Christmas Dessert Buffet

Chocolate and almond sugar cookie trees.

My family came over from Vancouver and Victoria for a few days to spend their Christmas with us. There were ten of us in the house and although I pulled off another Christmas dinner and dessert buffet, I can't help but feel even more victorious at the fact that we never once ran out of hot water. How awesome is that?!

It was nice to see the family again and my 5 year old got to play nice with his two little cousins. Thank goodness. He's starting to adjust a lot better to our new life here in the USA. Christmas dinner was a bit different this year. I tried a few new dishes which had good potential. I bought myself another dutch oven so I was able to bake two dutch oven breads on the same day. TWO! One white bread for dinner and one fig anise bread for breakfast the next day. They both turned out great!

White round bread in my new dutch oven.

Below was our lovely menu, in case you are interested. There are a few links to the recipes as well. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures :( I was way too busy serving everyone. All the dishes went quite well together and there was a good variety for everyone. The leftovers fed us for a few days. Guess we got way too full on the wine.

Christmas Menu

Appetizers

• Hot horseradish crab dip
• Spinach and artichoke dip
• Various cheeses
• For dipping: Tortillas, dutch oven bread, and crackers
• Lots and lots of wine, Kirs, beers, cocktails

Main

• Turkey breast with kale and sausage stuffing
• Store bought smoked spiral ham
• Store bought apple/sage field roast (for my husband)
• Mashed butternut squash
• Steamed cauliflower, potatos, carrots
• Baked smashed potatos
• Coconut creamed spinach

Dessert Buffet

• Peppermint mocha cupcakes with mint ganache and mint buttercream
• Almond sugar cookies
• Rice krispie squares
• Soft almond chocolate toffee
• Chocolate chip cookies using 4 color chocolate chips

Displayed here is only about 1/3 of all our desserts.

I love cooking for Christmas but it's the baking that actually takes more time. All the cooking was done the day of but I started baking a couple of days before. I had to finish frosting the cupcakes Christmas morning. It seems like I made a lot of food but I actually wasn't overworked. I think it's because I have a bigger kitchen now and that makes it easier to organize and multitask.

Giant Santa cookies for the kids.

Glittery pearl airbrushed Christmas trees. I love these!

New York Times chocolate chip cookies.

Brown butter rice krispies.

Trader Joe's peppermint candies for the topping.

Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint ganache and peppermint swiss meringue buttercream.

It was fun but I'm ready to leave Christmas behind. Lol. I'm gearing up for New Year's and my birthday now. Is it just me or is Christmas way too close to the New Year's celebration? Luckily, it will only be a three-course meal for New Year's :)

Hope you all had a great Christmas and winter holiday!