TWD: Baking with Julia - Vanilla Chiffon Roll

To be honest, this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe filled me with trepidation.  Vanilla Chiffon Roll.  Yikes.  Chiffon means beaten egg whites which means lots of folding.  And folding is just something that I am not very confident about.  I need a hands-on class on folding.  Origami?  Yeah, I can probably figure that out from a book.  Folding ingredients?  Not so much.  HOWEVER, I think I did a good job this time.  (Though I am not 100% sure...)  We'll just go with the idea that I did a good job, ok?

Anyway, the first thing to know about this cake is that it is filled with a chocolate-walnut mousse.  YUM.  I mean, YUM.   Toasted walnuts, walnut oil, melted bittersweet chocolate, egg yolks, sugar, water and heavy cream come together to make this marvelous, delicious mousse.  I will admit that I got distracted when whipping the cream so it got a bit OVER-whipped, but not so bad and I was still able to make a mousse (and not butter) so that was a relief!  Baking, among many many other things, can be problematic on sleep deprivation. The clever baby is already 9 months old, and he is getting teeth like gangbusters which leads to lots of waking, thus very little sleep for me.  I do find that sleep deprivation is a very good sort of torture - it does crazy things to the brain.  But that is not the topic for today, the Vanilla Chiffon Roll is, isn't it?  I am side-tracked already....

Double Dipped Pretzel Rods

We received a yummy gift basket from some friends that, among other treats, included some dipped pretzel rods.  So when it was time to think up something to bring for the clever girl's holiday party for her kindergarten class, I thought pretzel rods would be a fun treat!  I mean, who can resist the combination of salty and sweet, plus there are fun sprinkles all over them!  Perfect!

These fun treats are easy and relatively fast to make.  Depending on your sprinkle choices, they could be used for any occasion!  Birthday parties, spring flings, halloween, anything you want!  Or for no occasion at all, as they are pretty tasty...

Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Pear Caramel Glaze

For dessert after Christmas dinner, I made Gingerbread Bundt cake with Pear Caramel Glaze.  I do not recall how I fell across this recipe online, but I am so glad I did!  It is amazing.  Plus, it makes use of my fabulous new bundt pan.  I know, how many bundt pans can one person have?  I put this particular pan in my "want" list on Amazon for about forever.... looking at it and debating and just not convincing myself that I really should buy another bundt pan.  But then I simply decided that this particular bundt pan was so stinking beautiful, I would give another bundt pan away if that helped my conscious to purchase this pan.  So that is what I did (purchase it anyway... I haven't gotten rid of another pan yet!!).  I mean, take a look at the cake coming out of this pan:

Isn't it beautiful?  In case you are now drooling over this pan as well, it is the Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Heritage Pan.  Oh, and the pan released the cake perfectly!  After I baked this cake, Mr. Clever Mom, my mother-in-law, my mom, my dad, AND my sister were all remarking as to how beautiful the cake turned out.  This was BEFORE they tasted it.  Mr. Clever Mom wondered why I debated so long about buying it.  I guess I am frugal that way sometimes, maybe more than I should be!  Ah well... on to the amazing recipe.

TWD: Baking with Julia - Country Bread

Our Tuesday's with Dorie recipe this week is Country Bread.  You might also call this "Bread Success", or "yahoo, I did it" bread.  Though I knew what the recipe was for this week well enough in advance, the date actually snuck up on me so I was scrambling a bit to get it done.  This bread (like many in this book) has several steps, one which involved an optional overnight rise.  I wanted to do that overnight rise, as according to the book it would give the bread a kick of sourdough flavor, which I love.  So once I realized that my time was running short, I busted a move on making this bread!  Thanks to recently making Pumpernickel Loaves, I already had all of the ingredients on hand!  (Rye flour isn't usually a standard pantry item in my house...)

Carrot Spice Muffins - aka Morning Glory Muffins

I received a juicer for Christmas!  I mean to tell you, having a juicer makes me so excited, I can hardly stand it.  I have been making up all sorts of concoctions and basking in my healthy mornings.  Seriously, I have been doing the happy dance all over the kitchen!!  Thank you, thank you, Mr. Clever Mom!  I LOVE it!  A by-product of having a juicer is lots of pulp.  The other morning I made just plain carrot juice (which was my impetus for wanting a juicer so badly - I have been buying carrot juice constantly!!) so I had a bunch of carrot pulp left over.  Surely, there is something I can do with this pulp, I thought.  So, I made carrot muffins!!  And they turned out DELICIOUS!

Now, if you don't have a juicer thus no carrot pulp in your house, do not fret.  This recipe actually calls for shredded carrot.  I merely substituted the carrot pulp and hoped for the best, and it worked!  The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking - From My Home to Yours, which I HIGHLY recommend if you enjoy baking at all, or are interested in learning more about baking.  Every recipe I have tried in this book is a winner!

Daring Bakers: Peppermint Whoopie Pies!

Well, I am a few days late for my whoopie pie post, but I promise, they were done on time!  I just got delayed with my posting, what with the holidays, lots of family in town, and a bit of sickness that kept getting me down.  But, I am feeling better now and ready to think about food again!

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"

I can honestly say that I have never had a true whoopie pie - the kind you would get in the New England area with a vanilla marshmallow filling.  However, I have made them before for the clever girl's Halloween party at school.  That version was a pumpkin whoopie pie.  This time I thought I'd holiday-it-up a bit and do a peppermint/candy cane version.  Because chocolate and peppermint are meant to go together.  It is a match made in heaven!

Handprint Christmas Ornaments

 

This may be late for this year, but something to keep in mind for another time.  Handprint ornaments!  Commemorate the year and size of your little ones forever with a handprint ornament for the tree!  They are simple to make!

Materials:

paper for hand tracing

pencil

scissors

felt

sharpie marker

embroidery floss/needle

ribbon

Trace your child's hand onto paper and cut it out.  For every ornament you intend to make, trace two hands onto felt with the magic marker and cut them out.  This makes the ornament thicker and have some structure for hanging on the tree.  If you choose, pick a side to be the front and do a simple backstitch embroidery into the center of the hand with your child's first initial and the year.  You could also do this with a sharpie marker.  Place two hands together and sandwich a loop of ribbon at the top, which is where the wrist of the hand would be.  Using embroidery floss and the needle, secure the ribbon between the two felt hands, then use a running stitch to sew around the hand and up the fingers.  Depending on the age of your child, they might be able to help with the stitching!  The clever girl did some of mine!

I attached these to the tops of Christmas presents for the grandparents and they were LOVED.   These were a surprise for my family, so I couldn't post them earlier!  Sorry!