Christmas Eve Baking

Merry Christmas Eve!  Today there was something very important that my family needed to do- we had to bake all of our Christmas cupcakes and cookies!  My mom, sister, and I got right to work this morning.  We had mixed up our cookie dough in advance, so all we had to do was make the cupcakes and bake the cookies.  Everything came out beautifully and incredibly festive!

The peppermint cupcakes and buttercream are from a wonderful recipe from Bakingdom.

Peppermint Cupcakes

Makes 2 dozen

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1-2 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin pan with cupcake papers.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined.  Add the peppermint extract and stir.  Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the sour cream in two batches.

To marble the cupcakes, stir in red food coloring to 1/2 of the batter.  Add a scoop of each color batter to the cupcake tins and swirl with a toothpick.

Bake for 14-18 minutes.

Peppermint Buttercream

1/2 cup butter

4-5 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons milk

1 tsp peppermint extract

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating until well combined.  If the frosting gets too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time.  Add peppermint extract.

 We also made molasses cookies and sugar cookies- all we had to do was shape the cookies and pop them in the oven, since we had already made the dough.  Both doughs  needs to be refrigerated for awhile, so it's easy to make in advance.

Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375°.

Melt shortening and let cool.  Add sugar, molasses, egg to a large bowl and beat.  Sift together remaining ingredients and add to mixing bowl.  Mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Roll into small balls, coat in sugar, and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Sugar Cookies

(from Joy of Cooking)

1 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cup sifted flour

Cream butter, sugar, and salt.  Add egg and vanilla, beating until just combined.  Slowly stir in flour.  Refrigerate dough for at least 3-4 hours before rolling out.

To roll out, dust with flour and roll out to 1/4" thickness.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

Combine ingredients and spread onto cookies.

Merry Christmas Eve,

Margaret

Baking for Breakfast

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day- especially when it's sweet and filled with fruit. These scones do just that. I have used this recipe for plain scones at least three times in the last month or so, but today I decided to throw in a little extra something. Today it happened to be dried blueberries and lemon zest, but really any fruit would work nicely. Enjoy!

Mini Blueberry Scones

Adapted from Gourmet

Makes about 16 (I got 20 since mine were smaller)

1/2 cup heavy cream plus additional for brushing the scones

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons sugar

Additional raw sugar for sprinkling scones

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup dried blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon zest

In a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup of the cream, the egg, the vanilla, and 6 tablespoons of the sugar until the mixture is combined well. In another bowl stir together the flour, the salt, the baking powder, and the baking soda. 

Using a cheese grater that yields large pieces, grate butter directly into flour mixture and stir in with a fork. (I find that this is easier than cutting it and then trying to blend it into the dough.)  

Stir in the blueberries, lemon zest, and the cream mixture with a fork until the mixture just forms a sticky but manageable dough. 

Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface for 30 seconds, pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick round, and with a 1 1/2-inch fluted cutter cut it into rounds (or other fun shapes!). 

Gather the scraps, repat the dough, and cut out more rounds. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper brush the scones with the additional cream and sprinkle them with the additional sugar (I like to use raw sugar here). Bake the scones in the middle of a preheated 400°F. oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden.