christmas cookie

For as long as I can remember my mom has made Aunt Julie's sugar cookies. The key to Aunt Julie's cookies is to roll the dough really thin, as thin as you can, and then bake until just golden around the edges and sprinkle with sugar while they are still hot. They are superb cookies. At least we like to think so. We trade them amongst the family--my aunt Sarah will make some, pile them in a tin, wrap it with ribbon and gift it to my dad and my mom will make some and pile them in a tin, wrap it with ribbon and give it to my grandmother--they are family heirlooms that we make and eat every year at Christmas.

So as you can see these aren't Aunt Julie's cookies. It's just that it's not quite time for crisp sugar cookies. They are timed for the arrival of reindeer on rooftops. In the meantime I decided to make a different type of twinkling cookie, a molasses ginger cookie. This recipe is from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Everyday. I was struck by the dark cookie with the chunky demerara sugar shell. These cookies are a wonderful mix of sweet outer crunch and chewy flavorful cookie. The molasses flavor runs deep, through the chocolate, the apricot and the ginger, which all act as punctuations to the long meandering molasses sentence.

So about the molasses. Expats will often do crazy things to find some semblance of home , like spending $12 dollars on a small jar of molasses. It's just the way things go here. You want it, you need it, and you finally found it hidden on the bottom shelf so you buy it. But as so often is true, the product just doesn't live up to your expectations: the molasses I bought was too strong, which I learned sampling a cookie from the first batch. I adjusted for the second batch, substituting dark muscovado sugar for a good chunk of the molasses, hoping that the molasses in the muscovado would shine through, and it did, wonderfully.

These pictures are from a recent trip to Freiburg, Germany, for the Christmas markets. Christmas markets are ever present this time of year. Little wooden huts are set up in rows, evergreen garlands are hung from the roofs, and lights are strung from hut to hut. It's wonderfully festive, seemingly homegrown and super duper charming. These little elf villages, as I like to think of them, spring up all over Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Eastern France, and while the wares might be a bit repetitive and sometimes hokey it's always a treat to walk through them. On this trip I spent more money on food - bratwurst, cookies, glühwein - than I did on Christmas goodies, but the food still put me in the Christmas spirit!

Ginger Cookies

adapted from Heidi Swanson, Super Natural Everyday

*note: I had to adapt the original recipe because the molasses I found here was very strong. I substituted some of the molasses with dark muscovado sugar. If you live in the states, you can go with the original (1/4 cup molasses) but be sure the molasses tastes good, not harsh, before using.

- 1/2 cup / 70g demerara sugar

- 6oz / 170g bittersweet chocolate (64%) chopped into chip size pieces

- 2 cups / 230g spelt flour (dinkelvolkohrmehl) or whole wheat pastry flour and I think all purpose flour would be fine as well

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup / 115 g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

- 3 tsp unsulphured molasses

- 3 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

- 2/3 cup / 100 g fine grain natural cane sugar

- 1 large egg, well beaten

- 1 cup plump dried apricots, minced (after measuring)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger and salt.

Heat the butter in a small saucepan until just barely melted. Stir in the molasses, dark muscovado sugar. The mixture should be warm, but not hot. If it is hot to the touch, let it cool until just warm. Once cool whisk in the egg. Pour this mixture over the flour mixture and add the chopped apricots and chocolate and then stir until just combined. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes, until the dough has firmed up a bit.

Pour some of the demerara sugar into a bowl. Use a tablespoon to scoop the dough, split that tablespoon into two smaller pieces, and roll each into a ball. Roll each ball in the bowl of demeara sugar, using pressure if needed to make the sugar stick to the dough.

Place the cookies on the baking sheets a few inches a part. Bake for about 7 – 10 minutes until the cookies puff up, darken a bit and crack. Cool on a wire wrack.

And a little something funny for your Friday...look closely at this photo, at the center buttress (no pun intended, but perhaps it will give you a hit of what to look for)....at the gargoyles. Do you see what I see? The gargoyle on the left on the center buttress is facing the wrong way! Its butt is sticking out, towards us, and between the cheeks is a rain spout, so when it rains, water pours out of this gargoyles butt. seriously?! medieval humor?

On that note I hope you have a wonderful, glittering, weekend. And not to worry, I will post Aunt Julie's cookies soon!

thanksgiving...part two

So for our first Thanksgiving I contributed stuffing and that flourless chocolate cake I posted about last week, and for our second Thanksgiving I made my mom's sweet potatoes with marshmallows, maple glazed carrots, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and an apple streusel pie-cake thingy. There was also turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing & stuffing (yes they are different), corn casserole, salad, sage muffins, pumpkin cheesecake and a chocolate torte. Phew. It was a feast. I think we outdid ourselves in an effort to make up for a holiday spent away from home. We made all of our family staples, plus more.

I'm guessing you might be tired of Thanksgiving fare. It's time to trim the tree. But before all of the ornaments are on, I thought I would sneak these photos into the mix.

After a few requests....the Apple Streusel Pie Cake Thingy recipe...(in all its enormous glory). I came to joking that if there were any Turkey-day leftovers that we could just feed them to the 'thingy'. It's pretty darn good, and certainly very very apply. Maybe the next time I make it I'll add some batter to the apples to really give it a cake-pie identity, more like a cake in a pie I guess.

The recipe comes from Sarabeth's Bakery, by Sarabeth Levine

*note, as I look at the recipe again I see that I was only supposed to make/use 1/2 of the dough recipe, but I made and used the entire thing. No wonder this was such a monster. I've included the whole recipe so you can make this pie baby too. Or you can make all the dough, use 1/2 and save the other 1/2 for another pie.

the dough.

this dough is different, because instead of cutting cold butter into flour you actually cream the butter, which results in a more tender, less flakey crust.

- 14 tbsp / 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, at cool room temperature

- 1/3 cup whole milk

- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 tbsp superfine sugar

- 1/4 tsp sea salt

- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean seeds (why the heck not?)

beat the butter on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running slowly add the milk, occasionally stopping the mixer and scrapping down the sides. The mixture should be smooth, fluffy, shiny, like buttercream frosting

mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a small bowl. With the mixer on low add this flour mixture to the butter and incorporate just until the dough forms a mass on the paddle. Knead a few times on a lightly floured work surface.

Refrigerate for about 30min - 1 hr, until chilled, but not hard. (or chill as long as you want, up to a week, and let it warm up a bit before rolling)

the filling

- 4 lbs / 2kg of granny smith, cox orange, or your favorite baking apple, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices (I might have used more....I can't remember. just go with your gut)

- 2/3 cup superfine sugar

- 3 tbsp all purpose flour

- 2 tsp maple syrup

- 2 tsp lemon juice

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- seeds from a vanilla bean, about 1/2 tsp

the streusel

- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp flour

- 1 tbsp superfine sugar

- 1 tbsp light brown sugar

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon

- 2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

- 1/8 tsp vanilla bean, or extract

making your pie/cake thingy

mix the pie filling ingredients in a bowl.

for the streusel mix the flour, sugars, and cinnamon in a bowl and the butter and vanilla in another bowl. pour the butter mixture over the flour mixture and stir until evenly distributed (you made not need all of the buttter). Using your fingers crumble the ingredients, making a range of crumb sizes.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease a spring form pan. (The recipe calls for a normal pie plate, but with all that dough and all of those apples, I just didn't see that working out - I went for the American mantra of bigger is better)

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough. I used an 9" spring form pan, so the dough was big enough to cover the bottom, go up the sides, and hang over the edge a few inches. You don't want it to be too thin because you need it to be sturdy when you take the springform off. Transfer the dough to your pan, spreading out on the bottom and flattening out up the sides. Trim the edges so they are even (I made a mini tart from the trimmings). Heap the apples in the crust, mounding them high in the center. Bring up the edges of the dough, pleating the dough as needed -- the center of the filling should still be visible. Sprinkle your streusel over the exposed apples. Brush the crust with egg (beaten with a touch of water).

Bake the pie for about an hour, or until the juices bubbling out are thick and the crust is golden brown. Let the pie cool on a wire wrack. Use a knife to cut around the edges, and wiggle the spring form off. Once you know you can remove the springform, put it back on so that the pie can cool in the form - it needs all the strength it can get. After the pie cools the apples kind of sink away from the top of the crust. I'm not sure how to prevent that - any tips?

* * * * *

It was a lovely meal! And how about that view?

Okay now on to Christmas cookies and figgy pudding.

flourless chocolate cake...with raspberries

This cake brings good tidings, to you and you and you and me. I imagine, writing this only a week after I made it, that I will always remember this cake. I will remember it because it is amazingly rich and fudgy and spotted with raspberry sweetness, but also because it was the cake that marked the end of our first Thanksgiving abroad. A Thanksgiving that also happened to be the first one that Zach and I spent together. There was no need to discuss whose family we would grace with our presence because we simply couldn't get back to the states for the holiday. Instead, we spent Thanksgiving with what we consider to be our new family, the group of friends we have made here in Zürich. And it was wonderful.

In truth we had two Thanksgivings, one on Thursday and one on Saturday, and both were wonderfully festive, full of laughter, gratitude and a lot of stuffing.

Behold the magic ingredient, nine eggs. Yes nine. Nine yolks whipped into the creamed butter and then nine whites, beaten into stiff white peaks, and folded into the chocolatey batter.

Our first Thanksgiving on Thursday, where this cake made its appearance, was at my friend Jess's apartment. It was an impromptu dinner. Her parents were in town and we all wanted to celebrate. She and her mom roasted a few chickens and whipped up some potatoes and green beans and I made some stuffing and this cake. Chocolate cake is not typical Thanksgiving fare, but Jess is gluten free, and so apple pie and pumpkin pie just wouldn't do. Besides we were already breaking tradition with our chickens we might as well throw a kink in it with chocolate, which really only makes sense considering we live in Switzerland.

Anyway back to my point about nine eggs. Jess's mom mom knew right away that there must be a lot of eggs in this cake. She is from Lima, Peru, and apparently there is a similar, traditional, cake made with eleven eggs. I'll have to try that one next.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

via The Gluten Free Girl

apparently this recipe is from the Macrina Bakery in Seattle Washington - that doesn't mean anything to me, but perhaps it will mean something to you.

* A note about the raspberries - I know, I know, they aren't in season right now and I almost skipped buying them, but then I found a little package for 2chf and grabbed them, and I'm so glad I did, they are essential. Don't skip them, hunt them down. Or print this recipe and save it for a summer day.

ingredients

- 10 oz/285 g bittersweet chocolate (about 65%)

- 9 eggs

- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 3/4 cup granulated sugar

- 1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

- 2 cups fresh raspberries

- powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350º F / 180º C. Butter a 9" springform pan.

You will need to set up a double-boiler to melt the chocolate so find a heat proof bowl (stainless steal or pyrex) that fits perched on top of a pot, without touching the bottom of the pot. Pour 2 inches of water in the bot, bring to a boil and then place your bowl on top of the pot, making sure it does not come in contact with the water. Put your roughly chopped chocolate into the bowl and stir gently until the chocolate has melted. Remove the bowl from the pot, and turn off the heat.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites, placing each in separate bowls. If you only have 1 mixer, like I do, then poor the whites into the bowl of your standing mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until medium-stiff peaks form. Scoop out this mixture into another bowl so that they will be ready to use and you can use your mixer. Clean out the bowl of your mixer.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for a couple minutes and then turn to medium for five minutes, which will cream the butter. Once the mixture has lighten in color and texture add the egg yolks, two at a time, mixing entirely before adding more eggs. Then mix in the cocoa powder, mixing completely.

With a rubber spatula fold in the melted chocolate. Then slowly fold in the egg whites, making sure each scoop is incorporated before adding more. Keep stirring until you no longer see white streaks. Pour the batter into the spring form pan. Scatter 1 cup of raspberries over the top of the cake. Push the berries down into the batter, until you can't see them.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. The center will collapse, but don't worry, that's okay. If you want to use powdered sugar let the cake cool completely before sprinkling. Serve with the remaining raspberries.

This cake lingered in our kitchen, not because it's not amazingly good, but because it's the type of cake that you eat by the sliver. It's rich and fudge-y and as such is a cake to savor, not to devour. The fact that it seemed to get fudgier as the days went by and not hard and stale also added to it's lingering personality, which happens to be a well suited personality for a two-person home.

And how about that cat, almost floating on the porch railing?!

I hope you all have a nice weekend. Zach has surprised me with a road trip to Dijon. We had our hearts set on going to Paris this weekend to visit our friend Tala, but then the trains were sold out and the flights were expensive and at bad times. Ugh, but not to worry we are still going to Paris, just in a couple weeks and since we had had our hearts set on getting out of the city this weekend we are off for a little adventure.

butterscotch pots de crème

These are heaven sent. I swear. Sent to the leprechauns waiting where rainbows touch the earth, poured into their 'gold' pots, and stored away for magical moments. Magical moments which I have been showering on my kitchen and guests ever since I discovered this recipe. The butterscotch is rich and creamy, but also firmly delicate with a silky lightness on your tongue. So so sooo good.

I am a butterscotch girl, raised in a butterscotch family, eager for magical butterscotch-filled moments to fall upon me. The butterscotch gene was passed on from my dad, who inherited it from his dad, who I'm sure inherited it from his dad, and so on and so forth. I'm guessing it must be because we are Scottish that butterscotch (and cholesterol - is that the genes or the butterscotch?) flows so thickly in our blood. In truth my dad's butterscotch predilection falls towards butterscotch sundaes, but rest assured he would like these little pots of gold, after all they are pure butterscotchy goodness.

Zach said this was one of the best desserts I've ever made. He wanted to know how he could preserve the leftovers - freeze or fridge or time capsule - so he can have a little butterscotch everyday. I guess he married into a butterscotch family. But really, he shouldn't be so worried about saving them, he should just worry about keeping our pantry stocked with the ingredients, because these are so easy to make. Super. duper. simple. Okay maybe not as simple as pouring orange juice into a popsicle maker and sticking it in the fridge, but still pretty darn easy. Pots of golden heaven.....I mean pots de crème

from Gourmet October 2003 epicurious

also featured on orangette

notes

* dark muscovado sugar a brown, molasses flavored sugar, that is darker and coarser than your standard brand brown sugar. It should be easy to find in most stores. In Zürich you can find it at most reformhaus and also at Jelmoli.

* Demerara sugar is a coarse grain sugar, often used for decoration. It's brown in color. In Zürich you can find it at the same spots you find muscovado sugar

* the recipe calls for 6 ramekins, but I found it was perfect for 4 small coffee cups.

ingredients

- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (that's the heavenly part)

- 6 tablespoons dark muscovado sugar (that's the golden part)

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 6 tablespoons water

- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar

- 4 large egg yolks

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I used vanilla bean seeds, 1 tsp)

Preheat the oven to 300ºF and center the rack in the middle.

Bring cream, muscovado sugar and salt to just a simmer in a small heavy saucepan over moderate heat stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat

In another pot (2 qt) bring water and Demerara sugar to a boil over moderate heat. Stir the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook, and stir occasionally until brown and bubbly, about 5 minutes (almost exactly). Remove from the heat and slowly add the cream mixture, whisking until combined

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla, then add it to the hot cream mixture, again whisking until combined. Pour the custard through a sieve into a 4 cup measuring cup. Skim off any foam from the top of the custard.

Divide the custard among the ramekins. You are going to cook them in a water bath so select a roasting pan that is large enough to hold all the ramekins without them touching and line the bottom of it with a kitchen towel. Place the ramekins in the pan and cover the tops with aluminum foil. Fill the roasting pan with hot tap water until it reaches half way up the ramekins. Put the pan in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes (mine took about 60+) until the custards are set around the edges but still tremble in the centers. Transfer the ramekins to a rack and cool to room temperature. They will continue to set as they cool.

Eat them the same day or keep them refrigerated, covered with saran wrap.

I hope you shower yourself with a little creamy, butterscotch magic sometime soon. These would be perfect for a dinner party, especially a dinner party where you are entertaining a gluten-free friend or just a friend who loves butterscotch and pudding, combined in a nice little 'pot'. I imagine the recipe doubles and triples nicely, but of course you'd need a roasting pan big enough for all of your ramekins/teacups.

Just make them. You will shower me with thanks and magic.