White Christmas (dessert)

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White Christmas (in the version with white chocolate), pre-portioned, piled up (close-up)

White Christmas ( English for White Christmas ) is a traditional Australian dessert , specifically in the Vorweihnachts - and Christmas season cooked and eaten is; It also serves - decoratively packed  - as a small Christmas present . The main ingredients are dried fruits , desiccated coconut and certain breakfast cereals made from puffed rice , which are sweetened , cooled and solidified Coconut oil , and sometimes white chocolate , depending on the recipe , are bound. It is easy to prepare as the food is neither baked nor cooked . All ingredients can be stored easily, especially in Australia, and are often part of the inventory anyway . With an airy-soft to (semi) firm consistency , depending on the variant , White Christmas is reminiscent of muesli bars and optically of white nougat .

Background and name

In Australia, as in the entire southern hemisphere , the Advent season and Christmas days largely fall in late spring or early summer . Many Australians like to use the usually warm to hot holidays until the turn of the year for summer vacations or visits to relatives and friends who are further away. The Christmas days are a great time to spend with family or friends at extensive barbecues or picnics outdoors. In the Australian kitchen there is therefore a particular need for food, especially Christmas desserts, that are easy to prepare and transport and, in particular, because they do not have a chocolate coating and chocolate in general, do not melt quickly, even at higher temperatures .

The name of the dessert refers generally to the Christmas festival and thus the religion or at least the cultural imprint of many immigrants to Australia and their descendants . In particular, the name refers to the weather event White Christmas , i.e. when there is either snow falling or snowing on Christmas Eve , Christmas Day December 25th and Boxing Day (December 26th) or at least sometime during this time . For many Australians, this weather event plays a special role: On the one hand, it is an extreme exception there in early summer ; on the other hand, the weather event is associated with memories and longing for many immigrant Australians when they know "White Christmas" from their country of origin, have experienced it themselves while traveling or tell their ancestors about it.

There is also a correlation between the dessert and its name due to the white base color: It results from the use of re-solidified coconut fat as well as milk powder and powdered sugar , alternatively of white chocolate, also of desiccated coconut and puffed rice; This sets White Christmas apart from the majority of Christmas desserts, which are usually baked and / or coated with conventional chocolate and are therefore brown.

Importance and Development

In Australia, White Christmas is one of the particularly popular traditional Christmas sweets. If you prepare it yourself, it is eaten in your own family, but it is also a popular gift for guests and a present to send. In addition there is in larger cubes cut in cellophane - film wrapped and decorated with colorful ribbons. Sometimes the classic basic recipe is referred to as "old-fashioned", so in addition other ingredients like peppermint - Essence and white chocolate are proposed. Further modernizations concern the use of baking tins for mini- muffins for portioning, the use of the microwave oven to melt coconut oil and more complex, more modern, partly ready-to-buy edible Christmas decorations. There are also special recipes in which the mixture for the dessert is largely prepared in the Thermomix , a multi-function kitchen appliance .

In Australia, which is usually warm, the chilled version made with coconut oil is also valued for another reason: Coconut oil has a favorable melting point , so that it melts on the tongue . The energy required for melting is withdrawn from the oral cavity , which is perceived as cool and therefore refreshing. The sensation is the same as when consuming chilled, praline-like ice confectionery and can be further emphasized by adding peppermint essence .

Because of its simple preparation and traditional aspects, White Christmas in the variant with pure coconut fat is not produced industrially and is usually not sold as a finished product . Since autumn 2019, the confectionery manufacturer Cadbury in Australia has been offering a seasonal white chocolate with a filling based on the White Christmas dessert . Individual pastry and bakery - chain stores in Australia to sell at least seasonal elaborate, sophisticated, sometimes richly decorated versions of White Christmas , for example, with a thin coating of white chocolate.

Related desserts

In the preparation and the ingredients very similar to White Christ-mas : The traditional Australian dessert Chocolate Crackles with cocoa powder instead of dried fruit and therefore brown instead of white-variegated

In  terms of preparation and the essential ingredients, White Christmas presents itself - in the form we know today: without baking - as a modification of Chocolate Crackles , a traditional Australian dessert, the preparation and consumption of which is typical of the country as a "great pleasure at children's parties". In contrast to White Christmas , cocoa powder is added to the mixture for Chocolate Crackles instead of dried fruit, so that the small portions are deep brown instead of white and colored. A basic idea of ​​both desserts is to create sweet treats with inexpensive, easily storable and easily available ingredients; In this way, newcomers as well as farmers and simple craftsmen who were often poor in the beginning were able to offer their children little surprises on birthdays and holidays despite precarious circumstances.

story

The Kellogg's Rice Bubbles typically used at White Christmas became popular in Australia from the 1930s: A Ford barrel-nose truck from 1938/39 with Kellogg’s advertising in front of the University of Sydney

It is not known exactly when and by whom the original recipe for White Christmas in the form known today was developed or published for the first time. In Australia, the dessert under this name and its widespread use can be traced back at least well into the 20th century . The origins could be in the 1930s : On the one hand, the coconut oil copha , which is typically used for this, was developed in 1933 and spread rapidly; on the other hand, from 1928 Kellogg’s marketed its Rice Krispies , which in Australia and New Zealand carry the trademarked name Rice Bubbles .

In Australia, the name White Christmas for a dessert can be traced back to the 1930s, at least to the late 19th century : The American writer Mark Twain mentions it in his largely autobiographical travelogue Following the Equator , published in 1897 ( More Tramps Abroad) (in German: Following the equator ). At that time, however, it was still understood to mean small portions of conventionally baked Christmas cake cut into rectangles .

It is unclear whether White Christmas  - in the form we know today: without baking - was created from scratch by one of the two manufacturers of Copha or Rice Bubbles , or whether an already existing idea was only taken up and spread further. In any case, in the first half of the 20th century the opportunities to advertise a new product were still quite limited. Both manufacturers had a great economic interest in making the rice bubbles known as breakfast cereals or copha as vegetable fat and then showing customers the broadest possible range of applications. Both of them worked early on with different, varied recipe suggestions that were attached to the products as recipe cards or were offered to print in magazines for advertising purposes. Especially with the Chocolate Crackles and soon afterwards with White Christmas , the interests of both companies met and the simple recipe with coconut fat, milk powder, powdered sugar, dried fruit, desiccated coconut and rice bubbles spread rapidly in Australia, partly also in New Zealand. Even today (as of 2021), both manufacturers advertise on their respective Australian web portals with largely the same, traditional White Christmas recipe. Many authors of cookbooks and operators of web portals on Australian cuisine picked up the traditional recipe and changed it more or less over the decades.

In contrast, the dessert remained largely unknown in other parts of the world, including those with similar cultures. One of the main reasons was and is that neither in North America nor the United Kingdom is a hydrogenated coconut fat or other tasteless vegetable fat that is sufficiently solid at room temperature available or available.

ingredients

Classically, a few ingredients are sufficient to prepare White Christmas . The main flavor carriers are dried fruits, desiccated coconut, powdered milk and sifted powdered sugar. The meal receives a light, airy and at the same time crispy component from the breakfast cereal Rice Krispies (in Australia and New Zealand: Rice Bubbles , special puffed rice), as marketed in particular by Kellogg’s . These ingredients are bound by coconut fat, which, due to its many saturated fatty acids , solidifies again when it cools down; in German-speaking countries it is marketed under the brand name Palmin in particular , in Australia as Copha and in New Zealand as Kremelta . In particular, cherries or retained dried fruits serve as decoration .

The for White Christmas usually used in Australia Copha is a pure vegetable oil from about 99% coconut oil and less than 1% soy - lecithin , that does not contain palm oil , is tasteless and stays to 36 at temperatures degrees Celsius firmly. It was developed in 1933 and quickly found widespread use for baking and roasting , but also for various desserts that require solidification at room temperature or in the refrigerator. In the German-speaking area and much of continental Europe comparable coconut oil is available, especially under the famous name since 1894 Palmin coconut oil ; What is needed is a pure coconut fat that is tasteless and solid at room temperature and is used for traditional desserts such as cold dog .

The rice bubbles from Kellogg’s typically used for White Christmas in Australia are breakfast cereals that are puffed foods . They consist largely of rice with the addition of sugar , salt , malt - aroma , vitamins and minerals . Outside Australia and New Zealand, they are marketed as Rice Krispies . They have become rare in the range of German supermarkets and have been replaced by processed, more expensive products. Alternatives are the purchase from neighboring countries or the use of other puffed rice products, as they are also available in health food stores and health food stores, finely crumbled rice cakes can also be used.

Depending on the recipe, the ingredients and their proportions can vary: Instead of ready-mixed dried fruits, sometimes only sultanas (light, seedless), raisins (darker, with soft kernels), currants (dark, small berries, with and without kernels), craisins (dried cranberries ) , red and / or green cherries, individual types of dried, also exotic fruits (in small cubes or pieces) or a self-prepared mixture of these are used. Instead of just desiccated coconut, you can also use other nuts such as hazel , macadamia or walnuts or a mixture of these, including pistachios or almond kernels . The melted coconut fat as well as milk powder and powdered sugar can be replaced in whole or in part by melted white chocolate as a binding agent. The latter gives you an additional chocolate taste over the cocoa butter , but the feeling of coolness and freshness typical of chilled coconut fat is lost when it melts on the tongue.

preparation

White Christmas (in the version with white chocolate), already solidified and partially cut into strips
Detail of the finished, cut strips; clearly visible: the even distribution of dried fruit, desiccated coconut and nuts as well as puffed rice in a re-solidified fat / chocolate mass

The production of White Christmas is easy and requires at classic recipes only about 15 minutes of working time; In addition, there is a waiting time of at least about 15 minutes until the mass has cooled and solidified. In the classic recipe, there is no need to weigh the ingredients; the dry ingredients are simply measured out with a cup, with coconut oil the required amount corresponds to a conventional small package (250 grams).

First, mix all the dry ingredients in a large, sufficiently heat-resistant bowl. The coconut oil is slowly melted in a saucepan on the stove over low heat; then let it cool down a little, pour it still liquid over the dry ingredients and mix everything thoroughly with a mixing spoon . Normally, the mass is filled into a heat- and cold-resistant, preferably lined with baking paper, rectangular (baking) form, thick enough , and smoothed out; alternatively, the mass can be filled into paper cases in small portions with a spoon, working quickly. Finally, the mass must solidify. The quickest way to do this is to put it in the freezer for around 15 minutes . If the mass has been left to cool in one piece, it is cut into portion pieces (finger-length pieces or cubes) and then decorated with cherries.

With more complex recipes, the working time, especially when portioning and decorating, can be extended to around 30 to 45 minutes; conversely, the cooling time can be reduced to around five to ten minutes by freezing in smaller portions or by mixing in ingredients that contain chocolate. The finished mass can alternatively be left to set in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight ; the coconut oil or the white chocolate that provides the binding should already have cooled down sufficiently while stirring and the mass should already be sufficiently firm to ensure that the originally liquid ingredient, which is cooling down, does not settle during the longer cooling phase.

The usual quantities in the recipes usually result in about 24 larger to 48 smaller pieces.

Shelf life, storage and serving

Finished White Christmas cubes, piled up
White Christmas ready to eat, presented in a bowl

The prepared dessert can be easily stored in the refrigerator; If packed airtight, it will stay there for two to three weeks. It can be kept for up to six months in the freezer and can be easily thawed in the refrigerator. It is usually served chilled, which increases the feeling of freshness in the variant with coconut oil when the mixture melts on the tongue while chewing. Typically, the pieces are placed decoratively on a plate or platter and eaten as finger food.

variants

  • White Christmas with white chocolate : Here white chocolate replaces the traditional ingredients coconut fat, milk powder and powdered sugar.
  • White Christmas Minty Treats: a more elaborate, refined variant, additionally with white chocolate chips , finely chopped marshmallows , peppermint essence and more extensive decoration with dark chocolate , coarsely chopped candy cane , love pearls and edible Christmas motifs.
  • White Chocolate Christmas with Craisins (dried cranberries) and pistachios: a crispy variant with dried cranberries instead of the mixed dried fruits, additionally with chopped, roasted pistachios and white chocolate chips as well as a partial glaze made of dark chocolate.
  • White Christmas from the Thermomix (multifunctional food processor ): coconut oil, milk powder and powdered sugar are replaced by white chocolate, instead of ready-mixed dried fruits, dried apricots (for yellow accents) and optionally cherries or dried cranberries (for red accents) are incorporated, as well as crispy and soft components plus macadamia nuts, pistachios, turkish delight (Turkish delight) and marshmallows; essential work steps are carried out with the multifunction kitchen appliance.
  • Other variants , some of which only use the name and optical details, are, for example: White Christmas - Pavlova , White Christmas Cheesecake , White Christmas Truffle Cake , White Christmas Ice-Cream Sandwiches and, as a cocktail, White Christmas Mojito .

Thematization in the literature

  • Mark Twain mentions White Christmas in his 1897 travelogue Following the Equator . On pages 212 and 213 of the first edition he tells a story that he took over from a Mrs. Praed in Australia. In it, a white settler stole the trust of the neighboring Aborigines at Christmas with reference to his Christian faith. The indigenous people accept the sweet pieces offered to them and consume them before they have to realize that the settler has added a lethal dose of arsenic to the food in order to acquire their clan territory without a fight. The written description is supplemented by a contemporary illustration entitled The Usual Spirit , by the American illustrator, author and co-founder of the scout movement Daniel Carter Beard (1850–1941). It shows the settler, who stands in the midst of the dying and already dead aborigines and enjoys his superiority, while a cynical remark escapes from his tobacco pipe in the form of smoke and an angel in his back points accusingly at him. The social scientist and author Frédéric Dumas takes up Twain's story and Baird's illustration in his treatise Novel Myths for a White Australasia .
  • In his book Full Bore , the Australian actor and author William McInnes discusses various older cookbooks and recipes that he came across in passing: between tips on which parts of the body should not be rubbed with your fingers after cutting hot chillies , and recipe suggestions for the luncheon meat brand spam its views on the dessert White Christmas ; he finds an old recipe with the handwritten note "NEVER AGAIN" ("NEVER AGAIN") with a red exclamation mark after every mention of Copha and remembers the dessert as "terrible". In the two previous chapters, "Snap, Crackle and Pop, Part I" and "Part II", a reproduction of the classic advertising slogan for Kellogg's Rice Bubbles , he humorously picks up on childhood memories and Australian breakfast habits.

literature

  • RIC Publications (Ed.): An Aussie Christmas - A Celebration Down Under . RIC Publications, Greenwood, Western Australia, Australia 2006. ISBN 978-1-74126-491-3 , especially pp. 43 and 50 f. (English).
  • Jane Hansen: Where Hearts Are Shared - Cookbook . Regal Books, Ventura, California, United States 2001. ISBN 978-0-83072-893-0 , esp. P. 160 (English).
  • Select Magazines (Australia) (Ed.): The Complete Step-by-step Christmas Cookbook . Select Magazines (Australia), Terrigal Beach, New South Wales, Australia 1989. ISBN 978-0-94719-901-2 , especially p. 36 (English).
  • Murdoch Books (Ed.): Delights - Seductively Sweet Recipes . Murdoch Books Australia, Millers Point, New South Wales, Australia 2000. ISBN 1-74045-827-3 , especially p. 370 (English).

Web links

Commons : White Christmas  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of culinary specialties in Australia at Christmas on the web portal of the Australian Youth Hostel Association yha.com.au , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e White Christmas on the petersfoodadventures.com web portal , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Classic White Christmas recipe on the web portal of the Copha manufacturer copha.com.au , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  4. ↑ a b c d e White Christmas on the web portal bakeplaysmile.com , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  5. ↑ a b c d Recipe for White Christmas Minty Treats on the web portal of the Copha manufacturer copha.com.au , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  6. ↑ a b c d Recipe for White Chocolate Christmas with Craisins and pistachios on the web portal of the Copha manufacturer copha.com.au , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  7. ↑ a b White Christmas on the web portal cookidoo.de (Thermomix recipe portal) , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  8. ↑ Announcement of the seasonal Cadbury Dream White Christmas , an industrially produced white chocolate with a filling similar to a classic dessert, on the web portal taste.com.au , accessed on December 23, 2021 (English).
  9. ↑ Example of a commercially produced White Christmas with a white chocolate coating on the web portal gustobakery.com.au , accessed on December 23, 2021 (English).
  10. ↑ The history of the coconut oil Copha on the web portal copha.com , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  11. ↑ The story of Kellogg's on the web portal kelloggs.de , accessed on December 20, 2021.
  12. ↑ a b André Dodeman, Élodie Raimbault: Literary Location and dislocation of Myth in the Post / Colonial Anglophone World  (= Cross / Cultures). Brill Publishers, 2017, ISBN 978-90-04-36140-9 , p. 155.
  13. ↑ White Christmas on the web portal sweetestmenue.com , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  14. ↑ White Christmas -Pavlova on the web portal spracher.de , accessed on December 20, 2021.
  15. ↑ White Christmas Cheesecake on the web portal chefkoch.de , accessed on December 20, 2021.
  16. ↑ White Christmas Truffle Cake on the web portal vikalinka.com , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  17. ↑ White Christmas Ice-Cream Sandwiches on the taste.com.au web portal , accessed on December 20, 2021 (English).
  18. ↑ White Christmas Mojito on the diekuechebrennt.de web portal , accessed on December 20, 2021.
  19. ^ William McInnes: Full Bore - Ramblings on sport, pop culture and life from Australia's favorite storyteller . Hachette Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2016. ISBN 978-0-7336-3553-3 , Chapter 6: "At Home in the Kitchen with the Dogs".

Remarks

  1. ↑ So there was "White Christmas" in the southern summer of 2006 in parts of Tasmania (coldest Christmas day in Hobart for two decades) and even in parts of Victoria (coldest Christmas day for 150 years); Even in the region around Mount Kosciuszko in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales , the highest mountain on the mainland of the Australian continent at 2228  m , snowfall in southern summer is rare.
  2. ↑ On the other hand, the spreadable, differently manufactured and differently composed Palmin soft is not suitable .