Christmas Cookies & Holiday Hearts

That's the way the holiday...ends? Christmas is over. But New Year's isn't! And anytime is a good time for sugar cookies.

These are an exceptionally nice cookie for decorating, because they don't spread much at all and the dough is easy to work with. In fact, I just made some today for my daughter to share on her playdate. Because we were short on time we just sprinkled the dough with colored sugar before baking and then piped them with a little melted white chocolate. They turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

Because these have cream cheese in the dough, they have a really nice flavor...but a much better flavor on the next day, if they last that long!

Cream Cheese Cut Out Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3 ounces of cream cheese (small package)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 and 1/2 cups flour

-Cream butter and cream cheese, then add the sugar, egg yolk and vanilla.
-Add the flour last and mix well.
-Chill the dough for 2 hours or overnight.
-Roll out the chilled dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until cookies begin to lightly brown on the bottom.
-Cool and decorate.

Hard Candy 101

Hard candy is one of the easier candy things to make if you read the instructions and do exactly what it says. A couple of things you should not do ~ like I did the first time I made hard candy in High School ~ are the following:

First, don't add your extract until the very last minute. Extract is made of alcohol, and the heat burns the alcohol off in those final seconds, leaving you with just the scent and flavor. If you add the extract too soon, it burns all the flavor out, too. Leaving you with just the scent. Younger me did not believe in reading directions and soon we had an abominable smell in our kitchen~a horrible infusion of grape and cinnamon~from adding too much flavoring to my batches of hard candy. I can still remember the smell to this day. Awful, awful, awful.

Second, don't take your heavy pot outside and bang it on the cement to get the hard candy out of it. I learned this the hard way. The best way, which my wonderfully understanding Dad showed me, is to fill it with hot water and let it sit for about 10 minutes. It turns right back into sugar and melts off. DUH. Fortunately the pot was stronger than I was. I now own this pot and use it to make all my candy, dents in the bottom and all...a reminder of me not having any patience. And that well made pots will outlive you and your stupid first attempt at making suckers.

Anyway, hard candy really is easy to make. And it makes wonderful water features on cakes! My best advice to you, aside from those two little nuggets above, is to go to a baking store or baking section of your grocery store and buy some hard candy flavorings or oils. They run around $2 or so and come in tiny little pre-measured bottles called a dram, which is a teaspoons worth. They are about 4 times stronger than extracts and made to do the job. And now that we're all much older and *cough* wiser, read the instructions and do exactly what it says. Really! It's that easy! I mean, it's not Rocket Surgery. ;)

Old Fashioned Hard Candy

2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 dram (or 1 teaspoon) candy flavoring or extract
food coloring (optional)
powdered sugar (optional)

-Lightly oil or butter your candy molds or a cookie sheet and set aside.
-In a large, heavy saucepan, mix together the sugar, corn syrup and water.
-Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
-Clip on a candy thermometer making sure it does not touch the bottom of the pan. Bring mixture to a boil without stirring.
-When the syrup reaches 260 degrees F, add the food coloring. Do NOT stir. The boiling action will mix in the color.
-When the mixture reaches 300 degrees F, remove from heat. After the boiling action stops, add the flavoring and stir. Be careful, as the mixture will steam when you add the flavoring.
-Quickly pour your syrup into the molds or onto a cookie sheet.
-If desired, score while warm to break it into squares when cool. Dust pieces with powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking.
-Store in an airtight container.

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Tips:
You can melt your hard candy back down in your oven...this is also good for making windows for gingerbread houses or those glorious stained glass sugar cookies. Just put your hard candy in a plastic bag and smash it up into little chunks, pour the pieces into your cut-out cookie windows or onto a greased cookie sheet or a piece of greased foil in an even layer and put it in a 400 degree oven (or whatever your cookie recipe says). It will only take a few minutes, so watch it carefully. Your candy will melt back together in one even layer. Leave to cool and then remove from the sheet. Ta-da! Magic! :)

Always make sure there is some kind of butter or oil on whatever you pour your hard candy into or it will stick and you'll be left to soak the stuff off in the sink.

Project Birthday Cake ~ Mango Curd

I've never actually made curd before, because you can just buy jars of it at the store! But really, it wasn't too hard. The final result took about an hour. The only thing I'm sad about is that the lime juice overpowered the mango flavor by miles and it ended up tasting like a lime or lemon curd. I think most people thought that's what it was, which is fine because I thought it tasted like lime curd myself. It was still tasty!

I suspect if you want a more Mango flavor you could cut down the lime juice to 1 or 1 and 1/2 tablespoons instead of the full three. Or try using extra ripe mangoes. They are a wee bit of a hard find in Salt Lake city in the dead of winter. :)

Mango Curd
(adapted from Bon Appetit, June 1998)

1 15 ounce ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I used two medium sized mangoes...the produce man said ripe ones are like avacados: brightly colored, with a little give when squeezed)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

-Puree the first 4 ingredients in a food processor or blender, scrape down the sides occasionally to make sure everything is well blended.

-Add egg yolks and puree 15 seconds more.

-Strain the mixture through a sieve that has been set over a metal bowl, pressing the mixture through to release as much of the puree as possible. Discard solids that are left in the sieve.

-Set the metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water); whisk the puree until thickened and a thermometer registers 170 degrees. This should take about 10 minutes.

-Remove bowl from over water. Whisk in the butter 1 piece at a time until it is all incorporated. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Makes 1 to 1 1/2 cups.

Project Birthday Cake ~ Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

This recipe makes a lot of batter. Enough for three 9 inch round layers. I had to make one and a half recipes to make the entire birthday cake...that's 13 and 1/2 cups of batter kids. It turned out to be quite the hefty cake! :)

Feel free to use your awesome math skillz to figure out how to scale up and down the recipe. If I can do it, anyone can do it!

The cake turns out a lovely vanilla flavored crumb. Not too dense, but not too light. It skims the border between a white and yellow cake. I think it's just plain perfect for a party.

In my haste I forgot to take pictures...I shall post some when I get some from the party peoples.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

3 3/4 cups cake flour (1 and 3/4 cups flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch for 2 cups)
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups plus 1/3 cup buttermilk
5 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper. (Ed Note: I would also do a light dusting of flour around the edges of the pan...the batter really sticks to the sides, and flour will help it release easier. If you bake a lot, you should also discover Baker's Joy, which is a spray oil with flour already mixed in. It's like magic in a can!)

2. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 1 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition. There will be 9 cups of batter; our 3 cups batter into each pan.

4. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Turn the layers out onto wire racks by placing a rack on top of a pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off the paper liners and let cool completely. When the layers have cooled, place a cardboard cake board on top of a layer, invert again, and lift off the rack. To make th elayers easier to handle, wrap them on their boards completely in plastic, so they don’t dry out, and refrigerate them.

Project Birthday Cake...A Saga

I haven't had a chance to post any new recipes because I've been working on my friends Birthday cake for her party, which was last night. The party was fantastic, the food was great, and I am proud to say the cake was quite tasty!

However, I am sad to report that the main bit, which was to be a 3-D Taj Mahal made from gingerbread, was a massive fail. :( I was so sad! I had the whole thing baked~ lovely pieces of gingerbread waiting to be made into the classic structure were all over my kitchen. My amazing husband even gave me an early Christmas Present, stacking cooling racks (EEE! Thank you baby!) on which they were lovingly cradled while they cooled and dried.

Then came the storm. I mean the snowstorm outside, which created some kind of havoc on my royal icing. I've never had a problem with royal icing before. It's pretty simple and straightfoward. Maybe I needed a different recipe...because it just wasn't coming together. Instead of turning into rich, glossy glue, it started foaming up and turning into what looked like marshmallow cream. The more I beat it, the worse it got. Once I finally got it to what I thought was a pouring texture (which I wanted to cover the walls) my perfectly baked gingerbread became unrecognizable slabs of goo. The perfectly peaked window openings were mired in sludge that wouldn't come off. The more I messed with it the worse it got.

I panicked. It was the day before the party, but I didn't have time to do it all again. The gingerbread was ruined. So, in my tired brain I thought up another tack...I would make sugar cookie dough...it would already be white! Hurrah! So I pulled out my favorite never fail non-spreading sugar cookie recipe, made up a batch and cut out the pieces. Again. But you know what? It spread. It spread like sugar cookies had never spread before. It came out half burnt and mis-shapen.

At any rate, the cake was baked, the filling was made...I decided we'd have to have a flat paper Taj Mahal. My grand idea would have to be scrapped.

Hopefully Melty is not too miffed that the Gingerbread Mahal did not happen.

The good news is the cake was really good. It still had the Taj Mahal on one end, in black and white with some glittery accents, a sparkling azure blue pool of "water" made from Pina Colada flavored hard candy (which was quite tasty, if I do say so myself) some Mehndi patterns piped on top and "Janam Din Mubarak!"~Happy Birthday in Hindi~ which I bathed in gold luster dust so it would stand out.

We were only a little bit late to the party after all this, owing to the fact that the shirt I wanted to wear had gone MIA and the slippery roads and snow made for scary traffic conditions, even when one is not transporting a cake.

Apparently, the best part was the golden sparkling candles that refused to be blown out and re-lit themselves several times over. If you want some of your own, I bought them at Zurchers. :)

Hey...Wait a Minute!

Okay, maybe I was being a little overzealous trying to post something every day. We've been having lots of fun at home with sick people, parties, baking for parties, snow storms, work, shopping, shipping and the like...it's been so busy I haven't even had time.

Now I'm combing through my recipes trying to figure out what Christmasy things I have or haven't posted and what should go up next. Let's just say~ for now~ I will post as many things as I can between here and Christmas. You still love me anyway, right? :)

Ooh! I just had an epiphany for todays post. Here we go!

Do you like Chex Mix? I'm not really a fan of the original worcestershire(woo-steh-sure) sauce type. But I do like the sweet kinds. That Muddy Buddy stuff (the chocolate peanut butter coated in powdered sugar concoction) is addictive. So here's another favorite spin on it...buttery caramel goodness. YUM. :)

Caramel Snack Mix

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white corn syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 cup almonds (optional)
1 12 ounce box Crispix (or a mix of Corn and Rice Chex)

-Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and lightly butter the foil.
-In a medium-size microwave safe bowl, mix butter, white corn syrup and brown sugar.
-Place the mixture in the microwave and cook 2 minutes, or until butter melts.
-Place the cereal, pecans and almonds into the prepared roasting pan.
-Pour the melted butter mixture over the cereal and nuts and mix gently until the cereal and nuts are coated.
-Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
-As the snack mix is cooling, be sure to continue to stir to help it cool and to break up the cereal and nuts so they don't stick together.

Perfect Pumpkin Cupcakes

Whoops! I meant to post this yesterday but I was crazy busy and exhausted.

I don't know if I can adequately explain how awesome these are. They are just amazing. The best cupcakes ever. And they have every exciting spice under the sun...even black pepper! As opposed to pumpkin bread and the like, they are actually quite light. And of course, as with every spiced cake, they taste even better the next day. If you can, bake them the night before, cover them up to keep them moist, and frost them the next morning with a generous dollop of cream cheese frosting. Perfection!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour (or 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin


Make the cupcakes:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with about 21 liners.

2. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.

3. Add the eggs 1 at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. Rap the filled pans once on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1.Cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
2.Blend in the powdered sugar until smooth.
3. Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon or nutmeg.

Makes about 21 cupcakes.

Speaking of Not Making Candy

Okay, I lied. I can make a couple kinds of candy. Divinity has been around forever and it is easier than it sounds. You can accomplish it on your own if you have a stand mixer. Otherwise, it's definitely a two person job (remember children, molten hot sugar syrup is DANGEROUS!) and you'll need a sturdy hand mixer. Also be sure to read through the directions first so there aren't any surprises. You'll need to have wax paper out and vanilla at the ready and so forth...

I make this for my Dad a lot since it's one of his favorites. It's definitely worth the time it takes, and it really is divine. It just doesn't seem like Christmas without it!

Dad's Favorite Divinity

2 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans or chopped cherries

-In a heavy 2 quart saucepan combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt.
-Over medium heat cook the sugar mixture, stirring only until it dissolves.
-Clip on a candy thermometer (be sure the thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of the pan or you won't get an accurate temperature) and cook until it reaches hardball stage, 260 degrees.
-Meanwhile as the sugar syrup cooks to temperature, beat the egg whites in a heat-proof bowl (glass or metal) until stiff peaks form.
-When the syrup reaches 260 degrees, remove it from the heat.
-Turn on your mixer to high speed and pour a thin stream of the sugar syrup into your egg whites slowly, until you have poured in all of it.
-Add the vanilla and continue to beat until candy starts to hold it's shape.
-Stir in the chopped nuts or cherries if desired.
-Quickly drop the candy from a teaspoon onto waxed paper (it will set fast once it starts to cool) and swirl the top of each piece. (Don't fret if your candy starts to set up too much to make swirls, though...it tastes just the same. I never get all of them spooned out before it starts to set!)
-Let cool.

Makes about 30 candies (depending on the size you make them)

I'm Not a Candy Maker, But...

This is one of the few candy recipes I can make without breaking out in hives and collapsing into a fit of tears.

Chocolate Covered English Toffee

6 ounces (about 1 cup) milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (no substitutes!)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted almonds or pecans (optional)

-Set out a small bowl of water, pastry brush and an 8x11 inch metal baking pan (or glass dish lined with foil and buttered lightly) set on a cooling rack.
-In a heavy saucepan combine the butter, sugar, water, corn syrup and salt over medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until butter is melted and sugar dissolves.
-Clip a candy thermometer to the pan ~ make sure it doesn't touch the bottom of the pan so you get an accurate temperature.
-Stir gently but constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture reaches 300 degrees F on your thermometer (this will take about 18-20 minutes). Brush the sides of the pan with the pastry brush dipped in water every once in a while to keep the sugar from crystallizing.
-When the mixture reaches 300 degrees, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. The hot toffee will steam when you add the vanilla, so be careful to avoid burns. Pour into baking pan and tilt the pan until it covers the bottom evenly.
-Let cool for 2 minutes.
-If you want to score your toffee into squares to make it easier to break apart, make score marks across the top of the hot toffee with a sharp knife. You may need to go over them a couple of times until the toffee starts to set, which will only be a couple of minutes.
-Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the hot toffee and let it stand for a couple of minutes. (You can use more chocolate chips if you want a thicker coat of chocolate).
-Smooth the melted chocolate with a spatula and sprinkle with the almonds or pecans if desired.
-Let cool completely (about 3-4 hours) on the rack and break into pieces.
-Use a metal spatula or blunt knife to pry the toffee out of the pan.
-You can refrigerate the candy to help the chocolate set if needed.