Chocolate & Peppermint Roll (Gluten Free)

Cake: 

5 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, divided
1/8 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. cocoa
 
Peppermint cream filling:
1 cup heavy cream
¼  cup powdered sugar, or to taste
½ tsp. peppermint extract
2-3 drops red food coloring
¼ cup crushed peppermint candy canes, optional
Additional powdered sugar, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place oven rack in center position. Place Deep Flexiflat on Perforated Baking Sheet and set aside.

2. In mixing bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add ½ cup powdered sugar, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until the egg whites stand in stiff, glossy peaks. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, and with the same beaters, beat the egg yolks until thick and pale yellow. Reduce speed to low, and beat in salt, remaining ½ cup powdered sugar and cocoa, occasionally scraping the bowl with a spatula.

4. Gently fold chocolate mixture into beaten egg whites, continuing until no white streaks remain. 

5. Spread batter evenly in Deep Flexiflat. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. Let cool 3 minutes – no more. Unmold cake onto Silpat. Begin rolling both the cake and Silpat and lay it so that the end is on the bottom, so it doesn't unroll. Place on cooling rack and let cool completely.

6. For the filling, beat cream, powdered sugar, peppermint extract, and food coloring in a medium bowl until stiff peaks form. Carefully unroll the cake. Spread the whipped cream mixture over the cake, but not all the way to the ends as it will be squeezed out when you roll it. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Re-roll the cake. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Gingerbread Men

My friend and neighbor Kati Cox hosts a cookie exchange every Christmas. She makes the best gingerbread men that stay soft and moist. Yum!

-Sally's Baking Addiction

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

2/3 cup molasses (Grandma's brand)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon ground ginger (yes, 1 full Tablespoon!)

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Easy royal icing or your favorite icing recipe (Kati used white chocolate to decorate hers)

1.   In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat on medium high speed until combined and creamy-looking. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Next, beat in egg and vanilla on high speed for 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. The butter may separate; that's ok.

2.  In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves together until combined. On low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick and slightly sticky. Divide dough into thirds and place each third onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap each up tightly and pat down to create a disc shape. Please see photo and description above in my post. Chill discs for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I always chill mine overnight.

3.  Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

4.  Remove 1 disc of chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Generously flour a work surface, as well as your hands and the rolling pin. Don't be afraid to continually flour the work surface as needed- this dough can be sticky. Roll out disc until 1/4-inch thick. Cut into shapes. Place shapes 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Re-roll dough scraps until all the dough is shaped. Repeat with remaining discs of dough.

5.  Bake cookies for about 9-10 minutes. If your cookie cutters are smaller than 4 inches, bake for about 8 minutes. If your cookie cutters are larger than 4 inches, bake for about 11 minutes. My oven has hot spots and yours may too- so be sure to rotate the pan once during bake time.

6.  Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cool, decorate as desired.

7.  Make ahead tip: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Baked and decorated (or not decorated) cookies freeze well - up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough discs (just the dough prepared through step 2) freeze well - up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 3.

Ebelskivers

Uncle Brian and Aunt Luraly introduced me to Ebelskivers when Mom and I took a trip to visit them in California when I was 8. They use traditional iron pans to make their Ebelskivers and I always wanted to have one, but Brandon surprised me one year with an electric Ebelskiver maker and I love it! These Danish treats are traditionally filled with jam or applesauce, but our favorite fillings are Nutella and lemon curd.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

4 large eggs, separated

2 cups whole milk

4 Tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, and using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. The batter will be lumpy.

In a clean bowl, suing an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold about one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white streaks remain. Use the batter right away.

6-Minute Caramels

Love this recipe! It's easy to begin with and then add Demarle products and you've got it made. No need to butter a pan - the caramels will come right out! FYI - the caramallow patties associated with the original recipe at Rookno17 are also great!

-Rookno17.com

¼ cup unsalted butter

½ cup granulated sugar 

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup light corn syrup

½ cup sweetened condensed milk

Place DAH deep flexiflat on a perforated baking sheet or prepare a 9x9 or 10x10 pan by lining with parchment paper in each direction so that parchment overhangs all four sides and can be used to lift out the finished caramel.  Use nonstick spray or butter to grease the parchment.

Place butter in a DAH medium or large round mold or medium microwave-safe bowl.  *Use the microwave glass plate to act as a support when removing the caramel from the microwave to stir.

Microwave 30 seconds to soften the butter.  Remove from microwave and stir in the sugars, corn syrup and condensed milk. 

Microwave for 2 minutes.  Stir. 

Microwave for another 2 minutes.  Stir. 

Microwave for a final 2 minutes.  Stir and pour immediately into one end of the deep flexiflat (will only fill ½) or prepared pan.  If using 8x8 pan, gently tilt pan to move caramel into each corner, then tap pan firmly on a flat surface to help level the hot candy.  Set aside to cool for 1 hour.  Use overhanging parchment to lift the cooled candy out of the pan and continue to cool for an additional hour.

Cranberry Orange Pound Cake

I had a sample at Kneaders the other day and thought I'd try finding a recipe to recreate the yumminess. I tried several different recipes and this one comes pretty close! I used my new Demarle at Home charlotte mold - easy and I didn't have to worry about them sticking to my pans. YAY! I used a large ice cream scoop to divide the batter and did have a little left, so I baked that in a mini loaf pan.

-Modified from Sophistamom

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature


4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature


¾ cup sugar


zest of 1 orange

2 eggs


3 drops orange essential oil + 1 tsp. orange juice or 1 tsp. orange juice concentrate

1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (use bread flour or Better for Bread flour if at high altitude)


¾ teaspoons baking powder


¾ teaspoons salt


1 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, roughly chopped or ¾ cup dried cranberries:

Place ¾ cup dried cranberries in a small bowl and pour boiling water over to cover. Let the cranberries hydrate for about 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place Demarle at Home charlotte mold on perforated baking sheet or butter and flour a medium size loaf pan, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. When mixer is light in color and fluffy, add in zest. With mixer on low, add in eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Stir in orange oil.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in cranberries. Using a large ice cream scoop, divide batter into charlotte molds or pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake charlotte cakes for 25 minutes or loaf pan for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool. After about 5 minutes, remove cakes from pans, and let cool on the wire rack. While still warm, drizzle with orange glaze (recipe follows). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Orange Glaze

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar


1 tablespoon melted butter


zest of 1 orange


2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Add more juice or sugar to achieve desired consistency.

Raisin/ Gum-Drop Cake

I can't believe I don't have this one on the blog. This is my dad's favorite cake and my Mom makes it every Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

-Grandma Pulsipher

Boil the following ingredients together for 10 minutes:

            2 cups sugar

            1 cup shortening

            2 cups raisins

            2 ½ cups water

            2 tsp. cinnamon

            ½ tsp. allspice

            ½ tsp. cloves

            ½ tsp. salt

Sift together and add to first mixture:

4 cups flour

2 level teaspoons baking soda

Add :

1 ½ c. cut up fruit-flavored gumdrops

1 ½ cup broken walnuts

Bake in greased tube pan at 350° for 60-75 minutes or until toothpick comes clean.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

This recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Your Homebased Mom. A new favorite that I love!


-Your Homebased Mom - Leigh Anne Wilkes


Cookie:

1 C sugar

3/4 C butter, softened

1 egg

2 C flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 C dried cranberries, chopped

1 Tbsp freshly grated orange peel

Sugar Mixture:

1/3 C sugar

1 tsp freshly grated orange peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all sugar mixture ingredients in small bowl.  Stir until well mixed.  Set aside

For cookies:  Combine 1 cup sugar, butter and egg in a bowl.  Beat until creamy.  Reduce speed and add flour, baking powder and baking soda.  Beat until well mixed.  Add remaining ingredients.  Beat until combined.

Shape cookies into one inch balls and roll in sugar mixture.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten with bottom of glass to 1 1/2 inch circles

Bake for 7 - 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Do not over bake.  Cool 1 minute and remove from cookie sheet.