For my Cookie Boxes (given to family and friends), I’m planning:

• Mexican Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
• Cranberry Bliss Bars
• Peppermint Bark
• Snowballs
• Peppermint Double Chocolate Cookies
• Momofuku Compost Cookies
• Spiced Snowcaps

I probably won’t get them all done, but if I get at least 5 different things in the Cookie Boxes this year, I’ll be happy.  The Snowballs (also called Mexican Wedding Cookies) are the only ones I’ve made before, but this time I’m using a slightly different recipe.

I’m also baking Fresh Gingerbread Cake with Whipped Caramel Frosting for Christmas Eve.  If I’ve got time, I’d really like to make Chocolate Bread Pudding Cake with Eggnog Sauce, too.

And let’s not forget the Cinnamon Rolls that have become a Christmas Day tradition!

So, I’ll be spending LOTS of time in the kitchen this week.  Before I dive back in to all the baking, here’s today’s recipe.  I’ve only just begun, and I’m already in love with my first recipe! (A sure sign I know how to pick them, right?)  This is a Bobby Flay recipe, and he’s one of my favorite chefs.  These cookies are similar to the Chocolate Turtle Cookies from a few years ago.  BUT, I like these even better because they’ve got cinnamon AND chocolate, and the filling is dulce de leche.  YUM!  And they just LOOK good, don’t they?

Mexican Chocolate Thumbprints

from Good Housekeeping, December 2010

Ingredients:

• 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 6 tablespoon(s) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) espresso powder
• 2 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon(s) vegetable oil, combined with above
• 1 cup(s) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup(s) ground pecans
• 1 cup(s) dulce de leche

In large bowl, with wire whisk, stir flour, cinnamon, and salt until blended. In small bowl, with rubber spatula, combine cocoa powder, espresso powder, and oil until mixture becomes smooth paste.

In another large bowl, with mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, on medium speed until combined. Beat in vanilla, then cocoa mixture, until combined. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until dough comes together. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes or up to 8 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll 2 teaspoons dough into a ball. Dip top of ball into egg whites, then pecans. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing balls 1 1/2 inches apart. With thumb or back of wooden spoon, make a deep indentation into center of each ball.

Bake, 1 sheet of cookies at a time, 9 minutes or until edges are set but centers are still soft. If necessary, make indentations again. Cool on pan on wire rack 2 minutes. With metal spatula, carefully transfer cookies to rack and cool completely. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

To serve, fill center of each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon dulce de leche.

Devil’s Food Cupcake

from 500 Cupcakes, by Fergal Connolloy

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened
• 2 separated eggs
• 3 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place 18 paper baking cups into muffin pans.  Sift the flour and baking powder and set aside.  In a medium bowl, cream the sugar and buter.  Add the egg yolks and beat well.  Add the melted chocolate and vanilla, mixing well.  Add the flour and milk alternately, beating well with each addition.  Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until soft peaks form, and gently fold them into the batter.  Spoon the batter into the cups.  Bake fro 20 minutes.  Remove pans from teh oven and cool for 5 minutes.  Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack.  

Marshmallow Filling

Transfer 1 jar of Marshmallow Fluff to piping bag.  Once cupcakes have cooled, cut a cone shaped piece out of the center of each cupcake and discard (or eat!).  Using the piping bag, fill the hole you’ve created with marshmallow fluff until level with top of cupcake (approximately 1 tbsp. of marshmallow per cupcake).

Chocolate Ganache

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 10 ounces good semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan.  Remove from heat, add chocolate and corn syrup, and whisk until chocolate is melted.  Refrigerate ganache in bowl, stirring occasionally, until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Frost each cupcake, making the top flat (or even with a little indention), to allow for the dulce de leche.

Dulce de Leche

from The Pastry Queen, by Rebecca Rather

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Remove the paper wrapper from the can of sweetened condensed milk.  Use a can opener to make two small punctures in the top of the can on opposite sides.  Set the can of milk in a medium saucepan, puncture side up.  Fill the saucepan with water to reach two-thirds of the way up the sides of the can.  Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Decrease the heat until the water simmers and simmer about 1 hour.  (Picky Apple Note: It usually takes around 2 hours, not 1).  Check the sauce pan periodically, adding water to ensure that the level does not drop below halfway.  A bit of milk may seep out of the small holes in the can.  Cook until the milk pooled on top of the can has turned a deep golden brown.  (You may have heard that boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk unopened is a shortcut.  Do not attempt this.  The milk expands when heated and may erupt with explosive results.)

Allow dulce de leche to cool.  Spoon about a tablespoon on top of each cupcake.

Praline Pecans:

adapted from this Southern Living Recipe

• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup butter 
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 1 tablespoons corn syrup 
• 2 1/2 cups toasted pecan halves

Stir together first 5 ingredients in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, 7 to 8 minutes or until a candy thermometer registers 234°.  Remove from heat, and vigorously stir in pecans. Spoon pecan mixture onto wax paper, spreading in an even layer. Let stand 20 minutes or until firm. Break praline-coated pecans apart into pieces.

Chop praline pecan pieces, and sprinkle each cupcake with about a tablespoon of chopped praline pecans.

Toasted Marshmallow Pretzel Sticks

• Pretzel sticks (I used “Old Fashioned Dipping Style” pretzel sticks)
• Mini marshmallow

Toast mini marshmallows on a cookie sheet under the broiler until browned.  Working quickly, put a toasted marshmallow or two on the end of each pretzel stick.  Insert bare end of pretzel stick into cupcake.  (Depending on the length of your pretzel sticks, you may only need half a stick).
Chocolate Dipped Graham Crackers

•  at least 3 whole graham crackers
• 2 cups of dipping chocolate (or chocolate chips with a little bit of butter)

Break each graham cracker into 4 pieces.  Heat chocolate until runny.  Dip each graham cracker in chocolate, and set on a rack to cool and harden.  Once the chocolate has cooled and hardened, insert a graham cracker into each cupcake.

In this case, the recipe itself is daunting.  This is definitely not a weeknight cake–best left for the weekend or a day off, as it is very time consuming.  Baking the cake layers, chopping and toasting of the coconut and pecans, an hour and a half for the dulce de leche, refrigerating the chocolate glaze for an hour, refrigerating the cake for an hour before serving….there were lots of steps and lots of waiting.  The final assembly of the cake itself was tricky.

So was all that work worth it?  I’d say yes.  The cake turned out light and moist, and with a delicious chocolate flavor.  The cake itself was so good that I’ll probably be using this part of the recipe again for cupcakes and other chocolate cake variations.  Toasted coconut and toasted pecans are always delicious.

What were the downsides?  The dulce de leche didn’t seem like anything special to me, and I think I prefer a chocolate ganache made with cream, like the one used on the Creamy Nutella Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Hazelnuts.  But all in all, this was a delicious cake, and once I have more experience assembling a layer cake, I hope I can make it look beautiful as well.

Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake

from The Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl

Serves 12

For Cake Layers:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup boiling water

For Filling:

• 7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely chopped pecans
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For Glaze:

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 10 ounces good semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Make the Cake Layers: Put racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Oil cake pans and line bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper.

Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.  Whisk together milk, butter, egg, yolk, and extracts in a medium bowl until just combined.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture, beating with an electric mixture at low speed, then increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute.  Reduce speed to low and mix in boiling water until just combined (batter will be thin).

Divide batter among cake pans and smooth tops.  Place two pans in upper third of oven and one pan in bottom third (do not put top pans directly above bottom pan) and bake, switching position of pans and turning them around halfway through baking, until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes total.

Transfer pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.  Run a think knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks, remove paper, and cool completely.

Make the filling while the layers cool:  Spread coconut on a baking sheet with sides and spread pecans on another sheet.  Toast coconut in lower third and pecans in upper third of oven, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 18 minutes.  Transfer sheets to racks to cool.  Put a rack in middle of oven and increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F.

Pour condensed milk into pie plate and cover tightly with foil.  Put pie plate in larger baking pan, add enough boiling water to reach halfway up sides of pie plate, and bake for 45 minutes.

Add more boiling water as needed to reach halfway up sides of pie plate and bake, still covered, until milk is thick and brown, about 45 minutes more.

Remove pie plate from water bath.  Stir coconut, pecans, and vanilla into baked milk and keep warm, covered with foil.

Meanwhile, make the glaze:  Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan.  Remove from heat, add chocolate and corn syrup, and whisk until chocolate is melted.  Transfer 1 cup glaze to a bowl and set remaining glaze aside in pan.  Refrigerate glaze in bowl, stirring occasionally, until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Assemble the cake:  For easier handling, put bottom cake layer upside down on a cardboard cake round or removable bottom of a tart or cake pan and place on a rack.  Set rack over a baking pan, to catch excess glaze.  Drop half of coconut filling by spoonfuls evenly over layer and gently spread with a wet spatula.  Top with another cake layer and spread with remaining filling in same manner.  Top with remaining cake layer.  Spread chilled glaze evenly over top and sides of cake.

Heat reserved glaze in pan over low heat, stirring, until glossy and pourable, about 1 minute.  Pour glaze evenly over top of cake, making sure it coats sides evenly.  Shake rack gently to smooth glaze.  Refrigerate cake until glaze is firm, about 1 hour.  Transfer cake to a plate before serving.