Maraschino Snowball Cookies

They say it is all about quality ingredients.  When I think of all the different things I have bought and ordered for the sake of creating something in the kitchen, there is a lot of unique as well as imported ingredients I can recall.  There is probably a blogger in another country that has the same situation.  The grass is always greener so we find ourselves coveting ingredients from another country who regards that ingredient as commonplace.

This particular recipe requires maraschino cherries which are imported from Italy.  I have made cookies before with maraschino cherries, called Cherry Bon Bon Cookies.  Between the two, I prefer this recipe over that.  This recipe has the added flavor of almond but the vast difference in the maraschino cherries is what won me over. The cherries in the US are more of a neon color and are stored in a watery liquid.  The Luxardo ones are black and packed in a syrup. The cherries taste much sweeter and stronger, which melds nicely with almond flavor of the cookie. I am hooked, so there are no plans to go back the red neon maraschinos that are so easy to find in the states.

I am adding this one to my holiday cookie recipes. Below you will find the original recipe as well as the tips and notes.  This recipe makes 2-2 1/2 dozen.

Maraschino Snowballs
adapted from Elizabeth Morris via Saveur Magazine

Ingredients
1 egg 
1 cup or 2 sticks of butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup or about 30 pitted Luxardo cherries, drained
1/2 cup almond paste
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups white sparkling sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and powdered sugar.  Add the almond paste, vanilla extract and egg.  Beat until all is blended and batter is fluffy.  Set aside.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder in another bowl.  Add 1/3 of sifted ingredients to butter mixture and mix in with wooden spoon.  Repeat the process two more times until all the dry ingredients are mixed into the batter.  The end result is cookie dough that should easily clump together with your hand.

Separate the dough into 30 pieces.  Center one cherry inside each piece of dough and form into a ball. Roll each cookie in the sparkling sugar and place 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Cookies will toast on the bottom and the edges will turn golden when done.

Remove and let cool on pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool.

Notes and Tips:
1.  For less leftover ingredients, I doubled the recipe so my can of almond paste would be used as well as the complete jar of Luxardo cherries.
2. The amount of decorative sugar used application is based on preference and method.  In doubling the recipe and keeping about 3 tbs or less in a shallow bowl at any time for rolling only required 1 cup of sparkling sugar.  However, more of the sugar will increase the crunch and sparkle to your cookies.
3. These are a crumbly cookie so they should be bite sized.  They are best eaten by popping a whole one into your mouth.
4. For more color to your cookies, try colored sugar or drops of food coloring to the batter.
5. Amazon.com was the resource for the Luxardo Cherries
                                 **2 YEARS AGO: Hendrix Pie**   

Cherry Ripe Cake

This is a recipe I have had tucked away for awhile.  I do like chocolate covered cherries and this is about as close as you can get to finding all that flavor in the form of a cake.

Between the big flavor and the wonderful texture, this is one is not easily forgotten about.  The great texture can be attributed to the coconut milk and vegetable oil. There is no butter in the cake.  Even a small slice can satisfy, with a hefty amount of cocoa laced with with cherry brandy, chunks of glace cherries and sweet coconut.  These same flavors are part of the assembly as well. Chocolate ganache covers the top and sides of cake while the other flavors make up a buttercream filling that sandwich the two layers together.

There are a lot of people employed where I work and it is good that there was more than enough cake for our department.  There were some intent stares from not in the department when this cake was being sliced so I could not help to offer them a piece!

Cherry Ripe Cake
adapted from Ledelicieux 

Ingredients/Cake
1 3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup cherry brandy
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
200 grams or about 1 cup chopped glace cherries

Ingredients/Buttercream Filling
125 grams or about 1/2 cup butter
2 tsp cherry brandy
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
200 grams or about 1 cup chopped glace cherries
red food coloring (optional)

Ingredients /Chocolate Ganache
1 tbs cherry brandy
300 grams or about 1 3/4 cups chopped chocolate
1 cup heavy cream

Additional topping (optional)
1 cherry ripe chocolate bar, chopped
fresh cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare two 8" round cake pans by buttering the interior and lining the bottom with parchment paper and buttering the face up side of the parchment..

For the cake, place the eggs in a small bowl and whisk until whites are completely blended with yolks. Then stir in the cherry brandy, oil, vanilla extract and coconut milk. Set mixture aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then mix in the sugar.  Turn the mixer on low speed and let run while slowly adding the wet mixture in 1/4 cup increments, scraping down the sides of bowl between each addition.  Lastly, add the coconut and the glace cherries, all while continuing to let the mixer run on low speed. 

Once all is evenly distributed into the batter, pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans.   Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean.  Baking time should range between 35 to 40 minutes. The cakes should cool in the pans for 30 minutes and then transferred to a rack to finish cooling.

Start making the filling by beating the butter until light and smooth.  Then sift the powdered sugar into the same bowl and beat until mixture is fluffy and light.  If using the food coloring, add it and beat until icing has an even color with no streaks.  Lastly, stir in the cherry brandy and fold in the glace cherries and coconut. 

Remove the parchment from the cake. Place one cake layer on a cake stand. Place parchment or wax paper all around the split between the cake and the plate.  Then smooth the filling over the the top of one of the cake layers and stack the other cake layer on top. 

Place the chocolate and cream into a small saucepan over low heat.  Once it is all melted and smooth, stir in the cherry brandy.   Let ganache cool for about 5 minutes  Pour ganache over the center of the cake, letting it fan outward and drip down sides of the cake.  Use a spatula to even out the ganache on the top and sides of the cake.  Once the ganache is set, remove the wax paper from between the cake plate and cake.

To decorate further, recipe suggests to use fresh cherries on top or chopped cherry ripe chocolate bars.
                                   **LAST YEAR: Ginny Bee Bkfst Cake**

Cupids Frozen Potion

You know, I thought that chocolate covered cherries were the favorite around Valentines.  However, since I had a hard time finding them, I am wondering if my thoughts are a little "old school"!  Anyhow, I consider them one of my favorites, so I went ahead and made this frozen treat.  Not only does it have chocolate covered cherries, the ice cream is laden with cherry brandy.   Also, I did not think that cupids potion would not look right with a plain cone, so I melted a king size Nestle crunch bar and dipped it!

I did start off with some props for this picture, but it did not come together as hoped. However, I have not given up, so they are bound to show up in another post.  This goes back to that picture in your mind vs actual-some day those two will come together identically, but not today.  Anyhow, the recipe is below and it is for 4 servings.

Cupids Frozen Potion
by flourtrader

Ingredients
2 egg yolks (room temp)
1 cup of whipping cream
1/3 cup of sugar
5 or more chocolate covered cherries
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs cherry brandy (I used Kirsch)
2 tbs water
pinch of salt
4 ice cream cones
2 king size Nestle crunch bars

Place your chocolate covered cherries in the freezer for about 2 hours.  You want them easy enough to chop but not runny.  Remove candies and chop.  Place in a small bowl, cover and put back in freezer.

Take your whipping cream and put in the freezer also for about 15 minutes or long enough to form an icy edge.  Remove from freezer and beat at low speed for 30 seconds.  Then cover and place in fridge.

In a medium size mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, salt, egg yolks, water and vanilla extract.  Place bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Beat the mixture as it cooks, scraping down sides occasionally. I used a hand mixer to beat. The mixture should thicken and become very pale.

Then take mixing bowl away from heat and beat until the mixture cools.  For this process I used my big Kitchenaid mixer.   Once cool, stir in about 1/3 of the whipping cream until blended.  Then fold in the rest of the whipped cream and brandy.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and follow manufacturers instructions.  Empty ice cream into a container, cover and let freeze for 2 hours.  Then fold in the chocolate covered cherries, making sure they are evenly distributed.  Cover and return to freezer until desired consistency is met.  I froze mine overnight.

For the chocolate cones, chop the candy bars and melt in a double boiler.  Then  place a piece of wax paper on a baking sheet.  Also, clear off a place in the fridge for the sheet.  Once the candy bars are melted, dip and scoop up coating with the cone, coating the top edge.  Also make sure that you are not filling the inside.  Place upside down on wax paper and place in fridge for about 10 minutes.  To get a thick coating, you may have to dip the cones more than once. 
                           **LAST YEAR:Chocolate Cherry Fruitcake**

Bon Bon Cookies

Well, I have been looking at a lot of Christmas cookie recipes trying to find something tasty as well as festive.  If you are familiar with my blog, you will know that I like cherries.  I have done quite a number of baked goods with that flavor/fruit.

This recipe has been around for some time.  In fact, it was one of the Betty Crocker's favorite cookie between 1955-1960.  This recipe comes from that red Betty Crocker cookbook that was published in 1963.  There are are lot of great recipes in this book, some old standards and some I have never seen made before.

These little bon bons are a great cookie that lends themselves to a variety of ways to make them.  The above type is the plain vanilla ones filled with a candied cherry.  The recipe has instructions to make chocolate and even penuche ones and suggests various fillings: nuts, dates, chocolate pieces.  However, with todays array of chips,candy pieces and sugared nuts, the options are many.  I am thinking that the chocolate ones could be filled with a peanut butter chip or andes mint chips. I do have plans to play with the variety a little more.

These basically taste the same as any of the butter/powder sugar cookie recipes.  They are not as rich and crumbly as Russian tea cakes, so the sweet filling inside adds just what the dough needs.

I did try the chocolate ones, but they do not come out very pretty.  Be aware that they are a light milky brown, not a rich brownie color.  However, the dark chocolate icing does dress them up a little.

These are easy to prepare and the recipe does not make that many, therefore you can easily make several varieties without having to burn the midnight oil. This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.


Bon Bon Cookies
adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookie Book

Ingredients/Cookie
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/8 tsp of salt
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 pieces of your choice of filling (nits, chocolate, candied cherry, dates..etc)
food coloring (optional)

Ingredients/Icing
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 tbs and 1 1/2 tsp of heavy cream
1 tsp of vanilla
food coloring (optional)
decorative topping (sprinkles, colored sugar, nuts, etc)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together flour and salt, set aside.  In another bowl, cream together the butter, vanilla extract, powdered sugar and, if desired, 2 drops of food coloring or more depending on your preference.

With a wooden spoon, stir the flour mixture into the batter.  If dough is too dry add cream until desired consistency is achieved.   Then evenly divide dough into 24 pieces.  Take each piece and surround 1 piece of the chosen filling, rolling it into a ball.  Place on ungreased baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart.  Bake until set, but not brown.  This should take about 12-15 minutes.

Remove baking sheet and transfer to rack to cool.  While these are cooling, you can make the icing.  Place all icing ingredients in a small bowl and mix until smooth and all is evenly distributed.

Once cookies have cooled, dips tops in icing and sprinkle top with chosen decorations.

For cookie variations:
Chocolate-melt 1 oz of unsweetened chocolate in double boiler and follow the above directions, adding the chocolate after butter and sugar are creamed together.

Penuche-follow directions for regular cookies above, only replace the confectioners sugar with 1/2 cup packed brown sugar.

For chocolate icing variation:  follow instructions for icing above, but add 1 oz melted unsweetened chocolate and use a total of 3 tbs of cream instead of the amount originally stated.

                                   **LAST YEAR: Frangelico Ice Cream**

Dark Essence Cake

Before we get into the whole description on the flavor of this cake, let me clarify two things.  First, this cake does have a lot of sugar in it to offset its tartness.  Second, it has to be baked low and slow to retain the flavor-that means about 2 hours baking time.

Now I will further describe the cake.  The dark essence name stems from the fact that this cake has 100% pure concentrated black cherry juice in it.  So concentrated that 2 tbs and a lot of water makes up 8 oz ounces of regular juice.  If you love the deep flavor of black cherries, then you will definitely enjoy this cake-a whopping 2 cups of the black cherry concentrate is in this cake.

I did not want this cake tasting like one of those cheap hard candy suckers, nor did I want the cherry flavor fizzling out in the midst of the cake baking.  The use of the concentrate worked out as expected. The cake has such an intense earthy flavor that it lingers on your palate.  Also, the aroma of the cake is enough to entice everyone into the kitchen.

The inside is quite moist and rich, but the outside turned out rather toasty.  It is best sliced thin and served with cream anglaise or whipped cream.  I would have cut the cake so you could see the texture inside, except it was slated as a donation.  I wish I had taken a picture of the inside of the  cupcake I made to sample the taste. However,  I did not think of the picture until it was too late.

Dark Essence Cake
by flourtrader


Ingredients
1 tbs vegetable oil
6 eggs
2 cups concentrated 100% black cherry juice
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups packed light brown sugar
5 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks of butter (room temp)
confectioners sugar (optional for dusting)

Prepare a 10 inch tube pan by generously greasing and lightly dusting the inside with flour.  Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In one bowl mix the two sugars together.  Then, in a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light and fluffy.  If using a whisk to beat by hand, this should take about 5 minutes.  Using an electric mixer should take about 2 minutes.  Then stir in the vegetable oil.

The third bowl should be filled with the butter.  Cream the butter with half of the sugar mixture, beating until smooth.  The other half of the sugar mixture should be stirred into the beaten eggs.

Add the egg mixture to the butter/sugar mix and stir until all is blended together.  Using a wooden spoon fold in 2 3/4 cup of flour to the batter.  Once there are no dry streaks, pour in 1 cup of the juice and mix until smooth.  Repeat process by adding the rest of the flour, mixing and then stirring in the last of the juice.

One the ingredients are completely mixed together, spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth out the surface.  Place cake in the preheated oven and set the timer for 2 hours.  After two hours, check for doneness using a tester.  If not done, place back in oven and check every 5 minutes with tester.  Baking time can range from 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Remove pan and cool for about 30 minutes.  During this time cake should pull away from the sides.
Invert cake onto rack to finish cooling.  Once completely cooled, you can dust with confectioners sugar.  This cake is best served in thin slices with creme anglaise spooned over the top.

Also, if you are looking for some unique oatmeal cookie recipes, check my last years post on the link below.  It has a link to a blogger dedicated to only making oatmeal cookies.  On August 17th he did an updated list by recipe name links and the list is huge!
 
                         **LAST YEAR: Filled Oatmeal Cookies/Golden Girls**

Cherry Karma Cake

I feel that karma is something that may start with the perception of an event.  Based on that perception, you execute a decision to act based on that.  For instance, if your horoscope states that you will have a bad day, you may stay at home based on that information.  Also, you program yourself to have a bad day and events follow as a result of the thought.

I wish you all to have good karma for this long holiday weekend. Try to clear your mind of all negative thoughts, focus on the positive and react to your surroundings accordingly.  In doing so, your weekend with family and friends will be fun and memorable.

Regarding the cake recipe, I have experimented with baking this in a springform pan and a 9X13 pan.  The 9X13 had the best results.  It is a careful process to layer the berries over the batter.  Also, there is some difficulty in baking due to the high amount of liquid caused by the cherry layer.

Cherry Karma Cake
by flourtrader 

Ingredients
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup maraschino cherry juice
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup oil
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 19 oz can cherry pie filling

Prepare a 9X13 size pan by greasing all the insides.  Line the bottom and the 13 inch sides with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on each long side.  Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Then make a large well in the center, set aside.

In a medium size bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the oil, maraschino cherry juice, sugar and both extracts.   When the batter is blended, stir in the eggs until the mixture is smooth.  Then mix 1/3 of this batter into the dry ingredients.  Continue this process in 2 more increments.

After all the items are blended pour, 3/4 of the batter into the pan.  Then open the can of filling and spoon on top of the batter, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges.  Spoon the rest of the batter over the top of the filling, making sure that all is covered.

Place in oven and cook for 55 minutes.  Remove and cover top of cake with foil and bake for another 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, take out cake and see if it is set on top.  Center should not joggle when pan is tilted.  If so place pan back in oven covered and baking at 5 minute intervals until it is done or completely set.

Remove from pan and let cool for 30 minutes.  Then run a knife around the edges and lift cake out of pan using parchment handles.  Place on rack to completely cool.  Once cool, cut and serve.  You can add whipped cream for an extra touch. Enjoy!