- If Christmas cookies aren’t your thing, why not try some holiday cupcakes? Alice and the Mock Turtle made up some very cute Snowman Cupcakes for the holidays and has some great tips on how you can make them easily at home. I think the most clever touch of the cakes is to dip the frosting in sugar to give it an “icy” look that is the perfect base for a snowman cupcake. The Lifesaver and licorice earmuffs are pretty cute, too!
- Another clever holiday presentation comes in the form of Gingerbread Blondie S’mores Panini from Panini Happy. These are not your average s’mores. They use cakey gingerbread blondies, cut into gingerbread people shapes, in place of graham crackers and are filled with dark chocolate, marshmallow cream and orange zest. They’re pressed until hot and toasty on a panini grill and served hot. Decadent and perfect for the season.
- Yet another gingerbread recipe comes in the form of Leites Culinaria‘s Gingerbread Butter Drops with Lemon Glaze. The spicy butter cookies are very round and look almost like little ornaments once they have been dipped into a lemony glaze and decorated with a bit of royal icing. You can skip the royal icing, but the lemon really makes a nice contrast to the spice in the cookies. That said, I think you could also get away with dusting the gingerbread butter drops with some confectioners sugar and serving them as-is as an alternative to other ginger cookies.
- It make look unassuming, though beautiful, but don’t underestimate Dessert First‘s Brown Butter Vanilla Cake with Caramel Buttercream. This layer cake has a rich, toasty browned butter flavor and is topped with a thin coating of caramel-tinged frosting, which highlights those same toasted notes from the buttery cake. In between cake layers is a thin spread of whipped chocolate ganache, adding a little contrast of color and flavor to the whole dessert. The flavors will really pop if you dig in expecting a simple vanilla cake!
- Fudge is a candy that often makes an appearance during the holidays, put out as part of a plate of cookies and other sweets for Santa. Basic fudge is easy to make, and it’s not as difficult as you might think to do other flavor combinations. Not so Humble Pie has two recipes for decadent fudge, Chocolate Espresso and Pomegranate. The Chocolate Espresso is made with semisweet chocolate, spiked with Kahlua and instant espresso (try Starbucks Via in a recipe like this one). The pomegranate is made with a white chocolate base flavored -and tinted – with real pomegranate juice.
Don’t forget to enter your holiday cupcake photos in the Baking Bites Holiday Cupcake Contest for a chance to win a great gift basket of baking goodies. Also, make sure to get your orders in for The Baking Bites Cookbook if you want your copy in time for Christmas! There are only a few mailing days left (unless you want priority shipping) and you definitely want to have a copy waiting under the tree on Christmas morning.
Sheila
December 16, 2009Great ideas here.
Thanks so much for the mention of the snowman cupcakes; I feel so honored!
Steward Kane
December 21, 2009Thanx for the nice recepies , i will definately try these.