Pecan Rum Balls

Happy Leap Day!

In honor of this very special "bonus" day, I'm bringing you a very special recipe--one of Mr. K's top secret recipes he makes annually to give out during the Christmas season.  He's been making rum balls for his family for years, and they're hit with everyone who tries them.  His standard recipe calls for regular cocoa and spiced rum (like Captain Morgan's), but this year he experimented and used dark cocoa and dark rum (Meyers) for one of the batches.  The dark rum definitely adds a stronger boozy yummy rummy flavor to the mix! 


Pecan Rum Balls
Yield: 3-4 dozen, depending on size

12 oz. package vanilla wafers
1 cup pecan bits
1 1/2 Tbl. cocoa powder
2 Tbl. Steen's Cane Syrup (can use corn syrup, but it's not quite the same)
3 oz. spiced rum or dark rum
powdered sugar for rolling

Crush vanilla wafers in a food processor.  Add pecan bits and process again to a fine crumb texture.  Mix in cocoa powder.  Transfer to a 1 gallon zip top bag.  Stir together syrup and rum, then add to crumb mixture in bag.  Seal bag and use your hands to work the liquid into the crumbs.  You will end up with a mixture that is similar to damp sand--it will hold together if you squeeze some in your hand, but it will fall apart if you try to roll a ball with your hands.  Mixture may be used now, or allowed to rest overnight.

Using your fingers, pinch off a small portion of the mixture and press it into a ball shape.  Aim for a 1 or 2-bite size ball, about 1" across.  Once all the mixture is used, return the rum balls to the zip top bag and add a bit of powdered sugar.  Seal bag and gently work the bag to coat the rum balls in powdered sugar.  Depending on the humidity and how moist the rum balls are, they may absorb all the sugar.  If that's the case, just add more sugar and continue coating the rum balls.  (The ones pictured above have 2 or 3 coats of sugar on them.)

Minittone

Mini panettone.  Need I say more?  Head on over to the Baker's Banter blog for a tutorial on making a delicious American-Style Panettone (so-named because it uses a more friendly mix of fruits than a traditional panettone).  For this recipe, I used diced candied citron and a mix of dried fruits I already had in my pantry.  If you don't have mini panettone paper molds, you can bake them in jumbo muffin tins.  I did half without liners and half with the jumbo cupcake liners (well greased with non-stick spray) to see which would be better.  I preferred the softer crust on the lined ones but like the look of the ones without liners!  :)

 

Flavor-of-the-Month: Cookies

  Santa would be pleased...

For me, the months of November and December mark a joyous, holiday-filled time of year.  It also signals the start of my favorite season: cookie baking season.  What holiday party would be complete without a platter overflowing with assorted cookies?  It's very fitting, then, that December's Flavor-of-the-Month theme is Cookies.  Selecting the handful of recipes I will make each year is no easy task, because there are always recipes I "have" to make, as well as those I feel bad for eliminating from the rotation.  See my Five below, then head on over to Bridget's Bake at 350 blog to check out cookie recipe round-up!  I'm almost scared to look at what everyone else made, because that will make next year's list even harder to whittle down!

Cinnamon Bears
  Recipe: Cinnamon Spice Cookies from Karenscookies.net
Yield: 3 dozen bears, rolled ¼" thick

All cookies were decorated and glazed using the Meringue Powder Buttercream recipe, also found at Karenscookies.net

This cookie was crisp and tasty, but spread a bit more than expected.  It's fine for this shape as the fattie bears are actually kinda cute, all snuggled up in their scarves.  

Eggnog Snowmen

 Recipe: Eggnog Cookies at The Baking Pan  

Yield: 2½ dozen , rolled ¼" thick & cut with 2½" cutters

These spread out.  A lot.  I'm glad I chose to make snowmen out of this recipe, because any shape other than round would've been hopelessly amoeba-like after baking.  On the bright side, they tasted great and were the first to disappear from the tray.

Gingerbread Boys
Recipe: Cook's Illustrated Thick and Chewy Gingerbread (recipe on Foldedspace.org)

Yield: 2½ dozen 3" boys, rolled ¼" thick  

This recipe has been my go-to gingerbread for three years running now.  It's the first recipe I ever tried for gingerbread, and it's wonderful.  I recently conducted a side-by-side taste testing of this and three other recipes, and this one won by a landslide!  The cookies you see on the right were made much earlier in the month, and I ran into some problems the batch consistency being too sticky (even after an overnight chill), so I added more flour.  Mistake.  While still edible, they were definitely more chewy--in a pull-your-teeth-out-taffy-sort-of-way--than normal.  C'est la vie!  Luckily, the ones I made for the taste test came out perfect :)

Peppermint Candy Canes
Recipe: White Chocolate Sugar Cookies by Karenscookies.net
Yield: 4 dozen candy canes, rolled 3/16" thick (used roller guides)

I thought it would be fitting to make candy cane cookies that were minty, so I took the White Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe and added 1 teaspoon peppermint extract to the recipe.  Fantastic!  Rolled a bit thinner than the other cookies, these cookies baked up a bit crisper--a perfect compliment to the mintyness.

 Sugar Snowflakes
Recipe: White Velvet Cut Outs
Yield: 3 dozen snowflakes, rolled ¼" thick

This is the same basic recipe I use for my cut-out cookies throughout the year, only on a smaller scale.  I've tried this cookie with all-vanilla, almond, Fiori di Silicia, but this time I opted for Princess Cake & Cookie Emulsion.  Yum!

My original intention was to have these colored the palest of blues...but as you can see I got a much more vibrant shade!  ONE DROP of Americolor Sky Blue food color gel gave me that color...that's some potent stuff.

Treats for Sharing

Baking and giving an assortment of treats to friends and family members is one of the highlights of my Christmas season.  This assortment usually includes gingerbread cookies, but my recent throwdown left me feeling a little gingerbreaded-out.  They didn't make this year's line-up, but they'll definitely make their comeback next year (especially since I received not one, but TWO footless gingerbread cutters this year.  Score!).  

This year's menu:

• Peppermint Bark Popcorn* (recipe by Our Best Bites)
  
• Red Velvet Cookies (recipe below)
  
• Snowman Cookies (recipe by Ann Clark) decorated with Glacé Icing
  
• Candy Cane Cookies (recipe by Mimi's Kitchen)  

*For less crunch in your peppermint bark popcorn, pulverize candy canes in food processor instead of crushing them.  It makes the popcorn much easier to eat!  If you plan to make this with microwave popcorn, seek out natural/non-buttered varieties.  Those uber-buttery flavors that have saturated our supermarket shelves just don't jive as well with peppermint and white chocolate coating.  I actually used kettle corn flavored, and it turned out fine.

 

Now's a good time to stock up on assorted sized tins at your local craft and hobby store.  If you're really lucky, you can still find graduated sizes of the same design to make cookie gift towers next year!

Red Velvet Cookies  (Makes about 3 dozen)

1 box Red Velvet cake mix

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 eggs

powdered sugar for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, cream cheese, and eggs in a medium mixing bowl.  Dough will be very thick and sticky.  Using two spoons (don't try a cookie scoop for this...), drop 1" balls of dough into a bowl of powdered sugar.  Toss dough around to cover with sugar, then use your hands to roll into a ball.  If you start rolling before the dough has been completely covered with sugar, you'll end up with a red sticky mess on your hands (literally)!  Not that I've done this... :D
3. Place cookie dough balls about 2" apart on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake at 350°F for 10-14 minutes, or until puffed, crackly, and set.  When cookies come out of the oven, slide foil or parchment off cookie sheet and allow to cool completely before attempting to remove.
   

Blondie Points

Because I knew the week of Christmas would be a crazy baking marathon blur, I opted for an easy bar recipe to bring for our company's Christmas lunch. After some searching, I found the perfect high-yield, minimal effort recipe: White Chocolate Brownies (aka Blondies), posted by Ann Clark on the Make More Cookies! site.  They were a smashing success--rich, moist, and just sweet enough.  I'd recommend cutting them into small pieces though.  There were a few people who thought the bittersweet chocolate topping was a bit too intense, but that didn't stop anyone from devouring them.  Semisweet would work too, if your audience isn't too keen on dark chocolates.

 In the market for some new cutters to add to your collection?  Visit the Ann Clark Ltd.  shop, where you'll find lots of sweet old-fashioned cookie cutters.  Each one is handcrafted and comes with a recipe card, hand-tied to the cookie cutter with twine.  They're perfect for including along with a mason jar cookie mix, or as stuffing stockers.  With plenty of all-occasion cookie cutter shapes available, they're not just for Christmas!

It's Swappin' Time

 Pictured above (starting top left and going clockwise): Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hershey Kisses, Decorated Sugar Cookies, Frosted Orange Cookies, Magic Cookie Bars, Orange-Cranberry Walnut Cookies, Peanut Butter Crisscrosses, Praline Cookies, Pumpkin Cookies

I had the good fortune of attending my first cookie exchange party this weekend.  Good company, Christmas music, red velvet cake, hot chocolate and a table overflowing with cookies were the order of the day.  Most of the ladies I knew, but I got a chance to meet a few new ones as well!  Each attendee brought in 5 dozen of their favorite cookie, and we left with approximately 5 dozen assorted cookies--there were 9 varieties to choose from, so we all got about 6 of each type to take home.  You'll see my "take" pictured in the collage above.  

Unfortunately, most of us don't follow directions very well (myself included!) and didn't e-mail the host our recipes before the party, so our souvenir recipe booklets won't be assembled until later.  It was great fun, and hopefully our gracious host will plan another exchange next year.  This could be the start of a wonderful tradition!

I wanted to make peppermint polar bears (because I liked the name!), but decided against the peppermint flavoring because I wasn't sure how well it would be received.  I'm a big fan of a peppermint cookie, but of the assortment of sugar cookies I brought into work earlier this month the peppermint ones were the last to go (I even had plenty of them to take back home).  One problem:  I didn't have a polar bear cookie cutter.  I was going to use my regular teddy bear cutter, until an online search brought me to the Cookie Creations blog.  This creative lady trimmed down a hippo-shaped cookie to produce the polar bears!  Genius!  Luckily I had the hippo cutter (from my Wilton® Animal Pals set) so I followed suit:

 And here I go again with the cookie cosmetic surgery...

 Ta da!  She's a beaut!

The best part about decorating cookies with faces is seeing the different personalities that emerge:

A word about my recipe:  it's a big one.  I combined a double batch of the White Chocolate Sugar Cookies from Karen's Cookies with a half batch of the No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe to have enough dough to cut out 5 dozen shapes.  Sure, I could've rolled the dough thinner or opted for a smaller shape...but I was dead-set on making these polar bears!  If you don't need so many cookies, halve the recipe and use 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk.  I'm not sure how well the unrolled dough will take to freezing (due to the white chocolate getting super hard), so if you're making ahead it might be best to cut out your shapes and freeze those instead.


White Chocolate Polar Bears   (5 dozen large 2.5 x 4.5"cookies)

7½ cups all-purpose flour
3½ tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter, softened
1⅔ cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs
12 oz. white chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 Tbl. vanilla extract
1½ tsp. Princess Cake & Cookie Emulsion (or desired flavoring)

1. Whisk flour and baking powder in a very large bowl to evenly distribute; set aside.
2. Cream butter, sugar and salt in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy.  With mixer running, add eggs one at a time, allowing egg to incorporate before adding the next one.  Beat in melted & cooled white chocolate at medium-low speed until fully combined.  Blend in vanilla extract and Princess Cake & Cookie Emulsion
3. Pour creamed mixture over flour mixture and stir together by hand with a sturdy rubber spatula and/or wooden spoon.  I find that it's too messy (flour explosion, anyone?) to let the mixer combine these ingredients, but if you're only making a half batch you can add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients and let the mixer do the work.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Divide dough into 4 portions.  Roll each portion ¼" thick between two sheets of waxed or parchment paper and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.  (Don't wait too long or the white chocolate will set up too much and make your dough too stiff to work with)
5. Cut out your favorite shapes with cookie cutters.  Place 2" apart on cookie sheets and bake at 350°F for 8-15 minutes, or until edges are very light golden brown.  Time given varies widely based on the size of your cookie and how crisp you like them.  (I baked these rather large bears for 12 minutes)  Let cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely before glazing.

Cookie Glaze (enough to glaze 3-4 dozen cookies)

 1 pound confectioner's sugar, sifted if lumpy
5 Tbl. milk or water*
5 Tbl. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring (use clear if you need a pure white glaze)
Food coloring

Mix sugar and milk together first (will be very thick).  Add corn syrup and stir in until smooth.  Blend in vanilla.  Divide into separate bowls and add food color if using.  Cover bowls tightly with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 15 minutes.  Bubbles will form and rise to the surface; slowly and gently stir them out before using.

* I normally use milk, but used water this time.  Water gives a more translucent finish; milk produces a whiter glaze.  My polar bears are off-white, but that's okay!

There are a few ways to glaze your cookies:

- Spread it on with an offset spatula
- Dip surface of cookie in glaze, allowing excess to drip off
- Cover cookie with glaze using a plastic squeeze bottle

Experiment and see which method you prefer.  I used to be a "spread it" girl but have recently switched to "dip it."  The only drawback to dipping is you can only use this method if you want a single color background.  Once cookies are glazed, allow to dry for at least 8 hours before stacking/packaging (at least for me in Louisiana's humidity).  If you plan on adding piped decorations, let the glaze set for at least 1 hour before decorating.  Just be careful about denting the cookies while adding eyes, noses, etc.  because the surface may seem dry, but the glaze might still be soft underneath.  

TIP:  Pick out your ugliest glazed cookie and keep that one to the side to touch-test for dryness.

 

ChocoMint Cupcakes

Chocolate and peppermint play very well together, so it's no wonder that peppermint bark is so popular during the Christmas season.  With this in mind, I decided to use that flavor combo for these cupcakes, which accompanied the red velvet cake (posted last week) that my co-worker commissioned for his holiday party.  Both items were a success, or to put it in his words: "The red velvet cake was a hit, and the cupcakes were even hittier!"  :D  I think we all just learned a new word there.

To make these cupcakes, just bake up 24-28 of your favorite dark chocolate cupcakes.  I used Betty Crocker® Chocolate Fudge and swapped out buttermilk for the water.  No shame in using cake mix here, because the real star of the show is the billowy white chocolate peppermint frosting!  I garnished each cupcake with a sprinkling of chopped Peppermint Crunch Andes Mints (yum!).  These are a seasonal offering, so I might go hoard some before Christmas is over.  If you're lucky enough to find some already chopped up (usually near the chocolate chips or in the holiday baking section), go for it--you'll save yourself a bunch of chopping time!  I saw some last year at Super Target, but no luck finding any this year. :(


White Chocolate Peppermint Frosting  (Yield: 3½ cups)
Original recipe found on Recipezaar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (no substitutions!)
2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted if lumpy
6 oz. white chocolate bar, melted and cooled (not chips, if you can help it)
3-5 Tbl. whipping cream or half-and-half
1½ tsp. peppermint extract 
Food coloring, if desired

In a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioner's sugar at low speed until fluffy.  Add in melted and cooled white chocolate and whipping cream (start with 3 Tablespoons and add in more to achieve desired consistency.  I only needed 3 Tbl).  Beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping bowl with a spatula once or twice.  Frosting will get very light and fluffy.  Add peppermint extract and food coloring if using, and beat until blended.

Use to frost cupcakes or layer cake.  I piped very generously onto 24 cupcakes, and still had enough for maybe 4-6 more.  If you spread instead of pipe, you'll probably have enough for about 4 dozen cupcakes.

Store leftovers refrigerated.  Frosting will become quite firm, but will regain its soft consistency at room temperature.

All Through the Year Cheer: Christmas

Of all the foods that come to mind when I think about the Christmas season, none are more representative of the joyous spirit of the holiday than Christmas cookies.  For the All Through the Year Cheer: Christmas event, I decided to make the quintessential Christmas cookie: the Gingerbread Boy.  The first recipe I ever tried for gingerbread cookies produced sweet, perfectly spiced, soft and chewy cookies.  Every time I baked them people would go nuts for them, and it was the only recipe I used...until now.  This year I decided to branch out a bit and see if I could find a better recipe.  May I present:

The 2009 Great Gingerbread Cookie Bake-Off Throwdown Extravaganza Spectacular!!!  (are you excited yet?!?!)

The first (and most daunting) task for this bake-off was recipe selection.  I had two very specific goals in mind during my search:

1.  The cookie should be soft.  Save the firm gingerbread for houses and ornaments!

2.  The cookie must hold its shape during baking.  There's nothing sadder than using your super-cute gingerbread boy cutter (see end of post) and ending up with bloated ginger amoebas.

Scouring my cookbooks, magazines and the internet, I narrowed it down to three recipes:

1. Cook's Illustrated's Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

2. Nauvoo Gingerbread Cookies

3. Martha Stewart's Gingerbread Cookies

After baking up the the first two recipes, I noted how different they were in both flavor and texture.  Wanting to find a middle ground,  I went ahead and tossed a fourth recipe into the mix--a hybrid cookie, born of two very different but equally tasty recipes.  (The third recipe was similar to the first, but the spice level was quite different.)  It took an entire weekend to get them all rolled, cut and baked, but I happily chugged through my baking marathon.  All cookies were prepared as per recipe instructions, with the only substitution occuring in the Nauvoo recipe--I swapped out shortening for the lard (I didn't know people still used lard!)  For time reasons and because it wasn't that important for my test, I had to forgo decorating.  Here are the lovely contestants:

But...it's what's on the inside that counts.  Here's how they stack up:

The next step was to set up a taste test with my co-workers and a friend outside of work.  Each cookie was cut into small pieces, which were placed in separate labeled (A-D only, no recipe names) tubs with a few whole specimens for sampling.  These were left in the upstairs break room at work for people to sample throughout the day and cast their vote.  Tasters were asked to try each cookie, then select their favorite by writing the corresponding letter on a slip of paper and dropping it in the "Votes Bag".  There were plenty of cookie pieces so tasters could try each cookie more than once if needed.  At the end of the day, I counted the votes and rounded up the empty tubs.

Out of 26 votes (including myself), the winner is...

Cookie 'A'! (The Cook's Illustrated recipe)  This has been my standby since 2006, and not without good reason.  I set out to find that one perfect recipe to make my specialty, but it turns out I didn't need a new recipe after all--I'd been making it all along!

Comments from the taste test and a few of my notes:

Cookie 'A': The Cook's Illustrated Recipe (link)
- Softest/moistest of the four cookies
- Deepest color
- Sweetest
- Most difficult dough to work with due to softness/stickiness
- Least shape retention

Cookie 'B': Nauvoo Gingerbread Recipe (link)
- Cakey; puffiest of the four.
- "Would be better with milk"
- Less spiced than the others (called "bland" and "boring")
- Held its shape the best
- Very easy to roll
- Driest of the 4 doughs

 Cookie 'C': A Cook's Illustrated/Nauvoo hybrid
- A 50:50 hybrid
- Well-liked (received second place finish)
- Ranked #2 for sweetness
- My second favorite

Cookie 'D': Martha Stewart Recipe (link)
- Deemed too spicy (it contains black pepper)
- "Tasted like crab boil" (Ouch.  That one was below the belt.)
- My personal favorite-- and my pick to win (boy was I ever wrong!)
- Good shape retention
- Second puffiest cookie

 One person voted for 'E'.  This could mean one of three things: (1) someone is being a Mr. Smarty Pants (very likely), (2) it was an attempt to vote for "all of the above", or (3) they wanted to vote "none of the above" (I hope that's not true!).  I guess we'll never know, because no one will 'fess up to it!

My co-workers mentioned there might be some bias towards Cookie 'A' because it was the first one tasted, thereby leaving the remaining three to be compared to the standard of  'A'.  However, several of them also informed me that they tasted out of order, so I will dismiss that so-called bias :)  Also, milk or some other palate cleanser would've been helpful.  Several tasters "complained" that they all tasted the same because the spice level was distracting their taste buds.  

Regarding voting methods, I probably should have asked my tasters to rank the cookies instead of selecting their one favorite.  That way I could give each cookie an average score, with the lowest score being the winner.  Oh well, there's always next time!  A fun time was had by all, so I'm sure this will not be the last taste-off I conduct :)

Please visit the All Through Year Cheer page to check out great recipes from our hosts, Faith and Nutmeg Nanny.  The Christmas recipe round-up will be posted in a few days, along with the winner for this event.  Good luck to all!  (Thank you for bearing with me during my longest blog post ever!  Don't worry, almost done...)

Oh yeah...this is the debut of my new gingerbread boy cutter!  How could I forget?  He's been sitting very patiently in my cookie cutter tub for 11 months now.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm very particular about my gingerbread cookie shapes.  Very particular.  Most cutters I've seen have heads that are too small, arms too small, legs wrong shape, too fat, too skinny, weird shape...I could go on and on.  I'd just make do with the standard Wilton® shape, guiltily cutting the feet off and shaping the legs to my liking.  But the good folks over at The Little Fox Factory finally solved my dilemma!  To quote my own post from January '09:

I am deeply indebted to the Little Fox Factory for finally ending my 3-year long search for the classic, foot-free gingerbread boy cookie cutter! (you know, like "Gingey" from Shrek? ) I was so happy when I saw it for sale online that I stared at the computer screen in disbelief for a few minutes, but I was even more delighted when he arrived in my mail box. So cute! Straight legs AND a big head? Perfection. I can die in peace now. And stop lopping off the feet from the cookies made using my usual cutter.

My Girl Paula: Red Velvet Cake

This week's My Girl, Paula! is "Holiday Baking," so I made one of Paula Deen's red velvet cake recipes.  Instead of cupcakes, I poured the batter into three 8" round pans for a nicer presentation.  Don't you love cutting into a cake and finding three layers instead of three?  'Cause I sure do!  Sorry there's no picture of the inside-- this cake was made for a co-worker.  I don't think he would've appreciated it if I had cut into the cake before he brought it to his party.  Had I the forsight, there would be pictures of the cake while I was stacking and frosting it.  With its vivid red layers sandwiched between thick layers of creamy white frosting, it's a showstopper!  Head on over to the My Girl, Paula! site to check out the other delicious Paula Deen desserts made by our members this week!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009, everyone! It's been a busy but wonderful year, hasn't it? Made/broken your resolutions yet? How about "eat more cookies?" That sounds like a good idea to me! Cookie making has made its way to the top of my interests as of late, and I am all the more happier for it. I had been waiting for my new Christmas cookie cutters to come in the mail, but sadly they did not arrive on my doorstep until December 26th. No worries, though--the Christmas season isn't really over until after Epiphany! Our church choir had a holiday party this past week, which gave me the perfect opportunity to test out my new cutters. Cute!


Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies

* 1 cup butter, softened
* 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
* 1.5 cups sugar
* 0.5 tsp. salt
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 2.75 cups flour
* 0.75 cups cocoa

Cream butter and cream cheese together, then slowly stream in sugar with mixer running. Beat until light and fluffy, then mix in salt, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add flour and cocoa to creamed mixture in batches, beating just until combined after each addition. Divide dough into halves or thirds and roll out to 0.25" thickness between sheets of parchment or waxed paper (dough may be sticky). Refrigerate at least 2 hours (I do mine overnight) or until dough sheet is firm and easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut out shapes with a floured cookie cutter, and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets at least one inch apart. (Dough holds its shape very well and will not spread into unrecognizable blobs) Bake in preheated oven for 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies. Cool on wire racks, then ice and decorate as desired.


Cookie Glaze

* 3 cups powdered sugar
* 4 Tbl. milk
* 4 Tbl. light corn syrup
* 0.5 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring, if desired

Mix powdered sugar and milk together until smooth and creamy (may take a few minutes). Blend in corn syrup and flavoring, then cover bowl with plastic wrap and let glaze sit for at least 15 minutes. During this time, the glaze will form small bubbles due to the mixing. These will slowly surface to the top, at which point you can gently stir them out. Stirring vigorously now will only make more bubbles... and you'll be sorry! Use an offset spatula to glaze cookies, or you can hold the cookie by its edges and dip them in glaze. Let set until dry and firm, which may take several hours depending on humidity.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Ah, Christmas...the joy, the time spent with family and friends, and THE BAKING. Holiday baking has got to be one of my all-time favorite past times (big surprise), and this year is no exception. Typically the Christmas season inspires me to make a multitude of cookie varieties, for the holidays are the perfect excuse to try out new recipes I've been eyeing. Still revved up from my sugar cookie-making high, I decided that decorated sugar cookies must be on my list this year. That and my favorite "top secret" gingerbread cookie recipe. I honestly thought I would save time by not doing my traditional cookie glaze/piped decorations, opting to go the buttercream and colored sugar sprinkles route. Wrong. The time commitment ended up being pretty much the same, with the added benefit (some might say downfall) of the cookies being a tad on the sweet side. Frosting AND sugar? Can we say overkill?

In keeping with the sugar-sprinkled theme, I topped my gingey boys with coarse sparkling sugar. This of course had nothing to do with the fact that I inadvertently omitted the brown sugar from the recipe, as evidenced by the discovery of my unopened carton of sugar while cleaning up :( They still turned out pretty good though, but not exactly like everyone remembered.

And last but certainly not least...FRUITCAKE. There seems to be two distinct camps regarding this much-maligned holiday treat: adore or detest, and no one on either side can comprehend how anyone can possibly stand on the other side of the fence. As for our family, we fall into the "adore it" category. This is my second crack at fruitcake, the first was using Alton Brown's recipe which calls for dried fruits in lieu of candied. Good? Yes. But not what we were looking for, so this year I happened upon a recipe in our local newspaper, and it was a hit at our family gathering. So there you have it, in all its rum-soaked, glowing neon fruity glory.

"Mmm...Tastes Like Chicken Christmas"

You know, for a blog that's supposedly "Powered by Cupcakes" I sure haven't delivered on any as of late. But don't worry--I took care of that today:

May I present to you my "Rudolph Red Velvet Cupcake," complete with festive sprinkles and a handy mascot. Yes, I realize the picture's a bit blurry. And yes, I realize that's actually a plush moose with a BROWN nose...but you get the point. :) Perfect holiday flavor + best Christmas show ever = awesome!

Also making an appearance today are Eggnog Cupcakes, adorned with snow-capped candy Christmas trees (in homage to the rare bit of snowfall we got last week in Louisiana). Is it weird that while not a fan of actual eggnog, I absolutely adore all things eggnog-flavored? 'Cause these are delicious and pack a rummy-nutmeggy punch to boot!

Ummm... will you just look at those insane penguin toes up there?!?! Beyond cute.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Anyone who's ever been to my house between the months of November and January has seen the ridiculous spectacle of Christmas decorations my folks enjoy setting up. "Over the top" doesn't even begin to describe it, but thankfully this year my dad decided against putting up the colorful blinking light display on the exterior. Let's just say that we've become known as "the people with that Christmas House." Anyway, to help me get into the holiday mood, I decided to start some Christmas cookie baking. Above you'll see cranberry orange cookies, made with fresh cranberries that didn't make into the Thanksgiving sauce. Below are Rainbow Cookies (a.k.a. Spumoni Cookies), which sport maraschino cherry, chocolate, and pistachio layers. Very Christmasey :)

Poppin' Fresh

It's been a while since I last posted, and I have to admit that I have no reason other than "I am lazy." Here's a sampling of what I've been up to in the past few months. Unfortunately I've also been a bit lazy about snapping photos too, so there are many items I won't be able to show. Enjoy!

Kolaches made with Lil' Smokies

Red Velvet cupcake for Thanksgiving potluck at work

Nothing brightens a rainy day like a stack of pink strawberry cookies

Christmas just isn't the same without gingerbread men :)

Knowing my love of all things koala, my cousin J. gave me a set of koala pans for Christmas in 2006. It's pretty hard to believe that I didn't crack them out until this past Christmas, isn't it? Same dough as for gingerbread men, but pushed into the molds. Turned out a bit denser and chewier than I would've liked, so next time I might try using cake batter. This is, after all, The Fuzzykoala Cake Company. But without the fuzzy. That would be bad in a cake.

Quite possibly the most thoughtful Christmas present I've ever received. J., the same cousin who got me those koala pans, had a personalized embossing tool ordered for me from Williams-Sonoma. I practically squealed with delight!

I thought I told you to tell me to stop standing on that side of pictures.

I've decided to start keeping an online account of what I've been up to in the world of baked goods, since it's so much a part of who I am. This is a new project, so you'll be seeing a lot of posts with today's date on it, although many of the photos were taken months ago. Depending on how ambitious I decide to be, you may even see recipes posted. Maybe. I'm very protective of my secrets.

After looking through all the pictures of Zack and myself, I noticed that with maybe one exception I tend to be on the right side of the photos. Maybe it just ends up that way, or maybe subconsciously I just like being on Zack's left side... I don't know. It's not like I have a "good side" or anything :) So as a joke last Christmas I decided to take this photograph:

So can you tell which one is me??? I decided that gingerbread can show ethnic diversity too. Yeah I know that doing the eyes that way is politically incorrect and that my eye are, in fact, not all that slanty, but what the hey... it's still funny.