Christmas & holiday recipe roundup!

Christmas season is in full swing and we wanted to highlight a few of our favorite holiday recipes. Christmas for me is about Christ, family and friends, giving and generosity and... food! Food always seems to play a part in creating memories, traditions and comfort. So, enjoy baking and giving away yummy treats, making memories over delicious meals, celebrating with friends at a party or giving your children something to get nostalgic about when they think back about Christmases of their childhood.

Happy holidays from all of us at Boy Cheese Sandwich!!!

• For Christmas morning:

Sausage Breakfast Casserole
German Pancakes
Apple Puff Pancakes
Amish Breakfast Casserole
Chile Casserole
Kathy's Coffee Cake
French Toast Casserole

• Christmas cookies and home-baked gifts:

Nana's Caramels
Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Rods
Hot Fudge Sauce
Mom's Sugar Cookies
Waffle Brownies
Earthquake Cookies
Mint Brownies
Meltaways
Sand Art Brownies
Peanut Butter Bars
Easy Pretzel Turtles
Thin Mint Crackers

• Non-food gift:

Christmas Potpourri

• Christmas appetizers:

Cranberry Salsa
Wassail
Artichoke Dip

• Christmas salads:

Christmas Salad
Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing
Pear Salad

• Christmas desserts:

Gingerbread White Chocolate Blondies
Mom's French Pear Pie
Eggnog Cupcakes
Cranberry Bundt Cake with Warm Butter Sauce
Apple Torte with Lemon Sauce

• Meals for Christmas day, after presents -or- for Christmas Eve:)  Most are make-ahead, so you can just warm it up or bake it when family is around and hungry!

Three-Bean Christmas Chili
Classic Cheese Fondue
Chocolate Fondue (pictured below)
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Ski Country Pasta
Mom's Minestrone Soup
Cranberry Chicken
Mimi's Cafe Corn Chowder with Ham
Mom's Lasagna

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am loving Fall this year! The cooler temperatures, the soccer games, the cute pumpkins everywhere we go, and the amazing colors of the leaves as they change. With all the Fall spirit in the air, I have been craving a good pumpkin chocolate chip something or other. I found this recipe and was thrilled! You only need three ingredients (that I had in my house all ready), 25 minutes to cook, and they taste just as good as they smell. Happy Fall baking!

1 box Spice Cake Mix

1- 15 oz. can pumpkin

1 small bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins with paper liners. Combine cake mix and pumpkin in a medium bowl and mix for about 30 seconds on low speed and then for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in chocolate chips (these can be omitted if you are looking for a healthier alternative). Using a large cookie scoop, fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full and smooth out the batter. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly and then enjoy!

** This recipe makes about 24 muffins but can easily be doubled. These muffins will freeze well and would make a great snack to pull out of the freezer and pop into a school lunch. They would be thawed and delicious by lunch time!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

I made these for my daughter's birthday this week and we all loved them! Next time, I'm going to make them with Devil's Food cake and white chocolate pudding filling and frosting, for color contrast. It's nice to have a little surprise in the center!

Chocolate ganache:

4 (1 oz.) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup cream

1 Tbs. butter 

24 cupcakes: 

1 box vanilla or white cake mix: Follow box instructions

Filling:

2 1/2 cups milk

1 large (5.1 oz) box French vanilla or vanilla pudding (I use sugar-free)

1. Make the chocolate ganache first, since it needs time to set up. Combine chocolate, cream and butter in a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring often, until melted. Stir well. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Ganache will thicken as it cools.
2. Make the cupcakes according to package directions and cool completely.
3. Combine the milk and pudding mix in a small bowl and beat for 3-4 minutes, or until thick. Let sit for a few minutes. Spoon pudding into a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip. Stick the frosting tip into the center of each cupcake and squeeze until the cupcake feels "full." (pictured below)
4. Frost cupcakes with cooled chocolate ganache. Refrigerate until serving. Makes 24 cupcakes.

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Almond Frosting

I made these for a baby shower this week and had several requests for the recipe so here it is. They are yummy for sure! 

White Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix

1 c. flour

1 c. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

4 egg whites
1 1/3 c. water
2 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 c. sour cream (I use light)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

whisk together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and beat until smooth. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and cook according to box directions. Watch carefully towards the end so they don't get too brown.

Makes 30-34 cupcakes
cake recipe from our best bites

Vanilla Almond Frosting

1 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3-4 c. powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pure almond extract 

1/4 c. milk

*If you like stronger almond flavor use 1 tsp. each of vanilla and almond extracts

Cream butter with mixer. Beat in milk, extracts and 3 cups powdered sugar. Add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.

Tutorial: Color-swirled cupcakes

I helped with a friend's baby shower last month and it was my job to make the cake. I was SO excited, because the theme was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book by Eric Carle. I'd seen a few cakes online that inspired me, so I had lots of ideas. I wanted to try color-swirling my cupcakes so my caterpillar would resemble the one in the book, but I had never tried this technique before. Here are 3 options for multi-colored frosting:

1. Brush striping (for bold color stripes): Put the tip onto your pastry bag, then fold the edges down. Squeeze or brush food coloring in stripes from the pastry tip out toward the wide end of the bag. Carefully spoon frosting into the bag, then decorate cupcakes.   
2. Spatula Striping (for subtle color swirls): Make 2 (or more) different colors of frosting. Using a spatula, layer different colors of frosting into your pastry bag, then swirl onto cupcakes.
3. Separate color swirl technique: Make 2 different colors of frosting. Lay out a rectangle of waxed paper, then spread your first color onto it in a long stripe. Roll it up and twist one end. Repeat with the other color of frosting. Cut one end of each frosting roll and place side by side in a prepared pastry bag. When you squeeze the frosting out, it will have 2 colors, side by side! HERE's a great tutorial for this technique.

TIPS: You'll do best with a thicker frosting, such as buttercream. When you are ready to decorate your cupcakes, squeeze all the air out and get the frosting flowing first by testing on a plate.

For this cake, I used 1 box of Devil's Food cake and made 22 cupcakes and baked the small round cake (for the caterpillar's head) in a Pyrex glass bowl. I made the eyes, nose, feet and antennae out of Marzipan (almond paste) that I colored with food coloring. I covered a large piece of cardboard with wrapping paper for the backdrop. 

UPDATE: July, 2011: 

I used technique #3 (3 separate colors, wrapped in waxed paper, then put in one pastry bag) for my daughter's birthday party and here's how the cupcakes turned out...

18 Minute Chocolate Cake

This is another recipe I have, written in my 5th grade handwriting, that I copied from my Mom's recipe file. I love it because it's fast, almost as easy as a boxed chocolate cake, but so much tastier!

CHOCOLATE CAKE:

1. Mix together in a large bowl:

     2 cups flour

     2 cups sugar

     4 Tbs. cocoa powder

     1 tsp. baking soda

     1/2 tsp salt

2. Mix together, then add to dry ingredients:

     1/2 cup butter, melted

     1/2 cup vegetable oil

     1 cup water

3. Beat in:

     1/2 cup buttermilk (I use almost 1/2 cup milk + 1 tsp. white vinegar)

     2 eggs

     1 tsp. vanilla

Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13" cake pan (or jelly roll pan or 24 cupcake tins). Bake at 400° F. for 18 minutes, or until middle is set. Cupcakes take only about 12-14 minutes. Cool completely on a baking rack, then frost with chocolate frosting:

CHOCOLATE FROSTING:

     3 Tbs. cocoa powder

     1/4 cup butter, softened

     2 cups powdered sugar

     1/2 tsp. vanilla

     milk

Combine the first 4 ingredients with an electric mixer. Add milk a little at a time until the right consistency is achieved. Spread on cooled cake.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

This recipe is (apparently) from NYC's famous Magnolia Bakery. Even if this recipe isn't the actual one they use they are scrumptious!

Ingredients:

3 1/3 c. flour (not self-rising)

3/4 c. (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

 2 1/4 c. sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 Tbs. red food coloring

3 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 c. buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar 

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

*makes 36 cupcakes 

Directions:

• In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
• In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat.
• In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
• pour the batter into lined muffin pans. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick  inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Frosting: 

1 lb. (two 8 oz. packages) cream cheese. softened

6 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

5 c. confectioners powdered sugar

Directions: Using electric mixer cream together butter and cream cheese til fluffy (about 5 minutes) add vanilla, beat well. Add powdered sugar 1 c. at a time until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate frosting for 2-3 hours (no longer) to thicken before putting on cupcakes

Egg Nog Cupcakes

Yummy! My cute friend Michelle Moench Bagley passed this recipe on to me and they are a new favorite. Cute and delicious, these cupcakes would make a great holiday gift for neighbors, teachers, and friends.

1 box Pound Cake mix

2 eggs

1 1/4 c. eggnog

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners. Combine all ingredients and mix on medium speed for two minutes. Pour into muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes. (Makes 18-24 cupcakes depending on how you fill them). Remove from oven and allow to cool before frosting.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter

8 oz. cream cheese

16 oz. powdered sugar (about 4 cups)

1/4 c. egg nog

*This made enough frosting for 2-3 batches of cupcakes

Scary Spider Halloween Cupcakes

My daughter and I made these this week for her school class Halloween party and they were a hit!

24 chocolate cupcakes
Chocolate sprinkles
Candy Corns
White chocolate chips
Red or black rope licorice, trimmed to about 2"

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting(click to see original post)

1/2 c. softened butter 

3-4 c. powdered sugar 

1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tsp. vanilla 

Cream butter with mixer. Beat in milk, vanilla, cocoa powder and 3 cups powdered sugar. Add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.


To make spider cupcakes, frost individually, then immediately dunk top of frosted cupcake into a small bowl of chocolate sprinkles. Squirt a small dot of frosting, then place white chocolate chips for eyes and candy corn for fangs. Use a toothpick to poke holes for spider legs, then insert 4 licorice pieces into each side of the cupcake. Place a small dot of frosting on the very tip of the white chocolate chips to finish the eyes. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!!!

Nana Jackson's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

2 cups raisins- Soak in 1 cup boiling water

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup milk

4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

1- 12 oz. package chocolate chips

1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease muffin tins or line with paper baking cups. Soak raisins and set aside to cool. Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well then add in vanilla and milk. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and slowly add to the mixture. Drain raisins and stir in along with chocolate chips and nuts if desired. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until tops are lightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen.

My grandmothers original recipe says "No need to frost. They stay moist and freeze well."