Holiday Foods

Here are a few pictures of things I made over the holidays. I'm not going to go into much detail here, but I wanted to get these posted. If you have any questions about the stuff listed, leave a comment and I'll add more. Oh, and you can click on the picture to see it better.

Chocolate Streudle: I had some thick philo dough that had to get used so I made this. It was a bit crunchier than I would have liked. Great flavor.


Baklava: Great as always. This one I did on my own. The filling was walnuts I believe. I did make too much syrup so they were a bit stickier than usual.


Assorted Candies: Peppermint Bark, Chocolate Chews, Caramels, Chocolates, and Cashew Coconut Brittle: These were given out as Christmas gifts. This was the first time I made candies such as these. The peppermint bark and the brittle went over the best. I've been asked to make more brittle next year.


Fig and Walnut Tart: I saw this in a magazine and thought I would give it a try. It was good, a bit time consuming though. Everything was made from scratch. In the future, I would use the crust again but would pass on the figs and walnuts. Figs still are not my thing.

And many cookies were made.....

There is the assortment of cookies that I took to work this past Monday. Over the weekend my family and I made all of these treats. I helped with the making of many (except for the peanut butter and chocolate fudge which were made by my brother). I don't have pictures of every cookie, but here is a quick run down of what was made.

Cinnamon/Cherry Swirl Chip Cookies: Top of right side tray: My aunt made these before the rest of us made it to her house so I'm not sure of the name of these cookies or what all went in them, but they look nice and tasted good.

Peanut Butter Cookies (with Hershey's Kisses): The batter for these was also already made by the time we arrived, they followed the standard recipe.

Chocolate Graham Walnut Scotchies: Bottom of right tray: There were supposed to be oatmeal pecan scotchies, but after I already started making the batter I found out that my aunt did not have any oatmeal. After looking through her supplies I found a box of chocolate teddy grahams and figured that I could use those. I ground them up and put them in to replace the oats. Then since I had already changed the recipe and a lot of walnuts had already been chopped, I opted to use walnuts instead of pecans. Other than those changes, I pretty much followed the recipe. The chocolate flavor is very mild, the main flavor you taste is butterscotch.

Sugar Cutouts: My brother made the dough for these cookies a few weeks ago and froze it. It thawed nicely and was easy to roll out. My mom and grandmother did about all of the work on these, I only made the icing. I found a nice royal icing recipe but it was too thick so we thinned it down. Then that was a little thick too so we thinned it more. We shouldn't have thinned the second time, the icing on those cookies didn't get totally firm and were still sticky. That's something I will have to remember for next time.

Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cookies: The top right side of the right tray: I don't know where my mom got these baking chips from, but apparently Hershey's makes a raspberry cream filled chocolate baking bit. We just followed the recipe on the back of the package for these ones. Here is the recipe off Hershey's site. We went with the chocolate cookie variety. The cookie itself is alright but the texture is sort of dry; however, as soon as your tongue hits one of the raspberry cream bites you'll love it.

Fudge: As I mentioned before those were made by my brother. He's always been the one to make it, so I don't even try.

Peppermint Patties: These are hard to see, but they are in the upper middle next to the sugar cookies. These are a lot like the York peppermint pattie, but homemade. I mixed together baking powder, evaporated milk, and peppermint extract to make a dough. I rolled the dough into small disks and let them dry for a few hours. Once they were dry I melted some dark chocolate and shortening. I dipped the dried peppermint disks into the chocolate and set them on wax paper to dry. They have a nice flavor, the peppermint isn't too strong and the flavor of the chocolate comes through quite well.

Baklava: I saved this one for last. Every year we make baklava, my family is not Greek (or even remotely from that area of the world), but somehow making baklava became a family tradition. As usual we make 2 big trays and this year was no exception. However, we mixed things up a little this year and made 2 different types of baklava. We made one batch with walnuts and a lemon sugar syrup glaze and the other batch was made with pecans and a honey based glaze. If you only tried one of the batches I'm certain that you would enjoy it; however if you try them both, the pecan batch was the better of the two. Another interesting thing I wanted to mention about this year's baklava was that the philo dough (the very thin sheets of dough that make up the top and bottom of the baklava) came from the import store at the West Side Market. Up until now we had been using the stuff in the grocery store but had a difficult time with it last year since they changed the size of the sheets. While looking around the market one day earlier this year I saw the philo dough and made a note to go back and buy it from there. That was one of the best decisions I could make. The sheets held together quite well and didn't dry out easily. They were also much more affordable than that of at the grocery store.

Well, that's it for now. This coming weekend I have plans to make some candy type treats. I'll post more on that soon. If you have any questions about any of the cookies shown in this post, please leave a comment or drop me an email.

La Bete Noire

This dish was the cover feature of the September 2006 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. A link to the recipe is here if you are interested. Also, if you click here you can see in image of the cover (at least until the new issue comes out).

I was invited to a Labor Day cookout and I wanted to make something unique so this is what I brought. I also brought some little smokies wrapped in bacon which were a real crowd pleaser (but they were nothing unique so thats about as much mention as they will get). When I saw the cover of the magazine on the rack I had to buy it. The chocolate "cake" looked very tempting. I had also never made anything like this before so I was up for the challenge.

If you clicked on the recipe you can see that the cake is flourless and uses very few ingredients. It was fairly simple to assemble but I do encourage that a bigger pot than you think necessary be used. I had a hard time stirring the eggs into the mix because I was close to spilling over the sides of the pot.

I found the recipe to be very straight forward and detailed. I can't think of any advice I can give to make it any better.

The final result was a very very rich chocolate dessert. Only a small slice is suggested because it is very rich. Some people at the party gave suggestions for another layer that is lighter and either flavored vanilla or coffee. When I make this again, I might try to change the recipe around a little to reflect such a change. I'll be sure to post the results.

Super Dark Chocolate Chocolate Vanilla 3-Layer Cake

Be sure to click on the picture to view it better.

So today I set out on an ambitious task. I was to make a 3 layer cake, chocolate ganache in between the layers, and homemade vanilla frosting. Other than a lack of good decorating skills for a 3 layer cake, I'm very pleased with the results.

The cake came together really well. I cheated and used a dark chocolate boxed cake mix (actually 2 boxes worth). When I was mixing the batter I sifted the cake mix. I don't know for sure if it make a difference but the batter came out very smooth (no lumps) and all 3 cake layers baked really evenly.

I had never made my own icing other than cream cheese icing before so I was a little worried about how it would turn out. To my surprise it was pretty easy. I do have to admit, if I didn't have the kitchenaid mixer it would be a very difficult task (and I would never do it). The icing consists of butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and a little salt.

To go in between the cake layers I made a really simple ganache by mixing melted dark chocolate, vanilla, and cream together. When it had cooled it thickened and I spread that between the cakes.

And now came the hard part. I shouldn't have made bottom 2 layers so close in size to each other (the bottom layer is 10" and the middle is 9") or I should have made just one size and did a double layer. Icing those two layers and making them actually look like different layers was pretty much impossible. Once I had everything coated in the vanilla icing, I wasn't really happy with how the cake looked so I opened a tub of store bought icing and used that to decorate the cake. Although the decorating didn't go the best I'm still really proud of the cake.

I will be taking it to work tomorrow and I will post a comment to let you know if it was liked or not.

Chocolate Walnut Strudel

My mom bought some puff pastery for the cookie making party and we ran out of time to do anything with it so when I came down for Christmas, I made this strudel.

I was looking for easy recipes with puff pastry and found this one on the Kraft website. To make, you roll out the pastry then spread it with melted chocolate and walnuts. Then your roll up the dough, coat with an egg wash, and bake. Once cooked just sprinkly with powdered sugar. Its very rich and very tasty.

As a note to the readers of this blog. I'm planning to shift the focus of the upcoming posts to healthier foods. Although I see nothing wrong with enjoying sweets in moderation, I have been eating too many while I make these (and the waistline shows). Desserts will come back on special occasions and I'm sure if I am still up to this next winter there will many cookies and sweets again. I'm still planning to bring new and exciting dishes (just ones with less sugar and fat).

Annual Cookie Making Day

For the past few years my family and I have been getting together sometime before Christmas to spend part of a day making a bunch of cookies. This year there were actually two cookie days but I missed the first one since I was making periogis (which I really enjoyed); I was determined to be at the second party. As usual we had the party at my Aunt's house since she has a large kitchen with a double oven.

We typically have a few ideas of what will be made with each person bringing the ingredients they would need for what they would like to make. My brother had been on a big sugar cookie kick earlier this week and he brought some already chilled dough which was a major time saver. I had planned on making the carrot cake cookies again (but this time as a double batch with carrot cake and spice cake mixed together). My cousin and her fiance were to make the chocolate chip cookies and my mom had got together the ingredients for the baklava, molasses cookies, and the no-bakes.

We started around 11 and baked until about 3. Everything went smoothly with only a few cookies getting over-browned and some slightly mashed during the transfer from baking sheet to cooling rack.

What puzzled me the most is that there were 5 cookie sheets (if not more), and I basically only had one to work with. My brother and cousin took the other sheets for their cookies. So, as usual, I was stuck with one cookie sheet and my Silpat.

So the run down of what we made and quantities were about:
Sugar Cookies, 8 dozen
Chocolate Chip, 6 dozen
Molasses, 4 dozen
Carrot Cake, 4 dozen
No-Bake, 3 dozen
Baklava, 12 dozen pieces (between the 3 batches we made)

Everything came out really well and everyone got a lot to take back with them. I brought most of mine into work to share and everyone has been enjoying them. If you want to know the recipe for any of the above, send me an email or post a comment and I will get you the info.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Rocky Road Chocolate Bark

Yesterday afternoon I was debating over what to make for this morning, the choices were Rocky Road Chocolate Bark or Jello Cookies(raspberry flavored). Obviously the chocolate bark won.

This was also a good way to use up extra chocolate that I had around the house. Using the double boiler method I melted down some baking chocolate, a little leftover milk chocolate from Easter (good pure chocolate lasts forever), and some semi-sweet chocolate chips. They were all melted together I stirred in crushed graham cracker, peanuts, and mini marshmallows. I poured the mixture onto the Silpat which was on a cookie sheet and spread it all out to a smooth layer (as smooth as I could).

At this point it could have been done but I wasn't happy with the thickness of the chocolate and I figured that it wouldn't set up well enough so I melted down some more chocolate chips and spread this over the first layer. The melted chocolate filled in all around the marshmallows and it was all a pretty even layer now.

I then put everything in the refrigerator for about an hour to set. Once it was set I lifted the bark off the Silpat and broke it into bite sized pieces.

They're really good.

Red Velvet Bites

The week of sweet treats continues. Today's treat is what I am calling Red Velvet Bites. They are basically everything you love about a red velvet cake, in the form of a cookie. The recipe starts with a red velvet cake mix (its the theme I'm going with right now) that is made into a cookie batter with eggs, oil, and butter, and for an extra kick, I added some semi-sweet baking chocolate.

When I came up with the plan to make these cookies, I was going to roll the dough into balls and coat them with powdered sugar before baking (so that they would have a crackled top); but while making the dough I realized that I didn't have any gloves and I was not about to roll these by hand (my hands would have been stained for days). So instead I baked them as a drop cookie and coated them with powdered sugar afterwards.

They give a bit of a surprise on the first bite since most people do not expect a chocolate taste from a red and white cookie. They are unique and fun for the holiday.

2-Layer Bars (there are really only 2 layers)

Before I get into the review, I want to comment on the name of this treat. I found this recipe on the Kraft Food's site and it was named "4 layer bars." But in reality, there are only 2 layers. There is the base layer and a layer of marshmallows, m&m's, and peanuts. Apparently Kraft thought that 4 layer bars sounded more impressive (which it does, but its not really accurate).

Anyway, back to the review.

If you have read my other posts, you know about my love for boxed cake mix. This recipe uses a yellow cake mix for the base layer. An egg and 1 stick of melted butter are added to the cake mix, its all stirred up and poured into a 9 x 13 pan and baked. Once the base layer is done, marshmallows, m&m's, and peanuts are poured over the top and its baked another few minutes to melt the marshmallows.

And that's it. It is super easy. Everyone at work enjoyed them, so they must be good.

If you try to make this, I do have one suggestion. When you go to cut the bars, spray some nonstick cooking spray on the knife, otherwise the marshmallow sticks and makes a big mess.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday I was in the mood to make some cookies so I went searching around the Kraft website. I found this recipe which had ingredients that I had on hand. I was surprised to see a cookie recipe that used sour cream so I decided to give it a try.

I didn't have any issues with the recipe and the cookies came out great. The cookies are really moist and soft (thanks to the sour cream). The picture on the Kraft page shows lots of nuts and chocolate chips popping out of the cookies which leads me to believe that they put extra in those ones. I followed the recipe and you can see from the picture that they are not overly chocolately. I think I will add extra chocolate chips next time.

My family is planning a cookie party the weekend before Christmas and I will be making these again. I will post an update to let everyone know how the second batch turns out.

Peppermint-Dreams Cake

Holiday cooking has begun. I recently got the newest issue of Kraft Food and Family Magazine and a cake very similar to this one was on the cover. I was inspired to give it a try.

If you've read my other cake posts you will know that I like to make cakes that use a box mix to start. This is another of those. To "doctor up" this one, pudding, sour cream, chocolate, and peppermint candy is added. The icing is cool whip.

If I hadn't been in a hurry, you would have seen that the cake was actually cut into 4 layers and cool whip was in between each. In my haste, I did not let the cakes fully cool before I put in the filling and it melted into the cakes (not that it was a bad thing in the end, but it would have looked much more impressive with all 4 layers showing).

The cake is one of the tastiest chocolate cakes I've had in a long time. Its super chocolately and really really moist. I'm not the happiest with the cool whip icing so I would suggest using real icing instead. And possibly doing a peppermint cream in between the layers since the mint flavor was a little too subtle for my tastes.

Chocolate-Orange Cake

I admit, I cheated on this one. I was at Marc's last night (if you do not know about Marc's, its a discount/closeout chain in Ohio) and I saw this in their closeouts section. My Mom had picked up one of the other varieties a few weeks ago (oatmeal cookies) and those were good so I thought I would give this one a try. And it was only $1.88 so I figured I could spare the money to give it a try.

Other than the mix, the only ingredients necessary were melted butter and water. If someone messed up this recipe, they have serious issues.

It wasn't bad. Its definitely orange and chocolate and very dense. A couple little slices and some whipped topping made a nice treat. If you have a Marc's around you, take a look in the closeout section for these mixes. There are about 5 or 6 varieties and they come packaged in fabric pouches.

Checker-Board Cake

Before I get into talking about the cake, I would like to point out the fact that I do not have any decent cake tray and had to use a cookie sheet to transport the cake. I'm sure a nice cake carrier or even a cake stand would make this dessert look even better. I think I could have really cleaned up the sides as well if I had the proper equipment. If anyone feels inclined to provide me with such a stand/carrier, I would greatly appreciate it.

As you can see, the cake has a checker-board pattern; the flavors are yellow and carrot. The main purpose of this cake was to try out the checker-board kit, so I took the easy way out and used box cake mixes. I got the kit from my mom which she got for turning in the points from Pillsbury products (thanks Mom!). If you want to see what it looks like, I found it on Amazon.com. My advice to anyone using such a kit, pour slowly. I made quite a mess on the counter by pouring too much batter into the pan and having it overflow.

To finish off the cake I made some pudding to go in between the layers and iced the cake with a canned butter cream icing. I had one slice so I could take the picture and then brought the rest into work. I predict that it will all be gone by mid-morning.

For the right occasion this is a neat cake. Its a little extra work, but I think the results justify the effort.