Vanillekipferl (Viennese vanilla crescents), and a not so fair competition

The people behind the Oscars have apparently developed a strategy of leaving the most powerful performances out of the competition (maybe to make sure the-not-so-great ones get the awards? Who knows). Last year both Tilda and Michael Shannon weren’t included in the game (and they were absolutely magnificent in We Need to Talk About Kevin and Take Shelter, respectively), and 2013 will be remembered by me as the year Marion Cotillard got ignored even though she kicked everyone else’s butts with Rust and Bone. The movie is so amazing I haven’t been able to write a single line about it so far (the“The Tree of Life effect”, as I call it), and Marion’s portrait of Stéphanie is something sublime. Harvey Weinstein must have felt relieved when Marion did not get nominated, for she would definitely make things a lot harder for Jennifer Lawrence – I adore her, but that Oscar was a joke (and a demonstration of the power of lobby).

These cookies, with their German name and their amazing vanilla flavor, are one of the best I have ever made (and I have made quite a few); they are delicious, melt in the mouth, and since they also look pretty they would be great as a gift or as an addition to the Christmas table – I just feel sorry for any other cookie around them as I don’t think it would be a fair competition... ;)

Vanilla beans are a luxurious ingredient and I don’t use them often, but since it’s Christmas I thought a bit of splurge wouldn’t hurt; if you intend to make the cookies don’t forget to plan ahead since the sugar needs some time alone with the vanilla. ;)

Vanillekipferl (Viennese vanilla crescents)
slightly adapted from the über complete The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes

Vanilla sugar (for dusting the cookies):
170g confectioners’ sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds remove with the back of a knife

Cookies:
245g all-purpose flour
25g confectioners’ sugar
pinch of salt
70g almond meal
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds remove with the back of a knife
170g cold unsalted butter, diced
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Start by making the vanilla sugar: place the sugar, vanilla seeds and bean in a small bowl and mix with your fingers to perfume the sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature overnight.

Cookies: in a food processor blend together the flour, confectioners’ sugar, salt, almond meal and vanilla seeds. Add the butter, pulse to combine. With the motor running, add the vanilla extract and process just until a dough forms. Form the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Roll ½ tablespoon (leveled) of dough per cookie into a cylinder, then bend the ends over to create a half-moon. Arrange the crescents onto prepared sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until pale golden.
While the crescents are still warm, gently toss them in the vanilla sugar, then allow to cool completely on wire racks.
Let the cookies cool completely before transferring them to storage tins. Sift more vanilla sugar over the cookies before serving.

Makes about 50 cookies

Eggnog bars and messing up with iconic things

Many people I know are against remakes – I’m not; there are wonderful remakes out there – some are even superior to the originals – and there are bad ones, too. That’s life, right?

I think it’s hard to deal with traditional and iconic characters (unless you’re David Fincher), and maybe some of them should be left alone in all their glory. Chloë Grace Moretz has done a disservice to her career by very poorly portraying a character that Sissy Spacek elevated to perfection, and Carrie is such a bad movie in general that not even the goddess Julianne Moore can save it (and that, to me, says a lot).

Let’s mess with traditional and iconic things in a better way, shall we? Let’s get a celebrated Christmas drink and turn it into cakes, cookies and cheesecake bars – I don’t think anyone will be disappointed. ;)

Eggnog bars
slightly adapted from the wonderful The Good Cookie: Over 250 delicious recipes, from simple to sublime

Crust:
150g digestive cookies
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
335g (12oz) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup (133g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
3 tablespoons brandy
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg + a bit extra for sprinkling on top of the bars before serving

Crust: position oven rack in the center of oven; preheat to 180°C/350°F.Lightly butter a 20x30cm (12x8in) baking pan, line it with foil so that the foil extends 5cm (2in) beyond the short ends of the pan; lightly butter the foil.
In a food processor, blitz the cookies until ground. Pulse in the cinnamon. With the motor running, add the butter and process until combined. Transfer crumbs to prepared pan and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until it is slightly puffed and set.
Cool slightly over a wire rack while you make the filling. Decrease oven temperature to 160°C/325°F.

Filling: in the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth and light, about 1 minute. Beat in the cornstarch; add the egg and egg yolks, one at a time, beating until blended and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the heavy cream, brandy, vanilla, and nutmeg. Scrape filling into the slightly cooled crust; bake for 15-20 minutes, until the filling is set. Cool completely over wire rack, then refrigerate.
Before serving, sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg and cut into bars.

Makes 24

Chewy speculaas blondies and one of the most beautiful trailers I've ever seen

My sister and I love watching the trailers when we go to the movies, and after each one we turn to each other and say “yes” or “no” (if we will or will not watch that movie once it premieres). Weeks ago, on the Catching Fire session, we saw the trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and I must confess that when Ben Stiller’s face first appeared onscreen I was more than ready to say “no” – I really can’t stand his movies – but by the end of the trailer we were both enthusiastically saying “yes”. :)

One of the most beautiful trailers I’ve seen and the equally amazing music (the song has been in my head ever since) have made me want to watch a movie starring Ben Stiller – I could barely believe it. :D

It was also hard to believe I could have speculaas without all the rolling and chilling and cutting (and then more chilling) of dough – one roll out cookie in this heat is enough already. :) Edd Kimber’s blondies do deliver all the speculaas delicious flavors and with chocolate to boot – what’s not to love? :D

The blondies turned out flavorsome and thin, but to me that’s not a problem: I became fan of thin bar cookies after being introduced to Alice Medrich’s brownies.

Chewy speculaas blondies
slightly adapted from the delicious The Boy Who Bakes

½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
200g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125g all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
30g white chocolate, in chips or chopped
30g dark chocolate, in chips or chopped
60g almonds, lightly toasted, cooled and chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) square baking pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium high heat, add the spices and cook for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and cool. Whisk in the egg and vanilla, then fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the white and dark chocolates and almonds, then pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs (like a brownie). Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack, then slice into squares to serve.

Makes 16

Chocolate pain d’épice, two versions of the same song and of the same baked good

One day, back when I worked as a teacher, I told my students I liked Soft Cell and, two days after that one of them brought me the “Memorabilia” album and begged me to listen to it – he was sure I would love it, and in fact I did. On that CD there was a slightly different version of “Loving You, Hating Me” from the one I knew (and already liked) – the arrangement was a little less metallic, let’s put it this way – and I fell completely for the new version (it became one of my all-time favorites).

Last year I posted a recipe for pain d’épice and now I bring you another one, made with whole wheat flour and chocolate – I like both, but the chocolate version won my heart over (thank you, Eric Lanlard). :)

Chocolate pain d’épice
slightly adapted from the absolutely beautiful and delicious Chocolat (I bought mine here)

200ml whole milk
8 tablespoons clear honey*
125g dark chocolate – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
300g whole wheat flour
65g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange blossom water

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 900g loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a small saucepan, combine the milk and honey and heat gently but do not let it come to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted. Cool for 5 minutes.
in a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices and salt. Make a well in the center and whisk in the eggs, vanilla and orange blossom water. Whisk in the chocolate mixture, then whisk until smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold and transfer to the rack. Cool completely, then remove the paper.
The pain d’épice keeps well for up to 2 weeks if well wrapped in plastic.
You can toast the pain d’épice slices and serve them with butter or jam.

*measuring honey by the spoonful is a pain in the neck – if you don’t feel like doing that, go ahead and consider that I used half a 350g jar

Serves 8-10

Gingerbread stars because Christmas is around the corner

One of the things I hear the most these days is that time flies and I couldn’t agree more – I cannot believe that December has already arrived; it’s time to decorate the Christmas tree, to buy gifts for the loved ones and to start thinking about the food – since it’s too early for turkey I kicked things off with these cute and delicious gingerbread stars. :)

I usually shy away from cut out cookies at this time of the year because of the insane heat, but days ago the sun wasn’t so harsh and I managed to make these without much trouble, just refrigerating the cookies before actually baking them. A sprinkling of icing sugar to mimic snow and my Christmas series begins now (and if you’re looking for inspiration and can’t wait there are several posts from previous years here). :)

Gingerbread stars
slightly adapted from Mowie’s beautiful blog

130g unsalted butter
4 tablespoons corn syrup
110g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
330g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
icing sugar, for sprinkling

Place the butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan and melt together over a medium heat. Cool, then stir in the vanilla.
Place flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, add the melted mixture and mix until a dough forms – I used an electric mixer for that but the mixture wouldn’t come together no matter how much I mixed it; therefore, I cracked an egg in a small bowl, lightly beat it with a fork and, with the mixer on, l added the egg gradually until the dough came together (I used nearly half the egg).
Divide the dough into half, form a disk with each half and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F and line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to 5mm thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes and place onto the prepared baking sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart. Refrigerate for 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool completely on the sheets over a wire rack, then sprinkle generously with icing sugar. Reroll dough scraps once.

Makes about 4 dozen using a 5cm (2in) star cookie cutter