Holiday Baking Bonanza

I've been gone for a few days, but I have a good reason. Two reasons, actually. The first is that I spent some time in the ER with my husband, who had to go in at 3:30 a.m. last Wednesday with a severe asthma attack. That kind of threw the week out of whack. He is doing better now and we're back on course.

But the main reason I've been absent is because I was working on my holiday cookie trays. It's become a tradition for me to make cookies for my coworkers and friends, the vet, the mailman, sanitation workers, and the list keeps growing every year (there are more doctors every year - bummer).

This year I found a few new recipes to use but of course I can't abandon the tried and true (I've been warned). Last weekend I made 3 batches of my BBB (best baking buddy) Marilyn's Toffee, and some excellent caramels, courtesy of another online baking friend, Pennie. I made two types of cookies the week before and froze them, but the bulk of the project came this weekend. What follows is a blow-by-blow account with photos. I wish I could say I was the author of all the recipes, but alas, I'm much more of a follower than a leader when it comes to baking. I've given credit for all cookies where I remember the source.

On Friday evening I cleaned the kitchen up really good and started my mise en place. That entailed making sure I actually had the nuts, butter,vanilla, flour, sugar, chocolate and ancillary ingredients needed for all recipes. Then on Saturday (after making a run to Circuit City to buy a new computer monitor since ours picked a most inconvenient time to die - grrrrr), the dough making began.

One cannot begin a baking odyssey without the necessary ingredients. The most important (in my opinion) is butter. I go through obscene amounts of butter on a daily basis, and for the holidays I'm even more decadent. Here is but a small part of the close to 20 pounds of butter I go through in my holiday baking and candy making ritual.

I shouted and stomped my feet at the beginning of the session to cause a mass exodus of felines from the kitchen. Then I was able to clean surfaces again and work in peace. My tirade must have been effective because I worked for several hours uninterrupted by the pitter patter of petite paws.

Now that I had all the ingredients out and ready to go, the production began in earnest. I made batch after batch, using my kitchen scale to speed up measuring, and wearing out the old KitchenAid (I mean that in a literal sense. I think I need to take it in for repair). The scope of this project always exceeds the time I have to complete it. I had about 16 recipes on my list, but I only made 12 (in addition to the toffee and caramels). I started out with some icebox cookies (so named because they have to be refrigerated to firm up before baking), Washboards (from Cook's Country) and Poppyseed Spirals (I know not where I got this recipe). Here are two shots: one of the poppyseed mixture spread on the dough before I rolled it into a spiral and another of the washboard logs being formed. After about 4 hours, all the dough (double batches for the most part) was in bowls or logs awaiting baking. Since we had a Christmas party to attend Saturday evening, the baking would have to wait until Sunday.

Bowls of batter (hmmm... according to Michael Ruhlman's The Elements of Cooking, they are actually dough not batter, but batter sounded better) lining the counter, I began the assembly line for baking. I have a double wall oven, one of which is convection. In the convection oven I can do three sheets at a time, but only two in the lower oven. Also, in the lower oven I have to swap out the trays midway through baking so everything bakes more evenly. In the convection oven, I do rotate the trays from back to front because it isn't 100% even, but I can leave them on the same rack.

Here's a shot of the assembly process. I have 8 half-sheet pans, tons of parchment sheets, several cooling racks and some big tubs to store the finished product. The sad thing is I own, and could easily use, a speed rack, which is one of those multi-tiered rolling racks you find in commercial kitchens, but I keep forgetting to get it out of the storage place. It holds more half sheet pans that I would ever use, but I would only use it this time of year so I'm not keen on dragging it out (it's lightweight but hard to move due to its size). I'm saving it for the next kitchen, if ever there is one. The best part is I got it for free. Well, sort of. About one a half years ago, I did some baking for a small coffee shop. I had great dreams about becoming a renowned baker and opening up my own place. To that end, I decided to buy a big oven - a really, really big oven. A local restaurant went under and I placed a bid on a double commercial Blodgett oven. To my surprise, I won the auction. Unfortunately, about 2 months later the coffee shop closed and I am stuck with half a ton of oven that sits in my husband's shop. It's free to a good home if anyone wants it. But you have to move it yourself.

But I digress (no surprise there). Baking continued for about 5 hours, give or take. After putting all of the cooled cookies into containers, I went to bed. The next morning (today), packaging began. The cookies for coworkers were first with the rest to follow in the next day or so (I don't want anyone to eat stale cookies!). This year I am using half-size steam pans from Sam's Club to package the cookies. I can't afford to do pretty boxes for everyone, although my close friends will get beautiful tins.

Here's the finished product. Clockwise in a spiral starting from upper left: Washboards, Peanut Blossoms (Hershey Kiss cookies), Oatmeal Raisin/Date (Cook's Illustrated), Peanut Butter (Cook's Illustrated), more Peanut Blossoms, Chocolate Chip (my adaptation of Mrs. Field's cookies), Cranberry Shortbread, Sesame Rings (from 12 days of Christmas Cookies at Food Network), Date Balls (although the way I make them they are more like Rum Balls), Lemon Cookies (with green sugar edges - Cook's Illustrated), Poppyseed Spirals, Triple Chocolate (from a tub - wait, there's an explanation. I had to buy something from the kid next door for his school project, and this was the least of all evils. Although I will jump off a bridge if everyone says those are their favorites), and Peppermint Bark (Martha Stewart). In the photo below you can see the Mazurkas (upper left - from 12 Days of Cookies - Food Network), which replaced the lemon cookies for that tray. Below that is the product as delivered. Next up - Marshmallows!!

Comments

[Becca Porter]

Darcie, I baked off my first cookie today for my big holiday assortment. I need them on Christmas, so I am not really ready to start yet. I made triple-orange pecan biscotti today though because they are supposed to freeze well.

I can't wait to show all of mine on my blog!

[easy bake]

Darcie, where is your date (or rum) balls from?

Your cookies look wonderful. Oh, and I love the instructions on the punch "drink until stupid". Ah ha.

[ntsc]

Darcie

Were it not for the fact that my floor can't handle a load of more than 600 lbs I would come pick up your oven. And my wife refuses to let me have the garage as a second kitchen or convert the dining room into a walk in.

And I thought my wife was a cookie fanatic. We only ran 16 lbs of butter at Thanksgiving.

[Darcie]

EB, I got the recipe for the date balls off the package of dates! Of course, I added rum to the recipe. It has dates, nuts, butter, brown sugar, and rice krispies. I'll post the recipe tomorrow with measurements. They are pretty tasty and very easy.