Holiday Caramel Treats

Holiday Caramel Treats - made December 4, 2011 from Prize Winning Cookies from Current customers (book #178)

I had my holiday dessert party with my high school friends yesterday and it was a lot of fun.  It was great to catch up with everyone and you know you're very fortunate when, after everyone has left, you realize what nice friends you have.  This is what the holidays are about, not the stress of preparing for them :).

To help alleviate that stress, I went with some reliable stand-by recipes.  I had prepared enough cookie doughs in advance that I could (and did) change my mind as to what to serve.  My friend Lisa likes lemon bars so I made those, using my old standby recipe since I had already made my new favorite, the Three-Layer Lemon Bars, last week:

I also made the peanut butter kiss cookies that always seem to be a holiday favorite

As well as a year-round favorite, Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I had enough of the tried and true cookies to serve, I also decided to try a new recipe.  A few of my friends were bringing their kids so I included this cookie as something fun for the dessert table for them.  I felt safe taking a calculated risk on this new recipe because the base recipe is very similar to Mexican Wedding Cakes but without the nuts in the dough and you cover it with caramel instead of powdered sugar.  I can live with that.  Plus it's the kind of recipe I need to try for parties rather than care packages since anything covered in caramel usually don't package well or ship well. 

After the cookies are baked, you stick a toothpick in the center, let them cool then dip them in caramel and roll them in nuts.  I switched it up a bit in case anyone didn't like nuts and did a few in red and green sprinkles for the kids.  Make sure your caramel is thin enough to be dipped in but not so thin that they don't coat the cookie.  Keep the caramel warm and after you coat the whole cookie, let the excess caramel drip off before rolling it in nuts (or sprinkles).  I did have a little difficulty with the nuts clumping a little because of the caramel.  Make sure to grind the nuts fine.  I ground them on the "coarse" setting in my nut grinder so the pieces were a little bit big which I didn't mind from a taste standpoint but they might've looked prettier had they been more finely chopped.  In general though, I liked how these turned out.  The cookies themselves were like a little vanilla butter cookie and were the perfect foil for the sweetness of the caramel and the crunch of the toasted almonds.

Cookies

¾ cup butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon liquid maple flavor or almond extract

Dash of salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

48 round wooden toothpicks

Coating

36 caramels, unwrapped

¼ cup milk

1 cup finely chopped peanuts, walnuts or almonds

1.   Heat oven to 350⁰F.  Have baking sheets ready.

2.   To make cookies, beat butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla, maple flavor and salt.  On low speed, gradually beat in flour.  Form dough into forty-eight balls, about 1 inch in diameter.  Place 1 ½” apart on baking sheets.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes until balls are set, but not browned (tops may crack slightly).  Insert a toothpick into center of each.  Cool on wire racks.

3.   To make coating, melt caramels in milk, stirring often.  Keep warm over a pan of hot, not boiling water.  Dip each cookie into the caramel mixture, coating completely and drawing bottom of cookie across edge of pan to remove excess caramel.  Dip bottom of each in chopped nuts.  Place on sheet of wax paper to set.  Store loosely covered; best served within 24 hours.

Makes 48

Hosting dessert parties and managing your time

Three-Layer Lemon Bars

Last year I had blogged about some tips when hosting a dessert party.  I usually host a big-to-me dessert party only every other year and last year was it so this was my off year.  However, I do generally have a few guests over throughout the season to catch up with friends or host family.  Last Saturday was my first gathering of the season where I hosted a dozen family members for an impromptu post-Thanksgiving get together.  They came around lunchtime and, as you know, I don't cook, but thankfully my mom brought arroz caldo (a Filipino rice porridge) and my cousin Christine brought a pizza.  I made the desserts: lemon bars with lemons from my mom's lemon tree, buttery tea balls because my mom likes anything with pecans and I had ceramic mitten dishes to serve the "snowballs" in, and red velvet cookies because they're my niece Shyla's favorite and a chocolate item my nephew Jason will eat (he doesn't like chocolate.  Someday I'm going to tell him red velvet is chocolate.  But not yet.)

"Snowballs" aka Buttery Tea Balls in mitten dishes

I'm hosting another gathering with a few friends from high school tomorrow.  I had missed my has-it-really-been-25-years high school reunion last month because I was at my cousin's wedding in Winnipeg.  So I thought it would be fun to catch up with a few old friends.  The family gathering last weekend spurred me to finish my decorating and my house is now reasonably clean (mostly) so it's fit for company.  But there's still the matter of what to serve.

Red Velvet Cookies

The issue when you work full time and have other things going on during the holiday season is there usually isn't enough time to get everything done that you want to do, including party prep.  Which is why I stock up my baking pantry ahead of time, make up cookie doughs for the freezer and salvage any baking failures when necessary.  One key component of advance prep is selecting the right menu.  First, when deciding what to serve, play to your strengths.  My cousin Chris is a trained chef and he put on a 7-course meal for his family at Thanksgiving.  I'm sure it was superb.  But you won't catch me hosting a full-course dinner anytime soon (or ever) simply because my cooking skills are subpar and I don't enjoy cooking like I do baking.  So it's always going to be a dessert party for me.  I know my limits, lol.

Second, parties are not typically the time or place to take risks on new recipes unless you're absolutely sure they'll turn out, it's something similar to what you've done before and you have a backup plan if it fails.  In other words, now is the time to be risk averse with the menu.  I might try a new cookie recipe if it's one cookie out of several kinds that I'm serving but I'm not likely to take on a towering croquembouche as my dessert centerpiece.  Seriously.

Third, time management is essential.  Last year I blogged about how I like to have a variety of flavors that will be crowd pleasers and/or past favorites of my guests.  But I also take into account which ones I can make ahead of time and balance those with the items that have to be done the day of the party or at the last minute.  I work full time, I sometimes have social engagements after work, and errands always need to be run to the bank, the gas station, the library, the grocery store, the post office, etc, all in the same 24 hours in a day when it isn't the holiday season.

For this weekend's dessert party, my menu was driven by both what I thought my guests might like and what I could reasonably accomplish in the time I had.  I already had peanut butter brownies in the freezer that I had baked earlier in anticipation of needing it this week.  Then every night this week that I didn't have dinner plans after work, I made cookie dough.  One night, I made cookie dough for peanut butter kiss cookies, the next night I made cookie dough for holiday caramel treats (recipe to follow), a third night I made cookie dough for Almond Butter and Nutella Swirl Cookies.  Each of these cookie doughs took a grand total of 10-15 minutes (if that) to put together, portion into individual cookie dough balls and store in ziploc bags in my freezer, ready to be baked off at a moment's notice.  The point being I could make it when I had 10-15 minutes to spare this week, not when I have to make it in a rushed timeframe right before the party.

Which frees me up to focus on the more last-minute baking the night before and the day of the party.  Since I'm a stickler for freshness, the only thing I'm actually going to bake the night before are lemon bars.  They'll be fresh enough the day after they're made and they're actually a bit better the next day because they've had time to set.  On the morning of the party, I'm going to bake some of the cookie doughs I had already made but that will only take baking and clean up time.  Which leaves me free to tackle a whole new recipe without being too frazzled.  I chose a doughnut recipe because I don't often have people over and that's the ideal time to try something like doughnuts because they're best when they're fresh out of the fryer and can be mass consumed by people besides yourself.  I'm certainly not going to eat a whole batch of doughnuts by myself!  Plus I consider the risk of failure to be minimal - it's hard to go wrong with something deep-fried, rolled in cinnamon sugar and served warm.  Doughnut recipe to follow.....as soon as I actually make it.

S'more Squares - sans marshmallows

S'more Squares - made November 28, 2011 from Sweet Miniatures by Flo Braker (book #177)

This is one of those new recipes I decided to take a risk on to see how it would turn out.  The ingredients and instructions were straightforward and the risk of failure seemed minimal.  I did, however, skip the last step of the melted milk chocolate and topping with a mini marshmallow, partly because I didn't have time after work and partly because I don't like marshmallows, mini or otherwise.  So if you leave out the marshmallows, can these still legitimately be called "s'more" anything?  Maybe not.  But regardless, these were pretty good.  The graham cracker crust was a nice touch to add to the brownie which itself was also good, albeit a bit thin.  These were somewhat plain since I skipped the mini marshmallow topping but you can dress these up with a Hershey kiss or chopped up Snickers or peanut butter cups if you wish.  Or leave them plain and just enjoy.

Crust

1 ½ cups (5 ½ ounces) graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar
7 tablespoons (3 ½ ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Filling

2/3 cup (100 grams) unsifted all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon water
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Topping

2 ounces milk chocolate, melted
4 dozen mini marshmallows

1. Adjust rack to lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325°F. Press a sheet of aluminum foil to cover outside bottom and sides of a 9” square pan. Invert pan and gently press aluminum form into pan to fit contours; set aside.
2. Crust: In a large bowl, blend the graham cracker crumbs and the sugar. Add the butter and blend thoroughly. Press the crumbs into foil-lined pan. Set aside.
3. Filling: Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda onto a piece of waxed paper; set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat, stir in the water. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar, then the eggs and vanilla, just until thoroughly blended. Add the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Pour filling into crumb-lined pan, spreading evenly.
4. Bake for 30 minutes only. Remove pan from oven to a rack, and cool in the pan.
5. Topping: To serve, remove the cake from the pan to a cutting board by lifting the foil by its edges. Pour the chocolate into a small handmade paper cone and pipe zigzag lines over the filling’s surface. Cut into 1 ½’ squares. Center a mini marshmallow on each square, and pipe a tiny dot of chocolate in the center of each marshmallow.
6. Store in one layer in a covered foil-lined cardboard container, such as a cake box, at room temperature up to 2 days.

O Christmas Tree - and preparing for baking gifts

As a baker, it should not surprise you that my fondness (cough, obsession. cough) for baking also manifests itself in other areas of my life.  The only thing I've been doing almost as long as I've been baking is collecting Christmas ornaments.  I started off with Hallmark and branched out to other brands and eventually ended up with a collection that had both sentimental value imbued with certain memories and ornaments I bought just because I loved them.  But Hallmark ornaments will always have a sentimental place of honor in my collection even though I don't buy them by the dozens every year like I used to.

My Hallmark tree

Nowadays I don't buy as much since I'm out of storage and display space. So I've cut back on new purchases but the old ones still remain.  I've culled out a great many in recent years but kept even more as I just like them.  Not surprisingly, I have an inordinate amount of food ornaments.  I used to decorate my largest artificial tree with just food ornaments.  Last year, my food ornament collection outgrew the big tree so I had to split it up into 2 full-size food trees.

Food ornament tree #1

Food ornament tree #2

I always start decorating early because it takes so long and I like to be done by Thanksgiving weekend. Because that time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one that I devote solely to baking and holiday get togethers.  I've got my Christmas card pictures printed, envelopes stuffed, stamped and addressed and they're all ready to mail by December 1. Yes, I'm also one of those annoying people who not only gets her Christmas shopping done early but gets the Christmas gifts wrapped as soon as possible.  Although this year I am a little behind but expect to wrap up my Christmas shopping with Cyber Monday deals.  It also helps that a lot of my gift giving is homemade baked goods.

When giving away homemade goodies, I take the appearance and presentation of the baked gift as seriously as any store-bought gift that I wrap.  Maybe even more so since it's personal and I put much more effort into the baked gifts coming out of my kitchen than the gifts I buy at the store or online.  Which means presentation matters.  Well before the holiday season, craft stores like Michaels have decorated gift bags, treat bags, treat boxes, cupcake boxes, candy boxes, plates, cellophane wrap and everything else you need to make a nice presentation of your gifts.  When I shop at the after-Christmas sales, those are the things I look for.  Even before Christmas, I save the weekly 40-50% off coupons from Michaels and buy the treat packaging a little at a time.  That's generally when they have the best selection and by the time I'm baking and giving away treats I have all the necessary packaging materials I need.  More avoidance of holiday stress.

I also take into account sizes in terms of how much I can fit into each package and quantity of baked goods for each recipient.  For friends with families, I tend to give more and possibly combine different packages together to give them a variety of treats.  For my (few remaining) single friends, I might give one treat package but put in a little sample of several different things so they still can get a variety without going into sugar overload.  The treat packages I tend to buy are small to medium in size for the most part.  It's easier to put several smaller packages together to make a bigger gift than to give one large gift that's too much for your recipients to consume. 

I hate for things to go to waste but am also mindful that this is the season of (over)indulgence and my friends are likely to be getting treats from other bakers as well or they also make their own.  So I try to give a variety of treats, some of which can go into the freezer for eating at a later date and others with a shorter shelf life are given in fewer quantity.  I also tell my friends which ones can be frozen for later and which ones should be consumed sooner rather than later so they can get maximum taste and freshness from their baked gifts.  Although some eat all of it right away - that's fine too :).

So have fun with your gift packaging - if you give away your baked treats, dress them up!  Although it's inside the packaging that counts, it's also nice for your gift to reflect the effort and care you put into making them and for your recipient to get an eye-catching gift that pleases more than their taste buds.

Thanksgiving 2011 - menu pictorial

It's been a busy week and I haven't been on the computer much for the past few days.  In between baking, decorating, Thanksgiving, visiting with family and friends and hosting my first holiday get together of the season (no, not Thanksgiving itself - I'm SO incapable of that), there just hasn't been enough time.  Here's a pictorial view of our Thanksgiving meal.  Christmas posts to follow in the coming days.

Lumpia appetizer - almost always present at every Filipino family gathering

Lechon (pork roast) - also a traditional feast food

Lechon in more serving size pieces

Shrimp pesto pasta - with basil grown in my mom's garden

Leche flan (Filipino creme caramel) - made by my mom

Basque Cake (butter cake with vanilla pastry cream)

Apple cobbler, aka Apple Crumble Bars (serve warm with ice cream)

Salvaging the baking failures

Okay, we're now in the midst of holiday baking - Thanksgiving is this week, Christmas is hot on its heels afterwards.  Your pantry is now stocked up and you've done much advance prep in mixing up cookie doughs and storing brownies and bar cookies in the freezer.  But sometimes things can still go wrong when we just don't have time for things to go wrong.  When that happens, my next baking tip is to do what you can to salvage your "failures".

This happened to me a couple of days ago when I had mixed up a batch of Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies and had them portioned out into dough balls, in the freezer, ready to bake at a moment's notice.  I was meeting friends for dinner last Sunday night and I popped a batch of cookie dough into the oven to bake.  But I was multi-tasking and by the time I remembered I had cookies in the oven, it was almost too late.  I yanked them out of the oven and, while they were just short of becoming burnt, they were definitely fully baked, more so than I, the Queen of Underbaking Cookies, would prefer.  They weren't bad but they also weren't anything I considered fit enough for goodie bags to give away.  95% of people would probably think there was nothing wrong with them but I'm the 5%.

Yet I didn't want to throw them away as that would be such a waste, not only of ingredients but time I couldn't afford to lose.  So I needed to get creative on what to do with overbaked cookies.  (Thankfully they weren't burnt or they wouldn't have been salvageable because a burnt taste would've taken over anything I tried to do with them.)  I pulverized them in the food processor, mixed the cookie crumbs with a few tablespoons of melted butter and use them as a cookie crust layer for brownies.  The brownie recipe is from The Good Cookie and for added decadence, just like in the recipe, I put a peanut butter cup in the middle.  I made the cookie crust first, patting it on the bottom of each little round cavity of my mini cheesecake pan, put the peanut butter cup centered on top of the crust and poured the brownie batter over it.  I had plenty of brownie batter leftover so I baked it in a smaller pan (an 8" instead of an 9" pan) for a normal brownie per the recipe.

This turned out pretty well and the rounds made a good individual-sized treat to give away.  Sometimes baking mishaps will happen but don't let that discourage you.  Instead, go into "life --> lemons --> lemonade" problem solving.  You never know what you can come up with and who knows, it might turn out just as well or even better, than what you were trying to make in the first place.

Black and White Pound Cake

Black and White Pound Cake - made November 18, 2011 from Great Coffee Cakes by Carole Walter (book #176)

I'm still making my way through my collection of recipe books and I'm more than 3/4 of the way there, maybe even closer.  I'm feeling some pressure to wrap up this baking challenge soon because the whole reason I started it in the first place was to justify buying Lisa Yockelson's new book, Baking Style, which has already been released.  But, hello, confession time, I recently bought the book.  I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to until I had finished this challenge.  But it was on sale, I had a gift card that would pay for most of it and I had a weak moment.  So there you go.  However, I only bought it, I haven't actually used it yet.  Now my new challenge is I can't bake from it until I finish up my old challenge.  I've now been on the first challenge for over a year.  Who knew it would take so long just to bake 1 recipe from every cookbook I own?

I have several cookbooks by Carole Walter and they're always straightforward, generally easy and usually come out.  If they don't, I modify them to suit me but for the most part, she has terrific recipes.  Which is why I felt okay taking the risk of trying out a new recipe during holiday baking time.  You usually can't go wrong with pound cakes or a Carole Walter recipe.

My faith was justified as this turned out pretty well.  It takes longer to mix than the norm as the instructions have you adding the powdered sugar a little at a time and beating the batter to airy lightness.  I don't think I took the full 8-10 minutes to beat the sugar in but it did take awhile.  In fact, it took so long that my melted chocolate mixture cooled too much to use so I had to warm it slightly again before I added the 2 cups of vanilla batter to it to make the chocolate batter.  But it was worth it as the texture was perfect, not too dense but not too light.  The flavor was good as well.  Don't swirl the two batters too much as you do want distinct sections of chocolate and vanilla together once the cake bakes.

This is best eaten warm or lukewarm.  When I tried a sliver after it had cooled to room temperature, it wasn't as good.  So if you're not going to serve it warm, then heat it up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds first before slicing and serving.

4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, such as Lindt, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup hot water

3 tablespoons strained Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

4 cups sifted cake flour, spooned in and leveled

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

6 large eggs

½ cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm

¼ cup canola or vegetable oil

3 ½ cups strained powdered sugar, spooned in and leveled, plus extra for dusting

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1.    Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.  Heat the oven to 325˚F.  Generously butter a 10-inch angel food cake pan with a removable bottom and line the bottom with baking parchment.  Set aside.

2.   Combine the chocolate, hot water, cocoa powder, and corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl.  Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and heat just until the chocolate is melted.  Stir to combine and set aside.

3.   In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4.   Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl.  Blend in the milk and vanilla.

5.   Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on medium speed until smooth and lightened in color, about 2 minutes.  Slowly drizzle in the oil, taking about 1 minute, then beat for 1 minute longer.  Scrape down the side of the bowl.

6.   Reduce the speed to medium-low.  Add the powdered sugar, 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, taking 8 to 10 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Slowly pour in ½ cup of the egg mixture and mix for 2 minutes longer.

7.   Add the dry ingredients alternately with the remaining egg mixture, dividing the flour into four parts and the egg mixture into three parts, beginning and ending with the flour.  Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed.

8.   Remove 2 generous cups of the batter and place in a 2-quart bowl.  Stir the baking soda into the tepid chocolate, then add the chocolate mixture to the 2 cups of batter, gently folding together.

9.   Using two large clean spoons, alternate placing large spoonfuls of the chocolate and vanilla batters in the prepared pan, carefully spreading the flavors so they touch.  Make a second layer of batter, this time placing spoonfuls of vanilla batter on the chocolate and the chocolate batter on the vanilla.  Repeat, alternating the flavors, making about four layers.  Insert a kitchen knife into the batter starting about 1 inch from the funnel and circle the pan twice.  Do not overwork the batters.  Firmly tap the pan two or three times on the counter to level the batter.

10.  Bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  The cake is done when the top is golden brown and firm to the touch, and a wooden skewer inserted deeply in the center comes out clean.

11.  Remove the cake from the oven and let stand on a cooling rack for 25 to 30 minutes.  Holding the tube, lift the cake from the outer ring and place it on the cooling rack.  Let stand for another 20 to 30 minutes.  Cover the cake with a cooling rack, invert, and carefully lift off the tube section of the pan and the parchment paper.  Cover with another rack and turn the cake top side up to finish cooling.  Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Remembering our troops - care package time again

It's Thanksgiving week and and one of the reasons Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday is it's a palpable reminder to express gratitude.  For me, I truly feel gratitude not only when I express it but when I share it as a means of that expression.  Sometimes it's sharing of positive thought and emotions, spreading happiness by being happy.  Other times it's a more tangible expression.  And this week, in thinking of our military personnel being away from their homes and families during the holidays, I wanted to do my own small part to help and express my gratitude for their service.

In the past I've used organizations like adoptasolider.org to send in donations and packages or else I've asked friends who had family and friends in the military what they would like and where I can send a package.  This year, I asked an online friend, Madeline, from my fitness forum who has a son in the military what items he and his unit would like and where I can send a package to him.  She thought it was nice of me but I'm not doing it to be nice.  In all honesty, I thought it was literally the least I could do and little enough in light of what he and our troops were doing for me.  This is just an expression of gratitude.
 
I've blogged before about care package tips to friends and to my college-age nieces.  This is a different sort of post because sending care packages to military personnel requires different items and packaging tips.

First of all, to preserve their safety, you're not likely to know exactly where your care package is going or what the conditions will be like in that part of the world.  So you don't know if it'll be blazing hot, freezing cold, humid,  or arid.  That means the items you send have to withstand any type of temperature.  Unfortunately that likely means no chocolate candy as it potentially could be a melted mess if it's going to a hot climate.  Send hard candies or non-meltables like Skittles, Jolly Ranchers, Sweettarts, etc.  If you send packaged food items with items like soaps, be sure to wrap each separately and buffer them with other items between the two.  Do not send perfumed soaps.  In very hot climates, the perfume will permeate everything else in the box and potentially ruin the food.  To be safe, seal them separately in ziploc bags, especially anything like liquid soap which could leak or burst out of its container.

Second, you don't know how long your package is going to take to reach its destination.  So everything you send must either be non-perishable or at least have a long shelf life.  Beef jerky is an often-requested item from our troops and should be able to withstand the journey.  Same with coffee and tea.

Package items closely so things move as little as possible

Third, safety of our troops is paramount so that means there are things you absolutely cannot send.  In more innocuous care packages, I thrive on sending the stuff I've baked.  Can't do that with a military care package.  While I know there's nothing harmful in my baked goods (except an excess of calories), the military recipients don't know that.  Just like you can no longer hand out homemade goods to trick or treating kids on Halloween night and can/should only hand out packaged candies and the like, only sealed, packaged food should be sent in a military care package.

Fourth, remember the contents of your care package are more than likely going to be shared within the unit.  Try to send individually packaged items or items that can be easily shared.  And remember women serve in the military as well so don't be shy about sending "feminine" stuff.

Lastly, in the US, the Post Office has flat rate priority mail packaging expressly meant for military care packages.  You can fit as many items as possible and pay only the flat rate, no matter how heavy it is.  See here for the guidelines, restrictions and rates on sending to an APO/FPO/DPO address.  As with any package, tape it securely and write the address legibly.  And whatever else you put in the package, don't forget a note to thank them for their service and that you're thinking of them.  I know I can safely enjoy my Thanksgiving with family and friends at home because of where they are and what they're doing.  And I appreciate and am grateful for that.

Happy Thanksgiving (week)!

The brownie version of Texas Fudge Cake

Essence of Chocolate Squares - made November 14, 2011 from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson

Have you ever had Texas Fudge Cake?  There are probably other names for it but it's essentially a chocolate sheet cake that's covered with chocolate frosting while it's still warm so the frosting melts into the cake then sets into a fudgy layer over the cake when it cools.  If you're a chocolate cake lover, it's a must-consume.  This is the brownie version of a Texas Fudge Cake.  And if you're a brownie lover or a fudge lover, I would argue this is even better than Texas Fudge Cake (ducking the cake lovers).  As you can see from the picture, the frosting melts into the cake and sets into what is essentially a layer of fudge on top.  Not "frosting" but "fudge".  This is pure unadulterated chocolate.  The brownies are moist and fudgy and the frosting is...well, to repeat, fudge.  Cut the pieces small as they're pretty rich and use a dark chocolate.  Otherwise it'll be too sweet.

I've made these before and blogged about them before so click on the title to go to the original blog post and the recipe.  Like I've said earlier, this isn't the time of year that I do a lot of experimentation so I may be revisiting and re-posting some earlier favorites.  This one is definitely a favorite and is already packaged up and sitting in my freezer waiting to go out in the next care packages or goodie bags I'm giving away.

Baking ahead

Now that you have a fully stocked pantry with all the baking ingredients you need, it's time to plan your actual baking and do as much ahead of time as you can.  Making things ahead of time alleviates stress and eliminates or minimizes wondering how you're going to get everything done in a compressed timeframe.

First, plan what you're going to make.  While I do a lot more baking during the holidays, I rarely try out new recipes unless I'm extremely confident they'll turn out.  Because I have too much to bake and too little time so I can't afford to have a recipe experiment flop and leave me without anything to bring a party or give to friends at get togethers.  Experimentation is for the rest of the year.  Holiday baking comes with a mission and nothing can jeopardize it.  Besides which, oftentimes, my friends know I'm giving them a baked gift and have specific requests of their favorites which I'm happy to accommodate.  After all, the gift is about the recipient, not the giver so my recipe ADD has to be set aside during the holidays.

Second, once you know what you're going to make, do as much ahead of time as possible.  Cookies are the best example.  Make your cookie dough(s) ahead of time, portion them out into individual cookie-dough balls and put them in ziploc freezer bags marked with the name, baking temp and time then place them in your freezer.  Or roll the cookie dough into logs, wrap wax paper and saran wrap and freeze them for slicing later.  Some people like to bake the cookie dough first and freeze the baked cookies as their time saver.  I have to admit, I'm not a fan of that.  I'm a super stickler for freshness and to me, a freshly baked cookie is better than a freshly thawed cookie.  Plus you don't have to worry about the cookies crumbling when you freeze, store and thaw them.  Cookie dough, if it crumbles, can be squished back together before baking and no one will ever be able to tell once they're baked.  You also have to remember that once you give away your cookies, you don't know how long it takes your recipient to eat them so if you had baked them beforehand, froze them, thawed them then gave them away, that's a long life you expect the cookies to have and most cookies have a shorter freshness lifespan than that.  It's better to freeze the dough and have it ready for last-minute baking and giving.

Cookie doughs that freeze well:
Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookies
Super Sugar Sparkles
Peanut Butter Fudge Cookies
Brown Butter Cookies

Brownies and bar cookies, on the other hand, (depending on the recipe), can easily be baked ahead of time and then frozen without their freshness being materially jeopardized.  What I like to do with brownies I'm giving away in individual care packages or gift bags is bake the brownies, let them cool, cut them into individual pieces then package them up, two squares to a package, wrapped in plastic wrap then put in freezer bags and stored in the freezer, marked with what kind of brownie they are.  If I bake enough in advance, when it comes time to put together the gift bags or care packages, I have an assortment of brownies to choose from and give away.  It's always nice for your recipients to get a variety.  If I'm taking brownies to a party or potluck, after they've baked and cooled, I'll wrap the whole thing without cutting it and freeze it whole.  When it's party time, I let it thaw then cut the brownies and arrange them on a nice plate.  Unless you're going to wrap each individual piece, it's best to leave the brownies uncut so the edges don't dry out.

Almost all brownies freeze well - here are just couple of examples:
Peanut Butter Surprise Bars
Nutella Crunch Brownies

I rarely freeze cakes.  The light, cakey texture I like in most of my cakes don't tend to freeze well or else if their flavor doesn't suffer from being frozen, sometimes their texture does.  The only exceptions are pound cakes which are a dense enough texture to freeze well and basque cake.  I love basque cake and I make them as individual-sized cakes which are the right size for giving away.  If you do freeze cakes, please freeze them unfrosted (make the frosting at the last minute) and wrap the cakes well.  Keep all frozen baked goods from odorous items in your freezer.  Don't cozy up even your most well-wrapped baked goods next to that package of frozen fish or overripe bananas or else the odors and flavors could permeate your baked goods.