In addition to new cookie varieties, this year I decided to try to make eggnog. I did a bit of research, and combined several recipes (one recipe called for three dozen eggs–and served eighty). Here is the end result–pretty good!

4 pasteurized eggs (nothing is cooked, so this is important to avoid food poisoning)
1/2 cup sugar
2 – 4 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz brandy
2 oz bourbon
1-3 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
4 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 pint heavy cream, whipped (if you’re using whole milk, you can probably skip this)

Separate the eggs. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until lighter yellow. Add the sugar, and beat until the sugar is dissolved.

Add in the vanilla, brandy, bourbon, and nutmeg, then add the milk.

Unless you have multiple mixing bowls, put the egg nog into a cold container and put in the fridge for now.

Whisk the egg whites until they are firm. (I totally forgot how long this takes, as I’ve only been whisking whipped cream recently. This takes a long time. Be patient.)

Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg whites. Put the egg nog back into the cold container, and put back in the fridge for now.

Whip the cream with a dash of sugar.

Once the cream is whipped, slowly add in the egg and milk mixture.

Put the completed mixture back unto the container (I’m using a glass milk jug, which is perfect) and refrigerate until chilled.

When you’re ready to serve, whisk or shake the mixture, pour into glasses, and if you’re feeling fancy, grate fresh nutmeg over each serving.

Very yummy!

This holiday also had a trip to VA, where my all of my cousins were in for Christmas. At the instigation of Ben, we made the Lithuanian cookie Krusties (pronounced, at least by my family, christies)

The recipe is fairly simple:

Krusties
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 whole eggs
6 egg yolks
2 sticks butter
6 cups flour
1 shot whiskey/rum
pinch cardamom

1 large can crisco, for frying

Mix together all the ingredients in a mixer. Wrap in waxed paper or place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make, heat solid fat (Crisco or lard) in large frying pan. You’ll need an inch or two of hot oil.

You’ll also want to line most of your work areas with newspaper, or used wrapping paper, or anything else that absorbs oil and sugar, and makes clean up easier.

Find aprons for everyone–this can get messy! We rolled out our batches of dough on floured waxed paper.

(more…)

Oh yes, I will be making English Muffins again.

(more…)

I am going to attempt to make English Muffins.

I made the starter last night. We’ll see what happens. (I hope something yummy happens.)

ADDENDUM:
(more…)

Better.

(more…)

So, I haven’t posted one of these in awhile, but that’s partially because I haven’t baked anything in awhile. But we skipped the Farmer’s Market this weekend, so I needed to make bread, and I had pumpkins that needed cooked down, so that kept me out of trouble for a few hours.

(more…)

The cobbler I made was just okay, in that the crust wasn’t very good.

The peaches, however, were fabulous.

I also prepared some for bourbon peaches tomorrow.

Yummy baked peaches need:
fresh peaches
butter
sugar
bourbon

If you’ve never baked with fresh peaches before, the secret is to dip them in boiling water for about half a minute, then drop them in an ice bath. The skin slips right off.
(more…)

Chocolate Pecan Chocolate Chip cookies. We’re talking a pound of chocolate here, so they really are that good.

(more…)

…needed Oreos.

Luckily, I was easily able to fulfill this need.

Last night’s dinner: Penne alla Vodka, homemade bread & butter, and panna cotta
(more…)

Sandwich Bread

I love this recipe from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman
(more…)

I hadn’t made this recipe for years, which means I’d forgotten that it makes more dough than my mixer can handle, so I made a mess.

I also ended up with three pans, one I made Sunday , nd two went into the freezer for some other day.

Unless you are a glutton for punishment, make sure you half this recipe.

Sweet Rolls

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup milk, heated to 100 F
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 ounce yeast
1/2 cup warm water
5 eggs
8 1/2 – 9 1/2 cups flour

Filling
4 cups brown sugar
1 cups unsalted butter
3 tablespoons cinnamon

Frosting
1/2 pound cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 – 4 cups powdered sugar

Half the time I don’t even bother with the frosting–and didn’t this time.
(more…)

I wanted to try something different, and as I was flipping through my baking books I noticed I had marked a recipe for chocolate bread. I almost flipped past, but then I noticed the ingredient list was relatively simply. So I decided to try it.

Please note, that as usual for me, I did not thoroughly read the recipe, so I failed to notice this had TWO overnight rises. So starting on Saturday? Not so great.Otherwise, it’s a fairly straightforward recipe.

Now I need to decide what is the best topping to go with it.

Chocolate Bread (recipe is actually White and Dark Chocolate Bread, but 1) I was out of white chocolate and 2) I wanted all dark chocolate)
I actually diverged a bit from her process, to make things easier for me.

1 3/4 cup warm water
5 tsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Dutch process cocoa
4 to 5 cups bread flour

1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Proof yeast. Add sugar, cocoa, salt and 3 cups of sugar and mix. Switch to dough hook and add more flour as necessary till pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Place dough in oiled rising bowl and refrigerate overnight.

In a food processor, combine butter, sugars, and cocoa and process until you have a crumbly mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a large rectangle (16″ x 10″). Sprinkle butter, sugar and cocoa mix over the dough. Sprinkle bittersweet chips over that.

Working from one of the short ends, roll up like a jelly roll. Divide roll in half and place into two greased 8″ bread pans.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove pans from refrigerator and allow to rise for 2 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray tops with water and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (I had vanilla sugar and that was fabulous!)

Bake 35 to 45 minutes, cool for 20 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman

Yes, it’s that time of year again! (It’s the most wonderful time of the year!)

All things considered, I think I did pretty well this weekend, although my ankle has been none too pleased with me in the aftermath.

So far this year:
Sour cream nutmeg cookies
Lemon coolers
Sugar cookies
Peanut butter kisses
Peanut butter shortbread bars
Cranberry oatmeal cookies
Bourbon balls
Pumpkin walnut bread
Chocolate bread

Are you ready for some cookies?!

Yes, that is, in fact, a calculator. I bake by weight. And lots of recipes don’t give weights, so I have to calculate what 2 3/4 cup flour actually weights.

And trust me, you do NOT want to rely upon my math skills when baked goods are on the line.

Peanut butter shortbread bars with sugar cookies in the back ground.

Michael is in charge of the bourbon balls.

This is because he eats 95% of them.

(KIDS! Can you find: three trees, one star, one holly leaf, two dinosaurs, one snowman, and two elephants?)

What? You don’t have elephant and dinosaur shaped sugar cookies for Christmas? For heaven sakes! What kind of holiday spirit is that?!

Can you guess what those plans are?

I’ve been missing making bread, and since I wanted something just slightly sweet, I decided upon a loaf of challah. Today’s fail: counting. I added three eggs (plus on egg yolk) instead of two (plus one egg yolk). The extra egg was extra small, but I was still annoyed with myself.

Turned out fine despite me.

(more…)

Cooked down six pumpkins today, to give us a total of 15 cups of pumpkin.

Hopefully, this will last us–last winter we ran out of pumpkin in February.

I spent the weekend with my grandmother, so I actually made nothing this weekend. Instead, please enjoy this loaf of cranberry walnut bread from the week before.

When I came across Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth by Jill O’Connor, I really couldn’t help myself. Everything in the book is amazing looking, however, everything also tends to make large batches, which is no good for the two of us.

As much as I want to make the Sugar Crusted Brownie Sundaes with Whiskey Caramel Walnut Sauce, I settled for the Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies instead, especially since I can freeze the cookies unbaked.

The Best One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk-Pecan Cookies
2 cups pecan halves
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used Ghiradelli Bittersweet chocolate chips, as I had them on hand)

Toast pecans (350 for 7 min).

Where this recipe is different is that instead of creaming the butter and the sugar, you melt the butter, then add in the additional ingredients. You are also supposed to mic everything by hand, but as the recipe calls for 1/4 sized cookies, and I don’t like giant cookies, I used the mixer to break up the pecans a bit.

Scoop out the dough onto a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for 45 to 60 minutes.

If you make smaller cookies (like I did) I baked ‘em at 350 for 12 to 13 minutes. I also froze what unbaked cookies I had left, so now I’ll have fresh cookies when I come home from work after one of those days.

Chocolate makes many things better.