Ho Ho Ho (part I)

So every year Mr. Tana-Licious' family does a big cookie swap... this year there are 10 lovely ladies involved which means 10 dozen cookies to share & I get to bring 10 dozen different ones. Not so shabby :)

I picked up a magazine at Lowe's last week titled "Holiday Cookies" by Cuisine at Home because the front cover had this adorable little cookie on it with holly decoration! I flipped open the magazine and found them... Eggnog Tea Cookies with Butter Rum Icing. I was instantly sold!!

So I took on the challenge of baking all 10 dozen this am and just finished the decorating. I'm really pleased with how they turned out... and I was shocked that there recipe does not call for actual eggnog! Just lots of nutmeg and then the rum in the glaze. Needless to say, one bite proved that they are very eggnog-y and very yummy!

My next baking endeavor will be Smores Bars from this same book... That's going to be my Mom's contribution to the cookie swap and as the resident baker of the house, I'm more than willing to help out!

Enjoy :)

Eggnog Tea Cookies with Butter Rum Icing




Cookies
2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Stir flour, nutmeg, and salt together in a bowl; set aside.
Cream the 2 sticks of butter with the granulated sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until just incorporated.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until blended.
Cover and chill dough for at least one hour (up to 24 hours).
Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls (use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon) and arrange onto a parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until firm to the touch and light brown on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.



Icing
2 C powdered sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp. rum extract or light rum

Blend powdered sugar, 2 tbsp. of butter, and rum together using a mixer.
Frost cooled cookies then decorate however you'd like.
Allow icing to harden before packaging.

Carrots are good for your vision...

... even if they are drenched in cream cheese icing!

So Saturday was my Dad's birthday and the man loves carrot cake. I decided that I would attempt my first home made carrot cake! The reaction of the birthday boy was simple... "yummm" :)

I found this recipe on the food blog titled "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" and made some simple changes to it to make it more spicy (I'm in love with my trifecta of fall spices... clove, cinnamon, nutmeg!). This makes a massive amount of cake! I ended up baking it in 8" x 3" pans & spliiting the cake to make a pretty 4 later cake! I did, however, double the frosting recipe (and is noted below) I used because let's be honest, who doesn't love gobs of cream cheese frosting?!

Enjoy :)


Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Walnut Frosting


Cake:
4 cups sugar
2 cup vegetable oil
8 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups grated carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Add carrots and mix well. Fold in coconut & raisins. Pour into a greased pan and bake until done, 25 to 50 minutes,
depending on the pan you use for 30-60 minutes (I used 8"x3" pans and it took 55 minutes to bake). Cool completely.


Icing:
2 sticks regular butter, softened
2 packages (16 ounces) cream cheese
2 pounds powdered sugar
2 cups pecans, chopped finely
4 teaspoons vanilla

In large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in the nuts. Spread on cooled carrot cake.


Happy Birthday Dad!

Birthdays are a labor of love!

So last month I decided that I would tackle the challenge of making Mr. Tana-Licious' birthday cake. I knew that I wanted to use fondant in some form... and that my darling fiance loves cream cheese icing & cinnamon. How to incorporate all 3 became my challenge... and I knew that I wanted to do it mostly all from scratch!

I found a recipe on Food Network for a Spicey Cinnamon cake (courtesy of Paula Deen!) and decided that that would be a solid base... and with a few tweaks I could make it work. Then, I took a classic buttercream recipe & adapted it to make it into a cream cheese frosting.

The result? Heavenly! The cake was moist & delicious and the frosting was soooo good... the cream cheese really works with the buttercream to give that sweet, but not too sweet taste.

Here are the recipes... I'll post pics after the recipes! Remember: the recipes have been tripled from their original amounts due to the amount of cake I was making! Enjoy :)

Cinnamon Swirl Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


Cinnamon Swirl Birthday Cake
(adapted from Paula Deen’s Spicy Cinnamon Cake)
*Note: this recipe makes a 2 tiered cake (10” & 8”)

3 packages white cake mix
3 4-serving packages of instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups of sour cream
12 eggs
1 ½ C corn oil
7/8 C + 1 T of sugar
2 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease cake pans.

Combine cake mix, instant pudding, sour cream, eggs, and corn oil and beat together well.

In a separate bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.

Pour 3 C batter into prepared pan # 1 and sprinkle with half of sugar mixture. Pour another 3 C of batter on top.

Pour 1 ½ C of batter into prepared pan # 2 and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Pour remaining 1 ½ C of batter on top.

Bake 1 hour. Let cool and remove from pans.



Cream Cheese Frosting
*Note: this recipe has been tripled to frost a 2 tiered cake*

3 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
1 C + 2 T of shortening
9 C powdered sugar
3 dashes of salt
¾ C of milk
3 t of vanilla
3 T of meringue powder

Cream shortening, cream cheese, milk, vanilla.

Add salt & mix.

Beat in sugar & meringue until desired consistency has been reached.


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Now for photos...


The cake!!!


All lit up! Sparkler candles!


The inside... loved that swirl!