Chocolate Peppermint Stick Marshmallow Fantasy Cake December 30, 2007

This cake looked sooo good when I saw that  Peabody posted it in early December.  I thought it would be a great dessert to bring to a Christmas Party we had the Saturday before Christmas, so my friend Jori and I got together to try it out.   I was a bit disappointed on the appearance of the cake when it was all put together (the frosting wasn’t fluffy and spreadable like it should have been, not sure what went wrong there…) but it was probably one of the best cakes I’ve had!  If you like cake, chocolate and peppermint, this is the cake for you!  (and if you want to see how it was supposed to look check out Peabody’s page)

 

Chocolate Peppermint Stick Marshmallow Fantasy Cake

(Recipes from:  Peabody who adopted it from Food Network.com and Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman)

White Cake Batter
Chocolate Cake Batter
Marshmallow Frosting
Mini Candy Canes(for decoration)
Crushed Candy Canes(for decoration)

Classic White Cake

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (we couldn’t find these so we used mint chips instead…I should have read Peabody’s intro before substituting the crunch baking chips…)
pink food coloring

Set rack at the middle level in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Butter the bottom of two 9-inch round. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scape the bowl and beater often. Fold in Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips. Take 2/3 of the batter out and place into a separate bowl and set aside. Add 3 drops of pink food coloring to the remaining 1/3. Blend until the batter is pink in color.

Chocolate Cake

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup boiling water

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon then set aside. In small bowl combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat well with hand mixer(or place in a stand mixer). Slowly add boiling water and mix. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and fold and stir until smooth.
To make the the cake:

Set out both prepared cake pans. In the first pan scoop 2 cups of chocolate batter into the pan, spread out with spatula. Next scoop 1 ½ cups white batter with peppermint chips into the center of the chocolate batter. Spread out to form a circle. Lastly scoop 1 cup of the remaining pink into the center of the pink batter.
For the second pan. Scoop 2 cups white batter with peppermint chips into pan, spread out with a spatula. Scoop 1 ½ cups of the chocolate batter into the center of the white batter, spread out with spatula to form a circle. Scoop 1 cup of the remaining pink batter into the center of the chocolate batter.
You will most likely have leftover batter…if so make cupcakes.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, OR until the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Flip cake over onto a rack and remove parchment or waxed paper. Let cake cool completely before frosting.

 Marshmallow Frosting:

4 egg whites
1 ½  cups sugar
½  cup light corn syrup
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
6 drops pink food coloring

Using a large bowl, preferably the top of a double boiler, mix eggs, sugar, corn syrup and salt until combined. Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot, about 3 minutes(be careful to not make it too hot since you are using eggs and don’t want them to scramble). Remove heat and beat 5-7 minutes until frosting is cool and stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla and peppermint extract. Add food coloring and beat until all the color is incorporated.

Cooling rack of desserts for our Christmas Party.

To assemble the cake:

Place one cake layer on cake plate. Take one cup of frosting and spread it out evenly onto the layer. Place the second layer on top of the frosted layer. Use remainder of frosting to frost top and sides of cake. Decorate top of cake with crushed candy canes. Decorate side of cake with mini candy canes.

Cornbread Yeast Rolls & Slow Cooker BBQ Pork December 20, 2007

This past Sunday I hosted our min-church Christmas Party.  We had another Christmas Party to attend beforehand so I had to think of something to make that didn’t take up a lot of my time in the kitchen.  Gotta love the slow cooker!  I made the rolls the day before, threw the pork in the slow cooker the morning of and dinner was served!
   

Cornbread Yeast Rolls

Adapted from FoodReference.com

If you love cornbread, but want something different, try these rolls. The recipe is very friendly, so no special knowledge or tricks are required. I used my stand mixer, but I think you could make them by hand with a little elbow grease. When measuring your flour, lightly spoon it into measuring cups and level with a knife. Makes 12 sandwich-sized rolls 1 cup warm water
1 tbs. sugar
1 (7 gram) packet active dry yeast
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, divided
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 2/3 c. cornmeal
4 tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 (7 oz.) can corn, drained well
2 tbs. coarse cornmeal (optional)
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash Combine the water and sugar in a bowl. Add the yeast and gently stir. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes, or until yeast forms a foamy layer on top of water.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1 cup of the whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Add the yeast mixture and mix with the dough hook attachment on low speed until combined. Add the salt, cornmeal, melted butter, honey, eggs and corn. Continue mixing on medium-low speed until combined.

With the mixer running, add the remaining 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Continue mixing until you have a slightly sticky dough that pulls away from the sides of bowl. If dough is too wet, add the remaining 1/3 cup of flour slowly until the dough holds together and pulls away from the bowl. I used nearly all of the flour. Let the mixer knead the dough for about 1 minute, then transfer dough to a large bowl, coated with olive oil. Turn the dough over once inside the bowl to coat it all over with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then with a dish towel and leave it to rise in a warm place until roughly doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle with coarse cornmeal, if using. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for a few seconds, then divide into two pieces. You can stop here if you want to make two rustic loaves, or you can divide each piece into 6 balls to make rolls. Knead each ball once or twice and place on the prepared baking sheets with seam side down. Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and leave them to rise a second time for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until they puff up noticeably. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

Right before you put them in the oven, gently brush the rolls with the beaten egg to add a nice gloss to the finished rolls. Bake for 20 to 25, switching the positions of the baking sheets halfway through. Remove from oven when rolls are golden on top, browned on the bottom and sound hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then finish cooling on wire racks.

BBQ Pork

I searched for BBQ pork recipes on-line and didn’t strictly go from any of them to make my pork.  I seasoned a 6 pound Boston butt pork roast with Cajun Seasonings, threw it in the slow cooker and cooked it on low for 8 hours.  I pulled the roast out after 8 hours, shred it, threw it back in the slow cooker with a bottle of BBQ sauce and kept it on low/warm until it was time to eat.  It turned out delicious!

Grandma’s Banket December 17, 2007

Last week my grandma-in-law taught me (along with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law) how to make Banket.  (For those of you who are not dutch, this is a dutch pastry using almond paste.)  Since this was the first time I have ever made it, I thought I would give it a try again on my own so I would get some practice making this dutch pastry.  Note this recipe needs to refrigerate overnight before completing.

Grandma’s Banket

Day 1

Pastry:

4 C flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 lb - 1/2 butter & 1/2 Imperial (cut into chunks)

1 C ice water

Use pastry blender to mix the first four ingredients together.  Add water slowly and continue to blend.  Continue mixing using your hands and quickly form a solid ball.  (The less you mess with it, the better.)  Spread dough out in pie plate and refrigerate overnight.

Filling:

1 lb almond paste (shredded)

1 1/2 C sugar

3 eggs beaten (save 1 egg white)

2 tsp corn starch

couple drops almond extract

Mix all above ingredients together with large spoon pressing down to smooth out paste.  Spread this also in a different pie plate and refrigerate overnight. 

Day 2

Divide each pie plate into ten portions evenly.  Shape 1/10 of the dough portion into a bean shape and roll to about 10 inches long by 3 inches wide (about 1/2 inch thick).  Roll 1/10 of the filling into the thickness of the size of a thumb and as long as the pastry, place on rolled-out dough.  Roll up and seal with cold water.  Brush with egg white (slightly beaten), prick each roll four times with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or until tops are golden brown.  Cool on cooling rack.  Once cool, place on tin foil covered cardboard and wrap with saran wrap and tin foil.

Paula Deen’s Savannah Bow Ties December 11, 2007

Paula was making these cookies the other night on her show and they looked so tasty and simple to make I thought I’d give it a try.  I was buying almond paste already for the second round of Ban Ket I am in the process of making so I figured why not buy a little more to try these cute things out.  I plan on making the Chocolate Dipping Sauce when I bring the cookies to a party, but they even taste great without it.

Savannah Bow Ties

1/2 a (17 1/4-ounce) pkg frozen puff pastry (1 sheet)

1/2 c almond paste

1 egg yolk, white reserved

1/4 cup packaged brown sugar

2 teaspoons milk

1 egg white

Sugar, for sprinkling

Chocolate Dipping Sauce, recipe follows

Let pastry stand at room temperature for 20 minutes or until easy to roll.  Unfold pastry on a lightly floured surface.  Roll into a 14-inch square.  Cut square in half with a fluted pastry wheel. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

For filling:  crumble almond paste in a small mixing bowl.  Add egg yolk, brown sugar, and milk.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed.  Spread filling over 1 pastry half*.  Place remaining pastry half on top of filling.  Using the fluted pastry wheel, cut dough crosswise into fourteen 1-inch-wide strips.  Then cut each strip in half crosswise to make 28 pieces.  Twist each piece twice.  Place twists about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets (I used pizza stone) lined with foilr or parchment paper.  Brush twists with slightly beaten egg white.  Sprinkle with sugar (coarse sugar if available).

 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden.  Transfer to wire racks to cool.  Serve with Chocolate Dipping Sauce.

   

*Almond filling will be very stiff.  To make spreading easier, drop a dollop of filling uniformly over pastry.  Spray a piece of waxed paper with non-stick cooking spray.  Press almond paste evenly over entire dough (a rolling pin works well).  Spray waxed paper as often as necessary to prevent filling from sticking.

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 (1.5-ounce) milk chocolate bars

2 cups whipping cream

1 egg yolk, beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Crumble candy bars in 1 at a time.  Gradually stir in cream.  Cook and stir over medium heat until chocolate is melted.  Temper egg yolk with 1/2 cup of hot sauce.  Add back to pot and cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla and pour into a serving bowl.  Any remaining sauce can be poured into custard cups, refrigerated and served as pudding.

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Yield:  enough sauce for 28 cookies

Prep Time:  5 minutes

Cook Time:  10 minutes

Easy of Preperation:  Easy