Holiday Treats 2022

[wonderwoman]

here you go:

chocolate-espresso snowballs (adapted from bojon gourmet)

makes about 32 cookies

almond flour:
3.5 ounces / 100 grams
cocoa powder:
1.75 ounces/50 grams
tapioca flour
.5 ounces /15 grams or cornstarch, potato starch, arrowroot
espresso powder
3 tablespoon, divided
sugar:
2 ounces / 60 grams
dark brown, white, coconut all work
fine sea salt:
1/2 teaspoon
toasted, finely chopped pecans
4 ounces / 115 grams
unsalted, cold butter, in 1/2" pieces
4 ounces / 115 grams
vanilla extract:
2 teaspoons
2 tablespoons each:
powdered sugar
tablespoons cocoa
espresso powder

preheat to 350ºF. line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease lightly).

in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, tapioca flour, sugar, salt and 1 tablespoon espresso powder. add the pecans, scatter the butter pieces over the top, then sprinkle over the vanilla. mix on low until the butter is incorporated and the dough forms large clumps, 1-2 minutes. (a food processor works as well) transfer dough to a covered container and chill for 30 minutes (or up to several days).

sift the powdered sugar, cocoa, and remaining 2 tablespoons expresso powder into a shallow bowl. form 1-inch balls of dough and roll them in the sugar-espresso-cocoa mix, knocking off any large clumps, and place the balls on the baking sheet an inch or two apart.

bake until puffed and cracked, 18-22 minutes. the cookies will be soft at first but should crisp up when cool. (if they’re still soft when cool, return them to the oven to bake them a bit longer).

let the cookies cool, then dust with the remaining sugar-espresso-cocoa mixture.

[Miss_belle]

I know a lot of you keep track of your favorite recipes computer wise, but I’m old school and have a large handwritten recipe book. Almost 50 years old. What can I say, I started early.

Russian tea cakes - which called for walnuts and then turned into Pecan Puffs before I left New England. My husband’s favorite btw.

But onto Creme Wafers: Are you talking about this recipe by any chance:

1 c. soft butter
1/3 c. whipping cream
2 c. flour
sugar - for some reason that’s all I show in my book.

Filling:
1/4 c. soft butter
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla

Make two rolls of dough and chill. Slice and bake for 9 minutes. Fill.

Just curious. I made these several times in my high school years. They were a huge hit. The recipe is still in my cookbook.

[MidwesternerTT (MTT)]

My cream wafers recipe from a friend shows dough is the same as yours, filling has 1 tsp. vanilla and no egg yolk, and a drop of food coloring to make a pastel pink or pastel green colorful filling.

An online copy of the Betty Crocker recipe is here

The granulated sugar for the dough is to coat both sides of each cookie wafer. Her notes say this cookie doesn’t work as a slice & bake - dough is too soft and slicing 1/8 inch thin didn’t work- so calls for rolling out a 1/3 portion of the chilled dough to thin 1/8 inch on a flour-covered surface with a flour coated rolling pin, then cutting out small 1.5 inch rounds. Transfer each round to sheet of wax-paper that’s covered in granulated sugar, and coat both sides. Place on an ungreased rimmed baking sheet, pierce each with a fork 4 times, and bake 375 degrees 7-9 minutes until just set but not browned. Cool. Sandwich 2 wafers with the filling.

[MunchkinRedux]

Union Square Cafe Bar Nuts.

I haven’t made these in several years, and had forgotten how good they are. Salty, spicy, sweet - with rosemary.

[Miss_belle]

That explains it then. Mine weren’t sliced thin and I’m fairly certain I didn’t coat with sugar so that must have been optional. I did tint the filling half and half pale pink and green for contrast. How about chilling the dough logs and then in the freezer to firm up a bit more for easier slicing instead of rolling out. Just a thought. One thing is for sure. If I ever do make them again, I will definitely omit the raw egg yolk. Thanks for you reply.

[MunchkinRedux]

David Lebovitz’s Pumpkin Ice Cream.

Thanks to a reference from @ maccrogenoff.

This came out exactly as I hoped - rich with plenty of pumpkin flavor. I used 2 teaspoons cognac, and strained it twice, the second time after the final blend.

I’m not sure it’s anything I would make outside of the holidays, but it’s fun and very seasonal. Thus far (before an overnight cure) it gets a solid thumbs up from all tasters.

[wonderwoman]

my panforte test run report:

used david leibowitz’s recipe, which included chile powder, black pepper, and ground ginger. the combination made it so spicy it drowned out the taste of the dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, apricots). next time i’ll leave out the chile and black pepper. i added a bit of espresso powder and grated some orange zest into the honey/sugar syrup.

couldn’t find blanched almonds at trader joe’s and didn’t have time to run around; skin-on worked fine.

the dough is quite stiff, so mixing is strenuous: use a bigger bowl than you think — i used the one from my stand mixer — with a large silicone spatula . and understand that you will never get every scrap of dough out of the bowl.

used a 14x4.5 nonstick rectangular tart tin, so i cut smallish pieces i’ll include on my cookie trays. great not to have to prep the pan — it came right out. but since it’s shallower than a springform, so the edges burned a bit— just trimmed them and mixed with my morning yogurt.

[ginnyhw]

I never knew what they were called except fruit compote! My parents made a version of your number one every summer and it was their favorite dessert spooned over ice cream.

[MunchkinRedux]

I cracked into it last night. It was really good. Next year I’ll skip the currants, however - too many seeds.

I bet it’s awesome over ice cream!

[Phoenikia]

Curious to see if a poll works here. Which would you prefer?

• Kourabiedes
• Rugelach
• Thumbprints
• Oatmeal lace

[mig (you can call me mig)]

IT HAS BEGUN!!!

Making a batch of my favorite ginger spice cookies tonight as a component of tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dessert.

It’s been a very intense quarter at my new job and I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to unplugging my work computer for a long weekend and just standing at the stove.

[CaitlinM]

I love those cookies. I’ve always just made them with all butter, rather than part shortening, though.

[mig (you can call me mig)]

yeah not a fan of shortening.

[retrospek]

I might be the odd one out who doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth and no problem resisting cookies, cakes and doesn’t like pie. I also do not bake. When I read these lists of all of your holiday plans I just cringe at the thought of all of that work. I hate dragging out flour and sugar. Such unruly ingredients that end up on my counter and on my floor!!

[Desert-Dan (Dan)]

@retrospek

I just cringe at the thought of all of that work.

For me, its the joy I bring others when they taste a cookie or cobbler or cake. My girlfriend loves sweets and enjoys home made cookies and cobblers and cakes.
As a child, I remember my grandmother making aniseed cookies. They were my favorite and I know my grandmother saw the joy on my face as I sat there feasting on her cookies. Sadly, she never passed on her recipe for those aniseed cookies, but they live on in my memories.
Yes… there is some work involved, but (for me) the happiness it brings others is worth it!!

[mig (you can call me mig)]

These came out so nice.

There’s 3/4 cup of chopped crystallized ginger in them (plus
powdered ginger) and I think next time I’ll make it a full cup. Can’t get enough.

[MidwesternerTT (MTT)]

Fun to see this poll feature (and the result) - THANKS!

[MidwesternerTT (MTT)]

LOL @retrospk - my baking buddy and I once baked with a non-baking friend. She called what we do “flinging flour”. And we realized afterward that her own kitchen was so spotless when we visit because she’s OCD about food prep – in the time we took to make 3 batches of cookies each, she made one 8x8 pan of bars, dicing each maraschino cherry and pecan precisely into exact 8ths, wiping up every stray bit of dry ingredient immediately, leveling and re-leveling spoonfuls of salt, soda, etc.

Yes, you need to be willing to have unruly ingredients “happen” (a kitchen dishtowel under the mixing bowl and measuring areas is a big help), and plan for cleanup every hour or two.

[Aubergine]

I think I’m OCD about spinach stems. Does anyone else do this?

I get the big container of baby spinach and remove all the stems first. I cook it in nonstick Berndes pot with a little butter, no water. Stays bright green and cooks down to, at most, 2 cups!

[mts]

I am going to whittle it down to only two types of cookies this season. One, a traditional gingerbread cookie recipe in girl, boy, running gingerbread boy and tomten/nisse/haltija shapes decorated with royal icing, dragees, and many different sprinkles. The second cookie is the ricotta lace cookie mentioned earlier in HO. I can’t wait to play with that recipe. I will roll out several loaves of pulla to mail off and hand out, too. Pictures later.