December 22, 2011

Chocolate Clementine Cupcakes from Laura of A Beautiful Plate

December 22, 2011/ Kristin Rosenau

Today's post is brought to you by the fabulous Laura of Blogging Over Thyme. Not only is she a lovely new friend of mine, but she can bake up one mean cupcake (seriously, how cute are these?!). Show her some love!

When Kristin asked me to write a guest post, I was both honored and thrilled! Kristin’s fabulous recipes, stories, and photography have been such a source of inspiration to me and it has been such a pleasure to get to know her. With the holidays coming up, we both decided that something sweet was in order.

Christmas Day, at my house, is filled with tradition. After slowly waking up and greeting the morning, my family sits down at our kitchen table, where we feast on Italian panettone, fresh fruit and berries, and warm mugs of hot coffee. Pajamas, robes, and fuzzy socks are the official attire of the day. After eating breakfast, we head to the living room, where we grab our stockings and slowly open them, one gift at a time, attempting to prolong the process as long as possible.

Every year, my sisters and I reach our hands deep into our stockings and pull out a fresh clementine. Amidst all the other gifts, it is the most simple, but also the most sentimental. We usually end up munching on tons of fresh clementines throughout the holidays, leaving small trails of peel wherever we go, the smell of citrus lingering on our hands and fingers.

When I saw fresh clementines hit the shelves recently, I knew that I wanted to create a holiday dessert incorporating them and immediately began daydreaming up ideas. Chocolate was the next logical choice. Orange and chocolate is a classic combination and one of my all-time favorites.

Tarts, cookies, and cakes all came to mind, but cupcakes inevitably won for their portability, cute factor, and individual portion size. The next step was getting into my kitchen, cranking up the oven, and whipping up several trial and test batches. It instantly brought back memories of my days working at the bakery!

While some cupcakes can be heavy and leave you feeling weighed down, these cupcakes are surprisingly light and airy, while still being decadent and full of flavor. The cake is infused with clementine zest and orange extract, dipped in rich (72%) dark chocolate ganache, and topped with candied clementine slices (optional). These cupcakes have just the right amount of citrus and chocolate flavor, without either taste overwhelming the other.

When I took my first bite, I was instantly reminded of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, a favorite childhood treat. These cupcakes, on the other hand, are a bit more sophisticated, special, and sure to impress your family and friends over the holidays. Enjoy!

December 18, 2011

Candy Cane Popcorn

December 18, 2011/ Kristin Rosenau

One of my neighbors really loves to go all out when lighting their home for the holidays. They don't just throw up a half dozen strings of light and call it good. Oh, certainly not. I can only believe they used the home from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for inspiration and took the idea two (or ten) steps further. The home is truly a sight to behold. It puts my own house (and every other house in the neighborhood) to shame.

Fair warning: you may need sunglasses.

Starting back in September, the family starts preparing the holiday lights. They begin building frames out of wood and pvc pipe to string with lights. Gradually over the weeks, more and more frames start popping up in the yard and, though the lights remain unlit, you can feel the festive storm begin to brew.

As Christmas approaches, the lights start to sparkle. Almost daily, the sheer amount of lights seem to double as the family rushes to get as many strings up as they can. The Chmielewski family truly expresses and wants to share the Christmas spirit with everyone they meet. They don't go through all of the months of work to set up the display just for themselves. Their wish is very simple. They just want to bring a little more holiday magic to everyone who takes a walk by their brightly lit home.

What these photos don't show you: the lights are far brighter than my camera could ever capture, the flashing and flickering of lights on everything from the roof to the evergreen trees, the rotating Ferris wheel as it spins around carrying stuffed versions of our favorite holiday characters, the Christmas music singing loudly as it fills the air, the miniature bake shop selling everything from your favorite holiday cookies and bars to steaming cups of hot cocoa and warm hot dogs, a holly jolly Santa Claus greeting everyone who comes along to visit, and the friendly smiles and awe-struck faces of the small children walking through the sidewalk wonderland.

The home is perhaps the one and only home to ever feature three yeti (one of which is larger than life). It hosts half a dozen Kris Kringles and spans all holiday genres from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to The Little Drummer Boy. I love how the Bethlehem star not only guides the wise men to the multiple nativity scenes they have set up in the yard, but it brings in the holiday visitors from miles around as the star leads them to this special place. Is it garish? Certainly. But I can't deny it had me (and everyone else) smiling from ear to ear.

And my favorite part? They take donations for charity in a lovely, well-lit box. Upon first glance, I wondered if the charity might be their own electric bill but, after asking a few questions, I found out just the opposite. Last year the money they collected went to help local residents who can't quite afford to keep their own lights (and heat) on during the winter season.

I can't imagine a more fitting cause.

This Candy Cane Popcorn snack mix is as addictive as it is colorful. Popcorn, by nature, has more protein than any other cereal grain, more iron than spinach, more phosphorous than pretzels, and almost as much fiber as bran flakes. It's a super food. By simply coating the popcorn with a drizzle of white and dark chocolate and a sprinkling of crushed candy canes, it turns the popcorn into a decadent tasting sweet that's good for you at the same time! This is the ideal 100 calorie snack to zap your chocolate cravings without indulging in something you may regret later. It's also a perfect dish to bring to parties!

December 15, 2011

Christmas Sugar Cookies

December 15, 2011/ Kristin Rosenau

Christmas sugar cookies have been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. As children, my younger sister and I would always find ourselves in the kitchen around this time of year, making a genuine mess of everything we touched. My mom would mix up a batch of homemade dough and help us roll it out as we got flour all over our cheeks, our hair, and the kitchen table. The cookie cutters we used then and now are the same. The candy cane, sleigh, rocking horse, reindeer, stockings, and tree always leave their mark in the dough.

My mom would let us cut out the cookies, subtly suppressing a sigh when we'd space the cutters so far from one another she'd certainly have to roll out the dough dozens more times.

My sister and I would often tire long before the cookies were finished being rolled, cut, and baked. My mother never said a word when we'd leave her with a mess and run off for an hour while she finished up.

Yet, she'd always call us back to the table, with colorful, newly mixed batches of powdered sugar glaze to greet us. I loved decorating cookies even then, spending extra time to make sure I stayed in the lines and the frosting was just so. My sister loved to cover the cookies as quickly as possible. Often the glaze dripped onto the table long after she abandoned one cookie for another. We were opposite in our decorating approaches, yet our styles complimented one another. She would get the bulk of the cookies done while I concentrated so closely on a select few.

Even as my sister and I have both grown and now find ourselves living in different places, we try to get together to decorate sugar cookies every year, no exceptions. Though the sugar cookie recipe we use has changed and our powdered sugar glaze has been swapped for royal icing, our tradition holds fast. Every year we pull out the same cookie cutters, buried deep in the bottom drawer beneath the straws, napkins, and old party plates. Every year we are reminded that the dough never comes out of the prettiest Christmas tree cutter, rendering it useless. Every year we discover the crocodile cookie cutter hidden in the Christmas-themed assortment and make a few for good luck.

These are the cookies we make every year. These are the cookies that define our holiday traditions. These are the sweet, buttery cookies that bring us closer together.

The winners of the homemade holiday cookie giveaway (and these sweet sugar cookies!) are:

Jennifer Cannon

Those cookies look delicious! My most favorite cookie for Christmas are butter cookies and sugar cookies. I have many wonderful memories of making them with my mother and grandmother....now I am creating new ones by making them with my 2 wonderful girls!

Jess D.

Great giveaway idea! My favorite holiday cookies are what my Grandma calls Chocolate Crinkle cookies. The "crinkle" comes from rolling the chocolate dough in powdered sugar before baking - so cute. She makes them every year and they are just simply amazing!

Crista

Sometime in the seventies my mother bought a set of number cookie cutters, 0 through 9. On the back of the package were two recipes, one for gingerbread cookies and one for sugar cookies. To this day, we still use those two recipes for our annual holiday baking. They are basic, but they are also the best ever!

Be on the lookout for an email from me, ladies!

In other exciting news, Intervistato.com, an Italian/English website that dedicates itself to interviewing and learning more about fascinating people in interesting fields, asked me to do a short interview! How could I say no? Simply being asked was remarkably flattering.

If you want to hear about everything from my blog's beginnings to food photography and recipe inspiration from my own perspective, tune in!