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. 




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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.

Holiday Challenge Day 22 - Hazelnut Filled Sandwich Cookies

If truth be told, I can't really say that I was a girl of discriminating taste at an early age. Technically, I don't think I can claim to be a girl of discriminating taste now. But no matter what my age, I do usually know a good thing when I try it, especially if it's something sweet and chocolatey.   Like that magical choco-hazelnut spread called Nutella. 

When I was growing up, my friend Jen had an aunt and uncle stationed overseas with the military. I have no idea the path that it took to get there, but courtesy of those relatives, a jar of Nutella made it's way into her kitchen. And my life was changed forever.  I'm pretty sure we ate it on toast.  I'm pretty sure I wanted to eat it on everything, and no doubt shamelessly coveted her Nutella while choking down a slice of peanut butter toast for breakfast.  Because the cold, hard truth is this:  peanut butter's passe when you can put chocolate spread on your bread!

Lucky for me, Nutella is now available in most grocery stores.  Which means I can have my own jar any time.  On anything.  Like the Hazelnut Filled Sandwich Cookies that I made this morning, just in time for breakfast.  Two fresh-baked oatmeal cookies sealed with a smidgen of Nutella.  Good stuff.  Whether you eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any time in between. 

Hazelnut Filled Sandwich Cookies
Makes 48 sandwiches
Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies 2001

Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (Nutella or other brand)

Preparation:
1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat shortening in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat til combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg and vanilla til combined.  Beat in as much flour as you can.  Stir in any remaining flour and the oats.  Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls.  Place balls 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookies sheet; flatten with the bottom of a glass into 1-inch circles.
2.  Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or til edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer to wire racks and cool.
3.  Spread flat sides of half the cookies with a scant 1/2 teaspoon chocolate-hazelnut spread.  Top with the remaining cookies, flat sides down.

To Store:  Place in layers separated by wax paper in an airtight container; cover.  Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days or freeze unfilled cookies up to 3 months; thaw, then fill.

Holiday Challenge Day 21 - Almond Crescents

After yesterday's accidental overdose on Oreo Truffles, it's obvious that this girl can only handle so much sugar.  How much that is, I'm not really sure.  But let's just say it's a good deal less than what it was in my prime.  Although a teenager might be able to subsist on a diet of Oreo Truffles (supplemented with a few pieces of leftover peppermint bark), someone of my age, apparently, can not.  Or at the very least, should not.  So I guess it's a good thing that I chose today to be the day that I made Almond Crescents.  Because not only are these delicate and ever-so-slightly sweet cookies perfect with a cup of tea (if, hypothetically, you're nursing a bit of a tummy ache), they also can be made in 15 minutes if you use "cheater dough" like I did.

Yes, I know.  Many a day you've heard me rant and rave about store-bought "cheater dough".  Don't get me wrong - I mean no disrespect to the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  I just love him in all his charming chubbiness.  But I do think homemade cookies should be just that.  Homemade.  Not buy the dough, break it apart, bake it, and claim it as your own.  Homemade.  From start to finish.  So rest easy (or sorry to disappoint, depending on which side of the refrigerator case you fall) - as of yet, the doughy dude has not added Almond Crescents to his cookie kingdom.  Which means I was inspired to make "cheater dough" of my own.  From scratch. 

A few weeks ago when I had an abundance of time on my hands, I was perusing a stack of holiday cookie magazines, and saw this little note:

"Most cookie doughs can be stored in the freezer.  However, do not freeze dough containing sour cream or cream cheese.  For drop cookies, you can place individual cookie portions on waxed paper-lined cookie sheets and freeze.  Once frozen, transfer to labeled freezer bags.  Freeze for up to 6 months.  Remove as many portions as you need and bake, making sure to add additional baking time." (Taste of Home Best Loved Cookies & Bars 2009)

Was I reading this right?  Was it possible that if you took some time to make dough in advance, you could have fresh baked cookies in a matter of minutes any time you want?  Not pre-baked homemade cookies that you've frozen and then need to thaw, but real, fresh-from-the-oven homemade cookies?  Really?  Well, of course, I had to try it for myself.  And it worked!  Four weeks ago I made the crescents as I normally would, but instead of baking them, I bundled them up and put them in the freezer.  This morning I preheated the oven, lined the frozen crescents up on a cookie sheet, popped them in the oven, and 15 minutes later they emerged...fresh, warm, and fantastic.

Almond Crescents

Makes 5 dozen

http://www.ichef.com/ (Martha Stewart recipe)

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sifted confectioners sugar, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
2 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream together butter and 2/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in extracts, then add almonds. Stir in flour and beat until well mixed.
2. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log 1 inch in diameter. Cut each log into 3/4-inch pieces, and roll each piece into a cylinder 2 inches long. Place cylinders 1 to 2 inches apart on baking sheets, and form into crescents.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let crescents cool, then roll in additional confectioners sugar.

Holiday Challenge Day 20 - Oreo Truffles

If I remember correctly, in the early '70s, there was only one kind of Oreo - what's no doubt now referred to in cookie circles as the "classic" -  2 crunchy chocolate cookies bound together with a creamy filling.  Surely you remember:

"Oh, oh, oh, ice cold milk and an Oreo Cookie. They forever go together, what a classic combination. When a dark, delicious cookie meets an icy cold sensation. Like the one and only creamy, crunchy, chocolate, O-R-E-O!" (Nabiscoworld.com)

Oh yeah.  Even I appreciate a good old fashioned store-bought Oreo.  Me.  The girl who snubs her nose at cheater cookie dough and mass-produced pastry.  And, apparently, so do many of you (appreciate an Oreo, that is).  Because the brand has expanded to include not only Double Stuf (1975 - remember?), but in recent years also Golden Oreos, Oreo Fudgees, Oreo Cakesters, Mini Oreos, Oreo Ice Cream Cones, Milk Chocolate Covered Mint Oreos, and Oreo Sippers (sticklike cookies that can be used as a straw), just to name a few.  Wikipedia.com claims that over 491 BILLION Oreo cookies have been sold since their debut.  Wow.  That's a lot.  But I can see how it happened.  Because right now I feel like I've eaten 491 billion Oreo Truffles.  Today.  All by myself.

Yes, just 24 hours ago I was bemoaning the fact that I'd made a cookie I didn't like.  And yes, today I'm kvetching because I made something that I did like. Too much.  Way too much.  All I can say is...ohhhhhhh....no more Oreo Truffles.  And could ya pass the Pepto, please?  But first, let me unbutton my waistband and tell you about these little gems.  If they aren't already in your repertoire of holiday sweets, they absolutely should be.  Because if you think Oreos are delightful in their natural state, as truffles, they are downright irresistible.  Crumbs from the Oreos are combined with softened cream cheese to create a velvety chocolate mixture with full-on Oreo flavor (because the cream cheese acts as a silent partner of sorts).  Rolled into balls, the mixture is then dipped in chocolate.  Last year I used semi-sweet chocolate and thought they were so-so.  But this year I dipped and swirled them in white chocolate, and the resulting truffles were absolutely irresistible - like a White Fudge Covered Oreo, with a soft center, of course.  All I can say is...Way to go O-R-E-O!

Oreo Truffles

Makes 42
Kraft Food & Family magazine

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 (8 ounce) packages semi-sweet or white baking chocolate, melted

Directions
1.Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.  Note:  I refrigerated the mixture for an hour prior to rolling and again after forming it into balls. 
2.Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
3.Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

How to How to Easily Dip Truffles:  Place truffle ball in melted chocolate to coat; roll if necessary. Lift truffle from chocolate using 2 forks (this will allow excess chocolate to run off) before placing on wax paper.

Holiday Challenge Day 19 - Spritz

Beautiful, aren't they?  You'd never know this morning was the first time I'd ever used a cookie press, would you?  Impressed, aren't you?!  And why wouldn't you be?  Because these are some pretty perfect specimens of Spritz, if I do say so myself. 

Was I born with such a masterful command of the cookie press?  Not at all.  The truth is that this kind of talent is years in the making.  And I started practicing decades ago.  Because while in fact I hadn't  wielded a cookie press before today, I had spent many a day honing "press and shape" skills in my youth.  Not with dough, but with DOH.  As in Play Doh. As in the Play Dough Fun Factory Jr!!

I don't remember at what point this miracle of modern toy making entered my young life, but I do remember that it was the most exciting thing to happen to Play Doh in like, ever.   The Fun Factory Jr. was awesome, providing my brother and me with hours of entertainment.  Choose your shape, stuff in the Doh, press, and cut.  Voila.  Delightful designs in Doh.  Just like a cookie press.  So, given the back story, I guess it's no wonder that my first attempts at Spritz turned out well.

What I do wonder is why I can't seem to appreciate the subtle flavor and crisp texture of these simple butter cookies.  I am "mature" (okay, I try to be mature), and you'd think my tastes would have matured right along with the rest of me.   But I have a sneaking suspicion that my tastebuds are stuck in the '70s with the memories of my Fun Factory Jr, back when everything that tasted good was coated in chocolate or rolled in sugar, or both!

Spritz Butter Cookies

Makes 100

http://www.marthastewart.com/

Ingredients

Basic Butter Cookie Dough (see below)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Fill cookie press, and form cookies on baking sheets according to manufacturer's instructions.
3.If decorating, brush with egg wash, then sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles. Bake until edges are firm (not brown), 10 to 15 minutes. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheets; cool completely on a rack.
4.Store finished cookies in an airtight container, up to 2 weeks

Basic Butter Cookie Dough

Ingredients

3 cups (spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Egg wash, (optional): 1 large egg white, beaten with 2 teaspoons water
Decorating sugar and sprinkles, (optional)

Directions
1.Place flour, sugar, butter, and salt in the bowl of a food processor; process until mixture is the texture of coarse meal.
2.In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla; with motor running, add to food processor. Process just until a dough forms.