Edible Holiday Gift guide 2015

Hi guys! I wasn't planning on posting my holiday treats this year, but lots of you fine people asked for the recipe for the pistachio shortbread with cardamom and cacao nibs that I posted on Instagram (the second photo above) so here I am! I got pretty serious with my edible gifts this year because I had to make up for a so-so 2014. Links and recipes are below! 

Pistachio Shortbread with Cardamom and Cacao Nibs (recipe below)

My favorite Gingerbread with Royal Icing (recipe below)

Tartine's Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies

Alice Medrich's Buckwhat Cookies with Cacao Nibs

Soft Salted Caramels (shown with Shop ILA's Black Lava Salt)

Violet Bakery's Rye and Chocolate Brownies (inspired by Tartine's Cookies!)

Rosemary Spiced Nuts

Follow me on instagram for more holiday baking fun @yossyarefi and check out Melissa's post for even more edible gift ideas!

 

Pistachio Shortbread with Cardamom and Cacao Nibs

makes about 30 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup cacao nibs

Combine the flour, pistachios, sugar, cardamom, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the pistachios are finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks damp and crumbly. Drizzle in the vanilla extract, then add the cacao nibs. Pulse a few more times until the dough begins to just hold together.

Remove the dough from the food processor and knead a few times until the dough is evenly mixed and holds together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness and cut into shapes as desired. Place the cut cookies onto the prepared sheets 1-inch apart. Reroll the dough scraps until all of the dough is used. Chill the cut cookies for 10 minutes before baking. If at anytime the dough gets warm and is difficult to work with, transfer it to the fridge for a few minutes.

Bake the cookies until light golden around the edges, 12-14 minutes. Let cookies cool on the pans for a few minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

 

Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on size

3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg

1/4  teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1/4  teaspoon ground cloves

1⁄4  teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and spices together.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, then the molasses and mix until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Divide the dough in half, wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with 1/2 of the dough at a time roll the dough 1/8-1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface using a lightly floured rolling pin roll. Use a cookie cutter or stencil to cut out desired shapes then place them on the prepared baking sheets. For cookie ornaments, use a skewer to poke a hole through the top of the cookies before baking. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies have just barely begun to brown. For cookie ornaments bake the cookies until they are lightly browned all over and firm to the touch. Cool the cookies on the sheet pans for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Royal Icing

1 egg white

1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 3⁄4 cup confectioners sugar

Combine all of the ingredients and beat with a hand mixer (or in a stand mixer) until stiff peaks form. If the icing seems too thick, add a few drops of water or lemon juice. If it seems runny, add a few table- spoons of confectioner’s sugar.

Use a pastry bag fitted with a #2 or #3 round tip and the stiff icing to add lines, shapes and dots to your cookies. Sprinkle with colored sugar, sprinkles or nonpareils if desired, just make sure to do it while the icing is still wet.

To make the cookies into ornaments, thread a string through the hole and tie it to make a loop.

Browned Butter Sweet Potato Squares

And just like that it’s December. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas always throws me for a loop and it is always packed with work - everyone (including me) scrambling to tie up loose ends and finish projects before everyone vanishes until the New Year.

I spend a lot of evenings in the kitchen during these weeks, making cookies and treats to send to friends and family that live across the country, a task I lovingly call “elfing”. I channel my inner Buddy and pull out my sprinkles and sugar and most importantly, I pull out the best Organic Valley cultured butter. For this recipe, I browned that butter, which transforms it into a rich and nutty base for decadent sweet potato squares - a riff on the classic sweet potato pie.

Pecans and sweet potatoes are longtime friends. They have been paired together in many-a-casserole, topped with marshmallows and toasted to be served alongside a holiday meal and that’s all fine and good, but in these bars the flavor of those ingredients really shine. Toasted pecans are folded into a rich shortbread with a hefty pinch of salt, and all that browned butter, of course. The roasted sweet potatoes are enhanced with just a touch of maple syrup, a pour of heavy cream, and just a bit of creme fraiche to add a tangy note that helps balance the sweetness of the swirly meringue top – a vast improvement on marshmallows from a bag if you ask me.

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This post was sponsored by Organic Valley - You can visit this link for a coupon to pick up your own Organic Valley butter and cream. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Apt. 2B Baking Co, all opinions are my own, and you know I love butter! 

BROWNED BUTTER SWEET POTATO PIE SQUARES

makes about 16 squares

Nutty browned butter and toasted pecans are the perfect pair in the shortbread that is the base for this twist on sweet potato pie. The recipe as written makes a thicker than average shortbread base, and you can see in the photos that there are just about equal parts crust and filling, which I happen to love. For a thinner base and lower crust to filling ratio, the shortbread recipe can be cut in half. Also, it should be noted that the buttery pecan shortbread is totally fantastic on it's own! Just bake until golden all over, about 20-25 minutes rather than par baking. Happy Butter Season! 

Crust

1 cup pecans

1 cup, plus 3 Tablespoons Organic Valley Cultured Unsalted Butter

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

2 cups roasted, pureed sweet potatoes

6 tablespoons maple syrup

3/4 cup Organic Valley Heavy Cream

1/2 cup crème fraiche

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

3 egg whites

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spread the pecans on a baking sheet in an even layer and toast in the oven until golden and fragrant. Cool slightly then pulse in a food processor until finely ground.

While the pecans are toasting, brown the butter. In a light colored saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the butter foams. Continue cooking until the foam subsides and the butter is golden in color and smells nutty and fragrant. Transfer the butter to a mixing bowl to cool, set aside 3 tablespoons of the browned butter for the filling.

When the butter has cooled, stir in the flour, sugar, vanilla, salt, and toasted ground pecans. Pat the dough evenly into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking prepare the filling by whisking the reserved browned butter along with all of the other filling ingredients until smooth. Pour the filling over the warm crust and put the pan back into the oven. Cook until the filling is set, but slightly wiggly in the center, about 30 minutes.

Just before the bars are finished baking make the meringue. Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in a mixing bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture together until the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites are very warm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in the vanilla and salt.

Top the warm, baked sweet potato filling with swoops of meringue and toast with a culinary torch or under a hot broiler for a few seconds. Cool completely, cut into squares and serve. Keep extra bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, the crust will soften as it sits.