Giada's Holiday Handbook (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Holiday Desserts - full transcript

Yeah!

GIADA: I love the holidays.

And I also love to entertain.

-Thank you.
-Thanks so much.

MAN: Thanks, Giada.

In fact, over the years,

I've gathered together
my favorite recipes and ideas

to create a one-of-a-kind
holiday handbook.

It's filled with pages and pages
of cherished recipes and menus,

unique party themes,

cocktails for every occasion,



and some really
fun decorating ideas.

Whether it's a classic
Thanksgiving dinner, open house,

or Christmas with the kids,

I have everything you need
to make the party truly sparkle.

Cheers, you guys.
-The best way.

Today, I'm celebrating
the season with a party

that's all about
decadent holiday desserts...

VANESSA: Oh, my gosh.

...and making a menu
of indulgent sweets.

This is really good.

It's a blood-orange mousse.

Plus, I'm digging
into my holiday handbook

to share
some tried-and-true tips

for making
the party truly sparkle.



-Cheers, cheers.
-Vanessa's almost done, though.

That's good.
-Yeah.

[ Laughter ]

It's my Holiday Dessert Party,
and you're invited.

Cheers, ladies.
-Cheers.

All right,
how about some dessert?

I have a few friends that love
desserts about as much as I do.

You know what it is?

I took a little bit of...

One of them, Vanessa,
I've been friends

with since I was in high school.

We go way back
with sharing desserts.

I mean, you...

So I thought it would be kind
of fun for this holiday

to re-create the idea
of a cookie exchange,

which a lot of people do,

and just make, like,

three completely different,
decadent desserts

that are sort of wild and crazy.

The secret
behind this particular party

is to make it as decadent
as you can.

A little sparkle,
a little fun, a little twinkle.

That's kind of the inspiration

behind the Holiday Dessert
Party.

My make-ahead peppermint
patty sandwich cookies

are decadent, rich,
and always a hit.

Then there's my dreamy
orange mousse.

I've got a quick
and easy angel food cake

with hazelnut frosting

and a light and bubbly cocktail.

My peppermint patty sandwich
cookies are always popular

during the holidays.

They're a combination
of two things I love --

whoopie pies and traditional
Italian hazelnut cookies.

So I wanted
to take that inspiration,

make them
a little bit bigger,

and then put all the flavors
of Christmas in them.

And you bite into them
and they're soft on the inside

and pillowy and sort of light.

So we're adding 1/2 cup
of regular sugar

and 1/2 cup of brown sugar
that you want to pack down.

And sweeten up 4 ounces
of bittersweet chocolate

that I've already melted.

You want to cool it down
slightly.

I don't want
to scramble the eggs.

Otherwise it gives the cookie
a weird texture.

Okay, sugar's in.

Add a teaspoon
of vanilla extract.

Vanilla extract is one
of those ingredients like

it should be a staple item
if you love to bake,

because it just enhances
the flavor of everything.

All right, so then
we add a couple of eggs.

You want to make sure that the
eggs are at room temperature.

All right.
And the second egg.

All right.

So we're gonna add 1/4 cup
of regular yogurt.

And the yogurt
makes them nice and fluffy.

So you add that right in there.

And it adds a little bit
of tang,

which is really, really nice.

Add that in.

Ahh!

Makes them nice and creamy, too.

We're gonna add a little bit
of salt

just to balance out the flavor.

And we're gonna start
with the dry ingredients.

A cup of flour
that we're gonna add

to add structure
to the cookies, right?

And we're gonna add 1/2 cup
of cocoa powder

to just reinforce
that rich chocolate flavor.

And then we're gonna
add some baking powder.

We're gonna add 1/2 teaspoon
of baking powder.

And the baking powder
will help the cookies rise.

So we definitely
need some of that.

Now, the trick here is to get
rid of the whisk at this point.

Grab a spatula or a spoonula

and just lightly
fold the dry ingredients

into the wet ingredients.

If you don't fold them and you
just whisk them really fast,

you risk the chance
of not getting the nice,

light, airy cookie.

And it should be
a cake-like batter in the end.

So that's how you
can kind of tell.

Great.
I'm gonna grab my sheet tray.

And I've lined my baking sheet

with a little bit
of parchment paper.

The reason you want to add
the parchment paper

is to keep
the cookies nice and moist.

If you don't put anything down,

you'll get a little bit
of a crispier, drier cookie.

So it kind
of depends on what you like.

We're just gonna drop
about a tablespoon measureful

of dough.

There we go.

Just like that.

You want to leave a little room
in between.

So we're gonna be able to fit
five across,

and then three down,

'cause they're gonna spread
a little bit, but not a lot.

I'm gonna bake this at 375
for 9 minutes

until they puff up
and have little domes

and cooked perfectly through.

I want my Holiday Dessert Party
to be really special,

and a little dash
of sparkle goes a long way.

I want to create sort
of a sexy evening-like feel.

I feel like everybody
wants to dress up

and they want to wear heels.

And so you just want to
make it look extra nice.

What was fun is to sort of give
a lot of ambiance with, like,

twinkle lights, with candles,

and taking a tablecloth

and then running little thin
twinkle lights underneath,

the way you do outside

or anywhere in your home
during the holiday season.

And it lights up
underneath the desserts,

which again brings them to life.

It creates a really fun
atmosphere

and festive vibe in your house.

It just feels elegant.

I'm whipping two sticks
of unsalted butter

at room temperature,

'cause I'm making the filling
for my sandwich cookies.

And as you can see, my cookies
have baked and cooled.

So we're gonna add 3 cups
of powdered sugar

to the 2 sticks of butter.

There we go.

You got to make sure
and use room-temperature butter.

You want it to be nice
and soft and fluffy,

and you want it to mix really
nicely with the powdered sugar.

Two. And three.
There we go.

And powdered sugar
truly is just fine sugar

mixed with cornstarch.

So it keeps it nice and light.

Now we're gonna
add some peppermint extract,

'cause we're gonna make
a peppermint-flavored filling

for the cookies.

So we're gonna do 1/4 teaspoon
of peppermint extract.

There we go.

Peppermint extract
is very potent,

so you don't
want to add too much.

Otherwise it becomes
overpowering.

And a little bit of salt.
Perfect.

All right, so slowly,
let's start mixing this.

If you do it too quickly,

you'll be covered
in powdered sugar.

And basically, you can make
everything for these cookies

and assemble them one
to two days before your party.

So it makes it a lot easier
to make them.

So let's raise the speed
a little.

Okay.

Now we're also gonna add

10 peppermint patties
that I've chopped up.

And these are just
peppermint patty candies.

And mix them right in here.

And they kind of fall apart
in the filling.

Again, room temperature.

So now we're gonna grab
a cookie.

And some of the filling.

As you can see.

And just kind
of add it right in there.

Then I grab another cookie,
and I stick it right on top.

So you get a nice
little sandwich, just like that.

Cute, right?

I think they're super cute.
There we go.

I'm gonna fill the rest
of my cookies

with my beautiful
peppermint-patty filling.

And up next, I'm gonna
make my dreamy orange mousse.

It's another make-ahead dessert
your friends will love.

And my holiday handbook

is filled with lots
of great cocktails.

I have something
bubbly to get the party started.

GIADA: Time to dig
into my holiday handbook

to make some festive desserts.

My secret to success

is making the party special
with lots of holiday sparkle.

And I'm doing that with
the decorations and the menu.

My make-ahead peppermint
patty sandwiches

are chilling in the fridge.

Now it's time
for something truly magical --

my dreamy orange mousse.

I think that mousses
are always really popular.

They're creamy.
They're smooth.

They're velvety.
It's a dessert that people love.

First of all, the orange
is nice and citrus,

so it sort of cuts
through the sweetness

of the other two desserts.

Then you add a gingersnap
into it,

and again,
it's very holiday-like.

I'm whisking four egg yolks.

I'm also reducing 1 cup
of blood-orange juice.

And blood-orange juice
can be found this time of year,

during the holidays.

They also sell it frozen
at some specialty stores.

And otherwise,

you could also use just regular
orange juice if you want.

So we're adding 1/2 cup of sugar
to the egg yolks.

The sugar pretty much dissolves
in the egg yolks.

Then add a little bit
of salt, as well.

There we go.

Okay, so that's done.

Let's take a look here.

So you just add a little bit
of the blood-orange juice

into the eggs.

Just like that.

And then you just
want to whisk it.

And what we're doing is we're
basically tempering the eggs.

If you add all of these eggs

into the warm mixture
of blood-orange juice,

you run the chance
of scrambling the eggs.

Pour back into the warm
blood-orange juice.

So that's sort of the trick
to tempering the egg yolk.

In the event that it
does scramble a little bit,

you can just
run this through a strainer

and it will get rid
of any of the little bits.

And you whisk until it thickens.

All right.

My mousse has thickened.

So now...

I'm gonna grab a bowl.

And we're just gonna
turn off the heat,

and we're gonna pour it
right in there.

It's almost a caramel color.

See how thick it is?

It also means we've cooked
the egg yolks.

So it's perfect.

I'm gonna zest half an orange,

just to reinforce
that orange flavor.

I love a little fresh zest

in something
that's been cooked for a while.

It just kind of brightens
up all the flavors

and enhances the blood-orange
flavor as well.

4 tablespoons
of room-temperature butter,

just to make it velvety
and creamy.

There we go.

Right in there.

The butter will just melt
in there.

Just make sure that the butter's
at room temperature.

It's nice and soft.

Okay.

So, the butter's melted.

You want to grab
a little plastic wrap.

And you just
want to cover the top.

And you really want to cover it
so it touches,

so no skin will form,

and you get a nice,
smooth mixture.

And then you want to chill
this a little bit

before you fold in some whipped
cream to lighten it all up.

Okay, let's pop
this in the fridge.

You don't have
to spend a fortune

to make your party sparkle.

I believe in being creative
and using some of the things

you already have in the house.

I think that the days are gone

of having to buy a set of 20
of something.

It's more fun and more creative
and more homey

to kind of mix and match things.

And the fun,
whimsical thing is I can take

all my different espresso cups
and just fill them up.

Raid your cabinet and see
what kind of cups you have.

You could use teacups.

You could use espresso cups.

You could use shot glasses.

You could use anything
that you want.

That's what makes it personal.

If you're gonna
make three decadent desserts,

you want to display them
so that everybody knows,

"Okay,
it's there, it's ready to go."

Nobody misses anything.

And so I like to put it
as the centerpiece

of what we're doing
and how we're sitting.

It puts them front and center,
and that's what you want to do

when you've spent time
making those desserts.

So my blood-orange custard
has cooled,

and I'm gonna take off
the plastic wrap.

And you can see it's nice
and smooth right on top.

And I just whipped up
1 cup of whipped cream

with a little bit of sugar and
a little bit of vanilla extract.

What I want to do
is just add a little bit

of the whipped cream
into the custard,

just to loosen it up a bit

so that when I add it in here,

it doesn't deflate
the whipped cream in this bowl.

So now we're gonna
pour this into here.

And we're gonna start to fold.

So the whole idea of folding
is to thicken the mousse,

but to also create lightness.

Mmm.
Smells really good.

All right, so now, grab a spoon.

I've got a beautiful array
of cups.

The more shapes and colors,

the more whimsical
and the more fun.

There we go.

And I like to make these ahead
so they can just chill,

and really, the flavors
can blend really well together.

And then I top it with a few
crumbled gingersnap cookies

just to create that
sort of holiday vibe

and a little crunch.

Perfect.

I'll fill this one.

Just spoon it right in there.

And then you can see
how smooth and velvety

and really light it is.

Coming up, I'll share
a holiday handbook secret

for transforming
a simple dessert

into the star of the show.

GIADA: I'm opening up
my holiday handbook

to share some
of my tried-and-true secrets

for a festive dessert party.

My secret to success
is making the party sparkle

with indulgent sweets
and twinkling lights.

My two make-ahead desserts
are ready to go.

Now it's time to finish my cake.

When it comes to making
desserts, one of my tricks

is to take a box mix
and doctoring it up.

Take an angel food cake,

which I happen to love.

It's light and it's fluffy.

Making two cakes, frosting it,
frosting it in the center,

and then decorating the whole
cake with edible flowers.

I think people forget
that there's

so many flowers out there
that you can actually eat.

And they make the most
beautiful decor.

So that is sort
of the inspiration

behind my angel food cake with
chocolate hazelnut frosting.

I've let my chocolate and cream
mixture cool in the fridge.

You just want to make sure
you chill it

before you end up
whipping it up.

It's 1/2 cup
of bittersweet chocolate chips,

1/2 cup
of chocolate hazelnut spread,

a teaspoon of espresso powder,

just a pinch of salt,

and then to all of that,
to melt the chocolate chips,

you want to add 1 1/2 cups
of heavy cream.

And it's got
to be hot -- not boiling hot,

but at least simmering.

So that way,
it melts everything.

You whisk it and just put it
in the fridge for a bit.

You get it nice and cold,

and then it just takes a couple
of minutes of beating it

to get it into a nice frosting
sort of texture and consistency.

So we can frost
our angel food cakes.

Now we're gonna
take the frosting

and we are going
to frost these babies.

So what you want to do is just,
with an offset spatula,

just spread it out.

It's best to always frost a cake

right on the dish
you're gonna serve it on,

so you don't have
to move it once it's frosted.

What I did is cut little pieces
of parchment paper,

and I just slid them
underneath

so that it's
protected on the bottom,

so all I have to do at the end
to clean the platter

is pull these out
and throw them away.

So it makes it really easy
to frost.

So yummy.
All right.

Then I grab my second layer
and I put it right on top.

Always, like,
add the frosting in the center.

And then start to move
it outward like this.

Makes it a lot easier.

These offset spatulas
are a godsend.

Okay.

Let's just move outwards.

And I'm gonna cover everything.
There we go.

We don't have
to worry about the platter

because we've got it covered.

There we go.

Pull off all my little pieces
of paper.

And you can see
how pretty it's gonna look.

And last one.

What I like to do is decorate
the cake with edible flowers.

And when you go to the store,

there's usually a variety

of different edible flowers
you can choose from --

nasturtiums,
edible little baby nasturtiums.

You can even take
these colorful bits

and just kind
of just toss them anywhere.

It's like confetti.

My absolute favorite when I can
find them are orchids like this.

And I think the purple
on the chocolate is fantastic.

So, what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna start from the center

and I'm just gonna
lay them in no particular order

overlapping each other.

Just like this.

There is my cake!

Is it not gorgeous?

That looks stunning.

All right, so my friends
are gonna be here soon.

I'm gonna change and we're gonna
make a cocktail at this party.

It's gonna be really fun.

GIADA: I'm digging
into my holiday handbook

to create a decadent and festive
dessert party for some friends.

My secret for success
is making the party sparkle,

so I'm going all-out.

The desserts are done, and now
I'm ready for a cocktail.

With that kind
of holiday dessert decadence,

you want to do something
that's light.

I do this hazelnut spritzer --

hazelnut liqueur
to give it that sort

of nuttiness and depth,

Prosecco for the little bubbly,

because you
can't have the holidays

without having a little bubbly,

and then a twist of lemon.

Very, very simple.
Very elegant.

Works so well with the flavors
of the decadent desserts.

It kind of cuts through
the sweetness of the desserts.

So it's a lemon hazelnut
spritzer.

So a little bit of a liqueur.

About an ounce
of hazelnut liqueur.

WOMAN:
So it's a little sweet.

It's a little sweet,
kind of like Vanessa.

Just a tad sweet.
-Tiny.

Then...

We do a little bit of Prosecco.
-Mmm.

So a little bubbly.

Vanessa, you want to put
a lemon zest in there.

Okay.

Well, it's kind of a little bit
of a girly drink,

but it's really nice
and actually refreshing.

-Thank you.
-Oh, God, it smells delicious.

It smells good, right?

Cheers, ladies.
-Cheers!

All right,
how about some dessert?

So, where are you gonna start,
Vanessa?

-Oh, my gosh.
-I'm gonna cut the cake.

-Go for it.
-Anything you want.

You're gonna have chocolate.
Okay.

I'm gonna have chocolate, too.

-This is really good.
-It's a blood-orange mousse.

-I'll have it.
-Who ate the sandwich?

Nobody ate the sandwich
cookie yet?

VANESSA:
I ate the sandwich cookie.
It's delicious.

Do you guys know that Vanessa
and I have known each other

since we were in high school?

We've heard.

Yes, Vanessa was the wild one,

and I was the really sweet one.

Vanessa used to try to con me

into crawling out windows
at night to go to clubs.

[ Laughter ]

Make sure you drink
a little more

of your cocktail there,
Vanessa.

I don't know if you really
want me to do that.

Yes, I do.

I like to give take-home gifts.

It's one of the things I like
to do when I throw a party.

I didn't want to make
the take-home gifts,

'cause I felt like there's
so much to do, right?

So I got some
of my favorite macaroons,

so they can take them home and
share it with their families.

All right, guys, because you
haven't had enough sweets.

Aw, so cute.

And they have glitter
on them.

So cute.

Oh, my God,
look at the little baby --

You can share them
with your kids.

I know, that's cute, right?

-Cheers, cheers.
-Vanessa's almost done, though.

That's good.
-Yeah.

[ Laughter ]