Best Holiday Treats

I like to have at least 4 kinds of cookies on hand for gift giving, and hosting.  The Swirl cookies have become part of my repertoire, and I have made them every Christmas for almost a decade.  Ricardo's Sucre a la creme recipe is the best  I know of. Biscotti is a good addition for those who want a little something sweet, but not a full on sugar/fat buzz.  The candy cane short bread is a recipe I developed recently. In the above photo I mixed the crushed candy cane into the dough, and flattened the cookies with a glass. 

• Sucre a la creme (The best!)
•  Maple Pecan Biscotti (I added maple extract to the dough, and skipped the icing sugar deco.)
• Anise scented Fig and Date Swirls (Worth the trouble! Dough freezes well once assembled allowing for last minute cookie making.)
• Candy Cane Shortbread (Recipe below)

Candy Cane Shortbread Cookies

as seen in Mainstreet

Makes 45-50 Cookies

·      500 ml (2 cups) all purpose flour

·      250 ml (1 cup) icing sugar

·      250 ml (1 cup) corn starch

·      1 ml (1/4 teaspoon) sea salt

·      375 ml (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened

·      5 ml (1 teaspoon) peppermint extract

·      Sufficient quantity cane canes (red/green/white candy canes look best)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the first 4 ingredients. Stir in the butter, and peppermint extract until a well blended dough is formed. Shape into 2.5 cm (1 inch) balls. If dough is too soft to handle, cover and chill for 1 hour.  

Now here is the fun part:  Either throw the candy canes into a food processor or break up the candy canes up by hand using a knife or a mortar and pestle.  You can even turn the canes into a fine powder if you have the patience to do it by hand or throw them in a coffee grinder that is dedicated to spice grinding. I would test a few cookie dough balls by bringing together the cookies and crushed cane in different ways to see which you prefer.  You can try making a indent in a ball and filling it with crushed candy cane, or rolling a ball in crushed candy cane and flattening it with a fork on a cookie sheet.  Alternately if you have made a fine power you can bake them, and then dust the baked cookies (once cool enough to handle), as you would with icing sugar.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Spiced Icing

These guys are good.  The cupcake recipe was originally my favorite gingerbread cake recipe.  I urge any one trying this recipe to use fresh spices.  It makes all the difference.  By fresh I mean no more than 6 months old. Seriously.  For my cinnamon I use a little Braun coffee grinder dedicated to spices.  I grind my cinnamon in small batches using cinnamon sticks.  For nutmeg I use a micro plane, and grate what I need when I need it.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

makes 12

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 375 ml  (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
• 10 ml (2 teaspoons) ground ginger
• 5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
• 2,5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) baking soda
• 1,25 ml (1/4 teaspoon) ground cloves
• 1,25 ml (1/4 teaspoon) salt
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) fresh minced ginger
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) sugar
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) molasses
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) plain yogurt or sour cream

 

• Pre-heat oven to 175C (350F).
•  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with baking cup liners. Whisk together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and salt.  
• Cream butter in a standing or hand held mixer. Add dry ingredients to butter, and beat on low to blend. Add the fresh ginger, sugars, egg, molasses and yogurt, and beat until smooth. Divide batter equally among liners, and bake until center of a cupcake springs back when touched (about 15-20 minutes).  Let cool completely before icing.

Spiced Icing

• 250 ml (1 cup) unsalted butter
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) ground cinnamon
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1,25 (1/4 teaspoon) ground cloves
• 45 ml (3 tablespoon) 35% cream
• 1.5 l (6 cups) icing sugar

• Cream butter until smooth.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  Beat to combine.  Add cream, and add the icing sugar half a cup at a time (to avoid a mess).  Beat until smooth.  Pipe over gingerbread cupcake and decorate with colored sprinkles, gum drops, or a little ground cinnamon. 

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Buche de Noel

A Buche de noel was requested by my son, and inspired by Martha Stewart's guest chef Johnny Iuzzini. Check out this video for the recipe. I took 2 elements from the recipe: the cake and ganache. For the filling I made a raspberry mousse, but next year I would like to try the filling that is part of the Johnny Iuzzini recipe. I  made my mushrooms, holly leaves and berries out of marzipan, and did not use meringue as in the recipe. Using marzipan is much quicker, and very tasty! The silver coated candy almonds are left over from a food styling job I did last year.

Raspberry Mousse

• 500 ml ( 2 cups) fresh or frozen raspberries
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) water
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) gelatin ( 1 packet)
• 500 ml (2 cups) 35% whipping cream

• In a sauce pan, over low heat, simmer the first three ingredients until the sugar has dissolved (1-2 minutes). Over a bowl pass the raspberry "coulis" through a fine mesh sieve pressing down hard with a rubber spatula to force raspberries pulp through. Return the coulis to a clean saucepan. Dissolve the gelatin according to the manufacturer's instructions and combine with the still warm strained raspberry coulis. Return to the stove top over low heat, and stir to dissolve gelatin completely (1-2 minutes). Transfer to a medium sized bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Whip cream and fold 1/4 of cream into raspberry coulis. Once fully blended add the rest of whipped cream and fold gently to combine. Let chill in refrigerator until set (several hours). To use as Buche filling: Spread the chilled mousse in an even layer over cake sheet leaving and inch border on all sides. Roll and continue as instructed in recipe.