Christmas is almost here and with it comes sweet delectable treats! Not only can you substitute sugar for raw honey in regular baked goods, but traditional sweets from around the world have been using honey as a sweetener for centuries! Here are some great holiday recipes from around the world made with your favourite ingredient, honey!
Turrón
Turrón is a nougat treat made with almonds, honey, sugar, and egg whites. Don’t be fooled by its short list of ingredients, this Spanish confection can be quite tricky to get right! Pay close attention, the payoff is definitely worth it.
Ingredients
0.6 cup raw honey
1 cup sugar
1 egg white
2 cups whole blanched almonds.
Recipe
Toast the Almonds
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Spread almonds in a single layer on a tray.
Bake for 3-4 minutes.
Remove when the almonds start to brown.
Make the nougat
Mix the sugar and honey together in a pan on low heat until the sugar dissolves.
Beat the egg white with a food processor until frothy.
As you continue to beat the egg, add in the honey/sugar mixture. Mix well.
Pour the nougat back into the pan on low/med heat, stirring constantly. The goal here is to remove the moisture.
To check to see when to stop cooking, take a small amount of nougat and put it into cold water. It should get hard and hold its shape when cool.
Add your almonds to the nougat and mix well.
Pour the candy into silicone molds.
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Place candy into the fridge to cool.
Formigos
One of Portugal’s favourite holiday treats. Formigos is made from bread, honey, nuts, raisins, and spices. It is simple to make, and you can easily adjust it to fit your taste. Want to add more honey? Go for it! Don’t like raisins? Keep them out. Here’s how to make it.
Ingredients
250g bread (old bread works better here)
1 cinnamon stick
⅓ cup raisins
⅓ cup chopped walnuts
⅓ cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons port wine
1.5 litres water
Zest from 1 lemon
Ground cinnamon (for decoration)
Recipe
Add the cinnamon stick, honey, sugar, port wine, water, and lemon zest to a pot, bring to a boil.
As the water boils, break up the bread in small chunks with your hands.
After 15 minutes, add raisins, walnuts, pine nuts to the pot.
Simmer for 10 more minutes then add the bread.
Cook until the mixture starts thickening, stir occasionally.
Pour into individual dishes. Decorate with ground cinnamon.
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Serve hot or cold!
Melomakarona
Melomakarona is known as the Greek Honey Christmas Cookie. The moist cake-like cookie is covered with a sweet honey syrup, making it the ultimate honey treat. It’s ooey gooey goodness signals the start of the holidays in Southeastern Europe, but we recommend enjoying them year round.
Photo by Andreas Kontokanis
Ingredients
For the cookie
6.5 cups plain flour
1 cup olive oil
1 cup vegetable oil
0.75 cups sugar
Zest of 1 orange
0.75 cups orange juice
0.25 cups brandy (optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
0.75 cups walnuts chopped
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
For the Syrup
1 cup honey
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
Two-inch piece of lemon peel
Juice of ½ a lemon
Cookie Recipe
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine the orange zest and sugar in a large bowl
Add the olive and vegetable oil, mix well.
Add the orange juice and brandy, continue mixing.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a separate bowl, give a quick mix.
Add the liquid to the flour mixture slowly, mixing it in bit by bit.
The dough should become stiff.
Break off golf ball sized pieces and place on a baking sheet. Flatten dough with a fork.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Syrup Recipe
Combine honey, sugar, water, cinnamon stick, lemon zest, and cloves in a saucepan, bring to a boil.
Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, the syrup should thicken.
Take out the cinnamon stick, lemon peel, and cloves.
Stir in the lemon juice.
Finishing up
While the cookies are still warm, place some of the cookies in the syrup. Let them soak up the sweet goodness and flip them over. After about 30 seconds, remove the cookies, place on a serving tray, and sprinkle with walnuts and ground cinnamon.
Have you ever made a special recipe using raw honey? Share it with us in the comments below or on our Facebook page. If you try out any of the recipes above, we’d love to find out how they turned out! For more recipe ideas, check out more of our Honey and Bee Blog.
Bon Appetit!