FoodB

Well if you read my entry from the Friday before the party, I had a long list of things I was going to bake. Well that list was written by Super Gordon because when I got home it was a different story. It took me about an hour and a half to get home that night and I walk into our house with a headache and a bad temper. I kept the temper (mostly) to myself because I didn't want to stress Jenn out the day before the party. She knew from the look in my face and, God bless her, was very patient with me and helped me out.

We started with the cookies. We made up the Gingerbread dough first because it needed to be refrigerated overnight. I thought that gingerbread would be a lot more complex than it was. Thank God for food processors. Then we made Sugar cookie dough. We just went for basic sugar cookies and Jenn made some frosting for all of them. here are the recipes:

Thick and Chewy Sugar Cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose Flour (10 ounces)
1/2 tsp. Powder
1/4 teaspoon table Salt
16 Tbsp. unsalted Butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup granulated Sugar (7 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated Sugar (3 1/2 ounces), for rolling dough
1 Tbsp. light Brown Sugar
1 large Egg
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
2. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment or with hand mixer, beat butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add egg and vanilla; beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.
3. Place sugar for rolling in shallow bowl. Fill medium bowl halfway with cold tap water. Dip hands in water and shake off excess (this will prevent dough from sticking to your hands and ensure that sugar sticks to dough). Roll heaping tablespoon dough into 1 1/2-inch ball between moistened palms; roll ball in sugar, then place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, moistening hands after forming each ball and spacing balls about 2 inches apart on baking sheet (you should be able to fit 12 cookies on each sheet). Using butter wrapper, butter bottom of drinking glass; dip bottom of glass in remaining sugar and flatten dough balls with bottom of glass until dough is about 3/4 inch thick.
4. Bake until cookies are golden brown around edges and just set and very lightly colored in center, 15 to 18 minutes, reversing position of cookie sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time. Cool cookies on baking sheet about 3 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

3 cups unbleached all-purpose Flour
3/4 cup packed dark Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp. ground Cinnamon
1 Tbsp. ground Ginger
1/2 tsp. ground Cloves
1/2 tsp. table Salt
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
12 Tbsp. unsalted Butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 12 pieces
3/4 cup unsulphured Molasses
2 Tbsp. Milk

1. In food processor work bowl fitted with steel blade, process flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda until combined, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is sandy and resembles very fine meal, about 15 seconds. With machine running, gradually add molasses and milk; process until dough is evenly moistened and forms soft mass, about 10 seconds. Alternatively, in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda at low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and add butter pieces; mix at medium-low speed until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 1 1/2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and, with mixer running, gradually add molasses and milk; mix until dough is evenly moistened, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix until thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds.
2. Scrape dough onto work surface; divide in half. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll 1/4-inch thick between two large sheets of parchment paper. Leaving dough sandwiched between parchment layers, stack on cookie sheet and freeze until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. (Alternatively, refrigerate dough 2 hours or overnight.)
3. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4. Remove one dough sheet from freezer; place on work surface. Peel off top parchment sheet and gently lay it back in place. Flip dough over; peel off and discard second parchment layer. Cut dough into 5-inch gingerbread people or 3-inch gingerbread cookies, transferring shapes to parchment-lined cookie sheets with wide metal spatula, spacing them 3/4 inch apart; set scraps aside. Repeat with remaining dough until cookie sheets are full. Bake cookies until set in centers and dough barely retains imprint when touched very gently with fingertip, 8 to 11 minutes, rotating cookie sheets front to back and switching positions top to bottom halfway through baking time. Do not over bake. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes, then remove with wide metal spatula to wire rack; cool to room temperature.
5. Gather scraps; repeat rolling, cutting, and baking in steps 2 and 4. Repeat with remaining dough until all dough is used.

We tried to use cookie cutters on both of the dough's and ended up scratching that and made just round cookies instead. After all of this I was wiped out for the night. I intended to make a couple of pies as well but asked Jenn if I could make the Squash Soup that she was asking for instead. She was cool with that and I got out of making pies again.

Jenn was still going that night and made up a batch of Savannah Bow Ties that she saw Paula Dean make on her show. Jenn has becoming a fan of Paula's lately and wanted to give this recipe a try.

Savannah Bow Ties

1/2 a (17 1/4-ounce) package frozen puff pastry (1 sheet)
1/2 cup almond paste
1 egg yolk, white reserved
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons milk
1 egg white
Sugar, for sprinkling
Chocolate Dipping Sauce, recipe follows

1. Let pastry stand at room temperature for 20 minutes or until easy to roll. Unfold pastry on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 14-inch square. Cut square in half with a fluted pastry wheel.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. For filling: crumble almond paste in a small mixing bowl. Add egg yolk, brown sugar, and milk. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Spread filling over 1 pastry half *. Place remaining pastry half on top of filling. Using the fluted pastry wheel, cut dough crosswise into fourteen 1-inch-wide strips. Then cut each strip in half crosswise to make 28 pieces. Twist each piece twice. Place twists about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets lined with foil or parchment paper. Brush twists with slightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with sugar (coarse sugar if available).
4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Serve with Chocolate Dipping Sauce.

*Almond filling will be very stiff. To make spreading easier, drop a dollop of filling uniformly over pastry. Spray a piece of waxed paper with non-stick cooking spray. Press almond paste evenly over entire dough. Spray waxed paper as often as necessary to prevent filling from sticking.

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 (1.5-ounce) milk chocolate bars
2 cups whipping cream
1 egg yolk, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• In a saucepan stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Crumble candy bars in 1 at a time. Gradually stir in cream. Cook and stir over medium heat until chocolate is melted. Temper egg yolk with 1/2 cup of hot sauce. Add back to pot and cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and pour into a serving bowl. Any remaining sauce can be poured into custard cups, refrigerated and served as pudding.

I couldn't eat these cookies because they had almond paste in them and I am allergic to nuts. There was only one left over after the party so I imagine they were good. I tried the dipping sauce on a piece of pastry without filling on it and really liked it.

So all in all we really enjoyed ourselves. I think everyone had a good time and it was good to catch up. After doing about 5-6 loads of dishes the day of the party I have kinda been on strike since and we have piles of dirty dishes all over our house which until last night was fine with me!