Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Pumpkin Pie Cake

This recipe is a new tradition in the making for us. Both Justin and I have English heritage. On Christmas Eve, English families make a traditional English pudding with thirteen ingredients representing Christ and the twelve apostles. Everyone in the house takes a turn and stirs the batter from east to west, signifying the journey of the wise men seeking the baby Jesus, and makes a wish. I wasn't fond of the traditional Christmas pudding recipe, so I figured this would work - just count each of the eggs as an individual ingredient and you have thirteen ingredients. :) It's yummy with vanilla ice cream.

1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Mix until smooth and pour into a 9x13 inch pan.
Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle chopped nuts and pat down gently. Melt butter or margarine and drizzle over cake.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 45 to 60 minutes. (Be sure to check the cake after 45 minutes because oven temperatures vary.)
After cake cools, turn it upside down so the top of the cake will be the crust. Remove the parchment paper. Top with dessert topping (optional) before serving.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, sliced
4 slices bacon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pinch salt


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Pound the chicken breasts until flat. Put a slice of cream cheese and 1 teaspoon chopped chives in the middle of each breast and roll up. Wrap each rolled breast with 1 slice of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine condensed soup, mayonnaise, milk, lemon juice, pepper and salt. Mix until smooth, then pour over chicken.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Notes: This was delicious! If you prefer your bacon on the crispier side, cook it before wrapping the chicken. I did not have chives so I used green onions. I did not have cream of chicken soup, so I used cream of mushroom. These substitutions were seemless and our dinner was very yummy.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Bûche de Noël/Yule Log Cake




This cake comes from the tradition of the yule log, which people burned in the hearth all night for Christmas Eve or during winter solstice during pagan times. It was thought to ward off lightning and bring good luck. In more modern times when fewer people had wood burning stoves or fireplaces, the French turned the yule log into a dessert called Bûche de Noël (Christmas Log) and crafted it to look like a yule log. You can play with any flavor of sponge cake and filling you like. You'll want the frosting to be brown so it looks like bark.


Chocolate Sponge Cake

1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c granulated sugar
4 egg whites
1/2 c granulated sugar
sifted powder sugar

Grease and flour a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan.

Stir together flour and baking powder; set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl beat egg yolks and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add the 1/3 c granulated sugar, beating on high speed till sugar is almost dissolved.

Thoroughly wash beaters. In another bowl beat egg whites on medium speed till soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add the 1/2 c granulated sugar, beating till stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold egg yolk mixture into beaten eggs whites. Sprinkle dry mixture over egg mixture; fold in gently just till combined. Spread batter evenly in the prepared plan.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or till cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn cake out onto a towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up towel and cake, jelly-roll style. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling:
1/2 pint whipping cream
4 oz cream cheese
granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla

You can use whatever kind of filling you like. I used whipped cream mixed and cream cheese with a dash of vanilla and sugared to taste. Another idea is to add a teaspoon of dissolved coffee granules to give it a mocha flavor. You can use fruit jam or jelly.

Chocolate Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar, divided
2/3 cocoa
1/2 c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
5 to 6 TB milk, divided
1 tsp vanilla

When cool , unroll cake and remove towel. Spread cake with filling to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up cake. Cut ends off at a 45 degree angle to make look like a log. You can make two cakes and add a branch or use one of the cut off angles from the end to create a knot on the log. Frost with chocolate frosting. Drag a fork through frosting to make it look like bark.

Optional details:
Dust with powdered sugar for snow
Make mushrooms with marzipan or with meringue
Roll out green gum drops to make holly leaves and use red gum drop for holly berries
Get creative!

Keep refrigerated.