[pgkevet]

I've been getting nostalgic for my parents traditional czech christmas baking. Sadly my sister passed away a few years ago and I had planned to 'allow' her to do my baking. So it's down to me.There's no poit in my posting recipes since these are all going to come off the web... just a link to the sorts of things I'm referring to.
I did make some baclava yesterday (yeah, not czech but tasty and easy) - 15layers of basted filo, layer of chopped pistachio, walnut and pecan mixed with honey, another 15 layers filo, repeat the nuts and filo then once baked souse the lot in sugar syrup. I can only eat 1/2 a slice at a time!
Site for vanocka and vanilla crescents - http://www.czechcookbook.com/

[sabrina]

Looks very yummy. I still make Scottish shortbread and clottie dumpling at Christmas. I used to make mince pies as well but I eat too many. I remember my mum doing lots of baking around Christmas time. The cake being made weeks in advance. We had chicken on the day, the only time of the year we did get it. Sad to say not many bother to bake now.

[pgkevet]

I made the christmas bread - came out tasting nice. Only hiccup was the recipe i picked had the amount of flour wrong and I had to add a heck of a lot more to get the mix looking right and when i made the plaits the upper level layers were heavy enough to spread the whole loaf so it ended up the right height but a tad spread out.The biggest issue is baking in an oil rayburn which seems to vary it's temp setting day by day and has that extra hot spot far top left so ya have to keep rotating the goods in the oven to stop them burning one side and raw the other.I plan on starting on the biscuits tomorrow on the grounds that this new to me and some batches may end up as trial samples.

[Perris]

I still make Scottish shortbread and clottie dumpling at Christmas.

two quick questions from someone who does still bother to bake (and I've just made my Christmas cake ): do you add cornflour to your shortbread? and what is a clottie dumpling

[Steph Hen]

Clottie dumping is amazing. It's like a Christmas pudding but way more amazing!
My youngest son and I are on the strictest diet ever so no baked goods for us :-(

[pgkevet]

I just looked up clootie dumpling recipes... looks like it should be called 'steamed coronary' 

[Rupert the bear]

Clottie dumping is amazing. It's like a Christmas pudding but way more amazing!
My youngest son and I are on the strictest diet ever so no baked goods for us :-(

Damm you've made me want to go and make one

[sabrina]

You can make it in the microwave, saves a lot of time. I don't add cornflour when making shortbread pgkevet. I have added rice flour in the past though .

[pgkevet]

I followed 2 recipes today.https://www.elizabethskitchendiary.co.uk/4-ingredient-hazelnut-cookies/My other half is vegan so I substituted vegan spread. End result is wonderful but the mix comes out a little too greasy and tends to slump to larger diameter. Best to reduce the fat quantity (or in my case .when i saw the results of first batch I added flour and sugar and kneaded it in.I'm not one to mess about so chucked everything dry into a  bowl and gave a quick stir then cut the spread in in lumps before kneading. the trick is to make basic balls and hardly flatten them. I emded up with 45 biscuits. V has eaten 6 so far and blaming me!

Second recipe
https://www.thespruceeats.com/vanilla-crescents-recipe-czech-1135712I made this up with half quantities. It come out a tad dryish which makes shaping the crescents harder but they hold their shape. I guess if a non-vegan added an egg white and a tad more dry ingredient it would roll and then be easier to handle and form into crescents. Again end result is super tasty. I ended up with about 40 crescents - very vanilla.
Saddest aspect is i don't eat much sweet stuff so I'm really only doing this out of nostalgia and to have a tray of assorted czech style biccies for guests.
I'll have a go at gingerbread shapes and bear claws soon then the czech style jammie dodgers and some mini florentines to finish the array.
It's a shame this site doesn't store pic uploads cos i find cloud pic storage a nuisance these days.

[pgkevet]

Next up was the bear claw recipe. The one I found made a choclate cookie. It shaped well and cooked nice and firm and came out of the madelaine formers and other formers beautifully...but tasted horrid. Way too much cocoa in the mix. I went back to the classic 4 ingredient cookie and used almonds this time. that was fine but took longer to bake due to depth. Coated with chocolate on the toes and add the claws..fiddly and probbaly best done with forceps but they look good.
Also a gingerbread recipe http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/25004/honey-gingerbread-biscuits.aspxThis one is egg free and can sub golden syup for the honey (Yes V is vegan and you don't approve).It came out well. Top tip is to roll out onto baking paper and remove the scrap rather than trying to lift shapes onto the sheets.

The gingerbreads need decorating - classically czech ones with royal icing piping. I looked this up and you can make vegan royal icing with the brine from a can of chick peas.. Really! It works and the icing is rock hard.
Sadly the pics below aren't mine 

[pgkevet]

This is the last in my series of czech chistmas cookie testers although purists would add mini merigues (mum used to make them with date pieces incorporated) and also a coconut ball
Recipe this time was:225gms vegan spread or butter280gm plain flour69gm fine grated walnuts130gm caster sugar1/4 tsp salt1/2 tsp vanilla extract
vanilla sugar for dusting + jam
Far too many cookies from this mix so 1/2 has gone in the freezer (hope it'll be OK)
about 15mins baking time

I had to make my own b'currant jam 'cos we aren't jam eaters... the lazy way i do that is own b'currants in a mug + sugar and microwave a few minutes with ocassional stirs.
Again not my pic:

[pgkevet]

My efforts..

[Perris]

they look really scrumptious!

[Womble]

They look amazing!  The bear claw ones freak me out a little though, so I'm glad you didn't add toenails to yours!


I bought Mrs Womble these cookie cutters for Christmas:





I'll report back in due course if she decides to let me into the kitchen to use them!

[pgkevet]

I've got half my gingerbread pastry left in the freezer.. where did you find those cutters?