We usually just eat cookies, but that cake looks intriguing. I’d have to see if my local grocery has almond flour because no way am I braving Trader Joe’s. DH made baklava today, but he’s planning on giving a lot of it away to neighbors who are missing the big neighborhood Christmas party where he always brings it.
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Baklava?!!! I need to live in YOUR neighborhood, @mathmom.
The clementines are puréed whole. The cake would be nothing without the zest, which softens during cooking.
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I LOVE baklava! Send him to me! I am way too chicken to attempt that.
@lookingforward drooling. I also LOVE poached pears.
Thank you. Sounds delicious.
Can you use regular flour for the clementine cake? Would rather not make another trip.
We splurged this year and ordered this cake from Doan’s Bakery which is located close to us.
We always make tiramisu on Christmas Eve and this year will be no different. We haven’t really thought about Christmas Day dessert yet. Normally we would be at my parents’ house and my mom makes the dessert. Since we will be celebrating at home this year, we will be making it. Probably something light because dinner is heavy/rich (beef tenderloin with horseradish cream, gruyere scalloped potatoes and asparagus).
I am a baklava lover and am fortunate to live in an area with a large Middle East population snd great baklava and other ME food. That said, a few years I made this easy baklava hack. It was hugely popular with people! The crumbled puff pastry cups mimicked the layers of phyllo dough of true baklava.
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Good question. I might make a pecan pie. I’ve not done that before, but we have the ingredients.
My mother usually makes more than an ample amount of stuff for our Christmas Eve dinner, but I might make some stuff just to have between Christmas and New Year’s. I usually make chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, butterscotch cookies, and will probably make my Grandmother’s old fashioned apple chip cake. My mother usually makes pecan pie, fruit salad, sometimes a punch bowl cake or coconut cake, sometimes a cherry or blueberry cream cheese dessert, last year she made a butter pecan cake, sometimes apple pie. She also usually has container with goodies to munch on during the holidays. She just made turtles, and was going to make oatmeal scotchies, maybe chocolate chip cookies or fudge.
This is a hard thread for someone with nut allergies 
Also interested if the clementine cake can be made with regular flour.
I’m seeing you can go 1:1 with all purpose flour but almond is lighter plus adds a nutty taste. Also, that almond needs more binding agent (eggs,) so a recipe may need to be tweaked.
Sounds complicated. I think I’d search out a similar recipe with lots Iots of high ratings.
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My family is pretty set in their ways so I am keeping to our usual desserts this year. Christmas Eve is always warm gingerbread cake with fresh whipped cream. Christmas Day will be homemade cream puffs and cheesecake with cherries or homemade vegan praline sauce. The latter two will also have non-dairy versions for my youngest DD who loves desserts and cannot eat dairy.
Oldest DD and her husband will not be here until Jan. 1st. Since they ended up having to cancel their Thanksgiving trip we will also be celebrating their November birthdays that day. Dessert will be my daughter’s favorite, “Candy Bar Cake” (some people know it as Better than S*x Cake) - layers of rich chocolate cake (doctored up from a mix), whipped heavy cream, chocolate pudding (for years I used Thank You pudding but they stopped making it - I find Jello Chocolate Fudge pudding is an ok substitute now), and Heath Bar bits. Simple but delicious and very decadent. Some people put booze in theirs but I have always had young children around the house so have never thought about it.
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I had a thread about this at Thanksgiving asking for recipes. You could look there for some help. I made 2 of them.
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Here is my Clementine Cake recipe. The person who sent it used Almond Flour…but the recipe just says…flour. The person who sent it uses Lakanto sugar substitute…not me…I used regular sugar.
CLEMENTINE CAKE
Preheat oven to 375
Lightly grease a 9-inch spring-form pan.
1 ¼ pounds clementines (about 7) (mandarin oranges work just as well)
Soften clementines by floating them in a bowl of water and place in a microwave for 25 minutes. They and the water will be very hot.
Remove the tiny bud, then slice each clementine in half. Place them (skins and all) in a food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.
In a mixer, whisk eggs, sugar, orange-blossom water, flour, baking powder, and salt.
6 eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar (I used Lakanto sugar substitute)
2 tablespoons orange-blossom water (rose water is fine; if you can’t find either, it’s still OK)
1 ½ cups flour (I used almond flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Whisk in the clementine puree.
Pour batter into greased pan and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Check earlier to be on the safe side.
When slightly cooled (30 minutes) run knife around edge and remove from pan.
Eat as is or glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar (I used Lakanto substitute), and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. You may want to double/triple depending on the thickness you want.
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Wife is making Cuban Flan
6 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
teaspoon of vanilla
4oz cream cheese
2 tablespoons grated coconut in heavy syrup
pinch of salt
ALL OF THIS GETS MIXED TOGETHER IN BLENDER
1/2 cup of sugar caramelized on low flame on stove top
Pour melted sugar in pan, be sure to cover all of bottom
Pour blended mix on top of melted sugar
Cover with aluminum foil
Put that pan in another pan filled half with water
Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes
Take out, flip and let it cool. ENJOY!!!
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@thumper1 The original recipe I used was from Nigella Lawson. I modified it by eliminating an egg, adding almond extract, and using glaze, which I think enhances the flavor. I think the cake would be fine with four eggs too.
@SJ2727 thumper1 has posted a flour version of the recipe on this thread.
When I have more than a couple people, I make a trifle every year. I do different flavors each year. One year I forgot about the fact that it had liqueur in it and brought a Tres Leches trifle to a HS event. It was a HUGE hit.
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Christmas Day (or any day this holiday) will be very small and local within our safe people bubble. We are thinking about doing a Mexican feast. We also would like to keep the dinner prep to a minimum. But I’m looking for extra Mexican entree or side ideas that would not be time consuming (instant pot or crock pot?) I think we won’t do a tortilla soup. I may do my chicken enchiladas. Fresh salsa and guacamole. Store bought queso. Any other ideas???
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