holiday baking Archives

No-Bake 5 Minute Chocolate Marshmallow Crackles

20|12|2013

I’ve been so reluctant to pack away any of my baking tins and trays since I was pretty sure I would need them again this week. My family and every one else around here thought I wouldn’t and that I have made and fed enough sweet treats to them for the year. Along with baking tins, naturally there were other props that needed to stick around too. So as it turns out, I am a week away from moving and the boxes are sitting all around the house with nothing in them and the boys are using them as push carts to give each other a joy ride.

Finally out of guilt and panic, I agreed to a ‘no elaborate baking’ arrangement. And then these were born. Did not even need baking. Seriously, something as easy as this and tasting so insanely good. It takes 5 minutes from start to finish to make the crackles..at the most 10 if you are making it for the first time. Then they just chill and set in the refrigerator. The ganache takes another 3 minutes to make and is poured over the crackle mixture. And that’s it! Eat them, store them, gift them or share them…they are a joy to have. Even simpler than cookies. Honestly, aren’t you getting a bit tired of cookies…I know I am!

You can use up dried fruits or nuts in them and be creative as you want to be. I used the home-made marshmallows that I made last week for the Marshmallow Sandwich cookies. These are chewy little bars…a bit of crunch here and there, sweet from the glace cherries and apricots. I have used milk chocolate in the crackles and bittersweet chocolate in the ganache to balance the sweetness. I also piped a little ganache on top and sprinkled lemon jelly crystals for a hint of tang. You could skip the ganache if you want to keep it simple and quick but then the ganache too is hardly any effort.

Hope you have a great weekend. We have so many activities lined up for the weekend but I am most excited to see the Christmas lighting in CBD (city centre) and of course taking the kids to meet their favourite Santa. They are so looking forward to it.

No-Bake 5 Minute Chocolate Crackles
Makes 10-12 Crackles

For the Crackles
2 cups Rice Bubbles (I used Kellogg’s)
1/2 cup red glace cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup glace ginger
200 g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
250 g marshmallows
2 tbsp. milk

For the Ganache
120 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/4 cup thickened cream

Grease a 10cm x 25cm (base) rectangular pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, allowing 3 cm overhang on all sides.

Place rice bubbles, cherries, apricots and ginger in a heatproof bowl. Place chocolate in a saucepan which is placed on another saucepan filled with simmering water over medium heat minutes. Stir with a metal spoon till smooth and completely melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, place marshmallows and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until melted and smooth. Working quickly, add chocolate to the marshmallow mixture. Mix and add to rice bubble mixture. Stir to combine. Spread into prepared pan. Press a little bit with the back of a spoon.

Make the Chocolate Ganache: Place the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in bursts of 20 seconds till mixture is smooth and well combined (about 2 minutes). Pour the ganache over the crackle. Cover. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

Once cooled, slice into squares and serve.

Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies with Home made Marshmallows

15|12|2013

Holding on to the last two weeks of a beautiful year. And I cannot find a better way of bidding farewell to it than filling it with some more sweet treats. You know all the joy and cheer of the holiday season makes it harder to say goodbye. You really don’t want the party to end…when you are enjoying so much. Almost makes me sad. But there will always be good memories to take forward…some learning..a lot of hope AND a thousand ideas to work on for my dear little blog.

I’ve been meaning to make marshmallows at home since months. I made them a couple of years back and promised myself never to get store-bought ones again. But when something is so easily available you don’t give much thought to recipes however simple they may be.

Home made marshmallows not only taste better than the store-bought ones, you can do so much with them. Colour them, flavour them, cut them into any shapes…coat them with your favourite candies. And just 2 basic ingredients. It can’t get easier than this. I have used a 5 cm round cutter to cut out rounds and sandwiched them between store-bought biscuits. If you want to make the biscuits from scratch, you can use any basic cookie recipe (that is not crumbly) or similar cookies with this recipe. The best part is that they are gluten-free and if you sandwich them between gluten-free cookies, they will make a lovely gluten-free gift too.

A few things to note about the recipe. Do make sure you beat the sugar mixture till it is really thick..it should somewhat hold its shape for a few seconds when you lift the beaters. You can coat them in dessicated coconut or equal parts of corns starch and icing sugar. After 3-4 hours if you find the marshmallow too sticky to work with, put the tray in the refrigerator for an hour. Dust your cookie cutter or knife with the sugar- corn starch mixture each time you cut into the slab of marshmallow. Tying ribbons around the cookies not only makes them look festive and pretty but keeps them intact.

Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies with Homemade Marshmallows (Marshmallow recipe adapted from here)
Makes 12-14 sandwich cookies

1 1/2 cups castor sugar
2 tablespoons gelatine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar and corn starch mixture (equal parts)
Cookies (home-made or store-bought) to sandwich the marshmallows
1/2 cup of either melted chocolate, nutella or jam of your choice

Grease a 3cm deep, 16.5cm x 26cm (base) slab pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang at both long ends. Combine sugar and 2/3 cup hot water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sugar dissolves and syrup is clear.

Using a fork, combine gelatine and 2/3 cup cold water in a jug. Pour into hot syrup. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until gelatine has dissolved and mixture is clear. Pour into bowl of an electric mixer. Set aside to cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes).

Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and gelatine mixture on high for 6 to 10 minutes or until very thick. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Spread into prepared pan. Smooth top. Set aside, at room temperature, for 4 hours or until set. Lift onto a board. Using a round cutter that is dusted with a mixture of icing sugar and corn starch, cut out round marshmallows (depending on the size of the cookies).

Sieve 1/2 cup icing sugar and 1/2 cup corn starch in a large bowl. Place 1 marshmallow at a time in the bowl and gently toss in the mixture to coat. Remove to a wire rack. Set marshmallows aside until surfaces feel dry (about 1 hour). Meanwhile, apply a little melted chocolate or Nutella or jam on the under side of each cookie and keep aside. Once the marshmallows are dry to touch, sandwich between two cookies and press firmly. To retain shape, you can tie them up with kitchen strings or ribbons.

Coffee Pecan Cookies

5|12|2013

So I’m back! With more Cookies, of course. Sooner than you had imagined? You see, when you were reading all about the Nutella filled Linzer cookies, I was already baking a batch of these and making the tastiest glaze ever to decorate them with. You guessed it! I used the same dough to make these.

In fact after making about 12 Linzers, I rolled the dough into a log, covered it in plastic wrap and refrigerated it. Later on I rolled the log on chopped nuts to get a nice nutty coating around the circumference of the cookie when sliced. Then it was a matter of just baking them and dropping a spoonful of coffee glaze on to them. The glaze is super simple and ready in 2-3 minutes. Though in doubt about the quantity of coffee to add to the glaze, I am glad I went with my instincts. The glaze is gorgeous and so strongly tasting and smelling of coffee which is why I loved it all the more.

Isn’t it fantastic that you can get two completely different cookie recipes…both tasting and looking great from the same dough. And quite a generous number of cookies too. I got 12 Linzers and 14 of these. I thought it would make such a great gift idea when you are looking to simply things and yet come up with an assortment of cookies.
Think about it…12 Linzer cookies, 6 filled with Nutella, 6 filled up with jam or lemon curd. And 14 of these cookies, 7 with a coffee glaze and other 7 with some other flavour…probably peppermint considering the season. A few drops of pink food colouring would do the trick with peppermint. And there you have it…a box of different flavoured, colourful looking cookies. You can play around with different ideas, I guess.
Please note, the recipe below is for the entire dough. You can halve it accordingly.

These cookies are by far the best I have made this year. And that’s not small because I bake at least 3-4 different cookies every month. I love baking cookies and gifting them to my friends. I do it all the time.
I think the best way to tell someone that you like them is to make them a cookie.

Coffee Pecan Cookies
Yields 28 large cookies

For the Cookies
1 cup hazelnut meal/ground hazelnuts or any nut meal of your choice
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup pecans or any nut of your choice, finely chopped
Pecan halves, for decoration

For the coffee glaze
adapted from Taste.com

3/4 cup icing sugar mixture
1 tbsp boiling water
1 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp espresso coffee powder

In a bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon and salt.

Divide the dough in half, roll each piece of dough into a 5 cm diameter log. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

Once the log is firm, take it out and keep aside for 5 minutes. Unwrap and lightly roll in the chopped nuts till evenly coated. Wrap each log in plastic wrap tightly again and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step ensures that the nut coating adheres to the cookies while baking.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut logs into 1.5cm-thick slices. Place on lined baking trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes, swapping trays over in oven in between (baking time will depend on the size of the cookie. Mine took 20 minutes as the cookies were large) Bake till crisp or until edges begin to turn light brown. Allow to cool on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the Glaze, sift icing sugar into a bowl. Combine boiling water, butter and coffee powder in a separate bowl and stir until coffee is dissolved. Add to icing sugar and stir until mixture is smooth.
Drop 1 teaspoon of glaze onto centre of each cookie. Top with 1 pecan. Allow icing to set. Serve.

Nutella Filled Linzer Cookies

3|12|2013

When I look at the recipes I had bookmarked to try this year, I wonder if I will ever be able to reach the end of my list. Actually, is there an end…will there ever be one! No…not for me! I feel I am just getting started. The holiday season is bringing plenty of excitement to my baking repertoire and my oven is doing a bit of over time already.

Can you believe it, I have not posted a single Nutella recipe till now. So without wasting a moment, I made these Nutella Linzer Cookies. I love everything about these cookies..the nutty texture, the chocolale-y centre and the various shapes and sizes you can do with them. You can also fill them up with jam, the way it is done traditionally or any other filling like lemon curd, ganache etc.

I have used ground hazelnuts in the mix to complement the Nutella filling. Any nut meal will work. These are put together pretty much like any other cookie. The only tricky part is to get the shapes out intact after rolling out the dough. To ease the process, I roll out the dough on a baking paper and then place my cookie cutter all over the dough to make the cookies. Then I remove the balance dough from around the cookies and place the baking paper on a baking tray to bake. I do this twice. Once for the bottom cookie and a second batch for the tops with the centres cut out.

This post is also my contribution to my favourite Chocolate Party with the theme for December being Chocolate Cookies. Do check out the other creations at the end of the post.

Nutella Filled Linzer Cookies
Makes 20 sandwiched cookies

1 cup hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

1/2 cup Nutella, for the filling
Icing Sugar, to dust

In a bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract and egg yolks. Finally, beat in the ground hazelnuts and then the flour mixture. Divide the dough in half, cover each half with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm (30-60 minutes, or up to two days).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove one ball of dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick. Using a 3 inch (7.5 cm) cookie cutter (round, square, heart, etc.) cut out the cookies. Place the cookies about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the centers of half of the cookies on the baking sheet. Re roll any scraps and cut out the remaining cookies. Repeat with the second ball of dough. (Note: If you find the cookies are soft, place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to chill the dough. This will prevent the cookies from spreading and losing their shape when baked.) Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Place the cut out cookies on a baking sheet and lightly dust the tops with icing sugar. Spread a thin layer of Nutella on the bottom surface of the full cookie. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together.

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