The Killer Cupcake

Yes, it's true.  Killer cupcake - as in kill your willpower. Kill your diet. Kill me now because I just finished stuffing three of them down my cake-hole.  And I don't even like cake much.  Go ahead.  Laugh.  But it's true. 

Featured in the March issue of the Food Network Magazine, these cupcakes caught my eye, mainly because of their name, "Mint Patty Cakes".   Definitely not something I'd normally make, but perfect for a birthday celebration where the guest of honor is known for his love of all things mint. 

With not one, but two minty layers on top, the cupcakes were a huge hit with the birthday boy.  As for me, though, I could take 'em or leave 'em.  Mint just isn't my thing.  Which might make you wonder about my opening warning about the "killer cupcake".  If I don't like mint, what would make this recipe a keeper, let alone a killer?  Why it's that unassuming little chocolate cupcake underneath, of course.  

The recipe's Dutch process cocoa and dark brown sugar must have hinted at the cupcakes' greatness, because in a stroke of genius (or stupidity, maybe), I made an extra dozen (okay, fourteen, but who's counting) that I stashed in the freezer for future use.   Safely ensconced amidst the broccoli and the peas, the cupcakes lay in frozen slumber, waiting for the day they'd be called to duty at a party or other festivity. 

Sadly though, they never made it.  Because when it comes to these cupcakes, out of sight apparently doesn't guarantee out of mind for me. I couldn't stop thinking about them. I was obsessed.  I'd pull them out one at a time (sometimes one right after the other), and defrost them quickly in the microwave.  Sure, frosting and sprinkles may appeal to the masses, but to me, the true test of a cake lies in how it tastes plain.  And these cupcakes, quite frankly, were amazingly dense and chocolatey.  As my friend described it, it's like a whole chocolate cake stuffed into a muffin cup.   And although they are great for large celebrations, they're perfect for a "party of one" as well!

Mint Patty Cupcakes
www.foodnetwork.com
Makes 24-30 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
11/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Mint Topping:
1 1-pound box confectioners' sugar, about 4 cups
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup vegetable shortening or cocoa butter, softened
2 teaspoons peppermint extract

For the Glaze:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Make the cupcakes: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Put the butter, cocoa powder and 3/4 cup water in a medium microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. Whisk to combine, then whisk in the brown sugar. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the warm cocoa mixture. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla; stir into the batter until just combined but don't overmix.

Divide the batter among the prepared cups, filling each about three-quarters of the way. Bake until the cupcakes spring back when touched, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in the pans 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Make the topping: Beat the confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, shortening and peppermint extract with a mixer until a tight paste forms. Gather into a ball, place between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out to 1/4 inch thick (microwave 15 seconds to soften, if necessary). Use a 21/2-inch round cutter or juice glass to cut into disks; reroll the scraps. Place a peppermint disk on top of each cupcake.

Make the glaze: Put the chocolate, corn syrup, butter and 1/4 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave on 50 percent power until the chocolate melts, about 2 minutes. Whisk to combine, then cool slightly. Spread the glaze over the peppermint topping, leaving some peppermint exposed. Refrigerate until set, at least 20 minutes. Serve cold.

NOTES:
- Although it wasn't clear to me in the recipe, there were several comments online that this recipe was meant to be used with large muffin pans rather than standard size (I actually have made it with both).  If you use the large muffin pans, the recipe will yield approximately 20 muffins; if you use regular size muffin pans, it will yield approximately 30 muffins.  Bake the larger muffins for 30-35 minutes, regular muffins for 20 minutes.
- Instead of making a glaze for the top, I used a standard chocolate buttercream and added a few drops of mint extract for additional flavor.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

Oh dear readers, I apologize.  It's been a while, hasn't it?  Well.  I feel more like myself this week than I have in awhile, because my self-imposed baking hiatus is over.  I wish I could say I'm back to pre-holiday svelteness (ha hah hee hee ho ho), but, alas, the muffin top hangs tough.  I've decided to move forward anyway.  With real baking. 

At the last posting, I was ready to embrace the world of low-fat muffins, coffeecakes, and the rest of their kin with gusto.  But the truth is, I am not a lover of low-fat.  Generally if it's low-fat, I don't want to make it, let alone eat it.  Sure, on occasion there are a few good recipes out there (I stand by those  Apple Pecan Muffins), but the reality is that substituting apple sauce for oil and swapping out egg substitute for whole eggs just doesn't produce anything that I want to sink my teeth into.  (Which maybe is the point - the less you like it, the less you eat it?)  I did give it the old college try, several times in fact, but the results were disappointing and definitely not post-worthy.  So I decided to forgo baking for a few weeks to try and shrink my sweet tooth back down to size.

But not baking makes me sad and out of sorts.  In the absence of flour, butter, and sugar, I attempted to entertain myself with home improvement projects and crafts.  Yikes.  Let's just say it was time to surrender the crow bar before I did any serious damage.  So back to baking I went.

As most of you probably know, it's that time of year again, Girl Scout cookie time.  One of my favorite Girl Scout cookies is the Do-Si-Do, those ever-so-tasty peanut butter sandwich cookies that are vaguely like a Nutter Butter (which is kind of odd, because I totally despise traditional peanut butter cookies).  With them as an inspiration, I got to thinking.  Surely there must be a way to make a homemade version of said Do-Si-Do.  Maybe a nice little peanut butter oatmeal cookie with some peanut butter buttercream in between.  Nutritious?  Perhaps.  Delicious?  Most definitely!  What can I say, folks?  I'm BACK!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
http://www.recipezaar.com/
Makes 5 dozen individual cookies, or about 2 1/2 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In large bowl mix the butter, shortening, sugars and peanut butter.  Add eggs one at a time.  Blend flour, soda and salt then add to sugar mixture. Add oats, stirring til combined. 

Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cook completely.

Mrs. Zimmerman's Peanut Butter Buttercream
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
¼ cup peanut butter
¼ cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla
Hot water or milk to spread

Combine peanut butter and butter in bowl of electric mixer.  Beat until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Add vanilla.  Add hot water (I like to use milk instead) until frosting is desired consistency - I usually add 2-3 Tablespoons or so, until the buttercream is spreadable.

To make the sandwich cookies, you obviously just spread the buttercream on a cookie, then sandwich with another.  Tightly covered, they will keep for several days, but usually they're eaten long before that.  Which is why I have no picture to share with you!! 

A New Year's Resolution...

Well, we're 5 days into the new year, my pants are a wee bit snug, my treadmill is covered with dust, and I find myself pondering a question that perhaps many of you are too:  Can I rid myself of my muffin top (the result of too much holiday indulgence, no doubt) without having to rid my diet of muffins and other delights?

Let's just say that from resolutions made (and broken) in years past I know my own limitations.  Cutting out baked goods has never been and probably never will be a good idea.  I always start out with iron-clad resolve and the best of intentions, but inevitably fall off the wagon with a thud, sometimes mere hours after I've sworn myself to abstinence.  Perhaps what I need this year is a compromise - keep the baked goods, but aim to make things a little less sweet, a little healthier.  For example, instead of making cupcakes, I'll make muffins.  There's no frosting involved.  Surely that must be a step in the right direction.  So here it is - my vow for January - no cookies, no truffles, no cake (unless a birthday is involved).  No pie. No brittle.  No bark.  But there will be coffee cake.  Quick bread.  Scones.  Perhaps a bun or two.  And muffins.  Most definitely, there will be muffins.

And what better time to turn over this new leaf than today?  It was a mere 35 degrees in Central Florida this morning when I woke up.  I needed to warm up the house, and I was hungry.  What better way to kill two birds with one stone than to bake some muffins?  I've been toting around Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave for quite awhile now.  I've eyed the recipe for Apple-Pecan Muffins many times, but have been hesitant to bake them because they call for wheat flour.  Knowing the health benefits of whole grains, I admit that I should have embraced wheat flour a long time ago.  But if I have to choose between tastiness and healthiness, I choose tastiness every time.  I worried that the wheat flour would overpower the flavor of the other ingredients.  That the muffins would turn out heavy and bland, and that once again I'd be eating something that was good for me, but didn't taste good.  But this is a New Year.  So I put my reservations about the wheat flour aside and whipped up a batch this morning.  Much to my delight (and the dog's, and  the neighbor dog's, and the neighbor cat's too) they turned out deliciously.  Moist, light and flavorful, the muffins were filled with chunks of apple (even though the recipe calls for just one), and the pecan-brown sugar streusel topping added just the right touch of sweetness.   Mmm mmm tasty.  If eating right tastes this good, I think maybe I can have my muffins and eliminate my muffin top too!

Apple-Pecan Muffins
Ellie Krieger - The Food You Crave
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat flour because I had it in the pantry)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup natural unsweetened applesauce (I am not sure of the correct way to measure applesauce, but I used a liquid measuring cup rather than a dry one)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 Golden Delicious apple, cored, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (I used Granny Smith instead because I didn't feel like running to the store)

Preparation:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
2.  In a small bowl, mix together pecans, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons brown sugar.  Set aside.
3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, and salt.
4.  In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar and the oil until combined.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.  Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk, just until combined.  Gently stir in the apple chunks.
5.  Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each about two-thirds full, and sprinkle evenly with the pecan mixture.  Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes.
6.  Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold.  Enjoy warm or let cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:  1 muffin
Calories:  213; Total Fat:  8g (Mono:  3g; Poly:  1.5g; Sat:  1g); Protein:  4g; Carb:  35g; Fiber:  2g; Chol:  36mg; Sodium:  236mg

Olie Bollen and the Red & Yellow Skivvies - My New Year's Eve Baking Adventure, Part II

After reading my previous post, I'm sure you are all dying to know one thing in particular...how on Earth did red and yellow skivvies play into my New Year's Eve baking adventure?   Excellent question, if I do say so myself.   Actually, you're probably wondering what took me so long to get this out - truth be told, I couldn't figure out how to get the picture out of my cell phone and onto my laptop.  So that's obviously something I need to work on in the New Year.  But enough about my shortcomings.  Let's talk about the baked goods, shall we?

As you may recall, I was going to try my hand at making Vasilopita (Greek cake) and Olie Bollen (Dutch donuts) to ring in the New Year.  Both the recipes were pretty simple, so I wasn't worried so much about the execution of them as I was about the taste.  Baking something you've never made before is kind of like flying blind.  Sure, other people might think it tastes great, but these could be the same people that think the Pillsbury Dough Boy invented homemade chocolate chip cookies.  What if the Vasilopita was dry?  What if the Olie Bollen ended up tasting like the true meaning of their name, oil balls?  Good grief!  How awful would that be?  Really awful.  Any SNAFUs or mix ups or malfunctions could potentially jeopardize my luck in 2010, and after the way my 2009 panned out, I couldn't risk that!  So what's a girl to do?  Supplement said cake and donuts with another lucky New Year's tradition, just in case.

Hence the red and yellow skivvies.  In Latin cultures, they say the wearing of yellow underwear while ringing in the New Year will bring luck and good fortune (even more if you wear them inside out); if you are looking for love, you should wear red.  I am not ashamed to admit that I could use a healthy dose of both.  So I thought I'd give it a try.  I donned the inside-out skivvies.  I ate pork.  I ate the Olie Bollen.  I ate the Vasilopita.  I didn't eat chicken or lobster (bad luck because they both move backwards).  I didn't walk under a ladder.  No black cats crossed my path.  And I was lucky enough to ring in 2010 surrounded by dear friends that I love.  We'll see how it goes.  But I'm thinking 2010 just might be my luckiest year yet!

p.s.  For those of you who were wondering about the actual taste of the recipes I made, the Olie Bollen (in texture and flavor) was similar to a fritter, like a ball of fried dough with apples mixed in, then sprinkled with powdered sugar.  The Vasilopita was very similar to a pound cake - dense, moist, and subtle in flavor.  If I make it again, I think I might add cinnamon to the sugar that is sprinkled on top.  But both, in my book, were way better than the 'kraut!

Olie Bollen - Dutch Donuts
Makes 4-5 dozen
www.fabulousfoods.com

Ingredients:

1 envelope dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup warm water, divided
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all purpose flour
3 cups fruit (diced fresh apples, raisins or dried currants)
oil for frying
confectioners sugar for dusting

Pour 1/2 cup warm water, about 85 to 115 degrees Farenheit, into the bowl of a large food processor.  Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the water and mix at low speed.  Let stand for five minutes.  Slowly mix in remaining water, eggs, vanilla and salt.  Slowly add flour, a cup at a time.  Mix on high for about a minute or two.  The dough should turn into a ball and roll around the processor.  If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time until it does.  If your mixture is more like batter, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time.  Mix in fruit.  Remove from food processor.  Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Heat about 2 inches of oil in a large skillet.  Punch down dough.  Roll the dough into small balls, about 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter.  Drop dough balls into hot oil, frying until golden brown, turning as needed.  Drain on paper towels and dust with confectioners sugar.  Serve hot.

Vasilopita - Greek Saint Basil's New Year's Cake
Serves 10
www.recipezaar.com

Ingredients
1 cup butter, plus 1 tablespoon butter for greasing cake pan
2 cups white sugar plus 2 tablespoons white sugar for sprinkling
3 cups flour
6 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup warm milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds

1.  Wrap a (clean!) silver or gold coin in aluminum foil - a quarter works well.
2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 10-inch round cake pan with 1 tablespoon butter.
3.  In a medium bowl, cream the cup of butter and 2 cups of sugar together until light in color.  Stir in the flour and mix until the batter resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Add the eggs one at a time, blending each one in well.
4.  In a small bowl combine the baking powder and milk, add to the cake batter and mix well.  Finally, combine the lemon juice and baking soda in a small bowl, add to the cake batter and mix well.  Pour the cake batter into the greased cake pan, insert the foil wrapped coin, and bake for 20 minutes.
5.  Remove the cake from the oven, sprinkle the nuts and 2 tablespoons sugar over the cake, then return the cake to the oven and bake for a further 20-30 minutes until the cake springs back to the touch.  Allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert the pan onto a cake plate.
6.  Ideally the cake should be served warm; each person gets a slice of the cake starting with the most senior member.  Members of the Greek Orthodox Church believe that whoever gets the coin is blessed.

Olie Bollen and the Red & Yellow Skivvies - My New Year's Eve Baking Adventure, Part I

I know my “Holiday Baking Challenge” is officially over, but you really didn’t think I could go without baking for long, did you? I actually thought I’d be able to take a nice long break. Baking and blogging for twenty-four days straight is quite a task, even more ambitious than I had originally realized. But after all the fanfare from Christmas died down, I found myself on Monday morning with nothing to do. Let’s face it. The week between Christmas and New Year’s isn’t a particularly good time to look for a job. Most people are on vacation, and the few who are in the office are wishing they were on vacation. So although I sent out a few resumes, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. And then it struck me. The 2009 holiday season isn’t yet finished. New Year’s Eve is always worthy of a good celebration. And how better to celebrate than with a tasty baked good or two?!

For years now, I’ve been listening to all the jabberwocky about foods that should be eaten at the New Year to bring luck, money, or both. And year after year I’ve eaten it up (both the words of wisdom and the foods to go with them) – first the pork and sauerkraut when I was living up North, then black eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread living in the South. Not one to mess with the fates, I figured that choking down a couple shreds of sauerkraut or spoonfuls of collard greens was sufficient penance to pay if it meant I’d be rewarded with beneficence throughout the year.

And then a few days ago I realized that none of it had worked particularly well for me. Ever. Pork, schmork. And beans? Please. There’s only one thing that beans have ever given me, and it ain’t luck or money, I’ll tell ya that!  And don’t even get me started on the collards or sauerkraut. Obviously the time for me to take this whole lucky New Year’s foodstuffs issue into my own hands is now. It seems reasonable to think that if I can find a New Year’s food tradition more suited to my taste, it might result in a better 2010.  So why not give it a go? What do I have to lose?  Possession is 9/10ths of the law, right? All I have to do is claim the best tradition as my own and embrace it wholeheartedly. Surely there must be some kindred spirits out there who think that the luckiest way to ring in the New Year is with some tasty morsel made with butter and sugar, and lots of it.

And guess what? There are!! In fact, there are numerous countries around the globe that celebrate the New Year by eating sweets. (Seriously, WHY has it taken me almost 40 years to find out about this?) According to the Readers Digest and Epicurious websites, the round and/or ring shapes of cakes and donuts represent “coming full circle” and are customary parts of New Year’s feasts in Greece, Mexico, Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands, to name a few. Ding, ding, ringy ding ding! Jackpot!! I feel my luck turning around already! And no, I don’t mean that I’m going to Krispy Kreme for a box of hot glazed donuts to eat as the clock chimes 12 tomorrow night.  I mean that I'm going to make both a cake and donuts – Vasilopita, a Greek cake with a coin hidden in it, and Olie Bollen, donutty/frittery confections from Holland that are sprinkled with powdered sugar - and ring in the New Year right!  Since both have to be eaten warm, I'll have to finish this caper tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Holiday Challenge Day 24 - Buche de Noel

Buche de Noel (also known as a Yule Log) is a traditional European Christmas dessert decorated to look like, well, a log, complete with branches and mushrooms similar to what you'd find in the forest.  Pretty impressive, don't ya think?  If Santa saw a Buche de Noel waiting for him, I am sure he'd want to pull up a chair, pull out a fork, and stay awhile, regardless of how many more homes he had to visit.

So for this reason, twenty-five days ago I thought the Buche de Noel would be an appropriate "grand finale" to my holiday baking challenge.  The recipe seemed somewhat complex, but definitely do-able, with some time and advance preparation.  Today, though,  I wasn't so sure.  Not only had I recently watched Tyler Florence's Yule log go up in flames (so to speak) on the Iron Chef Holiday Challenge, I also botched my first attempt at making the sponge cake last night.  I had been so careful - measuring, mixing, sifting (not once, but THREE times).  Separating eggs.  Clarifying butter.  And I fully expected my efforts to be rewarded with a beautful, delicate sponge cake...the kind that springs back when lightly touched.  What I ended up with was a cake alright, but one whose texture resembled the rubber on the bottom of your favorite tennis shoe.  For a brief minute, I thought if I put the rubber on the inside of the roll, no one would would be the wiser.  But my conscience got the best of me - if I was going to do this, I needed to be able to say I'd done it right.

So this morning I got up, and armed with a different (and simpler) recipe, I baked a new chocolate sponge that didn't require sifting flour or clarifying butter.  I may have done a little elfin jig when I pulled the resulting sponge cake from the oven  - it was as beautiful, light, and moist as I'd imagined.  And when rolled with pink peppermint flavored whipped cream, frosted with chocolate ganache, and decorated with chocolate mushrooms, my amateur attempt at Buche de Noel ended up being a pretty good facsimile of a Yule log.  What it may have lacked in appearance it more than made up for in taste.  As evidenced by the fact that there was nary a twig left for Santa. 

Chocolate Peppermint Roll
Served 10-12
www.hersheys.com
(chocolate ganache from marthastewart.com)

Chocolate Sponge Roll
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar plus 1/3 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line 15-1/2x10-1/2x1-inch jelly-roll pan with foil; generously grease foil.

2. Beat egg whites in large bowl on high speed of mixer until soft peaks form; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat egg yolks and vanilla in medium bowl on medium speed 3 minutes. Gradually add remaining 1/3 cup sugar; continue beating 2 additional minutes.
3. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; on low speed, add to egg yolk mixture alternately with water, beating just until batter is smooth. Using rubber spatula, gradually fold chocolate mixture into beaten egg whites until well blended. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
4. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly. Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert on clean towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off foil. Immediately roll cake in towel, starting from narrow end; place on wire rack to cool completely

Peppermint Filling
1 cup cold whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely crushed hard peppermint candy or 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
Few drops red food coloring (optional)

Beat cold whipping cream in medium bowl until slightly thickened. Add powdered sugar and finely crushed hard peppermint candy or mint extract and a few drops red food color, if desired; beat until stiff.

Chocolate Ganache Icing

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream

Chop chocolate into small pieces, and place in a medium bowl. Heat cream until bubbles begin to appear around the edges (scalding); pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Refrigerate until cold but not solid, stirring occasionally. Whip ganache at medium speed until it has the consistency of soft butter.

Assembling the Cake:
1.  Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cake with filling; reroll cake. 
2.  Cut two wedges off ends of cake at a 45 degrees.angle; set aside.
3.  Ice log with a thin layer of ganache. Attach wedges on diagonally opposite sides of log. Spread ganache all over log, using a small spatula to form barklike ridges. Chill until ganache is firm, about 30 minutes.
4.  Decorate cake to your liking (I made chocolate mushrooms, and some chocolate slivers to look like bark, but some people decorate Yule logs with meringue mushrooms or powdered sugar).  Chill until ready to serve. 




. 

Holiday Challenge Day 23 - Linzer Cookies

After 22 days, 51 dozen cookies, 37 dozen truffles/bark/brittle/turtles/rum balls and one pound cake, we've reached the last day of what I consider to be "regular season play" in my whole holiday baking challenge.  And I've saved my favorite holiday cookie for last.  For me, no Christmas season would be complete without Linzer Cookies, or as they're known in our family recipe books, Mrs. Perrin's Star Cookies. 

Some of the best parts of the holidays are memories - those that you make in the present, and those that you keep from moments in the past.  It's funny, isn't it, how sometimes we hold things dear not so much because of what they are, but because of the memories that we've attached to them?  That's how these cookies are for me.  They may not be at the top of my "required baking" list based on taste alone, but they are the hands-down winner when it comes to the memories that they evoke.  When I was growing up, I only ever remember having Mrs. Perrin's cookies at my grandmother's house - a place that I loved more than anywhere else on Earth, that was filled with people I adored.   My grandfather passed away before I turned five, so my recollections of him are pretty limited.  But one memory that I do have has to do with these cookies - him telling me that he made the holes in the center with his big toe.   Those are the things I think about every time I make these cookies.  And even though I'm hundreds (and at times have been thousands) of miles away, I somehow feel connected to everyone and everything I love. 

So I made some Mrs. Perrin's of my own today, although (and I know this will come as a shock to all of you) I didn't eat any.  Not a single one.  Because I actually like these cookies better when they've been around for a day or two.  On day one, they're good, but they're a little too new, too crispy, too fresh for my liking.  By day two or day three, especially if they haven't been kept in a tightly sealed container, the flavors have melded together - the jam has seeped into the cookies a little, and the cookies themselves have taken on a softer, cakier texture.  That's how I remember them from my childhood.  So tonight I wait.  But tomorrow, when I finally eat one, I no doubt will be greeted by a flood of memories with the very first bite.  

Mrs. Perrin's Star Cookies (Linzer Cookies)

Makes 6 dozen

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups shortening

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

3 tablespoons milk

4 cups all purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Fruit jam or preserves

Preparation:

1.  Cream together shortening and granulated sugar.  Beat in eggs and milk.  Sift in flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix well.  Chill dough for at least an hour.

2.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll dough on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut stars (or whatever shape you choose).  Cut a hole in the center of 1/2 the stars. 

3.  Bake for 7-10 minutes, until lightly brown.  Cool.

4.  Spread solid cookie with jam.  Top with cookie with hole.  Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.