Bourbon Balls

Or Reindeer balls as Tyrone festively calls them. These are no bake, and a Christmas classic dating back to the 30's (I think). They will definitely be a tradition in the Baker-Barnett household in the future!


Reason to always sift your confectioners' sugar

Also, this recipe makes me realize how much of an appliance crush I have on my food processor. Without it, I would have spent an hour or more crushing vanilla wafers for this recipe.

The original recipe stated that you could simply roll the mixture into balls, but I found that pinching it together to make it stick, then shaping into balls was more effective.

Gimme some sugar!

These were so good...Tyrone and I had to test a few of them. ;)

Bourbon Balls
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
25-50 balls depending on size

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup bourbon or dark rum
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Also needed: fluted candy cups measuring 1-1.25 inches

1) Sift 1 cup confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl.

2) Mix together bourbon and corn syrup with a wooden spoon, and mix gradually in sugar mix.

3) Combine vanilla wafer crumbs and pecans crumbs and stir into cocoa mixture with wooden spoon.

4) Pinch mixture together to get it to stick, then roll into balls. Roll in sugar(1/2 cup confectioners') and place in fluted candy cup.

Store in between layers of wax paper, keeps for 3 weeks.

Salted Butter Caramels

So, this is the start of a candy makin' journey. I decided to make candy for gifts this year, rather than buy gifts. It's cheaper, and less agonizing.

Salted butter caramels are incredible on their own, but even better when they are made by you and given to your friends and family! And really, it's not that hard. It just takes patience, some time, and the ability to stay in the room and watch the caramel cook. This caramel gets very very hot (I have some burns to prove it) so it must be watched at all times.

 I would also like to give a shout out to my friend Kirsten, who assisted in letting me know wax paper works very well for wrappers. Cellophane wrap is IMPOSSIBLE to find in NYC.

Salted Butter Caramels
Adapted, barely, from David Lebovitz
30-40 pieces depending on desired size

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons salted butter, cubed and at room temperature

Tools:
candy thermometer
wax paper

1. Line a 9 inch loaf pan with tin foil, making the inside as smooth as possible. This will provide the shape for the caramels, and you don't want creases all over them! Spray the foil with cooking spray, or lightly grease with butter.

2. Mix cream, vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt in a small saucepan, and heat until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and keep warm during caramel process by covering.

3. Over medium heat, combine sugar and corn syrup in a heavy bottomed saucepan, stirring gently to insure the sugar dissolves. Fit saucepan with a candy thermometer and cook until the syrup reaches 310 degrees. To get an accurate reading of the syrup, the bulb of the thermometer must be fully submerged in the syrup so tilt the pan if necessary.

4. Once the syrup reaches 310 degrees, turn off the heat and whisk in the heated cream mixture until smooth. It will bubble and froth at first, so be careful and gentle.

5. Turn the heat back on and cook mixture to 260 degrees.

6. Remove pan from heat and mix in cubed butter, until all the chunks are mixed in and smooth. Pour mixture into prepared pan and let cool for 10 minutes.

7. After 10 minutes, sprinkle the remaining sea salt (1/4 teaspoon) over the top of the caramel and cool completely.

8. Once cool, lift out caramel from pan and peel away tin foil. Slice into desired sized pieces with a long, sharp knife. I found the easiest way to do this was to wet the knife with warm water between each cut. Candies can be individually wrapped with wax paper and cellophane, or stored in layers seperated by wax paper. I do recommend individually wrapping them because they tend to stick together. These will keep for 3-4 weeks.

I'm back! Happy Holidays!!

GOSH it's been busy. New York during the holidays can be cheery, but also a vicious, vicious place. The one really awesome piece of news is that our new neighborhood plays Christmas music in the street all day. Seriously, cool.

So, I am totally broke this year and have decided to spend hours slaving over a hot stove making candy for gifts, rather than buying gifts. It has been quite a blast so far, so stay tuned for upcoming posts on so many delicious treats. Ones that I would recommend you make!

But first, to start off my slew of holiday cheer-filled blog posts, I will start with a picture of

My very first Christmas tree! And yes, my boyfriend decided to put a stuffed monkey as the tree topper. We are classy, yep. Also, I spent hours stringing all that popcorn and those cranberries. So, I think it is a mighty fine tree.

So, with all the baking and candy making that goes on around the holidays, I thought it might be nice to show you a little trick that I like to use.

Don't you hate it when you reach into the cupboard only to discover that you're beloved brown sugar is completely hard? I detest this so much that I make my own brown sugar when I need it!

Brown Sugar

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses

Mix it with a fork. It will seem like it will never come together. But it will. And now you have nice, fluffy, delicious brown sugar! If you want darker brown sugar, just add more molasses 1 tsp. at a time until you reach the desired coloring.

Tip*
If you want to make a bunch at once to store, place a piece of bread in the container with the brown sugar.

Daring Baker's Challenge October!

I know, I've been a bad, bad blogger.

It has officially been a month since my last post!

In the past month I have stage managed a theater production through rehearsals and we are now in our closing weekend, I have slept maybe 20 hours total in the last month, got smacked in the head by a metal dolly (I now have a concussion), I and barely baked at all!

Quite an exciting month. And this month's challenge was indeed a challenge since I had -5 hours of extra time, and I had to make donuts without owning a stand mixer!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

These puppies turned out to be absolutely delicious, and I am very impressed with myself. Especially since the only time I was able to create this little darlin's was when I had a sick day because I broke my head. (For those who may be concerned, don't worry, I'm okay!)

Yeast Doughnuts

15-20 doughnuts depending on size, 15-20 doughnut holes

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup vegetable shortening (butter, margarine, or lard can also be used)

2 packages of active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup white granualted sugar

1.5 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

4 2/3 cups All-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting counter

Canola oil

1. Fill bowl with warm water and sprinkle yeast over. Stir just a little to incorporate, then let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.

2. Heat milk in saucepan over medium heat until just warm.

3. Place shortening in a small, heat-proof bowl and pour warm milk over. Milk should be warm enough to melt shortening.

4. Place foaming yeast into a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer, add milk and shortening mix (make sure it has cooled first).

5. Add eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half the flour and combine with mixer until incorporated, then beat at medium speed until well combined.

6. Add the remaining flour at low speed, then adjust again to medium speed. If you're using a hand mixer, be careful to be gentle and not burn out your motor at this point.

7. If you have a stand mixer, switch to your dough hook and beat for about 2 minutes until dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl. If you dont, like me, use your hands! Roll up those sleeves and have some fun! The dough will be very sticky at first, and I ended up adding about 2 more cups of flour before it was non-sticky enough to detach itself from my hands. Knead flour into dough gently, and remember if you knead too roughly, you will have tough doughnuts.

8. Transfer dough to a well-oiled bowl, cover with a towel or tea cloth, and let rise for about 1 hour. It will double in size.

9. On a well floured surface roll out down to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2 inch doughnut cutter and 1 inch cutter for center ring. Set pieces on floured baking sheet, cover with towel and allow to rise for 3o minutes.

10. Preheat oil in dutch oven or deep fryer to 365 degrees F.

11. Gently place doughnuts in oil, cook for 40 sec-1 min per side or until golden brown.

12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool 15-20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

I just rolled my doughnut holes in confectioners' sugar. yummm.

Chocolate Glaze
recipe from Alton Brown

This makes a ton of glaze, so feel free to halve it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts completely. Turn heat to low, add chocolate and whisk until melted. Turn off heat and add confectioners' sugar, whisking until smooth. Use immediately, and let doughnuts set 30 minutes before serving.

My first Daring Bakers' Challenge!

This has been an unusually crazy month for me. I've committed to stage managing my first show in three years, and it's proving to be a lot more work than I remembered.

That being said, it took me a while to find the time, and find the guts to attempt this recipe. I'm cool with the sugar cookies, easy enough. But, I have never proven to be a terribly gifted decorator, so this challenge was definitely a challenge for me.

This is such a great recipe to have under your belt for all those holidays that are coming up. I will definitely be pulling out the royal icing again for Santa's cookies.

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Another part of the challenge was to decorate cookies with something that speaks "September" to you. I chose lobsters because we took our Labor Day vacation in Maine, and that was a big highlight for me. Lobster is not the same anywhere else, so I always try to eat lots when I'm there.

Basic Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons All-purpose flour
1 cup superfine sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 1) Sift flour into a medium sized bowl and set aside

2) In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar and add any flavorings you might be using.

3) Add egg and beat until fully incorporated, make sure to scrape down sides of bowl as you go

4) Add the sifted flour slowly while mixing at low speed. A non-sticky dough will form.

5) Bring dough together into a ball and divide equally into 3 pieces.

6) Roll out each portion between parchment paper, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

7) Once chilled, remove parchment paper and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut out your shapes with a sharp knife or cookie cutters and place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Once they're arranged, refrigerate cookies for another 30 minutes before baking so they don't lose their shape.

8) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

9) Roll out any extra dough and repeat process.

10) Bake until the cookies are golden, and just starting to turn darker around edges, about 8-15 minutes depending on size of cookies.

11) Cool on baking racks, and do not decorate until completely cool.

TIP: Bake cookies in size groups to avoid burning


Royal Icing

Ingredients:

2 1/2-3 cups confectioner's sugar
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond extract, or any other flavoring you prefer

1) Beat egg whites and lemon juice until just combined, it will look frothy.
2) Sift confectioner's sugar and add to egg whites, beat on low until smooth.
3) Add any flavoring and mix in.

Royal icing starts to harden when it meets air, so keeping it covered with cling wrap while decorating is highly advised, and will help you avoid lumps.

The best way to utilize royal icing is to create an outline with a thicker consistency of the frosting, wait for the outlines to dry a few minutes, then "flood" the inside with a thinner consistency. The more sugar you add the the frosting, the thicker the consistency.

When "flooding," you apply the thinner frosting inside the outline, and spread the frosting around with a toothpick.

Using a gel or powder food coloring is best, since liquid colorings tend to thin out the frosting.

Piping bags and piping tips sized between 1 and 5 will be the most helpful when decorating.