’tis the season for enriched bleached flour, refined white sugars, and other desserts!
Why not try making sugar cookies with whole wheat?
Tag: holiday
Christmas Sugar Cookies
For the Christmas season, sugar cookies are one of the most popular desserts to bake. This recipe was one my grandma used to make; it is slightly different from other sugar cookies because it uses powdered sugar, anise, and baking soda. It has a perfect texture, and the dough has perfect consistency for rolling out on a floured surface. Enjoy!
Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe – – – – PRINT
10 Thanksgiving DESSERTS
With the holidays just around the corner (and Halloween already behind us) now comes the time for planning how you are going to celebrate Thanksgiving, and then Christmas… Though most people plan Christmas first…
Anyhow, I’ve compiled some great Thanksgiving DESSERT ideas from around the web to get you thinking about what you can start preparing to bake!
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PUMPKIN PIE on Michael’s Test Kitchen
First and foremost, of course is our PUMPKIN PIE, the most popular thanksgiving dessert, and most popular pumpkin dessert all around. For this one, I actually have a quick and easy recipe on my blog for pumpkin pie, check it out here:
2. PUMPKIN ROLL on Taste of Home
Another favorite of mine, pertaining to Thanksgiving and pumpkins, is the Pumpkin Roll. Basically a layer of pumpkin cake rolled around cream cheese frosting–very sweet and delicious! Check this great recipe out on Taste of Home.
3. PUMPKIN BREAD on Michael’s Test Kitchen
Another awesome and quick way to use pumpkins in your next thanksgiving baking project. Pumpkin bread is easy, takes hardly any time to make, and makes a very moist and sweet quick-bread. Slice and enjoy with butter or cream cheese. Check this Pumpkin Bread recipe out on my blog:
4. “Apple Pie by Grandma Ople” from allrecipes
Yes, apple pie seems to be the most universally used pie for holidays or even birthdays. It is probably the most popular pie, and yes, of course can be used perfectly well for Thanksgiving. Unless you are already planning on making apple pie for Christmas, Apple pie is a great dessert to bake on Thanksgiving. Check out this amazing recipe on allrecipes.
5. Candy Corn Cupcakes on Michael’s Test Kitchen
These cupcakes are a great way to make a dessert based of the traditional Candy Corn. Check out this Thanksgiving dessert on my blog:
6. Pecan Pie on Epicurious
Speaking of traditional pies, Pecan Pie is one of those popular traditional desserts usually served on Thanksgiving or Christmas. It is incredibly simple, and if you haven’t tried it before, there’s always a first time for everything. Check out this great recipe for Pecan Pie on Epicurious:
7. Apple Cake on Michael’s Test Kitchen
This Apple Cake is a great festive dessert with an awesome use of apples to create a quick & easy moist and spice-filled bread. Check it out on my blog:
8. Pumpkin Pie Bars on Delish
These pumpkin bars are a small version of pumpkin pie, reducing it into little bites, a very creative idea! Easy to make and of course great for the holiday baking season.
Check out this great recipe on Delish.
9. Molasses Marble Cheesecake on Michael’s Test Kitchen
This cheesecake is great for the holidays, and has enough cheese in it for any cheese eater. Molasses is marbled into the filling to achieve the festive splash of brown, and the crust is made by crushing / processing molasses cookies.
Check out this amazing recipe on my blog!
10. Apple & Blueberry Layered Pie on Michael’s Test Kitchen
This apple & blueberry layered pie is an awesome twist on the classic apple pie, and is another amazing pie to put on your holiday-baking to-do list.
Check out this recipe on my blog!
Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out additional recipes on my blog!
Apple Cake
The holidays are just around the corner, and this simple sheet cake is a great way to celebrate with baking. It doesn’t need much apples, and besides slicing, coring, and peeling the apples, the rest is easy and the result is a perfectly moist cake full of apples and cinnamon flavor.
Apple Cake recipe – – – – PRINT
Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin season is here, so why not celebrate the upcoming holidays with a simple PUMPKIN bread recipe? This recipe is easy to follow and allows the option to make your own pumpkin puree, the recipe you can find on my blog.
This pumpkin bread is a simple quick bread recipe full of pumpkin and rich with the spices of cinnamon and ground cloves.
I usually make my pumpkin recipes now with Homemade Pumpkin puree, and recommend you do, too. It makes it so that this major ingredient is fresh, and just pureed at home. Not that I have that much against canned pumpkin; the store-bought stuff is great if you are pressed on time and want to quickly and easily make a pumpkin dessert. Honestly, the taste isn’t compromised all that much–but it is cool (and maybe healthier?) to make your own pumpkin puree, which you can then use for all sorts of things including this wonderful fall Pumpkin Bread recipe.
Feel free to add different things to the finished batter of this bread before baking it: Chocolate chips, maybe some hazelnuts? Depending on your tastes. Either or both work well. Perhaps some dried fruit wouldn’t be wasted here, but I’ve never tried it.
If you decide to bake this for the holidays this year, feel free to let me know how it goes! Also be sure to check out some other great recipes on my blog.
-Michael
Pumpkin Bread recipe – – – – PRINT
Hot Cross Buns recipe
Hot Cross Buns are sweet bread rolls, traditionally made for Easter, and have icing drizzled in the form of a cross. The bread is moist with a hint of cinnamon.
This recipe is different from others because of the two egg yolks that are added to the dough. Make sure to save the 2 egg whites in two separate containers, though: you’ll need one for the icing, and one to spread thinly over the rolls just before baking them.
It makes around 18 rolls, but you can make them alot smaller if you want to serve them to a larger group of people. The balls of dough initially look small, but after their second rise time on the baking sheet, they should grow more than double in size, and get even larger in the oven. So don’t be fooled by their previously small appearance.
The ones in the picture (above) started at 1-inch balls of dough–so you can see how much larger they got.
Be sure to make these delicious rolls for your Easter celebration! And, although they are traditionally made for Easter, they make great rolls anytime of the year if you simply desist from adding the icing (WARNING: icing is a strong temptation). Remove the icing cross, and you have made these into multi-purpose baked goods.
Enjoy!
Hot Cross Buns Recipe Print
Rich Chocolate Fudge
This chocolate fudge is a perfect homemade dessert to serve at parties or other large gatherings. Half the recipe and have enough for the whole family!
INGREDIENTS:
INGREDIENTS:
1 7oz jar marshmallow creme
1 cup butter
3 (12oz) packages chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 (12 fl oz) can evaporated milk
1 cup walnuts (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Finely chop walnuts.
Throw chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, butter, marshmallow creme, and vanilla in bowl. If butter is unsalted, sprinkle in some salt.
Combine evaporated milk and sugar in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil, constantly stirring.
Once it has reached boiling, continue in the boiling stage for 15 minutes, constantly stirring.
Pour boiling sugar mixture into all the other ingredients in the large bowl.
Stir it all with a spatula until completely homogeneous.
Spread evenly onto a 9×13 glass baking dish.
Place in the fridge and cool for at least 4 hours before serving.
Consume moderately. Recipe not meant for small family. Share with friends and family as homemade gifts, or serve at parties or other gatherings.
For step-by-step instructions with pictures, visit my original post of this recipe on instructables
Chocolate & Candy Cane Coated Marshmallows
These delicious and simple treats make perfect Christmas gifts for friends and family.
Ingredients: (Serves 3)
3 medium marshmallows
1/4 cup chocolate chips
3-4 mini candycanes (= 1 medium candycane)
NOTE: Medium size of marshmallow is most preferable, and nothing smaller, but if you choose larger marshmallows, be sure to use more chocolate chips, and lengthen microwave time.
As shown, you can use mini candycanes or one medium candycane.
It is easier to keep them in their wrapper and crush them in there, and then you can pour it from the wrapper.
DIRECTIONS:
Place chocolate in small bowl and place in microwave for about 1 minute and 40 seconds, stirring in between. The time just depends on your microwave.
Leaving them in their wrappers, crush them with something like the handle of the knife coarsely. Size of normal chunks that candy-cane should be crushed into are shown above in bowl. Cut the wrappers, and pour all of it into a wide bowl that is good for rolling marshmallows in.
Place marshmallows on a paper towel or parchments paper (parchment paper works best). Using toothpicks to help holding the marshmallow without grabbing it with your hands, use a silicon scraper to spread the melted chocolate onto the marshmallows completely and evenly.
Roll chocolate covered marshmallows in candycane before chocolate hardens. Place on a platter and cool in fridge for ten minutes before serving or putting in gift bags.
To see more step-by-step pictures, visit my original post of this recipe on instructables.
Christmas Spritz Sugar Cookies
These are really cool little sugar cookies that you can give as Christmas gifts to friends and family.
Ingredients:
(makes 6 dozen mini cookies)
12 tablespoons butter, softened
⅓ cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
½ tsp. vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 ¾ all purpose flour
¼ whole wheat flour
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, whip butter with salt and sugar until creamy.
Add vanilla, egg, almond extract and mix until combined.
Add flours (whole wheat & all purpose) and stir until combined.
Option no. 1: You can roll out the dough and cut out the cookies with cookie cutters.
Or Option no. 2: You can do it the ‘Spritz’ way and use a cookie press (I used OXO cookie press) and press cookies. Place/Press cookies onto ungreased baking sheet or silicone mat on baking sheet.
Add sprinkles if you want to make it look pretty.
Bake for about 8 minutes, or until just beginning to brown.
Cool before serving. Makes 6 dozen small spritz cookies.
Molasses Marble Cheesecake
This cheesecake is great for the holidays, and has enough cheese in it for any cheese eater. Molasses is marbled into the filling to achieve the festive splash of brown, and the crust is made by crushing/processing molasses cookies.
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
7 molasses cookies, hardened
1 tablespoon butter, melted
For Filling:
4 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
½ cup half and half
3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
¼ cup flour ½ teaspoon vanilla
1/8 cup molasses
¼ teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
For crust, put molasses cookies in food processor, and process until it is all crumbs. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter, melted, until crumbs hold together well by pressing. Press crust material along the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Then add in flour, salt, sour cream, half and half, eggs and yolk, and vanilla. Pour mixture into spring-form pan.
Then pour molasses on top, and swirl it in with a knife to achieve a marbled look.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then set oven to 350 and bake for 50 minutes
Then turn off oven (DO NOT OPEN OVEN), and let sit in cooling oven for an hour or so. Then take out of oven, and let sit on cooling rack until cooled off enough to put in fridge. Refrigerate at least 6 hours before consuming.
Pumpkin Pie From Scratch
It’s time for the holidays; and Pumpkin Pie is a perfect dessert for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.
It is also as good as any pie for any special occasion. This recipe is ‘from scratch’ because I link to one of my posts explaining how to make the pumpkin puree from scratch instead of using store-bought canned pumpkin.
Ingredients:
14 oz of Pumpkin Puree (See my post on how to make pumpkin puree from scratch!)
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin spice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
NOTE:
If you really must, then you can use 1 can of canned, pre-made, factory-processed pumpkin.
DIRECTIONS:
If you want to make your own pureed pumpkin, follow my instructions here. If not, then just buy a can of pumpkin and continue:
Set oven temperature to 425 degrees.
In a small bowl whisk together the spices and salt. In a large bowl, beat together pureed pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and eggs. Then dump in the spices, and stir in well.
Pour mixture into an unbaked pie crust, and bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Then set oven temp to 350, and bake for another 45 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
Remove from oven, and rest for an hour or so, then place in fridge, and cool for another 6 hours until cold.
Serve with whipped cream.
Holiday Molasses Cookies
These Molasses Cookies are perfect out of the oven–crispy, chewy, and full of flavor. Perfect the Holidays. Use this for Molasses Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches, in my instructables post: Molasses Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches Have fun baking!
Ingredients
(makes roughly 2 1/2 dozen)
1/2 cup salted butter, melted
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 pkg. instant coffee granules
1 cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup molasses
2 tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
3 cups flour
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In stand mixer, whip butter and sugar together until creamy. Add egg until incorporated. Then add the Molasses.
In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients: cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, ginger, salt, and flour.
Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients in the stand mixer. Mix until smooth.
Pour some white sugar into a shallow bowl. Form dough into 1 inch balls, and roll in sugar until coated.
Place sugar-coated balls on ungreased baking sheet, and bake in preheated oven (350 degrees F) for 10 minutes. Let cool on stove top for a few minutes before serving.
Michael's Test Kitchen 