Holiday Baking (Part 3)

The final part of my Holiday Baking trilogy!


Christmas Yule Log with Meringue Mushrooms!
Serves 20


The Meringue Mushrooms were made from this swiss meringue recipe:

Ingredients:


4 egg whites
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
3 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate
1 oz melted white chocolate (optional)

Fill saucepan with 2 inches of water; bring to a simmer. Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Combine, using a hand-held wire whisk. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water; continue to whisk.

Whisk constantly until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture feels hot to the touch. Add Vanilla and transfer the bowl to mixer and whip, using the whisk attachment, on high speed until whites are glossy and stand in stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted, about 3 minutes. Then add the cocoa powder and fold in with a spatula.

Then just pipe the meringue into the mushroom stems and the mushroom tops. Like this: 

Bake for 2 hours on a preheated oven 225 degrees F.

Let the mushrooms cool and spread the melted chocolate on the bottoms of the tops. Use that to glue the stem and tops together. Chill the mushrooms so the chocolate hardens and you're done!

Red Velvet Cake:

Ingredients:

 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

6 tbsp cocoa powder

½ tsp baking soda

8 eggs

4 egg yolks

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

¼ cup canola oil

50 ml red food colorring

4 tsp white vinagre

Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 ° F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and butter.

In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and egg yolks and sugar with electric mixer until the mixture whitens and triples in volume or (10 to 15 minutes). While mixing at medium speed, add oil, red dye and vinegar.

Sift dry ingredients over egg mixture gently and incorporating. Spread on cookie cheets and spread evenly. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto a parchment paper. Cover with a clean cloth and cool completely. 

To assemble the log, place the cakes on parchment paper next to one another and fill each with Caramel Cream (Recipe Below). Then roll the cakes as if its one long sheet. Then wrap the log in a clean dish towel and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. 

Once the log has chilled, cut it diagonally to create branches.

Frost with Italian Meringue (Recipe also Below).












Add the Mushrooms and you have a fabulous Buche de Noel!

Caramel Cream:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of coarse salt

Prepare an ice-water bath. Heat sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture boils and sugar dissolves, washing down sides of pan often with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until sugar turns dark amber, 5 to 7 minutes more. Immediately remove from heat, and carefully whisk in 1 cup cream. Return to medium heat, and cook until sugar melts completely and mixture boils.

Remove from heat, and pour into a bowl set in ice-water bath. Let caramel cool, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Stir in creme fraiche (or sour cream), vanilla, and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.

Just before using, beat remaining 1 cup cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into caramel sauce, using a rubber spatula, until incorporated. Whisk to thicken, about 1 minute.

Italian Meringue:

Ingredients:

¼ cup water

1 ½ cup cugar

½ cup light corn syrup

6 egg whites

In a bowl, whisk the egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Set aside.

In a saucepan, bring water, sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Boil until a candy thermometer reads 235 ° F Remove from heat.

Gradually add boiling syrup to egg whites, whisking. (The whites will swell and a little steam will emerge when you add the hot sugar). Continue to whisk for 10 to 15 minutes, until stiff peaks form.

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Holiday Baking! (Part 2)

Better late than never, here are some baked goods that a made as a Christmas present.


Chocolate Drizzled Florentines (Recipe below):

These have a sugar cookie first layer that is baked first. 

I had to weigh down the dough so it doesn't shrink too much. I did this with beans but there are "baking beads" that you can buy that are reusable.

Then I filled the baked cookie dough with an almond candy filling that I cooked until golden brown.

Then I baked the whole pan until the candy hardened and the cookie has browned. 

Once the pan cools I popped the whole dough out and  scored it then cut through the cookie dough.
Then I cut through the candy layer in straight lines. I did this so the cookie wouldn't crack.

Now it just needs chocolate!!

 

TADA!!!!!!

Sugar Cookie Dough:


Ingredients:

1-1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened 
1-1/2 tsp. finely chopped lemon zest 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 tsp. table salt 
1 large egg 
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 
1 lb. 5 oz. (4-2/3 cups) all-purpose flour 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the softened butter, zest, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat with the paddle until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat it in well. In three additions, stir in the flour until blended. Spread the dough out, about an inch thick, on a sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap, and chill until firm. You can refrigerate the dough, wrapped well, for up to a week.

Almond Florentines:

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 tbsp light corn syrup

3/4 cup water

14 tbsp unsalted butter

3/4 cup honey

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsp freshly grated orange zest

4 cups sliced almonds

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Lightly grease a half sheet pan (a sided pan that measures 11-1/2 x 16-1/2-inches). Line the pan with parchment.

Roll the chilled sugar cookie dough between two pieces of parchment into a rectangle until it's between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Remove the top piece of parchment and flip the dough into the prepared half sheet pan so that it fits along the bottom and up the sides completely. If the dough cracks a bit, just press it back together. Press it into the sides of the pan; don't leave any gaps. Cut off any excess dough by running a rolling pin along the edges of the pan. Chill until firm.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the dough with foil or parchment and weight it with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until the edges are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the weights and the foil or parchment and continue to bake until completely set, about another 10 minutes. Let cool before filling.

In a large heavy-based saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture becomes amber in color (approximately 350 degrees F to 360 degrees F on a candy thermometer). Immediately remove from the heat. Carefully add the butter and honey, return to the heat, and stir until dissolved. Bring the mixture back to a boil and carefully add the heavy cream and zest (the mixture will bubble up and may splatter). Boil the mixture until it reaches 250 degrees F on the candy thermometer. Remove from the heat and stir in the almonds (and candied citrus peel, if using). Quickly pour the mixture into the baked sugar cookie shell before the caramel cools. Spread the nut mixture evenly with a lightly greased spatula.

Bake until the topping begins to bubble, 18 to 20 minutes. Put the pan on a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut along the edge of the pan to loosen the edges. Turn the Florentines out, upside down, onto a clean cutting surface. Line two clean baking sheets with parchment.

With a serrated bread knife, score the ragged edges of the cookie crust, cutting through the crust but not the filling. With a large chef's knife, cut through the filling to trim off the ragged edges completely. Next, using the serrated knife, score 1-1/4-inch-wide horizontal bands top to bottom (again deeply, through the crust but not through the filling). To make the diamonds, score 1-1/4-inch strips starting at the top left corner and dividing that corner into two 45 degree angles. Continue scoring at this width and this angle until all the cookies are scored.

Follow the scoring lines with the chef's knife, using steady force to cut through the thick nut filling.

Turn each Florentine over and set on the clean sheet pans. Fill a pastry bag with a tiny tip (or a heavy plastic bag with a corner cut off, or a paper cone) with the melted chocolate (or use a fork dipped in the chocolate) and drizzle it on the diamonds. The cookies are best at room temperature but can be refrigerated if the kitchen is too warm for the chocolate to set.

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Christmas Lasagnas!

Omg! I have never eaten so much in so little time! Christmas lasts a day but I ate enough to sustain a small village for a week!

Of course my family made our homemade meal that we planned months in advance like every year. So here it is!

Meat Lasagna!

We made our own pasta again this year.

And our own bolognese sauce! This sauce has 4 pounds of ground beef! 

(and yes, that sauce is so thick that the wooden spoon stands vertically up)

We had 3 layers of Ricotta cheese and spicy Italian sausages.

Here is the finished Product! (That, by the way, weighed SIXTEEN pounds)

Portobello Mushroom Lasagna!

For the vegetarians in the family.

My brother found these beautiful mushrooms

Here is the finished product: (Weighed 13 pounds if I remember correctly)

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Holiday baking! (Part 1)

I've finally finished my last exam before Christmas so naturally I spent the day baking with my family. Here's what we made!


My brothers made our mom's famous Coffee Cake. My mom has made this cake every Christmas for as long as I can remember.

This cake is made with sour cream and lots of butter. It has a toasted walnuts and sugar topping. Cover in icing sugar and it is delicious with a warm cup of coffee. 

I can't give away this recipe since it's a family secret... But here's a different recipe :)


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I also made some lemon shortbread. I made it in a traditional ceramic cookie mold. 

You just butter the bottom and flatten your cookie dough making sure it covers all the edges. Bake like a normal pan of shortbread.

Here's what it looks like once it comes out of the oven:

So pretty!! and delicious to boot!

Ingredients:

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Combine the butter, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer bowl (use the paddle attachment) or a large mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until the butter combines with the sugar but isn't perfectly smooth, 1 to 2 min. Add the flour and lemon zest and mix on low speed, scraping the bowl frequently, until the dough has just about pulled together, about 3 minutes; don't overmix.

Roll: On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Aim for a uniform thickness to ensure even baking.

Cut: Cut the dough into bars or squares with a sharp knife or, using cookie cutters, cut out shapes as close to one another as possible. Press the scraps together, roll them out, and cut out more cookies. If the dough becomes sticky, refrigerate it briefly. Arrange the cookies on two parchment-lined baking sheets and chill at least 20 min.

Bake: Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 300°F. Bake the cookies until golden on the bottom and edges and pale to golden on top, 30 minutes to 1 hour. (After 15 min., swap the position of the baking sheets and rotate them 180 degrees for even baking.) If the cookies are done before 30 min., reduce the oven temperature to 275°F for the remaining batches; if they take longer than 1 hour, increase the temperature to 325°F.

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A Break from these Carbs (Part 2)

Photo by Alex E

Glorious nothing

              Do you miss the stars? We always miss what we leave behind no matter how much we wanted to escape. The stars are the first things I missed. I look up into the sky at night now and all I see is blackness; the sad empty sky towering over the lonely skyscrapers. I long to stand in a field once again; total blackness engulfing me but for the twinkling lights just beyond my reach. Glittering specks that have inspired great thinkers and philosophers are plentiful in my hometown.

            In the busy streets of Montreal, the air is never odourless. Fumes from the nonstop traffic and factories taint our lungs and throats. You can almost see the clouds of smog in front of you as you walk down Sainte-Catherine. Sewers and pipes line the streets pumping out waste to further pollute our fragile environment. Walking down Main Street of Bedford, you might be lucky to see a car pass. Refreshing breezes come in from the west and fill our nose with the smell of far off places we dreamed of visiting as a child. The occasional hint of cut grass or whiff of manure might awaken your senses. In autumn, what is more wonderful than the scent of thousands upon thousands of fallen leaves?

            Honk-honk! Drill-drill! The clatter of city life is endless. Outside you can barely hear yourself speak let alone think. Sirens pass and covering your ears becomes a necessity. You cannot even escape the nonstop cacophony once you are inside. Music of poor taste blasts from speakers in shopping malls and restaurants. Ringing of cell phones and blackberries disturb the peace when we are lucky enough to find it. If there is no mechanical device provoking our headaches then it is our neighbour talking too loud on the bus or the barking dogs at night. The constant chatter of hundreds of people in a public area is like white noise; hard to understand, not very loud, but always in the background. Never will you hear the sound of nature like a trickling brook; bubbly and happy as it flows down to the ocean. Nor will you catch the ruffling of a leaf made by a chipmunk scurrying away. In a municipality where there is only one fire truck, one ambulance and not a police car in sight, the scream of a siren would be the talk of the town for weeks. Sometimes, you can sit outside and listen to the chirping of chickadees and woodpeckers in the early mornings and, other times, you can just sit and hear nothing; glorious nothing.




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Last Christmas (2010)

It's already December and all I can think about is Christmas!!! It's a shame that there's still no snow on the ground yet but Christmas music can turn any mood cheery. Every Christmas, my family plans our meal months in advance. Last Christmas was no exception. We decided to make Homemade ravioli. It took a whole day since we had to make the pasta, roll it out and then fill it with cheese. 


Step 1. : Make dough


Pasta dough is basically 4 ingredients: Flour, eggs, water and salt.

Step 2: Roll dough out


Now this step usually requires a pasta roller. It is not necessary but makes life a lot more easier. 

You will get a very looooooong sheet of pasta now. (Extra long table recommended)

Step 3: Fill with delicious cheese or meat.

Step 4: Cut the ravioli and let dry

Step 5: Cook and Enjoy!!! :D

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If you have leftover dough, then you can just cut it in strips and make fettuccine with it.

Happy Festive Season!


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