Cinnamon Snowflakes

These adorable snowflakes are going to be my new go to cookie for the holidays! These and my homemade thin mints, chocolate rum strip cookies and lofthouse style sugar cookies round out my cookie plates!

These pretty little cinnamon stars are another variation on my favorite shortbread recipe with some Vietnamese cinnamon added. Simple? Yes, and that's the beauty! It lets the delicious cinnamon shine through! Sometimes it's the simple flavors that come out the best!

I've gone on and on about Vietnamese cinnamon before, and if you haven't heard my spiel yet here it is again: I adore it! I buy Vietnamese cinnamon from Penzey's and give it away as gifts! It's that wonderful! I can't recommend it enough. I buy a nice big bag and store it in a jar in my fridge. It preserve the flavor, and this is a flavor worth preserving!

I hope you enjoy these as much as me and my friends have!

Cinnamon Snowflake Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

2 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape dough into a disc, wrap in wax paper and allow to rest in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a floured surface to roughly an 1/8th inch thick. Cut the dough with a small star cookie cutter, and place cookies onto a lined baking sheet. Chill in refrigerator for another half hour.

Remove from fridge and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack.

Allow to cool before icing.


Piping Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water

Mix ingredients together. Add more sugar or liquid until the consistency you desire is acquired. I used a very thick icing for piping!

Pipe snowflakes over the shape of the star.

Return the iced cookie to the cooling rack and allow icing to set for roughly an hour.

Pumpkin Praline Eclairs

This Thanksgiving I had a few leftovers I didn't expect: ground pralines and pumpkin spice pastry cream.

I tried out Martha Stewart's pumpkin cream pie recipe. Excellent pastry cream but not great for pies. It tastes very similar to pumpkin chiffon pie, but pumpkin chiffon is far prettier and more stable. The pumpkin cream pie made for a soggy crust and didn't hold it's form very well.

Gosh darnit what to do?! WHAT TO DO?!?!?!?!

Okay. It's not a bid deal, but what's Thanksgiving without a little drama? :)

I took inspiration from the Laduree Sucre cook book and I opted to make a choux pastry with a pumpkin cream filling and a praline poured fondant icing using the extra ground pralines I had from my chocolate praline cake.

Fantastic idea! They came out wonderfully!

If you prefer cream puffs to eclairs, you can follow the recipe, simply changing the shape of the choux as you pipe.

Pumpkin Praline Eclairs

for the pumpkin pastry cream:

2 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar
Salt
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin (from one 15-ounce can)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

1. Bring milk, vanilla,cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, 1/4 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks with cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl.
3. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup milk mixture into yolk mixture. Gradually whisk in remaining milk mixture. Return entire mixture to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until bubbling in center, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately whisk in pumpkin. Whisk in butter.
4. Turn out into a bowl, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until chilled.

Continue by making the choux pastry. 

for the choux:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup skim milk
½ cup unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
Large pinch of kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Line two heavy baking sheets with parchment paper. (If you're pans are too light, stack them. This will reduce the chance of scorching on the bottom of the puff).
2. In a small saucepan, bring the water, milk, butter, and salt to a boil. Add the flour and stir until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and dries out a bit. Roughly two minutes.
3. Turn the dough out into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one.
4. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a half inch tip (or a disposable bag with the tip cut off) and pipe four inch long strips onto the baking sheets at least two inches apart (or tablespoon sized balls for cream puffs).
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.
6. Allow to cool. 
7. Fill a piping bag with pumpkin pastry cream. Poke three small holes in the top of each eclair (one for cream puffs). 
8. Fill with pumpkin pastry cream. Wipe off any excess. Set aside. 

Continue by preparing the icing. 

for the praline icing: 

4 1/2 ounces white pouring fondant

1 tbsp. water

3 tbsp. praline paste (see below) 

3 oz. white chocolate

1. Melt the white chocolate in a a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water or in the microwave at medium power. 
2. In a saucepan, slightly warm the pouring fondant with the water. 
3. Add the praline paste and the melted white chocolate. Stir until smooth. 
4. Dip the tops of the eclairs (or cream puffs) into the glaze. 
5. Allow to set and keep in the refrigerator. 

Et voila! You have fifteen pumpkin praline eclairs ready to be eaten up!

**Praline Paste is made by grinding pralines. If you grind the pralines for a bit longer they will form a paste. If you feel impatient, add a few drops off water to speed up the process. 

Five Spice Cider Jelly

A jelly that tastes like Christmas? Yes, please.

I am back! I was planning to save this recipe for a time closer to the fall, and real Christmas, but after the 50 hours of airports, planes, delays, and lost bags that I had, I wanted a little more comfort food in my life. Apple five spice jelly on toast? VERY comforting, especially when you add in a rainy night, blankets, a cup of tea, and watching cheesy 80s movies with Butchie. We didn't bake on Monday night. Just caught up, laughed, and watched movies, that took every ounce of my reserve to stay awake through after a long trip back.

Oregon was a fantastic time. Getting too or from was less than ideal. My luggage never made it me at all. In fact, I hadn't seen it until yesterday. Good thing I am the same size as my sisters and that my littlest sister was VERY excited to dress me up. She chose excellently. But, there are some articles of clothing that ought not be shared, so, oh darn, you just have to send three sisters on shopping trips! The man at the make up counter (wearing false eyelashes and splendid eye make up. I mean phenomenal) truly understood my pain. His incredibly sincere gasp and utter dismay at having lost ALL my make up was just what I needed, and gave my sister a good laugh. United Airlines customer service may not understand how infuriated I was, but a MAC employee knows this pain, especially when I told him I was there for my sister's beauty pageant. Horror.

Having gotten a new dress and make up I was ready to go support the star of our family that night. My sweet-hearted sister was A-MAIZE-ING. (Um, yes, that was a not so inside joke. We all happen to laugh greatly at the movie Grown Ups). She sang and played the piano and was the only beauty queen not prancing around in next to no clothing, which as a big sister, I really appreciate! She had all the right attitudes about the pageant, and I'm very proud of her resolve after not winning "I'm no beauty queen, I'm just beautiful me." They're song lyrics, and to counter her I'll rearrange some other lyrics : Don't be a queen, just be a beauty. And that she is. Watching her sing and play piano for Taylor Swifts Back to December in a beautiful ball gown will always be a treasure memory of her.

The trip was wonderful, despite leaving me dead tired, after too many flight cancellations and delays, I wouldn't trade a moment of it. Well, I might trade the moment when my sister went to hit me with a pillow, lost her grip and socked me in the eye. No, not even that. It's too funny to tease her about! It was a wonderful time.

Cheers to my sisters and to some lovely comfort food after a long trip!

Five Spice Cider Jelly

1 quart apple cider

1 package (1-3/4 ounces) powdered fruit pectin

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

5-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon five spice powder (cassia cinnamon, cloves, star anise, anise seed, and ginger)

7 half pint jars, lids, and rings

Preheat oven to 200. Place jars, lids and rings on a cookie sheet in the oven, and leave for at least 20 minutes.

In a large sauce pan combine the apple cider, pectin, and lemon juice, over high heat. Stir constantly. When the mixture boils, quickly stir in sugar. Continue stirring until the mixture boils for 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Skim off any foam that may have formed on the top of the jelly. Stir in the five spice powder before you pour the hot jelly into sterilized jars. Be sure to leave a fourth of an inch from the top unfilled.

Put lids and rings onto the jars, wiping off any jelly that may have gotten on the sides. Seal firmly and invert, lid side down on the counter for one hour. Return to right-side-up and store.  Once opened keep refrigerated. 

Apple Cider Buttermilk Pancakes with Apple Caramel Syrup

The combination of sweet apple cider and tangy buttermilk make these golden pancakes an addictive treat. Topped with homemade apple caramel syrup that can be canned for future use. 

Happy 2011! As promised this year is "condiments" year and I'm starting out with my little brain child: apple cider caramel syrup...but what's syrup without a pancake right? 

I've never been much for following a recipe. I see the recipe and think, "To heck with that. This sounds so much better!" That's how both these little recipes came about! I love it.

I started out to make Apple Caramel Jelly, and ended up with Apple Caramel Syrup instead. I'm not particularly sad. It just means a second attempt will be made, and until then my pancakes are going to be very tasty! I also canned the syrup, so I have a nice stock pile for the remainder of the year! Delightful!  

In case the idea of canning just scared you, don't worry! You don't have to can the syrup. I just did because it was supposed to be jelly. (And since I was trying to go old school without fruit pectin and cook it by hand, and am not as of yet particularly adept as understanding the "set tests" I failed and stopped the cooking a good bit too soon). Canning is actually beautifully easy, none of those water baths and boiling jars are actually necessary. Thank you modern sciences for improving canning so wonderfully! If you have a dishwasher and an oven you are ready to go....well and jars, and lids, and something to can! 

But I have something for you to can right here! 

Apple Cider Caramel Syrup

1 quart apple cider

5-1/2 cups sugar

7 half pint jars and lids

If canning, heat your oven to 200 degrees. On a cookie sheet place your clean jars and lid pieces.  Put in oven until ready to use.

Place a small plate in your freezer.

Start with an even layer of 3 cups of sugar in a heavy-duty pan, such as a deep skillet. Heat the sugar over moderate heat, until it begins to melt.  Continue cooking over very low heat, stirring as little as possible, until the entire mixture has becomes a dark amber liquid. Meanwhile begin the apple cider mixture.

In a large stock pot, combine the apple cider and remaining sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. 

Add in caramel sauce. The caramel will seize up.  Return the juice to a low boil and continue to stir until the seized caramel liquefies into the sauce.  Continue to cook until the sauce feels slightly thickened. Pour a teaspoon of sauce onto the small plate in your freezer. If, after a minute, the apple caramel mixture feels like a syrup to the touch and appears decently thick, you are ready to can it. If not, continue to cook testing every few minutes.

When ready remove the tray of jars and lids from the oven.  Ladle or pour the syrup into the jars leaving only a ¼ inch gap at the top. Put on lids tightly, and carefully, and then place, lid side down on the counter to cool (this is seal the jar and sterilize the air left inside). Allow to cool completely before turning right side up and storing.

If using immediately put into a storage container and allow cooling slightly before eating.

Store opened unused syrup in the refrigerator.  

Apple Cider Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 tablespoon sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons powdered buttermilk**

¾ cup apple cider

1 egg

½ cup butter, melted

In a bowl combine the flour, vanilla sugar, baking powder, salt and buttermilk. Combine cider, egg, and melted butter in a separate bowl.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Pour batter by ¼ cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot skillet, griddle or pan. Flip when bubbles appear on top of pancakes and finish cooking. 

** I use buttermilk powder in the pancakes, which is something I highly recommend owning, as buttermilk will often go bad before used fully, and the powder has a higher variety of uses! I bought mine in the baking section of my local grocery store. 

Maple Pear Pie Ice Cream

It's still my ice cream year of study so why not try out some maple pear pie ice cream as well! The maple and pears are a beautiful accent to the vanilla cream ice cream! So many wonderful flavors in each bite!

It's still 2010. I. Have. To. Make. Ice. Cream.

I just have to. Each year there is that goal I make, to make ice cream one a week. To have fifty-two ice cream recipes at the end of the year that I love, to try tons of new ice creams, and to make ice cream in fun and inventive ways. I've been very successful but the weather is getting cold and I am still down! By nearly 22 posts! AH!

Here is a simple post. I took some of the maple pear pies I made a few days ago and put a few of them into vanilla cream ice cream. WONDERFUL! The problem is not eating all the pie before making the ice cream. Not. Doable. At. All.

I hope you love one of my last ditch efforts at meeting my ice cream goal! Hopefully I can make it and pump out another 22 ice cream posts by December 31! I can do it!

Maple Pear Pie Ice Cream

*if you made the maple pear pies from the previous post, then just use two of those and skip straight to making ice cream!

1 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/6 cup pure maple syrup

2 tsp. arrowroot powder, corn starch, or flour

pinch kosher salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch tsp freshly ground nutmeg

 1/2 T. unsalted butter, cut into 2 peices
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 425.  Combine all the pie filling ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. Divide amongst 2 ramekins, topping each with a piece of butter.  Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Allow the cobbler to cool in the refrigerator as you make the ice cream. 

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar. Beat for one minute until light and fluffy. Gently mix in the cream, milk and vanilla. Do not whip!

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. When the ice cream is almost ready, pour in the cooled maple pear pie. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Enjoy! 

Maple Ice Cream

A fabulous fall treat, maple ice cream made with premium Grade A pure maple syrup can't go wrong. 

Still going with the crazy week. But that is just NO FUN AT ALL to continue talking about. So......LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CRAZY FUN WEEKEND AHEAD! 

Saturday: Boston! I'm gonna go get my cannoli on! I've done all the touristy things before, and most likely will do them again on Saturday, but I'm going to mostly be a happy tag-along to whatever my friends want to do, except for the cannoli. Hmmmm. Maybe I should do a taste test of cannolis? That's a great day! 

Sunday: Pumpkin Regatta Races! We are going to the [at least 6th annual] Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Goffstown, New Hampshire! That means 500 pound pumpkins hollowed out into kayaks and raced down the river! To kick the day off they have a "Pumpkin Drop" to welcome in the pumpkin catapults, pumpkin pie eating contest (that we simply MUST enter), a pumpkin shopping cart race.....I don't know what that means either, mini pumpkin races, and of course, THE REGATTA! So fun! 

Monday: Scenic drive through some lesser known New York sites, beautiful groves, and breathtaking views. 

I'm so looking forward to this more than ideal fall weekend! To kick it off, here is some more than ideal fall ice cream! 

Maple Ice Cream

2 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
2 cups cream
1 cup milk

1 1/3 cup grade A pure maple syrup

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar.  Beat for one minute until light and fluffy. 

Gently mix in the cream, milk  and maple syrup. 

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Caramel Apple Toffee Pastries

This was the winner of Iron Chef Apple and is one of my favorite fall desserts! How could you ever go wrong with caramel, apples, and especially toffee? The phyllo that wraps it all up adds the perfect bit of crunch!

One line reminder to vote for Cherry Tea Cakes in the Express Night Out Best of DC Food Blogger Vote through September 30th! See instructions here! 


Sorry for being late with this post. I came off of a long day at work after a night full of red eye flights, airports, and next to no food or sleep..,oh, and did I mention food poisoning? As it is, I am taking a detox day. Fruit juices and salad only to get my body back to normal...and to make it worse with the sleep deprivation, from what I read online...you shouldn't have caffeine when you are getting over food poisoning. Worst. Monday. Ever.

Butchie had to put up with me without sleep, without food, and trying to recover on our weekly baking night. And MAN was I on one! I have next to no filter when I'm that tired and hungry. [It's fabulous--she was smiley and punchy and rude and maybe now I will never let her sleep again. --B.] Never ask me what I really think in that state. I answer as honestly as I usually do, but with less tact and diplomacy.

So I asked Butchie what she wanted to make and she answered just as bluntly honest: apples! If you want to hear some gushing on how great fall boots, fall sweaters, fall scarfs, and all flavors are--note the trend--then you should talk to Butch. She has an endless supply of enthusiasm for fall. [How could you not? Gorgeous yellow leaves, pears everywhere, perfect snuggling temperature, fireplaces with ACTUAL FIRE IN THEM. Plus, Halloween! This year I was thinking I'd go as a sexy autumn leaf. Now that Halloween is just an excuse for ladies to be as close to publicly naked as possible. --B.] Anyway, this is a good recipe for us: I have an infinite amount of enthusiasm for toffee, and even though I do not care about autumn or its apples, basically at all, Butchie makes up for it. [Maybe I'll go as an apple. --B.]

There are two ways you can make this dessert: make it all, or buy it all. We made toffee and caramel from scratch, but you can buy it too, and these pastries are still very good. I am all about lessening the chemicals I can't pronounce in my diet, so I go the scratch route...plus, c'mon, homemade caramel? Way better!

Caramel Toffee Apple Pastries

3 large baking apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped

1/2 cup caramel, store bought or see the recipe below

1/2 cup toffee bits, store bought or see the recipe below

16 sheets phyllo dough

Preheat oven to 375. Spray two muffin tins with cooking spray. In a medium mixing bowl combine the chopped apples, caramel and toffee bits. Set aside.

Lay phyllo pastry sheets flat on a work surface and cover with sheet of plastic wrap. Place a slightly damp kitchen towel over the plastic wrap. Removing one sheet of pastry at a time spray completely with cooking spray top with another sheet of phyllo pastry and spray with cooking spray. Repeat until four sheets of phyllo are stacked. Cut the stacked pastry into 6 equal squares. Press each stack into a muffin tin.

Place 1/4 cup of apple mixture inside each phyllo lined muffin tin, pour a little of the caramel over the top, and pinch the corners together to form a pouch. A ring of aluminum foil can be placed around the pinched dough to hold them together if desired.

Repeat with remaining sheets and apple filling. Wrap and refrigerate any remaining phyllo.

Spray tops with cooking spray. Bake 12-15 minutes or until pastries are golden brown.

Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Eat immediately, as they will not remain crisp for more than an hour.

Toffee Bits

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 tablespoons water

Place all ingredients in a pan and bring to a hard boil, cook until a candy thermometer reads hard crack. Poor onto a greased sheet of aluminum foil. Allow to set, chop.

Caramel Sauce

3/8 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/8 cup light corn syrup

3/8 cup whipping cream

Combine sugar, water, and corn syrup in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to a boil without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan, about 10 minutes, until caramel has reached a dark amber color. Remove from heat, carefully and immediately add cream--it will bubble and clot. Stir sauce over low heat until sauce is smooth.