Week 52: Christmas bakes and New Year's wrap-up

The finished product
For Christmas day, we were once again invited over to Pemberley for dinner and festivities with some good friends and their family. Of course I needed to put together an appropriately festive bake to bring along with me, sub-zero temperatures or not. After making some inquiries, I was informed that the bûche de Noël would most certainly be well received.

I decided to make a tiramisu bûche de Noël recipe that I'd had success with in the past. I really love this recipe because of the flavors, but it's also quite fun to work with the chocolate ganache in order to really create a bark-like appearance. Since I had the day off, and to really make this into a showstopper, I also decided to try my hand at meringue mushrooms for adornment. It was a good thing that I did because the meringue mushrooms were quite the hit. We ran out at the party!

Look at that swirl!
Meringue mushrooms, at attention
Initial prototype
Next up was the final Holiday View n' Bake (no viewing) held on New Year's day. This was originally scheduled for the Friday before Christmas, but because of low attendance rates due to holiday travels, my guests orchestrated a reschedule for New Year's day. There was a time where New Year's day meant rehydration and recovery, but it appears those days are now in the past. No matter, a get-together with friends and little ones was just the ticket for the long weekend.

A pair of holiday stollen!
I kicked things off with a holiday bake that I'd been itching to get under my belt: stollen! I made the marzipan from scratch with a bit of rose water flavoring, too, and lots of lovely bits of fruit and dried citrus peel. I hemmed and hawed about the flour and ultimately decided on a 2:1 ratio of bread flour and all-purpose. I hoped that the addition of the bread flour would create a stronger dough that would ultimately rise more with the yeast. I also made two loaves (rather than one gigantic one). For one of them, I put in a log of the marzipan and for the other one, I put in a thin marzipan swirl as per Paul Hollywood on the Masterclass episode. The loaves were quite dense, but I do think they were successful!

Rugelach
Next up were some riffs on rugelach. One set filled with a bacon pepper jam: half with some chocolate and the other half topped with some pecorino for a savory bite. The other set was filled with some lovely peach preserves, cinnamon chips, and some crushed pistachios. While the recipe stated that the rugelach would keep for several days, I think they truly are best on the day they are baked. Next time, I'll fill in advance and chill, baking on the day of serving.


Since the chocoholic contingent was going to be in attendance, I decided to make a chocolate bundt, as well, lest there be mutiny due to inadequate chocolate supply. There also happened to be some whipping cream leftover in the fridge, so it was really more of a matter of trying to minimize waste. I will say that the whiskey glaze is really quite nice in this combination.
Chocolate whiskey bundt
Finally, I wanted to make the second of the bûche de Noël recipes that I'd earmarked. This one was from the Bake From Scratch cookbook and was a chocolate sponge with chocolate cream filling and topped with a meringue that is then torched to give it a white birch look. I had some serious issues with the sponge (I think it was a tad underdone) that led to some major cracking issues, but that was solved with some chocolate ganache spackle. The meringue took some getting used to, but I was pleased with the initial effort. It seemed pretty apropos to end the project on this new variation of the bûche de Noël.
Chocolate yule log with meringue topping 

And with that, we come to the end of the yearlong GBBS-training regimen. What a year it has been! There were probably more repeat bakes than I'd originally imagined, but that might also be more realistic. After all, if something is really tasty, it would make sense for that recipe to become a go-to in the repertoire. Or, if something really failed, it would likewise make sense to keep at it until success is achieved. I am disappointed that I didn't get further along into the audition process for the baking show, but such is life (and casting for reality TV shows). I'm realizing that there are quite a few disciplines in the world of baking to try and master, and I've really only scratched the tip of the iceberg (not enough laminated doughs, and absolutely no phyllo work, for starters). Certainly, time management is another difficult area to manage. It was quite tricky to allocate adequate time for baking, when juggling things like a work schedule, social life, and exercise/extracurriculars. It takes a reasonable amount of time to research and identify skills/recipes to work on, but I think I was able to stay on target for the majority of the time. All told, I ended the year with 125 bakes. That's a lot of deliciousness, if I do say so myself.

So now, the question is, what's next? For 2018, do I repeat the process or do I tweak things and try something slightly different or totally new? For those of you who are still following along, I am totally open to suggestions.

Comments

yosabrams0918 said…
I’d need to verify with you here. Which isn't one thing I normally do! I enjoy studying a publish that may make individuals think. Additionally, thanks for allowing me to comment! casino games