Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Homemade pizza has become one of my go-to dinners. All I have to do is whip up a quick batch of my favorite pizza dough, throw whatever I have on hand on top of one of the crusts and slide it into the oven, right onto my awesome pizza stone. I've found that this is a great way to use up leftovers. Almost anything you can think of can be turned into a pizza. I love the versatility and creativity a blank crusts offers, just let your imagination run wild.

The key to really good homemade pizza is a super hot oven and cooking surface. A baking stone is your best bet, it will produce pizza with the crispest, most professional tasting crust. If you don't have one, an upside down cookie sheet will do, but it won't get as hot as the stone will. Also, when it's time to heat up your oven, crank it up as high as it will possibly go, usually 500 or 550, and let your stone heat up for at least 30 minutes, or an hour if you have the time. The hotter the better for pizza. Trust me, this will take your pizza to a whole new level.

This week I made barbecue chicken wraps and had some leftover sauce and chicken so what was the first thing I thought of; barbecue chicken pizza of course! I used the leftover barbecue sauce for the base. I used a recipe from Tyler Florence for the sauce, I've made it several times and love how easy and delicious it turns out, thick and sweet. I just topped this canvas with the leftover chicken, onions, peppers and cheese. It couldn't get much easier, or much more delicious. Homemade pizza really is one of my all time favorite dinners, it's almost impossible to mess it up so there are no excuses not to try it for yourself.

Dough, ready to go

Sauce it up

Topping time

Finished with some cheese

Slide the whole thing from the 

pizza peel into the oven

In just a few minutes, you're ready to eat!

Perfect Pizza Dough
Adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Baking Illustrated
Ingredients

• 4 cups (22 ounces) bread flour, plus more for dusting 
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 1 3/4 cup water, at room temperature 
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour, yeast and salt, mixing briefly to blend. Add the water and olive oil. Mix until a cohesive dough is formed. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball. If using immediately, cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes. You can also refrigerate or freeze any dough you don't want to use. Just place each piece in a greased plastic bag and put in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze for a couple of weeks/months. When you want to make pizza, thaw overnight in the fridge (if frozen). Take the dough out of the fridge about an hour before you want to make pizza and let come to room temperature before proceeding.

To bake, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 500˚ F for at least 30 minutes. Transfer the dough to your pizza peel or shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Shape the dough with lightly floured hands. Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil. Top as desired. Slide into the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes. (If you don't have a pizza stone, use a heavy duty cookie sheet placed upside down in the oven. You can shape the pizza directly on parchment paper and slide the whole thing, parchment paper and all, into the oven on top of the upside down cookie sheet.)

Barbecue Sauce
From: Tyler Florence
Ingredients

• 1 slice bacon 
• 1 bunch fresh thyme 
• Extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1/2 onion, chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped 
• 2 cups ketchup 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup molasses 
• 2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard 
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika if available 
• Freshly ground black pepper 

Directions
Wrap the bacon around the bunch of thyme and tie with kitchen twine so you have a nice bundle. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme and cook slowly 3 to 4 minutes to render the bacon fat and give the sauce a nice smoky taste. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly without coloring for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, give the sauce a stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes to meld the flavors.

Chocolate Truffles

Making homemade chocolate truffles has been in my mind for over a year now, but for some reason I just never got around to just making them. A few weeks ago however, I buckled down and decided I had to just do it. Now, finally having completed my truffle making task, I'm asking myself what took so long? They turned out wonderfully, creamy and decadent, dark and rich. You also get a lot of truffles out of one batch which is really nice. I'm definitely not going to let it take as long to make them a second time.

I like my chocolate dark, so I used a nice mix of different kinds of dark chocolate that I've been accumulating to make truffles with. I thought they turned out perfectly, intensely dark, almost to the point of being bitter but not quite. If you don't like your chocolate quite so dark, go with something a little sweeter. Since truffles are mostly chocolate, use really good chocolate to make them. The better the chocolate the better the truffle.

The process was not difficult at all, but it definitely takes some time. You have to make the ganache, let it set for several hours, and then roll out each individual chocolate. I found it very rewarding, but I wouldn't try it if you're in a hurry. You can make the ganache a day or two ahead though and let it sit in the fridge until you are ready to shape the truffles. That's what I did and it worked out perfectly. Now having one batch of truffles under my belt, I'm ready to start experimenting with different toppings and different flavors, the possibilities are endless.

My mix of dark chocolate

Pretty, I almost didn't want to melt it

Break it all up in a bowl for microwaving

Nice and melted

Add the cream mixture

Let it sit covered for a few minutes

Then start stirring in the butter

Glossy and beautiful

Pour the ganache into the prepared pan

Then give it a few hours to set, first at room 

temperature and then in the fridge

When ready, remove from the pan

Time to create

Cut it up into 64 pieces

I could eat it as is

Roll each piece into a smooth ball,

yes it is kind of messy

Drop each truffle in the cocoa coating

and roll to coat

That's it, time to enjoy!

Chocolate Truffles
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Ingredients
Ganache

• 12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped 
• 1/2 cup heavy cream 
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened and cut into pieces 

Coating

• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa 
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar 

Directions
Start by making a parchment sling for an 8-inch square baking dish. Cut two strips of parchment paper as wide as the pan but long enough to hang over the edge. Lay them perpendicular in the pan so the bottom and sides are covered and the parchment hangs over all of the edges. This makes it easier to remove the ganache later.

Next make the ganache. First, microwave the chocolate for about 3-4 minutes on 50% power until mostly melted but a few small pieces remain. Then microwave the cream until warm, about 30 seconds. Add the corn syrup, vanilla and salt and pour the mixture over the chocolate. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 3 minutes until it's nice and steamy, then remove the plastic and stir it all together with a wooden spoon. Finally, add the butter, one piece at a time, stirring until fulling incorporated and silky smooth.

Transfer the ganache to the prepared pan and let it sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before covering and refrigerating until firm, at least 2 more hours.

While waiting for the ganache to firm up make the coating. Sift together the cocoa and powdered sugar twice into a small bowl using a fine mesh strainer.

Using the parchment paper as handles, life the ganache out of the pan. Cut the block of chocolate into 64 pieces, if it's really hard and starts cracking, let it sit out for a few minutes before continuing. Roll each piece into a round ball. I found that pressing the edges of each square into a more rounded shape with the tips of my fingers first made it easier to roll each piece into a nice ball with the palms of my hands. Drop the balls into the bowl of cocoa topping and roll them around to completely coat. Store the truffles in an airtight container in the fridge.

Vanilla Madeleines

Until not that long ago, I'd never heard of a madeleine, but once I saw them and learned what they were I knew I had to try them. If you know me at all then you know that I love cake, it is probably my all time favorite dessert (although that's a very difficult thing to pick), so I knew I would love madeleines, how could I not? In case you are wondering, madeleines are little mini sponge cakes that are baked in special shell shaped molds. Because I didn't own a madeleine pan, I was never abel to give them a try, but thankfully this Christmas I received a madeleine pan from my sister-in-law (thanks Lindsey)!

After receiving my madeleine pan, I went online and just picked a recipe. I just wanted something plain and simple for my first try. This recipe sounded promising, no special add ins or funky ingredients, so I whipped it together in just a few minutes. They really were simple to make, and were ready to eat in less than half an hour, that's a win in my book.

So the verdict? I really do love madeleines, I knew I would but now it's official! They are light and fresh, a bite size cake, the perfect way to satisfy my cake craving without the labor involved in making an entire cake. I don't know how my madeleines compare with a 'true' madeleine but I don't really care. They were delicious which is all that really matters. Now I can't wait to try lots of different variations, this is only the beginning.

The new pan

Beating together the eggs and sugar 

Sift in the flour

Fold in the butter and zest

Fill the molds up

All done!

Sugared and ready to eat

Vanilla Madeleines
Adapted from All Recipes
Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon or orange zest (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour madeleine molds; set aside.

Melt butter and let cool to room temperature. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and salt at high speed until light. Beating constantly, gradually add sugar; and continue beating at high speed until mixture is thick and pale and ribbons form in bowl when beaters are lifted, 5 to 10 minutes.

Sift flour into egg mixture 1/3 at a time, gently folding after each addition. Add zest and pour melted butter around edge of batter. Quickly but gently fold butter into batter. Spoon batter into molds; it will mound slightly above tops.

Bake 8-10 minutes, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.

Use the tip of the knife to loosen madeleines from pan; invert onto rack. Immediately sprinkle warm cookies with powdered sugar. Madeleines are best eaten the day they're baked. Leftover madeleines are wonderful when dunked into coffee or tea. 

Yields 16-18 madeleines

Homemade Caramel Corn

If you're looking for a nice homemade food gift that is cheap, easy, and makes a huge amount, I have your answer right here: Caramel Corn. I made caramel corn this past Christmas when getting together with friends. It was a huge hit. Everyone loved the buttery, sweet and crunchy treat. Be forewarned however, this caramel corn is highly addictive and it is way too easy to eat. 

Basically this recipe is just butter and brown sugar poured over popped corn. A little corn syrup, salt and vanilla help out, and then there is the baking soda that makes the whole topping foamy and fun. Try it out and you'll know what I mean. This really is one of the easiest snacks to make. I just saw a bag of gourmet popcorn at the store for about 8 bucks. Never again, not when you can do it yourself so easily and deliciously. It won't disappoint, I promise. 

Pop up some popcorn however you'd like

Then grab the butter,

the brown sugar,

and the corn syrup

Heat it all up together

Then add the baking soda and vanilla

Pour over the pop corn

Stir it all up into one sticky mess;

now you can eat it as is... 

...or spread it out onto a greased cookie sheet

and bake it up

Ready to devour

Caramel Corn
From: Our Best Bites
Ingredients

• 12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C white Karo syrup
• 1/2 t salt 
• 1 stick real butter
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t vanilla

Directions
Pop popcorn and place in a very large bowl; set aside. Place brown sugar, Karo syrup, salt, and butter in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is nice and bubbly. 

Remove the caramel from the heat and add baking soda and vanilla, it will get all bubbly and foamy.

Pour the mixture over the popped corn and stir very well until all of the popcorn is covered. 

At this point you can leave it as is for some nice, chewy caramel corn or you can bake it up to make it nice and crunchy. For crunchy caramel corn, bake on an oiled cookie sheet at 225 degrees for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes, or until it reaches your desired level of crunch. 

Struffoli

At Christmas last year my mom saw an episode of Giada at Home in which Giada made struffoli for dessert. My mom thought it looked so fun and interesting and she really wanted to make it for Christmas, but we never got around to it, other things got in the way and when Christmas was over, we hadn't made the struffoli. This Christmas, I was randomly watching the food network and what should I see, the Giada Christmas episode in which she makes struffoli! I thought it looked fun and make and delicious and knew that this year we had to try it out.

According to Wikipedia, "struffoli is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. Struffoli are crunchy on the outside and light inside. They are mixed with honey and other sweet things." This is a winning combo in my book. Fried dough covered in sweetness, sign me up!

Making the struffoli turned out to be a lot of fun and really not that much work. Forming all the little balls of dough took a little time, but it really wasn't that bad. The dough came together quickly and the little doughnuts fried up in just a few minutes. I heated my oil while I was forming all the balls of dough, and it was just about ready when I finished with the dough. The glaze was quick and easy, and forming the wreath wasn't bad at all, but it was sure nice to have two people working on it. This is definitely a recipe to do with others. It's fun to do while talking and laughing with friends or family. 

The finished project turned out really well, but I don't think it was perfect. I omitted the hazelnuts in the recipe because I didn't have any, but I would like try it with the hazelnuts sometime. A lot of my glaze kind of pooled under the wreath once it had cooled which didn't seem quite right, but it still tasted very nice. The mini doughnuts seemed a little dry, but I may have fried them too long, I don't have a ton of experience frying. Regardless of this, I would definitely try this again. I thought it was a fun Christmas treat that is easy to pick at throughout the night. You can take just one or two little balls and pop them in your mouth. A fun finger food dessert. 

Although struffoli is traditionally served at Christmas and Easter, I think this would be fun any time of year. You could mold it into different shapes depending on the season or holiday, and you could decorate it with different colored sprinkles. Right now I'm thinking a football shaped struffoli with colors in your team's colors for the Superbowl would be a lot of fun, or how about a heart for Valentines Day? The possibilities are endless!

The dough, ready to cut up 

Form the dough into ropes and them cut the 

ropes into tiny little chunks, they 

can be smaller than you think

Getting there!

Frying them all up

Place on paper towels to drain, then throw

them in a bowl

Grease a cup and get your serving plate ready

Ready to assemble

Take the little doughnuts

And cover them with the glaze

Then start shaping it around the glass

Once cooled, remove the glass, dust with powdered sugar and cover it with sprinkles, Enjoy!

Struffoli
From The Food Network
Ingredients

• 2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting 
• 1 large lemon, zested (about 2 teaspoons) 
• 1/2 large orange, zested (about 2 teaspoons) 
• 3 tablespoons sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, at room temperature 
• 3 large eggs 
• 1 tablespoon white wine, such as pinot grigio 
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• Canola oil, for frying 
• 1 cup honey 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted (I didn't use) 
• Vegetable oil cooking spray 
• Sugar sprinkles, for decoration 
• Powdered sugar, for dusting 

Directions
For the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together 2 cups of flour, lemon zest, orange zest, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the eggs, wine, and vanilla. Pulse until the mixture forms into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 equal-sized pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece into 1/2 inch thick logs and cut into equal sized half inch pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a small ball about the size of a hazelnut. Lightly dredge the dough balls in flour, shaking off any excess In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, pour enough oil to fill the pan about a third of the way. Heat over medium heat until a deep frying thermometer inserted in the oil reaches 375 degrees F. (If you don't have a thermometer, a cube of bread will brown in about 3 minutes). In batches, fry the dough until lightly golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper bowl lined plate to drain. 

In a large saucepan, combine the honey, sugar, and lemon juice over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the fried dough and hazelnuts and stir until coated in the honey mixture. Allow the mixture to cool in the pan for 2 minutes.

Spray the outside of a small, straight-sided water glass with vegetable oil cooking spray and place in the center of a round platter. Using a large spoon or damp hands, arrange the struffoli and hazelnuts around the glass to form a wreath shape. Drizzle any remaining honey mixture over the struffoli. Allow to set for 2 hours (can be made 1 day in advance). Decorate with sprinkles and dust with powdered sugar, if using. Remove the glass from the center of the platter and serve.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

I've had a wonderful Christmas break, but Monday it's back to school for my final semester of my master's program. While I don't want to go back, I am ready for this semester to be finished. Fortunately I was able to do a lot of cooking and baking this break, especially for Christmas. My grandparents hosted Christmas dinner a couple weeks ago. My grandma made a delicious beef tenderloin roast that was meltingly tender, like butter. She asked me a couple of days before if I would like to make the dessert and of course I jumped at the chance. Last year we had red velvet cake and everyone loved it, so this year I decided to stick with that theme, but bump it up a notch and make a red velvet cheesecake cake.

I'd seen this idea online in a couple of places and it sounded like a winning combination. Bake a thin layer of cheesecake and sandwich it between two layers of moist and delicious red velvet cake. Frost with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting and dig in. It just had to be good, and it was!

I used my favorite red velvet cake and frosting recipes from America's Test Kitchen, and the cheesecake came from 17 and Baking. Although this recipe did take two days and had several different steps, none of it was very difficult. Putting all of the components together the day of our Christmas party was so satisfying. The final product was gorgeous, and more importantly it was delicious. I was surprised to find that I hardly even noticed that the middle layer was cheesecake, it all just melded together seamlessly. Even my dad who says he doesn't like cream cheese or cheesecake loved this cake. So if you're looking for an impressive and delicious dessert for any special occasion, give this idea a try.

The cocoa and food coloring paste

The ingredients all set to go

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy

Add in the flour mixture, and then the 

food coloring paste

Pour into two round cake pans

And bake

Let cool on a wire rack

Meanwhile, whip together the frosting

(my favorite part!)

Ready to assemble

Start with a layer of cake

Place cheesecake on top

(I froze it for a couple of hours so it would be

easy to work with)

The cheesecake was a little bigger than then 

cake so I had to trim off the excess

Then place the final layer of cake on top

Cover the whole cake with a crumb 

coat of frosting

And then frost it up

Dig in! (not the most beautiful photo, but I just wanted to take a bite; trust me, you don't need a big slice of this!)

Red Velvet Cake
From: America's Test Kitchen
Ingredients
CAKE

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour 
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda 
• Pinch salt 
• 1 cup buttermilk 
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 large eggs 
• 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder 
• 2 tablespoons (one 1-ounce bottle) red food coloring 
• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened 
• 1½ cups granulated sugar 

FROSTING

• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar 
• 16 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces, softened 
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract 
• Pinch salt 

Directions
FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in large measuring cup. Mix cocoa with food coloring in small bowl until a smooth paste forms.

With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add one-third of flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add half of buttermilk mixture and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl as necessary and repeat with half of remaining flour mixture, remaining buttermilk mixture, and finally remaining flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, add cocoa mixture, and beat on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, give batter final stir. Scrape into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

FOR THE FROSTING: With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cheesecake
From: 17 and Baking
Ingredients

• 20 oz full fat cream cheese, at room temperature 
• 2/3 cup white sugar (5 1/4 oz) 
• Zest of half a lemon 
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature 
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature 
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour 

Directions
Grease a 9″ springform pan, and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan with heavy duty aluminum foil, and set the pan into a larger pan (for the waterbath.)

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium until fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon and beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Add eggs one at a time, making sure they are combined but not overmixing. Add the sour cream. Stir in flour and gently mix just until combined.

Pour the batter into the greased pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan halfway up the cheesecake. The aluminum foil should protect the cheesecake from seeping water. Bake until the cheesecake is just set in the middle, about 40 minutes at 325 degrees. Run a knife around the sides and let the cheesecake cool completely. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the cheesecake and refrigerate overnight.

Christmas Cookies 2011

I absolutely love the Christmas season! It is basically over now so I'm a little sad. The Christmas music has for the most part stopped, and I saw three trees on the side of the road last night ready for the garbage pickup. Posting these pictures is therefore making me happy, remembering the fun and excitement I felt last week when I was preparing for the parties ahead.

Christmas cookies have become a fun tradition in my house, every year my sister and I try something different. Each year the cookies get a little better as we learn more about how best to decorate them. This year is the second year we've tried royal icing for our Christmas cookies. It isn't the most flavorful icing, but it produces the best looking cookies in my opinion. I love the smooth shiny finish the cookies get, and I love how the icing hardens up completely so you don't have to worry about wrecking your labor intensive decorations.

Lara and I made two batches of cookies this year. For one of the batches we invited our cousin Bailey over to help decorate. We had a lot of fun trying all sorts of different designs. Some turned out really cool, and some not so much, but that's part of the fun. The second batch was all Lara. She spent a long time looking at different cookie designs all over the web and finally decided on two she wanted to try. I had nothing to do with this batch, it was all her. I just took the pictures. I love how they turned out, I think she did a fantastic job! It was a lot of fun, I can't wait until next year to do it all over again!

The dough, ready for rolling

New trick this year, roll the dough out between

two sheets of plastic wrap, it worked beautifully, 

no sticking and no need to use extra flour, making the 

cookie dense and tough

All rolled out and ready to cut

Circles and diamonds for this batch

Put the cut out dough on cookie sheets and refrigerate 

for 5-10 minutes to firm them up 

(so they don't spread as much during baking)

Cookies and icing all ready to go

Some of the creations

Swirls!

We did them all!

Lara's batch, first the trees

Then the bells

Piping a border

Aren't they cute?

Now for the trees

Ready for filling

Adding the dots while the green is still wet

Time to dry

The finished bells!

Add a gold garland and the trees are finished too

I liked the trees the best!

All done for another year :( 

Check out  Christmas Cookies 2012 for more great ideas

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies
From: Bake at 350
Ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 sticks salted butter, cold
• 1 egg
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

Directions
Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling

Roll out between two pieces of plastic wrap and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets. Put the unbaked cookies in the fridge or freezer for 5-10 minutes. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Royal Icing
From sweetopia
Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar 

*** Note; if your meringue powder has no vanilla flavour (vanillin powder) in it, add a teaspoon of clear vanilla to this recipe

Directions
In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.

Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer. Using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.

Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.

Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.

Banket

My family and I are Dutch through and through, and proud of it. Growing up in West Michigan I didn't think anything of it, most of my classmates and friends growing up were Dutch, that's just how things are here. However, since moving to Detroit for school I realized that there really aren't that many Dutch people around. There are a few cities spread throughout the country with a substantial Dutch population, but other than that, there really aren't that many of us around.

I love having this background, learning about my heritage, playing Dutch bingo whenever you hear a Dutch name. There is one thing about being Dutch that I don't love though; I'm not a big fan of the cuisine. Now there may be some fabulous Dutch recipes out there, maybe I just haven't been exposed to the delicacies of the Netherlands, but as far as I know, Dutch food isn't all that exciting. There are a couple of dishes however that I absolutely love. Since it's Christmas I had to share this one. Banket is the quintessential Dutch Christmas treat (at least in West Michigan, I have absolutely no idea how much of it they actually eat in the Netherlands).

Banket is basically a flaky, buttery pastry wrapped around a filling of almond paste, eggs and sugar. I love the crackly, golden brown crust, the way the pastry almost shatters when you cut it, spreading pieces of crust everywhere. The almond paste filling is sweet and delicious. Almond at Christmas is the best. 

This is actually the third year I've made banket. The past two years I tried using my Grandma's recipe, but the instructions were so vague I didn't really know what I was doing and the proportions of ingredients seemed just a little off. It still turned out quite tasty, it just never really looked like banket. This year it turned out beautifully, I was pleased, but it wasn't quite how I like it. The crust was perfect, but I like the filling to be a little looser. I may try adding more egg and cutting back on the cornstarch, I don't think my grandma had that in her recipe. My dad also told me that the crust needs to be darker (that's how his mom did it). I may use a whole egg or just an egg yolk for the egg wash and try baking it a little longer. 

In my opinion, it isn't Christmas without banket. Now that I have a success under my belt I will have to attempt to perfect the recipe for the coming years. Even though this recipe isn't perfect in my option, it makes a wonderful pastry that I would be pleased to serve at my table, and I will this weekend!

The dough, ready to go

Split it in half and roll each half out between

two sheets of plastic wrap

Cut each half in half lengthwise

Look at the chunks of butter!

Chunks of cold butter = flaky dough

Put a quarter of the filling on each piece of dough

The best part!

Roll each piece up, sealing the edges tightly

All filled and rolled, excited to eat!

Take each stick...

...and polk some holes down the top

Then brush with the egg wash

And bake!

Golden brown and delicious

The inside, I like the dough and filling to be more distinct

Cut it up into little bites

Enjoy!

Check out another great banket recipe  HERE!!

Banket
From Eet Smakelijk
Ingredients

• 1 cup almond paste (NOT almond pie filling and NOT marzipan) 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 1 egg, separated 
• 1/4 cup cornstarch 
• 2 cups flour 
• 1 cup butter 
• 1/4 cup water 

Directions
Let paste, sugar, egg, egg yolk and cornstarch stand in bowl for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Blend flour, butter and water in bowl like a pie crust. Add more water if necessary. Dough may be refrigerated overnight if desired.

When ready to prepare, divide dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each part of floured board to 8x13-inch rectangle. Cut lengthwise into 2 equal strips (4 strips, each 4x13-inches in all).

Prepare the filling by mixing the almond paste, sugar, eggs and cornstarch. Divide the filling into four equal portions and place one portion along the length of each piece of dough. Fold over the ends and then the long sides, moistening one side with water to seal before pressing together.

Place with seam side down on cookie sheet. Prick holes on top for air. Beat egg white and brush the top of the rolls. Bake for 14 minutes. Reduce head to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until light brown.