It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! A month of Christmas baking posts!

I've been holding off on listening to Christmas music, talking about the holidays at any length, or buying anything even close to a present, and I've refrained from searching out those pesky boxes and bins in the storage room that contain decorations, festive wrapping paper, and whatnot.  Even though the frenzied Christmas retail festivities seem to start earlier every year, I decided I would hold off until the actual month of December to start whipping myself up into the holiday spirit, so I could really enjoy it this year!

2012 kind of blew chunks for me in the "holiday spirit" department; not having a steady income at the end of the year, and various health and life concerns occurring to various friends and family members (including myself) tended to dampen what little happyfuntimes I had.  However, this year I am determined to be cheerful and jolly and kind and generous and civil, and most especially, to Get Mah Bake On when it comes to seasonal holiday recipes!

To that end, I have compiled a sort of wishlist of "Christmassy" baking recipes I would like to make, photograph, blog about, and then give the baked product away (so that the Hubster and I don't end up with diabetes or cholesterol-induced heart failure by January 1). This is a living document, as the saying goes, so it may change substantially as I encounter new, awesome recipes; I also make no promises that what is on this list below will actually be made, but I do promise to try my best among all of my other work, family, and social obligations to make as many of these as possible. If fortunate, I may be able to bake off more than one recipe at a time, if there are similar ones or I have a baking order that involves one of the goods below, which means I may be able to blog about multiple recipes in one post.

Please have a look at my draft list below, and reply in the comments re any particular recipe you really want me to attempt. Maybe it's your favourite cookie/candy/cake/dessert ever, or maybe you've never made it yourself and want to know how it's done. As always, leaving me comments on my posts makes me super-happy, and I'm sure that there are angels who will earn their wings if you reply...

...though I'm not completely certain about that last part...

And of course, each post will have the recipe included along with the pictures.
What can I say?  I'm a giver.

Chocolate Toffee (candy)

Christmas Fudge (candy)

Christmas Haystacks (cookie)

Cranberry Fudge (candy)

Cranberry Nut Tartlets (pastry)

Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (cookie)

Eggnog Cheesecake (custard/cake)

Eggnog Truffles (candy)

Festive Creme Brulee (custard)

Gingerbread Cookies/House (cookie)

Ho Ho Snowballs (cookie)

Holiday Sticky Buns (bread)

Nut Brittle (candy)

Orange-Chocolate Bread Pudding (bread)

Peppermint Patties (candy)

Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake (custard/cake)

Santa's Whiskers (cookie)

Scottish Butter Tablet (candy)

Spicy Cinnamon Snaps (cookie)

Stained Glass Sugar Cookies (cookie)

German Stollen (bread)

Swirled Peppermint Bark (candy)

Toffee Butter Crunch (candy)

Recipe and Tutorial x2: Super-Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies and Jacques Torres Chocolate Chunk Cookies!

I was up visiting my sister's family a couple of weekends ago, when I heard that she and her hubby were hosting a UFC Pay Per View Fight Night at their house on Saturday night.  Not lots of friends/family coming over, but enough that they would want snackages along with the pizza and alcohol they were consuming.  So, my sis and I came up with a BREE-LEEANT plan to make some treats for the ravenous hordes, as we often do.

Her husband is a huge fan of the Jacques Torres Secret Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe that I made for them earlier this year, and asked me to repeat the awesome joy again. However, I had not brought the recipe with me, and my Google-Fu was failing me, so I had to cobble together another recipe from a few different food websites that I felt would be (almost) as good. And it was. Oh my goodness it was.  Regardless of the fact that most of the crowd was hammered by the last fight, they swarmed the cookie tray and rhapsodized over how delicious and soft and chewy these cookies were! 

Pro Tip: slightly underbake your cookies for a great chewy texture. 
Pro Tip #2: Drunk spectators will love pretty much anything sweet you feed them. Easy crowd.


A second sadness is that I wasn't able to take any pictures of these cookies before they were gobbled up in record time!  But to make up for it, I will post TWO recipes today! (And when I get around to making these again, I will update this post with pics!)...and maybe even reduce my dependence on so many exclamation points!!!!

The first one below is a fantastic cookie recipe I developed; these are the most delicious Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies you have ever eaten, full stop. The only difference between this first recipe and the cookies I made for the UFC Fight Night is the addition of two ingredients: good quality cocoa powder and a small amount of instant espresso powder.  But oh what a difference it makes....


So strap on your tastebuds and let's get this show on the road!

Alicia's Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 24-32 cookies

Note: All ingredients are presumed to be at room temperature

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp hot water
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (use the best quality you can find; I use Callebaut)
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (ditto to above)

1. Prepare two heavy-duty baking pans by lining with parchment paper.
2. Cream together the butter and both sugars with electric mixer until fluffy and lightened in colour (approximately 3-4 minutes). Scrape down the bowl.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl again. 
4. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add to batter. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, salt, and both types of chocolate chips; mix until well-combined. 
5. Measure out tablespoons of dough, gently roll them into balls, place onto a single pan and chill for at least 20 minutes (at this stage you can bag chilled dough balls and freeze for up to 3 months).
6. Preheat oven to 350˚ F (175˚ C). Take chilled dough balls and space them evenly onto two pans, no more than 12 to a pan (3x4). Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating and switching pans halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly golden and edges are slightly browned; try to go for slightly underbaked instead of overbaked. 
7. When cookies are fresh out of the oven they should be a little puffy; if desired, you can take a clean, dry, flat-bottom glass and gently press down on the puffed cookies to achieve a perfectly flat, professional-looking top. Let cool completely (or eat them when they're still warm, if that's yer fancy!)

Next is the best straight-up Chocolate Chip cookie recipe I have  EVER made and eaten. No kidding. There are a lot of recipes out there, but this one makes my heart sing. And, apparently my brother-in-law's too.

"Secret Recipe" Jacques Torres Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes 26 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 ¼-inch cookies

• 1 pound unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
5. Spoon or scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Chill dough balls in fridge or freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes, or ideally overnight. *Make ahead: once cookie dough balls are frozen, transfer to a freezer-thickness baggie or suitable container and keep frozen until needed.*
6. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Reset spacing between dough balls on pans if necessary. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.
7. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets to allow cookies to firm up, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Notes for the best tasting cookies: 

(1) Do not substitute the bread and pastry flours for a regular all-purpose flour; in this case, the subtle difference is apparent in how good these are!

(2) Chilling for at least 30 minutes is vital here, and would be best over 24 hours instead. Chilling allows this cookie dough, which has such a high chocolate ratio that the balls are barely held together by dough, to maintain the classic cookie shape during baking.

(3) Don't substitute standard chocolate chips for the chocolate in this recipe; a high-quality chocolate is vital for this recipe to be magical!  Either buy the Lindt medallions or a block of good chocolate (some great examples: Callebault, Valhrona, Scharffen Berger, Green & Black Or Camino Organic) and rough chop your way to chocolate chunk cookie heaven!

Recipe and Tutorial: Banana Pumpkin Bread of AWESOMESAUCE!

Wow, two banana posts in a row. I must be on some kind of banana kick. Don't worry, I have plenty of other yummy fewdz to talk about; it was just the roll of the dice this week.


In any case, earlier this month, my friend, Erynith, decided to stay at our place for a few days and "take care of our cat" while I was away visiting family....uh huh...

I think the visit had more to do with a combination of her house being renovated and our 52" flat screen HDTV with unlimited US Netflix, but no matter...heh heh...

In any case, as she's a good house guest, Erynith brought her own groceries to prepare and consume. When she left, there were two bananas left behind. As I'm not much of a fruit person, nor is the Hubster, they sat there for a few days, getting older and browner and less appetizing, as bananas do.

I finally got sick of looking at them last week, and decided to make something out of them before they needed to be binned, so I went on my Epic Search through my cookbook library, digital recipe compendium, and online for interesting ideas. I knew I wanted to bring the resulting product with me to our Scout Camp this past weekend, so the recipe I used had to a) be pleasing to a crowd consisting of teenage boys, young men, and "oldies" (i.e. Leaders), b) be sturdy enough to survive a car ride, and c) be sufficient enough to feed all of us (including three growing teenage boys with apparently hollow legs).

I finally decided on this recipe because I had a sugar pumpkin I had brought back from my visit; however, when I finally got to making the recipe, the sugar pumpkin ended up being rotten in the middle, so I had to use my emergency go-to tin of pureed pumpkin. Ah, well.

Regardless, this recipe baked up beautifully, and was really substantial!  It also was moist enough that I can confidently state it will last for several days, wrapped and kept cool (not that it had the chance to last around our Scouts!)

Banana Pumpkin Bread

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Baking Time: 45 Minutes

Yield: 1 loaf (12 servings)

Original Source: Allrecipes.com

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup light vegetable oil
• 1 1/3 cups pumpkin purée
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup golden brown sugar
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour           
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamom
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp cloves
• ¼ tsp ginger
• 3/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries or diced dried apricots
• 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) (optional)
• 1/2 cup nuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Butter a 9”x5” loaf pan.

 In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey and sugar. 

Whisk together the remaining dry ingredients 

 and stir into the banana mixture until just combined. 

Fold in the raisins and/or cranberries and the chopped nuts, 

 reserving 1 tbsp of nuts to sprinkle on the top (optional). 

 

Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. 

Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.