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Spread Holiday Cheer with Homemade Treats December 24, 2019

The Yonsei Annals reporters share favorite holiday recipes

For the last few weeks, streets have been buzzing with Christmas trees, bakery windows displaying holiday-themed cakes, and carols playing in every corner. For the perfect holiday dinner table with family, friends, or yourself, reporters of student-led monthly The Yonsei Annals have selected their favorite holiday treat recipes ranging from brownies and cookies to panna cotta and drinks. Looking for what to eat and drink during Christmas? Spread the warmth with these simply sweet recipes!

Christmas Brownies

Park Jae-ha (Reporter, Campus Reporting Division)

Photographed by Park Jae-Ha

True to its moniker as the season of giving, Christmas is also when we generously gift ourselves delectable and luscious recipes to satisfy our guilty sweet tooth. A dish that best satisfies this desire is Christmas brownies*.

All you need are a box of easy-bake brownie mix, sugar, oligofructose, fresh cream, and sugar powder. To make caramel syrup, first put the sugar and oligofructose in a pot and heat without stirring. When the mixture boils, pour fresh cream and stir. To make the brownies, mix the brownie powder with water, pour the batter into an oven-safe container and bake in a microwave oven for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Cut the cooked brownies into rectangular shapes and stack them in the form of a Christmas tree. For the final touch, sprinkle sugar powder and caramel syrup over the brownies and you will have yourself a wonderful holiday dessert.

*Recipe from CJ The Kitchen

The Zaccheus Family’s Rock Buns

Prairie Soh (Guest Reporter)

Contributed by Evelyn Rebecca Zaccheus

My cousins, the Zaccheuses, celebrate Christmas with a family-favorite rock buns recipe that they always bring to our celebration. Aunt Evelyn Rebecca Zaccheus reminisces, “It was [Great] Aunty Eva who started baking rock buns for Christmas because she wanted a variety of Christmas cookies. From there, the tradition continued down to me, the last child.”

To make Zaccheus Family Rock Buns, you’ll need 1000g of self-rising flour, 500g of butter, 400g of sugar, 500g of dried mixed fruits, 2 to 3 eggs, and 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mix butter, flour, and sugar in a bowl. Then add the dried fruits and mix them in. In another bowl, add vanilla extract and eggs and beat together. Add the mixture into the first bowl and knead into a dough. Then, butter a tray and scoop dough with a tablespoon onto the tray. Bake at approximately 150 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

Melting Snowman Cookies

Cha Min-kyung (Reporter, Photo Division)

Contributed by: wit_bakery

Tired of making the same Christmas dessert every year? If you are looking for a new quick and easy Christmas recipe for this holiday, I want to suggest making melting snowman cookies*.

The ingredients are simple: pre-baked sugar cookies, marshmallows, melted chocolate, white and orange cookie icing, and mini M&M’s. First, spread the white cookie icing onto your pre-baked sugar cookies to create a melted blob. Take one marshmallow and decorate it with melted chocolate to draw dots for the snowman’s eyes, hands and mouth, using a toothpick. For the nose of the snowman, use orange cookie icing to draw the carrot. Then, stick the marshmallow to the decorated cookie to connect it to its melted body part. Lastly, add three M&M’s on the snowman’s body for its buttons. By following these simple steps, you can celebrate Christmas with delicious snowman cookies.

*Recipe from Delish

Panna Cotta with Pomegranate Glaze

Ko Young-gyun (Reporter, Campus Reporting Division) Photographed by Ko Young-GyunA delightful dessert for Christmas dinner table, panna cotta is an easy recipe to make. First, start by setting a two-medium sheet of gelatin in a shallow dish of cold water for a few minutes. While waiting for the gelatin sheets, put 250mL of heavy cream, 50g of caster sugar, 50mL of milk, and a drop of vanilla extract in a saucepan. Heat at a low temperature until it simmers. Then, add a splash of rum (I used whiskey) and the gelatin sheets. Take the mixture off the heat, pour into a mold and place in the freezer to rest for two hours.

For the pomegranate glaze, put 20g of caster sugar into the frying pan along with 275ml of pomegranate juice. Put on high temperature for 10 to 15 minutes and bring to boil until the mixture becomes thick and syrupy. Take the panna cotta from the freezer, slightly reheat it, and pour over the pomegranate glaze. Garnish with mint, basil, or chocolate shavings according to your preferences. Then, the panna cotta will be ready for the perfect Christmas dinner table.

Christmas Cookie Cocktail

Nicholas Newton (Guest Reporter)Photographed by Nicholas Newton

The best part of the holiday season is spending time with your family, but it can also be the absolute worst part. In either case, a stiff drink is always a welcome addition to any occasion. In honor of the festive time of the year, allow me to introduce you to the Christmas Cookie Cocktail, the perfect drink to cherish or soothe over family dinners.

For this concoction, add 60 mL of flavorless vodka, 60 mL of Irish creamer, and 30 mL of peppermint schnapps into a chilled glass. Then, fill the rest with heavy cream, and mix with a spoonful of chocolate sauce. I have personally been using this recipe for the past five years and can personally attest to its wonderful ability to make even the most forced conversations with distant relatives slightly less awful.

Gingerbread House Drink

Oscar Jay (Guest Reporter)Photographed by Lee Chae-Wan

Gingerbread houses are a Christmas staple, but instead of building one, why not drink one instead? All you need is some fudge, finely crushed graham crackers, whipped cream, cinnamon, and milk (and two cups, of course). Your first cup is your drinking one: fill a fourth of the cup with graham crackers, add some whipped cream, and mix them thoroughly. Next, line your cup with fudge all along the sides but don’t add too much! This will be the floor and walls of our gingerbread drink.

Now with your other cup, make either hot cocoa by microwaving milk and mixing some fudge, or chocolate milk by mixing fudge and milk together. Then, add your milk drink to the first cup and whipped cream (or marshmallows if you are feeling adventurous) on top. Put some cinnamon at the end to make the roof of your gingerbread house drink. It is now time to enjoy your Christmas drink by the fire!

[Editor's Note] This article was contributed by Yonsei University's student-led English monthly, The Yonsei Annals.

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