Design It: Winter Wonderland

A giant mega flurry landed in my unsuspecting eyeball last week. But don't worry, I'm okay! Once I blinked the snow out and wiped dripping mascara from my eyelid, I noticed how amazing the sky looked. It was like I was walking in a snowglobe! So much for that 3% chance of rain. This cake is for you, unpredictable snowy winter storm weather.

Now hold up. I know what you're thinking: That cake looks too fancy and hard for me, I'm not a superhuman cake designer! Trust me. This cake looks a lot harder to create than it really is. The design is relatively simple to pull off and comes out looking quite impressive! You'll definitely wow a few people with this one. So, to get started, bake up a two-layer round cake using your favorite white cake recipe. Allow it to cool completely and crumb coat with white frosting; allow to set. Meanwhile...

Tear a piece of wax paper, about a foot long, and lay flat on the table. Sketch about 12-15 skinny pine trees of different heights, including trunks, with a permanent marker. You don't need to be a professional illustrator for this, just a basic outline is good enough! Flip the wax paper over.

Microwave about 1 cup white chocolate chips in 30 second bursts, stirring between each nuke. (It will take longer to melt these than regular chocolate chips since white chocolate has a higher melting point.) Scoop chocolate into ziploc bag and snip off a tiny corner. Following your sketches, pipe melted chocolate over outlines and fill in shapes. Slide tree covered wax paper onto cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Now you're gonna frost the cake. Put on a nice thick layer of fluffy white frosting. I like a basic vanilla buttercream. (Use clear vanilla extract, if you're making your own, to keep it a brilliant white.) Remove wax paper from fridge, turn upside down on clean surface and carefully peel back wax paper to remove from chocolate. Gently press each tree into cake frosting, lining up the bottom of each trunk with the base of the cake. Dust top of cake with silver edible glitter.

Source: Inspired by Modern Cupcake and Desserts for Breakfast

Pumpkin Gingerbread

Every Christmas, my mom and I (and sometimes my sister) would bake and bake and bake. We'd scoop and cut and slice probably hundreds of cookies and sweet breads, and, thanks to our benevolent taste testers who would die before we delivered any less-than-perfect treats to our neighbors, we ended the whole project with just barely enough to go around. My mom would sweetly scoot us kids out the door, reminding us to smile and sing loud enough for our old neighbors to hear, and off we went! My favorite house was right next door, at Reverend Fred Donaldson, or "The Rev" as his license plate said. He was a giant of a man, was missing part of one finger on his left hand and always sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" right back to us in his booming choir voice.

I know it's a little past Christmas and pumpkin season now, but this has gotta be one of my absolute favorite sweet breads. There's nothing like the smell of pumpkin and ginger baking in a hot oven to warm up your home and singing voice!

Pumpkin Gingerbread [click to print]
Makes 1 loaf

1 c sugar
1/2 butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 c molasses
1 c. pumpkin puree
1-3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (OR 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. Combine sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla; mix until smooth. Add molasses and pumpkin; mix until blended. Add dry ingredients in about 3 additions, scraping, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Mix until blended.

Coat loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes. Reduce heat by 25 degrees if using glass loaf pan.

Source: Adapted from AllRecipes

Gingerbread House Cookies

Every year near the holidays, my elementary school would host a gingerbread house decorating night in the cafeteria. My mom and all the PTO ladies would hand out baggies of royal icing and we'd set out our extensive array of colorful candies and get to work. My siblings and I were ambitious little artists/mess-makers so our graham cracker mansions were constructed with only royal icing for glue, none of that hot glue stuff that our friends Kate and Kelsey tried to pull! However, their house was always standing at the end of the evening and ours undoubtedly had a few collapsed roofs, fallen turrets and tears.

Hard at work, squeezing that bag!

The only sad thing about graham cracker houses is that they don't taste as good as real gingerbread and they get stale just sitting around on the mantel for weeks on end. I would much rather have something I can sink my teeth into, without the added sugar rush and expense of mountains of candy decorations.

So when I heard that my brother and his cute family were coming for a visit this Christmas, I just had to make these cookies for my nieces to decorate! They are quite the budding artists, after all. Not only do these cookies taste delicious, but they don't take too long to prepare and they are a great project for kids and (a little) less messy than your traditional graham cracker house. We put all the white icing in plastic squeeze bottles and it was much easier for little hands to manage. If we had another bottle we would have put the red in one, too, so plan ahead a little better than me!

This cookie artwork was eaten by Santa!

Store these cookies, undecorated or extravagant, in an airtight container and they'll stay nice and soft for several days...if they last that long!

And a little help from cousin Sarah!

Gingerbread House Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. molasses
1/4 c. sour cream
1 egg
4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream together butter and sugar. Add molasses, sour cream and egg; beat until well blended. Gradually add dry ingredients in about 3 additions. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough between two sheets of wax paper. Use a cookie cutter to cut out house shapes or create your own. I made mine out of a piece of wax paper and used a pizza cutter, smoothing out any cutter nicks with my finger. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place cookies 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Source: Adapted from Meet the Dubiens

Royal Icing [click to print]
2 egg whites, large
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. brown food coloring
3 c. powdered sugar

Beat egg whites, vanilla and food coloring until frothy. Add powdered sugar and continue beating on low until smooth. The mixture should be kind of thick, but pipeable, at this point. Scoop about 1/3 of the icing into a squeeze bottle or piping bag and set aside. Add water to remaining icing, about 1/2 tsp. at a time, until it is flooding consistency. If you make it too thin, just mix in a little more powdered sugar. Pour icing in another squeeze bottle (a piping bag will be much trickier, but still possible, for this consistency) and set aside.

Using the thicker icing, outline each house shape and allow to harden about 10 minutes. Using the thinner icing, flood each shape to fill in the outlines and allow to harden a few hours. Be careful not to get any water on them as they harden or they'll have lighter colored spots.

Once the cookies are well set, let your decorators go to work!

Source: Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Christmas Coal Candy

I grew up in the city, but close enough to Dutch country that threats of the Belsnickel still haunt me at Christmas. The Belsnickel dresses in fur, wears a mask with a long tongue and visits naughty children to scare and threaten them into behaving. (Check out Pennsylvania Dutch Night Before Christmas if you want the whole story!) But when those bad kids just refuse to be good, Santa Claus surprises them with a bag of coal instead of shiny new toys on Christmas morning.

But coal candy is for everyone! This traditional Spanish hard candy has a slightly crumbly texture when you crunch it. The traditional Spanish version is lemony, but I wanted something a little more Christmas-flavored, so I went with peppermint extract. This makes a great stocking stuffer or party favor!

Coal Candy (Dolce Carbon) [click to print]
1 egg white
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar, divided
2 tsp. black food coloring
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
3 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. water

In medium bowl, whisk together egg white, 1 c. powdered sugar, food coloring and extract. Gradually whisk in remaining 1/2 c. powdered sugar. The mixture should be thick and stiff and drop off the whisk in globby clumps. If it's too thin and runny, add more powdered sugar, a little at a time. Set aside.

Line 8x8 baking dish (about 2 inches deep) with parchment paper and set aside. Combine water and sugar in pot and stir together, mashing it until it's about the consistency of wet sand. Insert candy thermometer and heat until it reaches 258-260 degrees. Stir the whole time; the mixture will look kind of grainy and weird, so don't worry. When it's around 245-250, it may start browning, but that's okay. The mixture should stay grainy and not liquid.

At 258-260, remove from heat and add egg white mixture to pot and stir. (It might foam, so be careful!) When mixture is well mixed, pour into pan and allow to stand until hardened and cooled. Break into pieces; I used a hammer and screwdriver, it's definitely hard candy!

Source: Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes via Flagrante Delicia

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I enjoy a sugar cookie every now and then, but chocolate? Yummers! These cookies look great with a little bit of bright frosting to outline their shapes! If you take them out of the oven before they look completely done, they'll stay nice and soft, plus they have a rich chocolate flavor that you're gonna love!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 2-1/2 dozen

2-1/4 c flour
1 c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c butter, unsalted
1-1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt; set aside. Combine butter and sugar in separate bowl and beat until just barely combined. With mixer on low speed, add egg, vanilla and sour cream. Scrape sides of bowl as needed.

Scoop dough onto large sheet of wax paper. Cover with another sheet of wax paper and roll out about 1/4" thick. Place entire thing on baking sheet and chill at least one hour.

Remove top sheet of wax paper. Press cookie cutters into dough to create desired shapes. If dough is too sticky (to cutters or bottom layer of wax paper), dust with a little cocoa powder. Place cutouts on cookie sheet, about 1/2" apart, and refrigerate 30 minutes; this will help cookies maintain sharper edges.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies

I used to not like chocolate. Gasp! I know I was weird, as my sweet siblings were always quick to point out. Over the years, though, my tastes have become more refined and I do enjoy a big mouthful of chocolate every now and then. Okay, fine. I enjoy chocolate just about all the time.

These cookies are on the sweeter side but they are nice and chewy with a crisp edge. Plus they really dress up a plate of cookies with their fancy candy cane flecks . So, here's to you, chocolate and peppermint, you dear winter flavor combination of joy!

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies [click to print]
Makes about 4 dozen


2 c flour
2 T cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c sugar
1/4 c butter, melted
1/2 c chocolate chips, melted
4 eggs, large
2 tsp vanilla
6 candy canes, crushed

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa; set aside.

Combine sugar, butter and chocolate in large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating between each addition. Add vanilla. Scrape sides of bowl as needed.

On low speed, add dry ingredients. Scrape sides of bowl once. Continue mixing until just incorporated, about 2 to 3 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and pour crushed candy canes into a small bowl. Using a small cookie scoop or large spoon, scoop dough in 1 to 1-1/2 inch balls. Roll in candy and place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.


Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod