Desserts de France…

Les crêpes !
Crêpes Suzette mandarine – Crêpes boisettes (berry) – Crêpes little sun – Crêpes soufflées tropicales

More : crêpes compilation (sweet and savory)

Noël et Rois (Xmas and Kings) :
Pompe à l’huile (sweet fougasse) – Nonnettes (fluffy gingerbread) – Flocon de neige (snowflake cake) – Nougat glacé (honey ice-cream) – Galette des Rois (Kings’ cake) – Galette des Rois au chocolat

More : Christmas dessert compilation

Les fruits !
Poire pochée au chocolat – Baked pineapple – Fruity papillote – Tartelette aux figues – Pomme lampion (baked apple) – Crémet aux fruits rouges

Classiques :
Génoise – Cygne et choux (cream puffs and swan) – Millefeuille –Tarte au chocolat – Religieuse (cream puff “nun”)

Regions :
Brioche de Pâques (Easter bread, Provence) – Gâteau de Metz (retro chocolate cake, Lorraine) – Croustade or Pastis aux pommes (apple pie, Gascogne) – Millas (corn and pumpkin, South-West) –Farz fourn (butter cake, Bretagne)

Chocolat.
Coffee sunglasses – Gâteau truffe aux kumquats – White chocolate cinnamon apple cake – Raspeberry choco-carob cake

More chocolate sweets.

Festifs.
Pets de nonne (‘farting nun’ carnival donuts) – Mango coco millefeuille – Star anise mandarin chocolate tarte – Crémet in mint sauce – Gâteau de la bergère (Shepherd’s cake made with potato) – Petits flans a la betterave (sweet beetroot puddings)

More ? French dessert compilation.

Fêtes . Dinners of Holiday. Many IDs, change of style.

A few ideas for holiday menus. Japan has a month to celebrate the end of the year with Bonenkai (funerals of the old year) parties. In other places, Yule, Noël, Xmas and New Year in many places. Add, yours…
I like trying different dishes and meal styles.

Take a hot cup of thé de Noël and enjoy :

Rétro Christmas, candlelight and rustic.

Simple appetizers.
Jambon en croute aux marrons (chestnut ham pie)
Provence’s style : 13 desserts of Christmas night
Nougat glacé (iced nougat)

Kani Nabe (crab hot pot)
Winter Japanese home parties are often nabe (hot-pots)
Japanese hot pot with Winter crab
Other nabe (hot pots) :
Nikomi Udon
Duck and veggie nabe
sukiyaki

Noël blanc
Everything white, and French flavors…
Full Menu White French Christmas
Boudin blanc (white pudding sausage was little people’s Xmas treat, DIY)
Blanc-Manger (Middle-Age style, not a dessert)
Canard aux airelles (duck with cranberry sauce)
Gateau Mont-Blanc (coconut Antilles’ whiteness)

A Japanese Christmas menu
chicken and sesame cooking class
marmalade and sesame wings
chicken slices with wine sesame sauce
tofu with wine sesame sauce
decorative potato sarada. (pote sarada)
sesame fruit cake

Mexican Navidad, Tamales
pickles and chicken tamales
yellow grits tamales
tamale pie

Islands
Christmas ham, from the Antilles (French Caribbean islands).
Petit jambon antillais (pineapple baked ham)
féroce d’avocat (cod fish spicy guacamole)

Classic French
potage Choisy
Le poulet de Gaston – Dijon chicken (mustard sauce)
bûche aux marrons glacés
Douceurs de beurre et marrons…

Osechi Ryori, a feast of good luck dishes for Japanese New Year, with the recipes. Click here.

Alsace influence. French and light.
Full Menu
Blinis with smoked salmon
Choucroute de la mer (seafood Sauerkraut)
Bûche forêt noire Blackforest log Yule cake
Bredele (season cookies)

Petit Jésus en brioche…
About this one, posts showing up soon :
Colorful first dish
Saucisson en brioche au safran (salami saffron pie)
Red wine red cabbage in rice cooker. The same in cocotte.
Chestnutty no-bake croquettes
Flocon de neige (streusel flocken-sahne). Berry Flockensahne.
Black sugar Nonnettes Kaki nonnettes. Mandarin nonnettes.

le boudin blanc de Noël (via Gio)

Historic blah blah :

This is the French Christmas pudding. Why ? From what I have read, in Middle Age, the Christmas dinner, for rich people started with a sort of hot milk pudding, before splurging on all the roasts and decadent dishes (all dishes were served at the same time, sweet and savory). The poorer had only that pudding. They were all fasting before Chritsmas, so they would break the fast with something easy to digest.That was in France, but the countries were not separated. The Brits invaded us to say the truth, and we sometimes reciprocated, eh why not ? So they had similar habits in Britannic islands. Pudding and boudin are the same word. Later in France, from 16th Century, they added meat, then cream, even truffles to the boudin, but no dry fruits. The evolution was different in England as they added prunes in order to insert the “plum” word in the name, then changed their minds it seems. See here about a British Christmas Plum Duff .
Since 19th century, French Christmas pudding (boudin blanc de Noel) is a white creamy meat sausage. It’s historic and no longer a Christmas dinner item. It is sold and enjoyed all over December.

This is a special boudin sausage. Not your average white sausage. Look at that texture ! It’s the softest sausage on earth !

Ideas for a Sweet Xmas – Gâteaux de Noël

(Osaka cake)

You probably think I’m big fan of Christmas. Actually, I couldn’t care less, it’s only the bottom of the year, the time with the shortest days. What I really like is there are so many Christmas food, particularly sweets, from so many places.
It’s fun to try to make them.

Snow-flake

Kurisumasu keeki 2012

charlotte kurisumasu keeki

rose cranberry panettone

Easy Yule logs :

bûche forêt noire

bûche aux marrons glacés

The tradition of Provence with the 13 desserts :

13 retro desserts

honey walnut iced nougat

These cakes are not only for this occasion, but many like to invite them :

snow flake cake

Marquises au chocolat

Gâteau Mont-Blanc antillais (coconut layered cake)

With the coffee, you need many mignardises :

Schwowebredele (the traditional Xmas cookie of Alsace, make them in many shapes and flavor)

black sugar nonnettes (yeast)
Mandarin orange nonnettes (baking powder)

Hot wine revisited :

jelly spiced wine pears

lait de poule (French eggnog)

This is what we have in Japan :

kurisumasu ke-ki (how to bake a Japanese Xmas cake)

Ichigo daifuku mochi (Winter wagashi)

kuri kinton (marron sweet)

Over the world :

Bibingka (Philippines)

Povitica (Slovenia)

home-made mandarin Stollen (Germany)

Chionoules or snowballs (Greece)

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I have not made these two, I’ve just received them. The white is of course a German Stollen.

Berawecka (Alsacian “pear bread”, fruit cake). I’m very serious. It’s very healthy. It’s mostly made of fruit like those “health fruit bars” I see on many health blogs.

I had to check the quality. You want to know ? Of course, that’s totally decadent and not healthy at all. Mmmmm… Well, I’ll try to keep some for Christmas.