Three awesome holiday desserts

Yesterday was the perfect Saturday.  It was snowing, I had a fire going, and I baked all day.  I was making bite-sized desserts for a party, all recipes I have never tried before.  Some how they all turned out great.  I did a nut, a sour fruit, and the most deadly of chocolate.  I cut the bar and brownies into 2 inch squares and arranged everything on a big silver platter.  There was a little something for every palate.

Pecan Tassies
Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

(Dough)

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt

(Filling)

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the dough: Process pecans in a food processor until finely ground (you should have about 1/3 cup); set aside. Put cream cheese and butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until well blended. Add flour, ground pecans, and salt; mix just until dough comes together.

Roll dough into sixteen 1-inch balls, and press into bottoms and up sides of cups of mini-muffin tins.  You may need to use some flour on your hands to stop it from sticking to you.  Keep tart shells in the fridge while making the filling.

Make the filling: Whisk the egg, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt in a small bowl. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons filling into each muffin cup.

Bake pecan tassies until crust begins to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely in tins on wire rack. Unmold. Pecan tassies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers up to 3 days.

Lemon Bars

Recipe courtesy of Recipe Connoisseur

Ingredients:

(Crust)

• ½ pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ⅛ tsp. salt

(Filling)

• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 2½ tablespoons grated lemon zest, packed
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and with mixer on low, add to sugar mixture until just combined. Gather dough into a ball and press into a 9 X 13 inch pan, pressing the edges up the sides about a ½ inch. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes.
Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, until edges start to brown. Let cool while making filling.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling is set. Cool to room temperature before slicing.

Flourless Dark Chocolate Brownies with Queen Mother Icing

Recipe courtesy of Yammie's Gluten Freedom

Ingredients:  

(Brownies)

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup special dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

(Queen Mother Ganache)

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tsp instant coffee
• 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 2/3 cups)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Combine the sugars and oil and beat until well combined. Add in the eggs and whisk together. Mix the vanilla and instant coffee together until the coffee powder is dissolved and add to the egg/sugar/oil mixture. Beat for about two minutes. Stir together the cocoa and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake about 20 minutes.

While the brownies are cooling, make the queen mother ganache.  Heat the cream in a sauce pan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge.  Whisk in instant coffee until dissolved, then add in chocolate and whisk about 30 seconds.  Now remove from the heat and continue to whisk until ganache is completely smooth.  Pour ganache over brownies and put in the freezer for about a half hour.  You want them to be chilled and set enough to cut without the knife catching in the chocolate.  The brownies are really moist and crumbly, and the ganache becomes like fudge so it wants to stick on the knife.  While you are cutting, keep wiping off the knife of excess chocolate to get a clean cut.  

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Coconut Oat Cookies

I knew I was going to see my friend Maya tonight so I searched gluten-free cookie recipes on food gawker (basically just like taste spotting) and came up with a few interesting returns. I liked the looks of this recipe because it uses generic gluten-free flour (which I buy in bulk from the Co-op) and oat flour which I can make in the food processor. However it calls for Xantham Gum and Gwar Gum but I read that you can just sub ground flax seed so I did. I added the chocolate chips to make this the best gluten-free cookie that I have made to date.

1 cup all purpose gluten free flour (like Bob’s Red Mill Brand)
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 tsp ground flax seed
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup oats
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Measure out the flours, coconut, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices into a bowl and whisk to incorporate.
2. In a separate bowl cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet, then stir in the oats and chocolate.
4. Scoop 2 tbsp-sized balls using a spoon, form into balls, flatten slightly and place on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. You may need to slightly flatten out the cookies before baking to avoid weird shapes because the oat flour is so dense that it doesn't melt into a perfectly shaped cookie like regular AP flour.

The cookies are done when they have a nice brown color and are set to the touch, they will bake more on the sheet once you pull them out of the oven so don't overdo it in the oven.