Christmas Desserts

Yes, I know this is late, but here is how I spent Christmas 2012.  I had eleventy glorious days off from work.  The thing I miss the most is my mid-day naps.  I swear, I sleep more than the average person.  I also did not go to the gym once in the entire month of December and gorged myself on chocolate.  It was wonderful.

I was busy this Christmas season.  I made everyone's favorite dessert.  Everyone, being everyone who would be there Christmas morning to open presents as is our Bruner family tradition.  Except my brother Richard.  It must be because I do not love him.  Or that he has been gone for two years and I am so used to him not being present that I forgot count him.  Or by the time I got everyone's order I did not want to add another dessert to the list.  Or, since I know my brother so well, I know he would not want anything to add because he does not like dessert that much.  Or it would be some obscure Romanian or European dessert that I would have no hope of tackling in two days.  You should hear him go on his rant as why European Chocolate is superior to American Chocolate.  Or all of the above, take your pick.

 For my husband, J.  Sad to say the Peanut Butter Bars did not make it to my parent's Christmas Morning with the rest of the goodies.  I was forbidden from letting them leave the house for fear they would not return.

Peanut Butter Bars

• 1 cup Oatmeal
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 3/4 cup Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup melted Butter
• Combine and mix all of the above ingredients.  Press into an ungreased pan and refrigerate.
• Chocolate Topping
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips
• 1/4 cup Peanut Butter
• Microwave 30 seconds at a time until the chocolate chips are melted.  Mix in between microwave times until the chocolate is smooth and creamy.  Pour and spread out on top of the peanut butter base.  Refrigerate.

For my Dad

Mexican Wedding Cookies 

• 1 cup Butter, softened or room temperature.  Any recipe that starts with butter has to be good.
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 and 1/4 cup Flour
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• * Optional:  3/4 cup chopped Walnuts.  I love nuts, so I always add them to these cookies. For people who are nut-haters or allergic they are perfectly scrumptious without them.
• Mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Add flour and salt and mix until almost combined.  Add the nuts last.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8 - 12 minutes.  When cool enough to touch cover in powdered sugar.  This recipe makes 40 - 50 cookies using a small ice cream scoop to portion them.

For my sister, Camilla, and her husband, Steven.  The phone call went like this, "Hi Camilla, what is your favorite dessert?"  "Rocky Road Fudge."  "What is Steve's favorite dessert?" "Rocky Road Fudge."  "Can you get Steve on the phone so I can ask him?" "No, he's busy watching the game and loves Rocky Road Fudge."  Then I come to find out that Steve's favorite dessert is Camilla's favorite dessert by default of marriage and pregnancy cravings.  Sorry Steve.

Easy Rocky Road Fudge

• 1 can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 bag (12 oz) Chocolate Chips
• 1 oz unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cup chopped Walnuts
• 1 and 1/2 cup mini Marshmallows
• Melt chocolate with sweetened condensed milk over low heat, mixing until smooth.  Remove from heat and add vanilla, walnuts, and marshmallows.  Pour into a buttered pan and refrigerate for 2+ hours until set.  Cut into squares.

For my Mom.

Mini Pecan Pies 

Pie Crust

• 2 and 1/4 cup Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 Sticks (1 cup) of cold Butter cut into chunks
• 8-10 Tbs ice cold water
• Food processor flour, butter, and salt until grainy.  Add ice cold water 1 Tbs at a time until the dough starts to form.  Toss out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until the dough comes together.  Separate the dough into two balls and refrigerate in plastic wrap for 30 minutes or longer.  Use only half the dough.  I used the other half for Chicken Pot Pie.

Pecan Pie Filling

• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 1/3 cup Butter, melted
• 1 cup Corn Syrup
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup whole or chopped Pecans
• Whisk together all the ingredients then add Pecans last.  
• Roll out one ball of dough, half the dough, and cut out circles with a biscuit cutter or large cup.  Spray a muffin pan with Pam or other cooking spray.  Put the dough rounds into the pan.  Fill each dough cup with pecan filling. Bake at 375 degrees for around 20 - 30 minutes.

I realized an important thing as I making my family's favorite desserts:  My family is NUTS.  Everything they requested had nuts in it.  

 Our Bruner Family Christmas 2012.  Mom and the Christmas Tree.

 My niece Illianna (Camilla and Steve's daughter) loved opening presents and she did it with such gusto.  We should have just wrapped a bunch of empty boxes for her to open since that was her favorite part.

 Illianna and her Daddy, Steve.

 Illianna, Dad, my brother Richard, and J wearing his new hat.  He is a hat guy.  He has a collection of hats.

 Illianna and her Grandpa.  Daddy also got a new hat this year.  He calls it his "Old Man Hat" to go with his "Old Man Glasses".  I think he looks good in his hat.  

This is my favorite present from my husband.  J made me a pinner apron for my Civil War dress.  I cannot sew so I appreciate the time and skill he spent making this for me.  He has been working on a new hoop skirt dress which he was hoping to finish by Christmas, but since that did not happen he whipped up this apron instead.  I love it.  I love plaid anything. 

Yellow Cake

I had the honor of making a wedding cake for a family friend.  Katie and Marcus got married December 28th.  It was a beautiful wedding and an even more lovely couple.  Earlier this month I did a cake tasting with them and they requested a yellow cake with lemon curd filling on the bottom 12" layer and for the top 9" layer raspberry jam filling.  It was a small, simple two layer buttercream cake, but any cake takes some amount of work.

Yellow Cake

• 1 and 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbs Vanilla extract
• 2 and 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 cup Cake Flour
• 1 and 1/4 cup all purpose Flour
• 1 and 1/4 cup Buttermilk or Whole Milk
• Bake 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

I quadrupled this recipe to make one 9" round layer and one 12" round layer of cake.

The first thing I did was make butter.  Whip heavy whipping cream for 10 - 15 minutes until it separates into butter and buttermilk.

Strain the butter and save the buttermilk.  Then mash the butter against the strainer to get all the buttermilk out and rinse the butter ball in bowl cold water.  Strain the water out and you have ready to use butter for the cake.  1 pint or 2 cups of heavy cream makes about 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of buttermilk.  Remember, save the buttermilk, I need this for later.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Add all the dry ingredients together:  Flour, Cake Flour, and Baking Powder in one bowl.  Get the Buttermilk (saved from making butter) ready in another container.  Alternate adding dry flour mixture to the batter with the buttermilk.  Starting and ending with milk until everything is combined.

Pour the batter into greased and floured cake pans.  A double recipe made enough for one 12" pan and one 9" pan.  Which means I need to repeat it to make enough cake.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes for the 12" cake and about 20 minutes for the 9" cake.  Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes before trying to get them out of the pan.  I know, earlier I said 350 degrees, but my oven runs hot and I did not want to run the risk of burning them so I set it lower to 325.

Another set of cake batter ready for baking.  Note to self, I really need to invest in another 12" cake pan.  Washing it between baking gets a bit annoying.

Allow the cakes to cool.

I am running out of space on my little kitchen counter.

Cut the tops off of the cakes.  Reserve for Cake Pops.  Fill the top 9" top cake layer with raspberry jam.

Cover with the other side of the cake.

Crumb Coat with vanilla buttercream and refrigerate.

Fill the bottom 12" layer with lemon curd filling.

Crumb coat with vanilla buttercream and refrigerate.  I am running out of room in my refrigerator.

Frost both cakes with vanilla buttercream.

Smooth out the frosting.

Add dowels to the 12" bottom layer to keep the top 9" layer from sinking into the middle.  I stuck the dowels in the cake first to measure how deep they should go.  I think I used 8 wood dowels for this one.  I first centered where the 9" cake would go on top and drew a circle around the cake with black edible marker.

Cut the ends off the dowels and re-insert into the cake.

They should be flat so the top layer sits on them without sinking or looking lopsided.  You can always cover any gaps with frosting.

I used Black Edible Marker to draw the lines.  I do not think that will look good if someone gets a cake piece with black on it so I had better scrape off the black frosting parts.  I also added 4 dowels into the top layer of the cake to hold the cake topper.  Store in the fridge until ready for transport.

Off to the wedding.

Here is the final product.  A yellow buttercream cake with raspberry filling on top and lemon curd on the bottom.  Decorated with fresh basil leaves and kumquats.

Here is my family.  My brother Richard and my parents.

Close up of the cake.

Our Bride and Groom, Katie and Marcus with Dad and I.  They are the cutest couple and I wish them the best.  Congratulations!

Buttercream

This is the final product.  A beautiful Wedding Cake for Katie and Marcus decorated with fresh Basil and Kumquats.  This is a buttercream cake.  Here is the buttercream part.  

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup Butter, softened, melty, or room temperature
• 1 cup Shortening
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 Tbs Heavy Whipping Cream
• 8 cups of Powdered Sugar / Confection's Sugar (2 pound bag / 32 ounces)
• *optional 2 Tbs Meringue Powder

I like to whip together all the wet ingredients first:  Butter, Shortening, Vanilla, and Cream.

Then I add 1 cup of Powdered Sugar and the Meringue Powder and whip that together.

Then add 1 cup at a time of powdered sugar until I get all 8 cups in.  I add more cream as I go until it is a smooth consistency.  Add more cream for a thinner frosting.  Add more powdered sugar for a thicker or stiff frosting.  I find a thinner frosting is best for frosting the cake.  You want thick frosting for making flowers and design elements.

Now to frost the cake.

This is my dirty ice, dirty frost, or crumb coat phase.  I just add a thin layer of buttercream on the cake then let it set in the refrigerator.  This keeps all the cake crumbs together so when I go to frost it there are no cake crumbs sticking out on the final look.

I add more frosting on top of the crumb coat.

Smooth that out and I have a finished buttercream cake.

Me and my (technically Katie and Marcus) wedding cake.

Yellow Vanilla Cake with raspberry filling on the top layer and lemon curd filling on the bottom layer.  Decorated with Kumquats and fresh Basil leaves.