Put your cookie press to work with this flavorful cookie recipe from Marcato. The almond flour, paired with caramelized cherries are a duo not to be underestimated.

• 300 g (1-1/2 cups) almond flour
• 150 g (3/4 cups) sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• flaked almonds
• caramelized cherries

Mix and knead the flour with the sugar, vanilla extract and egg whites. Insert the dough into cookie press and create the cookies. Place on the baking sheet, sprinkle with flaked almonds (or sprinkle with colored sugar), and place cherry in the middle of each cookie.

Bake at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F), for 10-12 minutes

The post Almond Bite Cookies with Caramelized Cherries appeared first on Family Eats.

These festive holiday cookies are made even more tasty with the addition of peppermint. Perfect for giving to Santa, or just eating yourself!

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2- 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Red food coloring paste or gel

Beat butter with a heavy-duty stand mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg and extracts, beating until combined.

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating on low speed just until blended.

Divide dough in half; add desired amount of red food coloring to 1 portion, and knead until color is distributed. Shape dough halves into disks; wrap in plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Divide each half of dough into 2 equal portions. Roll out each portion on floured wax paper into an 8-inch square, trimming edges if necessary.

Invert 1 white dough square onto 1 red dough square; peel wax paper from white dough. Tightly roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion, peeling wax paper from red dough as you roll. Repeat with remaining dough squares. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap, and chill 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove dough from refrigerator, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place slices 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. (Keep unbaked dough chilled while baking cookies.)

Bake, in batches, in preheated oven until bottoms are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove cookies from pans to wire racks, and cool completely.

Save

The post Peppermint Pinwheels appeared first on Family Eats.

Bûche de Noël is a delicious tradition with a history dating back centuries, when the Celts celebrated the winter solstice. On the shortest day of the year, the Celts would burn a log as a symbol of the rebirth of the sun, thanking it for returning to earth. Oftentimes burnt logs were decorated with pinecones, a bit of ivy or holly.

The more contemporary tradition dates back to 19^th century in France, with a delicious cake that is fashioned to represent the yule log that families burned starting on Christmas (around the solstice), which symbolized the year to come, and meant to bring good luck.

Continue the tradition in your own home with this moist sponge cake recipe that is deceivingly easy to make.  This is the recipe Nicole recently made for her French class — her first attempt at baking it.

• 6 eggs, separated
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ cup granulated sugar, divided
• ¼ tsp salt
• Powdered sugar, for sprinkling

For the Filling

• 1-1/4 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Pinch salt

Frosting and Decoration

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus more for garnish
• 5 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp heavy cream
• Pinch of salt
• Chocolate curls for garnish
• Cranberries (fresh) for garnish (or, sugared cranberries)
• Small rosemary sprigs for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and grease with cooking spray. 

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder and salt.

In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until thick. Slowly add ½ cup of sugar and beat until pale. Beat in flour mixture.

In another large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1.4 cup sugar and bit at a time, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold eggs whites into batter in two batches.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake until the top springs back when lightly pressed, approximately 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, dust a clean kitchen towel with powdered sugar and invert warm cake onto towel. Peel off the parchment paper.

Starting at the short end, use the towel to tightly toll the baking into a log. Let cool completely.

Make the filling by beating together heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt in a large bowl until medium peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

When the cake is cool, unroll and spread the filling evenly over the cake. Roll it back into a log, using the towel to create a tight roll. Place seam side down on a baking sheet and refrigerated until well chilled, 1 hour.

To make frosting, beat butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder and beat until no lumps remain. Beat in vanilla, heavy cream and salt.

When ready to serve, trim the ends, and frost with the chocolate buttercream. Dust lightly with powdered sugar and top with chocolate curls, if using. Place cranberries and rosemary on the log to create the mistletoe.

The post Bûche de Noël appeared first on Family Eats.

We all love receiving a tin of peppermint bark during the holiday season. This year, I decided to make my own — partly because the recipe appeared in my kitchen when I brought out the decorations. I call it a Tea Towel Recipe — it is printed on a towel I received for Christmas last year. Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical, but it was a success — the bark disappeared in less than a day. The only thing I might change about the recipe, is to use a larger pan than the 9″ X 9″ size listed in the recipe —  only because I like my bark a bit thinner.

• 6 oz dark chocolate
• 12 oz white chocolate
• 3 tsp vegetable oil
• 10-12 crushed candy canes

Line the bottom and sides of a 9″ X 9″ square baking pan with nonstick aluminum foil

Stir half the white chocolate with 1 tsp vegetable oil in a double boiler. 

Once melted, remove pan from over the water and stir in 1/3 of the crushed candy cane pieces in the melted white chocolate.

Spread the melted chocolate on the parchment paper and place the baking pan in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler, stirring as it melts. Spread the dark chocolate on the (frozen and set) white chocolate, then return to the freezer for 20 minutes.

Repeat with another layer of white chocolate and sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top. Gently press them down to help them stick. Place in the freezer until the chocolate has set.

Break into pieces and enjoy!

The post Homemade Peppermint Bark Candy appeared first on Family Eats.

The Stollen is a Christmas specialty is made from a rich, sweet yeast dough that is mixed with milk egg, sugar and butter (sometimes lemon), then raisins, currants, candied peel and almonds are worked into the dough.

This is a recipe from King Arthur Flour

You can read more about the history of the Stollen in my article Delight in Dresden: Traditions of the Season.

Sponge

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup water
• 2 tsp instant yeast

Dough

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup butter, diced
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1-1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup chopped dates
• ½ cup golden raisins
• 1/3 cup candied cherries, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• ½ cup slivered almonds, toasted

Topping

• 1-1/2 Tbsp butter, melted
• Confectioners’ sugar

To make the sponge, combine the flour, water and yeast in a large bowl, stirring until smooth. Cover and let the mixture rest overnight a room temperature.

To make the dough, add the flour, butter, egg, milk, sugar, salt, yeast, almond extract and vanilla to the sponge. Stir to combine, then knead thoroughly, using your hands, a mixer, a food processor or a bread machine, until the dough is very smooth and supple.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. It probably won’t double in bulk, but will become puffy.

While the dough is rising, stir together the dates, raisins, cherries, flour and almonds. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly greased work surface. Knead the fruit into the dough until it is well distributed; a good way to do this is to pat or roll the dough into a rough 12” X 15” rectangle, press the fruit and nuts evenly over its surface, then roll it up like a jelly roll, starting with the log edge. Divide the roll into 2 pieces, shape each piece into a rough 9” log, cover the logs and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Pat each log into a 10” X 8” oval. The fruit may try to ‘fallout’ of the dough; that’s OK, just stick it back in. Fold each oval lengthwise, bringing one side over the over, but leaving a 1” gap, as if you were making a Parker House roll (in other words, fold the dough not quite in half). Press the edge of the top half to seal it to the bottom half, tent the dough with a lightly greased wrap, and allow it to rise for 2 hours, or until it’s noticeably puffy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake the stollen for 30-35 minutes, tenting it with aluminum foil after 20 minutes if it appears to be browning too quickly. The finished loaves should be golden brown, and their internal temperature should register 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.

When the stollen are cool, dust them heavily with confectioners’ sugar.

Wrap well and store for up to 2 weeks at room temperature, or freeze for up to 3 months.

The post Christmas Stollen appeared first on Family Eats.

My brother and I would eat these as fast as Mom could make them. Magic Carpet Cookies continue to be a favorite holiday tradition for us, several decades later!

• 1 cup soft butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp. almond or vanilla flavoring
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream well – butter, sugar, egg, flavoring.  Stir dry ingredients together; blend in.  Reserve half of dough.  Roll rest into two rectangles, 12” x 6”, on heavily floured board.  Cut each rectangle lengthwise into three strips.  With spatula, carefully lift each strip onto ungreased baking sheet, placing about 1” apart.  With reserved dough, divide into 18 pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope and place one rope down the center of one rectangle; another on each side of that rectangle.  Repeat for all rectangles.  Press rope down with your fingers or a fork so that they are adhered to the rectangle.

Bake for ten minutes, or until edges are light brown.  Cool on baking sheets.  Fill in between rows with confectioners’ sugar icing.  Carefully cut 1” diagonal pieces with sharp knife.  Yield 60-70 cookies.

Confectioners’ Sugar Icing:

• 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
•  ½ tsp. vanilla
• enough cream for spreading consistency
• food coloring to tine half pink and half green

The post Magic Carpet Cookies appeared first on Family Eats.

This nutty holiday cookie is topped with a simple frosting to add just the right sweetness. A family favorite cookie, that I remember my Grandmother making, I am happy that my children enjoy biting into this hearty, and somewhat crunchy Christmas delight.

• 1 ½ tbsp. wine
• 4 cups ground walnuts
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Roll out ¼”- ½” thick and cut into strips. Place onto greased cookie sheet and bake in 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes.

Frosting

• 1 egg white
• half box confectioner’s sugar
• juice of 1 lemon

Blend together and frost cookies while slightly warm.

The post Stangle appeared first on Family Eats.