Christmas baking 2011

My first attempt at a buche de noel.

I can’t imagine a Christmas without snowballs. When I think of a cookie for this time of year, the buttery treat coated in powdered sugar jumps to the forefront. This year’s rendition comes from Bon Appetit: a cardamom crescent. These cookies also have pecans and cinnamon.

Though it’s past Christmas, it’s always acceptable to talk cookies and baking.

The result is typical snowball, and that is a good thing. The buttery, salty, crumbly cookie is just right, with a slight dose of cardamom that provides an added flavor. Dusted with powdered sugar, these cookies are delectable. They go great with a cup of hot chocolate, which I drank three straight nights earlier in the week for dessert. For the hot chocolate, just mix some Ghirardelli cocoa powder, whole milk, and a dash each of cinnamon and vanilla extract. Yum!   

These cookies have pecans, cinnamon and cardamom. They go great with a cup of hot chocolate.

Earlier this month my mom and I made white chocolate turtle cookies, a recipe from Nicole Cleghorn that made the Los Angeles Times’ top 10 for their holiday cookie contest. The chocolate cookies have a surprise treat in the middle — a Rolo candy. The cookies are soft and the caramel in the middle from the Rolo creates a pleasing chew. The only thing I would alter the next time is add salt to bring out the other flavors. 

Otherwise, the soft chewy morsels are spot on. 

The chocolate cookieshave a "secret" in the center.

Earlier this week I ventured into uncharted territory: making a buche de noel.

Buche de Noel, or “yule log,” is a common French dessert that features sponge cake rolled around a buttercream filling and is often dusted with powdered sugar. Meringue mushrooms provide decoration.

The version I tried came from Saveur magazine’s December edition. Reporter Gabriella Gershenson interviews Parisian pastry shop owner Arnaud Delmontel, who shares a recipe with
espresso-tinged buttercream and a chocolate ganache coating on the outside of the log. The chocolate coating resembles the bark of a log.

The sponge cake was, well, tough, but the filling, made with whipped egg whites, sugar and butter, along with the chocolate ganache coating made the cake worth making.

I found a recipe from allrecipes.com that omits the flour for the cake portion of the dessert. Try it and let me know what you think.

Not sure if the eggs for the sponge cake were too cold when I put them in. I may not have mixed the eggs enough with the sugar to incorporate enough air. The picture in the magazine shows a thicker sponge cake than what I made. Oh well, it’s still dessert and at this point, that makes this a happy last few days of 2011.

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