Scroll to the bottom of the post to get ALL the “12 Days” recipes from 2019 – 2024!
Welcome to Day 4 of
The 12 Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small-er batch – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim. Check out the treats from 2019 – 2024 at the bottom of this post too for more inspiration!
These are a riff on my Orange Jaffa Cakes and the Pim’s-style cookies in French Food for Everyone: le goûter. I made them at my French Baking for the Holidays class recently and they were such a hit that I figured I should include a version here too!
These cookies are memories of a favourite treat from when I first travelled to Europe. Pim’s cookies (yes, the apostrophe is used in the original name) are actually “biscuits moelleux” (soft cookies, more like a cake) and are composed of a base of genoise sponge, topped with a layer of fruity spread and coated in a thin chocolate shell. So, yeah, you might know them as Jaffa Cakes depending on where you live!
Today we have chocolate and orange again but this time, I’ve added cranberry to the mix – a trifecta of holiday goodness!
From this:
To this:
Chocolate Orange Cranberry Tea Cakes
Chocolate Orange Cranberry Tea Cakes - perfect for your holiday dessert table (or anytime!)
Ingredients
For the cake base:
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 small clementine (approx. 1 teaspoon)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (50g) all-purpose flour
For the fruit layer:
- 12 teaspoons cranberry jelly
For the chocolate topping:
- 2/3 cup (113g) semisweet chocolate chips
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter
Special equipment:
- 1 x 1 tablespoon cookie scoop (optional but useful)
- 1 x small glass with a 3.5cm (1 1/2 inch) diameter base.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F and lightly grease a 12-cavity muffin tin.
- Put the sugar and zest in a medium bowl and rub the zest into the sugar until the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Beat the egg and sugar mixture together with electric hand beaters on medium speed until thick, pale and creamy (about 4 minutes).
- Add the vanilla extract and beat until just combined.
- Fold the flour into the egg mixture gently, using a rubber spatula until the flour is just incorporated.
- Use a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop to divide the batter between the muffin tins.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.
- Remove the muffin tin from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack.
- While the cakes are cooling, make an indentation in the middle of the cakes using a small glass with a 3.5cm (1 1/2 inch) diameter base.
- Cool the cakes to room temperature.
- When the cake bases are cool, spoon 1 teaspoon of cranberry jelly in the indentation of each cake.
- Place the cakes in the fridge or freezer while you prepare the chocolate.
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl (50-60% power for 1-2 minutes in 30 second bursts). Alternatively, you can place the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of boiling water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water) and stir until the chocolate is melted.
- Allow the chocolate to cool slightly (you should be able to stick your finger into it without it being too hot!).
- Remove the cakes from the fridge or freezer and place them on a wire cooling rack. Place the rack over a parchment-lined baking tray.
- Use a small spoon to dollop chocolate in the middle of each jelly-topped cake. Use the back of the spoon to gently smooth the chocolate over the jam and let it drizzle down the sides of the cakes. Continue until all cakes are coated.
- Leave the cakes on the wire rack until the chocolate is set.
Make the cake base:
Fill and top the cake base:
Notes
Store in single layers (with parchment in between each layer) in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Remove from the fridge about 10 minutes before serving
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I love these cookies because they are much easier to make than they look! Sure there is a bit of waiting time but each individual component is so easy. Perfect to make during the holidays for yourself of a holiday cookie swap!
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Check out 2024’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Browned Butter Holiday Rice Krispie Squares
Day 2: Orange Shortbread
Day 3: Festive Macaroons
Day 4: Chocolate Wheatie Cookies
Day 5: Raspberry Coconut Squares
Day 6: Lemon Curd Tartlets
Day 7: Granola Cookies
Day 8: Lemon Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
Day 9: Cranberry Almond Squares
Day 10: Chocolate Caramel Cups
Day 11: Cheese Crackers
Day 12: No-bake Almond Cranberry Slice
Check out 2023’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Holiday Speckles
Day 2: Soft Chocolate Mint Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Funfetti Thumbprint Cookies with Ruby Drop Centres
Day 4: Chocolate Orange Creme Cups
Day 5: Chocolate Filled Shortbread Cups
Day 6: Pistachio Fruit Bread Crackers
Day 7: Pistachio Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Day 8: Iced Mocha Financier Bars (GF)
Day 9: Lemon Meringue Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Chocolate Hazelnut Financiers
Day 11: Cranberry, Almond and Pistachio “truffles”
Day 12: Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies (GF)
Check out 2022’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Chocolate Peppermint Creme Cups
Day 2: Chocolate-Dipped Wafer Cookies
Day 3: Gingerbread madeleines
Day 4: Funfetti Cookies
Day 5: Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Day 6: Coffee Financiers
Day 7: No-Bake Strawbery Cheesecake Cups
Day 8: Holiday Joys
Day 9: Holiday Spice Marmalade
Day 10: Soft Molasses Cookies
Day 11: Coconut Roughs
Day 12: Holiday Lights Jam Sandwich Cookies
Check out 2021’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Speculoos financiers
Day 2: Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Madeleines à la Clémentine
Day 4: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Day 5: Sunbutter and Jam Chocolate Cups
Day 6: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies
Day 7: Linzer Cookies
Day 8: Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Day 9: Choc-Mint Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Day 11: Strawberry Santa Hats
Day 12: Mulled Wine Jam
Check out 2020’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Check out 2019’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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