Eat First

Gingerbread without calories

 

Gingerbread with no calories?

Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing. You'll find it at the annual Gingerbread Gallery at the Erie Canal Museum, on Erie Boulevard East in downtown Syracuse. 

The exhibit, a holiday tradition, features more than 40 gingerbread constructions on display in storefront windows and under glass on the museum's second floor.

Detail of "Under Construction,'' a prize-winning entry by the Gingersnap Bakery, in Phoenix, Oswego County.

Detail of "Christmas With Santa,'' by Biscotti Cafe, in Syracuse.

The pieces, many quite intricate, are made by amateur and professional bakers, as family projects and by children. 

The only thing that's missing is the pungent, comforting aroma of gingerbread baking in the oven.

Detail, above and below, of "Candytown Carousel,'' by Ox Creek 4-H Alumni. 

  

And this far into the run of the exhibit, some creations are starting to topple.

In addition to the usual gingerbread houses, the display includes churches, inns, villages, canal scenes, a beach house and even a Native American longhouse crafted from gingerbread.

"Gonosesgeh -- Onondaga Longhouse,'' by the Kindgergarten Cougars.

It's always a thrill to see the constructions, the thought, creativity and work that goes into them and the interesting edible ingredients used to embellish them.

We spotted shredded wheat cereal, graham crackers and pretzels for roofing material; sticks of gum and Starburst candies for sidewalks and masonry; sleighs fashioned from candy canes; linguine cut to fit the seat and back of a park bench; and candy decorations galore, like M&Ms, gum drops, licorice, Hershey Kisses, you name it.

 

We barely got our house decorated and Christmas cards out this year (no wonder our friend who works in retail decks the halls for the season on Thanksgiving Day) but we swear we're going to design a gingerbread dream house, read the contest rules early and create something totally spectacular and over-the-top for next year's event. 

"Noah's Ark,'' by Hutchings Psychiatric Center.

Sounds like a good plan NOW, right Annie?

The Gingerbread Gallery remains open at the Erie Canal Museum through Sunday, Jan. 3. The museum is closed New Year's Day. Admission is $5 for adults. For hours and more information, visit the museum's Web site. 

Savory cookies: Sweet!

We're well into the yuletide season and heading straight to New Year's Eve/Day. You're probably tired, at this point, of making merry, of baking, and of things like cookies. Not the baking elves here at Eat First. And here's a news flash: Not all cookies are sweet, made with flour, sugar and butter.

Some "cookies" are savory, and made with flour, CHEDDAR and butter. Preferably New York State sharp or extra-sharp cheddar, but any cheddar will do.

Cheddar Shortbreads are yummy little bites that go well with an ice-cold Yuengling or a flute of Prosecco (that's how we enjoyed them Christmas night). They're a gourmet treat, for sure, but the taste will remind you of Cheez-Its. The shortbread cookies were introduced to me what seems like a lifetime ago by Naomi Annandale, a former co-worker at The Post-Standard, who made them as part of a holiday gift basket. The recipe is from pastry chef, teacher and cookbook author Nick Malgieri, though I'm not sure which of his books it is in. All I have to go on is a photocopied page (Page 123 in a chapter titled "savory pastries''). Savory, indeed.

I make the shortbreads twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but they never taste quite as delicious as that first batch, consumed in one sitting, that Naomi made so many years ago. Here is the recipe. Maybe they will become a holiday tradition for you, too. Cheddar Shortbreads Adapted from a recipe by Nick Malgieri 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 ounces sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese (white or orange), coarsely grated

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika

Pinch or two of cayenne pepper (optional)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (see note) Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking liners. Cut butter into small pieces and place in a food processor bowl. Grate the cheese coarsely and add to the processor. Pulse until well mixed but do not overmix and soften the butter too much.
Processed butter and cheddar.

Processed butter, cheddar, spices and flour. 

Combine flour, salt, mustard, paprika and cayenne (if using). Add to the processor and pulse until the butter and cheese have absorbed all the flour. Remove the dough from the processor bowl to a lightly flour work surface and press it together. Roll dough into a cylinder about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate at least four hours or overnight.

 

A double batch of Cheddar Shortbreads, rolled, wrapped and ready to go.

Heat oven to 350 degrees 30 minutes before baking. Cut dough into 1/4-inch slices and arrange them one inch apart on prepared pans.

 

Bake for about 15 minutes, until pale golden. Remove and cool on a rack. Store shortbreads in a tin, between layers of wax paper.

Serve shortbreads with drinks. Watch them disappear! Makes about 36 cookies.

Notes: The recipe can be made with other firm cheeses, such as Gruyere or Gouda. I made the recipe using one-quarter whole-wheat flour at Thanksgiving, and the shortbreads came out too crumbly. Just FYI.

 

Bake and give: Christmas cookies

A cut-out Christmas tree decorated with sugar, ready to go in the oven.

When I was a little girl, my mother baked what seemed like hundreds of thousands of cookies each Christmas.

She kept an inventory of them on a recipe card stuck to the fridge with a magnet, each one listed and checked off, followed by a note indicating recipe yield, all in her perfectly neat penmanship.

And you wonder why I'm "anal?''

There were Snickerdoodles, Thumbprints (filled with jelly and rimmed with chopped walnuts), Pecan Sandies, Chocolate Snowballs, thin and crispy Cut-Out Cookies, decorated with sugars and sprinkles (no icings), Gingerbread People and every kid's favorite, Peanut Butter Blossoms, each crowned with a Hershey's Kiss.

I'm sure there were others I'm not remembering. I have vague recollection of small, blond cookies studded with the sticky red and green cherries used in fruitcakes. Our family of nine enjoyed ice cream and cookies for dessert during the holiday season, and there was no better assignment each night than to descend the stairs to basement carrying a pretty Christmas plate, open each tin and pile the plate with cookies.

It's in that spirit and with that delightful variety of cookies in mind that I set about my baking each season. For me, one of the joys of Christmas is baking cookies, packing them carefully in cellophane bags or tins and giving them as gifts.

I usually bake four to six different kinds of cookies, and these are the guidelines.

1. Butter-based cut-out cookies are absolutely, positively mandatory. It wouldn't be Christmas without cut-out trees, ornaments, angels, stars, moons and more, decorated with sugars.

 

Cut-Out cookies -- angels, stars and trees -- cool on a rack.

2. There must be some kind of cookie with chocolate. Usually I make Chocolate and Vanilla Checkerboard Cookies but this year made Chocolate and Vanilla Rounds.

 White and Chocolate Rounds, from "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book.''

3. There must be something crispy and gingery, either gingersnaps or Gingerbread Cut-Outs.

 A naked gingerbread moose...

 ... and a gingerbread moose on its way to the oven, topped with sugar and crystallized ginger.

4. There must be biscotti (twice-baked Italian cookies) for dunking in coffee.

 

I've tried a lot of different recipes for biscotti, but always go back to a recipe for Almond-Anise Biscotti from Epicurious.com.

5. There must be something new and different. This year it's Lemon-Poppy Seed Cookies, from "Martha Stewart's Cookies.''

 

Lemon-Poppy Seed Cookies get a sprinkling of poppy seeds. 

My boyfriend, Robert, sometimes complains in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas that despite the hundreds of cookies being baked at our house, there are no cookies around for him to eat.

 

That's not entirely true. He comes home to a plate of over-browned and reject cookies each evening during marathon baking sessions.

Most of the cookies I choose to bake are freezer-friendly, and stashed safely in the freezer of our neighbors who spend the winter in Florida, until it's time to package them for gift-giving. If you pick the right recipes, a freezer can be a baker's best friend.

 

It's five days until Christmas now, almost time to head over to Joel and Shirley's with a laundry basket, retrieve the cookies and pack them in tins and bags for delivery Dec. 23.

The cutters are rinsed, dried and put away for another season.

Or at least until Valentine's Day, when the hearts and flowers come out to play in dough.

Favorite things: Hercules Candy Co.

I have many favorite Christmas moments each year: listening to my favorite holiday CD, Chuck Leavell's "What's In That Bag?'' once again; pulling Aunt Anne's handmade ceramic tree with tiny lights out of its box and plugging it in; seeing Bailey's giddy reaction to fresh fallen snow; driving around town, usually with Mom, to see some of the spectacular light displays people go to great lengths to stage at their homes.

No matter how busy things get, the holiday season wouldn't be complete without a trip to Hercules Candy Co., in the village of East Syracuse, to pick up some homemade candy canes for gift- giving and personal enjoyment.

The candy canes cost 85 cents each and come in three minty-fresh flavors: wintergreen, spearmint and peppermint.

 

 

I'm partial to the wintergreen, but they're all delicious.

 

The canes also come in raspberry and root beer flavors. I haven't tried those. Yet.

In this day and age, when you can pick up a box of dozen candy canes for $1 or less at Walgreens or Wal-Mart, candy-making the way it's done at Hercules is fast becoming a lost art.

Hercules owners Steve and Terry Andrianos twist their candy canes and delicate, brightly colored ribbon candy the old-fashioned way: by hand.

 

No machinery, other than a stove, is used to make their chocolates, filled chocolates, chocolate-covered potato chips, peanut brittle, mint bark and other specialties. Chocolate and other ingredients are purchased directly from the producer. Nuts are roasted on site.

White chocolate and milk chocolate Rudolphs, $2.99 each, with red nose, of course.

The couple are the third generation of the Andrianos family to make candy in East Syracuse. The shop was originally on West Manlius Street, the main drag, but moved to the family home on West Heman Street during the Great Depression.

Steve Andrianos started making candy when he was 12, learning from his parents and grandfather, and always dreamed of running the business. He has done so since 1977, and turned it into a year-round operation in the late 1980s, thanks to the addition of an air conditioning system.

If you stop in to pick up some candy this holiday season -- and you absolutely positively must -- ask if anyone is making candy. You may be invited downstairs to have a look at works in progress. Group tours are available, but must be arranged in advance.
Filled chocolates, ready to be boxed.

Hercules Candy Co. is at 209 W. Heman St., off Kinne Street, in East Syracuse. From Thanksgiving to Easter, the store is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 463-4339.

 

Make and give: Truffles

 

You might not realize it, but your pantry and refrigerator probably already hold the materials needed for making homemade treats for gift-giving -- like truffles.

All you need is bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, cocoa powder and some time and patience.

Add some smart packaging (in this case, a recycled bonbon liner and gold box that originally housed chocolate temptations from Naked Chocolate Cafe, in Philadelphia) and you've got a couple of gifts or hostess gifts all wrapped up. Don't forget to use some festive ribbons. Start with a basic truffle recipe, and, if you enjoy making them and eating them, graduate to truffles with flavorings (vanilla, almond and other extracts; or spices, like cinnamon and chili powder) and truffles dipped or rolled in melted chocolate (double yum!).

I also recommend a good book on the subject, like "Truffles, 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats,'' by Dede Wilson. It's a slim volume, but loaded with ideas and color photographs that will make you drool. Basic Bittersweet Truffles You will need: About 45 fluted paper cups (optional) 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream 1 pound plus 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped Cocoa powder Place cream in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Remove from heat and sprinkle chocolate into cream. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. The heat should melt the chocolate. Stir gently until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm (4 hours or overnight). To assemble: Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Coat your hands with cocoa powder and roll chocolate into 3/4-inch balls (use a small cookie scoop or a small melon baller for consistent truffle size, if you have either of those gizmos). Place chocolate balls on baking sheet and refrigerate until very firm.

When truffles are firm, sprinkle them more cocoa powder. Tip: Use a sifter to do this, a few truffles at a time, and gently shake off excess cocoa powder.

 

Place truffles in paper cups, if using. Store covered, in the refrigerator, until ready to package them for gifts.

The recipe makes 40 to 45 truffles, depending on size.

Cookie exchange 2009: Postscript

We came, we ate, we chatted, we swapped cookies.

The pile on this year's cookie exchange plate included vanilla bean sugar cookies with chocolate filling, slice and bake butter cookies, toasted sesame seed sugar cookies, cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies, chocolate chunk cookies (with bittersweet and white chocolate) and chewy-crunchy ginger cookies, always one of my favorites.

As if the lure of a cache of three dozen cookies wasn't enough, Barbara poured pear Bellinis, brewed coffee and made a fabulous brunch of quiche Loraine, arugula salad with poached pears, bleu cheese and vinaigrette, homemade sweet rolls and "stretch'' bread from Patisserie, a bakery behind the Sherwood Inn, in Skaneateles. As you begin your holiday baking, here are a couple recipes to consider. Gloria's Cranberry, White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies With Orange Glaze Frosting Adapted from a recipe in The Post-Standard Food section, 2008 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups quick-cooking oats 1 cup butter, softened 1½ cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup raisins 1 cup dried cranberries 1 cup finely chopped walnuts 2 cups white chocolate chips Orange Glaze Frosting (see note): 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar 2 teaspoons orange juice Beat together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well. Scrape bowl to incorporate. Add flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda; mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Roll dough into small balls and place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet, pressing dough balls down to flatten slightly. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are golden. Drizzle glaze on cookies. Makes about 36 cookies. Orange Glaze Frosting: Mix the confectioners’ sugar with the orange juice. If mixture is too thick, add a little more orange juice to make a drizzling consistency. Note: Gloria says the glaze recipe can be cut in half. Maureen's Toasted Sesame Seed Sugar Cookies (Recipe from McCormick spices) 2 and three-quarter cups flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1 and a half cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 jars (1.62 ounces each) toasted sesame seeds (about 1 cup, divided) 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted Mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add sugar; beat until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture and one-quarter cup of the sesame seeds on low speed. Refrigerate dough two hours, or until firm. Shape into one-inch balls. Roll in remaining 3/4 cup sesame seeds. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven 6 to 8 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is set. Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Cookie exchange 2009: Setting the stage

Bake three dozen cookies, drive to Skaneateles with a little snow in the air and come home with three dozen cookies -- six each of six different varieties.

Add a homemade brunch, a festive adult beverage (please?), coffee, great conversation and good laughs, the ogling Mrs. Oodles' vintage holiday decor and, of course, a cookie sampling par excellence and you've got one of the best holiday traditions of them all: the cookie exchange.


Last year's cookies include lemon poppyseed cookies, white chocolate chip cranberry cookies, minty chocolate cookies made with Andes candies, chocolate mint brownies and more.

I don't know who cooked up this delicious and merry activity, but she (he? doesn't seem likely) deserves an entry in Webster's dictionary -- or an extended blurb in "The Food Lover's Companion.''

A group of "girls" from the newspaper (now most of us formerly associated with the newspaper) have been doing a cookie exchange each December for 15 years or more. So many holiday seasons now, I've lost count.

Maybe Lillian knows exactly how many. I'll ask her tomorrow.

We take turns hosting, usually for lunch or brunch. And cookies.

Frosted cookies, rolled cookies, refrigerator cookies, pinwheel cookies, Italian cookies, Swedish cookies and good old-fashioned favorites, like gingersnaps. We don't confer on what we'll be making. We just show up with 36 cookies and come home with 36 cookies. Six kinds of cookies, each as unique as the person who made them.

A treasured resource for cookie inspiration, "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book.''

After a cookie disaster last year that turned into a waste of flour, sugar, eggs, a half pound of butter and a cup of toasted hazelnuts, I've opted this year to stick with a basic, slice-and-bake butter cookie, gussied up with decorative sugars, pecan halves and slivered almonds.

The recipe calls for Kerrygold Irish butter, which I am now completely in love with. It is light gold in color, as its name suggests, and wickedly rich and creamy. European butters are higher in fat, wouldn't you know, but I'm not going to worry about that right now.

Fiddle-dee-dee.  I'm just happy with the way the cookies turned out -- and how they taste.

I love slice-and-bake cookies because they can be made in stages, stashed in the fridge (or freezer, if you like) and baked when you're ready. I made two batches of the recipe below, one using the vanilla extract called, for the other using almond and anise extracts.

The almond version of the Kerrygold cookie recipe.

Before baking, the cookie rolls are brushed with egg white, rolled in coarse sugar and returned to the fridge briefly before slicing and baking. The almond version of the cookies are garnished with slivered almonds. The original version are garnished with pecan halves.

I used a blend of coarse colored sugars (red, white and green) but any large-grained sugar, sometimes called sanding sugar, will do.


Three dozen cookies, six for each cookie-rama attendee, bagged and ready to go.

Enjoy this recipe, and come back for more. I'll be posting more about cookies in the weeks and days leading up to Christmas, and will follow up next week with photos, memories and recipes from the exchange.

Happy baking!

Elinor Klivans’ Slice and Bake Butter Cookies

(Pastry chef and cookbook author Elinor Klivans developed this recipe using Kerrygold Irish Butter for Kerrygold and the Irish Dairy Board. I clipped the recipe from an advertising supplement in Gourmet magazine several years ago.)

You will need:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 package (8 ounces or 1 cup) salted Kerrygold Irish butter, at room temperature)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond extract)

1 large egg white

1/3 cup coarse (sanding) sugar crystals for rolling the cookie log (colored or not)

Pecan halves, walnut halves or slivered almonds

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl and set aside. In large bowl beat butter and sugar until lightened in color and fluffy, using an electric mixer on medium speed, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour mixture, mixing on low speed just until flour is incorporated and soft, smooth dough forms.

Divide dough into 2 pieces; form each into a log about 7½ inches long and 1½ inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about 1 hour until cold and firm, or overnight. Or freeze, wrapped securely, for up to 1 month. (Defrost in the refrigerator before slicing and baking.)

Position rack in middle of oven. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In small bowl, use fork to beat egg white until foamy, about 30 seconds. Use pastry brush to brush each log with egg white. Sprinkle the 1/3 cup sugar on strip of wax paper then roll each log back and forth in sugar to coat lightly. Return the logs to the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes.

Use a large sharp knife to cut each log into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Press nut half into each cookie before baking, if desired.

Bake one sheet at a time until cookie edges and bottoms are light brown, about 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 3 days. Makes 60 cookies.

Favorite things: Creme fraiche

What's in that Jadite bowl?

It looks like thickened heavy cream, and it is, but with a tangy twist.

It's creme fraiche, one of our favorite things to have on hand in the refrigerator.

Creme fraiche can be used as a garnish for soups and as a topping for baked potatoes. You can spoon it on fruits, like berries. It has a rich and creamy consistency, and it won't break down if you stir it into sauces.

I've read that you can use it as a filling for crepes, dollop it on pancakes and waffles and stir it into salad dressings, but I've never tried it in any of those ways. I do know it works well on warm scones, along with a smear of jam.

Mostly, we use it as a garnish for pureed soups -- both for eye appeal and flavor. 

You can spend a lot of money for a teeny-tiny jar of imported creme fraiche at Wegmans. You'll find it in the gourmet section, alongside the European butters and cheeses.

We bought it once, until we got smart and decided to make our own.

"The Food Lover's Companion'' suggests making creme fraiche by combining one cup heavy cream and two tablespoons buttermilk in a glass container and letting it sit, at room temperature, until thickened. In winter (and in our drafty house!) this can take up to 24 hours. Refrigerate the creme fraiche and it thickens further and will keep for maybe 5 days.

Lately, we've been making creme fraiche with one part (1 cup or half a cup) heavy cream and one part (1 cup or half a cup) of sour cream, which, unlike buttermilk, we tend to always have on hand.

Combine the cream and sour cream in a glass bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until very thick. This can take several hours or many hours (overnight). When thickened, give it a stir and transfer it to a jar with a lid and refrigerate.

Creme fraiche seems to get a little more tangy as it ages. The last time we made it with heavy cream and sour cream, it stayed thick and fresh for more than a week.

That's a great rate of return for not very much work.