DB: Defeat

I feel so horrible. Hilda of Saffron and Blueberry and Marion of Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux chose Florilège Gourmand's French Yule Log for us Daring Bakers to make this month and I couldn't do it. I had almost every single part of the log completed and just couldn't muster up the energy to put it together. I know where things went wrong too. I have done all the other DB challenges at the beginning of the month but with this challenge I waited until 2 days before I left for Miami to try to make the log. I have all the ingredients in my freezer so we'll see what condition they are in when I get back to Boston and if I have the energy to put them all together. I'm a baking disappointment :(

TWD: Cheesecake

I cheated on this week's TWD recipe. It's supposed to be a tall and creamy cheesecake and I made mine short. It's still creamy, but it isn't tall. I didn't have the right pan size and I needed to make the cheesecake travel size since it was flying down to Miami with me. I figured that 4 mini cakes would travel easier than 1 big cake (I halved the recipe). The cheesecake was delicious. I absolutely loved how creamy and sweet the filling was. I had fun with my toppings and topped the cake with whipped cream and Snicker's chunks. As I did this, I thought of how cool and fun it would be to have a cheesecake bar as dessert for a hosted dinner or a girls night.

Thanks to Anne of Anne Strawberry for selecting this cheesecake for us to make this week. Don't forget to go the TWD to see how the other bakers interpreted this recipe.

My personalized cheesecake

The layers


A yummy slice

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great and memorable Christmas! Christmas in Miami was great and full of lots of family, love, and amazing food. This year we were extra blessed and got a special visit from Santa and two of his elves ;-)

A Tree With Character

I feel like I must apologize for all the holiday-related posts but I can't help it. The season has filled my bloodstream and I feel the need to share the spirit and joy with everyone. One of the things that brings me joy each year is looking through the ornaments on Alex's parent's Christmas Tree. It is so fun to discover someone else's family history as reflected through the ornaments. I know my mom's tree and the meaning behind her ornaments because I spent many years decorating a tree in her house, but something about hearing the story behind someone else's ornaments fascinates me. I think it's all about understanding what life was in Alex's family before I came along or maybe it's my own longing to do simple things now that will create beautiful memories I can look back on in 20-30 years. Here are some of the best ornaments:

Savi's (Brother in-law) first ornament


Alex's first ornament


Ornaments from the 80s





This ornament went up the year Abuelo died


The year dogs were officially introduced into the family


Perla :)


Check out the name arrangement pre-marriage...


...and now post-marriage.

In case you can't tell, I was in love with the ornaments from the 80s. They were my favorite ornaments on the tree because of their character. I have been so used to seeing ornaments made out of glass and these weren't. I love the holidays!!

Cuban Bread, Part 1

No pictures of a loaf of Cuban bread just yet, but I do have a picture of something that is made with Cuban bread: Tostada. This is a breakfast staple for some in Miami and a snack for others. My mother in-law always makes this for me when I am in town and I couldn't thank her enough for helping me indulge. It's easy to make too. You just grab some Cuban bread, slice it open, butter it, close it up, then place it on a panini press and squeeze down. This goes perfect at any time of the day but it's even better with some cafe con leche (coffee with milk).

Something to Miss: Miami Fast Food

I love Miami. I'm sure I have expressed my love for the city a million times but you just can't help but love a city that sells a dish like this at a fast food place:

Grilled chicken, rice, black beans, and a dinner roll courtesy of Pollo Tropical.

Knaus Berry Farm

Yesterday we took a trip out to Homestead to the so-called Amish. Almost everyone in Miami knows about the Amish, their farm, and their amazing cinnamon rolls and strawberry shakes. The one thing they don't know, however, is that they aren't Amish at all. Apparently, they are a sect of German Baptists. Regardless of who they are, whether it be what people think they are or what they really are, there is no denying that they make the most delicious sticky cinnamon rolls I have ever had in my life. If there is one sweet that I could eat everyday, I think this would be it...they are seriously addictive! Alex loved their strawberry shake because it tasted just like a ripe strawberry freshly picked from the fields.

This website has some great info and pictures of Knaus Berry Farm.

All the veggies

Strawberry Shake


Addiction


This thing was massive


Directions, in case you were interested :)

Bubble Gum Dreams

One of my favorite childhood memories is eating bubble gum ice cream. I used to eat it all the time as a little girl in Chicago and I remember missing it when we first moved to Florida. It took me several years to discover a place that sold bubble gum ice cream, but when I did I was ecstatic. Swensen's bubble gum ice cream took me back to Chicago and it made my world just a little bit brighter. I had to beg Alex to take me to Swensen's because he finds my obsession with bubble gum ice cream a little weird. This ice cream is amazing and it tastes just like gum balls. One day, when I'm not feeling lazy, I will actually make this ice cream (check out this great looking recipe).

Heaven on Ice

I wish I could take the whole thing home.

TWD: Butterscotch Pudding

"Why does it taste like liquor?" That's the first question I got from Alex after he stuck a spoonful of this pudding in his mouth. My response? "Where do you think they get the scotch from in butterscotch?" You could see the light bulb go off as he figured the pudding out. I didn't even think the pudding had that much scotch in it, but Alex picked up on it immediately. He even said he was afraid to talk to anyone because they would smell the liquor on him. I think he was exagerating. His drink of choice is a black russian and he's complaining about a couple of tablespoons of scotch. Does that make sense to anyone? Anyway, I topped the pudding with some chocolate chips because I thought it would look cute. And it did!

Thanks to Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews, & Suitcases for choosing a recipe that would lead to loads of entertainment at Alex's expense. Don't forget to check out how the other TWD bakers did this week.

Would you like some?

Cake Slice: Chocolate Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake

Is it the 20th already? Where has time gone? It seems like the closer we are to the end of the year, the quicker the days go. I'm not too sure if I'm ready for 2009 yet. I feel like I barely got to enjoy 2008! The only reason I even realized it was the 20th was because I noticed a few posts in my reader for this month's Cake Slice selection. Then I realized that I had completely forgotten to post about the deliciousness that is the Chocolate Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake. The combination of chocolate and hazelnut is amazing. I love how the chocolate brings out the sweet nuttiness of the hazelnut and how the hazelnut brings out the deep richness of the chocolate. I absolutely loved the chantilly and was literally eating it out of the bowl. I brought the cake done to Miami and it seems to be a winner :)

Chocolate Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake
Source: Alisa Huntsman's Sky High
Makes one 9inch triple layer cake

Ingredients – for the cake layers
1 cup skinned hazelnuts (about 4 ounces)
10 whole graham crackers (5½ ounces), broken into pieces
1¼ cups sugar
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely grated
10 eggs, separated
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup all purpose flour
1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking powder
Dark chocolate curls for decoration (I omitted)

Method – for the cake layers
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of 3 9inch cake tins. Line the base with parchment paper and dust the sides with flour, tap out any excess.
2. Spread the nuts onto a baking tray and toast for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Leave to cool completely. Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
3. In a food processor, grind the graham crackers to crumbs. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Add the toasted nuts to the processor (no need to wash) and add ¼ cup of sugar. Pulse until the nuts are finely ground, but do not blitz too much or else it will form a paste. Add the nuts, graham cracker crumbs and grated chocolate together in the bowl and mix.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and ½ cup of sugar using an electric mixer until well blended. Add the oil and vanilla slowly, beating until ribbons begin to form on the surface of the mixture. Then, fold in the chocolate nut crumbs.
5. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat until thick and foamy. Gradually add the remaining ½ cup of sugar, continuing to beat until the whites form stiff peaks. Fold a third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture and mix well to slacken the mix. Sift over the flour, spice and baking powder and fold in. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites until no streaks remain but do not over mix.
6. Divide the batter between the three pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire wrack to cool completely.
7. To assemble the cake, place a layer on a cake stand, flat side up. Sprinkle it with a third of the rum syrup and let it all soak in for 1-2 minutes. Spread ¾ cup of crème Chantilly over the top, right to the edge. Repeat with the remaining layers, letting the syrup soak in before adding the crème. Use the rest of the crème to cover the sides of the cake. Decorate the top with dark chocolate curls.

Rum Syrup
¼ cup sugar
¼ water
¼ cup dark rum

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the rum. Allow to cool before using.

Crème Chantilly
2 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp confectioners sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract

Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla in a chilled bowl and whip until the cream is stiff but not too thick or buttery.

I made two mini cakes.

Delicious Slice



I just love cupcakes...


...filled cupcakes!

Cookie Carnival: Decorated Cookies

Kate of The Clean Plate was in the holiday spirit this month when she chose the cookies for Cookie Carnival. She gave us two recipes for roll-out cookies and let us loose. I had trouble with the chocolate cookie dough because I found it too crumbly and had trouble rolling it out, but the vanilla cookie dough was a dream and so easy to work with. I cut my cookies in holiday shapes and it so got me in the holiday spirit. I love this time of year! Time was running short so I didn't get to decorate the cookies as nicely as I wanted, but I had a lot of fun decorating them in the way that I did. I used royal icing and dirtied a lot of dishes making the different colors. I think they came out cute :)

Chocolate Roll-Out Cookie
Source: Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 60 small or 20 large cookies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)

Preparation
Sift first 5 ingredients and cinnamon, if desired, into medium bowl. Stir chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling out.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using waxed paper prevents you from adding too much flour, which will make the cookies tough.

Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies. Cold dough is much easier to work with. If it gets warm as you're cutting out the cookies, place the dough—waxed paper and all—in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

Use an offset spatula to peel away the
excess dough and transfer the cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 9 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Line baking sheets with fresh parchment as needed. Cool completely on rack. Decorate cookies with royal icing if desired. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.


Vanilla Roll-Out Cookies
Source: Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 40 small or 15 large cookies

For a lemony twist, reduce the vanilla extract to 3/4 teaspoon and add 1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel.

Ingredients
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)

Preparation
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and salt and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla. Add flour and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. If cookies become too soft to transfer to baking sheets, place in freezer on waxed paper for 5 minutes before continuing. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and golden around edges, about 10 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 14 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Decorate with Royal Icing, then sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Let stand until icing sets. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.

The Trees

The Snowflakes

The Gingerbread Men: The One of the Left is From Miami :)

Our Stockings This Year

Extra Dough, Extra Icing: A Special Message

Molasses Cookies

I didn't even know molasses cookies existed until my friend Edgar introduced them to me about a year ago. The first molasses cookie I had was one at Starbucks and that cookies was so good that I was instantly hooked. It was soft, chewy and spicy. I tried to share my excitement with Alex but he wasn't feeling the cookie at all. Sigh. You can't win them all. At least I can share my excitement Edgar and, in an effort to recreate the Starbucks cookies, I made him molasses cookies for his birthday. The cookies I made had the right amount of spice but they weren't chewy. I mean, they were chewy when I took them our of the oven, but they hardened as they cooled. I think the biggest culprit was the baking time. The recipe suggests 12-14 minutes but I think they should have been baked for less time. If you have any other suggestions or even recipe, let me know!

Happy Birthday Edgar!

Crackle Top Molasses Cookies
Source: All Recipes (here)

2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar (I used 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 brown sugar)
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 (heaping) teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (heaping) teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 (heaping) teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

In a large bowl mix oil and 1 cup of sugar. Add egg, beat well. Stir in molasses, vanilla, 2 cups flour, baking soda and spices. If necessary, add more flour to make a firm dough.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll in 1/3 cup sugar. Place 3 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until tops crack. Remove from baking sheet and cool on rack.

Crackle top

I love sugar!