Holiday Food Gifts: Cookie Mix in Jar

Tis the season to give! Turn your kitchen into Santa's workshop and give the gift of Holiday baking.  My next four posts are dedicated to Holiday Food Gifts! Falalalala lala lala!

This thoughtful gift is a great way of sharing your best cookie recipe with a loved one and it can be created in a few minutes, which makes it a great last minute gift idea. Simply layer the dry ingredients of this holiday cookie recipe in a jar and attach the directions.

Cookie Mix in Jar
Pistachio, Cranberry, Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie Mix

Pour the dry ingredients in the jar in the following order:
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pistachio, shelled
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks


Attach these directions to the jar:
Empty contents of jar in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine 1 cup softened unsalted butter, 2 eggs and 2 Tbsp vanilla extract. Beat until creamy. Fold in dry mixture until well combined. Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 4 dozens.

Decorate with a ribbon and bow and tie a measuring spoon or cookie cutter to the jar.

Holiday Food Gifts: Chocolate and Hazelnuts Mini Panettoni

If you’ve never attempted to make Panettone, I suggest you team up with a friend as it’s a daylong process. This was my first attempt and it turned out better than I could have hoped considering the fact that I modified three recipes to create something to call my own. For guidance and inspirations I turned to many sources: First I opened my Giorgio Locatelli cookbook to find that, although he dedicates two full pages to romanticize the art of Panettone making, he fails to offer a recipe. This made me hesitate. If a Michelin Star Chef leaves the Panettone making to the pros, why should I even attempt it? After looking through many recipes online and watching a few Panettone making videos my fear was gone and I was excited to get started. I decided not to try to recreated the classic Panettone but opted to make one with my favorite ingredients: chocolate and hazelnuts.

Chocolate and Hazelnuts Mini Panettoni

1/3 cup warm water
2 envelopes of active dry yeast (1 tablespoon in each envelope)
4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup warm milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 large whole eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, plus more for brushing over pannetone
1 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped in halves
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Freshly grated zest of 2 oranges
12 mini paper panettoni molds

SPONGE: With a fork dissolve 1 envelope of yeast in 1/3 cup warm water in a bowl. Then let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir to make a very loose dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.

MILK MIXTURE: In another bowl, pour warm milk and sprinkle with remaining envelope of yeast. Stir with a fork until yeast has dissolved, then let stand  5 to 10 minutes.

EGG MIXTURE: Meanwhile, whisk together sugar, whole eggs, 2 egg yolks, salt, and vanilla. Whisk in MILK MIXTURE.

In a large bowl, beat butter and remaining 3 1/2 cups flour with a mixer on medium speed until mixture is crumbly. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add EGG MIXTURE. Raise speed to medium, and beat until smooth.
Add SPONGE, and beat on medium-high speed until dough is elastic and long strands form when it's stretched, about 5 minutes (It will still be very sticky). Stir in orange zest, hazelnuts and chocolate chips. Transfer to a buttered bowl, and cover with buttered plastic wrap. Let dough stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in lower third. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and divide into 12 portions. Knead a few times, and shape into balls. Drop each ball into a paper panettone mold, transfer to a rimmed baking sheet, and loosely cover with buttered plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until dough reaches edge of mold, 30 to 45 minutes.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter. Cut an X in the top of each ball with a sharp knife and brush tops with butter.

Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees F. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and bake until tops are golden brown and rise above rims of molds, about 15 minutes. Transfer panettoni to a cooling rack. Enjoy at room temperature. Be sure that the breads have cooled completely before wrapping them, they can be stored for a couple of days.

To give the panettone as a gift, tie a red ribbon around it and make a bow. I gave mine away in Christmas paper bags. They can also be presented in a box or wrapped with clear cellophane.

Holiday Food Gifts: Christmas Bark Three Ways

This no-bake sweet treat is fun and easy to make. Get the kids involved and let them smash the candy canes or the nuts. Here I propose a bark divided in three sections. Be as creative as you wish with the toppings: nuts, dried fruit, candy, marshmallows...the possibilities are endless.

Christmas Bark

Christmas Bark Three Ways

1 lb (454 g) white chocolate

1 lb (454 g) dark chocolate (semi-sweet)

1 cup pistachio

1 cup dried cranberry

1 cup broken peppermints or candy cane

1 cup hershey kisses candy cane flavor.  

Line a 12- x 9- inch (30 x 23 cm) baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.

In a bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt the dark chocolate, stirring occasionally until smooth. 

With an offset spatula, spread the melted dark chocolate in an even layer on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Place the pan in the refrigerator to harden about 30- 45 minutes. In the meantime prep the toppings: break you candy canes or peppermints by placing them in a sealable plastic bag and hitting them with a rolling pin or a  meat tenderizer on the flat side.  Shell and chop the pistachios.  Unwrap the hershey kisses. 

Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. Spread on top of the dark chocolate layer. Working quickly before the white chocolate sets, sprinkle the crushed candy canes on 1/3 of the pan, the pistachio and cranberry on the next 1/3 of the pan and finally arrange the hershey kisses on the last part. Gently press all the toppings into the chocolate. 

Refrigerate until complete hard and set, at least 2 hours.

Break into pieces using your hands. Place pieces of bark in a food safe tissue paper-lined box and wrap with christmas themed paper. 

Holiday Food Gifts: Cranberry Almond Cake

The hardest part in this home-made gift is selecting the baking pan to give as a gift along with the cake. Once you buy that, all you have to to is bake a cake in it, tie a pretty bow around it an resist the urge to eat it!

Cranberry Almond Cake 

1 1/2 cup all purpose four
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. table salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature plus more for the pan
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
Zest of 1 orange
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, picked through, rinsed, and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds + 1/2 cup more for topping

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a loaf pan:
9 x 5 x 3 or a 9 x 13 pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer to scrape the bowl after each addition. Incorporate the vanilla, the orange juice and the orange zest. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three batches. Beat at medium speed until the batter is smooth, about 20 seconds. Fold in the cranberries and almonds with a rubber spatula.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with a spatula. Top the batter with almond slivers.  Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool.

Styling tip:
A few moments after the cake comes out of the oven. Use a clean, damp cloth to pass along the rim and inside edge of the baking dish to removes traces of butter or bits of dough. It’s easier to do this when the baking dish is still warm but be careful not to burn any fingers in the process.

Once the cranberry almond cake is completely cooled adorn it with a festive ribbon.