Chocolate crackles

This Christmas cookie comes to you by special request.  Our resident six-year old wanted me to make some and here they are.  I think these chocolate crackles (sometimes called "crinkles" too) are fairly popular around this time - we've certainly seen them in the various holiday-themed food magazines that have arrived in our mailbox.  The six-year old in question saw these in one of the magazines and said "mommy, can you make that?!"  I'm not sure he remembers I made these last Christmas and I'd plan to whip up a batch anyway.

Just to change things up ever so slightly, I added a touch of almond extract.  I loved this little addition (since I love all things almond) and I'll be sticking with it from now on.  These cookies are soft and moist, reminiscent of a brownie (though not quite as rich), and with the almond extract, similar in flavor to the mini chocolate yogurt cakes.  The snowy look simply justifies eating these chocolate bites during the holidays.

So many cookies, so little time...

Soft and chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies

I think these cookies are pretty special...and perfect for Christmas time.  Even if you don't like gingerbread cut-outs (like me), you might enjoy these.  They're essentially gingerbread chocolate chunk cookies - kind of like chocolate chip cookies with plenty of spice.  One of the things I like most about these is the texture.  The outside is just a bit crunchy thanks to a last minute coating in granulated sugar before baking.  The inside is soft and chewy, best eaten while they're still a little warm from the oven (or heated in the microwave).

These cookies are front and center on the cover of Martha Stewart's Cookies book.  I could hardly resist trying the cover cookie recipe of this book dedicated to cookies.  So I made these last Christmas and we oohed and aahed over them a little because they're different from other cookies we've had.  These have plenty of kick from typical gingerbread spices - and extra special with the use of both fresh and ground ginger -  but the texture and even taste is reminiscent of the more familiar chocolate chip cookie thanks to a little bit of cocoa powder and lots of chocolate chunks in the dough. 

I'll gladly make these every Christmas.

Chocolate truffles with Grand Marnier (or plain)

Here's another sweet item I've wanted to make for some time: chocolate truffles.  This is the perfect time to make some and share with a few friends.  For the grown-up version, I made chocolate truffles with Grand Marnier, or orange liqueur.  Instead of cookies and milk, how about setting this out for Santa this year?

I used a combination of semisweet and bittersweet (70% cacao) chocolate for these truffles.  Omit the Grand Marnier and make plain truffles for the youngsters.  I prefer the taste and look of rolling them in unsweetened cocoa powder rather than confectioners' sugar but I mixed the two up for the sake of easy identification.

I love ganache and truffles are essentially ganache (chocolate and cream) rolled up in truffle shape.  They are very rich so a little goes a long way.  But silky smooth and deep with chocolate flavor, they are a great indulgence during the holiday time.  If necessary, make the truffles in advance and store them in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks (though of course, they taste better the fresher they are), bringing them to room temperature before serving.  You might need to re-roll them in cocoa powder or confectioners' sugar again if it's been in the fridge for a while. 

Easy-peasy peppermint fudge

If you want a break from rolling cut-out cookies and baking during the holiday time, make some fudge!  And make the simple version that takes about ten minutes to put together...hence, the "easy-peasy" moniker.  Last year, I made a batch of cinnamon-chocolate fudge with a sprinkling of salt on top.  This year, I tried this peppermint fudge, which I liked better and has a more festive feel to it.

This is the kind of fudge recipe that uses sweetened condensed milk so there's no need for the candy thermometer.  There is a bit of stirring involved but it doesn't get much more complicated than that.  For flavoring, I added about half a teaspoon of peppermint extract and as a finishing touch, sprinkled shards of broken candy cane pieces over the top.  My only complaint about adding toppings like this on to fudge is they tend to melt once you take it out of the refrigerator but it's the holidays so the tops seem to need a little decor.  The fudge is super smooth and quite tasty.  Keep it in the refrigerator, freeze it, or share it with a friend. 

Warm chocolate pudding cake

When I first saw this recipe months ago, it sounded so good and was something I really wanted to make.  I waited patiently for winter (just about) to come so I that I'd have an excuse to make this rustic warm chocolate pudding cake.  It even inspired me to buy this baking dish months ago - but then again, I'm always discovering something new that I'd like to have for the kitchen.  So I'm sneaking in this recipe in between all the usual Christmas cookies and treats this December.

This is really more pudding than cake.  As you can see, it's not the prettiest of desserts but I think that's also the appeal.  It starts with a brownie like batter on the bottom and a hefty sprinkling of cocoa and sugar over that.  Then, a good cup of hot coffee (or you could use boiling water) gets poured over the top.  In the oven, the cake bakes and much of the liquid gets absorbed but just enough so that the edges are set but the center is jiggly and a little pool of liquid chocolate sauce is created at the bottom.   

I guess what appealed to me so much was this idea of quickly whipping up a warm cake that you can take straight to the table from the oven and scoop up to share with your family on a cold night.  It has casual and hearty written all over it and sometimes you just want that.  I preferred the gooey center while my husband favored the more spongy corners (he tells me it's just like bread pudding but believe it or not, I don't think I've ever eaten bread pudding so I can't attest to it). 

Vanilla ice cream is a must alongside this pudding cake.  I think this recipe has a lot of appeal to it but when I tasted it, I missed that rich, kind of extreme, chocolate flavor (this recipe only uses cocoa powder) that you get from a molten chocolate cake - a very similar concoction to this.  So I was a little disappointed in this pudding cake since I was comparing the two and you  know I'm far more inclined to favor the more chocolaty dessert.  But finally making this pudding cake satisfied a curiosity of mine and for that alone, I'm very happy.

Gingerbread men vs. Sugarbread men

Do you prefer sugar or spice?

In one corner, I offer you the traditional gingerbread men.  On the other side, we have the ever irresistible, and what I call, sugarbread men. 

Excuse the use of "men"...I should say gingerbread/sugarbread people but I'm just keeping things simple.  And all kidding aside, I feel like sugar cookies are a must for us during the holiday season.  Despite my occasional whining about rolling out cookies, I'm starting to get used to it, particularly during these cooler temperatures when handling the dough is a lot easier.  And I think I've discovered the "secret" to a great sugar cookie dough: mix in just a little bit of milk at the end and the dough comes together beautifully, is more moist, and rolls out smoothly. 

I've been making what I call "sugarbread men" cookies during Christmas for a few years.  Every time I make and taste sugar cookies, I'm reminded of how delicious butter and sugar are together. 

I have to say I prefer sweetness to spice.  For as long as I've been making cookies from scratch (which actually isn't all that many years), I've made sugar cookies for the holidays, in various holiday shapes.  I actually never made gingerbread cookies until last year around this time.  And it started because each year, we'd pick up one of those ready-to-go gingerbread houses to decorate at home with our son and usually, the house would come with a couple of gingerbread people and he'd ask to eat one.  Of course, I'd shriek "no, you can't eat that!  Who knows how long those cookies have been in the box!"  And so finally, I appeased the little guy by saying I'd make him some gingerbread cookies myself.

Look, there's gingerbread snow-man too!

So I'm making these gingerbread men cookies last year thinking this is going to be a waste of time.  The boy is not going to like them.  Personally, I don't particularly like them and my husband isn't a big fan either.  I've never been into strong spices (in a cookie) and I'm thinking there's just no way the kid is going to like all that ground ginger, cloves, and such.  Of course, you know where this is going.  The boy liked them...quite a bit.  Maybe not as much as chocolate cake but he liked them.  I was surprised.  So it's a new tradition to make gingerbread cookies around here and it's fun to decorate them and leave them around the house for decor.  I prefer to just use sanding sugar or nonpareil sprinkles on the sugar cookies since they're sweet enough alone, and save the royal icing treatment for the gingerbread cookies.

So I guess I could say there's sugar, spice and everything nice in our house?

Hot chocolate taste test

This little experiment was so much fun!  For a while, I've been thinking about different ways of making hot chocolate (or hot cocoa - I'm just going to use the two terms interchangeably here since I think most of us do) and which my family and I would prefer the most.  So I decided to hold a tiny, totally informal and unstructured, hot chocolate taste test.  Our six-year old was very eager and excited to take part in this. 

When I think of winter, I think of warming up with cups of hot chocolate.  Ok, I also think of Christmas cookies, chestnuts, cakes, chocolates, and twinkling lights.  But back to the topic at hand.  I love making some hot chocolate to have with our "Christmas treats" throughout December.  We make a little time to gather round in the kitchen with a little plate of treats and some hot chocolate.  

The three types of hot chocolate are ready for tasting, along with some chocolate chip cookies

If you're like me and if we were to take it literally, your hot chocolate is really hot cocoa and you make it from a mix.  I've ripped open many a packet of Swiss Miss in my day (there's no shame in it); as a kid, pouring water over the powder and giving it a stir was as much cooking as I could muster and I was very proud of myself.  Nowadays, it's still a mix but our mix of choice has been Godiva's milk chocolate hot cocoa mix.  Convenience is the biggest draw since you only need to heat up some milk and stir.  We also think it's quite tasty.  But what about homemade hot cocoa using unsweetened cocoa as a base?  Or how about taking it a step further and making Parisian hot chocolate with actual chocolate? 

So this is how we came to our little taste test.  There were just 3 participants: my husband, our six-year old, and myself.  Scientific, it is not, and you could say I should be disqualified since I'm the one preparing the cups.  We just have to remember this is all in the name of fun.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to the three contenders for favorite hot cocoa/chocolate in our household.  All three cups were made with whole milk.  Check out how different each look on appearance alone.

The first cup above is the Godiva hot cocoa mix.  Just add warmed milk to the mix and stir. 

Second, we have a cup made with unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar.  You can say it's our own cocoa mixl; essentially, we're making a chocolate paste as the basis for this hot cocoa. 

Third and last, we have the Parisian hot chocolate.  I guess we can say this is the authentic hot chocolate here.  It's the richest tasting one using bittersweet chocolate.  I have to say that on appearance alone, this would take the prize.  Would you agree?


*Now which cup of hot chocolate/cocoa do you think "won"?  The answer might surprise you.  You'll have to click on to read the results but I do have to say that overall, all three cups of hot chocolate were good.  There was a small difference of opinion (the little one takes a much firmer stance than the wishy washy adults) and we found that we might prefer one over another depending on circumstances.  But we did pick a winner.  The results were not unanimous but two tasters agreed in totality. 

Chocolate peppermint-chip cookies

December is here!  I love this month and what it symbolizes.  It's the holidays!  Everyone's a little nicer (though maybe a little bit more harried too) and it's the season of goodwill, giving, and indulgence.  Speaking of indulgence, am I the only person who secretly enjoys walking down the Christmas aisles at Target or the supermarket?  I was just telling my husband how I wish I could rip open all those bags of treats and sample everything!  A girl can dream.  On the home front, there are many goodies I need/want to make for Christmas but I told myself not to go crazy.  I've narrowed my choices to a couple of standbys and a few experiments this holiday season and we'll see how it goes.  My main focus is to relax, have fun, and enjoy the season.

I feel especially lucky to live so close to New York City at this time of year.  Sure, the crowds are insane but the city has so much to offer. 

Along the theme of winter and Christmastime, I'm offering these chocolate peppermint-chip cookies today.  To tell you the truth, I actually made these months ago when mention of the holidays would've gotten me some funny looks.  I just had a hankering to try it out so I did.  The thing is I love mint and especially mint with chocolate.  Think: mint chocolate chip ice cream, Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, and mint chocolate candies like Andes.  I love them all and when I think of Christmas, peppermint is one of the flavors I think of.  I am a huge fan of the peppermint bark William-Sonoma sells every year around the holidays - the ridiculously smooth chocolate mixed with peppermint oil and bits of crunchy peppermint candy on top are such an amazing combination.  Those flavors were the inspiration behind these cookies.

The basis for these chocolate peppermint-chip cookies are Martha Stewart's double chocolate cookies, which are among my favorites.  These cookies are brownie-like, slightly crackly on top and dark and chewy in the center as long as you don't overbake them.  I thought I'd just make a slight twist to those awesome cookies by adding some peppermint extract to the dough in place of vanilla extract and incorporating some Andes Mint baking chips.  We enjoyed the result a lot and it's a nice little change for the holidays.  You might consider giving these a try if you like that chocolate-mint combination.