Holiday Bakeathon 2019

Our sixth holiday baking day together! We were all kind of tired but things still moved along nicely.

Left: marshmallow, right: cream cheese icing

Gingerbread cookies this year were conspicuously Untitled Goose Game themed.

*honk*

Left: gingerbread; Right: chocolate biscotti

We all have a fancy stand mixer now so we had to take the below video because we can. And for internet points.

*Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries plays*

RECIPES

• Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (Smitten Kitchen) -- our old standby. I never get tired of how they taste with cream cheese frosting, and we keep coming up with new and/or funny ways to decorate them.
• Chocolate Caramel Crackers (Smitten Kitchen) -- chosen because both Sarah and I were eyeing it for several years but hadn't made it yet. We used matzo and added sliced almonds on top. Pretty easy to make, makes a lot, and tastes great. I made a second batch for my work holiday party because I missed it after my portion was gone and we had enough leftover ingredients to make it again. Definitely keeping this recipe around. I'd love to try it with saltine crackers. *Update: I tried it with saltines and very slightly prefer the matzo crackers because they're less crumbly.
• Cream Cheese Frosting -- for the gingerbread.
• Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach -- a perennial favorite. Made a second batch because my husband was sad when they were gone (they are his favorite cookie) and I'm glad I did because I got to introduce my sister to them.
• Double Chocolate Biscotti (MyRecipes) -- we added dried cherries and pistachios and I really liked them this way.
• Homemade Marshmallows (Alton Brown) -- another perennial favorite. I wanted to put peppermint in them but Sarah said no. :P
• Linzer Torte (Maida Heatter via Smitten Kitchen) -- my big error for the day was accidentally baking it on too high a temperature. The outside got very very dark, a shade before burnt, which is very sad when you spend all that time shaping dough into a lattice and making it look pretty. (This recipe takes two hours of active work to make by myself.) Make sure you turn your oven down for the final long bake. I made a small (5 inch) heart shaped one out of the leftover dough that I did not burn, and that one turned out really cute! If you decide to make it a non-standard shape, make sure you have a pan or mold to keep the bottom crust's shape while it bakes. The sides of my bottom crust started collapsing once it got warm in the oven, but an aluminum foil mold helped. Once the bottom crust was parbaked and solidified, it held its shape and I didn't need the foil barriers anymore. I redeemed myself by making a second batch that DID turn out really well, half for my parents (my dad liked it but my mom is seemingly impossible to impress) and half for Christmas Day dinner with my neighbor's family.

BAKEATHONS PAST

• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014

Holiday Bakeathon 2018

Holiday Bakeathon, the 5th anniversary! While it's still a long day, I think we've got the process mostly figured out. This year's cookies featured extra fancy decorating with edible glitter and more piping tips. I think I even have a new favorite Christmas cookie (gasp).

RECIPES

• Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (Smitten Kitchen) -- our old standby. I never get tired of how they taste with cream cheese frosting, and we keep coming up with new and/or funny ways to decorate them.
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach
• Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix (Smitten Kitchen)
• Homemade Marshmallows (Alton Brown) -- we cut these into bigger marshmallows for the hot chocolate instead of mini marshmallows to save time. Use the best quality vanilla you can get your hands on, and don't bother with corn starch, use all powdered sugar. They were really good and I was sad when they were gone, so I made another batch and shared them with my work colleagues, who were surprised that you could make marshmallows at home. They taste so much better than store bought. They're also really kid friendly! My colleague's 7 year old daughter absolutely loved them.
• Linzer Torte (Maida Heatter via Smitten Kitchen) -- absolutely amazing, so good I wanted to cry. This is permanently going on my list of must-make holiday treats, whether I make it with my friends or not.
• Hazelnut-Orange Biscotti (Paul Hollywood via BBC)
• Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (Dorie Greenspan via Smitten Kitchen) -- for the chocolate part, we opted for milk chocolate with toffee bits, and I think that was a good choice because they were kind of bitter otherwise.

BAKEATHONS PAST

• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014

Fluffernutter Cake

I never had the nostalgia for fluffernutters (peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches) that many people who post fluffernutter related recipes seem to have. I never had one as a child because to my mom, a sandwich with marshmallow fluff on it was dessert, not lunch. My mom enforced a sort of unspoken ban on most all non-dessert items that were really sugary. Our sandwiches were always on brown bread. She would only buy things like Lucky Charms, Pop-Tarts, or toaster strudels (lol remember when those were a thing?) once in a great while. I remember one of my siblings learned to make cinnamon-sugar toast at school once, and she got mad when we tried to make it for breakfast. I don't feel deprived -- we still got other breakfast cereal whenever we wanted (which she did let us put some sugar on), there were plenty of other sugary treats in our lives, and as an adult now I am thankful she fought our impulses to raise us on food with some semblance of nutrition, as I think a mother should.

But I did not try peanut butter and marshmallow together until I was an adult and I wondered where it had been all my life. I think I came across it while reading recipes and cooking blogs, trying to figure out what kind of cake to make my husband for his birthday. I thought a fluffernutter cake sounded good so I suggested it to him, and his eyes lit up and he got excited. Deal. I remember not being particularly happy with the cake part of what I made for him that year but the frosting made quite an impression on me. I dreamed about it for long after it was gone. For years after that the only thing he wanted for his birthday was dirt cake (a favorite of both our families, as it turns out) but I wanted a redo, another chance to make a fluffernutter cake I was satisfied with.

This year I got the chance, and I enjoyed this one much more. It's dense, with a texture like a peanut butter cookie but more fluffy. The peanut butter frosting from my previous attempt was used for filling and decoration because I wanted something thick enough to firmly stick the layers of cake together and something that would hold up to piping. It worked for its intended purpose, and I am happy to report it is still every bit as delicious as it was the first time I made it. For the outside, I wanted a lighter textured frosting to contrast with the dense cake and strong flavor of peanut butter, so I made a seven-minute marshmallow icing for the outside. I forgot one of the egg whites somehow so the icing ended up a bit grainy and soft, but it was still edible. The peanuts sprinkled on top were a last minute decision and I rather liked the bit of texture and crunch they brought to the party. I have made better looking cakes, but this tasted good and he liked it. Happy birthday to my love.

RECIPES:
Cake: Peanut Butter Cake (from Sally's Baking Addiction, baked in two 6-inch springform pans)
Filling and decoration: Peanut Butter Frosting (from Eat, Live, Run; I halved the recipe)
Icing: Grandmama's Failproof 7 Minute Frosting (from Southern Plate; this made more than I needed but half the recipe probably wouldn't be enough)