Merry Tastemas, Clan Quest! With the festive season in full swing, we thought we'd bring you a selection of delicious holiday munchables that are maybe slightly less intense to make than Choto's babka. First up, Xurdones brings you a savoury breakfast sandwich, and a sweet citrus-y bite for later in the day, and then Cireon rounds us out with a sweet apple-y treat. Bon apétit!
Overnight Breakfast Strata
This is a Christmas morning tradition in my family. The odd ingredient here for most people is going to be peameal bacon, which isn't common outside of Ontario, Canada. If you're in the United States you might find a similar product labelled as "Canadian Bacon", otherwise this is just cured and unsmoked back bacon, optionally rolled in cornmeal or ground yellow peas (hence the name) prior to slicing.
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp butter, softened
- 12 slices egg bread (or replace with your favourite bread)
- 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 6oz cheddar cheese, sliced or grated
- 6 slices peameal bacon
- 1 tomato, thinly sliced
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- Parsley
Directions
Butter one side of each slice of bread, and spread other side with mustard. On mustard side of six slices, evenly divide bacon, cheese, and tomato. Cover with slice of bread, buttered side out. Cut sandwiches in half diagonally.
Arrange sandwiches, cut side down in a greased 11"x7" (2L) baking dish. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and pepper. Brush or pour over sandwiches. Cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours, or overnight.
Bake at 375F (190C) for about 30 minutes, or until crisp and golden. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Citrus Squares
Although the recipe calls for lemon rind and juice, you can use any citrus fruit you like; lime, tangerine, or orange are classic choices, or feel free to be adventurous!
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Topping
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
Garnish
- Icing sugar
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind
Directions
In a food processor, or in a bowl with a pastry cutter, blend flour, butter, and brown sugar until crumbly. Press into an ungreased 9 inch square cake pan. Bake at 350F (177C) for 15 minutes.
Stir together sugar, lemon rind and juice, flour, baking powder, and eggs. Pour over baked base. Bake at 325F (163C) for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to the touch. Let cool completely in pan on rack.
Just before serving, cut into squared. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with lemon rind.
Apple Custard Crumble
Ingredients
Base
- 225g plain flour
- 100g cold butter
- 50g granulated sugar
- 1 egg yoke
- pinch of salt
Custard filling
- 4 apples, peeled, deseeded, and diced (Elstar or Golden Delicious work well)
- 200ml whipping cream
- 30g granulated sugar
- 30g plain flour
- 3 egg yokes
Top
- 100g granulated sugar
- 150g plain flour
- 100g cold butter
Equipment
- Baking tin, greased or lined with baking parchment (24cm diameter)
- Whisk
- Large mixing bowl
Steps
Base
- Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt).
- With cold hands (hold them under a cold tap for a few seconds) knead the cold butter into the mixture until you have rough crumbs.
- Add the egg yoke. The mixture should remain crumbly.
- Line a baking tin with the mixture, forming a shell, pressing firmly.
Custard filling
- Mix whipping cream, sugar, and egg yokes.
- Sift the flour and mix it into the mixture using a whisk.
- Distribute the diced apple over the shell you made before (mix the apple with a touch of cinnamon and/or vanilla extract if you like).
- Pour the custard over the apples, shaking the tin to distribute the filling evenly.
Top
- Mix the dry ingredients (flour and sugar).
- Again, with cold hands, knead the cold butter into the mixture until you have rough, sandy crumbs.
- Distribute the crumbs over the top.
Finishing off
- Bake the cake in a preheated oven (220C, or 200C fan) for 30-35 minutes or until the top of the cake is nicely browned.
- Let the cake cool almost entirely within the baking tin. Then leave to cool further on grating.
- Serve as fresh as possible. Goes well with vanilla ice cream and/or topped with warm custard. Keeps several days in the fridge, or several weeks in the freezer.
charity: water
This year we are raising money for charity: water. You can donate directly through our campaign page. If you want to show your appreciation to our streamers, make sure you donate during their streams, as they'll be keeping an eye on incoming donations and reading out donation messages! We also have goals and incentives to hit during the month of December, so keep an eye out for those as well.
charity: water is a nonprofit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. 100% of donations made to charity: water go straight to the sustainable water projects. The work is incredibly important as nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide still do not have access to reliable sources of clean water. Access to clean water improves health, increases access to food, grows local economies, and helps kids spend more time in school. Since 2016, charity: water has funded almost 79,136 water projects (as of October 2021) across 29 countries, serving more than 13.2 million people. We at Clan Quest are proud to help raise money for this amazing cause, and if you like what we're doing with this Advent Calendar, please consider contributing today. Every donation helps.