Exclusively Food: White Christmas Recipe (2024)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

White Christmas Recipe

This easy no-bake slice is very sweet and rich so cut it into small pieces to serve. For Christmas gifts, package squares of White Christmas in clear cellophane bags and tie with ribbon.

For accuracy, we use digital scales to weigh ingredients. We have included volume measurements in Australian Standard cups (250ml).

250g Copha
140g (1 cup) pure icing sugar
180g (1 cup) sultanas
100g (slightly rounded 1/2 cup) chopped glace cherries
100g (2/3 cup) finely chopped dried apricots
85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
106g (1 cup) full cream milk powder
40g (1 1/4 cups) rice bubbles

Above Photo: 100g (slightly rounded 1/2 cup) chopped glace cherries

Line an 18cm by 28cm (inside top measurement) slice pan with baking paper.

Melt Copha in a small saucepan over low heat. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Above Photo: Block of unmelted Copha

Sift icing sugar into a large bowl. Add sultanas, cherries, apricots, coconut, milk powder and rice bubbles and stir until well combined.

Add melted Copha to bowl and stir until well combined.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan.

Firmly press the mixture into the pan using the back of a spoon.

Tightly cover pan with plastic wrap or aluminium foil, and then refrigerate until slice is cold and set.

Cut White Christmas into small squares to serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. © www.exclusivelyfood.com.au

posted by Amanda and Debbie at 5:26 pm

38 Comments:

Family First said...

May I know what is rice bubbles? Is it a kind of breakfast cereal?

18/9/08 4:17 pm

Amanda and Debbie said...

Rice Bubbles breakfast cereal is made from puffed grains of white rice.

19/9/08 10:37 pm

Quinn said...

Can I use 1/2 cup sugar instead since it will be very sweet?

24/9/08 8:55 pm

Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Quinn

If you reduce the amount of icing sugar, you may also need to reduce the amount of Copha. If you make a reduced-sugar version of the white christmas, please let us know how it turns out.

14/12/08 7:11 pm

Procrastinateher said...

This is the same way I've been making white christmas for years, thankyou.

For those who have been asking:
- rice bubbles is a breakfast cereal, it's puffed rice which is pretty much an unflavoured version of coco pops.

- Copha = vegetable shortening, you can usually find it in the same section as the block margarines if a store has it. Try Woolworths.

- yeah if you're going to decrease the sugar, either decrease the amount of copha used, or it's better to increase the amount of another dry ingredient i.e. milk powder, coconut or rice bubbles.

15/12/08 7:34 pm

Unknown said...

hello - i would like to make this for christmas, just wondering how long it will keep for?

thanku!!

16/12/08 1:03 pm

Amanda and Debbie said...

Hi Melw

We have never stored the White Christmas for more than a few days, so we aren't sure what the maximum keeping time would be. If you wish to make it more than a few days before serving, we recommend storing it whole (or in a couple of large pieces) and slicing it on the day of serving.

16/12/08 11:59 pm

Leah said...

To the people with the cup/gram issues: keep in mind that one cup does not always weigh the same amount. A cup of rice bubbles, for example, will weigh much less than a cup of sugar because rice bubbles are much lighter than sugar.

Love White Christmas but have never made it myself; am looking forward to trying this recipe!

17/12/08 5:33 pm

Anonymous said...

Yes Copha is vegeatable Shortening.

22/12/08 3:07 pm

Anonymous said...

Copha actually solidifies when it cools, so you'll have to get a vegetable fat that does this as it's the key to making chocolate crackles and white christmas.

A possible alternative would be white chocolate if you can't get copha, but this would involve a little experimenting in the kitchen.

22/12/08 5:31 pm

Chipperchik said...

This was really great. I have already changed it, with the help of my kids. Replace red glace cherries with craisins, sultanas with dark choc bits and apricots with glace pineapple. Still great but with a twist - my kids love pineapple.

23/12/08 5:47 pm

sam said...

Fantastic to get this recipe. My nana used to make this every Xmas and it was a treat we always looked forward to. I'm going to get all nostalgic and make it today for friends and whanau gifts tomorrow.

In New Zealand our Copha vegetable shortening equivalent is called Cremelta.

And this treat usually doesn't hang round long enough to get stored but it should keep in fridge for about a week.

24/12/08 11:46 am

Anonymous said...

I am in france and i have magically managed to ind all ingredients but milk powder. since there is no water added, im not sure that i can use regular milk as a subsitute and the only milk powder we can find here is baby formula lol
Any help??
thanks!

5/2/09 10:19 pm

Amanda and Debbie said...

Liquid milk would make the rice bubbles soggy and prevent the White Christmas from setting properly, so it wouldn't be a suitable substitute for the milk powder.

Are you able to buy Regilait products? It appears that milk powder is part of their range.

6/2/09 12:30 pm

Anonymous said...

Easy to make with the kids and tastes delicious! Thanks very much.

18/11/09 3:18 pm

Melli said...

so yummy....although i also added some white choclate bits, my son loved it!!!

26/11/09 8:25 pm

Anonymous said...

Instead of glace Cherries use Angas Park Sweetened Cranberries. DELICIOUS!!

30/11/09 8:37 pm

Anonymous said...

my nana use to make this, but she also added almonds- flaked or slivered. using them breaks the sweetness down a little.

27/3/10 11:30 pm

Leslie said...

I am in the US. I am planning our Christmas dinner to be a "Christmas around the world" theme. This looks like an amazing dessert recipe, but I am not certain I can get the ingredients here. We do have an English grocery here, but in the event they do not have some of the ingredients are there equivalents in the US?

For example, are rice bubbles similar to Rice Crispies (made by Kelloggs)?

Can I use Crisco for the Copha?

Is icing sugar simply confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar?

Thanks!

14/12/10 5:10 am

Anonymous said...

For Leslie -
Crisco is the same thing; as are rice bubbles. Confectioner's sugar used to make frosting is the same as icing sugar :)
Good luck with this - although if you have a 'christmas around the world' theme, pavlova or lamingtons might be a more 'Aussie' contribution. I'm sure Amanda and Debbie could point you in the direction of a wonderful recipe for those...
Millie

16/12/10 8:56 pm

Anonymous said...

Hi, Can anyone tell me what the equivalent to Copha is in the UK? I am struggling to find a replacement product...
Todd

19/12/10 4:59 am

Anonymous said...

I tweaked this a little as I can't stomach dried apricots & instead made up the volume with pistachio nuts. I also added about 1/2 tsp of ground cardamon ... so yummy they didn't last long at family Christmas lunch ... even got asked for the recipe which is always a good sign. :) I like the idea of halving the sugar as I found them a tad sweet.

31/3/11 2:10 am

Anonymous said...

I tweaked this a little bit as dried apricots don't agree with my stomach. I replaced the dried apricots with pistachio nuts & also added about 1/2 tsp of ground cardamon ... was delicious & went down well with coffee at Christmas time. :)

1/4/11 12:44 am

tan19720 said...

Hi, I've moved to the UK from Oz and when I make this I either buy the copha from SANZA, which is an online store selling foodstuffs (sweets, biscuits, cooking ingredients etc) from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. or I use the same amount of vegetable shortening (all the major supermarkets sell it, in the section where all the butter is) and add a few drops of coconut essence/flavouring. Alternatively, substitute 1/2 of the milk powder for coconut milk powder (all the Asian/Indian supermarkets stock it over here). Either works really well :-) tan

16/12/11 6:13 am

tan19720 said...

Hi, also meant to note that cup sizes in UK/AUS/NZ are bigger than US at 250ml; US cup is 225ml or 4/5 the size of the other. that may account for any issues US readers might have with the mixture's consistency.

16/12/11 6:17 am

DocSavage7 said...

Looks like a similar way I make WC. A question was asked about how long you can keep it? I make several trays, slice them up, put them in plastic ice-cream containers and put them in the freezer. We have stored them this way for upto 6 months (Kids couldn't find them), and they were as good as the day they were made!