'Tis the Season

Happy Holidays!

Every year at Christmastime I love to make gingerbread cookies. It reminds me of when we would go up to my grandparent's house and my grandmother would make us the best gingerbread men. We would help by eating the red hots. Instead of making traditional gingerbread men, I made gingerbread stars and decorated them with Royal Icing. Here's the recipe I used:

Gingerbread Cookies:

• 3 1/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature, softened)
• 1/2 c. dark-brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. unsulfured molasses

To make the cookies:

Sift flour into a large bowl, mix in baking soda and spices, set aside. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in the egg and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture. Mix on a low speed until all the flour has been incorporated. Be careful not to over mix or the dough may become stiff and hard to work with. Divide the dough into thirds and wrap each third in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. Before rolling out dough, let sit at room temperature for about 5 to 10 minutes to soften. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Place a third of the dough on a piece of lightly floured parchment or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out to about a 1/8 inch thickness. Refrigerate again for another 5 to 10 minutes (this makes the cookies easier to cut). Using your desired shape of cookie cutter, cut out shapes and transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet. If you wish to use raisins, chocolate chips, red hots or other candies to decorate the cookies, do so before putting them in the oven. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp, but not darkened. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Once cooled completely, decorate with Royal Icing. Let the cookies sit until the icing has hardened and enjoy!

Royal Icing:

• 4 egg whites
• 4 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon extract (or any flavor extract, for this recipe I used orange extract)

To make icing:

Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add sugar and extract. Beat at a high speed until thickened. Makes about 2 cups.



While perusing the December 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine, I stumbled across a twelve-layer mocha cake that I couldn't resist to try out. It turned out to be a taste-bud tantalizing medley of chocolate and mocha buttercreams, nestled between layers of yellow spongecake, collapsed chocolate soufflé and hazelnut meringue. Yum. While this cake proved difficult to assemble, the end result was quite delicious. If you want to take a crack at it, you can fine this recipe in the December 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine or at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Twelve-Layer-Mocha-Cake-350916

Let it snow!

I love this time of year! Especially all the flavors that coincide with winter, namely peppermint. Every quarter my work hosts a student appreciation lunch to "thank" the students who work in my office. I took it upon myself to bring a delicious treat to thank my fellow students as well. I've been wanting to try this cake out ever since I saw it on the cover of this month's Bon Appetit. Yes, I'm talking about the four-layered chocolate monstrosity, also known as devil's food cake with peppermint frosting, a dark chocolate ganache and a peppermint white chocolate cream filling. Yum. It was every bit as delicious as it sounds. I added a few bits of my own though. Through my endeavors of cake making, I've discovered that a good way to keep a cake moist is to use either jams or liqours drizzled over the cake layers. After letting the cake cool and leveling the layers, either melt a couple of tablespoons of your favorite jam/jelly or a splash of your favorite liqour and simply drizzle it over the layers of cake. Let the layers sit for about half an hour before you assemble and frost your cake. This not only adds a punch of extra flavor, but keeps the cake moist after you frost it. So for this devil's food cake, I used roughly 3-4 Tbsp. of Peppermint Schnapps drizzled over the four layers. If you're out of peppermint you could easily substitute it for a chocolate or vanilla liquor. Also, after assembling the cake, I used crushed peppermints in addition to the chocolate curls as the garnish. Another trick, take whole peppermints (or halve them if you're that patient) and line the bottom of the cake with them. It not only adds more visual appeal but it hides frosting lines and those occasional mistakes. I would definitely reccommend this cake, it's perfect for this time of year! Look for it in the December 2008 edition of Bon Appetit.