Thursday, December 27, 2012

TWD: Finnish Pulla and other Christmas baking

I'm quite late writing this post but lots of baking has been taking place! About a week in advance of the holidays, I prepared almond paste from scratch.  I found how to make the paste in Joy of Cooking and cut the recipe in half.  Very easy to make and much better than buying. 






Almond Paste

Place in food processor:
1 1/2 cups of whole blanched almonds
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1/2 of granulated sugar

Process until finely ground. Add in:

1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Pulse until it comes together. Use a tablespoon of water if you need it to bring together. This can be stored in the refrigerator covered in plastic wrap and in a container for a month.



The dough was wonderful to work with.  

.  

When making the braids, I sliced three of them open and added the almond paste






These breads came out so beautiful.  We ate the breads on Christmas Day morning.  We sliced and toasted.  The cardamon is there but very subtle. I would make this bread again, easier than making brioche and just as delicious.



About a week before the holidays as I was looking at Serious Eats (http://www.seriouseats.com/), I saw this recipe for Earl Grey Tea cookies.





So easy.  I highly recommend. The cookies melt in your mouth and at first they taste like a wonderfully perfect butter cookie. And then the floral aroma of the bergamot comes through.





My mother-in-law Ginny made these tasty sweet spicy pecans.  So addictive, when you start eating, you can't stop.



For breakfast on Christmas Eve morning I made Buttermilk Crumb Muffins.  These became a breakfast favorite since we baked a couple of months ago through TWD.

In only a month or so, we'll be coming up on the first full year of participating in this group.  This has been such a wonderful experience that I'm looking forward to continuing.   

Thanks again for understanding the delay in my posting this time. Happy New Year's to everyone.  Here's to baking in 2013.

Cheers,
Broad Brook Baker

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

TWD Gingerbread Baby Cakes

I have to say this one through me for a loop.  I love espresso, molasses and ginger.  Coffee is, next to my family and friends, the reason I wake up in the morning.  My husband and I grind our own beans and have a fancy coffee maker that dispenses my 12 oz cup of love each and every day.  Around the holidays especially, molasses ginger cookies are my go-to cookie.  That's saying a lot because I love cookies.  I enjoyed making this recipe as I have now for close to a year with all of the recipes..... ok, I'm getting the punchline.....  

I hated the taste of this gingerbread!




I only had one and one-half cups of molasses so I put in half a cup of honey.  







Instead of baby cake pans I used a large cupcake pan and was able to make nine gingerbreads.



I placed parchment on the bottom of each cupcake cup and they came out beautifully. The gingerbread came out moist.  That was about it for me in terms of success. 




Over the last three days, I've managed to eat about one of the cakes.  I was determined to figure out what was wrong here for me; my assessment: the instant espresso.  For some reason, perhaps the brand of instant espresso, when I bite into my gingerbread all I taste is espresso. Even worse is that the grains of instant coffee did not fully dissolve in the cake so the espresso flavor lingers in my mouth for like, forever. No really, I just had another piece of left over Halloween candy to get the taste out of my mouth and it is still there.    Not at all appealing, very bitter and no other flavor comes through.

Sarah and I are putting all of our December hopes on the Finnish Pulla.  I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Cheers,

Broad Brook Bakers