Holiday Almanac December 11: Wrapping Gifts & Gingerbread Pumpkin Cupcakes

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

Gingerbread pumpkin cupcake with vanilla buttercream, garnished with a sugared cranberry. 

I love wrapping gifts. I get really sad when I buy something for someone that needs to be put in a bag, or if I can't find a box that fits the thing that I bought, because I seriously enjoy wrapping gifts, especially if I have a whole lot to do. (Fun fact: the first year we were married, I made stocking for Judson and myself. I filled them both and presented them as though Santa had left them... and I was so excited about the goodies inside that I wrapped every single thing in the stockings. Christmas took a long time that year.) Anyway, I find wrapping gifts very zen and I love doing them up in simple papers and then stacking them up under the tree, so I was excited that today, my last vacation day off before Christmas, I would be able to get a jump on that task. (And seriously: it's a good thing I'm putting a dent in our gift wrap stash-- after spending last winter working at a stationery store, we have a lot of gift wrap, ribbons, tags, and tissue, and it feels good to put it to use.)

Decorate with white chocolate stars, Candied cherries, sliced almonds & currants, or sugared cranberries.

The gifts I've bought are now wrapped up and nestled under the tree, and I'm rapidly checking things off my Christmas to-do list, which is a great feeling... but nothing beats the smell of warm gingerbread and spices that's currently wafting through the house from the kitchen. I know, I know: cupcakes are played out and boring these days, but if you think so, it's only because you haven't had these ones. I whipped up the gingerbread pumpkin cupcakes today from a 'from-scratch' recipe in the box (called, mysteriously, Colonial Gingerbread) because I couldn't find any gingerbread cake mix at the shops. But if you can, then you're welcome to make this with cake mix, as Ms. Crocker originally intended. However, this colonial gingerbread recipe requires only one bowl, cooks in 20 minutes, and is so delicious I'd really encourage you to make it. From the quantities below, you'll get about 9 cupcakes or 2 small loaves of gingerbread-- note that this cake is delicious by itself and you could serve them as muffins without frosting, or feel free to frost them up as per the below if you're looking for something a little more festive.

The verdict:

5 spoons out of five. Pumpkin is incredibly hard to find in the UK and insanely expensive in cans when you do find it, so I don't like to waste it on recipes I'm not sure will be good. But these cupcakes did not disappoint and were totally worth cracking open my last can of pumpkin purée for. These are a perfect party food and honestly I wish I had made them for our party last week, but alas, I didn't know about them then. Oh well, here we are and they taste delicious. Enjoy!

The recipe:

Colonial Gingerbread Pumpkin Cupcakes

the directions:

Preheat oven to 165C/325F.
Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Into large bowl, combine all ingredients.
Beat well until blended but not completely smooth (a few lumps will help it rise).
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter and bake 20 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and frost with vanilla buttercream frosting and decorate as you wish.

the ingredients:

1 c flour
½ c black treacle or molasses
¼ c + 2 tbsp buttermilk
¼ c sugar
Heaping ¼ c pumpkin
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 batch vanilla buttercream frosting (I used this one)

Holiday Almanac December 8: Snowflake Cookies

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

I don’t own a snowflake cookie cutter.*

And I couldn’t find one before making these cookies, and even if I could, the recipe is called Snowflake Cookies, but the instructions demand that you cut them with a star-shaped cookie cutter anyway, so here we are.

For those of you counting at home, this is the second batch of star-shaped sandwich cookies I’ve made this week, the first batch being from the box, but not from the Holiday Almanac (and thus you won’t see the recipe until January, sorry!). I generally am not a fan of making star-shaped anything, since the points cook faster than the middle and it’s practically impossible to get them to brown evenly, but they are so adorable I figured I’d make an exception for these, and it was definitely worth it.

I cut the recipe in half because I didn’t want 4 dozen cookies (we’re only 8 days into December and I’ve already baked more than I usually bake in a month). It's easier to just make a full batch, though, so I've listed the full quantities below, which should give you around 4 dozen cookies, or around 2 dozen finished sandwich cookies.

These are adorable cookies and if you have a cookie exchange, bake sale, or similar event this December, they’re pretty perfect… and pretty easy to boot!

*This may not seem like a big deal, but if it doesn’t, it’s because you’ve never seen my cookie cutter collection, which is comprised of both holiday and everyday cookie cutters, and a whole lot of each.

The verdict:

4 spoons out of five. They're easy and delicious sugar cookies, the recipe scales up and down easily, and even though the whole 'shaped like a snowflake' thing might be a little iffy, they're still twice as adorable as any other Christmas sugar cookies I've ever made.

The recipe:

Snowflake Cookies

The directions:
Cookies:

Mix thoroughly shortening, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Sift together dry ingredients and stir in until mix is smooth.
Chill in freezer 30 minutes or fridge for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Roll dough out very thin, then cut out with star cutter.
Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake 5 minutes, watching carefully.
Make glaze while cookies cool.

Glaze:

Mix all ingredients until smooth and glossy, then assemble cookies by placing a dot of glaze in the center of one cookie and laying another cookie on top, pressing gently to adhere.
Pour another spoonful of glaze in the centre of the top cookie and allow to drip into crevices of 'snowflake.'
Allow glaze to set before serving or storing.

The ingredients:
The cookies:

1/3 c shortening
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c sifted flour (I forgot to sift mine and it was fine)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

the glaze:

1 1/2 c powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp corn syrup or golden syrup
1 tbsp hot water
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Holiday Almanac December 7: Mystery Fruitcake

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

Let’s be real, have you ever actually had a fruitcake? I’m going to assume that if you are my age or younger that you haven’t. You’re probably super familiar with the jokes in every Christmas movie about them, but you’ve probably never actually had one.

Spice cake batter, including cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and cloves.

I tried to dress it up, but it somehow just was even sadder.

And consequently, you probably have no idea a) whether you like them or b) how they are supposed to taste.

I don’t either, but I am fairly confident that most fruitcake recipes don’t start with making a cake, then destroying the cake by mashing it up with a batch of white frosting. Regardless, here we are, and although we’ve covered ad nauseum how much I adore frosting, I also hate raisins and I’m pretty meh about candied cherries, so I was not holding out a lot of hopes for this cake.

(Please also note that I cut this recipe in quarters because I was fairly confident that I didn’t want a 6 1/2 –pound fruitcake in my kitchen.)

But you guys, this recipe. This recipe is, quite possibly, the worst recipe that the box has generated so far. I would rather eat Wind Pudding than this cake. I would rather eat French Pudding than this cake. I would rather eat Chicken in Chicken Sauce for dinner every night for the rest of 2015 than eat this cake.

No, just no.

This could have been user error: maybe my proportions were wrong; I pared it down so much from 6 ½ pounds that I was doing a lot of complicated math in my head and quite possibly did some of it wrong. But even if I got the proportions right, I just don't think this was going to be a winner, and boy was I right.

P.S. Adorably, today in the Holiday Almanac reminds the reader to tune in for the '1 ½ hour production, live from New York!' of Philadelphia Story, 'brought to you by Betty Crocker.'

The verdict:

0 spoons out of five. Do not make this fruitcake. The only mystery here is who would actually eat this monstrosity.

The recipe:

Mystery Fruitcake

the directions:

Make yourself a spice cake and some white frosting.
Mix together cake and frosting, crumbling cake as you go.
Add all other ingredients and press firmly into a pan, then throw the pan away and eat something different.

the ingredients:

1 spice cake, recipe of your choosing
1 batch of white frosting, your favourite recipe
1 handful pecan halves
1 handful dried currants (or raisins or sultanas)
1 handful dates
1 handful candied cherries
1 handful candied citrus peel