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Christmas Cake Pops

Pam — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:29:22 +0000

Hi everyone, I’m finally posting a Christmas recipe to you. Many people were asking me for delicious recipes to give as a Christmas gift and I always thought about Cake Pops, but I had never done it before, I wanted to do some testing before posting to you, so I called my friend Nelci and we went to work. But they were so delicious that I just wanted to post it, so excuse me if I don’t have photos of step by step, but these were not supposed to be posted, so I was not taking pictures during the process.

But I was so anxious and afraid to post it too late and you would not have time to prepare for Christmas, that I came running to write to you. So as I have no pictures, I’ll try to explain as detailed as possible, but if you still have any questions, feel free to ask me.

The Cake Pops recupe I got from Martha Stewart’s site which in turn posted the famous recipes froom Bakerella, the queen of Cake Pops. Oh boy, these cake pops were delicious, I confess that I was surprised with the taste and results. I loved the idea to give them at Christmas, I guarantee that everyone will love to receive one. I made half the recipe and I stillgot 30 Cake Pops, so I’ll give you the reduced recipe. Well, that’s it, hope you enjoy and that you make the Cake Pops, I guarantee that you’ll have fun.

Christmas Cake Pops

Ingredients:

Cake:
1/2 and 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 and 1/4 tsp salt
3/8 cup vegetable oil
1/2 and 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 and 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 and 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 and 1/4 cups hot water

Buttercream:
4-ounce(110g) cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2-pound (225g) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate coating bark ou candy melts
Sprinkles, for garnish

Directions:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and dust with cocoa powder; tap out any excess; set aside.
Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Transfer bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, beat in oil, buttermilk, vanilla, eggs, and hot water, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish, reserving any remaining batter for another use, such as cupcakes. Bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before inverting to remove. Let cool completely on rack before using.

Buttercream:
Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.
With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as necessary.
Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute.

Cake Pops:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Trim about 1/2 inch from the perimeter of the cake. Working in batches, crumble cake into the bowl of a food processor; process until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a large bowl and add 1 cup of frosting; blend together using the back of a spoon, until well combined, 5 to 10 minutes. Roll mixture into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch balls; transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with parchment-paper-lined aluminum foil. Transfer to refrigerator until chilled, about 2 hours or to a freezer for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt chocolate in heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Remove cake pops from freezer. To make lollipops, insert a lollipop stick into the bottom of each cake pop. Let chocolate set, 15 to 20 minutes.
Dip the cake pops into the chocolate and place right-side up on prepared baking sheet or stick lollipop sticks into a Styrofoam square. Let dry completely.

Santa Hats
Hats: Red Candy Melts and White Candy Melts
Fur: white sugar crystal sprinkles
Balls: white coated expresso beans, gumballs, yogurt covered peanuts will work
Paper Lollipop Sticks

Make the Hats: Make a cone shape instead of a ball. Put in the freezer until firm. Then, holding the top part of the hat, dip the bottoms in white candy melts, insert the lollipop stick and set in a styrofoam block to dry. Once dry, dip the tops in red candy melts so that it meets where the white ends. Gently place the balls to the top of the hat while still wet. Let them dry. Then, use a toothpick to generously dab more white candy melts all around the bottom of the hat. While still wet, sprinkle the sugar crystals on.

Christmas Cookies

Pam — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:37:12 +0000

Christmas recipe to get in the mood. Last year I made the Gingerbread Men, so this year I decided to make the traditional Christmas Cookies decorated with icing. I got the recipe here and made them so quickly. Yummy, so good, loved it. Besides delicious, they are super cute and perfectly for Christmas. So gather the whole family to help that I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun.

Christmas Cookies
±40 cookies

⅔ cups Shortening
¾ cups Sugar
½ teaspoons Grated Orange Or Lemon Zest
½ teaspoons Vanilla
1 whole Egg
4 teaspoons Milk
2 cups Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt

Decorative Icing:
1 and 1/2 cups powdered Sugar
1 larg egg white
1 tsp vanilla essence or lemon juice
Food Coloring

Directions:

Cream shortening, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla thoroughly. Add in egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the milk and mix.
Sift dry ingredients together, then blend into cream mixture. Divide dough in half (thirds if you double your recipe), slightly flatten between two sheets of waxed paper, then refrigerate for one hour (or freeze for 20 minutes).
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and cut into shapes with a cookie cutters. Transfer shapes to lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 6 minutes. Do not allow the cookies to brown.

While cookies are baking, mix powdered sugar, essence, egg white and food coloring to make the decorative icing. Remove cookies from oven to a wire rack to cool. Then, using a pastry bag or Ziploc bag, pipe with white icing to decorate.

Note: when making the white decorative icing, make sure that it is thick and somewhat retains its shape.

My Christmas and New Year’s Eve

Pam — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:46:04 +0000

After being away from the site these last weeks, I’ll try to get back , because I have several posts to put here. First I’m here to tell how was my Christmas and New Year’s Eve, so you can know me a little bit more.

Well, usually here at my house I spend the holidays eve only with my parents, my older brother (1 year older) and my younger sister (360 days younger…hehe), but this year some special guests showed up. First at Christmas, my paternal grandmother came to have diner with us and on New Year my beloved friends came over to spend the night together, they are my friends since the college days, so for me it was a night extra special.

The food is my parents who make, usually we have two types of meat, manioc flour, mayonnaise, potato, rice, fruit and wine too, my father is in charge of baking the ham, suckling pig, chicken or any other animal…hehe…and we can’t help him, because he doesn’t let us, so I get in charge of dessert.

This year I tried to make cheesecake for both, Christmas and New Year, I was always a little afraid to do it, because I thought that baking a cheesecake was complicated, but it all paid off and the cheesecakes were delicious.

For Christmas I made a basic cheesecake with cherry topping and for New Year I made dulce de leche cheesecake squares, they were delicious, and I’ll post the recipes later.

Well, I hope you’ve had great holidays and hope 2010 to be a very exciting year full of achievements and success.

Love,
Pam

Gingerbread Men

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:18:11 +0000

Continuing with Christmas recipes, I decided to make the famous Gingerbread Men that I found here, they are so delicious and so cute as a gift or to serve to guests. It was the first time I did and tried these cookies, but I loved making them, a had a lot of fun, I would advise anyone who wants to do, call the whole family, especially children, will be guaranteed fun.

Some tips I have to give is to make them thin because they grow a little in the oven, I didn’t know, so they ended up chubby…hehe.

The time in the oven is up to you, if you like them softer, leave them less time if you like them more crispy, leave them more time, I preferred them with crispy around the edges and soft in the middle. Have fun!

Gingerbread Men
24 5inch tall cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
In a large bowl (KitchenAid’s great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended. Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours. (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.)
Preheat oven to 375°.Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin. Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick. Use additional flour to avoid sticking. Cut out cookies with desired cutter– the ginger bread man is our favorite of course. Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies– very good!).
Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.