Happy New Year - Two Ways

Here are two totally different New Year traditions. I take that back. They share a round shape but that is where I draw the line!

The first one is the New Year Day cookie (Portzelky). It is a drop donut of sorts with raisins that I had growing up.

1 envelope yeast

1/4 cup warm water

5 1/2 cup AP flour

1 1/2 t sugar

1 1/2 t salt

pinch nutmeg

1 1/2 cup warm milk

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup raisin, currants, etc (plump the raisins in water first - blot dry well to reduce oil splattering)

Dissolve yeast in the water, let proof.

Mix flour, sugar, salt, and nutmeg together in large bowl.

Lightly beat eggs with the milk.

Add the yeast mixture to the egg/milk mixture and then pour that into the flour mixture.

Mix well

Stir in raisins.

Let sit until raised like a poolish (good and bubbly). Right before you begin to fry, tap the bowl on the counter or push down the dough a bit.

Drop by cookie scoop into hot oil.

Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Once drained roll in sugar and place on a wire rack to dry so they do not become soggy.

Some people cover them with glaze, others with sugar (powdered or fine). I usually go with organic sugar because I like look of the grains and they don't "melt" and make the fritters soggy.

I make mine throughout the year play around with what ever flavors and additives I have around. Craisins and orange zest was a favorite. Sometimes I add cinnamon or nutmeg to the sugar before I roll them in it.

Now for the unfamiliar tradition. Mochi!

From what I understand, these are a Japanese New Year custom. Since I don't have a steam kneader I opted to try the microwave rice flour version.

Microwave Chocolate Mochi (courtesy of Eleanor Urakawa and various tips I found on the web)

1-1/2 cups mochiko (rice flour)

1-1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Katakuriko (potato starch) or kinako (roasted soybean flour), for dusting

Filling

Mix mochiko, water, sugar, chocolate, and salt in a bowl. Lightly coat a microwavable bowl with cooking spray. Pour mixture into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a microwave cover. Microwave 3 minutes on low, then 3 minutes on medium and 3 minutes on high, for a total of 9 minutes. This varies depending on your microwave. Cook until it is almost translucent, stirring occasionally.

I choose two different fillings; nutella and a raspberry marzipan mixture.

Look at the beautiful new jar of nutella! It is about to be marred for life LOL!

Let the mixture cool a bit so that you don't burn yourself. Many sites said to roll it in a tube or flat rectangle and then cut. I found it best to just use a wet cookie scoop.

If you have silpat, I would strongly recommend it.

Dust the mat with corn starch or potato starch and plop down a scoop of the mixture.

Dip your fingers in the starch. Quickly but gently work the blob into a disk. Be careful not to drag your hands but to pat the dough instead. Don't let them rest on the dough or they will stick. If your hands feel sticky, wash and then re-coat with starch or the sticky on your fingers will stick to the disk and you will literally have a mess on your hands.

I read of sticky horror stories on the web but honestly did not have any trouble with these. But then again, dough and I usually get along :)

Once you have a disk, place in your filling, and then seal like a beggars purse.

Dust off the excess and gently turn the mochi so that the seam is on the bottom. You can choose to put them on a starched plate or in cupcake liners.

Let firm. They can be served room temp, chilled, or even frozen.

The Mochi was a fun little project. I am overall happy with they way my first try turned out. Next time I will choose a firmer filling that I can roll in a ball so they aren't so flat and there is also more filling. I also want to try the ice cream version.

Daring Bakers - Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I chose to use the recipe submitted by Y. You can find the instructions and both recipes here.

The dough handled well. There wasn't too much shrinkage and it was fairly sturdy. Instead of one large house I chose to do a gingerbread centerpiece. It was small and easy to tuck do in stages and tuck away while I worked on other Holiday projects.

The only problem I had was with the theft and consumption of my freshly baked pieces. I had a lot of irons in the fire the day I was baking these and had set them aside to cool. Matt was had been coming into the kitchen and was snacking on something. I had assumed he was eating the peppernuts that were also fresh out of the oven. Nope, was I wrong. I took a break and looked over to see him eating something square.

Me -Hun, what are you eating?

Gingerbread Thief -The ginger cookies.

Me - Honey, how do they taste?

Gingerbread Thief - Kind of blah.

Me - Uh, well those are for my gingerbread houses.

Gingerbread Thief - Oh... well I guess you will have garages now.

Me - More like carports!

It must have been a Christmas miracle because I had exactly enough!

American Girl Cake

This cake was for a girl who has an American Girl doll. I was told that she has the doll named Kit and that she loves doggies.

The cute basset sitting in the American Girl shopping bag is Grace, Kit's dog.

I just wanted to snuggle it when I was done :)

Something Is Fishy With This Cake

This Groom's Cake was requested as a surprise at the couple's reception. They had a beautiful wedding in Argentina and had come home to celebrate with friends and family. This was my first fish cake and let's just say, I learned A LOT more about trout than I thought I would ever know :)

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, the Bride requested mini desserts.

In the first tray:

-Berries and cream in candy cups

-Key lime mini cupcakes with key lime filling and cream cheese frosting

- Coconut and pineapple cheesecakes with ginger thin and coconut crust,a dollop of coconut cream on top, and dried pineapple pieces.

Next:

-Berries and cream in candy cups - again

-Spiced apples in phyllo cups with candied walnuts

- Homemade puff pastry with goat cheese and quince paste.

Finally, we have a repeat of the cheesecake, mini cupcakes, spiced apples and cream and berries to fill out the platter

All together.

Next time I will make more candy cups and cream. They were gone in an instant. I sent Matt to get the balance and the tray was empty before he made it back to the dessert table.

This was a fun project. I really enjoyed the variety.

Congrats again to the beautiful couple!

Happy Holidays!

Many of you have probably seen little cake balls pop up all over the place lately. These little guys are my kitchen sink of the truffle world. What few scraps that manage to evade Matt and his big glass of milk are frozen and set aside for this sort of project.

The version above was chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, a few vanilla cupcakes, a package of ginger thins that were going to waste, buttercream frosting, cream cheese, and a few Anthon Berg liqueur filled chocolate bottles chopped up for good measure.

The recipe is simple.

Crumble cake pieces, cookies, graham crackers, nuts, or what have you in a bowl. To this add frosting, fillings, jams, or cream cheese to the crumbs. Mix.

You don't need much frosting or cream cheese. A little dab will do it. As you work it the mixture will become tacky and hold together in a ball well. If you add too much it will become slimy. The cake scraps don't need much moisture to hold together. In fact just a splash of rum or liqueur works well in place of frosting.

Make balls with the mixture and set in the fridge or freezer to chill and firm up. You want a dense and tightly rolled ball, anything loose will come apart when you try to coat it.

Melt chocolate or candy coat. Dip the balls and set aside to dry. If you froze the balls remove them from the freezer and allow the chill to come off or the coating will crack.

Had enough scrappy goodness? If not, here is a post from earlier this year.

Happy Holidays!

Daring Bakers - Vols-au-Vent

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

You can find the recipe here. The recipe is lengthy but not difficult. It is simple and only takes a little bit of planning. I have made puff pastry before and this recipe did not disappoint! As the recipe states, be sure to use good quality butter, use and oven thermometer, and chill the pastry shapes before baking.

This time I filled my pastry cups with Goat Cheese, quince paste, and fresh mint from a co-worker's garden.

And I since it is almost October, I couldn't help but play around. Below is a pick of some batty puff pastry.

Go ahead, try it. It is simpler than you think and you will never want the store bought stuff again!

An Alaskan Wedding Cake

This wedding cake was for and Alaskan Bride and Groom that work at the Alaska SeaLife Center. It was a vanilla cake with strawberry and white chocolate ganache filling, white chocolate ganache layer over the cake, and then topped with fondant.

I was trilled to be able to make a truly Alaskan wedding cake topper! Thanks for the opportunity guys. I really appreciate it.

Here is a close up of the Bride and Groom.

Complete with a just married sign.

And finally a link to another xtra tuf post of mine.

Best wishes to the Bride and Groom!