Showstopping Holiday Desserts For Home Cooks Of All Skill Levels
If you're a noted chef and invited to a holiday party, it's kind of assumed that you'll bring something homemade along. At least that's how it usually goes for Yotam Ottolenghi, who admits his success can sometimes intimidate hosts.
But you don't have to be a world-class chef to make showstopping desserts this holiday season: We asked him to suggest recipes that home cooks of all skill levels can tackle.
Though the Jerusalem-born, London-based Ottolenghi first gained fame for his inventive takes on vegetable dishes, his first job in a kitchen was as a pastry chef. He pays homage to that experience in his latest cookbook, Sweet, co-authored with pastry chef Helen Goh.
His suggestions for holiday sweets range from a simple twist on traditional cookies to a more sophisticated version of the traditional sponge-cake yule log. He tells host Steve Inskeep that there are some key elements to consider. "Wintry desserts have to have a warming aspect to them," Ottolenghi says. "Also with festivities, you want color." Although some of the ingredients the chef suggests can be "perceived as a bit summery, like red currants ... actually this is very Christmasy as well: red currants and black currants and things that look good as decoration for beautiful cakes and pastries that you
