Holiday Baking — Page 10

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars

January 7, 2011 by Jenn

Finally! I’ve completed my Holiday Baking To Do List . . . three days after being back at work. Did I just say it has only been three days? Uhgg, It feels like three weeks! Since we’re back to the teaching grind stone, I thought I would help things out by contributing to Thursday Treats. Did it sound like I was trying to show some sort of altruistic side just then? Ummmm, ALMOST . . . not quite . . . if the real purpose of helping out with Thursday Treats was to complete my Holiday Baking To Do List, then I don’t think the act can be considered altruistic.

I love lists and make them for everything. School To Do’s, Provincial Committee To Do’s, WalMart List, Grocery List, Christmas List, Christmas Discount List, Website List, Things To Do Tommorrow List, Things To Do Next Week List, Things To Do Next Month List . . . I think you get the picture. Having a list settles my brain. When I head to the grocery store without a list, I come out with nothing that I went in for. I made a Holiday To Do List, and I HAD to complete it! It was a mission. You might think I’m rambling here, and you would be right! On to the post!

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars

(adapted from http://grinandbakeit.com)

1- 900g bag of oatmeal cookie mix

1/2 cup cold butter

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened (I used light)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray.

Place cookie mix in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly and coarse. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture (to use for streusel recipe below); press remaining crumbs in bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, sugar . . .

. . . flour, vanilla and egg on medium until smooth.

Drop cream cheese mixture by the spoonful onto the partially baked crust. This will help you spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust. Spread to cover.

In medium bowl, mix pie filling and cinnamon.

Use the same spoonful technique and spread it evenly over the cream cheese mixture.

Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups reserved crumb mixture from crust

1 cup cold butter

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

Clean out your mixer bowl, and then add reserved crumbs from crust, butter, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla and mix until it is crumbly. Using your fingers, break crumbs into small chunks and spread over top of the apple filling.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes longer or until light golden brown. (Mine actually took around 55 mins!) Cool about 30 minutes. Refrigerate, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Oats make them healthy, right?

Like what you see? Spread the word! I’ve added the feature at the bottom of the posts that lets you share by email/Facebook/Twitter . . . whichever you fancy! Thanks for reading . . . now wipe the drool off your keyboard.

Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: apple streusel, bars, cheesecake

Peanut Butter Truffles

January 4, 2011 by Jenn

Peanut butter + Chocolate = LOVE. LUST. MUST.

Isn’t peanut butter and chocolate the best combination that was ever discovered? The only thing that tops classical pb&c is adding pink himalayan sea salt. Mmmmm, you will have a taste explosion in your mouth!

Since I had all three things kicking around in my cupboard, and a couple of New Years Eve parties to go to, I decided to get my Kitchen Aid out one more time.

I think I heard her groan.

That’s right.

I said her.

Peanut Butter Truffles

Ingredients

(adapted from ChocolateandCarrots)

2 cups natural creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups icing sugar (I would add an extra half cup as the truffle was slightly moist)
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Put peanut butter and butter in a saucepan, stir frequently, until melted. Add in vanilla. Stir.

Remove from heat and add icing sugar.

Form into balls using a small cookie scoop and roll until smooth round balls.

Mmm . . . gobs of peanut butter . . . must. not. eat. until. covered. in. chocolate.

Put into fridge for at least an hour. Melt chocolate in a small saucepan on medium heat, stirring frequently. When melted, drop one ball into and coat in chocolate. See Tale of Two Truffles for further details on tips with rolling truffles in chocolate.

Now, for the Pink Himalayan Sea Salt . . . sprinkle a little bit on the top of the truffle, before it hardens . . . or decorate as you please. These ones have mini Reeces Peanut Butter Cup Bites.

Sorry for the poor presentation on the completed truffles! I was fighting with the new DSLR and I couldn’t get it JUST right . . . and I had to run out the door.

Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: chocolate, peanut butter, truffles

Holiday Baking List Revisited

January 4, 2011 by Jenn

Since it is my final night on Christmas Holidays **sigh** I thought I would revisit my Holiday Baking To Do List. Since this was my first Christmas as a BLOGGER, I may have set my sights a little too high . . . but I don’t think I did too bad!

Holiday Baking List

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars

Linzer Cookies (√)

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies (√)

Chocolate Covered Potato Chips (√)

Buckeyes (Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls) (√)

Maple Cream Cookies (√)

Red Velvet Cake Balls (√)

Oreo Truffles (√)

Monkey Bread (√ as Cinnamon Buns)

Cupcakes (√) (Champagne)

Cookie Press Cookies (√)

French Toast Casserole (√)

The only item I missed was the Apple Struesel Cheescake Bars! I’ll get onto those soon.

Coming up tomorrow is the CHOCOLATE COVERED PEANUT BUTTER BALLS!!!!

And . . . soon later this week, Baby Shower Cupcakes and Cookies. I’ve been LOVING working with fondant, and can’t wait to show you what I’ve come up with for Baby London, but you’re going to have to wait for her shower!!

Filed Under: Holiday Baking

Gingerbread Eggnog Trifle

December 28, 2010 by Jenn

Santa's Underwear

Gingerbread Eggnog Trifle

This one is not on my Holiday Baking To Do List, but it should have been! I have a love for my trifle bowl . . . and it is a love that was put on hold for the last year as my trifle bowl went missing last Christmas! Thank goodness my parents found it at their house, put away with the Christmas decorations in the basement. It was just in time too . . . I was about to go in search of a replacement bowl.

I made this recipe up myself . . . I am sure there are 1000 recipes out there on the internet! I’m refusing to look as I don’t want to ruin future attempts of creativity and trying something new! If I don’t know that someone else has thought of it before, I am the genius!

For this recipe, I combined three of my favourite holiday tastes . . . gingerbread, shortbread, and eggnog! Mmmmm . . . I’m salivating at the thought . . . and I already ate (more than) my fair share!

Gingerbread Eggnog Trifle

Ingredients

1 package of Gingerbread Cookies

1 package of Shortbread Cookies

4 cups of Eggnog

2 packages of Vanilla Pudding

250 ml Whipped Cream

1. Make eggnog pudding by using eggnog instead of milk by following the vanilla pudding directions on the box.

2. Whip cream.

3. Crush shortbread cookies into crumbs.

Arrange trifle in these orders: gingerbread, pudding, shortbread, whipping cream . . . repeat until you get to the top. Decorate as you feel inspired to do so!

Gingerbread Layer

Pudding Layer

Shortbread Layer

Whipping Cream Layer

We enjoyed this trifle after Christmas dinner. It was so good, but our poor stomach’s barely had enough room to fit it in. Thank goodness for my 19 year old cousin Jeff, who came back for seconds. Boxing Day . . . we’ll be eating the leftovers!

Happy Holidays from my family to yours.

Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: eggnog, gingerbread, shortbread, trifle

Holiday Baking- Baked French Toast Casserole

December 27, 2010 by Jenn

Christmas Morning!

Every Christmas morning my Mom makes Christmas Wife Saver.

Christmas Morning Wife Saver

You can find it in the Best of Bridge Series (if you can’t, let me know and I’ll get you the recipe). Nothing is tastier than Wife Saver after you have been working up a sweat unwrapping your Christmas presents and arguing over whose turn it is to open first this round (yes my family must open presents in order!).

This year, I set out to find something that complimented my Mom’s signature dish. She did the savoury, so of course I went for the sweet . . . Baked French Toast Casserole. I have to thank my friend Janine (new name- London’s mom!) for inspiring me to search for a recipe of this sort. Every time Janine joins her American relatives across the border, she is in charge of baking French Toast Casserole. Since she just had a beautiful baby (London Ashley) I didn’t feel it was the time to ask her to dig into her recipe vault to find her tried and true tasty concoction! After searching through my many favourite food sites, I settle on Baked French Toast Casserole with a praline topping.

Baked French Toast Casserole

Inspired from http://alyssastwobites.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
1 loaf of French bread (13 to 16 ounces)

8 large eggs

2 cups half-and-half

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Praline Topping:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9×13 inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and beat with a rotary beater until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all is covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden.

The original recipe says to serve with maple syrup, but I found that it was definitely sweet enough without it . . . honestly, it was almost too sweet (seriously . . . I know that it doesn’t sound believable!)

Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: baked french toast, praline topping

Holiday Baking- Maple Cream Cookies

December 27, 2010 by Jenn

My Grandma is celebrating her 96th Christmas this year. What do you get for a woman who has celebrated her 96th Christmas? I think by the time I reach that age (if the genes carry on) I will be satisfied with enough christmas “stuff.” I have done the books on tape (she has Macular Degeneration so is no longer able to read), Christmas CD’s (she loved that Charlotte Church girl in the 90’s), Christmas scenes for her mantle, World’s Best Grandma signs . . . blah, blah, blah. This year, I decided that I would shove my new love of blogging/baking in her direction and make her favourite cookie! Now, this is always a gamble, because if you have ever conversed with someone in their 90’s, they tend to be fairly set in their ways. My Grandma likes her Maple Cream cookies . . . from the store! I decided that the risk would be worth it . . . and at the very least, I would get a blog post, and another check off on my Holiday Baking List from it. Merry Christmas Grandma! I hope you liked the cookies. Here’s to many more Christmas’ together.

Looking pretty fabulous for her 96th Christmas!

Maple Cream Cookies

adapted from http://sweetpeaskitchen.com

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and maple extract; beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds.

Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Divide dough into two balls and flatten each ball into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoon maple extract
4 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoon maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator onto a lightly floured surface.
With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a maple leaf cookie cutter to cut out cookies, placing on prepared baking sheet.
Bake cookies in preheated oven 8-10 minutes, or until edges just start to brown.
Cool the cookies on the baking sheets about 3 minutes; using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
While cookies are cooling, make the filling by creaming butter in a stand mixer. Add confectioners sugar and maple syrup and beat until combined and smooth.
Using a knife or spoon, spread the filling onto the backside side of the cookie. Top with another cookie, backside down. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Filed Under: Cookies, Holiday Baking Tagged With: cookies, maple cream cookies, sandwich cookies

Holiday Baking- Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

December 24, 2010 by Jenn

Only six more recipes to go on my Holiday Baking To Do List! Uh, why didn’t someone try to stop me when I started that list? It was a tad bit adventurous when you think this is my first couple months doing this blogging thing. I’m so in love with baking now (and blogging!) . . . thank god I love it as I have a lot more baking to complete . . . and tonight is Christmas Eve Eve! Happy penultimate to the penultimate! I think I’m going to have to save the rest of the recipes for after Christmas, or I won’t get to have any family time.

This one is a gooder 🙂 Sweet. Salty. Sweet and Salty. Sweet and salty goodness.

Apparently this type of treat is big in Eastern Canada. I had never heard of them before, and stumbled upon the delightfulness on ManifestVegan.com. I love chocolate covered pretzels. Strike that, I love chocolate covered anything! I figured chocolate covered chips would be an amped up version of the pretzel treat. And boy was I right! So delicious. If you are a sweet and salty combo fan, you MUST make this.

Here you go:

Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

makes 30 individual chips

Ingredients:

30 uniform and unbroken salted potato chips (use your favorite here- I used Lay’s Wavy Original)
1 bag chocolate candy melts (or chocolate chips . . . I had a new bag of melts I wanted to try out)

Directions:

Sort through your potato chips and make sure they are all in pristine condition. No cracks, brakes, bumps, folds, etc. Set aside so that you can easily get to them once your chocolate has melted . . . you can eat the broken and small ones 🙂

Melt chocolate chips until smooth. I used the microwave on 50% power, one minute at a time. Stir after each minute, even if it looks like nothing is happening, something is!

Dip one potato chip at a time into the meted chocolate, using a small spoon to help glide the chocolate over the entire chip. You can’t dip the chip straight in and then pull it out perfectly covered in chocolate (as great as that would be). I ended up having to smear it on the chips.

Place chocolate covered potato chip onto wax paper. Repeat with all chips until thoroughly covered. Add some colorful sprinkles, if desired.

Let chocolate harden and then serve. I put them in the refrigerator to cool for about 20 mins, then I set them free on my guinea pig friends that were over at my place.

Sooooo delish.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: chocolate, chocolate covered potato chips, potato chips

A Tale of Two Truffles

December 23, 2010 by Jenn

A Guest Blog Post! The first of many . . . hopefully. Thanks for joining me Gretchen!

My (Jenn’s) Side of the Adventure:

Yesterday Gretchen and I spent the day baking! A dual baking attempt that could have gone really wrong . . . as we are both a tiny bit obsessive-often about the same things, but on rare occasions, we obsess about opposite minute details. I’m pleased to say that we are still talking to each other, and doing this blog post together! FAB!

See, I AM learning how to share! For those of you that don’t know me very well, I am NOT good at sharing. Yes, I teach Kindergarten and spend all day talking about how “In Kindergarten, we share everything!” (good ole Robert Munsch), but lets face it, Kindergarten is not the real world, and I clearly missed that lesson when I went through school. I blame my parents. Full stop. Just kidding Mom and Dad! I blame my brother. Seriously. If I had had a sister, I would have had to share clothes, toys, etc, but having a brother meant he had HeMan, and I had SheRa. We could play together when we wanted, but when SheRa was mad at HeMan, they could play in their own castles. I was always a bit obsessive about my possessions, and anytime Steve touched anything of mine (I could sense when he put one toe in my room) I would freak out. Clarifying Statement -Steve, I do not wish I had a sister . . . you are the best sibling anyone could ask for!

I have matured (aka-learned how to hide this) and don’t freak out anymore (lie), and in fact, have relinquished control to let Gretchen write whatever she wants. On my blog. I trust her completely. Gretchen, don’t mess up. xo

Gretchen’s Side of the Adventure:
After having coveted my “besties” awesome blog for some time here I am a) guest posting and b) very excited! We have been talking about the idea of baking together and finally found the time. Yah!

Over the course of our friendship Jenn and I discovered that we have many things in common, in addition to baking we are both can be a tad obsessive and enjoy being in complete control of most situations (hey why do you think we are both teachers?). I start my baking projects with a “vision” and sometimes struggle to alter my plan. Well this could be a recipe for, no not truffles, but disaster.

However success was ours. We baked the afternoon away, shared great conversation, laughed and cooperated! We are still friends and now have a delicious selection of truffles.

THANK YOU Jenn for inviting me to bake with you and to go so far as to let me post on your fabulous blog! I hope I didn’t mess up! xo g

Recipes are SUPER easy.

Maple Cream Truffles, Oreo Truffles

You take one package of your favourite cookies . . .

. . . grind them up in your food processor or blender . . .

. . . add one block of cream cheese (at room temperature), mix and roll into balls about 1″ in size! Freeze for about 20 minutes, or cool for a couple of hours in the fridge. This step is important as the cooler the truffle, the easier it is to roll in the chocolate coating.

Last step is to melt one bag of chocolate chips, or 10 oz of melting wafers, drop the truffle into the chocolate, roll around to coat it, then drop it back onto the cookie tray. If you use a fork to lift the truffle out of the chocolate, the excess chocolate will drip off, which is what you want.

We tried toothpicks, skewers, big spoons, little spoons, forks…there doesn’t seem to be an “easy” way to dip them.

Make sure to add your toppings/finishing touches before the chocolate hardens again. Work fast!

Left to right . . . Maple Cream, Oreo rolled in cookie crumbs, Oreo with white chocolate drizzled onto of dark chocolate coating, Maple Cream, Oreo with an Oreo piece on top, Oreo with mint chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless!

Filed Under: Holiday Baking, Other Baked Goodies Tagged With: guest blog, maple cream truffles, oreo truffles, truffles

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars

Peanut Butter Truffles

Holiday Baking List Revisited

Gingerbread Eggnog Trifle

Holiday Baking- Baked French Toast Casserole

Holiday Baking- Maple Cream Cookies

Holiday Baking- Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

A Tale of Two Truffles

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