Bambi Birthday Cake

So I made another funny cake. After seeing my son’s Car
cake, a friend of mine mentioned that her daughter would really like a birthday cake shaped like Bambi (the Disney deer). I thought about it for a really long time, and this is what I came up with.



She loved it! I loved making it too. I used two batches of Victoria sponge batter, only instead of making four circle shaped cakes, I made three in loaf tins and one in a regular Victoria sponge tin.
The body is made out of two of the loaf cakes, and the head is made out of half of the third one. The circle was perfect for making the legs, and the other bits (ears, tail) were made from scraps from the third loaf, and the circle.

I find that it’s best to make the cakes the day before, and refrigerate them over night. It makes them a little less delicate, easier to cut and manipulate.

These cakes are my new favorite hobby, so hopefully there will be more of them in the future.

Car Cakes

So it was my youngest son’s third birthday party today. They grow up so fast!





He requested a cake in the shape of a car, so I figured I’d give it a go. In the end I decided I’d better make two, just to make sure we had enough. I could have just made a bigger one, but then I couldn’t have used my all time most favorite cake recipe ever.

This is a cool trick. It’s an old fashioned way of making a Victoria sponge. Instead of using set measurements, weigh your four eggs, in their shells. Make a note of how much they weigh, and then weigh out that same amount of flour, butter, and sugar. Equal parts of each.

Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs one at a time. Make sure each egg is fully blended in before adding the next. Then add a tsp of vanilla, and blend in. Add the flour and a pinch of salt, and fold it in. If the batter is too thick, add some milk to loosen it up.

Pour into two 20cm tins and bake at 180c for 25-30 min.
Test with a toothpick to see if it’s done.

I especially like using this recipe because the cake is even better after sitting in the fridge overnight, so you have a little extra time to work with. You can bake them, cool them, wrap them and put them in the fridge the day before you need them. Then on the day of, just cut them up and stick the bits together with frosting till you get the right shape.



These came out pretty cute, and the birthday boy loved them, which is the most important thing.

Mango, Raspberry and Whipped Cream Profiterole with Mint

By Cookbad

I've had make your own pizza parties & decorate your own cupcakes but next time around, I'm going to do make your own profiterole aka cream puff event.

Because, really, what awesome dessert madness can't you build between two halves of choix.

Here is the line up for just the basics:
ice cream
chocolate sauce
whipped cream
various berries and diced fruit
chopped nuts
creme filling- fluffy and creamy
chocolate mouse
fruit coulis of many flavors
citrus curd
sprinkles
chiffonade some mint

And if you don't like the little puff, just turn in into a sunday.

I plan to build one a foot high someday.
Yeah, I know, I'm wickedly ambitious.

Here is the plain old one I made the other night:
All recipes from various sources:
Mango, Raspberry and Whipped Cream Profiterole with Mint
Pastry:
1 cup water
1 stick margarine or butter
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat water and margarine or butter to boiling point. Add flour and stir constantly until mixture is smooth and forms a ball when tested in cold water. Remove from heat and let cool. Beat in 4 eggs, one at a time. Drop dough from teaspoon to form small eclairs onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until light brown.

Berry Coulis:
500g fresh or frozen berries, cherries, peaches or apricots
3-5 tablespoons sugar, to taste
fresh lemon juice to taste
Purée the fruit in a food processor or blender add sugar, and lemon juice. Press the fruit through a sieve, tamis or chinois and discard remaining solids.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamis

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=138858
Mango Curd:
1 or two ripe mangos, peeled, pitted, and diced. Perfect for over ripe mangos.
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Puree first 4 ingredients in processor, scraping down sides of work bowl occasionally. Add yolks; puree 15 seconds longer. Strain through sieve set over large metal bowl, pressing on solids with back of spatula to release as much puree as possible. Discard solids in sieve.

Set metal bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); whisk puree until thickened and thermometer registers 170°F., about 10 minutes. Remove from over water. Whisk in butter 1 piece at a time. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Chiffonade up some mint.

Combine into a pile of good.

Any leftovers are fair game for eating with a spoon in front of the fridge at 3 in the morning before anyone else can get to them.

Scam Chocolate

By Cookbad

This isn't a new story and it's made the rounds on the blogosphere last year. But I'm trying to finish up our chapter on desserts and focusing on chocolate right now and thought I'd bring it back.

It is the best piece of investigative food reportage I've read.

It's an account blow for blow about the most expensive chocolate per ounce is not only bullshit, but poorly prepared.

Here is the full scoop.

Peanut Buttter Truffles

By Cookbad

Dessert or treat wise, I say truffles are the biggest bang for your buck.
They are more foolproof than almost any other dessert or sweet I can think of. Combined with the fact that people are tremendously impressed when you tell them that, yes, you were the one to make them, they are one of my favorite things to make. This is a version of the Thomas Keller, French Laundry recipe:

Peanut Butter Truffles
To make about 50 truffles:
6 oz. of dark chocolate
24 oz. of the best peanut butter you can find
1/2 cup of sugar
1.5 tablespoons of salt
9 ounces of unsalted room temp. butter.
24 oz. dark chocolate
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa for coating (that I consider optional)

Melt the chocolate & butter in a double boiler or microwave.

Put the peanut butter, sugar & salt into a food processor and blend. Add chocolate/ butter combo. Blend for couple of minutes.

Transfer mixture to the fridge until very solid.

Once it is solid, get a plate or baking sheet that will fit in your freezer and line it with parchment paper. Wax paper works to. Take a 1 teaspoon measurer and scoop out the mixture then roll into a uniform ball with the flat of your hands. repeat until mixture is done. Put them in the freezer.

If your hand get ridiculously sticky during rolling and the mixture becomes petulant, return it to the fridge (or freezer) to solid it up a bit.

Melt 24 oz. of chocolate over a double boiler, remove from heat and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Line another sheet with parchment, grab some tongs.

Take the peanut butter balls out of the freezer.

Using your tongs, dip the peanut butter balls into the mixture, swirl it around some to coat it in chocolate then put in on the parchment lined pan.
Repeat until finished. Put the truffles in the fridge.

When the truffles are cooled, re-melt chocolate and repeat for a second coat.

Remove from fridge, let them come to room temp. then roll them in cocoa powder.

These will keep in the freezer for months.

You can also make truffles with any sort of ganache. Ganache is very simple. It's 1 part chocolate and one part cream. Heat cream to just before boiling, pour over chocolate (chopped, chunked or in chips), wait 2 minutes for the cream to melt the chocolate a bit, then combine with a mixer. You can also any sort of flavor or liquor you like. Then proceed with the ganache just as you would the chocolate mixture.

four berry maple and mascarpone strata

stratas do not photograph very well, but are delicious.

By Cookbad

I've been experimenting with stratas a lot lately to see if there is a ratio of egg to bread to milk to filling that would work for any kind of strata be it sweet, savory or in between.

I made this one using my strata ratio of bread:egg:milk being about 6:6:1.5 and if came out splendidly.

4 Berry Maple & Mascarpone Strata
6 eggs
6 cups of ripped up whole grain crusty bread
1.5 cups of milk
1.5 cups of maple syrup
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
4 oz. mascarpone cheese (cream cheese would work too, the cheese it optional)
8 ounces of mixed blueberries, raspberries, cherries and blackberries, fresh or frozen

1 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of maple syrup

Beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup.

In a casserole or souffle dish, mix together the bread, the berries and evenly place quarter sized dollops of the mascarpone. Pour the egg mixture over it.

Cover it and stick it in the fridge overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350. Put he strata (covered) and cook for 35 minutes. Take off the cover and cook for another 15 minutes.

During the last 15 minutes of cooking whip the heavy cream with maple syrup into a whipped cream.

Let the strata cook for a bit, then serve with whipped cream and more maple syrup if you like.

Pink Chocolate Fairy Cakes (with creme filling!)

It's a lot of look for one little cake.

by Cookbad

I made these little numbers for a bake sale at my daughters preschool. My only thought was to make them as pink and irresistible to the princess loving, pink adoring, pre-barbi set as possible. So I did a pink cupcake, with pink frosting and toped with some sparkly pink, stuffed with creme.

I made them vegan, although I didn't advertise them as such. It was only implied in the ingredient list I was require to submit with said cupcakes.

And really, why not make them vegan if you can. They are just as delicious. There are a few vegans at the school and I would hate to exclude any pink loving wee vegan from one. BONUS: kids can lick the beaters at any point (if you worry about raw eggs).

Perfect timing to join in on the 2008 CUPCAKE SPECTACULAR!

These were a mash-up of a few different recipes. The cupcakes themselves were from my friend Lacy Sher's book, Down to Earth cookbook- The best vegan cookbook I have ever run across, and I've seen a lot. Anyway, I have sworn to her to keep her recipes in the book and off the internet. Still, there are plenty of vegan cake recipes out there. . . this is one that is similar, but as I haven't made them I ain't vouching for them.

Here is how it goes from there:
Bake them in little paper or silver muffin cups, but don't spray the inside with oil as I read to do someplace. It makes the cupcake slip away from paper and creates a hassle decorating and looks kind of lame.

I wanted mine pink, so out came the food coloring. Admittedly, I over did it in the batter. There is no way to take out color unless you want to double the recipe and incorporate another batch into the over dyed one - which I didn't so, I ran with it.

Actually, maybe you should make the ganache frosting first so it has a chance to cool while you're mixing, baking and creme filling:

Procure a bag of white chocolate chunks, they usually come in 12 oz. packets. Put them in a deep bowl. Next, heat up 1.5 cups of soy milk (this is 1;1 chocolate and soy milk if you want to make more or less). Just as the milk starts to boil take it off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Wait a couple minutes them take the mixer to them. A high sided bowl comes in handy for the first few seconds, because you've got 2 ingredients with very different consistencies and until they start to incorporate, chocolate and milk will fling all over you and your kitchen if you are using a shallow bowl.

Add a bit of red food coloring.

Mix for 5 minutes.

Stick it in the fridge.

While everything cools, make the frosty creme inside:

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
3/4 cup superfine (or caster) sugar
¼ cup plain soymilk powder (don’t use low-fat, it has a “taste”)
pinch salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (get the highest quality you can, the kind that’s thick and syrupy tastes best)

Make sure everything is room temperature and whip like crazy with a hand or upright mixer for 10 minute.

This is directly lifted from the Isa Chandra Moskowitz fauxtess cupcakes in Vegan with a Vengeance. Another superior book.

In the UK cupcakes are called fairy cakes and why not exploit that for further 3-6 yo. girl appeal?

Now, you get the creme deliciousness into the cupcake. Get out your pasty or icing bag with whatever tip you can still find, fill it and simply stick the tip of the bag into the top center of the cupcake, press it in 1/4 to 1/2 and inch and squeeze in the creme. Squeeze just until you see the cake rise a bit. Squeeze too much and it will burst, but still taste goood.

Done?

Time to ice them. I did it by putting the cupcakes face down into the ganache, giving them a twirl and gently lifting them out, repairing any messy spot with a clean finger. Do it anyway that works bet for you.

Now sprinkle very liberally with hot pink colored sugar and pop a white chocolate chip on top. I tried to do a few with little pieces of silver gilding stuff, but they looked messy so I stuck to the chips.

And there you have it.

You can do this over 2 days. They will taste just as good.

music accompaniment: Miss Li.

Turmeric Ice Cream or Semifreddo

Turmeric Ice Cream is florecent yellow and will stain anything in comes into contact with

By Cookbad

Happy belated Tết, everyone!

I've been planning on going to Little Saigon in Westminster, Ca for a year now. I unknowingly chose the day before Vietnamese New Year. I figured this out upon my arrival. It was like trying to navigate Fairway the day before Thanksgiving. The only difference is it was much more fun and much less a contact sport.

My sister was in town visiting and we did our favorite thing to do (besides drink and yell at the television) & went grocery shopping.

I skipped the buckets of pig blood (someday. . . .) but got some lovely things, one of which was a nicely decorated single serving hand coffee grinder--double as a spice grinder. Perfect for camping.

Tiny Vietnamese hand coffee grinder. Coffee goes in the top, comes out in the cute little drawer.

We also got some fresh Turmeric that my sister thought it would be fin to make ice cream. Dried Turmeric is the stuff that turns curry yellow. Fresh turmeric has a rooty, slightly ginger carrot flavor and will stain the hell out of anything that is comes in contact with.

Raw tumeric root.

It also recently occured to me that Semifreddo is the best thing to make if you don't have an ice cream maker. It is very simple, beautiful to serve and sounds fancy.

Here is how to make them both:

Turmeric Ice Cream:
Serves 6

1. Get together 5 or 6 oz. of fresh Turmeric root.
2. Change into all black clothing.
3. Peel Turmeric.
4. Place into a small food processor or blender with 1/2 c. of milk and puree.
5. Pour 2 cups of milk, 3/4 cups of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like your ice cream) and 2 scrambled eggs into a sauce pan.
6. Heat and stir over med. low. Do not allow the mixture to boil or you'll end up with milk sweet scambled eggs. Just stir more or less constantly for 10 minutes.
7. Put in the fridge or freezer to chill
8. Whip 2 cups of cream to peaks.
9. Once everything is cold, put it all into an ice cream maker for 20 minutes.

You can toss in some shelled pistachios. They add a nice texture and the green is ridiculously dramatic against the florecent yellow.

Turmeric Semifreddo:
Serves 6

1. Separate 3 eggs.
2. Beat the egg yolks with 1/2 c. of caster sugar until they turn pale yellow.
3. Beat the egg whites until they come to stiff peaks.
4. Whip 1.5 cups of heavy cream to peaks.
5. Put on all black clothing
6. Peel 5-6 oz. of fresh Turmeric root.
7. Puree with 1/2 cup of milk in a food processor or blender.
8. Line a loaf pan or any type of mold you would like with plastic wrap.
9. Gently add the Turmeric to the egg yolk mixture.
10. Gently fold the egg yolks into the whipped cream and egg whites.
11. When combined, pour into mold, cover with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.

Mango Gelée

A wee Gelée before being devoured by toddlers.

By CookBad

This is a recipe from Cookie magazine. I in no way endorse Cookie. I found it on epicurious while looking for a gelée recipe that would work. I had tried Thomas Keller's Concord Grape gelée to go with his peanut butter truffles. Get it? Peanut butter and gelée? His were made with fruit pectin and even though I believe that I followed the recipe to the T, the gelée failed to gel. Sad. The truffles were ridiculously good tho.

These cute little things called for gelatin. I cannot abide standard store bought gelatin. So often it smells to much like what it is -- skin, bones, hoofs. I have gelatin sheets that I've been wanting to try, but these needed to be moulded. So, I went with agar agar.

Agar agar comes from red seaweed. In China, certain types of swallows eat this red seaweed, spit it up to make nests that hang on the sides of cliffs. These nests are then harvested (at great peril to the harvesters as they have to hang from clifts to get to them) and then sold for A LOT of money to make birds nest soup out of.

The agar agar I used come unchewed or spit up. I think I once read someplace that it has 4 times more gelling action that gelatin, so I went with that when subing it in. I'm going to double check this.

You can buy it at most asian markets in powdered form.

Cookie calls them, gummies, but they are not at all gummy, so I renamed them.
Here is the recipe:
Mango Gelée 1 cup fruit juice (pure juice-not a fruit-flavored drink) or nectar, such as Goya, Mott's, or Kern's, chilled or at room temperature 1 1/4-ounce package gelatin ( I used half as much agar agar, just to be safe) Preparation 1. Lightly coat 16 tartlet molds or mini-muffin tins with oil. 2. Place 1/4 cup of the juice in a medium bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin. Let sit for 1 minute. 3. Meanwhile, in a small pan, bring the remaining juice to a boil. Add it to the gelatin mixture, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved. 4. Spoon the mixture into the molds. Chill in the refrigerator until set, 2 hours. 5. Pop the tartlets out. Serve them cold or at room temperature within 2 hours, or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Tip You can buy plastic or metal tartlet molds ($1.50 and up each, surlatable.com). An 8-by-8-inch baking dish also works-once the whole thing is set, just cut it into squares with a knife, or into shapes with a cookie cutter.

It was a bit tricky getting them out of the mold. It took a certain amount of slamming down.

These were nice. Cute. Kids ate half of them before they were even finished gelling. Sneaky evil kids. They reminded me of the little jelly candies that you can buy in china town in large tubs shaped like cats, or kids or teddy bears. Only healthier and without a huge amount of sugar.

I got the little tartlets from Surfas for $2.50. I think they will be great for making mini brioche someday.

Devil Dog Cake

To celebrate my one year cooking anniversary, I made this Devil Dog cake. It’s not made out of devil dogs, it’s just resembles one. It got a top score (four out of four forks) on Epicurious, and it used a technique that I haven’t tried yet, so I thought it would be fitting for my last recipe of the year.


For cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process) plus additional for dusting
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups water

For frosting
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preparation

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour an 8-inch square cake pan (2 inches deep).

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well, then beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and water alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined.

Pour batter into cake pan and smooth top, then bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 1 hour. Transfer cake to a cake plate.

Make frosting:
Combine frosting ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Mound frosting on top of cake. Dust with additional cocoa powder.

Cooks' notes:
• Cake, without frosting, will improve in flavor if made 1 day ahead. Cool, then keep, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature. Frost cake just before serving.
• The egg whites in the frosting are not fully cooked. You can substitute pasteurized or reconstituted dried egg whites if salmonella is a problem in your area.


The cake it’s self is pretty straightforward, creaming the butter and sugar, and adding in turns. My square cake tin doesn’t have a removable base, so I made sure to use baking paper for easy removal. The best way to do it is to let it cool for a couple of minutes, then put a dish over the top of the cake and flip the whole thing over. That way you can just lift off the pan, and peel off the paper. If you want to turn it back right side up, just put another dish over it and flip it again.

The frosting was new for me. It was an interesting method. Like making meringue, but in a double boiler. It sounded intimidating, but it was fine, once I got used to having an electric mixer in one hand and an oven glove on the other (the bowl kept slipping in the pot). It took the full 7 minutes, but it came out amazing. It was sticky and frosting-y and tasted just like marshmallows. I loved it.

The recipe mentions that the cake improves in flavor if you refrigerate it over night, and it’s no joke. This cake was good on the day it was made, but it was excellent the next day.

I would make this again, probably for a kids event more then a grown up event, thought it would be fine for either. I agree with the four forks rating, I will make it again.

Double Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I thought I had a photo of these, but I guess I forgot to take one. You can see what they look like Here. I got them from the magazine, but they are also on Epicurious.


For dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 pound fine-quality white chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Equipment: a 1 3/4-inch fluted round cookie cutter
Garnish: decorative sugar (optional)
Preparation

Make dough:
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in yolk and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches just until a dough forms. Divide dough in half and form each piece into a 6-inch square, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

Make ganache while dough chills:
Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan, then stir into melted chocolate. Stir in butter and vanilla until smooth. Cover surface with parchment paper and chill, stirring occasionally, until very thick, about 30 minutes.

Cut and bake cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter 2 large baking sheets.

Roll out 1 piece of dough between sheets of parchment paper into a 14- by 10-inch rectangle (1/8 inch thick). Slide dough in parchment onto a tray and freeze until dough is firm, about 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.

Cut out as many rounds as possible from first chilled square with cutter, reserving and chilling scraps, then quickly transfer cookies to a buttered baking sheet, arranging them 1/2 inch apart. (If dough becomes too soft, return to freezer until firm.)

Sprinkle half of cookies with decorative sugar (if using), then bake cookies until baked through and slightly puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on sheet on rack 5 minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely (cookies will crisp as they cool).

Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll only once).

Assemble sandwich cookies:
Beat ganache with an electric mixer at high speed just until light and fluffy. Transfer to a sealable plastic bag (snip off 1/8 to 1/4 inch from 1 corner with scissors). Pipe ganache onto flat sides of plain cookies, then top with sugared cookies to make sandwiches. Chill, layered between sheets of parchment, in an airtight container until filling is set, at least 1 hour.

Cook's notes:
• Dough can be chilled up to 2 days.
• Ganache can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, its surface covered with parchment. Bring to room temperature, then beat with mixer before using.
• Sandwiched cookies keep, chilled, 4 days.

These came from a copy of Gourmet magazine . that cookbad sent me from the States. What a great magazine! This was the Christmas cookie issue, and it had so many amazing looking cookies, I hardly knew where to start.

I chose these because of their double chocolate-ness. I couldn’t resist.

The recipe looks pretty complicated, and I’m not going to pretend that it’s a quick and simple one, but if you just get into the idea of doing it in phases, then it’s no big deal.

I left the dough to sit in the fridge for much longer then it said to because I made the dough before going out in the morning. It’s fine to do that, but you have to keep in mind that you’ll have to let it warm up a bit before it is soft enough to roll. That actually worked out even better for me because although it was really hard to roll, I was able to roll them out, cut them and transfer them to a baking sheet without having to re-chill the dough.

The cookies come out really beautifully crispy and light.

Then the filling… my advice to you is to use the best quality white chocolate you can find. I skimped a bit, and I felt like it made a difference to the quality. They were still really good cookies, but they could have been even better.

I don’t have a piping bag, so I used a freezer bag with the corner cut off. That worked really well. Using a spoon, did not. I only did that for one cookie.

I will definitely make these again, they were like fancy Oreo cookies.

Apricot Glazed Chicken

½ cup finely chopped shallots
¼ cup finely chopped, peeled ginger
2tbsp vegetable oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 cup apricot preserves (12oz)
16 chicken drumsticks

cook shallots and ginger in oil in a small heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 5 min. Stir in vinegar and boil until reduced by about half, about 2 min. Add soy sauce, preserves and ¼ tsp each of salt and pepper and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 15 min.
Puree sauce in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then cool to room temperature.
Divide chicken into two large sealable bags and pour marinade over chicken. Seal bags, pressing out excess air, and marinate, chilled, turning bag over occasionally, at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 425f with rack in the middle
Line a shallow heavy baking pan with 2 slightly overlapping sheets of foil, then lightly oil the foil. Arrange chicken with marinade in 1 layer in the pan. Roast, turning once, until deep brown, cooked through and glazed, about 40 min total.
Can be marinated up to 24 hours.

I got this recipe from an issue of Gourmet Magazine that a friend sent to me. It’s a shame we can’t get this one out here. It’s beautiful, and the recipes all look amazing.

I tried this one right away because it looked so child friendly, and because it doesn’t require any real work on the day you are going to eat it. The sauce was easy enough to make while I was doing other things the day before. I only made half the amount, because the original recipe makes quite a bit.

Just a note, they are not kidding about being careful when you blend hot liquid. I used a stick blender, and a bit splattered onto my arm. The burn mark lasted all night.

The next day it was just pour and bake. Easy as pie, and it came out wonderfully. Both boys loved it, and so did we. It’s sweet and sticky and all the things you want drumsticks to be. I will use this recipe anytime I am cooking for kids. I also think it would make great summertime barbeque or picnic food.

Stuff dipped in chocolate

These were mostly just a spur of the moment idea. I had all this stuff in the fridge, so I just put it all together. You make a small slit in the top of the dried apricot, and stuff some marzipan in it, then just dip the apricot in some melted chocolate and lay it on parchment paper. I also dipped in a bunch of sections from a Clementine. Then put it in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave by the way. It’s the easiest way to do it. 1 minute, then stir it up. It’s that easy.

The apricots weren’t really what I had hoped. They were tasty, but the flavor of the marzipan was lost. It was unnecessary. Really it was the Clementine pieces that won me over. They were just really simple, and totally perfect. The fresh juiciness of the orange, and the dark chocolate were a wonderful combination. I would definitely do that again.

Stollen Slice

25g mixed peel
50g pistachio nuts, chopped
50g dried cranberries
50g raisins
1tbsp brandy or rum
375g pack ready rolled puff pastry
225g marzipan

For the glaze:
4tbsp apricot jam
2tbsp brandy or rum

Preheat to 220
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Mix the peel, nuts, cranberries, raisins, and brandy or rum. Soak while you make the glaze. Gently heat the jam and brandy or rum in a small pan, then bubble for 1 min. Sieve into a bowl, cool.
Lay the pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Spread the fruits and nuts almost to the edges. Roll the marzipan into a long sausage. Lay it along the pastry’s length over the filling, 1 inch from 1 edge. Roll pastry around marzipan, join underneath.
Trim the ends, slice into 12. Lay the slices in a ring, slightly overlapping, on the baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 min until golden. Brush with glaze. Cut slices. Serve warm.

This was cool. It was like cake baking for people who don’t like baking cakes. It was that simple. Just spread out some toppings, and roll it up. It takes no time at all, and it comes out really well.

I found this in 101 Christmas Dishes.

This is a good recipe to have around, because it’s a lovely dessert cake, and it’s also nice to serve with coffee or tea. And like I said before, super easy, super fast and tasty. What more could you ask for?

Bailey’s Cheesecake

11g pack powdered gelatin, plus 1 tsp
175g shortcake biscuits , crushed to crumbs
85g butter, melted
250g tub Quark
250g tub Mascarpone
150ml Baileys cream liquor
142ml double cream, lightly whipped
2 eggs
140g caster sugar

For the coffee jelly
1 heaped tsp powdered gelatin
150ml strong black coffee, sweetened with 2 tbsp caster sugar

Measure 5tbsp cold water in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the gelatin and leave to soak or 5 min until spongy. Now stand the bowl of gelatin in a pan of gently simmering water and leave until it turns clear.
Meanwhile mix the biscuit crumbs and butter really well, then press on the base of a loose bottom 20cm cake tin. Chill.
Beat the quark, mascarpone, and baileys together, then stir in the gelatin and fold in the cream.
Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick, pale and foamy, then fold into the cheesecake mixture and pour onto the biscuit base. Chill for 3-4 hours or until set.
For the jelly, sprinkle the gelatin over the coffee, then put the bowl in a pan of gently simmering water until dissolved. Cool the mixture. When cold, carefully spoon the coffee mixture on top of the cheesecake to make a thin layer - don’t pour it on or you will disturb the creamy layer. Chill until set.
To serve, wrap a hot tea towel round the outside of the tin, then gently ease out the cake. Serve in slices.

This was from Good Food Magazine.

Normally I don’t go in for fancy cheesecakes (I’m a cheesecake traditionalist), but I decided to give this one a try. It’s a non-bake cheesecake, so that’s new for me, and it uses gelatin, which I am still fairly new to, so it seemed like it would be a fun adventure.

It was.

I think I’ve finally got my head around using gelatin. There was a tip in the magazine about how you should always add powdered gelatin to cold liquid, and let it go spongy before heating it up. That way it won’t go lumpy. I guess it worked, because I had no problem with it. It was also my first time using Quark. I always wondered what it was. It said on the package that it is a very basic kind of soft cheese. I don’t think you’d want to eat it on it’s own, I’m pretty sure it’s just for use in cooking. It had a nice consistency though, and it worked well.

The gelatin coffee topping was a fun touch too. I always loved the way that looked on fancy cakes, and I had no idea it was so easy to do. It says in the recipe to spoon it onto the top so you don’t disturb the cake, but if you want a slightly quicker method, you can pour it very slowly and carefully over the back of a spoon onto the cake (the spoon should be held as close to the cake as possible). This method spreads out the impact of the liquid. I did it that way, and it was fine. Before pouring it on, I didn’t think it was going to be enough, I looked like such a small amount of liquid, but it was perfect.

One really important thing that the recipe doesn’t mention, is that as with any cheesecake, you really need to make it the day before. Cheesecakes are ok on the day you make them, but they don’t really reach the right consistency till they’ve been in the fridge overnight.

All in all, this wasn’t quick, or especially simple, but it wasn’t tricky either. There’s nothing here that should trip you up, it’s just a lot to do. I would recommend it, because on the day after it was made, it was really delicious.

Ginger bread house

There are loads of ways to do this. I’ve heard that they sell kits, where all you have to do is put it together, and decorate it. Some people make the cookies themselves, but buy ready made icing. However you do it, it’s a really fun activity.

I used a basic gingerbread recipe. The recipe, plus the dimensions of all the parts is a lot of typing, so I’ll say that you can easily find a recipe, and any one is as good as the next I think. I’ll just try to give some tips.

Figure out what parts you need first, and draw them on paper using exact dimensions. Cut out the paper ones, and once you have rolled out the dough, place the paper cut-outs right on the dough so you can trace around them with a sharp knife.

My main advice to you, is make sure that your icing is the right consistency. It has to be so thick that it is almost dough, but stickier. The first batch I made was a little thin, and it took forever for it to set. We had to put the house together, prop it up on all sides (it took all of my ramekins), and leave it till the next day. The second batch was the right thickness, and it held on the chimney and decorations with no muss no fuss no waiting around.

Also, a lot of recipes will tell you that you need a piping bag for the icing, and that’s ideal I suppose, but I’ve never had one. For jobs like this, a zip lock bag (freezer storage bag) works just as well. Just dump all of your icing into the bag, and cut a tiny hole in the corner. Use it as you would a regular piping bag.

Doing this from scratch was way more fun then I thought it would be. I will definitely do it again. Also, it was really tasty. I thought by the time we ate it, it would be stale and hard, but it was really good. Also, fun to tear pieces off the roof and walls.

Right after we finished this, someone directed me to This. A gingerbread K-9 from Dr. Who. How much fun is that? I’m thinking of new and different things that can be made from gingerbread now. I’ll keep you informed when I come up with something good.

Chocolate Ginger Cookies

225g butter, softened
85g light soft brown sugar
250g self-raising flour
2Tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate drops, or dark chocolate chopped
50g preserved ginger from a jar, or crystallized ginger roughly chopped.

Butter two large baking sheets, and line with non-stick parchment. Beat he butter and sugar together till pale and creamy.
Stir in the remaining ingredients to make a soft dough. Roll the dough into walnut sized pieces, and space out generously on the baking sheets. Chill for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200c
Bake for 12-15 minutes until light golden – they will still feel quite soft in the middle. Leave on the baking sheet for about 5 min until firm, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

These were ok, but definitely not the best of the batch. The ginger was a nice touch, and they were really easy to make, but there are better ones out there. This one was from 101 Chocolate Treats.

Three top Christmas cookies, and an honorable mention

I tried a bunch of cookies for Christmas, and these are three good solid choices. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to delve into spice cookies, which I always find so Christmas-y, but if I get to it before the holidays, I’ll let you know.



Cookies with jam
1/2 cup of butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
Raspberry preserves
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter, sugars, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy. Blend in flour and milk. Stir in chocolate chips.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheets.
Make a small indentation with thumb in the top of each ball. Use a teaspoon to place a small amount of raspberry preserves in each indentation.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from sheets and cool on wire racks.
Yields about 3 dozen cookies.

These are from about.com, and they are big time winners. They score high marks for Christmas-y-ness because they are brightly colored and fun. High marks for overall good cookie-ness because they are really tasty, and super high marks in the fun-for-kids category as well.

The boys loved making these! They always like the measuring and pouring and mixing and all that, but these were special. They got to roll all the dough into balls, then they got to poke their fingers in them to make holes, and they got to fill up all the little holes with jam. Seriously, what could be a more fun cookie baking experience. It’s practically sand castles.

The dough was really good. It held it’s shape well even if it had to be re-rolled. Also it didn’t suffer from sitting long enough for two little boys to fill all those holes very carefully and slowly. Fine stand up dough.

I tried a second batch of these on my own with a couple of variations. I thought it would be fun to do red and green cookies, so I made one batch with lemon and lime jam (the only strikingly green jam I could find), and dark chocolate chunks. Then I made some with the raspberry jam to go with them, but I used white chocolate chips (because white chocolate goes really well with raspberry).

The lemon lime ones were ok. They wound up tasting like Jaffa Cakes. Not a horrible loss, but not nearly as good as the white chocolate raspberry ones. In the end I decided that they don’t have to be green and red. The red is festive enough on it’s own.

These are really nice. The way they are made, with the jam in the center of a ball means that when the cookies spread, the jam will stay in the center well, and not run off or burn, and the dough makes a nice soft cookie, good consistency, good taste. It looks like it’s a lot of steps to do, but it’s actually quite fast and easy (if you aren’t working with kids).

These get my vote.



Creamed Choc-Oat cookies



125g white chocolate
125g plain chocolate
125g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar
1 medium egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g porridge oats
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder

Preheat to 180 and lightly grease two baking sheets. Using a sharp knife chop the chocolate into small chunks, no larger then ½ inch
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl till pale. Add the egg, vanilla, and oats. Sift in the flour and baking powder, and mix until evenly combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Place dessertspoonfuls of the mixture onto baking sheets, spacing them apart to allow room for spreading. Flatten each one slightly with the back of a fork.
Bake for 12 – 15 min until risen and turning golden. Leave on the baking sheets for 5 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight tin for up to one week.

These came from Good Housekeeping Step By Step Cook Book.

These are excellent! They are not especially Christmas-y at all, but there’s no reason why they can’t be. Especially when they are so unbelievably easy and good. Even if you don’t make these as a Christmas cookie, try them. After making these only once, I have designated these as my go-to-cookies. When I just need a cookie, and I don’t want to try anything new and fancy, these are the ones to make.

Oatmeal adds the really nice chewy-ness that all superior cookies should have, and the two kinds of chocolate, in chunks, not chips makes them decadent.

These are in my top three, even if they are not officially Christmas cookies.



Rugelach



Beat until well blended, 15-20 seconds:
½ lb unsalted butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
Add all at once and beat on a low speed, just until the dough comes together, 10 – 15 seconds:
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
Divide the dough into thirds. Flatten each third into a 6x4 inch rectangle, or a 6 inch circle. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or packed airtight and frozen for up to 1 month.)
To bake, position a rack in the upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350f. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together:
1/3 cup sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
working quickly with one portion of dough at a time (leave the remainder refrigerated), generously sprinkle a work surface, and the top of the dough with:
All purpose flour

For rectangle rugelach:
Roll each portion into a 16x10 inch rectangle, about 1/8th inch thick. Brush the excess flour from the top and bottom of the dough, and turn the dough so that the long side of the dough is parallel to the edge of the work surface. Leaving a ¼ inch border, spread 1 rectangle with:
¼ cup raspberry jam or apricot preserves
Along the edge of the jam on the long side nearest you, place a line of:
¼ cup raisins or chocolate chips
Sprinkle the rest of the surface with 2tsp of the cinnamon sugar and:
2&1/2 Tbsp ground walnuts
Roll the dough, starting at the raisin edge, gently tucking and tightening as you go.
Finish with the seam of the roll facing down. Cut the roll into 1&1/2 inch thick slices. Repeat with the remaining rectangles.

For crescent Rugelach:
Shape by rolling each portion into a circle about 14 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Spread the jam in a thin layer, leaving ¼ inch border, then sprinkle the entire surface with the raisins, cinnamon and sugar, and ground nuts. Cut the circle like a pizza, creating 8 (for large cookies), or 16 (for small cookies)even triangles. Roll up from the wide end to the point, tucking the point over. Repeat with the remaining circles.
With a spatula, transfer the rugelach to the cookie sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 tsp of the cinnamon and sugar. Bake until the bottoms are light golden (the tops will be blond), about 25 min. Remove the sheet to a rack and let stand until they firm slightly. Transfer to racks to cool.


This recipe is just the plain old Joy of Cooking recipe for rugelach, but it was really great.

It’s interesting because the dough itself has no sugar in it at all, it’s only the topping that is sweetened, which means that you can have a lot more control over how sweet you make them. The dough, being pretty much cream cheese and butter, is really soft and lovely and just a little bit tangy from the cream cheese. Also so so so easy to make, takes no time at all.

As for the fillings, I tried two different ways, and I would recommend using both. There are three sets of dough, so I say use Raspberry and white chocolate chips for one batch, apricot and raisins for the next, then the third can be whichever strikes your fancy.

These are one of my top three choices of all the cookie recipes I’ve tried this year. I whole heartedly recommend them.


And, as an honorable mention...



Christmas sugar cookies
½ pound unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cup flour

Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg, baking powder, salt and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Then stir in the flour till well blended and smooth.
Divide the dough in half. Place each half between two large sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to a scant ¼ inch thick, checking the underside of the dough and smoothing any creases. Keeping the paper in place, layer the rolled dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate till cold and slightly firm but not hard, 20-30 min.
Preheat the oven to 350F Grease your cookie sheets.
Working with one portion of dough at a time (leave the other in the fridge), gently peel away and replace one sheet of paper (this will make it easier to lift the cookies from the paper later). Peel away and discard the second sheet. Cut out the cookies using 2 or 3 inch cutters. With a spatula, transfer them to cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Roll the dough scraps and continue cutting out cookies until all the dough is used. Briefly refrigerate the dough if it becomes too soft to handle. If desired, lightly sprinkle the cookies with colored sprinkles, or colored sugar.
Bake 1 sheet at a time, just until the cookies are lightly colored on top, and slightly darker at the edges, 6 to 9 minutes. Rotate the sheet halfway through baking for even browning. Remove the sheet to a rack an let stand until the cookies firm slightly. Transfer to racks and cool.

These were one of two cookie recipes that I took from the Joy of Cooking this Christmas.

It’s a classic, so I thought it would be a real winner. I got the cookie cutters in all the Christmas shapes. I have to say, that the cookies themselves were actually very nice. They were light and buttery and lovely tasting. There was no problem with the cookies themselves. The problem was that I though cookies like that would be a perfect activity for the boys, Christmas cookies with their Christmas cutters. We did make them all together as a group, but what I learned is that any recipe that says to put the dough back in the fridge if you need to firm it up, is going to be no good at all for tiny little, warm, and inefficient hands. They had a great time, but by about the third cookie, the dough had gone too soft from being touched and left out long enough for little kids to get three cookies cut. It was fine, we just cut a few cookies from each batch of dough, then I put all the rest back in the fridge. The kids had a great time, as kids do, but they got a bit frustrated at not being able to get the shapes to come out correctly, and at the dough being too soft and sticking to the cutters (my younger son just switched to making balls out of the dough and squishing them).

For the record I should say that I did the left over dough by myself, to see how it went, and an adult working on their own should have no trouble with this dough at all. It’s just that fun fun cookie cutters really kind of cry out for little kids.

Top scores for Christmas-y-ness, good scores for overall taste, but low low scores for making with kids.

Chocolate Brownie Cake

100g butter
175g Caster Sugar
75g brown or light muscovado sugar
125g chocolate (dark or milk)
1tbsp golden syrup
2 large eggs, beaten
1tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
2tbsp cocoa powder
To serve:
Fresh fruit and double cream

Preheat to 180c. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
Place the butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, chocolate, and golden syrup in a pan, and melt gently over a low heat until smooth. Remove from the heat, add the eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and cocoa, and mix thoroughly.
Pour into the tin and bake for 25-30 min. Allow to cool in the tin for 10-15 min, then cut into wedges and serve warm with fresh cream.


This was from a little book called 101 Chocolate Treats.

I’m not sure I get the point of it being cake shaped and not brownie shaped, but I have to say these were dead easy, and really the perfect satisfying, fulfilling brownies. They were soft, and chewy at the ends, and a little squidgy in the middle (in that good way), and perfectly chocolate-y.

I’ve been wanting to try out a bunch of brownie recipes for awhile now, to find a good one. I don’t think I need to look further. This is just a melt and mix batter, which I have always found to be the easiest and most forgiving, and it uses real chocolate.

Make these next time you need some chocolate. You won’t be sorry.

Chocolate Truffles

250ml double cream
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
275g dark chocolate (minimum 60% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
4tbsp rum
50g cocoa powder

Place the chocolate and butter in a large bowl. Bring the cream to a boil, and pour it over the chocolate and butter. Stir gently till the chocolate has melted, trying not to create bubbles, then stir in the rum.
Place the bowl in the fridge to firm up, removing it about 15 min before you want to use it.
Put the cocoa into a bowl. Ensure your hands are cold and dry, then dust them with cocoa. Take spoonfuls of the mixture (use a tsp or a tbsp) and roll the mixture into a ball in your cocoa dusted hands. Drop each truffle into the bowl of cocoa, turn it around, then toss it in your hands to remove any excess powder. The truffles can be returned to he fridge, and kept for up to 2 days, as long as they are stored in an air tight container.

I looked around at a bunch of recipes for truffles, and they all looked pretty similar. I wound up going with the one in James Martin - Desserts.

I was not having terribly good luck making candy. So I thought I would try making chocolates instead for the time being. It’s way easier. It’s so easy, as a matter of fact, that I recommend that everybody try it once. They look really impressive, and they taste delicious.

I tried a few different flavors. I split the mix into four bowls and did one rum, one calvados, one espresso, and one plain. For the espresso one I mixed a little instant espresso powder with a Tbsp of boiling water, and added the liquid.

They were all good, but the flavor wasn’t very strong on any of them. Next time I will either leave them plain (which was really good), or add more/stronger flavor.

These were so good, the only downside was that my husband and I ate a bunch of the espresso ones right before bed by accident. They do not make for a good night’s sleep.