Day 9 - Sugar Cookies & Ice Cream Cake

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ok, so the holiday baking has officially begun. With family flying in from all over [LA, Rome.. no big deal], last minute shopping, wrapping presents, and oh a little thing called WORK - it's hard to find the time to bake! So I've split up my baking over the span of a few nights; tonight is phase 1. I started with my Grandma's shortbread cookie recipe. I knew I could make this recipe ahead because these cookies last forever! You could even freeze them and eat them months later - and I promise, they are still so yummy! The recipe is simple yet delicious and although they look a lot like regular sugar cookies - they are SO much better!! The dough comes together surprisingly easy and all thats left to do is roll it out, cut it into shapes, bake it off and sprinkle it with sugar. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what even makes these shortbread cookies so delightful - maybe it's just the fact that the one day a year I make them, I experience the exact, unique flavor of my Grandma's cookies which brings back a flood of wonderful memories.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

One day later and here I am again, baking away! I baked two cheesecakes today and one ice cream cake… I am exhausted but so ready for Christmas! I have made both of these recipes before (Grandma's cheese cake and my ice cream cake with vanilla and chocolate ice cream and an Oreo fudge center) so I wont go into too much detail. I will say that my cheesecakes came out great although it was quite a project since I have never baked two in one day! The ice cream cake looked delicious when it was done - it should be better this time since it has tons of time to freeze properly so it doesn't start to melt immediately when I serve it on Christmas! Below are photos of the chocolate layer and the vanilla layer of ice cream cake - except I forgot to snap a picture of the Oreo and fudge filling (which of course is the best part). I also couldn't take a picture yet of the topping made of vanilla frosting and whole Oreos because that won't take place until the day that I serve the cake.

Okay, here are the ice cream cake photos! The cake is mostly gone and starting to melt but it was delightful!!! 

Well that's all I have for now… I am looking forward to spending time with Dina, who flew in from Los Angeles yesterday, and my Mom, who flew in today from Rome today, along with the rest of the family. I think we will watch "Meet Me in St. Louis" tonight… one of our favs :)

Stay tuned for next time!

Day 8 - Snicker Doddles & Sugar Cookies

Sunday, December 19, 2010

This morning was all about COOKIES - the Christmas Edition!

We tried out two recipes and were most excited about the decorating part. First up were the Snicker Doodles!! Our dough came together perfectly, it was very similar to a sugar cookie. Once the dough came together into a ball we let it hang in the fridge for a while as we prepared the dough for our second cookie. When the snicker doodle dough was chilled, we took it out of the fridge and used a little cookie scooper to make perfect balls each time.  Each ball was plunged in a cinnamon and sugar bath and then they were almost ready for the tray. Before we put them into the oven, we couldn't forget to make cross pattern with a fork on each cookie!! How fancy! The cookies came out wonderful! They were slightly crisp on the edges but chewy in the center. The cinnamon and sugar gave the cookie a really warm flavor - perfect for the holidays!

Next up, Sugar Cookies!! This recipe was easy to follow and only had a few steps. This recipe came from Martha Stewart and had a little lemon zest and fresh squeezed lemon juice in the batter which gave it a new, fresh twist. Michael was our special guest today. We each rolled out our own little dough balls and got busy with all kinds of festive cookie cutters! We had a fancy sprinkle device that had several different compartments with different shapes and colors of sprinkles which allowed us to make each cookie personalized. The sugar cookies came out great [the recipe really made a ton of dough so we were cutting and decorating cookies for what seemed like forever!] The cookies were sweet and delicious - just as a sugar cookie should be.

Since this is our pre-Christmas blog, we are giving these cookies as gifts in holiday themed chinese take out containers [which can be found at Michael's for about $1]! Today was so much fun [especially having Michael help us out], it really helped all of us get into the Christmas spirit! There is still much more baking to be done before Christmas [Grandma's shortbread cookies and what else... more cheesecake!] so stay tuned for part 2 of our Christmas baking!

Day 7 - Chocolate Pudding

Sunday, December 5, 2010

I will apologize in advance because once again I am totally unprepared for this Sunday's baking - I think holiday madness has officially taken over - but never-the-less, here I am blogging! I am without Joanne again because as most of you know - School gets crazy with finals and papers right before the holiday break so she is focused on that!

 Having a family party to go to is always fun because it gives me a purpose and motivation to bake so I can bring something for everyone to enjoy. This Saturday was my cousin Toni-Ann's confirmation party, and of course I was asked to bring a dessert. The basics were already being covered (cake, brownies, cookies) so I had to think outside of the box. I decided to make an ice cream cake because I knew it was something all of the children would enjoy. I had tried to make an ice cream cake before and it didn't come out that great but this time I had a different strategy - I would freeze each layer before adding to it to try to keep a nice shape. Another thing that was helpful this time was that I had a spring form pan which I didn't have before, which would provide a great base for the cake. I started by softening the vanilla and chocolate ice cream so they were spreadable. I first spread the chocolate ice cream in the bottom of the pan into a smooth, even layer. I put the pan into the freezer to get this layer hard before building upon it. While the chocolate layer was hardening I put a sleeve of Oreo cookies into my mini food processor to create the crumbs that would go in the center of the cake. I spread the cookie crumbs over the chocolate ice cream and then put a layer of chocolate syrup over that. Again, I put the pan in the freezer. Once that layer was set I spread the vanilla ice cream over the top to finish off the cake. Once the whole cake was frozen I spread a layer of vanilla frosting over the top to complete it. I decorated the cake with whole Oreos and put it back into the freezer until I was ready to go to the party. Once I got to the party and we were ready for dessert I took the ice cream cake out of the freezer and it started melting IMMEDIATELY! I then realized my obvious mistake - I needed to let the cake freeze over night for it to really be completely frozen. Luckily, the kids [and may adults] attacked the cake and it was gone in literally 5 minutes. Thank goodness this was the case or else in those same five minutes if it had not been eaten, it would have been a big, messy puddle!    

Everyone loved the cake [even though it was melting by the second!] A few people asked for the recipe and one person said it was the best thing they have ever eaten! I knew this cake was an instant hit and that I would make it many more times in the future. I did learn one important lesson - make this cake [and any ice cream cake] at least a day before I need to serve it - this way it holds up much better and doesn't melt as quickly as it did this weekend. I think the best thing about the ice cream cake is that I can use any type of ice cream and any time of cookie to reinvent the cake every time I make it!

The second thing I decided to bake this weekend was homemade chocolate pudding. I was looking for something simple and something I had all of the ingredients for [it was a lazy Sunday - I couldn't bear to go to the store!] I personally love chocolate pudding - with its smooth, creamy texture and topped off with a little whipped cream - it makes the perfect dessert or snack. I always buy chocolate pudding from the grocery store [Kozy Shack is my favorite brand] or make it from the box [the "just add milk" kind] but have never made it from scratch. I looked up a few recipes and they all looked pretty simple. The only problem was that I realized I had no whole milk so I made it with skim milk. Since I refused to go to the store, I figured I would just see how it turned out.

I made the pudding over the stove using cocoa powder, sugar, skim milk, egg yolks, corn starch and a pinch of salt. By the end of the process I was left with a thick, chocolaty mixture. I poured it into small bowls and put it into the refrigerator to cool. Later I planned on making homemade whipped cream to top the pudding. The pudding came out great - the texture was really smooth. While whole milk would have made the pudding a bit creamier and richer, the skim milk provided a great, low fat option to make this a guilt free pudding [gotta love that!]

Ok, so I have no pictures of the ice cream cake but ask anyone in the family and they will tell you how delicious it was! I did manage a picture of the pudding after it was cooled and ready to be eaten [above]!

Stay tuned for next week…