Recipes by Zola - The Bad Santa Cocktail and Chocolate Crusted Peanut Butter Tart

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The Bad Santa Cocktail and Chocolate Crusted Peanut Butter Tart

Zola Gorgon

Christmas Vows...

My husband and I made an informal wedding vow that relates to Christmas. Pretty unique, eh?

The vow didn't actually happen as part of our wedding day. It came soon afterward; before we got to our first Christmas.

What happened is this.

My husband and I used to travel quite a bit. He was gone up to 225 days a year and I was gone up to 160. That's more than the average bear travels; that's for sure. Traveling, even 20 years ago could be quite frustrating and tiring. Most people are excited to get on a plane and go somewhere. That was not the case with us. It was just something we had to do to conduct business so we put up with the hassles.

We put up with those hassles all year long so we decided that at the holidays we were going to be the amongst the few that don't travel. My husband put it this way. "On Christmas we will be sitting around our Christmas tree. You are welcome to visit, but we are not going to travel when the rookies travel".

So what's a travel rookie? That's someone who is going to visit family and decides to bring as much on the plane as possible; wrapped gifts as well as travel bags. They don't realize their load is as big as it is so they bump everyone as they go down the aisle; giggling in the anticipation of seeing friends and family. They drink on the plane like they are in a pub and they laugh so loudly everyone on the plane can't help but hear their laughter; and even their conversation. Don't get me wrong. We aren't out to spoil their fun. We just want to avoid being part of it. Do we sound like Scrooge? Well, so be it.

So here's what Christmas looks like at our house.

Santa brings us games to play. We are child-free, so those games are usually word games, puzzles to solve and thinking games to challenge us. We play Christmas music; until we need a break from it. We go to church in the evening on Christmas Eve, (usually a midnight service; although this year we are going to try a 6PM service) and then we go to dinner somewhere nice. It's a challenge finding restaurants that are open on Christmas Eve; especially late. This year I have found a wonderful French bistro.

We open gifts late on Christmas Eve; starting with what my husband's family calls a "table gift". If we are too tired we open the remaining gifts in the morning. Then we go back to playing games.

If we find out there are "orphans" around we invite them to dinner on Christmas. "Orphans" in this case are friends who cannot get to family, for whatever reason, on Christmas. We don't want them to be alone so we invite them over and we play games and eat. (Playing games seems to have a repeating theme here).

Some would say this is boring. What's Christmas without tikes around giggling throughout the day, opening gifts, playing with them, all while the adults chat, drink and eat?

What we'd call it is a peaceful holiday filled with romance, and, of course, games.

However you spend your holidays we hope you enjoy them with vigor.

And just in time for you last minute menu planners; or serial menu changers I have a couple of really cool treats. The first one is a drink you can serve at Christmas or throughout the year. We named this drink the Bad Santa but you can name it whatever suits your fancy. And I recently devised a fabulously divine peanut butter tart so maybe you'll want to whip one up. It's light, creamy, rich and perfect for family and friends. Easy too!

The Bad Santa (make this by the pitcher)

1 cup of Cointreau (or if you are on a tighter budget use Triple Sec)
2 cups of brandy (regular brandy; not cognac)
3 cups of orange juice (non-pulp variety would be best)
1 bottle of sparkling wine or champagne. (recently I used Proseco and it worked great. It's cheaper).

Put it all in a pitcher and stir. Then serve in cocktail glasses over ice. You can garnish with a cherry to be even more festive. This will make approximately 15 drinks. I always have to have at least 2 bottles of champagne around because the first pitcher goes fast.

Chocolate Crusted Peanut Butter Tart

For the crust
1-1/2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs (You can use Famous chocolate cookies and grind them or Oreo makes them already ground). You just whiz them in the food processor or put them in a large baggie and crush them with your rolling pin.
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of melted butter

For the bottom layer
4 oz of bittersweet chocolate diced
3 oz of whipping cream

For the peanut butter layer
8 oz of cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup of white sugar
1 cup of smooth peanut butter
3 cups of whipped topping (Cool Whip is one brand)

Optional top decoration
4 oz of bittersweet chocolate
3 oz of whipping cream

You'll need a 9" tart pan with removable sides. Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl. Mix with a fork until the crumbs are all wet with butter. Pour this mixture into the bottom of the tart pan and flatten it with your fingers. Gather some of the crumbs up along this sides and press them firmly to you make a 1" (or so) rim on your tart.

Make room for the tart pan in your freezer and put it in there for 15 minutes to harden it.

While it's in the freezer, make your bottom layer. In a sauce pan, carefully, and slowly melt the chocolate and cream. Stir constantly. This will only take a couple of minutes on medium low. Even before the chocolate is fully melted take it off the heat. The heat of the pan and the hot cream will continue to melt the chocolate. If people make a mistake here, it's keeping the pan on the heat too long and your chocolate will overcook and stick to the bottom of the pan or become grainy.

Take the tart crust out of the freezer and spread this layer over the crust bottom. Don't try to get it up the sides. That's not necessary. Return the pan to the freezer for up to 15 minutes more; or until the chocolate has hardened.

While this is happening make your peanut butter filling. In a bowl beat the cream cheese and the sugar until fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter and the whipped topping. Take the tart out of the freezer and spread the peanut butter mixture on top. Smooth the top with a spatula and lightly cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator. You can do this a day ahead of serving or for at least 3 hours.

On the day you'll serve it, remove plastic wrap and take a very sharp knife and carefully work it around the rim of the tart. You need to do this to loosen the sides of the tart away from the metal rim before you spring the pan open. Because the tart is cold this takes some pressure and some patience. It's worth this extra step though so you don't break the crust trying to get it out of the pan.

Display on a pretty platter. Then make your final topping or plan to serve plain. Melt the chocolate and cream and this time use a small spoon to take the chocolate mixture out of the pan and drizzle it around the edges of the tart. I do this in a swirl pattern to decorate the tart. I leave the middle 2 or 3" plain so the drizzle decoration looks like a chocolate-swirl wreath around the sides.

You can leave the tart out of the refrigerator for up to a couple of hours before serving it; depending on how hot it is in your area. I don't like to serve this sort of dessert right out of the refrigerator because I think it tastes better if it's just cool and not cold.

Cut with a sharp knife and serve. You'll hear MMMM and YUM from all who taste it.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.

This news arrived on: 12/21/2007

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