Instead of making a traditional cake, I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Peppermint Filling.  Our photography studio has been very busy this month with last minute photo shoots and holiday cards and there just wasn’t the time to make a real birthday cake.  It’s OK, though.  Stephan really doesn’t like traditional birthday cake.  I only made them in the past because it seemed like the right thing to do.  So this year, I not only combined his birthday and Christmas present, but I combined his birthday cake and a Christmas cookie.  Yeah, I know… not cool.  I’m definitely not winning the wife of the year award!  Thankfully, the whoopie pies are really yummy and made up for the lack of birthday-ness!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Peppermint Filling Recipe
(adapted from Better Homes & Garden Magazine)

1/2 c butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c buttermilk
1 1-oz bottle red food coloring (or enough paste to color it dark red)

6 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
3 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until well combined, at least 1 minute. Scrape bowl occasionally.  Add the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and beat until combined.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined, again scraping bowl.  Alternately beat in the flour and buttermilk, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.  Stir in the food coloring.

3. Drop batter by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto prepared sheet pan.  Bake in oven for 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are set.  Do not overcook, as the texture should be like cake, not a cookie.  Cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  If you’re reusing the same sheet pan, make sure to let it cool completely before baking the next batch.

4. While the cookies are baking beat the cream cheese, butter and peppermint extract until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating well.  If necessary, stir in a few drops of milk to make the filling spreadable.

5. Spread filling on bottoms of half of the cookies.  Top with the remaining cookies, bottom side down.  If desired, sprinkle with small broken pieces of candy cane before serving.

Makes about 40 sandwich cookies.

I hate making truffles.  Really, truly hate making the little morsels of chocolate that I so love to eat.  I always have issues when making them.  Usually they are too soft, or too firm, or it is too hot in my kitchen and they melt while I try to enrobe them with chocolate.  I am an apparent glutton for punishment, because I decided this year to make homemade treats for several of my friends and co-workers.  I also decided to make them just a few days before I wanted to dole out the treats.  Smart, eh?

In the end, the truffles turned out very good, and I was happy, but as usual, I cursed like a sailor with Tourettes Syndrome the entire time and swore never to make them again.  We’ll see how I feel next year around the holidays.  Will I be the Bee again??? :P  I made two different flavors, Rum scented dark chocolate and white chocolate passion fruit rolled in chopped almonds.  The latter was surprisingly my favorite of the two… the tartness of the passion fruit puree really cut down the cloying sweetness of the white chocolate.

White Chocolate Passion Fruit Truffles

20 oz good quality white chocolate
4 oz cream
6 oz passion fruit puree

15 oz white chocolate (for enrobing)
1 c finely chopped toasted almonds

1. Chop white chocolate into small pieces with a large knife and place in a large bowl.  Heat the cream and passion fruit puree to a boil separately in small containers.  I prefer to use my microwave to do this.  It is important to heat the cream and puree separately, as the acid in the puree will likely curdle the cream.

2. Pour the hot cream and half of the passion fruit puree over the chopped chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute and then gently stir with a rubber spatula.  Once the mixture is creamy and combined, add the remaining passion fruit puree and stir again until smooth.  Refrigerate for a few hours until firm.

3. Using a very small scooper or spoon, portion out 1 inch balls of the firm white chocolate mixture onto a parchment lined sheet pan.  If the truffle mixture gets too soft, place back into the refrigerator to firm up.  Gently and quickly roll each into a well rounded ball.

4. Melt the remaining white chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler.  Place the chopped nuts in a small flat pan.  Dip each truffle into the melted white chocolate and immediately roll in the chopped nuts.  It really helps to have a 3rd hand or a helper during this phase.  Once all truffles are rolled in chocolate and then the nuts, place into the refrigerator.

Makes about 100 truffles

Note the Dark Chocolate Rum truffles were made using the same method with the following ingredients and enrobed in dark chocolate.

16 oz heavy cream
20 oz dark chocolate
rum to taste

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.

Caramel Candies Recipe

1 c (8 oz) butter
1 1/4 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
3/4 c light corn syrup
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 vanilla bean (seeds scraped) or vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
1-2 teaspoons sea salt

1. Butter the sides of a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Add butter and heat over medium heat. Once melted, add the both sugars, corn syrup and cream and stir to combine.

2. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to boil until mixture reaches 248°F on a candy thermometer.

3. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in scraped vanilla or paste. Pour caramel immediately into an 8×8 or 9×9 inch pan, lined with buttered foil or parchment on the bottom. Cool at room temperature for half an hour and then sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool completely.

4. Use foil or parchment to lift caramel out of pan. Butter a large sharp knife and cut caramel into 3/4 or 1-inch squares. Wrap caramels individually in small squares of parchment or wax paper.  Store in the refrigerator, but they are better eaten at room temperature.

Makes about 100 caramel candies, depending on the size you cut them.

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!

Sugar Cookie Recipe (Adapted from Dec 2008 F&W)

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Royal Icing, sprinkles, sparkles and dragées, for decorating

1. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, mix the flour with the sugar and salt. Add the butter and mix at low speed until the butter is broken up into small pieces, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the flour and butter form small clumps, about 1 minute. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and almond extract and mix at low speed until the dough comes together in a few large clumps. Pat the cookie dough into two 1/2-inch-thick disks, wrap them in plastic and refrigerate until chilled but not firm, about 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Using 3- to 4-inch cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. (Alternatively, cut the dough into 3- to 4-inch shapes and, using a smaller cutter, stamp out the center of half of the cookies.) Refrigerate the cutout cookies until chilled, about 30 minutes.

3. Bake the cookies for about 13 minutes, until they are lightly golden around the edges; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through for even baking. Let the sugar cookies cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then, using a metal spatula, carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes.

4. Decorate as desired with the Royal Icing, sprinkles, sparkles and dragées.

Makes about 4 Dozen Cookies

Royal Icing Recipe

3 large egg whites
1 1-pound box confectioners sugar, about 4 cups
1/2 tsp lemon juice or distilled white vinegar.
food coloring paste (if tinting icing)

1. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, combine the egg whites and confectioners sugar. Beat on the lowest speed until all the sugar is evenly moistened. Add the lemon juice, increase the speed to medium, and beat until the icing is light and fluffy, about 4 or 5 minutes.

2. Use immediately or scrape into a small bowl and place plastic wrap directly against the surface so a skin doesn’t form. If you are tinting the icing, add a drop at a time and stir.  A little food coloring past goes a long way.  Cover the plastic wrap with a few wet paper towels to prevent the icing from drying.

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. 

Cranberry Cookie Bar Recipe

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c almond meal (finely chopped blanched almonds)
pinch salt
1 c unsalted butter, softened
1/3 c light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 c left over chunky cranberry sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl whisk the flour, almond meal and salt.

2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat until smooth about 2 more minutes. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Gently beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated.

3. Evenly press two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of an 8×8 or 9×9 pan. Then evenly spread the cranberry filling over the dough base, leaving a 1/2 inch border. With the remaining dough, using your fingers, crumble it over the top of the cranberry filling.

4. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and while still warm, cut into squares. Allow to cool completely in pan.

Makes about 16 servings