Christmas Cookies 2009
'Tis the Season to bake cookies!
Our most favorite annual tradition is tomorrow - Gino and Elizabeth come to bake cookies with us! Both expressed interest at early ages about learning the family tradition cookies. It's great to know that these recipes are going to live on!
Since many of the doughs need to refrigerate overnight, I made Vanila Almond, Walnut Butter, Aunt Dolores' Rum Balls, and Pfeffernusse tonight so the kids will have something to work with while the doughs they make are chilling. Tomorrow they'll be making Aunt Emma's Apricot cookies, Uncle Rudy's Biscotti (plus a sugar-free version for Nonna) and a couple other varieties, plus Pizzeles. Maybe the Peppermint Patties, too. And we get to chocolate dip everything!
We have made literally thousands of cookies a year, but this year we are seriously scaling back. We just don't have the time to spend making them as we used to. We have made upwards of 20 dozen each of 20 different cookies every year. This year we will probably just make 10 or 12. We'll also be doing a lot of single batches instead of the triple and quadruple batches we've made in the past.
It's going to be a lot of fun!
Christmas Fruitcake
The picture is just not doing this justice. This really looks so much better in person - and wow! Does it ever taste good!
I'm a little late making the fruitcakes this year. Usually they're done by late October and definitely before Thanksgiving. But since I'm less than 2 weeks past "Stir-Up Sunday" - the traditional day of making fruitcakes in Britain - I'm not too concerned.
I went hunting for a new recipe this year. I've tired of the Apricot Macadamia Fruitcake I've made for the past 20-odd years and while the cakes I made last year were okay, they were just okay. I wanted something better.
I didn't find a recipe I really like, so I found one I knew I could reinvent.
It worked.
The 2009 Fruitcake
- 5 cups golden raisins
- 4 cups dark raisins
- 3 cups dried currants
- 5 cups chopped glacéed fruits
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup dark rum
- 1 tbsp Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
- 10 large eggs
- 3 cups pecans
Mix dried fruits in large bowl. Heat water and rum and pour over fruit. Mix well. Mix in syrup and baking soda. Let stand until fruit mixture absorbs liquid, stirring often, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter 9 full-sized loaf pans.
Sift flour, baking powder,and salt into medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time.
Add flour. Mix until just blended.
Mix batter and fruit mixture. Divide mixture among pans. Cover pans with foil.
Bake at 325° about 1 1/2 hours. Reduce oven temperature to 275°and continue to bake covered until tester comes out clean but slightly moist, about 30 minutes longer.
Transfer pans to cooling rack. Remove foil and drizzle about a tablespoon (or more) rum on each cake while hot.
Wrap and store in a cool place, adding more rum weekly.
I actually had Lyle's Golden Syrup (available at Wegmans) but if you don't, use a light molasses. I also resisted using any other spices and I'm really glad I did. The flavors worked perfectly and will only improve with age - and a bit more rum!
Sunday Supper and Saturday's Dessert
Instead of cooking, today, I spent a few hours putting in a new screen door in the front of the house. Actually, it's a "storm" door. But what do I know - we don't have screen-or-storm doors where I come from. Or air conditioning, either.
I actually liked the old pitted metal screen/storm door. Totally 1950. What I didn't like was unscrewing the screen and hauling it down to the basement and getting the 987 pound (at least) pane of glass up the stairs and screwed in. Twice a year I had to do it. Pretty strenuous. Twice a year. And rescreening. Can't forget that. And whatever spline I had was always the wrong size.
So... with a new roof, dry rot gone, and a new paint job, it just seemed fitting that we do an upgrade. We looked online to see what was out there and headed off to the local home improvement store to see them in person. Found what we were looking for, put it into the back of the truck - and off to home we went.
While it wasn't difficult to install, it was tedious. It was a big box of pieces. Not a hole was drilled not a thing attached. And I'm not a picture/icon person. I want to see the parts and see how they fit together. Little blow-up line drawings of one corner just do not make sense to me.
But I persevered...
And got it done except for a trim piece and the self-closer. Tomorrow is another day...
So...
While I was playing My Favorite Drill Bit, Victor decided it would probably be a smart move if he made dinner tonight. (He's very perceptive - just one of the reasons I love 'im!)
Out of the freezer came a small container of sauce he has made a while back, and a couple of sausages. Some papardelle pasta, a mini loaf of bread from Panera, and dinner was served.
Just in time. I was almost starting to get cranky.
++++++++++++++++++++
And speaking of cranky... can anyone tell me what's wrong with this recipe for Pumpkin Bread?!? It's from Bon Appetit.
Pumpkin-Walnut Bread
Yield: Makes 1 loaf
ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Butter 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan. Sift first 7 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin, lemon peel and vanilla. Whisk sour cream and milk in small bowl. Beat flour and sour cream mixtures alternately into batter in 2 additions each. Fold in nuts. Transfer batter to pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack; cool. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Wrap in foil; store at room temperature.)
It was intriguing. Lemon zest and sour cream in a pumpkin bread. The only change I made was to use half walnuts and half raisins.
And it ooooozed out of the pan all over the oven... what a mess.
I've done my share of baking and can throw together a quick bread fairly quick-ly. But I also get tired of making the same ol' thing and decided to waste some time looking through old magazines. This one won.
There was way more batter than I would normally put in a bread pan, but... I let the printed page over-rule experience. Dumb move.
I actually went back into the kitchen after about 15 minutes and it was already too late. Disaster had already struck.
I put a foil collar on the pan to contain the rest and it helped - but the 1 hr and 10 minute baking time was way off. I left it in the oven for about an hour and 40 minutes.
The smell of burnt cake batter and smoke billowing through the kitchen just added to my pleasant disposition. After letting it cool a bit, I took it out of the pan - it was hot and... soggy is not really the right word... extremely moist. I left it on the cooling rack, turned off the light and decided to deal with it later.
That later came this evening.
It had a great flavor, although it was still a little more moist than I like. Not underbaked, just a bit... gummy...
With so many fabulous recipes out there, there's just no reason to make this one.
The First Pumpkin Pie of the Season
The standard by which all furure Pumpkin Pies will be judged! Can we say fabulous, boys and girls?!? Can we say the first pumpkin pie I have ever eaten warm that I truly loved and wanted to go back for more?!? Oh. Yum.
I had bought a couple of sugar pumpkins with the thought of making Pumpkin Soup and serving it in whole baked pumpkins.
Victor had other ideas.
I'm glad!
He used the store-bought crust, and while it tasted good, I'm pissed. They made 'em smaller this year and they no longer fit a standard Pyrex pie plate. Bummer. It looks as if I won't be buying many of them - back to making my own.
But I digress...
To make this with fresh pumpkin puree, start with a sugar or "pie" pumpkin. Jack O'Lantern pumpkins are not grown for eating - they're grown for carving - and will not make a decent pie.
Heat oven to about 400°. Slice pumpkin in half and remove seeds and strings. Place in pan with a bit of water and bake until tender - about an hour.
Scoop out pumpkin and puree in a food processor until very smooth.
Perfect Pumpkin Pie
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 1 can pumpkin puree)
- 1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 unbaked 10" pie shell
Preheat oven to 425°. Beat eggs, sugar, maple syrup, and spices in large bowl. Add pumpkin and mix well. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425° F. for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
I topped it with some Double Devon Cream that was sitting in the 'fridge just waiting for a chance to shine!
I've made this same recipe with canned pumpkin for years - and this was the very best pie, yet!
I can't wait until tomorrow when it's cold!
Delectable Dessert
Dessert was calling me tonight. I've been a pretty good boy in the dessert department. A piece or bowl of fruit has usually been satisfying my after dinner sweet tooth. Tonight, though, I wanted more.
The secret to losing weight for me is to not deny myself anything. If I want something, I can have it if I so choose. The goal is to make the right choices. So far, so good.
I don't keep a rigid account of daily calories, but since I'm not eating between meals, it's pretty easy to keep a bit of a mental tally. I knew I had some spares today, so it was time to cash 'em in - within reason, that is.
I decided that fresh fruit was going to be the centerpiece and we just happen to have some great nectarines in the house right now. A Nectarine Crisp was born - but with a few less calories than my normal creations...
The first thing I did was get out the individual gratin pans. 2 desserts, not a big ol' pan. Portion control, here...
I cut up 2 nectarines (67 calories, each) and put them into a bowl. I sprinkled them with 2 teaspoons of sugar (15 calories, each) and then placed them in the gratin dish. For each, I then mixed a tablespoon of whole wheat graham flour (25 calories) with a tablespoon of oats (20 calories) with a tablespoon of brown sugar (a whopping 50 calories) and a teaspoon of melted butter (36 calories). I mixed it all together and sprinkled it on top of the fruit. Into a 350° oven for 25 minutes.
A 213 calorie dessert that did the trick.
Yes, it could have easily been enhanced with a pint of ultra-premium vanilla ice cream on top, but I really hadn't banked enough calories to go for it, tonight.
Choices.....
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Victor made dessert tonight. A totally delicious Flourless Chocolate Cake.
He found the recipe last year from Tyler Florence. He tweaked it just a bit, added a bit of coffee, and this year's cake totally rocks even more than last year's!
Flourless Chocolate Cake
- 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 9 large eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
- 1/4 cup strong black coffee
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.
Put the chocolate and butter into the top of a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl) and heat over (but not touching) about 1-inch of simmering water until melted. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color. Whisk a little of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs – this will keep the eggs from scrambling from the heat of the chocolate; then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture. Add the coffee and mix well.
Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.
Serve at room temperature dusted with confectioners’ and the whipped cream.
What's Wrong With This Picture?
If you guessed "That brownie isn't cooked!" you win the kewpie doll!
I was in the mood for a peanut butter chocolate brownie. I went to Epicurious and found several. This one seemed easy enough, so I copied it down and in just a few minutes, they were happily baking away.
What I failed to do was pay attention to the reader comments that said 33 minutes wasn't enough time to bake them. My favorite type of brownie is a bit chewy in the center, and I thought the folks commenting were just whining because they like cake-like brownies, better.
I was wrong.
The brownies were RAW in the center. I did the requisite toothpick check, but moist crumbs mixed with melted chocolate pieces gave me a false reading.
After cutting into them and seeing how undercooked they were, I put the pan back into the over for another 30 minutes - knowing that I really wasn't going to cook them any more, but I felt good doing it.
So out from the oven they came - still under-baked - but we ate them, anyway. They actually tasted pretty good - and I'm sure they would have been wonderful had they cooked correctly to begin with.
Besides... Even a bad dessert is better than no dessert at all.
If you do decide to make these, make one of these changes. Bake at least 55 minutes in an 8x8 pan, or try baking for the 33 minutes in a 9x13 pan.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Brownies Bon Appétit | January 1996
ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup nutty old-fashioned-style or freshly ground peanut butter
- 1 1/4 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour 8-inch square baking pan. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. If oil has separated from peanut butter, stir to blend. Add peanut butter to butter; beat until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in brown sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Add to peanut butter mixture; beat until blended. Stir in chocolate.
Transfer batter to pan. Using spatula, smooth top. Bake until toothpick inserted 2 inches from edge of pan comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 33 minutes. Transfer pan to rack and cool completely. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.)
Cut brownies into squares.
Chocolate Overload Cookies
I said I was in the mood for cookies. I'm really, really in the mood for cookies after that first bite!
The original recipe called for chocolate chips. I added semi-sweet chips, white chocolate chips, and mini peanut butter cups. The recipe also specifically states NOT Dutch process cocoa - and that was all I had, tonight. (I usually have Guittard cocoa - the last of the family-owned San Francisco chocolatiers which is Dutched - and Hershey's natural cocoa powder in the cabinet. Not tonight.)
A little science lesson... Dutch processing adds alkali to cocoa and neutralizes the acid. It makes for a smoother and deeper cocoa flavor and works well in cakes and pastries where you're not masking the chocolate flavor or competing with the slightly acidic chocolate tones. I usually make brownies with regular cocoa powder for a more pronounced chocolate flavor. Both kinds have their uses and one is not better than the other, so all you chocolate snobs can go lie down.
Back to science... cookies relying on baking soda will not work as well with Dutch process cocoa, because baking soda wants acid to work. While a lot of your basic ingredients will have a bit of acid to them, a simple workaround (and what I did tonight) is to add a quarter-teaspoon of white vinegar to the mix. It adds the necessary acid and punches up the chocolate flavor. It worked quite well!
Chocolate Overload Cookies
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (add 1/4 tsp white vinegar with Vanilla if using Dutch process)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup mini peanut butter cups
Preheat oven to 350°.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy and beat in egg and vanilla until combined well. Mix in flour mixture until just combined and stir in chips.
Drop dough by tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets and bake about 12 minutes.
Cool as long as you can, and then eat!
These really are pretty awesome. And it's unusual for me to make 'normal' sized cookies. I usually make humongaloid cookies. Tonight I thought I'd try actually doing small scoops. I'm glad I did. It made about 65 cookies!
Covered in Chocolate
The weather outside is frightful. Okay. Just cold - which to this thin-blooded San Franciscan - is not as enjoyable as a warm ocean breeze. Oh well. It gives me an excuse to stay indoors and finish the cookies.
Today is adding the finishing touches... the chocolate-dipping. It's the most tedious and the most fun at the same time. I love making everything look fun and festive - and dipping peppermint patties one-by-one is fun for the first tray. By tray three I'm always swearing I'm not making them next year. Of course, I do, because I really like to eat them...
Today's cookies started with dark chocolate dipped macadamia nut orange biscotti, milk chocolate dipped walnut butter cookies, dark chocolate covered peppermint patties, and white chocolate dipped lemon coconut cookies.
I have one more cookie to bake, and then we can start making the trays to give away.....
Ho Ho Ho! :)
Stollen Still Eludes Me
The taste is fantastic, but it's still not quite right. I'm fighting the recipe or something. I dunno.
The first batch of dough I made this morning was the same greasy nightmare dough I first made last year. I knew before finishing it that it was wrong. Into the garbage it went. I have a reasonably good idea of what the dough should feel like, but it's not coming together for me. One of the issues is I'm not used to dealing with adding flour to a liquid that has so much fat in it. I'm more used to adding the fat after the flour and liquid have come together. And somewhere along the line, I'm just not hitting that magic moment when everything just comes together.
I know that I added a bit too much flour to this batch, and that had dire consequencse when I did the final roll and form. The 1/3 fold-over started coming apart while it was going through its final proofing, and it completely came apart in the oven, making a flat bread instead of the taller and narrower bread it's supposed to be.
But it sure does taste good, and in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have tastes good but doesn't look perfect rather than looks perfect but doesn't taste good. (Actually, I'd rather have looks and tastes perfect, but I'm not losing any sleep over this... )
I'm also finishing up the Peppermint Patties. These have to dry before getting dipped in chocolate. They're the best (and easiest!) Peppermint Patty you'll ever have!
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Cookies and candy everywhere! We were up bright and early this morning and started right off making Aunt Emma's cookies.
Gino started rolling out the dough and then Uncle Tim took over. Uncle Victor and Gino filled and formed. They actually may be the best batch we have made, yet. Gino has the forming down to a science and we had virtually no leakers or splits. (Uncle Tim always has several...) The pastry is perfectly light and flaky, the filling really rich apricot... We did good.
After a nice bacon and egg breakfast, we started in on the biscotti. We made the traditional anise, and will make some others later in the week.
We made a variation of the Christmas Turtles last night, and chocolate-dipped them today. Yum.
And then it was non-stop Rum Ball Rolling-And-Dipping.
It's time for a bit of a breather and then round three (or is it four?!? I love this time of the year!
Christmas Cookies - Part One
'Tis the Season to bake cookies! What started out two years ago as the Boys Cookie-Baking Weekend has morphed into Elizabeth coming over for a while on Saturday to learn some cookie-making, as well.
While I was working, Uncle Victor and Elizabeth made Nonna's biscotti, macaroons, and candy cane cookies.
She did a pretty good job, for a rookie.
Tasty, too!
The girls all left, and we got down to business - the dough for Aunt Emma's cookies. It needs to refrigerate overnight, so Gino got right on it. Well - right after we had Pizza, that is. We do have our priorities.
The secret to the dough is working it with a light hand. You need to learn the feel of the dough. This is Gino's third time making them, now... he's starting to get it.
We also made Aunt Dolores' Rum Ball filling. Alas, when we were halfway done, I found out we didn't have any rum, so while Victor ran to the liquor store, Gino and I finished up the caramel turtles. We'll chocolate-cover them tomorrow.
It is such a blast having them down here.