Christmas treats and treats and treats

It's been such a crazy time getting all the baking done for Christmas as well as 2 different college graduation parties for Sydney. We had 5 events over 5 days in a row! I'm just now starting to feel a little rested just in time to get the new year started :)

Cream Puffs

I've almost made it to the end.  Actually this is technically the end of the Alton Brown book - Pate a choux; otherwise known as cream puffs.  I've wanted to try this recipe for a very long time and I was so excited when I first read through this book and found it at the end.  It is the very last recipe.  I don't know why, but cream puffs are so fascinating.  They just seem like a little bit of magic I guess.  I was nervous, not going to lie, when I dove into this.  I didn't want to be the one who couldn't get the dough to "puff up" into the little heavenly pillows they should be.  So I set out on my quest with the utmost care, getting all of my supplies ready to go before I began.  I had it in my head that it was a timing thing and if I didn't have something ready it all might fail.  It didn't work that way, but it's always better to be prepared anyway. 

Making the dough begins a lot like making gravy - except the goal of a good gravy is to be without lumps - this was to get it to all form one big lump!  Goal one, complete.

 

On the cooking shows I've watched where they have made this - I've only seen everyone mix in the eggs by hand with a wooden spoon.  I was very happy to see that Mr. Brown suggested using the stand mixer; whew!

 

 

I mixed them one at a time and came up with a nice, smooth consistency.  Then put it into a pastry bag.  Next time I might try a larger tip, but it all seemed to work ok.

 

 

Ok, so a cream puff is actually a bit bigger and these would technically be considered profiteroles but who's really worried about that.  If I would have piped them out in lines I would have gotten eclairs :)

 

Since it is the steam within the dough that creates the "magic" I knew better than to open the oven door to check on the progress while these little guys baked.  But I wanted to so bad!  I kept looking through the glass but I couldn't tell if they were setting up so they wouldn't all fall once the timer went off and I did open the door.

 

But - yea! it worked!!

 

 

 

I'm so excited!  I have a party coming up and these are definitely going to be showing up on the dessert table!  I didn't have any pastry cream ready to go (and I'll be making some for sure) but I did have some chocolate butter cream and it made for a very nice substitute in a pinch.  The only bad side to any of these little guys is that they are so light and fluffy you can really throw a few back before you realize how many you've had.  Reminds me of the "Happy Days" episode where Ritchie was only drinking those tiny little glasses - 72 of them :)  Good thing I didn't go quite that crazy!

 

As I said in the beginning, this is the last recipe in "I'm just here for more food" but I still have several recipes to go back to because I didn't have the right pans (souffle) or I had a need to make something that was coming up so I just moved along.  So I'll be tying up some of those loose ends, but there aren't too many.  I'm almost done - I can feel the knowlege, it's starting to get a little crowded in the gray matter.  I'm loving it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skittles cake, Sherlock and more

There were skittles baked into the cake too

from the TV series "Sherlock"

little cake is the "smash" cake for the baby

 

Truffles and Fudge

It's funny how sometimes calling something a fun name can make it seem like something so much more fancy.  When I was growing up peanut butter balls made their appearance during the holidays pretty regularly, but now they are called truffles.  Ooh la la.  They do look nice all dressed up with some chocolate drizzles though.  The orange ones are oreo truffles (mmhmm, did it again).  I've tasted them before

Cheesecake - oh yes!

I have to admit, I put this off for a while.  It intimidated me.  I've heard way too many stories of how hard it is to get right, plus, frankly it's not really one of my favorite desserts.  Then add to it that it's also somehow - common.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron - complicated yet common, but it's true.  Every restaurant seems to have a version on their menu, whether good or bad it seems to show up at potlucks, family gatherings and parties all the time. 

But as I was reading through the custard section and Alton Brown stated "(cheesecake is) Significant because if you can consistently make good ones, fame shall be yours and strangers will bow low when you walk by." I must admit that I was a little more inspired to become good at making them. 

It seemed like the process was actually fairly simple but the trick is to do each step perfectly.  A fine challenge.  So I began. . .

Biscoff Puppy Chow

 

This is one of those things that came up over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I'm not sure where it came from exactly, other than Audrey asking me to make it.  I believe she saw it on Pinterest probably.  She read off the ingredient list to me and it was basically just the same as regular puppy chow but changing out the peanut butter for Biscoff spread.  Since the introduction of this wonderful item to our family about a month ago it has definitely made its mark and this just had to be tried! 

 

 

My hands were too messy to take pictures during the "powdering" process

 

For our own health protection we sent the majority of these treasures back to the dorms and just kept the bowl to nibble on.  Remarkably it has been more than a week and there are still some left.  I try to just take one or two pieces each time I walk by - rather than one or two handfuls.  It seems to be working out, until right now when I'm remembering they are just sitting out on the buffet . . . all alone. . . . hmmm. . . . be back later :)

 

 

Yummy Crepes

 

I was kind of surprised to see crepes come up in my Alton Brown journey, but then again strawberry/nutella crepes are some of my daughters' favorite desserts - or breakfasts.  More surprising was how easy they were.  I tend to make a much bigger deal out of things sometimes and let them get more and more daunting in my head before I decide to finally jump in and just do it.  For some reason, crepes ended up on that list in my brain.  While I did have to make each one at a time and that does take a while, it wasn't that bad.

 

Just need this one handy tool

All the liquids mixed up

Then add the flour

Rest in the fridge for at least an hour

I made these in the late afternoon so instead of dessert I decided to make them into yummy ham & cheese dinner crepes.  mmmmm