'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.

Stress baking can produce delicious results

I started baking as a means to deal with my stress. I figured it was a productive usage of my time. Since I'm still in college, I'm not exactly mellow all the time. Hence, a lot of baked goods are produced in my kitchen, especially around midterms and project due dates. This week's creations were centered around my Sociology research project's due date and my craving for Chex Mix and my friend's birthday.

Now when I went to the store to buy said Chex for said mixin', I noticed that there are no longer oven directions only...microwave directions ::hiss:: Terrible. Chex Mix should never, EVER, be made in a microwave. So if you're looking for a traditional oven prepared Chex Mix, don't fret:

Chex Mix (compliments of my sister):

3 c. Rice Chex
3 c. Corn Chex
3 c. Wheat Chex
1 c. Pretzels
1 c. Rye chips
2 c. Mixed nuts
6 tsp. butter (melted)
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Melt butter over low heat. Add the spices to the butter and mix well. Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients, stirring constantly to coat evenly. Bake in the oven at 250º for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool on papertowels.

Now if you're interested in something more sweet, here's a recipe for Muddy Buddies:

9 c. Rice Chex or Corn Chex or a combination
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Measure cereal into a large bowl and set aside. Melt chocolate chips, butter, and peanut butter in a microwave on high for 1 minute, stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds or until mixture is smooth. Then stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal and stir to coat evenly. Pour into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag. Add powdered sugar and shake the bag to cover all the cereal. Spread on wax paper to cool.


My last creation of the week was a birthday cake for my friend Holly, who happens to be allergic to soy. Now one tricky thing about soy is...it's in practically everything! So it requires thoroughly reading the ingredients, a combination of recipies and some serious substitutions to make a delicious cake that meets her dietary needs. I made her cake from a few recipies in Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Cake Bible." To be more specific, downy yellow butter cake and white and dark chocolate buttercream. This recipe used butter instead of shortening and veggie oil, which makes the cake lighter and softer, but still delicious! And the buttercream is well, butter. Paula Dean would be so proud! And I used Dutch processed cocoa powder instead of bar chocolate (which contains soy) to make the buttercream chocolate. After frosting the cake with the chocolate butter cream, I used the white chocolate buttercream to add some decorative touches. The cake turned out scrumptious looking and I really hope that she likes it!

pastry foray

First and foremost, I love food. Point blank. I will eat practically anything. (Especially if it happens to be lemon flavored) I've always enjoyed food, especially making it with and for people. My friends and I love getting together and cooking big meals together. To me, food has always brought people together. Why do all of our holidays seem to have food as the centerfold? Because food is so damn delicious.

But personally, I enjoy cooking, but I find no greater joy than baking. Nothing puts a smile on your face more than the smell of a loaf of milk and honey bread wafting through the kitchen or the taste of a rich dark chocolate ganache generously poured over a moist cake.

Over the past year I have dabbled in the baking and pastry arts; namely bringing my confectionery treats into work. It makes me happy that people enjoy my food. I find no greater reward than the look on their face when they bite into a checkerboard sable or lick the remaining butter cream from their fingers. One day, one of my coworkers said "you know, you should just go to culinary school!" So I gave it some thought and figured, why not!?! I already love it as a hobby, why not make a living out of it. Of course I'm still 2 years shy of graduation, but my hope is that by that time I will have figured out if this is something that I really want to do. In the meantime, I want to share my pastry concoctions with not just my coworkers but to everyone else who enjoys sweets and savories! So I plan to dedicate this blog to my forays into the pastry arts from my very own kitchen. Please enjoy!