Plan-ahead recipes for holiday desserts

A festive holiday is marked by gaiety, presents, and familial love. However, preparing extravagant feasts for guests, could be overwhelming for the chef. Oftentimes, the meal makers complain about not getting even a moment of rest and respite on a festival day because they are in the kitchen ensuring that the food is prepared in time for dinner. Doesn’t this beat the main purpose of a festival, which is spending time with one’s family? To overcome this problem and to avoid any last minute culinary hassles, many chefs and experienced bakers prefer to use plan-ahead recipes.

Plan-ahead recipes are used for those dishes that can be prepped and made weeks or even months in advance. These dishes can then be frozen or stored till the day of the big event, such as your New Year dinner. On the day of the occasion, all you have to do is pop the fully-prepped dish in an oven or a microwave, and just like that, it will be ready to serve. Plan-ahead recipes are very handy and convenient, and are recommended not only for festivals, but also for weddings, birthday parties, and other grand celebrations. Let’s take a look some of the most popular plan-ahead recipes for festive desserts.

1. Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies are a classic dessert, and you certainly can’t go wrong with a timeless flavor like chocolate. The main ingredients you’ll require for this dish are confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, egg whites, vanilla extract, salt, and chocolate chunks. Be sure to use a Cadburys bar for your chocolate chunks; it’s a premium quality chocolate and will fetch the best taste. Follow these steps to prepare the cookies.

• Preheat the oven and line the baking sheets (two) with parchment paper
• Mix the confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl
• Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl till the texture becomes soft and smooth
• Add vanilla and combine both the sugar and egg white mixtures 
• Add the Cadbury bar chocolate chunks
• Pour the batter using a tablespoon onto the baking sheet
• Bake one sheet at a time for about 15 minutes till the cookies begin to show cracks on the surface
• Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool
• Conserve the cookies in an airtight container and lay them out to serve

2. Caramilk Truffles

Caramilk truffles are rich, delicious and extremely easy to make. Despite their small size, these pieces of heaven are sure to make a big bang at your festive gathering. Remarkably, you only need three ingredients to make these delectable truffles—Cadbury Caramilk chocolate, butter, and dark chocolate. Stick to a Cadbury product, such as Bourneville for the dark chocolate element. Once you’ve gathered all your ingredients, follow the below steps.

• Melt the Caramilk with a butter to form a smooth and creamy concoction
• Refrigerate this concoction for about 40 minutes or so, till it is firm enough to roll
• Spread a baking paper over a baking tray and shape the concoction into balls and put them on the tray
• Refrigerate the balls for about 10 minutes
• While refrigerating the balls, melt the dark chocolate 
• Remove the balls and dip them into the melted dark chocolate
• Once all the balls have been dipped in the dark chocolate, keep them aside to cool down for about 10 minutes
• Preserve your truffles in a cool place and serve them at the time of your gathering. 

3. Flake Cake!

You’ve probably heard of the famous Cadbury Flake, haven’t you? You can use this decadent chocolate as the hero ingredient of your very own ice cream cake and gift your guests one of the most unforgettable treats. The main ingredients needed to prepare this frozen delight are Cadbury Flake bars, vanilla ice cream, eggs, castor sugar, flour, and cocoa powder. Follow the below steps to make this mouth-watering cake.

• Take a loaf pan, grease it or line it with parchment paper
• Spread your Cadbury Flake bars over the base of the pan
• Scoop out about half of the ice cream and arrange it over your layer of Flakes
• Put this mixture in the freezer for about an hour
• Beat the eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes until the mixture becomes dense and smooth
• Introduce the flour and cocoa to the egg mixture
• Pour this mixture into a greased pan and bake the same for about 10 minutes
• Set the mixture aside to cool on a wire rack when a desirable sponge has emerged
• Cut and drizzle some more Cadbury Flake bits over the ice cream layer in the loaf pan
• Then, cut the sponge carefully and methodically to ensure it fits the loaf pan
• Push the sponge forcefully over the ice cream layer
• Conceal the pan with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for approximately 6 hours to allow it to set
• Once the ice cream has set, slice it into pieces with a flat knife
• Keep the ice cream in the freezer till it is ready to serve