Sheets Culinary Feats

Gluten allergies are becoming more and more commonplace in our society and it can cause a lot of problems for those who are allergic. I wanted to make sure that those folks didn’t miss out this holiday season so I found a recipe on celiac.com for some pretty tasty gluten free sugar cookies. Enjoy all!

Gluten Free Soft Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

4 teaspoons milk

2 cups gluten free flour, see recipe below

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xantham gum

For the gluten free flour:

2 cups white rice flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca flour

Simply blend the three flours very well.

Method of Preparation:

1. Cream together the shortening, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, then add in the egg and mix well.
2. In a separate bowl combine the “flour”, baking powder, salt, and xantham gum.
3. Alternating between dry and wet ingredients, mix them into the creamed mixture. Divide the dough in half and chill for 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly “floured” surface, you may also need to coat the rolling pin with the gluten free flour, roll to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut the cookies into the desired shapes and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes. I would recommend using parchment or a silicone baking surface. Allow the cookies to cool almost completely as they are very fragile right out of the oven.

The traditional Yule log was a large log that was burned all night long during the celebration. However sometime during the 18th or 19th century the French created a pastry out of the conecpt and began serving it during Christmas celebrations. It is basically a jelly roll filled with hazelnut mousse and coated in chocolate. Now a days the pastries are done up beautifully to more greatly resemble the log they are name after.

The jelly roll in this recipe is very light and delicate and requires a gentle touch when you are rolling it up. It’s much easier if you use a long piece of parchament paper underneath the log to help you roll it up nice and tight. There’s a lot of steps to this recipe, but it’ll turn out looking gorgeous at the end. I’ve left out the meringue mushrooms, but if you’re interested in putting them on the log, leave a note and I’ll post the recipe.

Yule Log

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

6 eggs, seperated

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted

For the hazelnut mousse:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 ounces hazel nuts, toasted

5 ounces milk chocolate cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon hazelnut oil

For the chocolate frosting:

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut in small pieces

8 ounces unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 strong coffee

1/4 cup sour cream

Method of Preparation:

For the cake:

1. Butter a jelly roll pan, line with parchment paper, butter the paper and sprinkle with flour, tapping to remove excess flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of the sugar.
3. Meanwhile, place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Turn the machine up to high, and beat in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, continue to beat until shiny but not stiff.
4. Add the flour to the yolk/sugar mixture and whisk to combine. Add l/4 of the egg whites to the yolk mixture, whisking to lighten the mixture. Then return the yolk mixture to the egg whites, and fold gently.
5. Scrape into the prepared pan and even the top by running a long offset spatula across the surface. Bake until cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched, l2 to l5 minutes. Cool on a rack. Set aside.

For Hazelnut mousse:

1. Place cooled hazelnuts on a kitchen towel and rub together to remove skins. Place the skinned hazelnuts in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for l minute. Add the hazelnut oil through the feeder tube and process until a paste forms.
2. Melt chocolate in a medium bowl placed over simmering water, or melt in a microwave oven. Add the melted chocolate to the hazelnut paste and set aside.
3. Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the hazelnut/chocolate mixture. Keep covered in the refrigerator until needed.

For the Chocolate Frosting:

1. Melt the chocolate. In a small pot, heat the coffee and cocoa. Add the sour cream.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the chocolate mixture and combine completely. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside until of spreading consistency.

To Assemble:

1. Trim the edges of the sponge cake. Place the Hazelnut mousse on the cake layer. Spread the mixture evenly over the cake, leaving a l inch space along the long side.
2. Using the parchment paper to aid you, carefully roll up the cake into a thick log, enclosing the mousse. Leave the wrapped, rolled-up cake on the sheet pan and refrigerate until filling is firm, at least 2 hours.
3. Remove pan with cake from refrigerator and place wrapped cake on a firm surface. Carefully unwrap cake. Using a serrated knife, from one end cut a 2-inch piece of cake on the diagonal. Set the cut piece aside.
4. Cut out a piece of cardboard the length and width of the cake. Cover the cardboard with foil and place the cake on it. Spread a little frosting on the bottom of the small cut piece and set on top of the cake roll. Using a small spatula, spread the frosting over the entire cake as well as the small piece atop the cake. With a wooden skewer or the point of a small knife, make furrows to simulate bark along the sides and top of the cake.
5. Arrange Christmas greens and plastic holly around the Yule Log. Sift powdered sugar over the whole thing to simulate snow. Fresh cranberries can be scattered around for added color.

Sorry this post is a little late, with all the excitement at work and holiday parties I’m running a little behind.

My grandmother has made this fudge for as long as I can remember. I’ve had a lot of different fudges in my day, and still this one is my favorite. Maybe it’s the nostalgia, I’m not sure, but this recipe will always have a spot in my heart.

Fantasy Fudge

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup, or 1 1/2 sticks butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups marshmallow cream

1 cup of your favorite chopped nuts, I love some toasted walnuts personally

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Method of Preparation

1. combine the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil, and reduce the heat to medium, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Be extremely careful with the hot sugar, while it may not be caramel yet, 200 degree sticky sugar is still extremely unpleasant on your skin.
2. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until melted.
3. Add the marshmallow cream, nuts, and vanilla. Stir until well blended and poor into a 9″X13″ pan and let it cool completely.

These are extremely good after you have let them set up over night covered on the counter. They’ll keep in an airtight container for a week at room temperature, but they never last that long.

When I catered for the Jewish community I always looked forward to Hanukkah and the making of latkes for the kids to eat. There’s nothing quite like a warm breakfast of blintzes and latkes eaten with friends and family.

These latkes are a wonderful combination of potato, onions and egg. A wonderfully delicate treat that just explodes with flavor in your mouth. And then the amazing depth that actually comes out when you combine the savory and the sweet with the sour cream and the applesauce.

The act of slathering my latkes with sour cream and applesauce actually took a great deal of coercing on my behalf from my co-workers until I actually put the condiments on. But once I did I was sold, and I can never dream of having a latke or any other potato pancake without them ever again. In fact several times I’ve gone into restaurants and asked if I can get sour cream and applesauce with my potato pancakes, and when told that they didn’t have either I had to find something else.

But I digress, on to the recipe:

Potato Latkes with sour cream and applesauce - makes approximately 16 latkes

Ingredients:

2 pounds Idaho potatoes

1 large yellow onion

1/2 cup of matzo meal

4 eggs, lightly beaten

salt and pepper to taste

Your favorite brand of plain applesauce and sour cream for serving.

Method of preparation:

1. Grate the potatoes and the onion into a bowl and combine well. If you’re increasing the size of this recipe it is greatly recommended you use a food processor with a grating attachment. Place the mixture into a colander and let it drain until it is dry to the touch. This is extremely important, don’t skip this step as your latkes will fall apart otherwise, if you need to, use a paper towel to dry off the onions. Once completely dry place into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the matzo meal and the eggs and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. The mixture should be firm and stick together but still moist.
3. Heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in a skillet until very hot. Form the mixture into patties about 2 inches in diameter and fry in the hot oil. When the Latkes are browned on one side flip them over and brown on the other, about 3 minutes or so.
4. Keep the latkes in a warm oven and serve hot. Plate up with the applesauce and the sour cream.

I love the holidays myself, namely the wonderful food traditions. Nothing beats getting together with friends and family and celebrating with some great food, great conversation, and the opening of presents and what not.

I’ve worked rather extensively with a Jewish catering service and it was wonderful for me to learn the different traditions that are celebrated for Hanukkah. 10 years ago if you had asked me if I would ever eat a potato pancake with applesauce and sour cream I’d have looked at you like you were a nutter. Now though, I find myself craving them every year.

Admittedly I’m not very up on any on Kwanzaa traditions, but it’s definitely something that I’m interested in learning all about. So if you celebrate, please comment here about your traditions and share with everyone.

I’m not attempting to exclude anyone from these recipes, so again if there’s something you’d like to see let me know and I’ll put something up. I think next week I’ll continue the holiday theme (seeing as how Christmas and Hanukkah are both next week), maybe do some Japanese Christmas recipes.

Anyways, I’d love to go over a few different recipes this week. Including:

Potato Latkes with Sour Cream and applesacue

Fudge

Yule Log

I think every family has a version of this that gets served, and everyone tends to get a little tired of it. But by using real cream, butter, and shallots I think you can really elevate this dish to some stardom. And if you really feel adventurous you can even french fry your own onions, but I think the store bought onions are just fine.

Green Bean Casserole - Serves 4

Prep time - 20 minutes

Cook time - 25 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

3 large Schallots finely minced

4 ounces of button mushrooms washed and sliced.

1/4 cup cooking sherry

1 pint of heavy cream

1/2 pound of green beans, ends cut off and cut in half

1 can of french fried onions

Method of preparation:

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a saute pan with deep sides. Add in the schallots and cook until they just become translucent, about 3 minutes.
2. Add in the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms begin to wilt and let loose their juices.
3. Deglaze the pan with the sherry and let it reduce slightly. Add in the heavy cream and the green beans. Let them all cook together until the beans are fully cooked but still firm to the tooth and the cream has thickened to a nice sauce.
4. Arrange the beans in a nice dish and top with the onions just before service so they stay crispy.

And on to recipe number 2! Just remember that despite all the confusion there is a difference between sweet potatoes and yams. Starting with the physical, in the United States most of the yams we see here have a brown skin with a white meat, sometimes though it will be a pinkish hue. As well, yams tend to have a more symmetrical look than sweet potatoes, being longer and straighter.

While Sweet Potatoes do resemble yams, they are shorter and much lumpier towards one end. The skin is generally more red with a distinctively orange flesh.

Baked Yams with Marshmallows - serves 4

Prep Time - 10 minutes

Cook time - 45 minutes to an hour

Ingredients:

2 pounds of Yams

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

2 Teaspoons Nutmeg

2 teaspoons allspice

1 package Marshmallows

Method of Preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash and peel the yams ensure you are using a sturdy vegetable peeler as the skins can be rather tough. Lightly grease an 8″X8″ baking dish, I like glass for this. Place the yams in the dash and evenly coat each of the yams with the sweet spices.
2. Bake the yams until you can very easily stick a fork into them. Remove the pan from the oven.
3. Cover all the yams with the marshmallows, and replace it in the oven. Keep an eye on the dish and remove it when the marshmallows are melted and brown. Serve them hot

Because it’s a shortened week I’ll be posting 2 recipes today instead of the usual 1. These are some pretty classical dishes that most folks eat at thanksgiving, I know for me they represent a large portion of the comfort food for me. Again these recipes are fattening and delicious, and shouldn’t really be eaten every day, but it’s thanksgiving and we all know that calories are reduced to 0 on thanksgiving.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes - Serves 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time - 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic

1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

2 pounds of potatoes for boiling. Preferably red or russett potatoes.

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1/4 cup butter

1 quart heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Method of preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Take the head of Garlic and cut the very top off, mostly just the point but you want to expose the cloves slightly. Take a piece of aluminum foil large enough to close around the head of garlic and form a small bowl. Place the oil in the bottom of the foil, then the head of garlic. Crimp the edges together to form a tight seal and place in the oven. Roast this until the scent of garlic drives you delirious from the aroma, around 1 hour. The cloves should be so soft they will spread like butter. Be careful when opening the foil as a lot of steam will come out.
2. Put on two quarts of water to boil, meanwhile clean your potatoes. I prefer my mashed potatoes to have the skins on them, but you can peal them if you desire. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch cubes and just before you add them to the boiling water, add the kosher salt to the water. Cook the potatoes until a fork easily slides into the largest potato pieces. Strain the water out. Return the potatoes to your pot.
3. Add roasted garlic to the potatoes, be sure to squeeze the garlic out of it’s paper like wrapper, and grab your potato masher. I like the masher cause it leaves chunks, but if you like a smoother product you can use a food mill. Add the butter, about half of the cream, and some salt and pepper to start. After mashing the mixture together taste potatoes and adjust for flavor and texture by adding more cream and salt and pepper as necessary. Be sure to add small amounts at first, it’s easier to add than take out.

This is a recipe that I developed myself, with a little inspiration from the bread pudding style bread we used to prepare up at the Stanley Hotel. I was trying to come up with a way to serve your traditional dressing with just a little more flare and add a different spin on the taste. The chef’s there never gave me the go ahead, so I made them on my own and they’ve been a hit every since.

Not for the faint of heart, these muffins are very rich, yet utterly delicious. The soft texture of bread pudding brought a bit more solid with the second baking combined with the flavors of stuffing really add to this dish. Hope you all enjoy.

Twice Baked Stuffing Muffins - Makes approximately 36 muffins

Prep time: up to 30 minutes

Cook time: 1-1 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

1 each loaf of white bread, preferably a week old so it is rather dry.

1 package of fresh poultry herbs. Sage, thyme, and rosemary

1 can low sodium chicken broth

1 pint pasteurized egg product

1 pint heavy cream

3 day old croissants

2 teaspoons ground anise

Method of Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. I prefer to cut the crusts off of the white bread before I cube it as we will be drying this out and I think the texture detracts from the final product. Cut the bread into 1/4″ cubes, about the same thickness of the slices. Chop the fresh herbs very finely, be sure to remove the stems from the thyme and the rosemary.
3. In a bowl combine the bread cubes, the fresh herbs and the chicken broth, coat the cubes well. Place on a baking sheet and cook past the normal doneness for dressing. We want the dressing to be very dry so that it will absorb the custard later on. This time will vary depending on how dry the bread is you are using and the moisture in the air. Keep an eye on them and carefully test the cubes with your fingers, when they’re dried out remove from the oven and let them cool.
4. While the dressing is cooling, in a mixer with the whisk attachment combine the egg product and the heavy cream. Beat until it becomes light and airy and roughly doubles in volume.
5. Cut the croissants into 1/4″ cubes. In a fresh bowl combine the stuffing and the croissants. Cover the mixture with the custard and add in the anise. Combine well and allow it to stand until the mixture thickens to a batter like consistency. Again this time will vary, but approximately 20 minutes.
6. I like to use the silicone muffin tins as they are already non-stick and I don’t need to use muffin wrappers or spray the pans heavily. Fill each muffin tin approximately half full with the bread pudding mixture and bake at 350 until the custard sets. Oven results vary. I’ve had the baking time take 30 minutes for the custard to set and up to an hour. So once again keep an eye on the muffins and when they are firm and a delicious looking golden brown pull them from the oven. Feel free to serve them hot or at room temperature with butter, they’re delicious!

While not necessarily my favorite holiday during the year Thanksgiving always holds a special place in my heart. Most of the major holidays deal with food, but none quite so much as Thanksgiving, when we throw our diets out the window and indulge our souls in some good old fashioned comfort food.

The menu I’m proposing this week is certainly not one that I would recommend every week, or even once a month. It is all very fattening and indulgent, but presents the perfect (in my opinion) menu for a delicious Thanksgiving meal. Sure a lot of these ideas are the traditional, and rely heavily on carbs, but they’re my favorites, and even one of my secret appetizers that goes over wonderfully every year. This year I think I’m going to leave out the turkey, everyone has their favorite recipe. But next year I plan on buying a turkey fryer and trying out a few different recipes, so I’ll cover those.

Thanksgiving Menu:

Appetizer: Twice baked Stuffing Muffins

Starches: Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Baked Yams with Marshmallows

Vegetables: Green Bean Casserole