The Holiday Sweet: My 5 favorite Sweet Christmas Dishes

Everyone has a favorite holiday sweet, the trouble for me is deciding which of my favorite holiday sweets is number one. So, I continue this tooth-ache down memory lane to call upon the best tasting and best memories when it comes to sweet Christmas dishes. It’s not a holiday cake, and it’s not cookies for Christmas, it’s something I couldn’t even pronounce until culinary school.

Croquembouche (“croak-am-bush”) is my fourth Favorite Holiday Sweet, not because of childhood memories, but as something I learned about as an adult in culinary school.

Croquembouche means “crunch the mouth” in French, a festive tower made of round puff pastries filled with cream, mousse, or other custards. The profiteroles are stuck together with caramelized sugar and stacked to resemble the cone shape of a Christmas tree. The ornate pastries are decorated with marzipan flowers, candied fruits, or sugared nuts, and presented at weddings, baptisms, and my house, as a Christmas dessert and display.

I was so taken with the combination of baking and pastry, engineering and architecture skills that it took to assemble this edible center piece, it became an instant holiday classic in my house.

The profiteroles are made from pate choux paste, the same procedure we’ve used to make éclairs and beignets in my cooking videos. These little pastries are leavened by steam and egg protein, making them completely hollow when baked, and perfect for injecting custards or pastry cream into.

Just as joyous as assembling all your stored holiday decorations, and garnishing your tree with them, gathering the filled pastries into a Christmas tree made of this holiday sweet will bring a feeling of happiness to your home.

Turn Holiday Cooking Stress into Holiday Cooking Success this year.