Gingerbread Loaf with Glacé Cherries

I'm back!  I know it's been a long time since my last post.  I've been super busy lately. This time of year always gets me inspired so I am committed to posting more regularly on here!

This loaf is super moist, and works with or without the cherries.  I like the bit of crunch and sweetness the cherries add.  I also love anything to do with gingerbread this time of year.  This recipe is super easy, but it takes a long time in the oven to cook because it does not have eggs in it and the applesauce makes it so moist.



Ingredients:

1.5 Cups White Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 1/3 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Salt
1 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Margarine
1 tsp Lemon or Orange Extract
1 Cup Apple sauce
Glacé Cherries, red and green

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan.

2.  Combine all of the dry ingredients except the baking soda.  Combine the margarine, and sugar in a mixer until fluffy.  Then add the extract, baking soda, and apple sauce to the margarine/sugar mixture..  Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, and then fold in the cherries.

3.  Pour the batter in the loaf pan and cook for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  I had to place some foil on the top of mine after about 40 minutes so the top wouldn't get too brown, but the inside would continue to cook through.

4.  Add some cream cheese icing if available and, enjoy!

Baked Lemon-Glazed Donuts

Ingredients:

Donut:

1 Cup White Flour
6 TB White Sugar
1 tsp  Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Lemon Extract
1 Egg
1 TB Melted Margarine or Butter
6 TB Liquid (I used soy milk)

  
Glaze:

1 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar
1/2 tsp Lemon Extract
2 1/2 TB  Warm Water


Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prepare your donut pan by greasing it.

2.  Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder.  Add the liquid, egg, and melted margarine/butter.

3.  Put batter in a ziploc bag and cut the corner off.  Use this to pipe the batter into the donut pan.

4.  Bake 8 to 11 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the donut.

5.  While the donuts are cooling, prepare the glaze.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Once the donuts are cool, apply the glaze using a spoon.  Let one layer of glaze set and then add a second.  This helps you achieve a more opaque glaze.  One trick I use is to ice them on a metal tray, as seen above, over some waxed paper.  This way, none of the glaze is wasted.  Any glaze that dripped off the donuts will land on the waxed paper and can be reapplied.

First coat of glaze.

Second coat of glaze.

This is what the donut will look like once both layers of glaze have completely set

 I hope you enjoy!!

Non-Alcoholic Rum Balls

I am sneaking this last entry into my Christmas Series right before we welcome in the New Year!  This is my brother's favourite dessert at Christmas, my mom makes them every year.  They are very simple to make and pack a lot of flavour.  They also don't have to go in the oven, which makes them even more simple!

I am so excited for the New Year and have a lot of plans for recipes to add to my collection on this blog.  I have been getting really into slow-cooking, so keep an eye out for that!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and I wish everyone an awesome New Year! :)


Ingredients:

200 grams Graham Wafer Crumbs (1 package of Honey Maid Brand)
1 Cup Icing Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Corn Syrup
1 TB Rum Extract
2 tsp Instant Coffee dissolved in 2 tsp water (you can substitute juice)


Directions:

1.    Place dry ingredients in food processor and process until fine.

2.  Transfer to electric mixer and add the remaining ingredients.  Beat until well combined.

3.  Shape into balls and store on wax paper in air tight container in fridge.

4.  Enjoy!

St. Nicholas Cupcakes

Greetings! This is another entry for my Christmas Series.  This particular recipe is my mother's favourite at Christmas.  It is our traditional, family recipe which we make every year.  I can't remember a Christmas when we didn't have this!  

It started as the St. Nicholas Cake.  It was made in a bundt pan and was decorated in the same way, with four sets of blossoms on top.  We started making the cupcakes about 5 years ago when cupcakes starting to get so popular!  I prefer them this way because they cook quite a bit faster (the cake would take almost an hour to cook), and they are easier to gobble up on Christmas Eve!  

This cake is very light, due to the 4 eggs in the recipe.  The almond extract adds such a unique and festive flavour.  I absolutely love this cake, and it isn't quite Christmas until the house smells like sweet almonds.

In other news, I think I am basically done all of my shopping for Christmas!  How about you guys?  



Ingredients:

Cake:

2 Cups White Flour
1 3/4 Cups White Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch  Salt
1 Cup Crisco Shortening
3/4 Cup Milk (Any kind will do, I used soy)
1 tsp Almond Extract
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 Eggs


Glaze:

1 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
2 1/2 TB Warm Water

ALSO:  You will want to get some red and green glace cherries for the garnish!


Directions:

1)  Start by preheating your oven to 365 degrees.

2)  Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in your electric mixer.

3)  Add the shortening, milk and extracts and beat for 2 minutes.

4)  Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes.

5)  Fill greased cupcake liners 3/4 full.  Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  As always, if you notice your cupcakes getting too brown on top, place a greased sheet of foil over the top.  Crease the foil in the middle to make a tent so it does not stick to the cupcakes.

6)  While the cupcakes are cooling you can start the glaze.  Combine all of the ingredients in the mixer until it is smooth.

7)  Before you put the glaze on the cupcakes you will want to cut your cherries.  The red cherries get cut in half, and the green cherries get cut into 8 pieces, you will need 4 to make the leaves as shown here:

8)  Cover the cupcakes in the glaze, we took the liners off and placed the cupcakes upside down to see how that would look.  You can leave them in the liners if you would prefer!  Arrange the cherries as seen in the picture below, making sure the green leaves are all going in the same direction.  It is important to place the cherries before the glaze sets, otherwise when you put the cherries on the glaze will begin to crack.

 

9)  Enjoy!!  Only 14 more days until Christmas!  Yay!

Gingerbread Cake with Chocolate Peppermint Icing

 Ho Ho Ho, and Merry November 30!  Oh man, it is almost December!  I know that some of you can probably relate with me when I say that sometimes people give you a raised eyebrow when you start getting into the Christmas Spirit in early November.  As it nears the beginning of December I have realized that one of the benefits of starting the Christmas season so early is that you can fit a lot more awesome stuff in!  25 days is not enough time to experience everything, am I right?

This is another addition to my Christmas series, but unlike the previous ones, this is something I have never tried before.  I am a huge fan of gingerbread.  I love the lattes, the cookies, and that malevolently delicious gingerbread loaf you can get a Starbucks, it mocks me when I stand in line for my coffee!

I decided to experiment with combining the flavours of a gingerbread cake, and peppermint.  These are two of my favourite Christmas-time flavours, but I was curious how they would taste together.  I can now report, that they are a fracking awesome combo!

Are you guys experimenting with any new recipes this holiday season?


Ingredients:

Gingerbread Cake:

2 Cups White Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 Cup Margarine
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs (Large)
1 Cup Liquid (I used water, but milk would work also)
1/2 Cup Molasses 
Miscellaneous Candy


White Peppermint Icing:

1 1/2 Cups Icing Sugr
1/2 tsp Peppermint Extract
1 TB Margarine
1/4 Cup Water  


Chocolate Peppermint Icing:

2 Cups Icing Sugar
2 TB Cocoa Powder
1 TB Margarine
1/4 Cup Water


Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two cake dishes, mine were approximately 8 or 9 inches.

2.   Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger and nutmeg.

3.  In an electric mixer combine the margarine and sugar, mix for about two minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.  Lastly, add the molasses and combine!

4.  Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and your cup of liquid, beginning and ending with the dry mixture.  This ensures that everything gets well combined.

5.  Distribute the batter equally between the two pans and place in oven.

Make sure the tops are fairly level!

6.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick can be placed inside the cakes and come out clean.  Keep an eye on your cakes because they will cook faster due to separating the batter between the two pans.  While the cakes are cooling, you can start the icing!

7.  You are going to want to start with the white peppermint icing.  Combine the peppermint extract and margarine in your electric mixer.  Add the icing sugar and water and mix until smooth.  Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl in case there is any icing sugar that hasn't been combined.

8.  When the cakes are cool ice the top of one with the peppermint icing, letting the icing fall down the sides.  Place the second cake on top of the iced cake.  The top of the second cake is going to be iced with the chocolate peppermint icing.  Add a garnish of crushed candy cake around the sides of your cake to add extra Christmasy flare!  You can always do with more flare!

9.  Begin the chocolate peppermint icing by combining the cocoa powder and margarine in an electric mixer.  Add the water and icing sugar until smooth.  Lick the spatula if no one is watching, share it with them if they are.  

10.  You want this icing to be slightly thinner than the white icing, so it pours easily down the sides.  Add a couple of teaspoons of additional water at a time until it is the consistency you want.     

 

11.  Garnish the top of your cake with an assortment of Christmas candy!  This will make it fun for your guests when they get their piece.  I placed my cake in the fridge for a bit to make sure the icing on top had set so the candy wouldn't sink in too much.  Here are some of the candies I got from the bulk section at Save-on-Foods:

 

Okay guys, can we talk about the creepy, red Santa Penguin?  What is happening here?  He was delicious.

Butter Tart Pie

And so it begins!  This is the start of what will be a lot of Christmas baking.  I am notorious for starting my Christmas shenanigans on November 1st, and this year hasn't been the exception.

I am going to be doing a Christmas Series on my blog of each of my family members favourite holiday desserts.  This first one is in honour of my Dad and his love of butter tarts.  I decided to do them a little different this time and transform them into a pie!  We typically use the frozen tart shells for this as well, but I decided to go all out and make the pastry.

I am so excited for Christmas!  I bought a new tree (it's white!) and put it up, now all I have to do is dig out the box that has the lights in it!

I got the recipe for the pastry from a vlog by one of my favourite beauty gurus.  It is her mom's recipe and it has been in their family for many years.  It is really delicious, and easy.  It rolls out very nicely.  Here is a link to the video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tolGy2qzRE


Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups White Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Sugar
2/3 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of Crisco
1/4 cup of Cold Water

Butter Tart Filling:

1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Raisins
3 Eggs
3 TB Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a pie dish by greasing and flouring it.

2.   Combine flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.  Cut in the Crisco and use a pastry blender or a fork to incorporate it until the shortening is pea-sized.

3.  Add the cold water and mix with the fork, and your hands, until you can form a ball with the pastry.

4.  Roll the pastry out on a cutting board.  The best way to do this is to roll it between two pieces of saran wrap.  This will keep it from sticking to the board, and the rolling pin.  It also makes it easy to flip into a pie dish.  This recipe will make two crusts, so either two bottom crusts, or one pie that has a top and bottom crust.  I froze half of my pastry and used it later.

5.  Once your pastry crust is placed in the dish, sprinkle 1/2 cup of raisins in the bottom.

6.  In an electric mixer, add the brown sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla for the filling.  Beat well, for a minimum of 2 minutes.

7.  Pour the filling over the raisins and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.  Your pie is finished cooking when it jiggles only slightly.  I know this is pretty technical, lol.  The filling will set a bit more once it is cool, but if you notice that your pie is jiggling quite a bit it likely needs to be cooked for longer.  If you notice the crust or the top of the pie getting too brown, place a piece of foil over top, folding the foil to create a tent.  Spray the foil so it does not stick to the top of the pie.

Tiny Star Pie did not survive long after baking, it was delicious!

8.  Make sure you are sitting down when you eat this, it really is that good.

I like the shattered effect you get on top when you cut it!