Peppermint Meringue Cookies

It's Christmas cookie season! There's nothing better than a heaping plate of assorted cookies, and these simple meringue sandwiches are beautiful and sure to stand out from the crowd. I picked up the recipe from Martha's Cookies. Although they do take a while to bake (more like dry really), the trickiest part was getting the beautiful stripes along the sides of the piped meringue. Martha made it seem so easy, but without gel food dye or a paint brush, I had to get creative. Mixing a few drops of liquid food dye with a tablespoon of powdered sugar made a good paste, and taping a frilly toothpick onto the tip of a pencil subbed as a paint brush.

 By the end of it all, there was so much red dye everywhere I looked like I'd murdered someone, but miraculously, it worked! For the filling I used a chocolate buttercream, but you can also use ganache.

Ingredients

3 large egg whites
2 cups confectioner's sugar, separated
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
6 ounces butter, softened
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Special Supplies

Piping bag and large star-shaped tip
Red gel food dye
Small paint brush, or toothpick

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200 F.
2. Beat the egg whites till soft peaks form, then slowly add 3/4 cup powdered sugar until glossy stiff peaks.
3. Stir in the peppermint extract.
4. Carefully paint 3 stripes of red dye along the side of the piping bag, then spoon 1/3 of meringue in the bag.
5. Pipe small stars on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure to have an even number. Refill the bag as necessary, touching up the dye between fillings.
6. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
7. When they have dried completely, place on a wire rack to cool.
8. Make buttercream: beat the softened butter until light and creamy, then slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder. Add the milk and vanilla and continue to stir until well combined.
9. Assemble the cookies: spoon or pipe a small dollop of buttercream onto the underside of a meringue, and smoosh another meringue of similar size to it.

Bam. Done. Let them dry completely, and don't store in an air-tight container, a plate works best.

Holiday Magazine Guide

This time of year, the magazine rack can get a little overwhelming, with all the food (and not so much food) magazines pushing all the holiday goodies to bake. I took the liberty of exploring some of the options, to parson out the best in any variety you might be looking for this holiday season.

Bon Appetit Holiday Special

For the cool holiday Party

More style than quantity, this one has great sections on party ideas, tips for handling stress relief, and beautiful decorations ideas for a hipster Christmas. Not quite as many recipes though, with cool, very specific ideas like a section on Norwegian Christmas ideas. Great beautiful pictures, but a little more about stylistic articles than a collection of recipes like some of the other holiday specials on the list.

Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies

For the all those cookies.

 This magazine holiday special is separated by different categories of cookies, clearly they mean business. This ones completely chock full of recipes, and it also has some really innovative ideas, including food gifts and holiday decorating. Oddly enough there is an entire section on thanksgiving, which is great, but not so much this late in the season. If all you want to bake this Christmas is cookies, this is definitely a good one to pick up.

Fine Cooking Holiday Baking

For the step-by-step baker.

This is a great guide to a wide variety of sweet recipes; including cakes, puddings, and sweet rolls. The magazine is clearly marked, with many beautiful photographs for the different steps of each recipe. I think this is the best overall baking magazine, especially if you just want ideas and recipes for the holiday season, and the extra photographs are a big help for the special techniques! 

Martha Stewart Living

To help make your house look amazing.

Martha Stewart is queen of home decorations. And while there are some scrumptious recipes in here, the best parts are definitely the different tips on how to make your house look like the inside of a snow globe. There are also so great crafty ideas on wreaths (like the one on the cover) but if you want recipes specifically, this may not be the magazine for you.

Cuisine Holiday Baking Double Issue

Ideas for your holiday dinner.

This one had a lot of good dies for baking your Christmas dinner, including vegetarian options. There are also so good artisanal food gift ideas for the chef in your life. Because it is Cooking Light after all, you can find a lot of recipes and ideas that'll cut back on calories and fat. The holidays maybe a time to indulge, but fresh veggie sides are always a good idea, right? And bonus: flipping the magazine over you'll find a great little collection of cookies to try. 

Taste of Home, Holiday Baking

The one with the trifle.

Taste of Home produces many different holiday baking magazines, which I'm going to assume is why this one (the basic baking one on the wrack) was lacking a little. It has many different kinds of recipes, but the photography was not nearly as appealing, with many of the cakes and pies looking like wax. There is however a good traditional trifle recipe (one of the few I could find).

Baking by Hand

When I saw this in the store, I was pretty skeptical. No mixer? Artisanal? Tempting, but what's the catch? But upon reading the introduction (yeah I do actually love reading those) I was excited to see that all the recipes, written by the owners of the New England bakery "A&J King Artisan Bakers," were baked in an "old piece of junk" home oven. In fact, the book is specially written for home bakers, and has meticulous instructions on the process and theory of baking. I particularly like the index to other great books and sources that the authors pulled from. The recipes extend from simple sour dough and focaccia, to a variety of sandwiches, to sweet pastries. Can't wait to start!

Simple Meringue Cookies

Crunchy, chewy, and sweet, meringue cookies are awesome and a great introduction in how to make and use meringue.

Ingredients:
3 eggs whites,
2/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 300 F.
Whip eggs until soft peaks form, then add the sugar slowly until glossy and clinging to the whisk. Spoon in dollops onto a baking sheet, or pipe in fancy swirls. Bake at a low heat or 45-60 minutes.

Bam. Done.

And they are delicious!
You can add a few tablespoons cocoa powder for chocolate cookies, or wedge two together with buttercream or ganache for a delicious sandwich cookie.

Faux French Silk Oreo Cake

This is an incredibly simple and delicious dessert, that looks very impressive and beautiful on a table. I liked the light taste of the Cool Whip (yup, Cool Whip) and Oreos, but if you want to use  real whipped cream, feel free! I found this recipe at Baker's Royale, a great food blog, and was most excited by the nostalgia of Oreos and French Silk. I remember when we were kids my brothers and I would go nuts over slices of French Silk pie from Baker's Square. The homemade pudding (which also could be store bought) makes a rich, chocolate layer that tastes surprisingly similar to French Silk, but is much less finicky to make. In fact, this recipe could be completely no-bake if you bought everything from the store: fabulous!

Bake time: 10-15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes (plus extra for chilling)

Ingredients

1 sixteen ounce tub of Cool Whip, thawed

2-4 tablespoons butter, melted

25-30 Oreos

1/3 cup cornstarch

½ cup granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

3 cups whole milk

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tablespoon vanilla

6 Maraschino cherries, to decorate

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Make the crust:

2. Place most of the Oreos in a gallon zipper -lock bag, leave a few to decorate afterward. Crush the cookies finely with a rolling pin or with your hands.

3. In a large bowl, mix 2/3 of the crushed Oreos with the melted butter, and pat into an 8 inch spring form pan, or into a pie dish. 

4. Bake 10-12 minutes, until firm. Let cool before adding the pudding layer.

Make the pudding:

5. Thoroughly whip the milk, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a sauce pan. 

6. Heat on medium-high heat, stirring continuously and making sure to scrape the bottom well, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon or spatula.

7. Stir in the chocolate and vanilla until completely combined.

8. Pour the pudding through a sieve to catch any cornstarch globs (it happens). Let cool, and pour into the crust. Chill in the freezer, till considerably frozen. 

Make the Cool-whip layer:

9. Stir the remaining crushed Oreos with the Cool Whip. Smooth onto the pudding layer. 

10. Decorate with cherries, Oreo halves, and piped Cool Whip, as you desire. For best result, chill in the freezer for 2-3 hours. Enjoy!

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

So I had a lot of leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. No surprise of course. But after a few days of turkey sandwiches, I decided it was time to change things up. Pie time! I found this recipe on Food Network's website, and made slight modifications to suit my taste and what I had in the fridge. I had planned to make a huge pie and have leftovers of the leftovers for the next day, but it turned out so well my family finished the whole thing at once! I think this might be the start of a tradition.

Total Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 40 -45 minutes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken or turkey stock
6-8 mini potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 sprigs rosemary
2 cups shredded turkey
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 stems fresh thyme
Salt and peper to taste
Pie dough, or pre-made dough
Egg wash

Preparation
For the Filling
1) Preheat oven to 350 F.
2) Melt butter in saucepan. Mix in garlic, celery, and carrots. Cook on medium-high heat until softened.
3) Stir in flour until well combined, and cook for 2 minutes.
4) Add the stock and bring to a simmer.
5) Then add the potatoes and the rosemary sprigs, simmer until tender, stirring occasionally.
6) Stir in the turkey and fresh parsley and thyme. Remove the  rosemary.

To Assemble the Pie
7) Roll out half of the chilled pie dough on a well floured surface, or on parchment paper.
8) Gently fit the dough into a deep 9 inch pie dish. Carefully pour the filling into the prepared dish.
9) Roll out the remainder of the dough, and place it on top, over the filling. Crimp the edges as you like and cut slits in the top to ventilate. Brush the top with egg wash, as desired.
10) Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown.