Category Archives: Holiday Baking

Chocolate Orange Shortbread

Posted on by

Makes 24

Ingredients

  • ½ cup and 2 tablespoons fine sugar, divided
  • 2 Tablespoons Orange zest
  • 2 cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1/3 cup Semolina
  • 2 Tablespoons Rice Flour
  • ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1 cup salted butter, cold and cubed
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

  1. Lightly grease the sides of and line a 9″ x 12″ traybake tin with parchment paper allowing a 2-3” overhang
  2. In a large bowl, combine ½ cup sugar, the orange zest and rub together with your fingers to release the orange oils into the sugar. Add in the flour, semolina, rice flour, and salt. Whisk together to further combine
  3. Add in the cubed butter and rub together with your fingertips, or a pastry cutter, until the mixture is just beginning to bind together. Every so often do a quarter turn of the bowl to make sure you’re using all the dry mixture. You’ll want a texture somewhere between breadcrumbs and damp sand before you stop. Be wary of overworking the butter into the mixture – you want to avoid a dough that is feels slimey from the butter melting too much into the dry ingredients
  4. Add the chocolate chips and gently fold through the butter crumb mixture
  5. Tip the crumb mixture into your prepared tin and press the dough so that it forms a solid, even layer. Level the surface with the back of a spoon or measuring cup, making sure the mixture is evenly spread and level
  6. Refrigerate for 30 mins minimum
  7. Preheat your oven to 325°F
  8. Remove the chilled dough from your fridge and using a knife, or pizza cutter, score the shortbread into 24 rectangular pieces (2 cuts by 7 cuts) taking care not to actually cut the full way through the dough layer
  9. Bake the dough for 30- 35 minutes or until a very pale golden brown, and deeper golden brown at the edges
  10. Leave rest for 5 minutes, then cut with a knife, or pizza cutter, at the score lines you previously made, cut to the bottom of the pan to complete the cut the full way through
  11. Dust with the remaining fine sugar and leave the full slab of shortbread to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Carefully lift the fingers out of the tin with a palette knife or the parchment paper overhang and finish cooling on a wire rack
  12. Keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week

Cake Box Cookies

Posted on by

Makes 9-16 (dependant on cookie scoop size)

Ingredients

  • 15 oz box cake mix (White Cake, Red Velvet etc)
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Food coloring gel (if using white cake mix)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside until needed
  2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Add food coloring if using. Mix until well combined and uniform in color. The batter will be quite stiff
  3. Stir in both types of chocolate chips
  4. Lightly spray a 1.5 – 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop with cooking spray. Scoop batter onto prepared baking sheets, about 2-3 inches apart- they will spread out
  5. Bake 11-12 minutes. Cookies will look soft and be slightly underdone in the center when you take them out- they’ll keep cooking while on the baking sheet
  6. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely

Crinkersnickle Cookies

Posted on by

Makes 24

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 Tablespoon milk powder
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • ½  teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

For Rolling

  • 1 egg white, lightly beaten
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method

  1. Add butter to a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Continue to heat until the butter has melted and starts to foam. Make sure you whisk constantly. Continue to heat and whisk until the butter will begins to brown and turn a golden amber color on the bottom of the saucepan. You will notice some darker particles and the butter will start to have a “nutty” aroma. Remove from heat and immediately transfer the butter to a medium bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool until it is the texture of room soft butter
  2. In a separate large bowl combine the dark brown sugar,  granulated sugars and add in the cooled browned butter. Mix with an electric whisk for about 2 minutes until combined
  3. Add in the egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined, smooth and creamy; about 1-2 minutes
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, milk powder, cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Slowly the dry ingredients to the bowl of the butter mixture and beat on medium-low speed just until combined
  5. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours or up to overnight*
  6. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. If dough is too hard to roll into a ball, you may need to let it sit out at room temperature for 10-20 minutes before rolling
  7. Line 2 large baking/ cookie sheets with baking parchment
  8. While your oven preheats you can make the rolling mixture. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Dip the dough balls into the beaten egg white to coat then roll dough balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture, then place on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart
  9. Bake the cookies 8-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven
  10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets at least 5 minutes. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough as needed

*Note: If you want to speed up the process, you can chill the dough for about 20 minutes them roll it  into balls before chilling the dough for the longer time. That way you can simply place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake!

Spiced Plum & Almond Cake

Posted on by

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

Spiced Plums

  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 piece star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick, broke in half
  • 2-3 pieces of unwaxed lemon peel
  • ¾ cup water
  • 6 small red plums, halved and pitted

Cake

  • 1 and ½ cups ground almonds, divided
  • 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons sliced almonds

Method

Spiced Plums

  1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, water and bring  to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and add the plums, ensuring they are submerged in the hot liquer. Let rest for 20 minutes. After this time drain, reserving ½ cup of the cooled syrup

Cake

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare with butter or baking spray the sides of an 8-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper
  2. In a bowl, combine 1 cup of the ground almonds, all the all-purpose flour and baking powder. Whisk to combine and set aside until needed
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. At low speed or with a wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients. Set aside ½ cup of the batter. Transfer the remaining batter into the prepared pan and arrange the infused plums, cut side down, on the surface
  4. Stir the remaining ½ cup of ground almonds into the reserved batter. Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a pastry tip. Pipe the mixture in the spaces between the plums and sprinkle with the almond slices. Place the pan on a baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove. Lightly brush the top of the cake with the plum infusing syrup from earlier (gently reheated for ease of brushing)
  6. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Galette Des Rois

Posted on by

Makes 1 x 9″ galette

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 1 portion rough puff pastry as per my Saskatoon Berry Pie recipe

Filling

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons cherry brandy liqueur
  • 1 Tablespoon amaretto liqueur
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 cup ground almonds (almond meal)
  • 3 Tablespoons warmed orange marmalade, sieved to remove the peel

To Finish

  • 1 egg beaten with
  • 1 teaspoon milk

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 400F
  2. With the pastry divided into 2 as per original Saskatoon Berry Pie, roll to thickness 4mm thick. Using a 9″ plate or cake pan bottom, cut a disc shape from the pastry and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill, and repeat with the second portion of pastry on a separate lined baking sheet. You should now have 2 discs of pasty chilling in the refrigerator while you move on to making the filling
  3. In a medium bowl combine the sugar and softened butter. Beat with an electric whisk until pale and well combined
  4. Add the eggs, cherry brandy, amaretto, almond extract, cornstarch and whisk until well combined
  5. Add in the ground almonds and fold to combine well
  6. Once combined, cover and chill in the refrigerator
  7. Remove one disc of chilled pastry (still on lined baking tray) from the refrigerator and brush on the warmed marmalade, leaving a 1″ border to the pastry disc
  8. Transfer your almond mixture into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and pipe the filling mixture on top of the marmalade, keeping the 1″ border. Using a palette knife or spatula smooth the top of the filling for any major dips or bumps
  9. Liberally wet the border area with water
  10. Remove second disc of chilled pastry from your refrigerator and careful place on top of the first filled disc (I invert the second disc whilst on it’s baking parchment baking and then peel to remove the parchment). Press the edges over the wet area to seal the edge of the pastries
  11. Using a knife (or a chopstick) push into the galette edge to crimp/ scallop it
  12. Brush the top of the galette with the finishing egg mixture until fully covered and golden. Avoid brushing the side of the galette
  13. Using a sharp knife or bakers lame, cut a decorative pattern into the top of the pasty, careful not to go the full way through
  14. Transfer to your preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is a golden brown (There may be some leakage of butter form the filling)
  15. Once baked remove from the oven and transfer to cooling rack to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing