Bringing in the New Year!

 

New Year's represents a time of rebirth, change, and of course a good reason to party!  For centuries people have been celebrating it in many different ways. Here in the US, the fondest memories of many are of Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve in New York City's Times Square.  Even if you've never been there, you've probably watched it over the years on TV. Did you know that this event started back in 1972?  Today the event entertains hundred of thousands of people, not including the millions who watch at home.

 

The first New Year's ball in New York City was used in 1907 due to a ban on fireworks. The 700 pound ball was made of iron and wood and was lowered from a flagpole. Today it's much more glamorous and made by Waterford Crystal. It weights 11,875 pounds and is 12 feet in diameter. So, you know that song that everyone sings as the clock strikes midnight, how does it go? Should all acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should all acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne. It was written by Robert Burns in the 1700's and called Auld Lang Syne which means "times long past". It was made popular in NYC at the Roosevelt Hotel and later made it's way onto radio and TV broadcasting. 

Many people recognize the New Years baby in a diaper, top hat, and a sash. This dates all the way back to Greece when they would parade a baby around town in a basket to represent the rebirth of the God of Fertility.  And what about Father Time who walks away leaving behind the little baby in a top hat?  He represents the end of the year and is actually (ok, stay with me here) the grown up version of the baby from last year. That cute little baby from last year grew into an old decrepit man with a scythe and an hourglass.

Champagne Toasts

In Spain you're supposed to eat 12 grapes at midnight to unsure a year filled with luck. Each grape represents every month and must be eaten while the clock is still ticking at midnight!  Many people peel the grapes first for easy gorging.

 

For something different, try a little limoncello in the bottom of your glass.  Add it in about 1/3 of the way up and top with champagne or sparkling wine. It's very refeshing and can be served this way any time of year.

Looking for something really different? Muddle 1 package or blackberries with 5 leaves of basil.  Let it sit about 30 minutes and then strain through a seive. Add it to your champagne (slowly!) The small pieces of pulp can get the glass a little messy when it bubbles up.

And Don't Forget to Kiss at Midnight!

Kissing at midnight ensures that there will be 12 months of continued love and affection with your partner. Be weary, if you don't it may have the opposite reaction!

It's not a party without party hats and noisemakers.  The party hat originates back to of all things......a dunce cap.  The dunce cap is a cone shaped hat that was worn as punishment when school children were acting mischievous.  When party goers wear their cone party hats they're allowed to be frivolous and behave foolishly.  Noisemakers are a lot of fun to play when bringing in the new year.  Below are some that I've collected and it always brings out the young juvenile in me to play them.  There are clappers and squawkers and clickers and horns.  Even tambourines and kazoos are fun.  If you don't have any noisemakers, pots and pans work well also!

So I hope that you have a very Happy New Year and enjoy your night!  What will the new year bring to you?

 

 

Christmas Stollen

Stollen also known as Christstollen is a traditional Christmas cake like bread that dates back to the 14^th century.  The lumps in the bread represent the camels that the wise men road to welcome Jesus Christ into the world.  The sweet dried fruits represent the gifts and jewels given to the Christ child. Stollen recipes include dried or candied fruits, nuts, spices, and either powdered sugar or a light icing on top.

Originally when stolen was first made, bakers were banned from using butter or milk in their recipes during advent season. Early stolen recipes were eaten during a time of fasting so they were much more plain and made of flour, oats, yeast and oil. In the 15^th century Prince Ernst of Saxony Germany and his brother wrote their famous “butter letter” to the pope urging that he allow them to use butter in their stolen.  Shortly after, the Prince was allowed to, but others had to pay a fee to the church for this allowance. Eventually the ban was removed and all kinds of things like butter, milk, dried fruits and nuts, and marzipan were used.

In 1560 a German tradition was born. A stolen weighing around 30 pounds was made special for the king during his holiday feast. In present day it’s called Stollenfest (of course) and the large stollen gets paraded through the town of Dresden Germany.  Townspeople slice off a piece to devour.  In present time, this stolen is said to weigh up to 2 tons. 

So, now onto my stollens……                               

I decided to take one basic recipe and make a few ingredient adjustments.  Keep in mind that you can substitute any fruits, nuts, or citrus.  You also don’t need to fill the center like I did, but it is more exciting that way.  I chose to dust them with powdered sugar, but thin icing made from butter, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar is nice as well.

Marzipan Stollen

2 C Dried Fruit (cranberries, dates, raisins, apricots, figs)

2 T Brandy                    

2 T Orange Juice

3 C Flour

3 T Sugar

Pinch of Salt

¼ t Nutmeg

¼ t Cinnamon

¼ t Ground Anise (or substitute mace)

Zest of 1 Orange

¼ C Milk

1/3 C Warm Water

7 T Melted Butter (2 T is for basting the top)

2 Eggs, Lightly Beaten

1 T Vanilla

Powdered Sugar for Dusting

7 Oz Marzipan

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the larger dried fruits and put all of the fruit into a bowl.  Mix it with the orange juice and brandy.

Mix the yeast and the warm water in a bowl.  Add the milk and 5 T butter.  Stir in the spices, vanilla, zest, flour, sugar and salt.

Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 1 minute.  Press into about 1 ½ inch piece and put 2/3 of the fruit mix on top.  Knead it into the bread until mixed.  Press it out into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Work the marzipan into a long cylinder as long as the rectangle minus a cm on each end.  Place it about 1/3 from the top.  Evenly sprinkle the remaining fruit on top of the marzipan. 

Roll the dough over and carefully tuck the ends under.  Set it aside on a parchment lined baking sheet for 2-2 ½ hours, covered.

 

The dough should proof and become much larger.  Brush with butter to coat. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until done.  Brush with remaining butter and heavily dust with powdered sugar.

 

 

  

Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Stollen

1 C Dried Cranberries

½ C Dried Apricots

2 T Brandy                    

2 T Orange Juice

3 C Flour

3 T Sugar

Pinch of Salt

¼ t Nutmeg

¼ t Cinnamon

¼ C Milk

1/3 C Warm Water

7 T Melted Butter (2 T is for basting the top)

2 Eggs, Lightly Beaten

1 T Vanilla

Powdered Sugar for Dusting

½ C Pistachios

1 ½ C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the larger apricots and put it into a bowl along with the cranberries.  Mix it with the orange juice and brandy.

Mix the yeast and the warm water in a bowl.  Add the milk and 5 T butter.  Stir in the spices, vanilla, zest, flour, sugar and salt. Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 1 minute.  Press into about 1 ½ inch piece and put 2/3 of the fruit mix on top.  Knead it into the bread until mixed.  Press it out into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. About 1/3 from the top, evenly sprinkle the remaining fruit across it in a long line. Put 1 cup of the chocolate chips and ½ cup of pistachios down the center as well.

Roll the dough over and carefully tuck the ends under.  Set it aside on a parchment lined baking sheet for 2-2 ½ hours, covered.

The dough should proof and become much larger.  Brush with butter to coat. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until done.  Brush with remaining butter and dust with powdered sugar.

 

Chop the remaining pistachios.  Melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle it across the top. Sprinkle the top with pistachios.

 

  

 

 

 

Christmas Bark

Feel like making something quick and easy this Christmas? Barks are about as easy as it gets.  All you need is melted chocolate or almond bark and some of your favorite toppings. So why is it called bark anyway? Well, it starts as a thin layer of delicious chocolaty goodness that gets broken into rough pieces which is supposed to resemble tree bark.

There are no recipes for this post, so you'd better not pout! I'm telling you to get creative!  The most popular bark at Christmas would be to crush candy canes into melted almond bark or white chocolate.  I have taken it a step further and melted chocolate in a very thin layer and chill for bout 3 minutes.  You'll want to prepare it on a wax paper lined cookie sheet for easy clean up and the breaking of the bark.

Then you carefully spread the melted almond bark or white chocolate.  Be careful not to mix the two. For most barks, I would suggest that you mix some of the flavorings in and some on the top. With this one, you shouldn't. It's too risky that you'll mix the two chocolates together.  Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and let it cool.  Break it apart and give it out to your friends and family! Below is the candy cane bark and also one that I made with crushed old fashioned Christmas candies and semi-sweet chocolate.

Other ideas include trail mix with milk chocolate, dried cranberries with pistachios and white chocolate, and candied orange peel with crystallized ginger and dark chocolate.

You can also get a little crazy like I did last year.  I did the base just like the candy cane bark above. Then instead of candy, I crushed pink peppercorns.  I know it sounds weird to the average housewife, but my foodie housewives and I loved it!

Enjoy!

Just Spritzen Some Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies, or in German “Spritzgebäck”, are a buttery cookie made from butter, flour, sugar and eggs. Many people have a special recipe that they pass down from generation to generation. In English the German word “spritzen” means “to squirt”. This cookie is super easy to make with a spritz cookie press.  You put the dough into this gun like press that has a fitted pattern disk on the end. You squeeze the trigger and out pops your decorative cookie shape. When I told my mom that I wanted to try making spritz cookies, she excitedly volunteered to help me and loan out this recipe from her very first cookbook. I’m a big fan of making sugar cookies with my German grandmothers’ yummy recipe. However I sometimes get impatient when I have to roll them all out and frost them during the busy holiday season.  After making this super easy spritz cookie this year, I may have found a new favorite for Christmas!

Spritz Cookies

Makes 2-3 Dozen

2 ½ C Flour

½ t Salt
1 C Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
1¼ C Powdered Sugar
1 Egg
½ t Almond Extract
1 ½ t Vanilla
Food Coloring (optional)
Sprinkles, Red Hots, or Colored Sugars (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all of the ingredients together.  If your butter is still a little cold, beat it by itself first to soften. Add food coloring if you like.

Load up your spritz press and grease your cookie sheets.  Many presses have a device in them where all that you need to do is click once, pull up and then move onto the next. Sprinkle with sprinkles, Red Hots, or sugar. Bake for about 6-8 minutes.

You can also drizzle them with a thin glaze of icing. I made one batch with powdered sugar, butter, milk, and lime zest and it turned out really well.

The Bûche de Noël

The Bûche de Noël, also known as Yule Log, is a traditional French pastry that is served during the Christmas holiday season. It’s considered a jelly roll which is made from genoise or sponge cake and is typically filled with buttercream or preserves. It then gets shaped into a log and frosted with chocolate buttercream frosting.  Many times a log pattern is made into it by hand or with a special log pattern tool that you can find in a hardware store.  You can garnish it with meringue or marzipan mushrooms, holly, ribbons, berries, or anything else that reminds you of the French woodland forests. There are many recipe combinations for your Bûche de Noël.  Usually the yellow sponge cake remains the same in all logs.  The frosting should be chocolate for its log-like color, but there are also recipes where you would pour ganache over it or you can make a mocha buttercream.  The filling is an area for you to have fun with.  Traditionally the filling is the same chocolate buttercream that is on the outside, but that’s not very exciting for an inquisitive housewife to make. For mine I made a chocolate mousse and spread raspberry preserves on the inside. Try a layer of preserves like raspberry, orange, or apricot. For the buttercream, try flavoring it with espresso, citrus zest, eggnog, or berries.  You could even brush a little brandy or other liqueur on the cake before rolling it up. 

The name Bûche de Noël means “Christmas Log”.  So why did people in the 19^th century originally decide to make a cake resembling an actual log? Real Yule Logs (that come from trees) are linked to a long lived tradition of burning a log during winter solstice as a symbol of rebirth. Later it was burned to represent the light of the Holy Spirit. This tradition was not only in France, but in many countries like Ireland, Greece, and Scandinavia. The logs were decorated with ribbons, berries, and greens which resembles the Bûche de Noël. The French would burn yule logs on the fire on Christmas Eve. Napoleon Bonaparte issued a proclamation that the people of Paris had to close their chimneys during the winter months to stop the spread of illnesses. Since they couldn’t burn their logs the French had to find another way to celebrate. During this period the Bûche de Noël was born.

                                                                                                      

Bûche de Noël

                                                                                                                                      

Sponge Cake:

4 Eggs

½ C Sugar

1 C Flour

Pinch of Salt

2 T Unsalted Butter, Melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the eggs and sugar for several minutes until it reaches ribbon stage.  This is where it gets whipped up so much that when you move the whisk, a “ribbon” of the egg mix lightly sits on top of it.  Carefully fold in the remaining ingredients except the butter with a spatula. Pour the butter in slowly and fold that in s well.

I lined a large restaurant grade sheet pan with parchment paper.  If you use something of this size I would make this recipe 1 ½ times.  When I made mine it was a little thin and as you’ll see in the pictures it cracked a little.  If you use a 9x13 cake pan, your log will be a little shorter but will have a perfect amount of batter for the above recipe.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Chocolate Mousse:

16 Oz Heavy Whipping Cream

6 Oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Melted

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. 

Now here’s the tricky part, the chocolate will seize if you don’t do this quickly.  Rather than a smooth mousse, you’ll have whipped cream with chocolate chunks in it.  Take about a third of the whipped cream into a bowl and very quickly mix in about half of the chocolate.  Add the remaining chocolate to that mix.  Then fold it in with the rest of the whipped cream.  Let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
3 ½ C Powdered Sugar (sift if clumpy)
1 C Cocoa Powder
12 T Unsalted Butter
½ C Milk, Room Temp
1 T Vanilla

Mix the butter with a paddle. Add the remaining ingredients.

Assembling the Log

You will also need a 10 oz jar of Raspberry Jam

 

Peel the paper off of your cake to loosen but then make sure that it’s on the bottom of your cake.  Spread out a thin layer of the jam over the entire cake.  Spread out the chocolate mousse about a centimeter thick (recipe may have leftover) making sure to leave about ½ of space at the top of the cake.  This is just in case the mouse starts to squeeze out the top. 

Then roll it from the bottom to the top.  Use your paper to help you roll it up if needed.  Either use this shape as the log, or slice an angled piece off of one end and attach it to the side to make it more "log-like".

Frost your log with the chocolate butter cream.  This recipe with give you plenty of frosting so you will most likely have extra.  Use a toothpick or a fork to create a wood grain pattern.

Decorate it with holly, ribbons, meringue mushrooms or marzipan mushrooms.  I took prepared marzipan and shaped it into different sized mushrooms.  Then I took red dye with a little water and painted the tops of them.  With the others I took cocoa powder with a little water and painted the tops with my finger. 

You could also dip the tops in melted chocolate.  If you want to cheat, at Christmas time many stores carry already prepared marzipan characters and mushrooms that you could use. 

Have a Cool Yule!

Christmas Plum Pudding

A lot of people in America have heard about plum pudding but few have ever tasted it. Plum pudding is most often referenced in old English Carols and Christmas stories and is also known as Christmas pudding. This steamed pudding, which is more like a cake, is filled with lots of dried fruits, nuts and even beef or animal fats.  Originally it also contained root vegetables and was doused in booze and hung on a hook for several weeks in a basement or fruit cellar. It was steamed in a pudding cloth, similar to cheese cloth and then boiled in water. Plum pudding wasn’t a dessert at all in the beginning. Because of the shortages in livestock, it was a way of preserving meat at the end of autumn. The meat was prepared along with dried fruits which acted as a preservative. It wasn’t until the 1800’s that flour, sugar and spices were added into plum pudding recipes.

“Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone, too nervous to bear witnesses, to take the pudding up and bring it in... Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper which smells like a washing-day. That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry cook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that. That was the pudding. In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered, flushed, but smiling proudly, with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quarter of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. “   Taken from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

There are a lot of traditions that go along with plum pudding.  Many families would make it on the 25^th Sunday of Trinity out of 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his 12 disciples.  When the pudding is set flame, it represents Christ's light for the world.  The traditional holly garnish represents his thorn crown.

Other families used to stir coins or small silver charms into the pudding.  Whoever got a coin in their piece would receive wealth and good luck. Don’t swallow it! Many times people would add symbolic charms that were boiled and then wrapped in a grease proof paper before baking.  It is also traditional for everyone in the family to simultaneously hold onto the wooden spoon, stir the batter for the pudding, and make a wish. They called this day “Stir up Sunday”.

"Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen" 

Taken from the Book of Common Prayer

A lot of people speculate on whether or not plum pudding actually contains plums. In fact, many recipes don’t even include plums (dried prunes). The old definition of prunes also included raisins as "prunes".

 

Plum pudding is traditionally served by saturating it with a lot of brandy over the top and lighting it on fire.  A sprig of holly is its typical garnish, but fresh holly is hard to find. It can also be served with a brandy or rum butter, hard caramel sauce, applesauce, ice cream, or powdered sugar. Often it is served with Sherry. It can be boiled traditionally in cheese cloth, in a makeshift double boiler (like my recipe below), or even steamed in a coffee can.

Plum Pudding

Makes 1 Large Cake

1 C Sugar

1 C Unsalted Butter

½ C Milk

½ C Brandy (or substitute another ½ C Milk)

2 Beaten Eggs

2/3 C Molasses

¼ t Salt

1 t Baking Soda

1T Baking Powder

3 ½ C Flour

½ C Pecans, Chopped

1 Orange (Zested, Segmented and Chopped)

3 ½ C Dried Fruits like Apricots, Prunes, Raisins, Dates, Cranberries

1 t Cinnamon

¼ t Ground Cloves

¼ t Nutmeg

¼ t Dried Ginger

Grease and lightly flour a bundt pan.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix everything else except the fruit and nuts until thoroughly blended.  Add in the remaining ingredients.

Ok, here’s where it gets crazy….

Many recipes that I found had it steaming in a pan of water that is just to a boil and then covering it.  These recipes said that it takes 4 hours to cook, but mine took just under 2 hours.  Here is what I did.  I took a large pot and filled it as close to the top as possible, or at least to the top of where the cake was.  I used a silicone baking pan which may be part of my 2 hour trick.  I used a funnel to get the water filled up in the pot.  I covered it with a lid.

 

Steam until a toothpick comes out clean.

Super Boozy Rum Butter Icing

½ C Unsalted Butter, Softened

1 C Powered Sugar

4 T Brandy

Zest of 1 Orange

Pinch of Nutmeg
 

Cream the butter and then add the remaining ingredients. 

Either frost the cake and serve at room temp later or serve warm with icing dollop which will melt down into the cake.  Garnish with holly, nuts or dried fruits.