The Best Cake I've Ever Made..

I tend to bake a lot of cakes - they're just fun for me. I don't know why but they are and I do.

That being said, this is by far the coolest combo I have come up with. While at my girlfriends, I was snacking on some mint flavored white chocolate morsels and thought, "Wow! what a good icing this would make!" 

Being already a huge fan of Ina Gartens Chocolate Cake, I checked that off the list as a possible canvas for this new awesome icing. Her recipe calls for a light and fluffy milk chocolate icing, but I was shooting for the more dense and think style. I already had it in the back of my mind that somehow I was going to work those white and red swirly mints into the picture, a al white chocolate holiday bark. I ended up using Ina's icing as the base, subbed in white chocolate for the dark, and added in peppermint extract. It turned out great!

I then got to have some fun swinging a zip top bag filled with mints into random appliances and counter tops. I then dusted the cake with the mint particles. I think it turned out great and is a perfect treat for the holiday season or whenever you're in mood. 

Chocolate Peppermint Cake

Ina Garten's Chocolate Cake (too good to mess with)

White Chocolate Peppermint Icing

 - adapted from Ina Garten

6 oz. good white chocolate

2 sticks of butter, room temp

1 and 1/4 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1 egg yolk

1 to 1.5 tsp. pure peppermint extract, depending on how minty you would like it

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, heating in short intervals and stirring in between. Beat the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add in the mint extract followed by the egg yolk. Combine. Add in the chocolate and beat one last time. 

Ice cake once cooled. 

To finish this cake, take 5-8 red/white swirl mints and crush. Dust the cake as desired. 

Just Melt With Me

I am addicted. I had never had a meltaway cookie before I made these beauties but they truly are a great recipe to have in your back pocket around the holidays. The cookies have a crunch when you bite in to them, but due to the use of corn starch just seem to dissolve right on your tongue. Another nice feature of these cookies is the subtle taste of citrus lingering in the background, in this case, grapefruit. (The foreground is dominated by the powdered sugar, as it should be) Feel free to use whatever citrus juice and zest you have on hand and seeing as it is after all the holidays, I feel confident that everyone will have a gift basket or two to work through. 

Another great element of these cookies is their "slice-and-bake" feature. The recipe requires you to chill the dough in log form for an hour or so, which works out great if you want to slice about 5 or 40 for the night and then put the remainder back in the fridge. Last night I removed one of the two logs and sliced them up and by nights end they had disappeared. I think because of their bite size I would take two or three in my hand just for a trip upstairs!

I hope you put these cookies to use this holiday and enjoy the season!

Grapefruit Meltaway Cookies--

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

1/3 cup confectioners sugar, plus extra for coating

Zest of one grapefruit

2 to 3 tablespoons of Grapefruit juice (juice half of a fruit and then reduce over med-high heat) 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 and 3/4 cup plus 2 TBS flour

2 TBS cornstarch 

1/4 tsp salt

Procedure - 

Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add in the zest, juice, and vanilla and combine. Whisk flour, salt, and cornstarch and then slowly add into the butter mixture. Role dough into 1 to 1.5 inch diameter logs and rap in either saran wrap or parchment paper. Chill logs at least one hour. Once dough is firm, slice logs into 1/4 inch rounds and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until a light brown color. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. While the cookies are still worm, fill a zip top bag with confectioners sugar and toss the cookies in the sugar to coat.

These can be stored for a few weeks if kept in a sealed container. 

Biscotti...

This is something I really have wanted to make for a while. I always have seen Biscotti at random coffee shops every now and then- chocolate, plain, almond, ect - but have never had any home made versions. I think biscotti have a bad wrap of being hard and very dry, but I can assure you that these Almond and Orange flavored ones fall into neither category. Crunchy and flavorful, you will soon find these little biscuits beside your coffee mug or in your coat pocket for those long dog walks.

P.S....this recipe is via the Smitten Kitchen, an awesome site!

Almond Biscotti

-Courtesy Smitten Kitchen

3 and 1/4 c. flour

1 TBS. baking powder

1/3 tsp salt

1 and 1/2 c. sugar

10 TBS or 1 and 1/4 sticks butter, melted (unsalted)

3 large eggs

1 TBS vanilla extract

1 TBS orange liqueur

1 TBS orange zest

1 c. whole almonds, toasted and chopped

1 large egg white

Preparation-

Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Combine melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, liqueur, and zest. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and combine until mixed, making sure not to over mix the dough. Divide dough into two balls, and on a floured surface, shape two logs. The logs should be about 13-14 inches long and about 3 inches wide. Place the two logs onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper making sure to leave room between the two logs as well as the sides of the pan as the dough will spread out during baking. Beat egg white with whisk until foamy and then brush the two logs with the whites. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes until golden, remove from oven but keep the oven warm. Once cooled, around 25 minutes, cut diagonally in the desired thickness. With the oven on 350, toast the biscotti cut side down on each side for about 8-12 minutes.

Can keep for up to a week if sealed. Makes around 3-4 dozen depending on thickness.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Banana Bread is a staple in my house. For any occasion, winter or summer, its the go-to quick fix dessert bread. Outstanding for breakfast, snacking on throughout the day, or even an after dinner treat, this bread is so easy and such a breeze to put together. Instead of using traditional white AP flour, I switched it up to include the more nutritious whole wheat variety. The results were great and you couldn't even taste the difference. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

- adapted from my moms recipe

1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar
1 Tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

3 very ripe bananas (almost black), mashed

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tsp. baking soda

add water as needed

Preparation -

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, and salt. Add in eggs one at a time, followed by the mashed bananas and combine well. Stir in dry ingredients until homogeneous. Add water a tsp at a time if mix is too dry. Batter should be rather thick. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and let sit for 20 minutes. Bake bread in oven for 50 minutes or until a tester come out almost clean and the loaf in brown on the top.*

* If the bread is browning too quickly, cover with foil as needed

Tomato, Tomato

Just a nice picture for you taken on the new camera. I'm going to try and post miscellaneous food pictures on the first of each month.