Archive for December, 2008

Fancy Pants

Posted by Candace on Monday, December 29th, 2008

One of my “themes” for this blog is simplicity.  I like to make simple food and simple desserts.  From working as a pastry chef, I have the experience to make over the top desserts, but I just don’t have the time or energy to do it.  This dessert is not like one of my usual desserts as it is fancy.  Uber fancy… but I truly enjoyed making it.  Thank you Daring Bakers for choosing it!  To see more Daring Baker’s posts go here or go here to see all of my past Daring Baker posts.

This month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.  They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.  As with most challenges, we had many options for this dessert, but had to have the 6 elements of the yule log.  This is not to be confused with the other version of a Yule Log, that we did last year.

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December 29th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Daring Bakers, Sweet Tooth / 43 Critiques

Golly Jeepers… Happy Holidays!

Posted by Candace on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Today is a very special day… my hubby’s birthday! Happy Birthday honey! I’m so excited because we’ll be celebrating tonight at our favorite Ft. Lauderdale Restaurant, Cafe Martaranos.  You’re the best husband a girl could ask for… I’m truly blessed to have you in my life.  Thank you for being you, and always putting up with me!

For everyone else, Happy Holidays!!!  Every year, we create custom Holiday Cards, and this year is no different.  When I saw this blog post, I knew what our 2008 theme had to be.  This is my favorite card we’ve ever done, and now we have the pressure to top this next year.  So here’s our version of a 1970ish Olan Mills portrait…

December 24th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Kitchen Gossip / 10 Critiques

Easiest Homemade Gift

Posted by Candace on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

So is everyone ready for Christmas?  I haven’t been feeling particularly festive since its been so warm here.  It is during times like these when I wish I lived in a cold environment.  I’d love to go for a nice walk outside in the brisk weather all bundled up and then rush back in and drink a big mug of hot cocoa.  Then I see what the hell is going on in Milwaukee (where my sister lives) and the rest of the mid-west and realize I’m perfectly happy stringing lights on my palm trees in 80 degree weather!  :P

In an attempt to dive into the holiday spirit, I made caramels.  These caramel candies are seriously one of the easiest homemade gifts you can possibly make.  It has been a few years since I made them, but I’ve officially made the decision to make them every year.  It only takes about 20 minutes to cook them… after they cool, cut and wrap them individually.  Easy peasy… and they look so chic, especially if you put them in a nice festive container.  I made them with a very light sprinkle of sea salt on top.  It gives the caramels a nice balance of flavor and adds a bit of panache too.
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December 23rd, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Holiday Fare, Sweet Tooth / 5 Critiques

Procrastination

Posted by Candace on Friday, December 19th, 2008

Can you believe it is 6 days til Christmas?  Yeah, me either.  I thank goodness we have the internet as I am a tried and true procrastinator.  I always wait until the last minute to do my shopping and then I vow to never do that again.  Rrrright.  Never going to happen.  I started early this year… on the 18th. That was only because the retail industry got together and came up with “Free Shipping Day.”  I just can’t pass up free shipping.  So I got free shipping AND even started early… well, for me, at least.

One thing I did do early was bake Snowflake Sugar Cookies.  I saw this recipe in the December Food and Wine magazine and had to try it.  It uses a different method, as you do not cream the butter like in this recipe.  Unfortunately, my kitchen was crazy hot, as I was baking other cookies while I was trying to roll these out.  Note to self: always roll the sugar cookies BEFORE the oven gets turned on… especially if you live in South Florida where it is 80 degrees in December.  So I had to roll the dough and put in the fridge. Cut a few cookies and put in the fridge.  I could only cut 3-4 cookies before the dough got too soft and wouldn’t retain the shape.  What a pain in the ass!  But I did get the irony that I was attempting to make snowflake cookies in a 85 degree kitchen…  Not funny at the time.  However, the cookies are yummy and I liked the method as it was easy and quick.  If your kitchen is a normal temperature, you’ll have no problems with this cookie!


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December 19th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Bakery, Holiday Fare, Sweet Tooth / 4 Critiques

Cranberry Cookie Bars

Posted by Candace on Friday, December 12th, 2008

As usual, after Thanksgiving, I have tons of homemade cranberry sauce leftover.  I usually eat it with foods I’d never eat cranberry with until it is all gone… like pancakes ala cranberry, or french toast with cranberry sauce the side.  Tasty, but not what I’d usually eat.  This year, there was more cranberry sauce left over than I knew what to do with.

I decided to make simple bars to use up the bulk of the sauce.  The result is a sweet cookie like bar with the tart flavor of the berries.  One note, your sauce must be chunky and thick.  If it is more on the jelly or runny side, it probably won’t work as well.  The recipe I use for cranberry sauce is here.  { Read the rest }

December 12th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Bakery, Holiday Fare, Sweet Tooth / 15 Critiques
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