The Merriest of Christmases

 A very happy and joyous Christmas to my readers around the world. May the day be filled with food and cheer, drink and presents. Remember those in war torn Ukraine and those suffering from homelessness and food challenges across the globe. Pray that their days will soon be filled with the contentment of a warm meal with family and friends.

Enjoy those cookies and candy canes. I know I will.

Cookie Making Part Two The Icing

 What makes a Christmas cookie cute? How it's artfully decoarated. However it does take skill and patience, along with a solid icing.

That's what I thought I had when I was all set to decorate these, those sugar cookies that I baked from a Wilton recipe.

I was more than excited to use my Wilton's squeeze bottle icings

These have to be heated in the microwave every fifteen seconds to get the icing more pourable

. It worked with the white and with the green somewhat. The red was another story. It was very runny and dripped off the cookies.

                                                           These are the early ones

To be honest it was hard to work with the icings. They could be drippy or like paste. I used a small plastic knife to flood in the Santa and snowmen hats with the thin red icing.

As for the Chrsitmas lights I just filled those in with a squiggle of any of the three colors and white icing at the bottom to simulate the screw in. 

It took a while and several microwave heatings to decoarate all thirty  cookies. I was very lucky to have my three tier cookie rack from Wilton to put them. The cookies needed air so they icing could dry properly.

The icing set pretty nicely and adds a lemony flavor to the cookies. They look cute and are fun to eat. I just need more practice for my next batch.

What is a Christmas cookie without icing? Just a cookie. It needs a zing like Wilton's icing to give it some zing and oomph!

Christmas Cookies Part OneThe Making

 What is Christmas without festive cookies? That's what many are thinking as bakers of all levels pursue th tradition of making a plate. I went into the cookie fray  -

I wanted to use my new cookie cutters from Wilton . And what better than using them on WIlton cookie dough.

This is not a dough for the faint hearted.

Since I also bake vegan I had to sub in Melt for butter and used Lucerne egg whites for the egg. The rest is basic cookie dough. It does have to be mixed in two bowls. First i'ts reaming two sticks of butter with a cup of granulated sugar and one egg. Also three and a quarter cups of flour is sifted with a teaspoon of baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of salt.The flour is added to the mix one cup at a time until a sticky ball is formed. It's then dividing it into two rectangular loaves

Here comes the fun part  - rolling it out. This was a dough to be reckoned with. The rolling pin and table had to be floured over a few times

It's rolling it out to a twleve inch circle, (More square in my case) and 1/8th of an inch thick (more like half an inch in my case). It's then using the floured cutters to cut out the shapes

This is the first batch, before baking

Thye look anemic and it took twenty minutes to bake as opposed to the usual eight to ten minutes

 This is them baked. The yield is around thirty. The dough became flaky and crumbly after four or five rolling out and it was impossible to cut shapes.

You can see how it got crumbly and how it sticks to the rolling pin despite all the flour used.

                                 This is the entire batch , waiting to be iced .I did do a taste test and it is a very pleasant almond flavor

Tomorrow will be the finishing touches to turn them into holiday gems. They will be transformed into multicolored holiday treats. There are Santas, snowmen and lights waiting to be decorated.

It's Panettone Season

 They're everywhere. In stores. Gracing bakery windows. On every Nonna's holiday table. What are these popular holiday treats?Panettone or panetung if you grew up in a Piedmontese household.

Regular contributor Julia Moskin wrote about thos beloved and historic bread in today's New YorkTimes Food section. This traditionally Northern Italian treat has become a global moneymaker with all sorts of variation over the world. The standard which originated in fifteenth Century Milan is a domed sweet bread with a golden crumb. scented and stidded with sugared fruit.It's in the same family as German stollen,Polish chalka and British fruitcake.It was made with expensive ingredients like eggs and butter, refined flour and sugar, spices from Asia and preserved fruit from the Mediterranean.Later on bits of chocolate were added and regional ingredients such as lemon from the Amalfi coast and hazelnuts from Piemonte. As Italy unified panettone became the national symbol of Christmas.It was beribboned and wrapped in fancy paper. However thanks to commercial baking the bread lost some of its' famed luster.They became dry and flat tasting thanks to cheaper ingredients like candied squash (!!!) and milk powder.

Luckily there is a renaissance of sort for the treat.There are more artigianle ones being made as opposed to industriali, that is it's going back to it's hand wrought origins instead of being mass produced.There's also the threat of outside sources such as  Peruvians, Argentinian and Brazilian producers like Bauducco and D'Onofrio where Northern Italian immigrants settled in the late 19th Century (especially in Argentina). The other problem is that panetoone from MIlan is protected like San Marzano tomatoes or prosciutto from Bologna. Luigi Biasetto, a top baker in Padua is leading an effort to have the bread declared as part of the world's cultural heritage.It is a difficult bread to create. Two separate doughs are required, each a challenging mix of high gluten flour. The first dough is slowly fermented to a specific level of acidity which takes twelve to twenty four hours, depending on microbial activity.It requires constant monitoring of temperature and humidity. rich ingredients , much like during panettone's early days are being added in. Gucci (yes Gucci) and Fornasetti are adding Belgian centrifuged butter and pure Madagascar vanilla. The king of panettone Ray Schvartzapel creates a more bready one  with cherries and pistacchios. There are even World Cup style panettone competitions.

Panetoone is such a cherished holiday treat. You can spend a lot or a little on it. Every slice is a wonderful bite into tradition.

Brisket For The Holidays

 Whether it's Christmas or Hannukah , brisket is the meat to serve.It;s' tasty and can be prepared a number of different ways. Another plus is that it's great for sandwiches the day  after.

What is brisket exactly first of all?It's a large cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of the cow.It is one of the nine beef primal cuts and one of the four main barbecue meats.It's relatively a tough cut because the animal works for moving. You can easily buy it at your grocery store but you'll get a better cut at your butcher's. The best way to soften the meat is slow cooking which breaks down the meat's fibers.If you want to make it for one of the nights then think of cooking it with brown sugar, tomatoes and red wine vinegar for a tangy sweet and sour bite. Serve with carrots and potatoes to round it out. You can also cook the meat first and them create a sauce to pour over it (which also would be good for hot leftovers the next day). Can you oven cook it? Yes! Rub it first with salt and pepper (or any rub).Doing this will create a craggy, crunchy crust that's a crowd pleaser. Then it's cooking it low and slow over night in the oven for twelve to eighteen hours. Keep the temp at 250 degrees farenheit.if it higher it will dry out the brisket and toughen it.Tent it with tinfoil for a tender bite and then leave it uncovered for the last three hours.

Brisket makes a wonderful alternative to ham and turkey for Christmas. Shake it up some by first rubbing it with a mix of garlic, onion and chili powders blended with Cajun seasoning and a teaspoon of liquid smoke.The spices are rubbed on the lean side of the flank and then sprinkle on the liquid smoke. Tightly wrap the brisket in Saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.  While this it chilling make the sauce. Take half an onion and two to three garlic cloves and mix with A1 steak sauce, liquid smoke and Worcester sauce. Add thyme, Cajun spices and cayenne pepper for more spice. This sauce is poured over th e meat and everything is cooked for  six hours.  (You will have to get up super early on Christmas morning if you want it done by one PM) save the pan drippings and cook for ten minutes in a sauce pan over a low flame.  What to serve with this.Roasted sweet potatoes would be good, especially if you serve it with a whipped cinnamon honey butter. Another tasty side is a tangy green bean salad, a change up from the traditional casserole.

Brisket is perfect for either Hannukah or Christmas.The cut is perfect for a family dinner or party. Try it at your holiday gatherings.

A Tiny Break

 We're taking a teensy tiny break and will be back soon with some interesting ideas and recipes

Are You Christmas Ready

 The big day is a week away. Are you ready for that day tha'ts not only known for gift giving but major cooking. Are you all set for that second or third batch of Christmas cookies?

To be honest it's tough to find good deals. Few groceries are offering discounts on such Christmas staples as ham and turkey. If you haven't bought yours yet, then think about going to Aldi or LIDL for a discount.The next question is what to serve with it. Ham is a bit easier, You could easily go German style and have potato salad and baked beans. As for the turkey , you could do a rehash of Thanksgiivng and have stuffing along with cranberry jelly and green bean casserole. If you're going this route decide if you want to use Stove Stop stuffing - which is easier - or homemade stuffing which is more labor intensive. For vegans and vegetarian have you bought you tofurkey or tofu loaf yet? These are becoming arder and harder to find on store shelves.Have a Plan B on the ready. Keep in mind you can create a festive loaf using Beyond Meat and then serving it with a mushroom gravy. Another Plan B meal is Gardein's Turkey Cutlets with gravy. These taste like the real thing and have gravy with them. Buy a few packages of these (there are four cutlets per package) for your dinner.

Have you started on your baking? What about what to serve after  Christmas dinner? Luckily there are some small deals on baking ingredients so take advantage of these. Do you have enough flour for all those batches? What about the other baking basics like eggs and sugar? Buy two dozen eggs if you feel you'll need a lot for baking cookies and cakes. Sugar,  like flour , goes fast. Buy a four pound bag instead of a two pound (you can always use the extra for every day coffee and tea. Do you have enough confectioners sugar. That too goes fast, thanks to it being turned into butter cream and royal icings. Another must check are deocorations. Do you have enough food coloring in both liquid and gel. Remember that some icing recipes work better with colored gels than liquid dye. Are there enough sprinkles and sanding sugar? Now is the time to stock up before you actually start baking and decorating. what about that Christmas dessert? do you want to go with a fancy cake like a red velvet or a trifle. The second is an  easy and fun boozy mix of a cake like pound cake layered with pudding, cream and fruit. You can douse it with rum for even more kick. 

Are you Christmas ready? This is the week to make it so. It's not too late to plan a sumptuous Christmas feast followed by a lush dessert.