Don't Forget Delicious!

Buche de Noel – Two Ways

2011-12-21T01:19:02Z

I’ll be honest, I almost didn’t make this month’s cake for the Cake Slice group. Between craziness at work (plus everyone getting ready to leave for holiday vacation), monthly staff meeting, doctor appointments AND being informed that our Christmas celebration was going to be early (this past Sunday) due to family members traveling on Christmas day, well…. the cake just about got ditched. I guess a complicated, time-consuming recipe really isn’t the best choice to schedule for a week before Christmas.

But I really wanted to make it, so I decided to set aside the Saturday before and bring the cake for our Christmas dessert.

Contrary to what many people say, I found this cake to be pretty easy to make. Time-consuming, definitely. But hard? Not so much. As long as you give yourself plenty of time to make all of the components at your leisure, you can make this cake, with all of its accoutrements, without stress. Many of the components can even be made days in advance

I’m not going to give you the recipe this time, because really, you should just go buy this book. It’s worth it! And it’s a really long recipe, not to mention that all the extras (meringue mushrooms, chocolate leaves, praline paste, etc.) have their own separate recipes.

Instead, I’m just going to share my learnings with you. Then, when you go to make one, you’ll breeze right through it. And you *should* make one. It’s fun! It’s festive! And it just tastes darn good. Everyone at our Christmas dinner was very impressed with these cakes and all agreed that it was just as delicious as beautiful.

Buche de Noel – Two Ways

from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Ingredients

Components:

Chocolate Chiffon Sheet Cake (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Hazelnut Syrup (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Hazelnut Buttercream (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Chocolate Buttercream (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Praline Paste (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Meringue Mushrooms (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Chocolate Leaves (from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)
Chocolate Bark (from Martha Stewart)

Instructions

Chocolate Chiffon Sheet Cake

The cake is very easy to make. The only problematic part is after you remove it from the oven, the recipe instructs you to lay down another piece of parchment paper, liberally dust it with powdered sugar, then invert the cake onto it.

The problem is that the pan is very hot - it just came out of the oven. So inverting it in the pan is tough. But if you just lift the cake out with the parchment paper it was baked it, and try to invert it that way, you risk tearing the cake. Also, "liberally dusting with powdered sugar" means you end up with powdered sugar all over your kitchen (ask me how I know?).

Instead, lift your cake using the parchment paper it was baked in, and put it right back down in a different, cool sheet pan. Lightly sprinkle the top of the cake with powdered sugar, then lay another piece of parchment paper on top. Holding it all together at the sides, flip the entire thing over and lay it down on your work surface. Lift off the pan. Carefully peel away the parchment paper it was baked in.

Voila! Cake with no tears. Minimal powdered sugar on your kitchen counters.

Hazelnut Syrup

This recipe is for a Chocolate and Hazelnut flavored cake. You can easily customize the flavor to your preference by substituting the liquor in the syrup and the paste in the frosting (instead of praline paste, any nut butter will work, almond paste, poppy seed filling, etc.).

Buttercream Frostings

This is actually very easy to make - just VERY time-consuming. The first step consists of cooking the sugar, egg whites and water over a double-boiler until it reaches 160 degrees. This took me over 45 minutes and in fact, never quite reached 160 (I gave up at 158).

Firstly, you will need a lot more than the 1/2" of water in the pan that is specified in the recipe. Mine evaporated when I wasn't even halfway there. Secondly, you don't need to keep it at a low simmer, as instructed. Once it's good and warm, you can turn the heat up (watching carefully, of course). I had mine turned all the way up to high, trying to get it to come to temperature, and it all worked out fine.

Chocolate Leaves & Bark

These are also very easy, as long as your chocolate is tempered properly. Detailed instructions on tempering are included in the book (or you google it and find instructions all over the place). Basically, you just need to be patient and have a good instant-read thermometer.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2011/buche-de-noel-two-ways/

I couldn’t decide how I wanted to decorate this buche de noel, and the cake makes one very long roll. So I just cut it in half and did it both ways. It was fun to try to make it look as professional as possible (obviously I have a long ways to go, but it was fun anyway).

So, take it from me – next time you want to wow your in-laws, put together a buche de noel. They’ll think you’re ahh-mazing!

White Chocolate Toffee Bars (Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap)

2011-12-12T14:26:53Z

Sometimes it’s hard to get into the swing of Christmas – there’s so much to do, so much going on, that it seems like the whole season just swoops on by before I’m ready! But one thing I have managed to get done this year, at least, was one good cookie swap.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, that is! This was a fun event dreamed up by Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil, and Julie of The Little Kitchen. With their hard work and amazing organizational skills, they coordinated over 22,000 cookies getting sent around the world as part of this swap! Thanks to both of them for putting together this opportunity for me to participate in a cookie swap, even though most of my close friends are in another state. If you would like to be notified when they do this again next year, go to this page to sign up.

So, each of us were to make 3 dozen cookies of one recipe, then send 1 dozen to each of 3 bloggers, whose contact info we received from Julie and Lindsay. In return, we would receive 3 dozen cookies different cookies. Then, we will all post our recipes on the appointed day (today). A great way to stock up on delicious goodies for the holiday season AND get some yummy new recipes.

I had planned to take pictures of the cookies I received to put up here, but alas, they were gone so fast, no pictures got taken (my boyfriend, the King of Sweet Teeth, was in hog heaven with all those cookies around). Somehow, a picture of the empty containers wouldn’t quite have the same impact. Thank you to Lauren of West Coast Girl, East Coast Life for some seriously delicious Eggnog Snickerdoodle cookies. Can’t wait for that recipe to get posted! And also many thanks to Anh-Chi of Foodie Next Door for the yummy ginger snaps!

I agonized for a long time about what kind of cookies to send. My first couple of thoughts were, of course, recipes I’ve made for friends that were popular. But they weren’t really appropriate for shipping. Finally, I settled on these toffee bars. Beautiful, delicious and festive, AND they (hopefully) travel well, being firm bars.

I hope that the recipients of my cookies received them in reasonable condition. I stuffed the boxes with so much parchment paper and bubble wrap, there was barely enough room for the cookies!

Enough rambling – here is my recipe for White Chocolate Toffee Bars. These are easy to make, make a bunch, and can be easily customized with toppings of your choice. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Toffee Bars

Ingredients

BARS:

2 cups all purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon (heaping) salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

TOPPING:

5 ounces high quality white chocolate chopped
1⁄2 tsp coconut oil optional
1 pinch salt
1⁄4 - 1⁄2 cup shelled pistachios toasted, chopped
1⁄4 - 1⁄2 cup dried cranberries finely chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13" (11.5" x 16.5" (half sheet pan) for double batch) rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Whisk together flour and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla and mix until combined. With mixer on low, add flour a little at a time until fully incorporated. Do not overmix.

Turn the dough out onto your lined cookie sheet. Using your very clean, bare hands (a spatula will stick, hands won't), press the dough evenly into the pan to the edges.

Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes, until firm and light golden brown. As with all baking, start checking early - all ovens are different and you can always bake more, but you can't take back burnt.

Meanwhile, melt white chocolate, coconut oil and salt in microwave in 30 second bursts, just until melted, stirring vigorously after each burst (chocolate burns easily, so go cautiously). Stir until well combined. Pour over top of cookies and use an offset spatula to spread evenly. Sprinkle toppings over the white chocolate, pressing lightly to make them stick, if needed.

Using ends of parchment paper, lift entire sheet of bars out of the pan and cool on a wire rack until chocolate is fully set. You can leave it on the sheet pan and put into the refrigerator to speed setting, if desired. Allow bars to cool completely before cutting (if you try to cut while the chocolate is still soft, it will drag instead of cut cleanly). When chocolate is set but not rock hard, cut the bars into diamonds by first slicing diagonally along the length of the cookie sheet in 1.5 inch intervals. Then cut lengthwise vertically every 2" or so, to the edge of the sheet. Or, just do simple squares.

Store in an airtight container.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2011/toffee-bars-great-food-blogger-cookie-swap/

2 Cyber-Monday Deals for your Xmas list

2011-11-28T14:07:32Z

Today’s a great day to save some dough on gifts for the cooks on your Christmas list. Amazon’s got some fantastic Cyber-Monday deals going right now on must-have items for every serious kitchen.

Although every cook has their own preferences, I’m pretty sure either of these items would be a big hit in that special cook’s stocking or under his or her tree. So, if you’ve got one on your list, take a moment to check out these deals and perhaps get a couple of names crossed off early:

6 Quart KitchenAid Stand Mixer – $259.99 (reg. $499.99).

I received an old KitchenAid as a gift several years ago and boy, am I glad I did! This workhorse is an absolute must in my kitchen – I use it for making cookies and cakes, kneading bread and more. It’s a champ that works overtime and just never quits. One of the cool things about a KitchenAid is that once you have the stand mixer, you can get a million and one attachments to extend its functionality. Want to make your own fresh pasta? Get these pasta attachment s. Like to make fresh, homemade ice cream? Take a look at the ice cream attachment. How about making your own sausage? They’ve got attachments for that, too. I can’t imagine any cook not being thrilled to receive a mixer like this. This deal is $259.99 (regularly $499.99) PLUS a $50 mail in rebate, which makes this almost 60% off. Great deal!

Shun 6″ Chef’s Knife – $89.95 (reg. $157).

I haven’t used a Shun knife myself, but it is a well-respected brand, and a really good chef’s knife is essential for anyone who is serious about cooking. Many of them are very expensive, so $89.95 for this name-brand knife is a pretty good deal. And it’s beautiful, too! A chef’s knife is used daily, and doing those chopping and slicing tasks with a high quality knife will completely change the experience for you (I *can* attest to that, from firsthand experience) and change prep from a chore to a joy. Contrary to what some celebrity chefs trying to hawk their wares will tell you, you don’t need a whole big set of knives. A good chef’s knife, a paring knife and a bread knife will get you through almost everything. If the cook on your shopping list is still struggling along with a cheapo knife, delight him or her with a sharp, beautiful knife like this one.

These are just a couple of items that jumped out to me as great deals on items I (or any cook) would love to have. You can see all of Amazon’s cyber-deals here – Cyber-Monday.

Happy shopping!

Menu Plan Monday – 11/21

2011-11-21T19:23:51Z

And here it is – Thanksgiving week. How are you feeling?

I think I’m ready. Well, as ready as I can be without having done my shopping yet! But my menu is planned and my shopping list is prepared. I’ll be shopping this evening and doing a lot of pre-cooking on Wednesday. My boyfriend Bill, his son and I will be going to Bill’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving, so I need to have everything ready by Thursday morning, ready for transport and a quick re-heat.

When I was growing up, all of my extended family was in other parts of the country – it was just my parents, my sister and I. We called ourselves orphans. There were a couple of other families in our little town with the same problem, so all of our families would get together and share our holidays every year. We would rotate from one house to the next for each holiday (Thanksgiving and Christmas), and each family would bring dishes to contribute. It worked out really well.

As a child, I didn’t really participate with any of the planning or execution – just the eating and some of the cleanup. But looking back now, I can see how well it worked. No one person had to do everything – the hosting family would make the turkey and a couple of sides, and the visiting families would bring everything else. The work was divided, saving anyone from *too* much stress (don’t think that stopped my mother from staying up way too late the night before and getting up at the crack of dawn on Thanksgiving day, anyway, to make sure that everything was done. I’m a lot like my mom.).

My family is very small but the same can’t be said for Bill’s family. In addition to his parents, two siblings, and their kids, there are numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. Every time we go to another family party, I meet yet more people I’ve never heard of before! Yowza! It’s a little overwhelming for someone like me. Fortunately, they are all really nice, warm people who have welcomed me with open arms. For Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we almost always go to Bill’s parents’ house. Sometimes it’s just a small gathering with his parents, us and maybe one or two others, but this year the whole clan will be there – parents, the siblings, spouses and kids, plus some neighbors! It’s gonna be a loud, crazy day, I expect. Good thing it’s not as my house, huh?

In order to help out, I’ll be bringing several side dishes and two pies. Plus, my boyfriend has decided he’s going to make a pie (so I guess my house will be a little loud and crazy, too), as well! With all of that to do, I have to be organized and get a lot of work done on Wednesday.

Consequently, the rest of this week is a fairly light cooking week. Thank goodness for that freezer meal I’ve got, just waiting to be baked!

Menu Plan for week beginning 11/21/11:

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Lemon-spiced Chicken with Chickpeas (quick, easy & delicious healthy meal. Check it out!)
Wednesday - Thanksgiving pre-cooking (mashed potatoes, sweet potato gratin, stuffed mushrooms, pie crusts). Layered taco bake from the freezer for dinner
Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I’ll be baking off my pies that morning, but should be quick and easy since all the prep will be done Wed.
Friday - Banana bread scones for breakfast, leftovers for dinner
Saturday - Apple, Butternut & Sausage casserole (perfecting this recipe so I can share with you!)
Sunday - open

(Click image to enlarge)

Menu created with

So, what about you? Are you ready? Do you have a big celebration with crazy relatives to look forward to, a small family get-together or do you skip Thanksgiving altogether?

Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger-Pecan Crust

2011-11-18T14:31:02Z

This month’s Cake Slice Bakers recipe was a perfect choice for November! Rich with Fall flavors like pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and pecans, this is a creamy and very rich dessert, perfect for a Thanksgiving (or any other) celebration.

I mentioned before that one of the reasons I joined the Cake Slice group is because I haven’t made a lot of cakes. That isn’t true for me for cheesecake, though. I’ve actually made a bunch of those and they’re a hit every time. I love making cheesecake! Everyone is so impressed and I do love myself a good slice o’ creamy cheesecake.

I’m told a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of making cheesecake. Really – you can do it! They are actually very easy to make – just allow yourself plenty of time to make, bake and cool the cake, then chill overnight. Other than that little issue of thinking ahead, the procedure itself is a snap. And once it’s made, it will last a good while. Being rich and decadent, a little slice’ll do ya.

Although pumpkin isn’t a favorite flavor at my house, this is still a great recipe and one I highly recommend to anyone who *does* love pumpkin and wants to impress the in-laws (or whomever). I especially liked the garnish on this recipe – the candied pumpkin seeds are my favorite part! These, alone, would make a great snack to have around the house during the holidays, and they are quick and simple to make (just go easy on the egg white – only put the minimum amount needed to coat the seeds).

This was fun and easy to make and the end result is beautiful and has great texture. So if you’re still looking for a gorgeous dessert to wow your guests at Thanksgiving, look no further! I present for your enjoyment, Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger-Pecan Crust.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

NOTE: I use organic ingredients whenever possible. So, even though each ingredient does not list "organic," you can assume it is.

Ingredients

CRUST:

1 cup (4.3 oz) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (1.9 oz) light brown sugar firmly packed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup pecans
1/3 cup (1.2 ox) crystallized ginger chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter cold, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 tablespoon water cold

FILLING:

1 cup (240 ml) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds (567 g) cream cheese softened
1/2 cup (3.5 oz) sugar
1/2 cup (3.8 oz) light brown sugar firmly packed
1/4 tablespoon (0.3 oz) cornstarch
4 large eggs

GARNISH:

1/2 cup (2.5 oz) hulled raw pumpkin seeds
1 large egg white
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons (0.9 oz) sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

CRUST:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9x3" springform pan. Cut an 18" square of heavy duty aluminum foil and wrap around the outside of the pan.

Place the flour, sugar, salt, pecans, and ginger in the bowl of a food processor and process until the pecans are finely ground. Add the butter and process until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add the water and process until the dough starts to come together. Pres the dough into an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake the crust for 25-30 minutes, until it is jut beginning to brown. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 325.

FILLING:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium-low speed until creamy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Gradually add the sugars and beat until blended. Add the pumpkin mixture and mix until blended. Add the cornstarch and mix just until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Scrape the batter into the cooled crust. Place the wrapped pan in a roasting pan or large baking pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake in the water bath for 70-80 minutes, until the center of the cake is set but slightly wobbly (the cake will set completely as it cools).

Remove the cake pan from the water bath, place the pan on a wire rack, and carefully loosen the foil. Immediately run the tip of a paring knife around the sides of the pan, to prevent the top from cracking. Let the cake cool completely.

Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours before serving.

GARNISH:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Place the pumpkin seeds in a small bowl. In another small bowl, whisk the egg white just until frothy. Add just enough of the egg white to the pumpkin seeds to coat them. Add the salt, sugar and cinnamon, and toss well to coat the seeds.

Spread the seeds in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake, tossing them occasionally with a metal spatula, for 15-20 minutes, until they begin to dry and color. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool completely.

With your fingers, separate any clumps of seeds. The seeds can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

To serve, remove the side of the pan and slice the cake with a thin-bladed sharp knife, wiping the knife clean between each cut. Garnish each slice with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of sugared pumpkin seeds.

Store in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for up to 5 days.

http://www.dontforgetdelicious.com/2011/creamy-pumpkin-cheesecake-with-ginger-pecan-crust/