#17: Christmasy Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardboard Boxes

for our annual christmas gifts to the relatives, my sister and i will usually bake something sweet. this year we decided to make an assortment of cookies. i was inspired by some pages i saw in a martha stewart cookie magazine in how to use plain old boxes to present the cookies. the article said to use corrugated paper to line the edges of the boxes and to split the box into different compartments. i went on a search for corrugated paper in at least 3 stores, and still couldn't find any. i ended up using martha as just inspiration and made my own boxes with colored card stock and tissue paper. i was pretty happy with the results.

i made 4 different baked treats for the boxes. (1) louisiana pecan balls (2) praline squares, (3) brown buttercrunch cookies (a variation on the last ones i did because they turned out differently for some reason), and (4) double vanilla cupcakes.

plenty of leftovers for now. let me know if you're interested. i probably won't deliver to you personally...but you can always stop by and pick some up! :)

#16: Sweet and Sticky Brown Buttercrunch Cookies

For the annual Christmas Cookie Exchange this year, I decided to try out a brand spanking new recipe. I seem to have this habit recently of precariously trying out new recipes for outside consumption. I found this recipe from an old Mrs. Fields cookie cookbook. After a couple fairly disastrous batches (the cookies wouldn't come off of the wax paper, and one batch got burnt), I had barely enough cookies to bring to the exchange - 2 per person. Out of the oven, these cookies came out super thin and flat. To effectively make these cookies, you have to work quickly and be willing to burn your finger tips a bit because you roll them around a wooden spoon to get the cylindrical shape. After the cookies completely cool and harden, you can dip them in a chocolate ganache and let the chocolate harden. Although it was nearly a nightmare to make, I was pretty happy with the result. I'm going to make these cookies again for Christmas - but this time i will be armed and ready.

Stay tuned...more holiday baking to come...

#15: Tis the Season to be Yule-y

(photo credit to s. lock)

Christmas time is here, and what does that mean? Baking! My family had a Christmas party and I was asked to make a dessert. I've been wanting to make a Buche de Noel (a.k.a. Yule Log) for a few years now - and I finally had the confidence to try it out. There were some skeptics about my ambitions (trying out a brand new recipe on guests), but I think i proved them wrong. I have to admit, this dessert was semi-homemade. My full intentions were to make the entire cake from scratch, but i hit a road block when I discovered my local Safeway did not carry pasteurized shelled eggs.

The spongey cake is rolled up with raspberry flavored chocolate mousse (from a powder). I was nervous to use un-pasteurized eggs to make the mousse so i resorted to a store-bought powder blended with milk. I used a ganache icing on the outside and added sprinkles to the outside of the log as embellishment. I also tried making meringue for the first time ever. The mushrooms are made out of a candied sugar/water mixture, egg white, and cocoa powder. I didn't have a candy thermometer (supposed to get up to 248 degrees), but I experimented with a meat thermometer and it actually worked! I attached the mushroom tops and stems with melted semi-sweet chocolate. They turned out quite well - i thought they were very tasty and looked really good. If I make another Buche de Noel (which to venture a guess, i will), i might try out another recipe. I used a combination of recipes, including an Allrecipes flourless cake and Martha Stuart's buche de noel recipe. Although I enjoyed eating the cake, I think the textures were different from a standard Buche de Noel. i'll probably keep experimenting with some other recipes to find the perfect Buche de Noel.

#14: Fries, Sweet!

Potato fries, heavy on the sweet. with garlic lemon mayo on the side. I made this for a Sunday-after-Thanksgiving potluck. I figured I would do a little twist on the traditional Thanksgiving sweet potato, plus I was pretty tired of Thanksgiving food. I peeled 5 sweet potatoes and cut them into thin strips. I then tossed the fries in olive oil and put them in the oven for almost an hour. The dip was non-fat mayo with finely cut garlic and some fresh lemon juice (from a lemon from my backyard tree!). The mayo recipe came from Giada De Laurentis and the sweet potato recipe was a combo of recipes I found on AllRecipes.com . A nice tasty non-fried snack and not too hard on the waste line.