Assorted Scones

I actually don't have the recipes for the scones with me since I'm at Dave's, and I can't remember where I got them from. For all the supervisors, as presents of thanks for their (patience and) help and appreciation through my transition, I made batches of scones and put them in decorative christmas tins. I had a lot of leftovers, so I left them for my girls coming in to do teardown on Friday (since I really appreciate them doing it without my help, lol).

Alltogether I made cranberry white chocolate scones, pumpkin spice scones, and walnut chocolate fudge scones. I'll post the recipes after the holidays when I'm back home. I never got a picture of my walnut chocolate ones though (bad memory). They looked pretty damn yummy though.

Cranberry White Chocolate Scones.

Pumpkin Spice Scones.

Holiday Baking Part 4 - Last Batches of Cookies

Assorted Last Batches

My camera was determined to not get a clear picture of these. On the left, what I like to call peanut butter nipples (but are actually called peanut butter blossoms), and the ginger molasses cookies I made a few months back (so I won't repost that recipe). I remember making the blossoms years ago and them being these big round balls with the kisses. This year, for whatever reason they kept flattening out before the kiss even went on. I thought it was the butter vs. shortening issue, but using either/or yielded the same results. Bah. If you have any idea why, please pity me and let me know.


Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

48 chocolate Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

About 4 dozen cookies.

Holiday Baking Part 3 - Assorted Mini-Cookies

Mini-Cookies

Each of these are about 1.5-2 inches in diameter and easily consumed in (one) two bites. Starting from the left: mocha pinwheels, reverse mocha pinwheels, chocolate mint wraparounds.









Chocolate Mint Wraparounds By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen
Servings: 60

Ingredients:

2 oz (60 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup (150 mL) butter, softened
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp (2 mL) peppermint extract or vanilla
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each baking soda and salt
2 tbsp (25 mL) imitation chocolate sprinkles
Green paste food colouring
1 egg white, beaten

Preparation:

Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or grease; set aside.
In bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt bittersweet chocolate; let cool to room temperature.

In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and peppermint. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and sa< stir into butter mixture in 2 additions, using hands when stiff. Scrape half into separate bowl; stir in melted chocolate. Stir sprinkles into remaining dough and tint green (will be paler when baked).

Between waxed paper, roll out half of the chocolate dough to 12- x 4-inch (30 x 10 cm) rectangle; brush with egg white. Shape half of the green dough into 12-inch (30 cm) log. Place log lengthwise on centre of rectangle. Bring chocolate dough over log to meet; press edges together and roll log to reshape if necessary. Repeat with remaining dough. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Freeze in airtight container for up to 3 weeks.)

Cut roll into 1/4-inch (5 mm) thick slices. Arrange, 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart, on prepared pans; freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake in top and bottom thirds of 350°F (180°C) oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, until firm to the touch and bottom is light gold, about 12 minutes. Transfer to racks; let cool. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and store for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.)


Mocha Pinwheels


1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
2 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (1-ounce) square unsweetened baking chocolate, melted, cooled
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
Water

Combine sugar, butter, egg and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. In a second bowl add flour, baking powder, and salt. Reduce speed to low for butter mixture; add flour mixture. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Divide dough in half, in separate bowls.

Combine water and espresso powder in small bowl until dissolved, add to melted chocolate. Add to one half of dough; beat until well mixed. Divide each half into 3 parts, then roll out each part into a 5x5 square. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours.

Roll out each square of dough between two sheets of lightly floured waxed paper to 12x7-inch rectangle. Place white dough on top of chocolate dough (or vice versa); gently press doughs together. Roll up, jelly-roll fashion, starting with 12-inch side. Wrap in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours).

Heat oven to 350°F. Cut rolls with sharp knife into 1/4-inch slices. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheets; cool completely.

Makes 10 dozen cookies.

Holiday Baking Part 2 - Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Every year I always bake sugar cookies. This year I spotted a few versions of the same recipe. Whenever I make mine, I dip them in a white light glaze made of icing sugar and milk, then color the leftover and drizzle it over the stars (as shown). I really liked the way the snowflake looked with the balls on it, so I'll likely do that again next year. At the top is a stained glass cookie - same sugar cookie recipe, but you cut out the middle and put crushed hard candy (in my case, Jolly Ranchers) in the center and bake it using parchment paper. It was a horrible disaster, so no I won't be doing those again.

I also made them low sugar by only adding 1/3 of a cup of sugar instead of a full cup. Everyone seems to find them just sweet enough with the glaze that they don't even notice.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen
Servings: 36

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (175 mL) butter, softened

1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla (I free-pour personally)

1 egg

2-1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking powder

Pinch salt

Preparation:

Line rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or grease; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; set aside. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt, add to butter mixture in 3 additions, stirring after each. Divide in half; flatten and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

On lightly floured surface, roll out each half of dough to 1/4-inch (5 mm) thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes. Place, 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart, on prepared pans. Bake in top and bottom thirds of 350°F (180°C) oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, until light golden on bottoms and edges, about 10 minutes. Let cool on pans on racks for 1 minute. Transfer to racks; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month).

Holiday Baking Part 1 - Biscotti

Biscotti

So I made two batches this year - ginger almond dipped in white chocolate, and cranberry pecan (xmas tradition). I actually made two full batches because of my ingenious idea of giving each of my employees a tin full of home-baked goods. My biscotti rations are now suitably lacking. I'll post the original and explain my alterations here.

For ginger almond: I only added 1 tbs. ground ginger, then melted 6 oz. of white chocolate in a double boiler method to dip the pieces in.


For cranberry almond: omitted the almonds; instead added 2/3 cup of toasted pecans, and 1 cup of dried cranberries.



Biscotti (courtesy of Anna Olson)

Yield: 48


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole almond
5 egg
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
1 egg, with 2 tbsp cold water for egg wash


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly toast almonds on a baking sheet for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Whisk together eggs, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla until sugar dissolves. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, zest, cinnamon and salt (no need to sift). Add to egg mixture and stir in. Stir in almonds.

Divide dough in half and roll each into a log shape on a lightly floured surface. Logs should be about 15 inches long. Place each cookie log on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and press down with the heel of your hand to flatten. Brush tops of the biscotti dough with egg wash and bake for 25 minutes, rotating pan in the oven halfway through baking. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 F. Biscotti is easiest to slice while warm. Using a chef’s knife, slice biscotti on an angle into 1/2- inch slices. Place face down on an ungreased baking sheet. Return cookies to oven for 20 minutes, or until they just start to colour a bit on the edges. They will feel soft when they come out of the oven, but will harden as they cool.