christmas dinner

every year my family has a christmas dinner tradition - we pull a cooking assignment out of a hat and then you have to make something for christmas dinner! example, this year i pulled "side dish." my brother got "appetizer" and dad got "potato." mom is always in charge of cooking the roast and the yorkshire pudding, so the rest of us have to make everything else.

i was set on making mac and cheese for my side dish, but realized no one really had the responsibility of bringing a vegetable to the table. so i sighed, then looked up vegetable recipes. i found an interesting recipe for broccoli pudding. ok i know, that sounds kind of gross, but if you've ever had corn pudding, then you would not cringe at the name. it's yummy, trust me.

recipe can be found HERE.

my brother made bacon wrapped water chestnuts for his appetizer, but i didn't take any pictures. people ate them up too fast.

dad made twice baked mashed potatoes. they were really good, but took forever to reheat. everything else was ready except for those potatoes. we ended up sticking them in the microwave. they were really delicious, though. his recipe is from idahopotato.com but there a million recipes and i have no idea which one he used.

and the beautiful roast and yorkshire pudding courtesy of mom.



YUM.

christmas goodie bags

instead of buying my coworkers gifts for the holidays, i like to bake. i think receiving something homemade is really special and means a lot - you know the person worked really hard and did it with good intention and of course thought about you when making it. it's so easy to buy a gift card or coffee mug for someone, but baking takes a lot more thought.

this year i kind of went crazy with the baking. i suppose i was a little ambitious (as usual), but everything turned out really great (if only i could say the same for christmas morning, my cinnamon rolls didn't rise and breakfast was a failure).


first i had to bake some vegan cookies for a holiday party. left to right: vegan chocolate chip cookies (a veganized version of betty crocker's recipe), vegan snickerdoodles (a veganized version of martha stewart's recipe), and vegan chocolate chip candy cane cookies (betty crocker + extra candy canes in my house)

then i used martha stewart's linzer cookie recipe for these pretty treats. most linzer recipes call for almonds, but martha uses hazelnuts. the taste is much more rich and nutty, but i think it's nice.

i was making three batches of gingerbread cinnamon rolls for my coworkers...

luckily i had the space in my fridge to store them!

they came out really nice. i topped them with a lemon icing - i added some lemon juice and a little zest to the normal icing recipe.

all wrapped up for gifts!

i also made some chocolate cherry muffins, but they didn't come out too great. i tried to make them in a christmas tree shaped muffin pan, but it's actually really hard to get pointy muffins out of a tin. i messed most of them up, so they were not picture worthy.

after all of this, i think i can safely say i'll be staying away from the kitchen for a while. well, not too long. my friend's birthday is in two days and i think i have to bake a cake...

christmas party treats

every year around the holidays my parents throw an amazing party - with lots of food, drink, a piano player and carolers, lots of christmas decorations, a golf cart (long story), and amazing party outfits. my mom has some great christmas cookie recipes, but she asked me to make a few things this year. she namely wanted "individual" desserts, since a lot of people bring cakes and cheesecakes that need to be sliced and don't usually get eaten because people just want to pick up something and eat it.

so of course i knew i'd make cupcakes. but i wanted to make special christmas-y cupcakes. i found a recipe for white chocolate cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate frosting and white chocolate curls on top). so i made those, but added crushed candy canes to the top as well. over time the candy cane soaked into the frosting and gave it a stronger peppermint flavor, which was nice. i also used a real vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract for the frosting, because i absolutely love the look of those little vanilla specks in any kind of baked good.


for my second dessert, i thought about making individual fruit tarts. i recently got a hold of some mini tart pans, so i figured this would be perfect. first i made the pastry cream, since that takes some time. you have to heat the cream and then add it to egg yolks and then heat it again and stir it constantly and then strain it and let it cool then refrigerate for a while..gaah. but i must say..IT WAS DELICIOUS. oh my goodness. let's just say this ended with "extra" pastry cream and a spoon in my hand. while the pastry cream was cooling, i made the pastry dough and stuffed it inside the tart pans. i was reading a recipe that said to roll it out and lay it into the pan, but i was working with little 2 inch pans. i didn't bother rolling it out (plus it was so buttery that it kept sticking to everything). i just ripped off little pieces of dough and pressed it into the pan. much easier.


i waited until the next day, hours before the party, to assemble these little guys. i had some mint leaves, so i candied them by rubbing them with an egg replacer (i didn't want to waste a whole egg for a few mint leaves) and then covering them in super fine sugar, letting them dry and get crunchy. the tarts came out really pretty, i was proud. i should have put them back in the refrigerator, because by the time i got to the party and put them on a serving platter, the cream soaked into the crust and they got all soft. eh, whatever. they were still delicious and people ate them all.


i will definitely make the tarts again. maybe next time i'll make one big one and wow everyone with my skillz.

happy holidays!!

thanksgiving 2009!

oh my goodness. what a week. i spent all of last week baking for thanksgiving, and then spent about 20 minutes eating it all up. isn't it funny/annoying/sad that so much time goes into planning for thanksgiving dinner, and then you're so excited to eat that you inhale everything and it's over in a flash... at least i can look back on it and think how delicious everything was (oh and ps i totally ate too much this year, had to excuse myself from the table because i thought i was going to puke. that's not normal, right? i have a problem).

anyway, here come the photos.

first, i made an apple crumble pie. you can't have thanksgiving without apple pie. i love making lattice crust tops - people are always so impressed with lattice tops, and they're really not that hard to make. after you've done it once, you'll be able to do it really quickly on all your pies. this pie was good, it gelled really nicely and wasn't runny at all. secret? apple sauce!


next, i had the pecan pie tarts. these are so so so good. and they are so easy to make. the crust is basically just butter and cream cheese, and the pecan filling is nuts, sugar, egg and butter. good, simple ingredients=delicious food. these were the perfect size and a big hit, especially with my brother.


i decided to spice things up by adding a cake to the list of thanksgiving desserts. i found this recipe for a pumpkin sandwich cake on the better homes and gardens website, and i love pumpkin and i love cream cheese frosting, and this recipe combined the two, and then added chocolate (drools). when making the cream cheese frosting, i think it was a little too tart for my taste. but when inside the cake and with the chocolate ganache, the tanginess complimented the rest of the cake (which was all really sweet). cakes are fun to make, but you really have to have the patience.


and of course we can't forget the pumpkin pie. i made a brandy pumpkin pie, and it was some of the best pumpkin pie i've had. there was just enough brandy in the recipe where you couldn't really taste the alcohol, but you knew there was something a little special in there. the custard was so smooth and silky, not too thick like some pumpkin pies. and the crust came out really nice and crispy. this recipe is a keeper!


i also made a vegan pumpkin pie for scott. according to him, it's delicious. i didn't try it - by the time he got to eating it i was done with pie and just looking at sweets made me sick. but he said it was good, so i'm happy about that.


i hope you all had a great and tasty thanksgiving, and didn't eat to the point of nausea (like me). i really enjoyed baking this year, i'll probably tone it down a bit next year, though. four desserts? yeah, a little crazy.

bring on the christmas cookies!

acorn squash

i bought an acorn squash last week at the hollywood farmer's market. that brown sugar/cinnamon/maple syrup flavor was calling my name. and if there's a way to make a vegetable (is squash indeed a vegetable?) into dessert, i'm in. plus the flavors are so fall-y, it's a really good seasonal treat.

ingredients:
1 acorn squash
sugary butter mixture:
- 1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
- 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- splash of orange juice
- dash of pumpkin pie spice (if you don't have this, you can play with cinnamon, clove, allspice, etc)

1. take your acorn squash and cut in half lengthwise. remove the center of the squash (seeds and goopy stuff. save those seeds! see below...)
2. place your squash halves, cut side down, into a baking dish. roast these at 350 for about 45 minutes (i know that sounds like a long time, but it goes by quickly).
3. after 45 min, take the squash out of oven and flip over. pour your butter mixture in center (you may want to spread it around the cut sides, or poke some holes with your fork in the bottom of the squash well, let the juices get around!)
4. put this back in the oven and bake again for 25-30 min, or until the squash is tender.
5. drizzle your finished squash half with some maple syrup. yum!

before baking with butter mixture
out of the oven!
why yes, i WILL eat you!


i told you to save those seeds - don't forget to roast them!

1. separate your seeds from the squash goop. rinse them off so they're not so sticky (or else they'll all clump together when you cook them). place clean seeds on a baking pan.
2. sprinkle with your preferred seasoning (i used chili powder, garlic powder and seasoned salt)
3. roast in a low temperature oven (300-325 degrees) for at least 25 minutes (longer or shorter depending on how crispy you want them)



these are great on a salad or just grab a handful and shove them in your mouth. they're such a good little snack!

holiday pies

hi! i'm back. i had to take a week off because of the swine flu, and then i wasn't too keen on baking and getting my germs into cupcakes and such. but i am better now, and more than making up for it with pies.

on sunday night scott asked if i would make him an apple pie. i ran out to store and bought some apples and soy milk, then came home stoked to make my first pie of the season. so i get home, make the crust, put it in the fridge to chill, then get out my vegetable peeler to start the apples. on my first apple, on the third stroke, i nicked my ring finger. i don't cut myself when cooking, i'm usually really careful. so of course i saw blood and FREAKED. i ran screaming to the bathroom, luckily scott was there to dress my wound. i almost passed out...

scott was nice enough to finish peeling and slicing the apples, and once my finger stopped throbbing i continued to make the pie. i used the pie crust recipe from veganomicon (love that pie crust, its so easy and always turns out amazing) and then adapted the apple pie recipe from my better homes and gardens special edition new cook book. it was easy to veganize, apple pie is pretty standard..

it came out pretty darn nice, i was pleased.
i couldn't wait for it to cool, we had to eat it within a few hours of coming out of the oven. probably should have let it sit so the liquid could gel up a bit. oh well. it was still delicious.
soy vanilla ice cream for scott

tonight i decided to make a pumpkin pie for my boss who just moved into a new house. pie is her favorite baked good, so what better way to say "welcome to your new home" than with pie! my boss is not vegan, so i just did a plain ol' pumpkin pie. i used my better homes and gardens cookbook again, only because this recipe seemed so easy (pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sugar, egg, half and half).
yumyum
i'm proud of my crust. i'm a fan of crust.

i know i said i wanted to test drive some of the recipes i chose for thanksgiving dessert, but instead i've been making these. oh well! i guess it will be a surprise on thanksgiving.

holiday baking

the holidays are upon us and that means it's time to head to the kitchen and bake up some pies and cakes and cookies! i've already "scheduled" my thanksgiving baking - yes, i've marked on my calendars the days on which i should be baking...

so far this is what i'm planning on taking to my parent's thanksgiving dinner:

- brandy pumpkin pie
- apple pie with crumble topping
- pumpkin sandwich cake
- pecan pie tarts

is this too much? i don't think so.. it might be a bit ambitious, but i'm determined to make enough dessert to please everyone's palate.

also, i know scott will probably be having some sort of "thanksvegan" dinner, so i'll make a vegan pumpkin pie and apple fry pies for that.

yeah, this does sound like a lot of stuff. i better stock up on sugar and flour..