Christmas recipes from Julie Biuso’s “Sweet Feast.”

Do Christmas desserts and treats have to be loaded with calories or are there some which are relatively fat free and healthy but still delicious?

I had a chat about this recently with Julie Biuso, food editor of Taste Magazine and author of recently published “Sweet Feast”. It’s packed full of tempting desserts and baking, many of which first appeared in Taste Magazine.

This book has been luring me into the kitchen to try out lots of new recipes for the festive season. The evidence is already starting to show on my hips!

Julie likes to eat healthy and local. Six months ago she began raising chickens in her urban garden so she now has her own supply of free range eggs. She also grows many of her own fruit and vegetables.

She pointed out that quite a few of the recipes in Sweet Feast are relatively healthy. And when you bake them from scratch, unlike commercially produced products, you are in control of what you put into them.

“I do use sugar and white flour but there is some balance. In many of these I have added fruit so lots of antioxidants. And I have used heaps of nuts which are very nutritious and rolled oats to add a bit of goodness.”

Julie’s exotic fruit salad is fat free and would suit any weight watcher. For this a medley of chilled summer fruits (watermelon, peaches, plums, grapes, pineapple and cherries) is tossed gently with some muscatel vinegar and vanilla sugar. I would serve it with a scoopful of a fruity sorbet.

There is also a rhubarb, vanilla and ginger fool which is light and tangy with far fewer calories than a conventional fool made with cream and custard.

Her ricotta hot cakes are on my menu for Christmas brunch. Protein filled and light and fluffy they should sustain us until the main event later in the day. Drizzled with pure maple syrup, and served with strawberries, bananas and yoghurt they’re not too decadent.
“The ricotta should have a fresh milk flavour, slightly sweet, and be white coloured,” advised Julie

I made them on the weekend and they were easy to do but quite delicate so I had to turn them carefully to cook the other side.
So what’s on the menu for Christmas dessert in the Biuso family?
“It would have to be something with meringues,” she said.
Sugar laden they may be, but she has reduced the calories by two thirds by putting dollops of thick Greek yoghurt on top and instead of whipped cream and strews it with raspberries

“It might be hard to believe.” she says “But the yoghurt turns this pavlova into a luxurious velvety treat, and tastes sensational.”
Any Greek yoghurt will do but she especially likes the De Winkel Greek yoghurt which is flavoured with a little honey.

This one will be our Christmas dessert this year Pavlova is back in fashion. And to avoid piling on too much more weight in the weeks leading up to Christmas here are a few more of my resolutions:

Look rather than cook: There’s many a foodie out there like me who loves curling up on the couch with a stack of recipe books. Looking at pictures, and imaging how they would taste can be just as much fun as actually getting out in the kitchen and making them. Engaging in this kind of fantasy is absolutely calorie free.

Out of sight out of mind: Once made, hide your Christmas baking at the back of a kitchen cupboard. If you leave it within reach it’s more likely to disappear fast.

Little rather than big: If you do some pre-christmas entertaining serve small portions. Your guests (or you) may not be able to resist going back for seconds or third helpings, but at least you will have tried to prevent gluttony!

Share them around: Parcel some up to give away. There’s bound to be workmates or friends who don’t get round to much cooking themselves who would greatly appreciate a taste of your try outs.

Ricotta hotcakes with strawberries and maple syrup

This recipe is reprinted with kind permission from:
Sweet Feast
by Julie Biuso, photography by Aaron McLean
Publishing by New Holland Publishers (NZ) Ltd
RRP $45

Ready in 30 minutes | makes 24
Try these for a festive brunch – the lightness of fluffy ricotta hotcakes, strawberries and maple syrup makes them memorable.
4 large (size 7) free-range eggs
200g ricotta
pinch of salt
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
5 level Tbsp standard flour
2 Tbsp caster sugar
250g strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 Tbsp icing sugar
sliced banana, maple syrup, cream or yoghurt, to serve

1 Separate eggs, putting whites in a grease-free bowl. Put egg yolks in a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and liquid. Beat in ricotta, salt and lemon zest. Pour in melted butter, then work in flour.
2 Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form, then beat in caster sugar and continue beating for 2–3 minutes until glossy. Using a large spoon, mix 1 large spoonful of whipped egg whites into the ricotta mixture, then carefully fold in the rest.
3 Heat a lightly buttered non-stick frying pan over gentle heat, or preheat a lightly greased barbecue hot plate. Working in batches, drop spoonfuls of batter onto hot pan or hot plate, making hotcakes about 6cm in diameter. Cook for 1–2 minutes, until golden, then flip and cook the other side. Transfer to a cooling rack as they are done, and cover with a clean tea towel.
4 Mix strawberries with icing sugar. Serve the hotcakes with strawberries, banana, maple syrup and cream or yoghurt.