Tag Archive: Christmas

Dec 19 2011

12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 12, Hershey’s Kisses Candy Cane Blossoms

Categories:

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats, Baking, Food, Recipes

How can it be that 12 weeks have passed already and we’re almost at Christmas? September feels like just yesterday, yet here we are at the end of our journey.

balls of dough for candy cane blossoms

And what a sweet journey it has been. I’m so glad I was able to share it with you! Is your freezer full of cookies now? It should be! (If not, get to work! You have less than a week left!)

candy cane blossoms

Every year, my sister and I get together to make cookies for the family cookie tray. This year was no different. We spent the afternoon in our mother’s kitchen, two mixers going at the same time to churn out all the goodies everyone has come to expect on Christmas Day.

candy cane blossoms

There are the old favorites: peanut blossoms and butterballs, magic cookie bars  and chocolate chip cookies. Still we need to change it up a bit from time to time. These were just begging to be added to the repertoire!

candy cane blossoms

Bright red and green sparkles with candy cane striped Hershey’s kisses–they’re sure to please! We’re loving this updated “blossom” cookie, especially since they freeze so well. Just be sure the kisses have set before packing them in airtight containers and you’ll have plenty of holiday flair at your fingertips whenever you need them.

candy cane blossoms

5.0 from 1 reviews

Hershey’s Kisses Candy Cane Blossoms
 
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Serves: 42

Ingredients
  • 48 Hershey’s Kisses Candy Cane Kisses
  • ½ cup (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 Tablespoons whole milk
  • 3-4 Tablespoons each of green and red decorators sugar

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Unwrap the kisses and place in a small bowl until needed.
  3. Cream the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract, beating until light and fluffy.
  4. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, and sea salt.
  5. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add about half the flour mixture to the bowl.
  6. Mix in the milk.
  7. Add the rest of the flour mixture, beating until just incorporated.
  8. Portion out the dough using a small cookie scoop and roll balls of dough in colored sugar.
  9. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
  10. Leave cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then press a candy cane kiss gently into the center of each cookie and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Thanks for joining us in the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies & Sweets! And thank you, Brenda, for organizing this awesome Blog Hop!

mealplanningmagic.com

 

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7 comments

Nov 14 2011

#MuffinMonday: Gingerbread Muffins

Categories:

Baking, Food, Muffin Monday, Recipes

We’re starting to gear up for the holidays here at #MuffinMonday, bringing you Gingerbread Muffins this week. The Big Guy was less than thrilled, seeing as he’s not a gingerbread fan, but the rest of us–well, we were pretty excited.

gingerbread muffin

He doesn’t know what he’s missing! Pretty well balanced, they were not too spicy or strong on the molasses. Adding cinnamon chips complemented the batter nicely, bringing this muffin to a level where it could be considered dessert as well. Which is perfect because I love dessert for breakfast.

gingerbread muffins

For the drizzle, I chose to use a bar of white chocolate I purchased at a local chocolate-maker, Fascia’s Chocolates in Waterbury, CT. The original recipe called for white chocolate chips but most of the time, they’re not made with cocoa butter, relying instead upon artificial flavors to create a white chocolate taste, if you can even call it that. They’re not the same and I urge you to select something of real quality instead. You’ll never look back!

gingerbread muffins

Mmmm… delicious! Usually I freeze the extras to make sure we have enough time to eat them before they go bad. No need. They’re almost gone already! I wonder how the others adapted the Gingerbread Muffins to their liking this week? Let’s check with An at Baker Street to find out!

gingerbread muffins

5.0 from 2 reviews

Gingerbread Muffins
 
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Recipe type: Breakfast/Brunch
Serves: 12

Ingredients
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • ½ cup unsulphured molasses
  • ⅓ cup whole milk
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp allspice
  • ½ cup cinnamon chips
  • 1½ oz white chocolate, chopped and melted

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line with paper cups a 12-cup muffin tray and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar, molasses, milk, olive oil, and egg with a silicone spatula.
  3. Add to it the flour, baking powder, ginger, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and allspice, mixing until just combined.
  4. Stir in the cinnamon chips.
  5. Using a medium cookie scoop, portion out the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.
  6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  7. Leave in muffin tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. Once muffins are cool, put chopped white chocolate in a zip top bag and microwave at 50% power for 30 second increments until melted, squeezing the bag each time to evenly distribute heat.
  9. Snip the corner off the bag and drizzle the white chocolate over the tops of the muffins, allowing to set before serving.

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Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

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8 comments

Dec 22 2010

Countdown to Christmas

Categories:

Baking, Food, Recipes

I’m finally settling in to my winter break, now that grades were posted yesterday. While I already had all my English grades over the weekend, my Math for Business and Economics professor waited until the very last second–I know because I refreshed that page probably twenty times yesterday!–to post. B+. Not bad for an English major in a Math class. Calculus should be interesting next semester…

To celebrate, I folded the mounds of clean laundry that had invaded the living room and nested there for the last several days. And baked cookies with my daughter for her Polar Express pajama party at school today. And watched Glee for the first time in probably 8 months. And haphazardly wrapped some of the multitude of Christmas gifts that must be covered up in the next few days.

Today, it’s back to holiday baking. This one was a new challenge for me: biscotti. Gingerbread biscotti, to be exact. I never bothered before because hubby is not a fan of biscotti in general, and even less so of gingerbread, but it’s the holidays–a great time to experiment because it’s all for giving away anyway! Now that I know how easy it is to make, I’ll be doing this again…and saving it all for me! Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!

Gingerbread Spice Biscotti
adapted from Showfood Chef

1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed lightly
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Cream the softened butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well incorporated. Mix in the molasses.

Add the baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt. Mix slowly for 20 seconds or so, then add the flour gradually. Mix until well incorporated.

Lightly flour your workspace, as well as your hands. Scoop all the dough out of the mixing bowl into a mound on the counter and dust lightly with flour. Separate into 4 mounds and shape into thin logs placing 2 logs evenly spaced on each baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes or until firm on top. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for a couple minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

After 10 minutes, cut each log into 1 inch slices and arrange them on the baking sheets. Bake for 5-8 minutes each on both cut sides (longer for more crispy biscotti, less for more forgiving biscotti), then return to wire rack to cool entirely.

These will keep for a while because of the low moisture content. Great for gifting–or enjoying in your own cup of coffee! Delicious!

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