Gingerbread Ice Trees

The best smells of Christmas?  Gingerbread, pine trees and mulled wine round out my top three.
This morning we woke up to a world covered in ice - trees, fences, buildings, roads, cars - while it looks pretty, it was definitely a stay-at-home kind of day.  We were lucky to have power - so what better way to spend part of the day than baking gingerbread cookies?

The view inspired me - ice covered trees!

What intrigued me about this recipe was the addition of black pepper. It makes a not-too-sweet, not-too-spicy cookie - a crowd-pleaser.  If you like the gingerbread flavour to really slap you in the face, this recipe isn't for you - try Smitten Kitchen's Spicy Gingerbread.

Gingerbread Cookies

slightly adapted from Baking Bites

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch ground black pepper
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses*
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper in a medium sized bowl.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in molasses, egg and vanilla, then gradually add in flour mixture until a soft dough can be formed into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm.

Using extra flour, roll out dough to desired thickness and cut into shapes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.  Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. 

 *Note: I only added 1/4 cup of molasses, as that was all I could coax out of the container. The original recipe calls for a 1/2 cup.  

Chip Butterballs

Chip butterballs are one of our Christmas family traditions - at least as far back as the 2nd grade.  In fact, it's a bit of a shameful but funny memory - my mom packed up a bunch of chip butterballs in foil and sent them with me to school on the last day before Christmas holidays for our class Christmas party. All the kids brought home made treats to share with the class.  But that year, I was a naughty child.  I loved those butterballs so much, that I didn't share them with the class - I ate them ALL by MYSELF.  Yep - I was a greedy little cookie monster.

These are really just balls of shortbread with chocolate chips - but Chip Butterballs sounds so much better.  This recipe comes originally from a Robin Hood flour recipe booklet from 1985.  The original calls for the addition of 1 cup of finely chopped pecans - so throw those in if you like, we never did.

Chip Butterballs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cold water

Combine flour, salt, and chocolate chips.  In a separate bowl, cream butter.  Gradually add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and water.  Blend well.
Gradually stir in flour mixture.  Mix well, as you don't want pockets of butter - or the cookies will lose their shape during baking.
Shape into 3/4 inch balls - the dough won't seem like it will hold together - don't worry.  The butter will do its job.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 18-20 minutes, until edges just begin to brown.
Makes about 40 cookies.

Cranberry Pistachio and Chocolate Candy Cane Biscotti

I am finding it hard to make time to bake this year - I don't know, the Christmas season seems to be flying by - so last night I set out to start my holiday baking, just in time for holiday gift giving.

I know I lectured about the proper name for this type of cookie a week or so ago, but just to keep things simple, let's call these biscotti.  

Using the recipe below but dividing the dough in roughly half, I added a half cup of chopped pistachios and a half cup of chopped dried cranberries to one half of the dough.  Enough "half"s in that sentence for you? 

The other half I rolled out into the prescribed log plain jane style.  Bake (twice) as per the directions and allow cookies to cool. Melt 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl over simmering water on the stove, or in the microwave.  Dip the cookie in the chocolate, then sprinkle chopped candy cane on top of the melted chocolate.  Place on waxed paper to set.

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pistachios
1 cup chopped dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine flour with baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Cream butter with sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then add vanilla.
Stir in flour mixture until combined. Stir in pistachios and cranberries.
Gather dough together in a large ball and divide in half. Shape each half into a 2-in.-wide and 3/4-in.-high log. Place logs 3 in. apart as they will spread.
Bake in centre of oven until tops are almost firm but still golden, 30 to 35 min. Remove from oven and let stand until loaves are cool enough to touch, about 10 min. Cut each diagonally into 1/2-in. slices. Place a rack on baking sheet. Arrange sliced biscotti on rack, cut-side down. Continue baking until very firm and golden brown, about 20 more min.
Store in an airtight container up to 1 week or freeze up to 1 month.

Recipe slightly adapted from Chatelaine.

Cantuccini

Cantuccini - twice baked almond biscotti - originates in Tuscany.  The word biscotti comes from the Latin word biscoctus, which translates as "twice cooked/baked".  Baking the biscuits twice creates an extra dry biscuit that stores well for long periods of time, which was useful for long journeys or for Roman soldiers on campaign.

In North America, biscotti are sold at coffee shops and cafes and often consumed after dunking them into a coffee or espresso beverage to soften.  While I was visiting Italy a couple of years ago, I learned that the traditional Tuscan way to eat cantuccini is by dipping into a sweet dessert wine.

I have this idea of making a couple different varieties of biscotti and giving as gifts to friends, colleagues and neighbours - so I thought I better try out the traditional version first, and see how it turned out, which was very well!  The only change I would make is to add less salt, by at least a 1/4 tsp., to 3/4 tsp total.  Overall, it was a success, so stay tuned for what holiday themed flavours I decide on!

Cantuccini

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt**
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
100g chopped whole almonds

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine flour with baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Cream butter with sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla.
Stir in flour mixture until combined. Stir in almonds.
Gather dough together in a large ball and divide in half. Shape each half into a 2-in.-wide and 3/4-in.-high log. Place logs 3 in. apart as they will spread.
Bake in centre of oven until tops are almost firm but still golden, 30 to 35 min. Remove from oven and let stand until loaves are cool enough to touch, about 10 min. Cut each diagonally into 1/2-in. slices. Place a rack on baking sheet. Arrange sliced biscotti on rack, cut-side down. Continue baking until very firm and golden brown, 20 to 30 more min. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week or freeze up to 1 month.

Recipe slightly adapted from Chatelaine.

Apple Pie Crostadas

This recipe looks....challenging.  I won't lie to you.  It is.  Well, at least it was for me.   The actual preparation of ingredients part is easy.  The putting together of the pies had me stamping my foot in frustration.  Take my advice - try to make one crostada, learn from your mistakes, and then try again.

Now, of course if you don't mind a messy looking hand pie, then just have fun with it!  My first batch of 4 looked a little pathetic - but my next batch showed definite signs of improvement.  

I made some adjustments to the original recipe - there was waaaay too much apple filling.  I ended up making a quick and dirty apple crisp with the leftovers.  I would also suggest making 6 crostadas from the dough, as opposed to the 8 according to the original recipe.  It was just too frustrating to try and make the edges of the dough pinch together around the filling, so a little bit of extra dough will help.

These are admittedly, delicious.  Although, if they were not, it begs the question why would I post these on my blog? But I digress...

Apple Pie Crostadas 

adapted from Joy the Baker

Filling

2 apples (I used Mutsu)

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/2 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

2 tbsp granulated sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1/4 cup cold water* (plus 1-2 tbsp as needed)

Topping

1/8 cup all purpose flour

1/8 cup white or brown sugar

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of ginger

1/8 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Start with the crust.  Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cold cubed butter, and 1/4 cup really cold water by hand or with a pastry blender until it forms small pea sized pieces.  Add more cold water a teensy bit at a time until a reasonable shaggy dough is formed.  Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap, and place in fridge for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Now the topping.  Combine all dry ingredients and by blend in the butter by hand or with a fork. 

Place in fridge until ready to finish off the pies. 

Next - Filling.  Peel apples and cut into small pieces.  Put in a bowl and add sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add a bit of lemon juice if you have it on hand.  Stir together and let the sugar bring out the apple juices. 

When you are ready to roll - flour a surface and unwrap the dough.  Cut the dough into 6 evenly sized pieces.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out one section of dough at a time, into a 1/4 inch thick blob, as round as you can make it.  Brush with egg wash.  Plop a spoonful or two of the apple filling into the centre.  Top with a spoonful or two of the topping - you have to eyeball it, based on the size of your crostada dough - this is what I mean when I say, try one out first.  Now fold the dough edges up around the filling, pinching together to form a little bowl around it.  Brush a little more egg wash on top and sprinkle with sugar.  Repeat 5 more times. 

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes - up to 20 minutes depending on the size of your pies. 

Nota bene:  If the filling oozes out and burns bakes onto the baking sheet, don't worry.  Still good. And if they all turn out poorly - well, more for you : )

Wookiee Cookies

I won't get into the whole story of why I made Wookiee Cookies, let's just say it was Hallowe'en, and our theme at work this year was Star Wars...you know, just a regular day at the office.

This is the official Wookiee Cookies recipe from the actual Star Wars Cookbook by Robin Davis.

Source

A couple of comments about these cookies:

1)  a TON of sugar goes into these.  I had my doubts, but I followed the recipe exactly.  1 cup of brown sugar + 1/2 cup of white sugar + 2 cups of chocolate chips = wowzers.

2) If you bake them for 9-10 minutes, the middle stays soft, and the cookie is extra CHEWIE....groan.

Source

Wookiee Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Stir with the wooden spoon until well mixed. Set aside.

Put the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a bowl and mix until creamy with the wooden spoon. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop up a rounded tablespoon full of dough and drop onto a baking sheet. Repeat until you have used up all the dough. Be sure to leave about 1 inch between the cookies because they spread as they bake.

 Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Lift the cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula, and place on cooling racks. Let cool completely.                    

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Mindy's Gluten-Free Strawberry Cupcakes

My lovely and talented sister-in-law makes the most delicious gluten-free baked goods! I have sampled these cupcakes several times - and can easily say these are the best gluten-free cupcakes I have ever had.

Enjoy!

Mindy's Gluten-Free Strawberry Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Cheese frosting

Prep time: 25 min | Cook time: 20 min | icing 15 min
Total time: 60 min

Yield: 30 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcake
4 eggs
2 cup milk
9 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons grape seed oil
4 cup white rice flour (i use bob's red mill)
8 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries (i used my food processor and pulsed about five to six times until i don't see any big pieces)

Frosting
300g goat cheese or cream cheese
1 stick butter room temp
1 cup powder sugar
1 tea spoon vanilla
or half vanilla bean scraped

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Line your cupcake tray with paper cups.
In another small bowl, combine white rice flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix the egg, milk and grape seed oil with a hand blender.
Fold in the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Little lumps are fine to leave.
Fold in finely chopped strawberries.
Using ice cream scoop or icing bag to put the batter into the prepared cupcake liner,
filling each well about 2/3 full. Bake for 13-20 minutes until the edges are slightly browned.

In the mean time, while the cakes are baking, whip up your frosting.
First, whip your butter with paddle attachment.
When it has stiff peak and holds shape, add cream cheese little at a time. Whip until well whipped.
Add sugar at the end just to mix.
Set aside in the fridge until cupcakes cool down.

Take out the cupcakes from the oven.
Let them cool completely to frost them.

Bag your frosting and frost, decorate and munch, munch and crunch!