Daring Bakers in December: Gingerbread House
December 25, 2009 at 1:11 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, daring bakers, groups, other sweet, sweet things | 20 Comments
Welcome to my home– my gingerbread home! Let me show you around inside. It’s nothing fancy. Just four walls and some spackling. Oh, and mind your head…the roof has quite a slope.
Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi had us break out our hard hats and toolboxes to construct our very own gingerbread houses for this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge! As a result, I’m sure you’ll tour some ultra tricked-out gingerbread houses around Food Blog Avenue this Christmas. Mine’s more of a cottage, really…some may say a shack…but I’m quite pleased with it. And it’s now over two weeks old, so I know it’s solidly built!
I used the Scandinavian Gingerbread recipe provided by Y, found an easy template, and started construction. I needed just half a recipe of dough, and I actually added a spoonful of cocoa powder to it, just to make the color a bit darker. Some windows, a sanding sugar snowstorm and a wreath out front, and I was a proud homeowner in just a few hours!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll see you again before the new year!
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
-In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
-Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
-Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
-Roll out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. You can save any scraps to reroll at the end.
-Preheat the oven to 375’F (190’C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
Royal Icing
1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract
-Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren’t using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
The Cake Slice: White Chocolate Layer Cake
December 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 20 Comments
As I type, we are in the midst of the first big winter snowstorm here in NYC…so it seems only appropriate that I share with you this white-on-white White Chocolate Layer Cake chosen by the Cake Slice Bakers this month. I’m not super keen on white chocolate, so I probably would have bypassed this recipe if not for the group, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It’s the toothachey sweetness that really bugs me about white chocolate, but for every element of white chocolate here (it’s in both the cake and the frosting), there is an element of tanginess to balance it out. For the cake, it’s buttermilk. For the frosting, it’s cream cheese. The cake is moist and soft, and c’mon, let’s face it…cream cheese icing would make pretty much anything taste good…so whats not to like here?
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our white chocolate cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Café Volcano Cookies
December 15, 2009 at 1:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 26 Comments
Would you like to come over for coffee? We can chat…we can gossip…I’d really love to meet you. And, yes, of course there will be cookies. It’s no problem at all…these little Café Volcano Cookies that MacDuff of the always entertaining The Lonely Sidecar picked for TWD are ridiculously easy to whip up.
Just a few ingredients (egg whites, sugar, espresso powder, walnuts and almonds) stirred together by hand produce these sweet and crispy little treats. Not quite the same as a traditional meringue, they’re like coffee air held together by nuts.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on The Splendid Table), or read The Lonely Sidecar. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Parmesan and Thyme Sablés
December 8, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in BCM, groups, other savory, savory things, tuesdays with dorie | 46 Comments
I was thrilled to see that Bungalow Barbara chose a recipe for TWD that can swing sweet or savory– Sablés. Between all the junk I munch on at the bakery, and all the desserts I make at home, these days I need a salt fix more often than a sugar fix. I went with a parmesan cheese sablé, and since I had heaps of fresh herbs left from Thanksgiving, I threw some thyme in there, too. Cheesy, buttery and salty…with that perfect crumbly texture– exactly what I wanted with a glass of white wine.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here), or read Bungalow Barbara. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart
December 1, 2009 at 1:26 pm | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 37 Comments
I feel like I’ll be dealing with leftover turkey forever, but the holiday bundt is all gone now. Time to move on to the Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart that Lauren of I’ll Eat You picked for TWD. I will be honest and admit that making it was a bit more work than I felt like doing after just having prepared Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days before. You have to make tart dough, pastry cream, poached pears, caramelized nuts and sauce. That’s a lot of stuff, but the payoff is most definitely worth the effort. This is a stunningly delicious tart!
Pastry cream-based tarts don’t hold up so well overnight, so I made individual tartlette shells that I could fill with the pistachio pastry cream as needed. I haven’t had JELL-O pistachio pudding in years, so I’m not sure if I’d love it today as much as I did when I was little, but this pastry cream is spot-on for my tastes now…little flecks of nuts and the color is a far more “natural” green. I used bosc pears for poaching, and they sucked up all that gorgeous color from the red wine. BTW, the chilled poaching liquid tastes an awful lot like sweet sangria to me…hmmm…keep me away from the leftovers or I may wind up with a lampshade on my head!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read I’ll Eat You. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Thursday!): All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake
November 26, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Posted in bundt cakes, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
I’m up to my elbows in stuffing and cranberry sauce right now, but just wanted to quickly wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This is the Holiday Bundt that I’m serving up for dessert tonight. It really is all-in-one: pumpkin cake with spices, pecans, apples and cranberries. I sneaked a tiny taste, and I can tell you that it’s moist and fully of yummy chunks. Can’t wait to try a proper slice later with the maple glaze!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on Serious Eats). Read The Nitty Britty, as it was Britin’s choice for TWD this week, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Burnt Sugar Cake
November 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 34 Comments
I almost forgot about this posting! My head has been somewhere else, and the date kind of got away from me. Oh well, here it is in all its sweet glory: the Burnt Sugar Cake for this month’s Cake Slice.
A burnt sugar syrup (really a dark caramel simple syrup) is the key to this recipe. Both the cake and the frosting have a nice dose of this syrup, giving them a very eye-catching soft caramel color.
The cake itself is nice– a dense crumb, but moist. Thanks to heaping amounts of powdered sugar added to the sugar syrup, the frosting is, predictably, very sweet. While my husband was a big fan, it was a bit too much for me…I made a bee-line to my toothbrush after each slice!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our sugary cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake
November 17, 2009 at 1:00 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 45 Comments
Last week was kind of crappy. First, we suffered the latest disappointment in the mulit-year saga known as “R and Stephanie vs. the NYC real estate market.” I often wonder if owning a little place here just isn’t in the cards for us. Then, two of my favorite coworkers gave notice and will be leaving the bakery before the end of the month. This will certainly put a damper on my workplace socializing (the only reason I really even go to work, ‘cuz I barley get paid–ha!)…not to mention that thinking about going into the busy holiday season understaffed is giving me major agita. Losing myself in my kitchen for a bit to make this Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake for TWD was a nice distraction, and probably kept my head from exploding.
The first thing I noticed when I looked at the recipe is that this cake has several steps and requires a few unusual ingredients. I’m pretty lucky that I can easily find chestnuts and sweetened chestnut spread without a embarking on a major hunting excursion or having to pay for online shipping. In fact, at Sahadi’s I found cans of the fancypants Clement Faugier spread for about $5–not too shabby, and I should get more before they realize it’s a steal and jack up the price. I’m not super wild about chestnuts, but that spread is so yummy…I have quite a bit leftover, so I’m looking forward to using it in something else soon. Any suggestions?
I split up the work (and the dishes– did I tell you that I have the world’s tiniest sink?) over two days. On night one, I made both the caramel ganache and the glaze. On day two, I baked the cake and assembled the whole shebang. I made half a recipe of cake and glaze, and deciding to go easy on things (yeah, right), just a third of the ganache. To bake the cake, I spread the batter in a quarter-sheet pan (about 9″ x 13″), rather than baking it in a taller square pan. Not only does it cook in less than 20 minutes (instead of almost an hour), but there’s no sawing the cake into layers (I always seem to do a hack-job on that)…just cut the sheet into three strips of equal width and stack with the filling. Easy-peasy.
I looove sparkly things, and actually have a huge collection of luster dusts. After I dusted the whole chestnuts in gold, I couldn’t help but blow the stuff all over the top of the cake, too. Super shimmery. And super tasty. My favorite parts were the end pieces, because they had extra glaze! This is a luxurious (not to mention expensive) cake…seems kind of a shame to not to have made it for a special occasion, but it sure made a crappy week better.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan(it’s also here on Epicurious). Read Second Dinner, where Katya posted it earlier this month, and don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cran-Apple Crisps
November 10, 2009 at 11:32 am | Posted in cobbler/crisp/shorties, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 24 Comments
Crisps are the perfect mid-week dessert for lazybones like myself…you don’t really “make” them, you just toss them together. Low effort but high reward– if only everything could be so easy and smell so good! This particular Cran-Apple Crisp topping has coconut in it, which sounds a tad unusual for something that screams autumn, but I thought it worked really well. I try not to buy sweetened coconut if I don’t really need to (it’s just too sweet for me), so I used unsweetened desiccated stuff here. I also swapped a little whole wheat flour for the AP, which I thought complimented the dessert’s rustic nature.
I liked these crisps so much, and they were so quick to throw together, that I did a rare second go-around. This last time, I added an extra handful of cranberries to the mix. I just love the tart little bursts of ruby red– tasty and beautiful!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read The Repressed Pastry Chef, as it was Em’s choice this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies
November 3, 2009 at 1:37 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 41 Comments
You may notice that the TWDers are not all posting the same recipe this week. We’re able to tackle the month’s chosen recipes in any order we like, and I’ve decided to start off with Dorie’s Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies, picked by Pamela of Cookies with Boys. I think I’m easing into November…it’s probably the least complicated of the month’s four recipes to make. But don’t think it’s simple in flavor…molasses adds a complexity you don’t get with white sugar, and the spices here really shine through. It’s a perfect cookie for this time of year. (I am having wicked thoughts of stirring some bittersweet chocolate chips into the dough the next time I make them, though.)
Dorie intends these to be crisp cookies, but mine were soft and chewy. What can I say…I forgot to flatten my balls of dough before putting them in the oven. As a result, they also didn’t spread quite as much. No matter though…crispy or chewy, I like them equally, so I am pretending that they were meant to be that way.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Cookies with Boys. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll and see what everyone else made!
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