Daring Bakers: Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This is a basic cheesecake recipe developed by her friend Abbey T., who has made infinite flavor modifications to this basic recipe with great success. Basically, you can take this recipe and easily tweak it to create any flavor cheesecake you desire. I decided to go for a Neapolitan effect, inspired by the classic ice cream flavor.

I planned to make the basic batter, then split it in thirds and add strawberry puree to one portion and melted chocolate to another, but then I realized how neatly the recipe divides in to third. Since it calls for three blocks of cream cheese and three eggs, and all the flavorings are listed in tablespoons (1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons), making the batter in thirds seemed like a really easy way to ensure even flavor distribution.

Oddly, despite my equitable distribrution of ingredients, the chocolate portion came out notably thicker than the other two. I expected the strawberry puree to thin the batter a bit, but it didn't really: the pink and plain batters had the same consistency. I ended up using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate, but even so, I used about a tablespoon, which doesn't seem like enough to significantly alter the consistency. But it did. Once baked, there wasn't a noticeably difference in texture, but the chocolate layer held up better than the strawberry and vanilla.

To top it off, I dipped some strawberries in dark chocolate. Delicious! 

I would definitely recommend this cheesecake recipe. It's definitely rich, but not so rich that just a bite or two makes you say, "Enough!" In that way, it's actually pretty dangerous - it's just mild enough to make you want one more bite. Every time. So, with that in mind, proceed with caution.

This post is already long, so I'll post the recipe separately.

Cake and Punch

I made a lemon cake and some chocolate cupcakes for the baby shower last weekend. I did all the baking at home, then transported the unfrosted cakes to my mom's house, because I didn't want to risk taking finished cakes on a three-and-a-half hour drive. It was a good call, because a few of the cupcakes got smooshed along the way, so I can just imagine what would have happened to a frosted cake.


I made a last-minute choice to make two cake flavors; I had originally planned to do one large lemon cake and I had a really cool crane design worked out for it. I thought that some people might not like lemon, however, so I did a regular lemon layer cake and the cupcakes. As it turns out, lemon was actually much more popular than chocolate, so it would have been fine, but oh well.


Anyway, I busted out my piping tips and this spontaneous, swirly design is what came out. Overall not too bad, although the writing could have been more centered. I had so much trouble with the frosting that day. I usually use only butter in my frosting, but for these cakes I used half butter, half shortening, as my grandmother taught me; it was my first time using the "new" (trans-fat-free) Crisco and now I see what everyone on the cake decorating boards has been complaining about. It is prone to cracking and in order to get a smooth result, I had to make the frosting softer than I normally would.

The frosting was also frustrating when it came to the cupcakes; it seemed to deflate and looked sort of sad and melted. My mom said no one would notice but me, but I was definitely annoyed - one of the few times lately when I actually get to share something I've baked with a larger group, and they weren't up to my usual standards.


The shower was nice and intimate, with just under twenty guests at my mother's house. I insisted that we have a punch bowl, which my mom thought was funny and old-fashioned - "Who drinks punch anymore?" - but it turned out to be a hit! I used this recipe, which was just right - not overly sweet like some punches - and the leftovers mixed well with rum, although vodka or amaretto would have worked, too.

GRAMMY'S BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
*A note on buttercream: what constitutes buttercream is a matter of raging debate across the internet and in various cookbooks. Many will argue that buttercream must contain eggs. I grew up calling this buttercream; it has no eggs, and is not a cooked frosting, but since you start by creaming the butter, buttercream seems like a fitting name to me.

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar mil
1 tablespoon

Cream butter and Crisco together until light, fluffy, and completely blended. Add vanilla and half a cup powdered sugar and beat until well-incorporated. Continue adding sugar in 1/2 cup increments until all has been added. If necessary, add some or all milk to adjust consistency.

These are the quantities my grandmother dictated to eight-year-old me when she gave me the recipe, but it's really only enough to frost one layer. For 8" or 9" layer cakes or a 9"x13" sheet pan, double the quantities.

SARAH'S BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
Follow directions for Grammy's buttercream, but substitute butter for Crisco (so instead 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup Crisco, use 1/2 cup butter). This frosting will have a slightly stronger butter flavor. What can I say? I love butter. Not everyone does.

Cooking with Sarah: Bourbon Caramel Sauce

Here is video number two, in which I make the bourbon caramel sauce that I served with the chocolate cake and ice cream from my first Daring Bakers challenge. (I think it's better than the first video - what do you think? I know I felt more comfortable in front of the camera the second time around.)

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Valentino with Ice Cream

Here it is - my first Daring Bakers challenge result!


The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They have chosen a chocolate valentino cake by Chef Wan, a vanilla ice cream recipe from Dharm, and a vanilla ice cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.


The flourless chocolate cake requires only three ingredients - chocolate, eggs, and butter - and pretty much tastes exactly like the chocolate that you use. I selected Scharffen Berger 70%, which is dark and not very sweet, with subtle fruity hints. The cake is supposed to be very dense and fudgy, but I'm sorry to say mine came out rather dry. There could be a few reasons for this. I've heard that the cake is best after sitting for a day, but I ate my first serving the day I made the cake, and my second serving straight out of the fridge. Other servings (which we gave away) that weren't straight out of the refridgerator looked a bit more moist, but I can't say for sure. The other possible cause for the dryness might be the egg whites; the recipe calls for stiff peaks, which I thought I had, but notes that overbeating may cause a dry cake. I guess my peaks should have been a little softer.


The challenge hosts, Wendy and Dharm, each provided a vanilla ice cream recipe (one custard-style, one Philadelphia-style), but they also stated that we didn't have to make vanilla - we were free to experiment. I made a custard-based coffee ice cream (since Dan loves coffee!). I hobbled together a recipe (included below) after looking at dozens of non-coffee recipes (every coffee recipe I could find used instant - yuck!). After spilling half of the ice cream mix (oops), I dumped the rest in my ice cream machine only to discover that the motor had died. It wasn't completely gone - a sickly hum emanated from somewhere within - but it couldn't summon the power to turn the paddle, so it was useless. I had to pour the mix in to a Tupperware container and use the old "take it out of the freezer to stir every half hour" method, which worked fine, but it wasn't as smooth as it would have been with a machine.


I also made a bourbon caramel sauce, which was fantastic. I used Bulleit, which has undertones of tobacco and coffee, so it worked very well with the coffee ice cream. The caramel sauce is the subject of my next video, which will be posted here Monday, so come back then for the recipe. (If you haven't seen the first video, click here to watch it.)


CUSTARD-STYLE COFFEE ICE CREAM
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup coffee

Put milk, sugar, and 1 cup of the cream in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until just before boiling. Do not let it boil! Remove from heat and let cool for five minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, then slowly add a small amount of warm milk mixture (about 1/2 cup) while whisking rapidly to temper the eggs. Add egg mixture to the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture and stir. Return to moderate heat and cook (without boiling) until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and stir in coffee and remaining cream. Place custard in refridgerator for several hours or overnight. For freezing, if using a machine, follow manufacturer's directions; to freeze without a machine, follow David Lebowitz's directions here.
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Valentine's Cupcakes

I tell you, I'm exhausted. It's only Tuesday morning and already it's a hell of week. Between dealing with car issues and meeting with clients, I feel like my brainpower has already been sapped for the next few days. So I'm not going to say too much about these cupcakes - I'll just post the pictures. We can all appreciate a little eye candy, right?






ETA: You can read about how I made the royal icing decorations here and see where I used the rest of them here.

LOST Birthday Cake

Wow, what a hectic weekend! I'm getting a late start today because, after bidding our guests adieu, Dan and I had to deal with some car maintainence stuff this morning. I finally got some time to upload photos and write, but my computer is being PAINFULLY slow - and it's huffing and puffing and making all sorts of strange noises. I fear the end is near for this reliable old hunk of metal. I'm just hoping it can hold out long enough for me to save the money for a new one.
Anyway, yesterday was Dan's twenty-ninth birthday, and per his request, I made a cake based on Lost, our favorite TV show. If you don't know the show this cake must look very strange. I drew on the extensive mythology of the show and made a collage design using some of the most iconic images - the smoke monster, the polar bear, and the lock-down hieroglyphs. There's also the beach, of course, with "Happy Birthday Dan!" written as a message in the sand, and the numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42) hiding in the waves. The whole thing is framed by jungle foliage. I made the leaves in advance with royal icing, but otherwise, everything you see is buttercream. Since this weekend was just packed for us, I did something very out of character and used a cake mix; and to stick with the theme, I made it banana-flavored by adding a box of banana pudding to a plain white cake mix. I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon-sugar on the beach to give it a more sand-like texture.

Valentine's Cookies

As promised, here are some pictures of the cookies I made this week. Rolled sugar cookies (using this recipe) with vanilla glaze, royal icing motifs, and piped buttercream. I had so much fun making these! I need to do this more. Enough blather - I'll let the pictures do the talking.



Have a great weekend, everyone!

P.S. To see more of my cookie photos, click here.

What I Am Doing This Week

Man, this week is crazy! No Salad Days today. Usually we have a salad entree on Tuesdays but yesterday I didn't drink enough water during my workout and I ended up with a whopper of a dehydration headache, so we got takeout from the Chinese place down the block. (It's actually in a gas station, but it's the best Chinese around - true, that's not saying much, but some Chinese students at the med school told me that it's the best and that's where they all order from.)

This week is the busiest one of my month (I hope). In addition to work, I'm making Dan's birthday present (he turns 29 on Sunday), I took on three major baking projects, I turned it my film notes today, and our weekend is packed with plans already - no downtime for us.

If you're wondering what film notes are, let me tell you: the single best thing about living in the Upper Valley for me is the Dartmouth Film Society. They project over two hundred films per year and if you're on directorate, like I am, every single one of them is FREE. Directorate is the board that decides on the program for each term. To stay on directorate, each term you have to attend at least five meetings (did I mention that the meetings include free dinner?) and write one set of notes, which are distributed at the screenings in the larger theater. I got on the directorate my first term of freshman year and convinced Dan to join a few years later. When we moved back to the area, our directorate status immediately reactivated, so we've been enjoying free films and cinephilic camaraderie every since. This week, I wrote the notes for G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box, a silent Weimar masterpiece starring Louise Brooks.

And about those three baking projects - the first (cookies) is almost done, the second (cupcakes) will take place on Friday and Saturday, and the third - no idea, but it has to be done by Sunday evening because it's Dan's birthday cake. All three will make use of a new technique for me: royal icing motifs. I've used royal icing for assembling a gingerbread house, but since I had some meringue powder on hand, I wanted to try making decorative royal icing shapes in advance for later application to cakes and cookies. Here are the results:






Fun, right? Some of the hearts and squiggles and things are now on sugar cookies which are only awaiting some final buttercream touches; the rest are going to be used on Valentine cupcakes that I'm bringing to a brunch on Saturday. The green leaves are mostly for Dan's birthday cake; he requested a Lost theme (it's our favorite TV show), and I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet, but I know it has to involve lots and lots of jungle foliage. Hence the leaves.

I know some bakers consider royal icing to be inedible because it's too hard, but I actually really like the crunch and the tangy taste. What do you think? Do you pick off royal icing decorations or just eat them?

I'll post pictures of all these projects as I finish them. Now I'm off to complete the cookies!

Dinner, Part 3: Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cake

Here it is: the last (and best?) part of Sunday's dinner. I wanted to make something but had limited ingredients in the house and didn't want to go to the store since the snow was coming down hard. I also wanted something rich and gooey. I had very little butter and only three squares of Baker's chocolate (no cocoa powder), so I couldn't make my usual chocolate cake. After searching for recipes online and scouring my cookbooks, I finally came across a recipe that would work with what I had.


I found the recipe in All About Baking, a 1935 publication from the Consumer Service Department of General Foods Corporation, the producers of Swan's Down Cake Flour, Calumet Baking Powder, and other brands. It's a great little book containing about 100 recipes. What I like most about it is the concept: twenty-three "picture lessons" use a recipe to demonstrate a technique, while several related recipes for each lesson follow. For example, after the Lady Baltimore Cake recipe, there are three recipes for different cakes made using the same basic method. For this cake, I used the caramel devil's food cake recipe, transcribed below. The biggest difference between this and other devil's food recipes I have used is that this one calls for brown sugar, which I imagine works nicely with the caramel frosting.

I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle caramel frosting without a candy thermometer, and I'd pretty much decided on making peanut butter frosting anyway. I had a bit of peanut butter from two jars left (salted and unsalted). I only use natural peanut butter, and I usually get the Teddie brand since it is tasty, cheap, and made right here in New England. I started using natural peanut butter a few years ago when I realized how much junk they put in the processed brands: corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and all kinds of unpronounceable chemical compounds. By contrast, Teddie contains peanuts and, if you get the salted version, salt. That's it. Since I grew up eating Skippy, it took a while for my taste buds to adjust, but now natural peanut butter tastes better to me.


Anyway, for this peanut butter frosting, I scraped out the two jars and ended up with about 2/3 cup of peanut butter. Normally for a peanut-butter frosting I would use some butter, but I'd used the last of my butter in the cake. So I just added powdered sugar and milk, alternately, beating well between each addition, until I found a consistency that I liked. I stopped when the frosting had a thick but gooey texture, similar to caramel, and I didn't so much spread the frosting on the cake as drop it on there, the frosting falling in a lazy drape from the spatula and, upon contact with the cake top, oozing to a smooth finish. After some time, the frosting firmed up, and the end result looked somewhat like fondant. To finish the cake, I dusted the top with sifted chocolate malt powder (Ovaltine) and a sprinkling of kosher salt. Some people have asked me about the salt; I think salt intensifies the taste of the chocolate, and injects the rather soft taste of the peanut butter frosting with more spunk. It was a risk, but one I was pretty sure Amanda and Gordie wouldn't mind, since I knew that Amanda likes chocolate with pretzels.

The end result: really good stuff. So good that we each had a small second serving while playing Yahtzee after our guests left. Thankfully Dan took the rest in to work the next morning so we didn't have to face temptation again. And if you were reading last week, you know that I said I was avoiding sweets. For the most part, I have been. But I decided before I made it that I would have a piece (or two) of this cake, and I'm glad I did. So worth it! But don't take my word for it. Try it yourseldf.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Caramel Devil's Food Cake
adapted from All About Home Baking

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter or other shorting
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs, unbeaten
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl, cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add chocolate and blend. Add flour, alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Add vanilla. Bake in two deep greased 9-inch layer pans for 25 minutes.*

*My cake passed the toothpick test after only 19 minutes, so I took it out then and it was done. I would suggest checking on your cake around the 20-minute mark just in case.

Gooey Peanut Butter Frosting

2/3 cup natural peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk

Beat peanut butter at medium speed with about 1 cup powdered sugar. Alternately add milk and remaining powdered sugar, beating well after each addition. Adjust amounts until desired consistency is reached.

Let's end the week on a sweet note!

Here is the long-awaited shot of some amazing German pastries!


The one on the left was a moist cake topped with a cream layer and a gelatin layer studded with fresh raspberries. On the right is a classic cream puff. Both were amazing. The cream puff was hands down the best I have ever had (and I make a damn good cream puff). These came from a bakery on Rosegartenstrasse in the old town section of Konstanz. It was actually some sort of chain coffee shop. We went back several times during our short stay. Can you imagine having such spectacular treats available at your generic Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts? Don't get me wrong, they have their place, but these pastries left those from most specialty bakeries in the dust.

It's been a sweet-filled week here on the blog - first chocolate pretzel tart, then biscotti, and now these. I guess I have sugar on the brain, which is only fitting, I guess, since it's not in my tummy. I've been relying on flavored teas (including pomegranate, tropical fruit, and caffeine-free vanilla) to trick my taste buds and stay off the sweets. It's working so far.

We're having friends over for dinner on Sunday, so I'll post about that next week. In the meantime, have a sweet weekend!

Last Christmas

Last Christmas post, that is. Not the cheesy synth-song that's been covered by every pop star for the past twenty years. Yes, I know we're well in to the new year, but I couldn't post about these biscotti until the last of them reached their final destination. You see, I made several batches of these to give as Christmas gifts to Dan's co-workers and a few friends who had done us enormous favors this year. We also sent an almond-anise batch (not pictured) to Dan's parents for Armenian Little Christmas (Epiphany).


I don't know why I started making biscotti - I think it was because they charge so much for them in coffee shops and gourmet stores, but they just didn't seem that difficult to make. And - surprise! - they aren't. They are simple cookies, and yes, they are twice-baked, but it's one extra step and not so bad. I made my first batch of biscotti a few years ago and was instantly hooked. Now baking biscotti is a part of my annual Christmas preparations.

I dipped the chocolate-peppermint biscotti in white chocolate and crushed Starlight mints. The other kind is orange-almond, dipped in dark chocolate. Both were delicious, although very, very rich. We left some plain for ourselves. I almost like the plain ones better, since you can get away with having one at breakfast, but it's nice to go decadent for gifts.


Biscotti for Dan's co-workers, Mike and Michael (aka "The Mikes"), went in brown paper bags that I decorated with a silver Sharpie. I also doctored up some plain address label stickers to indicate what lay within. I had fun coming up with different design motifs. I don't doodle enough anymore.


The ones for friends were wrapped in parchment paper, tied with twine, and decked with hand-drawn labels. The labels would not stick to the parchment paper, so I had to bust out my trusty dollar-store glue gun to attach them.

When I first started baking biscotti, I must have tried eighteen or twenty different recipes. This one was by far the best. I use this as a jumping-off point for all biscotti, changing the flavorings as necessary. One other change: instead of brandy, I've always used Captain Morgan spiced rum. It just happened to be what I had on hand the first time I tried this recipe, and it's so perfect I can't imagine using anything else. Although if you really want to taste something amazing, try a little of the raw biscotti dough. Cookie dough + liquor = so divine it must be sinful!

I leave you with one last glamor shot and an exhoration to give these a try. Once you do, you'll scoff at ever paying $3.00 for a coffee-shop compressed-sawdust version again.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

I promised a picture of this month's share, which we just picked up on Saturday, but due to technical difficulties (i.e., I left my camera elsewhere and can't get it back until this afternoon), that will have to come tomorrow. Instead, I offer a sweet and salty treat to perk up your Monday morning.

Remember the chocolate pretzel tart I mentioned in my review of the Harrison? Well, Food and Wine got The Harrison's pastry chef to share her recipe as part of a feature on milk chocolate in this month's issue. The recipe is online here, so you can try it at home! I would, but after a December filled with cookies and biscotti and all kinds of indulgence, I'm trying to cut back on sweets for a while. If you don't like chocolate with pretzels (shock! horror!!), you can try one of the other recipes, found here, such as milk chocolate pots-du-creme, or milk chocolate cookies with malted cream, or... okay, I'd better stop before my willpower disappears. Back to my sugar-free, caffeine-free, vanilla tea, which tastes like cake batter and can hopefully distract me from all that chocolatey temptation.

Year in Review: Cooking in North Carolina, Part 2

At the beginning of the week, Dan, Rob, and I went to the closest grocery store in order to stock up on cereal and sandwich provisions and the like for breakfasts and lunches. This grocery store happened to be inside a Super Walmart. When I went to select some fruit for snacks, I was disappointed to see that the peaches were from California. It just didn't make sense to me. When you are in one of the best peach-producing states in the country, at the peak of peach season, why are you shipping peaches from three thousand miles away? Yes, peaches are delicate, and they don't travel well, but it seems like madness to me to waste all that gasoline trucking things across a continent when better-tasting ones are growing an hour away. Okay, rant over.


Since the market wasn't until later in the week, for the first few days we reluctantly snacked on the California peaches, which were firm enough to survive the cross-country trip but frankly not that exciting. When Wednesday finally came around and we could purchase local peaches, they did not disappoint. They were twice the size of the California peaches with one hundred times the flavor. I am not exaggerating. All the peaches I've ever eaten in my life, added up, would not have the impact of a single bite of one of these peaches. It was like eating the sun.


So it was with great reluctance that Dan and I sliced up all these peaches to make gallettes. We briefly debated not serving dessert and eating all the peaches ourselves - they were that good! - but decided that would not be in the spirit of the week. With such excellent main ingredients, I wanted to keep the preparation as simple as possible, so we tossed the peaches with a small amount of brown sugar and a generous dose of cinnamon and piled them on top of roll-out pie crusts, casually folding over the edges to hold in the juices. We baked them at around 400 for twenty-five minutes or so: until the smell was unbearably good and the crusts were golden. We went with gallettes instead of regular pies for a few reasons. One, the open face shows off the beautiful color of the peaches. Two, with peaches that good, who wants a double pie crust? This kept the fruit-to-crust ratio high. And three, there were no pie pans in the rental, so this was also a practical decision that allowed us to use the pans on hand.

The gallettes were served a la mode. Sorry for the lousy final picture: we were in a rush to serve and eat these. I'm sure you can understand.

Scones Are Simple

If you look at the new banner above you'll see a close-up of one my homemade scones. Scones are actually really easy to make and require only a handful of ingredients. My super-easy customizable recipe follows; have fun experimenting with different flavors and let me know what your favorites are (I like almonds, dried cranberries, almond flavoring, and orange zest).



SARAH'S ANY-FLAVOR SCONES
1/2 c. butter, COLD
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. milk
flavorings of your choice

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut together butter and flour into a fine meal. You can leave it coarser if you want; it makes for a more crumbly scone.

Stir in baking powder, salt, and any dry flavorings (i.e. nuts, citrus zest, dried fruit, chocolate chips, ground tea leaves - whatever you can think of!).

Add any liquid flavorings (e.g., vanilla or almond extract) to the milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid. Stir just until the dough comes together.

Now comes the time to make a decision: do you want crumbly scones, like you get in American coffee shops? Or do you want a fluffier scone, which is more English-style?

For crumbly scones, immediately turn dough on to a floured surface and knead about eight times. Do not over-knead! Form into a cirle, about 3/4" thick, and slice into six or eight triangles. Separate the triangles and place them on a lightly-greased cookie sheet and bake 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

If you want fluffier scones, you can knead immediately a lot more than 8 times, or you can take the lazy route and let the dough sit for 25-30 minute before kneading 8 times. The more you knead it (or the longer you let it sit), the more the gluten gets activated, the more fluffy and less crumbly the scones will be. Form in to triangles and bake as described above.

Serve with butter, jam, lemon curd, or clotted cream. Enjoy!

Family Tradition: Grammy's Cookies

In my family, on Christmas Eve, desserts take center stage. Yes, the ham and the macaroni and cheese are important -- God forbid anyone try to change that menu -- but that spread pales in comparison to a dessert table so weighted down with homemade cookies and candy that it is shocking the table still stands. My mother and grandmother would spend the month of December crafting peanut butter fudge, chocolate fudge, needhams (aka potato candy), penuche, peanut butter cups, and out-of-this-world candies. The cookies might vary a bit from year to year but the old standbys are peanut butter blossoms, spritz, and sugar cookies.


Oh, the sugar cookies! For years, my grandmother would spend days rolling and cutting Christmas trees, stars, stockings, candy canes, reindeer, elephants (my grandmother collects elephant figurines), and Santas. Another day would be devoted to glazing the cookies and, once the glaze dried to a shiny finish, piping on the final details. The cookies are highly coded, the decorations painstakingly proscribed; the specific design patterns are as much a tradition as the Christmas Eve gathering itself.

Growing up, just about every year, I would help my grandmother decorate the cookies. It was from her that I learned how to make a vanilla glaze, how to make buttercream frosting, how to use gel colors and how to pipe intricate designs. This year, for the first time, instead of aiding Grammy, I got to take responsibility for the whole process. I had a lot of fun making these cookies, and I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures. Click here to see more.

Year in Review: Autumn Afternoon Tea

Remember when we took Grammy to the tea room? While we were comparing our cups and plates and playfully arguing over who was using the prettiest ones, Grammy remarked that she had a beautiful teacup collection of her own and lamented that her lovely cups and saucers sat on a shelf and were never used. "Why not have a tea party?" asked Dan, and so a plan was hatched.


Grammy and I worked out the menu and settled on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a date, since many people (including Dan and I) would be back in Maine that weekend. I printed invitations at the letterpress studio on campus. The day after Thanksgiving, the three of us shopped for ingredients and prepared the table. The hardest part of this was choosing our ten favorite cup and saucer sets out of Grammy's collection of around three dozen.


The next morning, I made two batches of scones while Dan and Grammy made all the sandwiches. Grammy had already made some cookies and I had previously baked an applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

The full menu:
-Earl Grey scones
-cranberry-almond scones
-blueberry muffins (brought by Aunt Gail)
-lemon curd, clotted cream, and apricot jam for the pastries
-chicken salad on French bread
-cucumber sandwiches (no crusts)
-rye toasts with cream cheese and olives
-almond-raspberry cookies
-applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting
-cream puffs (purchased)
-Swiss rolls (also purchased)
-three kinds of tea: Earl Grey, Scottish Breakfast, and classic orange pekoe


We had a wonderful time! We sipped and nibbled and chatted the afternoon away. As the only female out of seven grandchildren, I've always been surrounded by boys. I like boys, I really do, but having a room full of women at Grammy's house was a refreshing change.


Dan was allowed to attend, despite not being a woman, because, well, the party was his idea! But he's also a wonderful man who can appreciate a nice, civilized tea. However, he did spend most of the party in the other room, having been dragged there by our niece, Leah, who, at two years old, has better things to do than sit at a table while we drink tea. Instead, she and Dan played bedtime: she ordered him to lie down on the couch, covered him with a blanket, said goodnight, and then commanded, "My turn! Switch!" This was the pattern for about an hour and a half, although at one point, Dan asked for a lullaby and was gifted with a rare live performance of Leah's hit John Denver cover, "Sunshine on My Shoulders Makes Me Happy."