Halfhearted Christmas Cookie Self-Challenge #4 – Eggnog Cheesecake Bars
Elizabeth’s Eggnog Cheesecake Bars have been the easiest so far, and probably the biggest crowdpleaser. I’m keeping this brief so you can stop what you’re doing and get busy on these.
Also, it seems MSLO is starting to post these recipes online, so get cracking with Eggnog Cheesecake Bars!
Throw a graham cracker crust together, mix up some cheesecake, throw in some eggnog, toss in some alcohol (recipe called for brandy, but mine was stuck ten miles away in a blizzard, so I used dark rum, and it was fine), pitch into the oven, hurl into the fridge, launch on some grated nutmeg, and you’re done.
I took it to my pals Kate and Matt’s Christmas party. They seemed well-received, and then this happened, so I’m calling the night a success.
Four down, five to go!
Halfhearted Christmas Cookie Self-Challenge #2 and #3 – Honeyed Almond-Cherry Shortbread and Chewy Chocolate-Raisin Cookies
Update: Recipes for shortbread and chocolate cookies are now available at MarthaStewart.com
2 for 1!
Well, not really 2 for 1, since it definitely took as much time as you’d expect two cookies to take, but I’m combining them into one post so that I will have more time to make cookies #4 and #5. Unless I succumb to the urge to sit here and allow my eyes to become glassy as I watch The Princess Bride without moving one muscle.
December was my month to treat my coworkers to some snacks, so I made Honeyed Almond-Cherry Shortbread (by Allison Hedges) and Chewy Chocolate-Raisin Cookies (by Sarah Carey) along with the very easy and delicious Cranberry Upside-Down Cake from the Everyday Food Cookbook.
I took a break from baking to babysit and then go visit some friends who were in town temporarily, so the whole process took about a thousand hours. I think it ended up being for the best, as the dough for the chocolate-raisin cookies was too soft to ball up, I think, before I chilled it.
I was amazed at the enthusiastic response I got from my coworkers re: forwarding on the shortbread recipe and CCing various folks as soon as is reasonable for an action item of this nature. The sherry-macerated cherries got a lift from orange zest, and the result tasted unmistakeably Christmas-y. I also enjoy slicing cookies rather than dropping them, which gives this recipe another star in my book, although that star might be canceled out by how annoying it was to coat all those sliced almonds with a honey-butter mixture. Everything in my kitchen became sticky in about thirty seconds, and the resulting almond-brittle situation was difficult to chop as the recipe directed.
The chocolate-raisin cookies weren’t quite as popular, despite their almost perfectly round appearance. I didn’t feel like traipsing over to our local liquor store to get brandy (which in hindsight was really dumb, since I need it for the Eggnog Bars. For a tangent, see the * below. So I ended up soaking the raisins in dark rum instead. The resulting taste was kinda weird, but I’m not sure how the brandy would have tasted either, so who knows. I would get rid of the raisins, add some chopped walnuts, and probably not rolled the cookies in sugar before baking. They were so sweet they almost hurt, and I think it took away from the richness of the chocolate. But look how good they look, seriously.
Three cookies down, six to go! Guide my sword, Martha!
*I got some brandy at another liquor store last night on the way over to a friend’s house, but then a BLIZZARD happened, and I had to leave my car there. I won’t be able to get it until tomorrow, I need those eggnog bars TONIGHT…DO I BRAVE THE TERRIBLE ROADS? Unlikely. I am about to make the same mistake I made with the chocolate cookies, and I don’t even care.
…January 2010 issue of living has arrived.
It has a bowl of healthy soup on the cover.
Actually, I’m not going to lie. That sounds pretty good to me right now. Cookie #2 and cookie #3 have been completed (along with a cranberry upside-down cake from the Everyday Food cookbook), and all that refined sugar has caused my mouth to feel like I’ve been at it with a Microplane. That is so, so sick, I’m sorry. The calories have affected my ability to judge what is appropriate and what is disgusting. HEALTHY SOUP! I AM COMING FOR YOU IN A FEW WEEKS!
WTF is wrong with me that I think it’s a good idea to declare “I will make all of the Christmas cookies in the December 2009 issue of Living before Christmas or maybe New Year’s!”
This is never going to happen. I made an admittedly less doable declaration last year at about this time: “I will play and beat all of the Zelda games (which are completely new to me) all in one year.” Yeah, it’s December, and I’m only halfway through the third game.*
So anyway in case you don’t have the glitter-obsessed December issue on your lap right now like I do, let me clue you in. Among the scarily intimidating “A-Z” of Christmas Activities (the “Q” is a Martha quote about how her farm is “Q”uiet — that one I didn’t find so intimidating) and the three sparkly covers (still not interested in purchasing the Martha line of craft glitters, but keep trying) is this month’s “Cooking” regular, which features a cookie from each food editor, complete with cheerful photos of each editor actually making said cookie.
How cute! An emotional bond was created between myself and the article, due to a false sense of companionship with several smiling, industrious women. And in the heat of the moment, I vowed to make them all.
My “vows” aren’t to be trusted. Ask my husband; I definitely only love him in health and kinda just tolerate him in sickness.
Anyway, here’s food editor Christine Albano’s Lemon Wreaths. One down, eight to go!
They turned out perfectly, even though I had to go to Ben Franklin Crafts to get nonpareils. I took them to a big work event and they were gone almost instantly, even though they were next to a Snickers pie that caused some of the ladies to give out little screams of incredulity and delight.
I’d link you to the recipe, but SOMEbody is stingy and didn’t put it on her website. Guess you have to buy the issue. Sahhryy. (Update: this recipe is now available online!)
*I can’t even give myself that much credit. I hated the second game so much that I started to despise the whole franchise. I was given sound counsel that I could quit it if I wanted to, if it meant that otherwise I would abandon the project. TMI, let’s resume talking about cookies.
Let me just get this out of the way, Lesley made dinner plans first.
“We’re going to cook the November meal for some people at our house next weekend,” she says.
“How about I do the same thing at my place and we can compare notes!” say I, inspired.
“Sounds good.”
How was I to know that she’d end up doing a whole ‘nother menu, and now I look like a real asshole. But, the damage is done, and it was such a treat to have Chris and Emily Lacroix over for the Marthable experience. I’m not just saying that because Chris brought a pumpkin creme brulee pie and Emily brought napkins, they truly are cheerful and tolerant company. The only trouble is, if the dinner had turned out badly, they would never in a million years tell me so. You’ll have to take it on faith that their glowing reports and smiles are genuine (and email them later for the real dirt). At any rate, everyone cleaned their plates, and that’s about the best compliment a billionaire magazine cooking/entertaining expert and her humble servant can expect.
Menu:
- Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest
- Pork Tenderloin and Mustard-Wine Sauce
- Baby Spinach with Warm Olive Oil and Walnuts
- Cranberry Compote with Mascarpone and Cookies Pumpkin Creme Brulee Pie!
Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest
Pasta as a side….how luxurious. This was so simple. You roast a giant head of cauliflower (broken up into little florets) with red onion slices and capers (I didn’t find that the capers contributed much – skip ‘em if you’re not into it), then mix it with pasta and add some parsley, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and stuff. I was supposed to use orecchiette, but small shells were just fine. I could have eaten an entire meal of this, but it was much more satisfying to have it with the pork and the salad. A well-matched medley of flavors. And….I just said “medley,” so I’m going to move on before I embarrass myself.
Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Wine Sauce
My first experience at Belmont Butchery!
Apologies for the grainy, hastily-snapped photo, but I found my own enthusiasm humiliating, so I tried to act like I was just fiddling with my camera. Anyway, a very helpful young fellow (whose name I unfortunately didn’t get) told me with real sorrow in his voice that they were out of the Martha-required pork tenderloin. Instead, he suggested a hunk of pork loin. It was so pretty and reasonably priced that I said “Wrap it up, my good man” (or “Yes, I will take that”).
It’s a good thing I have an oven probe meat thermometer (All-Clad), because the big fat loin took a lot longer (40 minutes) to get to the required temperature (145 degrees) than the tenderloin was supposed to (15 minutes). As a result, the mustard-wine sauce in the pan reduced so much that it was barely there when the loin was finished, but the finished product was still delicious.
Baby Spinach with Warm Olive Oil and Walnuts
Basically just a simple salad, I did learn a trick from this recipe. Toast walnuts IN OIL and then USE FRAGRANT WARM OIL to dress salad! Economical AND fatty! Seems like it would be a little bland and oily, but it worked well with this meal because the pasta side featured lemon and the pork featured mustard. If you put it all in your mouth at the same time and wish really hard, you’ve got the flavors of a vinaigrette!
Pumpkin Creme Brulee Pie!
We went rogue with this one. Well-known for his meat prowess, Chris offered to bring over this delicious pie, probably so that he could have something to keep him occupied while he watched me inexpertly fumble with the pork. Since the prescribed dessert (mascarpone spread on a cookie with cranberry compote on the top) didn’t seem too interesting to me anyway, I was thrilled to accept. As a bonus, we got a demonstration of his new blowtorch.
The pie was delicious and certainly filled the void that my Thanksgiving f-up had left, gaping and disconsolate, in my soul and stomach.
Everyone was nice enough to give me comments on the dinner, but I was too full and happy to bother to write anything down, so now I forget. The general impression I got was “this dinner was good and satisfying” and “the flavors went well together.” So, special thanks to Emily and Chris for the pie, the company, and for not mentioning the fact that two of our chairs were folding chairs.
Stats and substitutions:
- Total time, 1 hr. and 40 minutes (much of this due to pork loin’s extended cooking time)
- Standout course: roasted cauliflower pasta!
- Leftovers: none
- Dessert: rejected
- New dessert: welcomed with open mouths
A Christmas Miracle Involving Chocolate and Almonds/Let’s Hope Susan Doesn’t Want to Make This Meal
The December What’s for Dinner reminds me of a meal I would have absolutely hated as a child. Salmon, celery root, and CARROT PUREE?? Nightmare.
Martha, why so orange and bland?
We expect this type of meal from the slender, mild-mannered January issue, NOT from the brash, morbidly-obese December issue, Martha’s annual paean to excess and wealth and unimaginable amounts of free time.
But lo, faithful reader(s), fear not. Martha remembers what time it is with the dessert: a seasonably rich and dangerously* easy Chocolate-Almond Pastry. Hallelujah! There IS room at the inn after all.
Make this dessert and make it today. If serving for a crowd (recommended), toast and chop the almonds ahead of time, as well as the chocolate, because pastry is a dish best served piping hot (unlike revenge, which is best served, well, you know…).
For some reason the photo of the individual pastries with ice cream didn't turn out. Probably because they didn't last long.
The only other ingredients are puff pastry, honey, sugar**, one egg, salt and vanilla ice cream (mandatory). The whole deal, including freezing the puff pastry for 15 minutes, takes half an hour, a cookie sheet and a fork. It’s rich though, so guests will appreciate a 30 minute baking break between entree and dessert.** * Really though, who doesn‘t appreciate baking break??
*Dangerous because one could hypothetically whip this up when no one else is home, eat the entire thing, wash the fork and no one would be the wiser.
**This recipe calls for sanding sugar, which I think is Martha code for “crack.” Just use regular sugar.
***We served this at the end of a very savory pork chop and gniocchi meal, courtesy of James and eaten by Randy, Aimee, Lindsay and Bryan.
Brandon Fox, one of my very favorite Richmond personalities (I get all puffed up with pride when one of my out of town friends mentions Brandon Eats) and the editor of R.Home, is simply the coolest.
Check it out, she featured Marthable on the R.Home blog!
Argh, I’m so flattered and happy that I can’t even express it except by saying that I am newly motivated to select a Christmas cookie to bake tonight from the December issue of Living. More on that and the giant delicious Marthable feast I made last weekend as soon as I get a dang second to upload photos.
Holidays!!
Everyone who has crossed me in 2009 gets one of these of themselves for Christmas. Don’t think I won’t! (Here’s the how-to, get cracking!)
from MarthaStewart.com, which has one cool thing for every weird thing
When the November issue of Living came out, I’d originally intended on tackling the “advanced” Apple-Blackberry Pie in the “Pie 1-2-3″ article for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner. I mean, you got yer easy pie over here, yer medium pie over here, and yer advanced pie that is all the way over here in the dream bubble over my head. “Advanced pie” is a phrase I cannot resist.
Unleeeessssssss, I am lazy. Well, 90% lazy, 10% environmentally conscious. Blackberries aren’t in season, Martha! I decided not to overload myself (since I had magazines to read and Super Mario Galaxy to play), so I whipped up the “easy” Pumpkin Pie with Press-In Shortbread Crust as well as the Apple Tart from the issue.
The tart was heavenly — easy and beautiful. A big hit with some vanilla ice cream. The PIE, on the other hand, was certainly easy to put together. Ugly, unsuccessful, crumbly, uneven, but easy to put together. Here are my thoughts:
1. If I had used a food processor and cold butter instead of a bowl, a wooden spoon, and softened butter, I think I could have gotten a more even crumble and therefore a better crust. I don’t really see what’s “easier” about a bowl and a spoon vs. a machine that does everything for you, but I imagine the principle is “People without food processors can make this pie.” Grumble.
That’s my only thought, I guess. The best pie crust I’ve ever made was the Vodka Pie Crust from Cook’s Illustrated, which scientifically added a bunch of vodka to the pie dough, providing it with enough moisture to roll out as easily as cookie dough, but the alcohol didn’t stiffen the gluten (and baked off in the oven), so it picked itself up and draped itself over the pie plate, practically. The end result was flaky and perfect. The $30/yr subscription to that website will pay for itself, by the way. I can’t recommend it enough.
Everyone in my family was polite enough to excuse the disastrous pumpkin pie crust, but it’s probably because the tart made up for it. Thank goodness Martha was there to cover Martha’s ass, man.
…the November What’s for Dinner, glitter crafts and, possibly, gourd painting. (Because all these decorative gourds have to go somewhere. )
In the meantime, we leave you with an image of a very November-worthy “naked craggly branch” chandelier spotted at a private club in Manhattan.
Susan
lesleybruno