I was really excited to participate in the
Bake-N-Blog: Holiday Edition- never mind that I waited until 2 days before I had to be done to get my act together. Here's my Bake-N-Blog story... from the beginning.
Back during the summer, really awesome
Staci Edwards decided it would be a great idea to go through Ming's Cupcakes, bake 'em and blog about it. Graciously, I crashed the event and baked and blogged about
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes. Because it was such a fun time and there was a great turn out,
Kelly at JAX does design took her turn at promoting and here we are... a Holiday Bake-N-Blog.
Now, Kelly reached out to me only minutes after announcing the Bake-N-Blog(well maybe not minutes, but it makes me feel special nonetheless) to make sure that I would participate. I think I was the only dude that did it and you know how ladies are around handsome fellas that cook(me, duh).
So I agreed to make some cookies and Kelly reminded me(more than once) to get registered and pick out a recipe. Two days ago I decided I should get my act together.
It was Monday and I was not totally focused on getting my recipe and baking. In fact, all I could think about was how good a pepperoni Hot-N-Ready pizza from Little Caesar's would be for dinner.
It was getting down to the wire and I was not sure that I could choose a recipe from the bazillion that Kelly posted, go to the market for any ingredients I might not have, watch Monday Night Football and eat my pizza.
What was I going to do? I did what any Bake-N-Blog girl(or me, cause I'm the only dude, I'm sure) would do... I conned a professional in to baking for me.
It certainly doesn't hurt that I'm related to the Auburn University Pastry Chef. Of course, all I had to do was mention that I was getting some Hot-N-Ready's and it was on! The chef picture above is my little sister, Tiffany- she does pretty good stuff and recently has developed
a pro page of her own where you can see some of her treats. Go look when you have a chance.
This is the scene:
Notice the VERY important Hot-N-Ready pizzas very handy to the cooking area.
So Tiffany and I cooked the cookies(I did help, some). It was nice to eat my pizza, drink a Diet Coke and lick a zillion calories worth of cookie batter. We did stray on the recipe a bit in the middle with the ganache- 10 tea bags to steep 1/2 cup of cream was too much in my opinion, so we just used 6. That leaves me just 3 Earl Grey tea bags... sad day. Also, we didn't sprinkle the cookies with sugar as the recipe suggests- to me, it was just for looks. The cookies are already super-rich and needed nothing else.
They pose well for pictures and seem to be a perfect snack for Santa. The Earl Grey and White Chocolate go great with the very chocolaty goodness of the thumbprints.
Chocolate Thumbprints
from Martha Stewart Living magazine
Makes 60-ish
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons coarse salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar, plus more for rolling
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350◦ Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a small bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium, and add yolks, cream and vanilla. Scrape sides of bowl. Beat in flour mixture until just combined.
2. Roll balls using 2 teaspoons dough for each, and roll each in sugar. Place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. With the handle of a wooden spoon, press gently in the center of each to create and indentation. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are set, about 10 minutes. (If indentations lose definition, press centers again.) Let cool slightly on baking sheets. Transfer cookies on wire racks, and let cool.
3. Spoon warm ganache into center of each cookie. Let stand until firm, about 15 minutes. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.
Earl Grey-White Chocolate Ganache
from TS
½ cup heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate, cut into small pieces
10 teabags Earl Grey tea
2 Tbsp butter, softened
In a small saucepan, start heating heavy cream on low. Add tea bags. Let steep on low until tea flavor has been extracted, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Remove tea bags. Add warm cream to white chocolate and stir until chocolate melts. Add butter and continue stirring until incorporated.
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Lots of fun baking with my sister(she just ate one piece of pizza) and appreciate Kelly for getting the Bake-N-Blog organized. Here are some links that you'll want to check out.
