Christmas Eve Recipes

Christmas is the special time of the year. Christians eagerly wait for this festival. Christians celebrate this festival with great zeal. Christmas Eve dishes are served on 24th December evening before Christmas. Americans conventionally serve ham for Christmas Eve dinner. Below are given few Christmas Eve recipes.

1. French Baguettes: This is one of the best Christmas Eve recipes. With the help of this recipe, you can make delicious French baguettes.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Directions:

• To prepare French Baguettes, first you need to place one cup of water, sugar, salt, and yeast and bread flour into bread machine pan. Choose dough cycle and press start
• When the cycle is completed, you need to place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides.
• Now, you need to cover and allow it to rest in warm place for half-hour. Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched
• After this, you need to punch down dough, Roll it into a 16x12 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface
• Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up every half of dough tightly, starting at 12 inch side. Roll slowly back and forth to taper end.
• Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and make deep diagonal slashes around loaves every 2 inches
• Cover and allow rise in a warm place for half-hour
• Now, you need to preheat oven to 375 degrees and mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water
• Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown

2. Easy Baklava: This is one of the easiest Christmas Eve recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 pound chopped mixed nuts

Directions:

• First you need to preheat oven to 350 degrees to make easy baklava.
• Toss together nuts and cinnamon
• Unroll phyllo and then cut the entire stack in half to fit the dish
• Now, you need to cover phyllo with a damp cloth when assembling baklava for keeping it from drying out
• After this, you need to place two sheets of phyllo in bottom of the prepared dish and brush with butter
• Now, you need to sprinkle 2 tablespoon of nut mixture on top. Repeat layers unless all the ingredients are used
• Cut baklava using a sharp knife into four long rows for making 36 diamond shapes
• Now, you need to bake in preheated oven 50 minutes until crisp and golden
• Mix sugar and water in a pot and then put it over medium heat while baklava is baking and bring to a boil. Stir in honey, lemon zest and vanilla, reduce heat and boil for 20 minutes
• Now, you need to remove baklava from the oven and quickly spoon syrup over it. Let cool before serving.