Sweet celebration

With the year-end festive season almost upon us, it's time to start planning for the rounds of parties involving family and friends. Pauline D. Loh brings out the dessert trolley.

Alcohol-laden fruitcakes, spicy gingerbread cookies and buttery shortcakes aside, the year-end double whammy of Christmas and New Year on consecutive weekends is just begging for more sweet celebration. And that means you will be seeking out sugar-laden desserts that will tempt the most hard-hearted guests. My family is fortunate to have benefitted from an international melting pot of epicurean influences. We commemorate all our Chinese festivities with the greatest enthusiasm, but we have also celebrated Christmas regularly in both spiritual and culinary senses.

Very early in my son's childhood, we established a family tradition. We would share our Christmas or Watch Night dinner with guests who may not have family with them at the moment, either because they are students away from home, or expatriate colleagues in need of a surrogate family.

Both my husband and I spent a good part of our lives in Britain and America, and we will always remember the kindness of our friends at Christmas and New Year. When we came home, we made a pledge to pass that forward if we got the chance.

Half the fun in entertaining our guests was to cook them food that incorporated our culinary heritage and theirs. For them, it was familiar flavors that made them feel at home and I have found that nothing hits the spot quite like that final touch - dessert. I became pretty adapt at what I call my "festive trinity", sweets that are classics on their own, and terribly impressive when they become the centerpiece of the celebration table.

The first is the Italian tiramisu. It may be Italian in origin, but it has become such a popular sweet that it now belongs more to an international menu. From Chennai to Chicago, and Paris to Hong Kong, the tiramisu not only appears in all guises and adaptations, but has now evolved into a flavor on its own - as in tiramisu ice-cream and lollies.

This dessert involves almost no cooking, and all it needs is an aesthetic eye for presentation and a steady hand for when you liberally soak the sponges. It is a heady mix of whipped custard and cream folded into soft, buttery cheese and topped with deep, dark chocolate. To me, the tiramisu is the perfect party dessert, especially since it can be made well ahead of time.

My personal favorite is the trifle, a very English pudding that recalls the dark-paneled dining halls at boarding school. Trifle was served only during festive occasions, such as school day or Christmas. The only thing I do not like is the gritty hundreds and thousands of sugar hearts and stars that was the cook's idea of fancy decoration. It got into the cracks between teeth and inevitably scattered all over the table and floor.

But the whipped cream, jelly, fruit cocktail and wine-soaked sponge more than made up for that slight imperfection.

Finally, the pecan pie is my tribute to American friends who made us feel at home in Washington, Berkeley and San Mateo. This sticky sweet confection is delicious piping hot, aromatic with burnt toffee and nuts. The eggy jam-like filling that encased the nuts was the most fascinating flavor I encountered as a fledgling cook.

Pecan pie is part of the culinary magic that so permeates good American home-cooking.

None of these classics are difficult, and probably the most effort goes into making the pastry for the pie. If you are short of time or patience, go for ready-made short-crust pastry. Why not? Your focus is on the filling, not the shell.

I hope these classics will become part of your festive repertoire, and may you pass forward the spirit of giving this sweet season.

Recipe | Celebration trifle

Ingredients (serves a party!):

12 sponge fingers (lady fingers)

50 ml quality sherry

50 g fruit gelatin (jelly crystals)

300 g canned peaches or fruit cocktail

100 ml chilled double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

Sugar hearts and stars

Method:

1. Sprinkle the sherry over the sponge fingers and settle them at the bottom of a large glass bowl.

2. Dissolve the jelly crystals in 100 ml of hot water and cool slightly before pouring over the sponge fingers. Chill until set.

3. Dice fruit pieces if they are any larger than bite-sized. Tumble them on top of the sponge and jelly base.

4. Whip the double cream and icing sugar to soft peaks and pile the whipped cream on top of the trifle. Chill until ready to serve.

5. Just before serving, sprinkle the sugar hearts and stars on top.

Food notes:

You can also add homemade custard before piling on the whipped cream, although I prefer just cream alone for a lighter touch. If you are adding the sugar hearts and stars, remember to do so at the very last minute. You really do not want the color bleeding into the whipped cream. I like serving my trifle in individual portions for neater servings, but a huge crystal bowl full of festive colors can be really impressive.

Recipe | Tiramisu

Ingredients (serves 6 - 8):

3 eggs (at least 55 g each), yolks only

100 g castor sugar

250 g mascarpone cheese

100 ml chilled double cream

1 cup strong black coffee

4 tbsp citrus-flavored liqueur

18 Italian sponge fingers (lady fingers)

50 g quality cocoa powder

Icing sugar

Method:

1. Beat egg yolks and castor sugar together until pale and creamy. Add orange liqueur and slowly beat in mascarpone cheese.

2. Whip the double cream until soft peaks form, then fold into the mascarpone mixture.

3. Arrange half the sponge fingers in a large glass tray. Pour over half the cooled brewed coffee evenly.

4. As the sponge fingers soften, arrange them neatly so they form an even layer. Spread half the mascarpone mixture on top of the sponge fingers. Repeat with remaining sponge fingers and mascarpone.

5. Smooth over the top of the final layer of mascarpone and chill until ready to serve.

6. Dust top of tiramisu generously with cocoa powder and add decorative lines or festive stencils of icing sugar.

Food notes:

The traditional liqueur used in a tiramisu is Marsala but I like using the sharper orange liqueur because it cuts through the richness of the cheese and cream. This dessert can be made ahead and frozen. To serve, defrost at room temperature and add the final dusting of cocoa and icing powder. If you like, a colorful scatter of lemon or orange zest will make it more decorative. Or, you may go for total decadence and shave lots of dark chocolate curls on top.

Recipe | Pecan & Walnut pie

Ingredients (serves 6 to 8):

200 g chilled butter, cut into cubes

200 g plain flour, sifted

1 tsp salt

150 g butter

100 g light brown sugar

50 g castor sugar

1 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs (at least 55g each), beaten

300 g pecan or walnut halves

Method:

1. Place the sifted flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and drop the butter cubes in. Lightly toss until butter cubes are evenly coated with flour. Using a pastry cutter or butter knife, cut the butter into as tiny pieces as you can manage, tossing the flour to coat as you go.

2. Wash your hands under cold water and dry them well. Lightly "rub" the mixture between forefingers and thumb until it resembles breadcrumbs. If there are still tiny chunks of butter in the mix, don't worry. They'll flatten out when you roll the dough.

3. Add enough ice-cold water spoon by spoon until the dough just comes together without cracking. Rest the dough ball in the fridge for a half hour to relax the gluten.

4. Roll the dough to fit your pie plate, trimming the edges as you go. Press down the edges of the pie with the tines of a fork, or if you are a pro baker, scallop the edges with your fingers.

5. Prick the bottom of the dough and bake in a 180 deg C pre-heated oven 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

6. When pie shell is baking, prepare the filling.

7. Melt 150 g butter in a saucepan and add the sugar, stirring in honey and vanilla. Keep stirring until sugar is totally dissolved.

8. Remove from heat and cool slightly, Whisk in the eggs and add the nut halves.

9. Pour nut and syrup mixture into the pie shell and bake for another 45 minutes to an hour in a moderate oven of 180 deg C. Pie is done if the filling does not wobble anymore.

Food notes:

Pecan pie is the ultimate American festive food, more representative to me than apple pie. I have to apologize for substituting walnuts for the pecans, but I cannot seem to get pecans that taste like pecans in Beijing. But I have discovered some really milky and delicious local walnuts, and they seem to work very well. Another ingredient that I have swopped is honey for corn syrup. This is a personal choice. I find using honey, a natural product, a lot more comfortable than a processed thickener like corn syrup. If the texture suffers a modicum because of this, I'll take it with the other benefits.