Top Ten Traditional Christmas Desserts for 2006

My husband is British and I am very familiar with the "traditional Christmas Cake, as it is his favorite holiday dessert. Christmas cakes are beautifully decorated cakes and make a great center piece on Christmas. Christmas cake actually started out as plum porriage. Plum Porriage was an English tradition that was used to line their stomachs on Christmas Eve after a day of fasting. It eventually developed into a cake when butter wheat flour and eggs were added.

Gingerbread House

The Gingerbread House is a fun holiday recipe that makes a dessert straight out of a fairy tale. The tradition of holiday gingerbread houses was taken from the famous German fairy tale about Hansel and Gretel. The story is told about two poor children that are abandoned by their parents and left in the woods. The magic begins to happen when they discover a house made of bread, and candies.

The Yule Log

The Yule Log is an age old Christmas tradition dating back to the XIIth Century. France and Italy were the European countries that were notated for their Yule Log traditions. The traditional Yule Log custom was preformed on Christmas Eve. A Freshly chopped piece of wood would be brought into the house and sprinkled with salt, oil and mulled wine. Today The Yule Log is a traditional Christmas pastry, decorated like a log, with holly leaves.

Thirteen Desserts for Christmas Eve

In Provence, it is traditional to serve thirteen desserts for Christmas eve. They are : pompe à l'huile (a brioche made with olive oil), raisins, figs, dried plums from Brignoles, apples and pears, candied citron, jams, quince cheese, nougat (black and white), fresh cheese, small brioches (fougasses), fried bugnes, cumin and fennel seed cookies.

Milk and Cookies

Everyone remembers Santa's favorite Christmas dessert, milk and cookies. Children know that Santa will reward those that leave him milk and cookies on Christmas Eve. A good batch of warm homemade chocolate chip cookies will be a delight on Christmas Eve.

Chess Pie

This is a simple southern recipe with a filling that contains eggs, sugar, butter, and a little bit of flour. The Chess Pie Originated in England as a lemon curd pie. The chess pie is similar to a cheesecake, but with no cheese.

The next three desserts were inspired by the Nutcracker Ballet. Sugar Plum Fairy Cake with Peppermint Filling, Petite Pavlovas, and Sunflower Seed Sesame Brittle will decorate your dessert table with the thought of dancing ballerinas.

Sugar Plum Fairy Cake with Peppermint Filling

This recipe is featured in the Nutcracker ballet story as the Sugar Plum Fairy Cake. This recipe was created by cake artist, Debbie Pagel. The cake is covered in a fondant sugar icing, and makes a delicious "nutcracker themed" dessert.

Petite Pavlovas

These dainty desserts were named after a famous Australian dancer, Anna Pavlova that performed in "The Nutcracker" ballet. Petite Pavlovas consists of a meringue layers that resemble Anna Pavlova's tutu made of layers of tulle. You can find this dessert in the book, The Nutcracker Sweet by Linda Hymes.

Sunflower seed and Sesame Brittle

Another great recipe from Linda Hyme's The Nutcracker Sweet, combines middle eastern spices to represent the Arabian dance of the "Nutcracker".

Traditional Christmas Pudding

Another ancient British traditional Christmas dessert that my husband loves. Traditional Christmas pudding is actually Christmas cake without the eggs, wheat flower, and butter. Christmas pudding started out as plum pudding and evolved into what into the recipe that is famous this time of year.