SalleeShares-Holiday Baking Championship

2013 Mini Snowman Cake by Sallee Bonham 

#BakingChampionship

Anticipation! (sing song voice) I have been anticipating the first episode of Holiday Baking Championship with host Bobby Deen since I saw the first preview and set the DVR to record the series.

Baking is my thing! You know that because you have seen the pics of my holiday cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. 

The Prize Holiday Baking Championship's grand prize is $50,000 and the title, "Holiday Baking Champion."

The Judges
The eight competing bakers met the judges Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes, Nancy Fuller of Farmhouse Rules, and Lorraine Pascal, fashion model and TV cook.

Heat One
Bobby Deen introduced the first sixty minute heat of "Holiday Cookie Madness."
First, each baker unwrapped a Christmas present containing a cooking tool that determined what type of cookie they had to bake:

• a spatula for layered cookies
• a French rolling pin for rolled cookies 
• a cookie press for spritz cookies
• a scoop for drop cookies

Then, the holiday bakers began creating Christmas cookies, or as Bobby Deen said,"The cookie beast has been awakened!"

Struggling to Bake
At the end of the sixty minute heat, two of the bakers, Stephanie Hart and Terra Nelson, were obviously behind the other six contestants. 

Stephanie stated that she was a cake girl and only baked one cookie. 

Terra struggled with timing. Even using the blast chiller, her HOT layered cookies were difficult to put together with bourbon cream. Yes, bourbon cream! 

Organized and Talented
Even before the judging began, I could tell who was going to be in the lead. Some people just have a knack for being organized and quick, not one wasted movement in the kitchen. I am NOT one of those people and admire the skill.

Erin, Bill, Dante, Punky, David, and Naylet were a joy to watch in the kitchen as they created their version of layered, rolled, spritz, or drop cookies.

First Heat Results
Erin Campbell won the first heat. Her advantage in the main heat was free range of the pantry to pick a substitute ingredient of her choice.

Main Heat Challenge
Contestants must bake 3 different cookies, one dozen of each, within ninety minutes AND use three ingredients. Sounds a bit like the dessert version of Chopped!

And the Ingredients Are...

1. Bittersweet Chocolate
2. Fresh Oranges
3. Toffee Bits

Smart girl Erin used her first heat advantage to substitute peppermint candy for the fresh oranges. The contestants instantly began planning the three cookies they wanted to prepare. 

Surprise!Host Bobby Deen had a surprise ingredient for all of the bakers to use, raspberry jam. Seriously, this reminded me of the Chairman's Culinary Surprise on ICA. 
However, not one contestant seemed to be thrown off by this addition. All of them knew where and how they would use the raspberry jam. 

Flavor Combos
I loved the flavor combinations chosen by the contestants. 

• orange ginger - Bill, Stephanie
• bittersweet chocolate and coffee - Bill
• orange hazelnut with raspberry- David
• coffee toffee- David
• orange rosemary- Naylet
• pumpkin toffee creme brulee - Erin
• chocolate raspberry - Dante, Naylet, Erin, Stephanie
• orange nut - Dante
• pistachio orange - Terra
• toffee cinnamon - Terra
• raspberry orange - Punky
• toffee cherry - Naylet
• peppermint hot chocolate - Erin

Mmmmm....makes my mouth water just reading through those flavor combos.

And the Judges Said...
The top bakers were:

• Erin
• Bill
• Naylet - Home baker Naylet won the first holiday bake off! Woohoo Naylet! 

Struggling Bakers

• Stephanie - cake like cookies. Great taste. Duff admired the fact she didn't have a recipe and baked three tasty cookie. However, they were too spongy. Stephanie was chosen to go home.
• Terra - She was slammed by the judges for her madeleine cookie. All three judges agreed that it was the texture of sponge cake. 

Safe Bakers

David, Dante, and Punky

I cannot wait to watch the seven bakers on the next episode,"Classic Holiday Flavors."

Cookies I Am Not Familiar With

Mandelbrot 
According to Tori Avey, "Mandelbrot cookies are an Ashkenazi Jewish dessert dating back to the early nineteenth century. Mandelbrot are closely related to the Italian cookies known as biscotti, which were first made in the Middle Ages. The word mandelbrot means almond (mandel) and bread (brot) in both German and Yiddish."

Rugelach  

The wiseGeek shares this information,"Rugelach is a Jewish pastry originating in Ashkenazy, or European Jewish, culture. It has many alternative spellings, including rugelakh, rugulach, rugalach, ruggalach, and rogelach in the plural, and rugalah and rugala in the singular. The pastry is also sometimes referred to as a butter horn, nut horn, or cream cheese cookie in the United States."

Banana Cranberry Oat Muffins

Tangy cranberries, tropical bananas, aromatic warmth from a nutmeg/cinnamon blend, and hints of salty sweet oats make this muffin a pleasure to eat for breakfast.

Yield: One Dozen

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup frozen fresh cranberries, chopped

I buy a bag of fresh cranberries and place the bag in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator.

• 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• Pan coat spray, or shortening

NOTE: You may use self-rising flour in this recipe. However, do not add baking powder or salt if you use self-rising flour.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
• Mash two or three ripe bananas in a small bowl and set aside

• Put one cup of frozen cranberries into a mini-food chopper, or food processor. Pulse until the cranberries are in small pieces. Remove the chopper or processor container and place it in the freezer until you are ready to add the cranberries. Do not let the cranberries thaw.
• Crack egg into your quart or quart and a half bowl.
• Add milk and oil to the bowl and beat until mixed will.

• Add the dry ingredients and stir with a large mixing spoon until the ingredients are barely blended. The batter will be thick. Do not add any more liquid to the batter.
• Add the mashed bananas and chopped cranberries to the bowl.

• Gently fold the fruit into the batter with the large mixing spoon. The batter does not have to be completely smooth. Lumps are okay.
• Lightly spray the inside bottoms of each cupcake pan with pan coat spray, or shortening.
• Using a large mixing/serving spoon, Spoon 1 spoonful of batter into the cupcake pan for each muffin until the batter is gone.

                                                         

• Bake the muffins until they are golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

My muffins bake in 25 minutes. However, my oven is nice and hot when I put the pan into the oven.

• Gently remove each muffin from the pan and cool on a cooling rack. I like to use a tablespoon or soup spoon to remove the muffins.

Now it is time to eat some homemade happiness on a plate!

Baby Bottom Cake Topper for a Baby Shower

Baby bottom cakes are so cute! That round, diaper clad bottom, half hidden by a blanket, with the tiny baby toes and feet peeking out are irresistible.

I couldn't wait to try making a baby bottom cake topper for a coworkers baby shower party. The color scheme was pink and green with a scattering of polka dots. Our cake was semi-homemade because the quarter sheet cake base was from a local supermarket.

Making a cake topper is much easier than making a whole cake. This is my first baby bottom cake. Yep, my very first one. However, the end result was worth the time AND I will be much quicker the second time
However,on this first attempt, I spent about six hours making marshmallow fondant, making marshmallow cereal treats, making frosting, baking a 9" cake round,and assembling the topper.

I watched two tutorials before I attempted making this cake.

1. Fondant baby bottom tutorial.
2. Butter cream frosted tutorial for a baby bottom cake.

To form the baby bottom, legs, and feet, I used warm, marshmallow cereal mixture.  

Baby bottom - A small, two cup bowl is a great mold for shaping the baby bottom. 

Baby Legs and Feet - A 3 1/2 inch cookie cutter helped me to shape the legs and feet.

•  First, I made two circles by packing warm, marshmallow cereal treat mixture into the cookie cutter; one 3/4" thick and one 1/2" inch thick.
•  Next, I cut the 3/4" circle in half and formed two curved "legs." 
• I also cut the 1/2" circle in half and formed the feet from these two pieces.  

Flowers - A scalloped cookie cutter and the open end of a 1M frosting tip cut the shapes for the flowers.

Name Tiles - The open end of a standard frosting tip cut the yellow circles for the name tiles. Piped, butter cream frosting is used for the lettering.

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What I Will Do Differently

1. For a quarter sheet cake, downsize the cake base to eight inches by two inches.
2. Use royal icing instead of butter cream frosting for a base coat on the cereal treat pieces for the bottom, legs, and feet. Butter cream frosting just doesn't dry quickly enough.
3. Make a template for the toes and feet.

These changes will decrease the amount of time I need for the next topper that I make.

Hummus, Love It or Leave It?

Hummus, do you love it or leave it?

For those of you who don't know me well, I work at one of the local elementary schools. 

The sixth grade class has been working on a country project that includes a presentation. 

Believe  it or not, I volunteered to give a three minute presentation on food. Not just any food, but immigrant food that has become popular in America. Now you know where I am going with this blog post don't you? 

Hummus was one of the foods that I picked to prepare and to talk about. 

This recipe has been taste tested by twenty-four, sixth grade students and three coworkers. My taste testers heartily approved this hummus recipe. 

Just in time for the holidays, a crazy good, five ingredient hummus dip. Plus, you can make five ingredient, yogurt flat bread to accompany the dip.

Ingredients

• 30 oz. of cooked chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained and liquid reserved
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. dried cumin
• 4 Tbsp. lemon juice

I bought dried chick peas and cooked them according to the package directions.

Directions

• Put chick peas (garbanzo beans) in your blender container. 
• Add the salt, garlic powder, cumin, and lemon juice. 
• Add 2-4 Tbsp. of reserved bean liquid. 
• Blend until smooth. 
• Taste and add more salt, if necessary. I found 1/2 tsp. to be sufficient.
• Put hummus into a container with a tight fitting lid.
• Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Serve some pantry style flat bread with your hummus!
Five ingredients from your pantry are all you need to make a batch of
 Busy Night Yogurt Flat bread.

Yield: about 1 quart of hummus 
Note: This recipe can be reduced by using half of each ingredient.

Happy Halloween!

Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween!