Name: White Christmas with sour cherries, almonds and Grand Marnier
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 30
Ingredients: 50 gm natural almonds; 150 ml pouring cream; 40 ml Grand Marnier; Finely grated rind of 1 lemon and ½ orange; 600 gm couverture white chocolate, finely chopped (see note); 100 gm rice puffs; 60 gm dried sour cherries (see note); 50 gm glacé orange, diced

White Christmas with sour cherries, almonds and Grand Marnier

A grown-up version of a classic White Christmas recipe.

Sour-cherry and roasted-almond white Christmas — An easy grown-up White Christmas recipe.

Skip to Recipe

Serves 30

Prep

20M

Cook

10M

Total

30M

Get ready to bring a little festive magic to your end of year with Gourmet Traveller’s adult take on a traditional White Christmas recipe. This timeless Australian sweet treat has been re-imagined with the zing of sour cherries, an almond crunch and a hint of orange-flavoured Grand Marnier. It’s no‑bake, no‑fuss, and no less delicious: just melted white chocolate, puffed rice, dried fruit and nuts pressed into squares, then chilled to set.

Perfect for warm summer holidays, the Christmas desserts table, or homemade holiday gifting, this White Christmas recipe is both decadent and easy. It’s the kind of dessert that is so simple and scrumptious, you’ll return to it time and again until it becomes an annual favourite.

Want more Chrsitmas dessert inspiration? Check out our collection of Christmas pavlovas and Christmas cookies.

White Christmas recipe

Ingredients

50 gm natural almonds

150 ml pouring cream

40 ml Grand Marnier

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon and ½ orange

600 gm couverture white chocolate, finely chopped (see note)

100 gm rice puffs

60 gm dried sour cherries (see note)

50 gm glacé orange, diced

Method

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 13cm x 23cm cake tin with baking paper. Spread almonds on an oven tray and roast until darkened (4-5 minutes), cool to room temperature, then coarsely chop and set aside.

Bring cream, Grand Marnier and rinds just to the boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stand for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Combine rice puffs, sour cherries, almonds and ½ tsp sea salt in a bowl, add chocolate mixture and combine well, then spoon into cake tin, press top to smooth and refrigerate until set (1 hour). Cut into pieces with a hot, wet knife and store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a month.