The Baking Frenzy

Well the Christmas holiday is right around the corner, and I suppose you could say I’ve gone a bit mad with the baking. Christmas Eve will be celebrated at Boyfriend’s family home (his cousin’s) to be  exact. I usually bring dessert or some sort of after dinner treat, simply because it’s what I do. Growing up I was taught that the Hostess had to have something for herself, a bottle of wine, some nice cheese, a spa set, etc, and she shouldn’t ever have to worry about dessert.

Well, I have taken care of dessert, and then some!

First, I started off with  some chocolate crackle cookies with frosting and holiday sprinkles and some Ruby Thumbprint cookies, not to mention a new snickerdoodle recipe.

It’s a little difficult to imagine how many people these cookies alone will serve, however I have vanilla cake and chocolate guinness gingerbread ahead! I’m almost positive that I’ve started to crack. But in the most delicious way.

Chocolate Christmas Cookies with Glaze

1 1/8 cups soft butter (2 1/4 sticks, 18 tbsp)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Topping:
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
candy sprinkles or sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F Line a cookie sheet with parchment or Silpat.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Sift 1/3 c cocoa powder into the mixture and beat well. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder, and add to mixture. (Optionally, combine everything in a food processor and mix until combined.).

Form 1 tbsp sized balls. Place on cookie sheet at least 2″ apart, pressing down into fat discs. (The dough will be very sticky; gloves may be a good idea.).

Bake 15 minutes. The tops will develop a cracked appearance. Cool 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled. (Placing a sheet of newspaper under the rack will help catch drips in the next step.).

For the topping, combine 2 tbsp cocoa powder with confectioner’s sugar, boiling water and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat and whisk until smooth. Cool 10 minutes.

Drizzle 1 tbsp of glaze on each cookie, spreading lightly with the back of the spoon, then sprinkle with sprinkles or sanding sugar. Work with 6 cookies at a time so the glaze doesn’t dry out before applying the sprinkles.

Saveur Snickerdoodles

3 cups flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
1 3⁄4 cups sugar
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Using a handheld mixer on medium speed, beat 1 1⁄2 cups sugar and the butter together in a medium bowl until pale and fluffy, 2 minutes.

Add 2 tsp. cinnamon and the vanilla; beat for 1 minute more. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add reserved dry ingredients; mix on low speed until just combined.

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 375°.

Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Remove dough from refrigerator and, using a 1-tbsp. measure, spoon out 48 portions, rolling each portion into a 1″ ball as you go. Roll each ball in cinnamon–sugar mixture to coat.

Arrange dough balls 2″ apart on 2 parchment paper–lined baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.

Guinness Gingerbread

1 1/4 sticks 10 (tablespoons) butter, plus some for greasing
1 cup golden syrup (such as Lyle’s)
1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Line your cake pan with aluminium foil and grease it, or grease your foil tray.

 Put the butter, syrup, dark brown sugar, stout, ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves into a pan and melt gently over a low heat.

Take off the heat and whisk in the flour and baking soda. You will need to be patient and whisk thoroughly to get rid of any lumps.

Whisk the sour cream and eggs together in a measuring jug and then beat into the gingerbread mixture, whisking again to get a smooth batter.

Pour this into your cake/foil pan, and bake for about 45 minutes; when it’s ready it will be “gleamingly” risen at the center, and coming away from the pan at the sides.

Let the gingerbread cool before cutting into slices or squares.

(I garnished my gingerbread after slicing, with some powdered sugar and pine trees with deer)

Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies with Glitter (Adapted from Curry and Comfort)

1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
almond meal as needed (about 2-3oz)
Strawberry jelly as needed ( or any jam/ jelly you prefer… strawberry, raspberry, grape, etc…)
Edible glitter (if you have any)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix everything except the glitter and almond meal,  in a large bowl, making sure it’s all well incorporated. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll again in the almond meal. I used a bowl to roll the dough in to make it easier to get the sides coated. The dough is very sticky, so this step isn’t necessary but a nice touch.

Using your thumb or index finger, indent a hole in the middle of the cookie, making sure not to go too low. Fill with your choice of jam/jelly.

Bake for 13-15 minutes. Let cool completely (about 15 minutes) before topping with glitter.

Sick Days and Making Bread

I’ve been feeling under the weather. Mostly, it’s this little… something, in my throat.  It’s been on and off since Saturday morning, which is why my posting has come to a halt. I had a nice showing of Princess Bride this weekend as well (which will be coming in the following days in form or book vs movie review).

Grand ol’ time!

Back to my original reason for writing this post. I feel so terrible right now, in this very moment, that I actually decided I was too tired, to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I can already feel the exhaustion of a bad night’s sleep (still to come), effect me tomorrow. While I’m hosting dinner for a friend tomorrow, I need something satisfying in the moment, and something that I could justify.

BREAD~

Nothing is more special than making homemade bread. I got my inspiration from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen, and it was wonderful!

I thought, I can make this today, and have the oven warm my apartment (though it’s 80 degrees at 9pm in Los Angeles at the moment), and fill my home with the sweet smells of oats and honey, and I can have it for breakfast with butter tomorrow. That’s all it takes for me to jump up off the couch and run into the kitchen, opening cabinets and the fridge.

Adapted from Sweet Peas Kitchen

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, or quick-cooking (not instant) oats, divided
• 1 1/3 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup clover honey, or other mild honey
• 3/4 cup nonfat or low-fat milk

Heat oven to 375°F. Generously coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon oats in the pan. Tip the pan back and forth to coat the sides and bottom with oats; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

In a medium bowl, using a fork, beat 1 cup oats, yogurt, egg, oil and honey until well blended. Stir in milk. Gently stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture just until thoroughly incorporated but not overmixed. Scrape the batter into the pan, spreading evenly to the edges. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon oats over the top.

Bake until well browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Let stand in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a table knife around and under the loaf to loosen it and turn it out onto the rack. Let cool until barely warm, about 45 minutes.

If I could, I’d eat it all.

Sunday Berry Picking and Blueberry Jam

This weekend I was fortunate enough to be dragged out of bed by my friends idea (and admittedly it was a fabulous idea at that!) of berry picking.

Shelf over the farmers market.

Of course, I knew in advance what we were doing this weekend, but waking up at 8am on a Sunday by alarm is still not the best way to start the day of rest. The berry picking was wonderful, despite waking up on the wrong side of the best. We drove out to Underwood Family Farms in Somis, CA. They had their blue and raspberry picking stuff all set for visitors, as well as a small farm area to feel alpacas, chickens, sheep, and goats.

freshly sheared sheep

the cutest chickens I've ever seen

this brave little goat was on top of his hut, enjoying the sun.

Before entering the fields, I did have my portrait taken. I think it came perfectly.

The fields were wonderful. About half of the berries weren’t ready to be picked however. We had to venture out farther and farther into the fields to get the best, and most ripe of all berries. Aside from the tiny spiders and their webs, I had the best time! The light wasn’t the best so, sadly, there aren’t any pictures of the berry fun. I was able to pick 2 containers, about 4 lbs of berries or so, (each container had about 3 1/4 cups). I also got two containers, one from my friend and one from the boyfriend, generously donated to make my jam.

 

Blueberry Jam

I didn’t really follow one specific recipe for my jam. I just sort of continued to read about four recipes that looked the easiest and made the most sense. I’ve come up with this version, and it’s to my liking, with nice jelly and bits of blueberry throughout. However, if you prefer your jam more smooth, like jelly, you’ll need to skip my masher step and run them through the food processor.

8 cups of fresh blueberries

3 cups caster sugar

1.75 oz of sure-jell pectin

1 tbsp butter

1 cup of vanilla sugar (recipe below)

I used my 7-quart dutch oven to make the jam, but 5-qt and up is really all you need. The reason for such a large pot is because the sugar and berries will bubble when boiled, and they must have enough room to keep bubbling without the fear of bubbling over!

Pour the berries into the pot and put on medium-high heat. Warm the berries for a few minutes and then take a potato masher and start mashing and bruising the berries until they get to your consistency.

Add the sugar and pectin and stir for 1 minute.  Let simmer for about 4 minutes without stirring.

In one of the recipes for jam I referenced the author recommended adding in some butter to lessen the foam aspect when the sugar starts to bubble up. Although this is my first time making jam and I don’t have a reference of my own ,the bubbles were significantly lower than what I expected so I assume this step did it’s job.

the yellow dot in the sea of red-purple is the butter

Stir the mixture one more time after adding the butter and let it come to a rolling boil ( meaning it’s a solid bubbly mash, that’s consistent in temperature, usually at medium heat) and keep it there for 35 minutes or so. At this time, place a plate in the freezer for the pectin test. This step I borrowed from Nigella.

After 35 minutes, stir the jam once more. At this point it should be nice and deep in color and liquidy .Take a spoon and get some of the juice to spread on the plate that’s good and cold by now. Let the juice sit for a minute or so. Hold the plate to the side to see how slowly the juice will slide down to the side. The slower it moves the better. If it’s  completely solid, congrats! you’ve got jelly.

a good 35 minutes of bubbling away

Turn off the heat and let the jam sit for 10 minutes to solidify. While you’re waiting prep your canning jars. I used Kerr 1 pint jars. Fill 5-6 jars with boiling water and let them heat up until you’re reading to spoon in the jam.

you can see here that there are 6 jars but I only needed 5

Dump out the water and start ladling in the jam. About 2.5 ladles words wonderfully for me and got all the jam into the jars. Clean up the rims of the jars to make sure that the seal will the clean and tight. Put the lids on the jars and tighten completely.

At this point on the bloggers I read suggested that you flip the jars upside down (to help with the sealing). I thought, why not? and did just that. I held them upside down for about 5 minutes. While I was waiting for that I boiled some water and filled up a 13×9 rectangular baking dish with the hot water. I don’t use traditional hot water bath methods because I find them to be tedious and long. And you need a lot of materials which I don’t have room for, nor want to buy.

I just flipped my jars right-side-up and placed into the hot water. I’ve used this same technique for my apple butter canning.

water is about 90% of the way up the jars. Just below the lid.

The hot water around the dish will keep the temperature inside and outside the jars consistent which helps with the sealing process. At the same time, it allows proper cooling, as when the water cools down the jars will do the same. So in about 4 hours or so the jars should be cooled and sealed.

*I checked in about 15 minutes, while the water was still hot, and about half of the jars had already sealed.

Vanilla Sugar

• 4 cups caster sugar
• 1 vanilla bean pod
• 1 glass container big enough to fit all the sugar

Place the sugar into the container. Slice the vanilla bean in half and cut each piece into half, leaving you with four pieces. Bury these in some sugar. Tighten the lid on the container, and store in a dark, cool place for about 1 week. When ready to use go ahead and stir the sugar around.

Because the vanilla will add moisture it will be clumpy but it’s totally worth it. I use this sugar in jams, apple butter, in pie crusts, and sometimes in scones instead of vanilla extract.