Best Christmas Ever!

Christmas Eve at my house, I can't believe I wrapped all of those presents.

Happy Holidays! As many of you know, I received the best gift ever this year from my fantastic boyfriend...a KitchenAid stand mixer! (girly scream)


I love that it's red. I love that it's mine. Sayonara, hand mixer!

Lately I've been so focused on baking, that I've been neglecting knitting big time, as well as neglecting my vintage item hunting, but I don't even care. When trying to decide between photographing my new vintage pieces for the shop and baking a new dessert - baking wins, every time.

I christened my new mixer yesterday with Russian Tea Cakes. They were such a hit, that I figured I'd share the recipe on here. This was a recipe that I got from my grandma's 1977 version of the "Betty Crocker Cooky Book". (If you don't own this, buy it immediately).

This is what it looks like.

Anyway, here is the recipe. Let me know how it works out for you!

Russian Tea Cakes


a peek at mine, after I boxed them up for work!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 400ºF.

* Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

* Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

* Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.

* Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.



My suggestions:

I used finely chopped walnuts this time. But another fun thing to do would be to use almond extract instead of vanilla and use finely chopped almonds. Macadamia nuts are also fun! Use your own preference to be creative and let me know how it works out!

My favorite Christmas cookie yet

As most of you know, Martha Stewart is pretty much my idol. Her recipes inspire me to make most of my creations in the kitchen. This year, I was looking for a recipe for the perfect christmas cookie, and I found it on her site. I wanted to share it with you and give you my notes on what I did and show you pictures of my work. Feel free to give it a try and share your results with me too!

Peppermint Meringue Cups with Chocolate Ganache
recipe from Martha Stewart Living, December 2010 issue

Here's how mine turned out:



Ingredients

For the meringue cups:

Vegetable oil cooking spray
3 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Red gel-paste food coloring (you can find this at any craft store, make sure to get the non-flavored kind though!)

For the ganache:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
Garnish: 1 large candy cane, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees.

Trace 16 circles onto each of 2 pieces of parchment using a 1 3/4-inch round cookie cutter, spacing about 2 inches apart. (I didn't do this, I just made them whatever size I felt like)

Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray, and top each with a sheet of parchment, traced side down.

Make the meringue cups:

Heat egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water, stirring, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch, about 3 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in peppermint extract.

Using a small food-safe paintbrush, paint 3 stripes of red food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain round tip. Transfer egg-white mixture to pastry bag; pipe coils to fill each traced circle. Pipe up sides of each to create 3/4-inch- to 1-inch-high cups.

Bake until meringue cups are crisp but not browned and lift off parchment easily, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Transfer meringue cups to a wire rack, and let cool completely.

While those are baking, make the ganache:

Transfer chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour over chocolate, and let stand for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and cut a small slit in the top. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
Stir ganache, and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch open-star tip.

Pipe ganache into the center of each meringue cup.


And for fun, I also made these plain peppermint meringues, following the recipe for the meringues from this, and piping them onto the parchment paper from a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch open-star tip:

Bacon on a Cupcake?

I've been spending an obscene amount of time baking lately. And since that has been taking off, I've decided to occassionally post recipes on here so that I can share!

Last weekend my roommate's boyfriend came into town, and he's a huge bacon fan. She knows I am the cupcake queen, so she asked me if I could incorporate bacon into a cupcake for him. I researched a few recipes online, and came up with this. Enjoy!

French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and Bacon!



Ingredients:
• 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine salt
• ½ cup milk, at room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line the muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

* Using a hand mixer or standing mixer (use paddle attachment for stand mixer), combine the butter and sugar and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Change speed to high and mix until light and fluffy.

* Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla, and also set aside.

* Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next.

* Reduce speed of mixer to low. Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next. Raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed.

* In another bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed, (use the whisk attachment if you’re using the stand mixer) until stiff peaks are formed.

* Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the cups in the muffin pan.

Bake about 30 minutes, rotating the pan once, until a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from over and cool completely


Maple Buttercream

Yields: enough for about 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
• 2 Sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons heavy cream, at room temperature
• ¾ teaspoon maple extract

Directions:

* In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

* Reduce the speed of mixer to low. Add the heavy cream and maple extract.. Raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy.

Frost the cooled cupcakes and top with a chopped up pieces of crisp bacon!


Buttercream frosting can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.