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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Christmastime is here again!

Every year I plan to make a lot of my holiday gifts from scratch or by hand. Gifts tend to be more from the heart and sentimental when you make them yourself. This year I planned and actually accomplished making cookie boxes for close friends and family and small truffle boxes filled with goodies as stocking stuffers.

The cookie boxes included recipes from my favorite chefs. Chewy Ginger Cookies, Grandma Doyle's Sugar Cookies, my favorite Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Holiday Cookies and Chocolate Caramels. My favorite part of all this is the presentation, assembling the boxes, wrapping the caramels in festive wrappers and putting the cookies in cupcake liners. It really ties a cookie box together.

Carmels and Macaroon Truffle Boxes


I know at times it may seem overwhelming, trust me, at one point I couldn't stop working. I had glitter all over the floor, double stick tape stick to me while pulling cookie batch after cookie batch out of the oven. My suggestion to you in times when it just doesn't seem possible to make a lovely gift when its a whole lot easier to go buy something...assembly line baby! Making something is way better for your soul, your receivers heart, and all around better for mother nature. Here's how:
  1. Choose a box that fits well with what you want to put in it and how you want to ship/give it.
  2. Pick out festive papers and stickers for labels with a special touch
  3. Embossing makes your crafts pop of the paper. You can find the powder and heat gun at your local craft shop
  4. Pick a paper to line the inside of the box. This can be a tissue paper or parchment. I use wax paper because my Grandma wrapped everything in wax paper
  5. Organize an afternoon of baking. I split the days in half, make all of the dough on day one and bake all the cookies on day two.
  6. Assembly line! Build all your boxes, make and apply your labels, line all your boxes and fill them up.
Here are some photos of what I did this Christmas.

Layer 1


Layer 2


Layer 3



Final Cookie Box

I hope your holidays are full of warm cookies, sweet cakes and family and friends. Happy Holidays from the Mixing Bowl!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Thanksgiving Part II: Pies, Tarts and Cupcakes Oh My!

Thanksgiving week was a very busy week for me as I am sure it was for all you bakers. This is just that start of it right?! I have Christmas cookie boxes coming up and several December birthday cakes to make and decorate and stocking stuffer goodies!

Aside from baking I LOVE San Francisco at night during the holidays. Talk about romantic! Colin and I started going a Christmas date every year where we hop on the California Cable Car line and enjoy the sites and later a nice cozy dinner for two.

At the bottom of California Street we hop on the festively decorated cable car and snuggle up close as we go up, up, up those steep San Francisco hills. We enjoy the ride and the holiday view of pretty decorations and trees decked in lights, giant ornaments, stars and over-sized holiday packages. One of my favorites is the towering crimson tree on the corner of Keary and California in the Financial District. This unique tree is brightly lit by dark red tree lights.

The best part of the whole ride, beside having dinner afterward is when we hop off at the Fairmont Hotel. We walk around Huntington Park, also festively decorated and we sit and admire Grace Cathedral. It truly is a site to see any time of year but especially during the holidays. 

Although I (with the help of my sister) made three things for Thanksgiving ; Pumpkin-Pecan Pie, Baci Tart and Spice Cupcakes with Toasted Walnut Cream Cheese Frosting, I would have to say the winning recipe was the Baci Tart. This you can definitely make it for the Holidays coming up and is actually quite easy once you read the recipe from start to finish.


Baci Tart

This Baci Tart is made by putting together great tasting layers. To start it off a decedent chocolate tart crust, very easy and a great support to hold all that ooey gooey rich flavor. Next, a caramel sauce is made and roasted hazelnuts are added to the caramel sauce and its all poured into the pie shell. While all the goodness is baking in the oven I make a quick whipped cream. And when it comes out of the oven I drizzle chocolate ganache over the tart to make it look like a work of art :) Yummy right? 

This recipe can be found in the lovely baking book, The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet or by clicking here. Really give it a try! Its a show stopper! Here are pics from the other treats I made.


 
Sweet and savory Pumpkin-Pecan Deep Dish Pie

 
Spice Cupcakes with Toasted Walnut Cream Cheese Frosting