark chocolate to make their snappy outer shell, and then sprinkled with shredded coconut or chopped pecans just before the coating has time to set. They may be the most festive thing I’ve ever made, other than this tart. They are great for gifting. I love the way the tart cranberry filling tastes with the rich dark chocolate, and I bet you and your lucky giftees will, too.

I think I just made up a word. It’s probably time to for me to stop and just get on with the recipe.

One more thing: these are adorable packaged in an egg carton. Wrap that all up and see how befuddled people are when they open it and think you’re giving them a carton of eggs for Christmas.

A Calculated Gift Guide: Make a Difference with 10 Presents Under $50

December 12, 2013 By Becky 4 Comments

I had so much fun putting together this list of ten great gift ideas that support amazing causes around the world. Spoiler alert: if you’re on my Christmas list, you’re probably getting one of these (hi, Mom)!

Ever since my first graders voted last year to name our class the cheetahs, I’ve been keeping up with conservation efforts to save the marvelous cats. You can help cheetahs by sponsoring a livestock guarding dog in the name of someone on your list. The Cheetah Conservation Fund‘s unique project raises and trains Anatolian shepherds to protect local farmers’ herds, thus reducing the number of cheetahs that are killed by farmers to save their livestock. Donations start at $10, and you can download a personalized sponsorship certificate and a picture of one of the dogs.