Celebration Cookies for OBG!

I am terribly behind. I'd like to say it's not entirely my fault. But really I'm behind because I have been poor at time management. See, I put off baking the Christmas cookies until I finished with school (last Thursday). But the teacher who I'm long term subbing for just had her baby on Tuesday so my Christmas cookies had to be baked around teaching math to about 60 or so 7th graders.

So while I've been off enjoying myself with 7th graders, I've had this package sitting here to send off to Kevin for Operation Baking Gals. My team this month is hosted by my bloggerganger the every so lovely Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen. She's awesome. I have filled his package with Celebration Cookies from my mother-in-law's excellent recipe, candy canes, red and green m&m's, and a loaf of home-made stollen. I'll post on the stollen later, because you really want my mother-in-law's cookie recipe. Trust me on this one, it's like a peanut butter cookie wrapped around a Snickers bar. It's at the bottom of the post. But, before you go look at the recipe, let me show you my week in the kitchen in random photos.



Thank God I'm done baking the cookies because I'm so sick of eating cookies right now. Who knew that could happen? I'm also sick of having spaghetti for dinner. But don't you love my 6 tiers of stackable cooling racks? They would make an excellent Christmas present for a cookie baker on your list. Another very nice Christmas present is my lovely salt box that I purchased here. If you live in Minneapolis you might be able to get one by Christmas. Sorry, I meant to post about it MUCH sooner. The box was made by the lovely Marti the Potter who blogs over here.

Megan pointed me in the direction of my happy smiley faced spoons that I got at TJ Maxx for about $3 each. They would make an excellent stocking stuffer if you can find them at TJ Maxx, or a present for yourself because you can order them here and yeah, probably not in time for Christmas.

So I apologize for posting on these so late, but I really wanted to show them to you. Because I love them. Both the box and the spoons make me smile every time I see them. Well, the spoons make me smile because they're so silly, and the box makes me feel like I'm some jazzy classy chef type person as I grab a large pinch of salt to stir into my spaghetti water. I really need to start cooking again...

Celebration Cookies

from Peggy my mother-in-law

2 sticks butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

3 1/2 cups flour

2 bags mini Snickers bars

Cream butter and sugars, add peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, soda and flour. Mix together well. Chill 2 hours. Roll into balls a little bigger than a walnut. Make an indentation in the center the size of the candy, place the candy in the indent and wrap the dough completely around the candy bar. Bake 350 degrees 10-12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and transfer to a cooling rack. Yield: about 4 dozen.

Marshmallow Here and There and Oh Yeah Over There Too...

Sometimes, when I'm all by myself, playing in the kitchen, I like to imagine that I'm one of those women that are all together. My kitchen is clean and my dishes are piling up as I use them in the sink. There are times when I even have all the rest of the dishes done by the time whatever it is comes out of the oven. I just don't like messiness terribly much when I'm cooking. I even have trouble kneading bread because I have to keep washing my hands because of all the goo stuck to them.

Normally I at least feel like a Martha in training. An almost, but not quite. Good, better best, never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better is the best! For better or worse that little sing song-y phrase is implanted in my head. It has been since childhood. So I drive myself a little nutty trying to be the best I can be.

These cupcakes were an episode in humility. What started as an attempt to fill my cupcakes with homemade marshmallow and bitter caramel, swiftly turned into minimizing the stickiness of my kitchen. I had marshmallow in my hair, maybe a little caramel too. There was marshmallow all over the counters. Caramel all over the stove. Marshmallow on my toes. Sprinkles on the floor. Marshmallow underneath my sweatshirt. By the time I finished these cupcakes I was in desperate need of a shower, the floor needed mopping, and the counters needed scrubbing. AND I had to do laundry. Actually it was pretty impressive.

I also have to let you in on a little secret. This was my second attempt at this month's marshmallow cupcake hero. Yes, Laurie, and TW picked the super challenging MARSHMALLOW as the secret ingredient. Totally off topic, my sister M's first word was marshmallow. The first try at this month's cupcake hero, I tried to infuse a yellow cupcake with the subtle flavors of lavender and honey. But the cream cheese frosting completely overpowered the entire marshmallow experience. We ate them, but they didn't seem right.

But these cupcakes, (once I blacked out the memory of my sticky sticky kitchen) were delicious. They were marshmallow yet grownup. The bitter caramel balanced the sweetness of the marshmallow. And the hint of orange elevated it to a new level. The marshmallow heart on top, which were formed after I gave up on trying to make peeps (that could be how I got marshmallow in my ears) turned nice and crispy. I could have just eaten a bunch of those hearts with the spot of caramel. Except after two tries at marshmallow cupcakes, I'm really done with marshmallows for a while.

Bitter Caramel and Marshmallow Cupcakes

by me

Cupcakes:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

grated zest from one orange

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), at room temperature cut into small pieces

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp orange extract

6 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 18 cupcake cups with paper liners

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and zest together and set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed beat butter until creamy, about 4 minutes. Add sugar gradually until fluffy, another 4 minutes. Beat in orange extract. Then add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl before adding another egg. Add the flour in 4 additions, beating just until smooth on low medium speed after each addition.

Divide batter evenly among the cupcake wells. Bake for about 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs.

Cool cupcakes in pans for about 1 minute. Then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Marshmallow:

2 Tbsp gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

3/4 cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

colored sugar

Soak the gelatin in the cold water until it has taken up all the water. Boil the sugar and water to the soft-ball stage (238°F). Add the vanilla and salt to the gelatin. Pour the syrup slowly over the gelatin, beating constantly with an electric mixer. Continue to beat until marshmallow has cooled and is thick and white. Put half of the marshmallow in a oiled gallon sized Ziploc bag. Spread the other half of the marshmallow thinly on a well buttered cookie sheet that has been generously coated with colored sugar. Don't worry if the marshmallow doesn't go all the way to the edges of the pan. Just try to get a smooth, fairly thin sheet of marshmallow. Generously coat the top of the marshmallow with more colored sugar.

Bitter Caramel Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp Triple Sec (or Grand Marnier)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup whipping cream

juice of one orange

Combine sugar, 1/2 cup water, triple sec, and corn syrup in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber, almost brown color, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add cream. Stir sauce over low heat until any caramel bits dissolve and sauce is smooth. Add juice and stir again until smooth.

Bitter Caramel Buttercream

2 large egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) room temperature butter cut into small pieces

3 Tbsp bitter caramel sauce at room temperature

Place egg white, salt and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer over a simmer pot of water and whisk gently until sugar is dissolved and mixture reaches a temperature of 140°, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whip by machine until thick and cooled. Beat in the butter a little bit at a time, continuing to beat until creamy and smooth. Beat in the caramel sauce until combined.

Assembly:

Using a small paring knife cut a cone out of the top of each cupcake being careful to set the tops aside in an order such that you can put the top to each cupcake back on it's original bottom. Fill each cupcake hole with a scant 1 tsp caramel sauce. Have a partially filled glass of water nearby and snip a corner of the Ziploc of marshmallow with kitchen shears. Allow excess oil to drain out. Then using like a piping bag, fill each cupcake hole with approximately 1 1/2 tsp marshmallow. Use the kitchen shears wetting them in between cupcakes to snip the marshmallow so that you don't get strings of marshmallow going from cupcake to cupcake. Once all the cupcakes are filled replace the tops on the cupcakes. It may be necessary to cut the bottom of the cone off so that the top lies flat. Spread with buttercream to cover. The buttercream will cover any marshmallow strings or uneven tops. If you are going to pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes you will need to make a double batch of the buttercream. About now you will really feel the urge to have a drink or scrub yourself, but resist the urge because you aren't done yet.

Take a small heart shaped cookie cutter to the thinly spread colored sugar covered marshmallow and cut enough marshmallow hearts to have a 1:1 ratio of hearts to cupcakes. Place one heart on each cupcake and add a drop of the bitter caramel sauce to the center of each heart.

Now go clean the kitchen and take a shower.

Lafcadio and his Marshmallows

One of my favorite books as a child was Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back by Shel Silverstein. It's the story of a lion who a hunter tries to shoot so he eats the hunter and learns how to shoot his gun. The lion becomes the greatest sharpshooter in the land and joins the circus. I'm not going to tell you the ending because I love this book so much that I want you to read it too. I'll give you a hint though that the ending involves a hunting trip.

Anyhow, Lafcadio, the sharpshooter lion, really really likes marshmallows:

"A Marshmallow?" said the waiter. "We don't serve Marshmallows here; this is a very fancy restaur-"

GRAUGRRR

said the lion.

"Yes sir," said the waiter, and he hurried off to the kitchen.

And in a few moments he came back with a beautiful marshmallow on a flaming sword.

"Ah!" said the lion. "A marshmallow at last, at last a marshmallow, at mast a larshmellow." You can see how nervous and excited he was.

And he picked up the marshmallow. "It's as light as a feather," he said.

And he put the marshmallow on his tongue. "Ooh, it's crispy on the outside," he said.

And he bit into it with his big teeth. "Ooh, it's creamy on the inside," he said.

And he chewed it up.

"Oh," he said, and he closed his eyes and smiled.

And he swallowed it.

"It's delicious," he said. "It's better than rabbits any time."

"More marshmallows," cried the lion. "More, more, more, more marshmallows."

"Yes, sir," said the waiter, and he hurried off and he brought the lion a whole platter of marshmallows.

So I made some homemade marshmallows. This is a very late entry for the Retro Recipe challenge hosted by Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried where we had to find inspiration from a childhood book/story and then find a recipe printed prior to 1980 and make and post about the dish and the story. My recipe comes courtesy of my mother in law's mother's (or the Brain's grandma's) cookbook The American Woman's Cookbook published for the Culinary Arts Institute in Chicago in 1942. I'd call that vintage.

This was a really fun project for me to do. It would be a really fun thing to do with a kid who had just read the book too. They weren't hard at all and it was pretty neat to watch the crumbly gelatin turn into such beautiful fluffy white marshmallows. They're darn tasty too!

Marshmallows
The American Woman’s Cookbook

2 Tbsp gelatin
¼ cup cold water
¾ cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Confectioner’s sugar

Soak the gelatin in the cold water until it has taken up all the water. Boil the sugar and water to the soft-ball stage (238 degrees F.) Add vanilla and salt to gelatin. Pour the sirup slowly over the gelatin, beating constantly with a whisk until cool and thick. Butter a shallow pan slightly and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Turn the marshmallow mixture into the pan and smooth the top evenly. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Let it stand over night. In the morning cut it into small squares and roll in confectioners’ sugar.