Holidays

Whatever holiday you celebrate, or don't, this time of year is noteworthy. For some, it is actually difficult and I am sending out a wave of compassion for them. For many, it is a time for family and friends (the former can make it difficult--but hopefully for most it is joyful). Given my husband lost his father this past month, the family part of this season is the one we are focusing on. So, off to Boston we go to spend a few days with his sister and her family. 

It is crazy, warm outside. Odd and a bit disconcerting. Check out this picture, taken on the road and when it was 71 degrees fahrenheit! 

That haze is fog from the nearby sea, which was colder than the air. 

I decided to make a pile of cookies to bring. One of my favorite things about the holidays are cookies--sugar, thumbprint, molasses with chocolates in the middle, spritz, and Namiamo bars. My mom made these great pecan cookies with a chocolate glaze that were YUMMY. A house smelling of sugar, buttter, and chocolate is also a trigger for soothing memories. My sugar/butter addiction is longstanding. The holidays are an excuse to indulge!

In my haste to get things done for our trip, I forgot to take pictures. I have a few, but none of the completed cookies. Ugh. So, I will post recipe links (because I just am a copy-cat who sometimes mixes it up). 

I made the chocolate biscuit part of these, with a raspberry buttercream frosting filling (I tend to just use one tablespoon of rice milk instead of the three of heavy cream) . Feel free to use Molly's chocolate malted filling--I can attest to the fact that it's delicious. I was just trying to keep a little holiday color in the cookies. And, yes, I dipped the chocolate biscuits in chocolate glaze. Because nothing is really too sweet or chocolaty for me. Change as you must ; )  

I made namiano bars. But, because the recipe makes super thick and rich bars, I spread mine out over an 8 x 11 pan I had. (Scratch what I said previously, some things can be a bit too much.) Experiment, maybe just use less of the layers and keep the 8x8 pan size the same. Trust me, these are rich, rich, rich so a little thinner layer is actually better. Here's a quote from the recipe on Food 52: "You have been warned about these: nanaimo bars are not messing around or for the faint of heart." They are no-bake, so super easy and fast. Absolutely follow the recommendation to score the bars about 10 minutes after the chocolate topping has hardened. It helps make the cuts neat when ready to serve.

Lastly, I made some Viennese Whirls with a cranberry buttercream filling. I used this recipe for the cookie. However, I didn't have creme fraiche (too freaking expensive and I didn't want to try to make my own days ahead). I did, however, have some mascarpone on hand (while still a bit pricey, it is way cheaper than creme fraiche, at my store anyway. I used JUST a tablespoon, not three as the recipe calls for because--well, I just didn't want that to be the overwhelming taste). For the cranberry frosting, I first made some cranberry preserve-like mixture with the recipe from these. I had frozen cranberries left from Thanksgiving, and I like the idea of getting that fruit into a sweet at this time of year. I used the same amount of the cranberry mixture as I did raspberry preserve in the previous recipe (above). I omitted creme fraiche/mascarpone from this. Just didn't want it.  Here are the few pics I snapped of the making of these:

As you can see, I am completely NOVICE at piping dough. I followed LadyandPups directions. I flipped the parchment over and traced circles with a pen, then flipped it back. It helped to have that pattern to fill. I also made smaller cookies, so I used a Mexican Peso to trace--you use what you're comfortable with. Here's what I learned: don't fill the piping bag very full, just add as you go. The dough will become softer with the warmth of your hand on the bag and therefore easier to pipe. Use a larger piping tip. I found that it helped to hold the tip above the circle I was going to fill, squeeze and when the dough came close to the edges of the circle, I rotated the bag 90 degrees to get a "swirl". THIS WAS NOT THE TECHNIQUE USED IN THE RIGHT-HAND PICTURE.However, I highly recommend Googling techniques and figuring out what works best for you. 

I realize that this last cookie's description is a muddled mess. However, that's due to my inexperience. It is, however, proof that inexperience doesn't matter. As long as you are open to "playing" with baking and not wanting perfection, you will enjoy it. It's a good metaphor for life. Don't take it too seriously. The joy is in the creative process. 

They tasted great, by the way.