The holidays are a wonderful time to share homemade treats and dishes sweetened with all-natural honey. Here are our 5 favourite honey Christmas recipes:
1. Paula Roy's Honey Roasted Nuts
Homemade honey roasted nuts make a wonderful gift, appetizer or complement on your charcuterie board. Paula Roy's Recipe (video below) is easy and delicious!
Ingredients 3 tablespoons (45 mL) honey 1 teaspoon (5 mL) canola oil
Pinch each of chili powder and ground cardamom or cinnamon 1 cup (250 mL) raw nuts Few dashes salt
Method Line a small baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.Heat honey, oil, chili powder and cardamom over medium heat in a small, non-stick frying pan. When it begins to bubble, add the nuts. Stir to coat nuts evenly with the honey mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, for 4 – 5 minutes, until honey mixture has almost evaporated and nuts are beginning to turn brown. Quickly transfer the cooked nuts to the prepared baking tray, spreading out in a single layer. Sprinkle lightly with salt and let cool. When cooled, break into pieces and transfer to an airtight container. Store up to 2 weeks.
Makes 1 cup (250 mL)
Paula Roy is the Food editor Ottawa At Home and TV Host of Paula Roy's Favourite Foods. You can find more of her wonderful recipes at: constantlycooking.com
2. Mulled Wine
Not only is this a quintessential cold-weather drink for a frosty Christmas eve, it will also fill your home with the splendid aroma of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
Start with a robust red wine, using one you would enjoy drinking on its own.
For a sweet mulled wine, add about 3/4 of a cup of honey, and 3/4 of a cup of water, for every 750 ml bottle of wine. If you would like it less sweet, cut the honey back to half a cup.
Add a cinnamon stick or two. Other great spices for mulled wine are:
Cloves
Whole cardamom pods Star Anise
Black peppercorns
Whole allspice berries
Strips of orange zest
We add orange slices to our mulled wine, but you can also improvise with other fruit like cranberries, raisins, or apple slices
3. Honey Lavender Shortbread
A twist on traditional shortbread, the lavender honey version from The Baker Upstairs is delicious! When we tried this recipe, we had to search around for culinary lavender...but eventually found some at the Natural Food Pantry in Ottawa.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons honey 2 cups flour pinch of salt 2 teaspoons dried lavender
For the full recipe, check out the Baker Upstairs blog at: https://www.thebakerupstairs.com/2015/12/honey-lavender-shortbread-cookies_16.html
4. Honey Spice Gingerbread Cookies
Did you know that Martha Stewart has her own beehives...of course she does...she's Martha Stewart! Here's her beekeeper take on a Christmas classic!
Ingredients
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and parchment1
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup honey
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
Royal icing
Fine sanding sugar
Visit MarthaStewart.com for the full recipe: https://www.marthastewart.com/949872/honey-spice-gingerbread-cookies
5. Pear with Prosciutto, Blue Cheese and Honey
Honey with cheese and charcuterie is one of our go-to holiday entertaining appetizers. These prosciutto-wrapped pear wedges from the National Honey Board bring all the salty sweet goodness together
Ingredients
2 pears, cored and cut into 8 wedges 16 thin slices of 6 oz.
Prosciutto, sliced 5 oz.
Blue cheese, 1/4 cup
Honey
Place prosciutto slice on flat surface and then place pear in middle. Sprinkle each wedge with about 2 tsp. of blue cheese and then drizzle honey on top. Wrap the prosciutto around the pear and serve.
Happy Entertaining this holiday season!
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