Orange Christmas Cookies

Christmas is only in few days. Today my two oldest children are flying from Ottawa to Comox Valley. We can't wait to see them and spend the Holidays with them. I have been preparing for their visit since a month now. I am going to cook their favorite meals and bake their favorite treats.

This is a new cookie recipe this year. We baked them during a baking class at the Military Family Resource Centre in early December. I am sharing the recipe because they are not only delicious but they look great on a cookie platter.

Happy Holidays!

Orange Christmas Cookies

Dough
250 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
125 grams sugar
pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 orange, zest
500 grams all-purpose flour

Glaze:
150 grams icing sugar
2-3 tbsps orange juice, fresh

Mix butter until light and fluffy. Add salt, eggs and flour. Combine until you have a nice dough. Wrap the ball into a plastic paper and cool in the fridge overnight.

The next day roll out the dough and cut out with your favorite cookie cutters shape.

Place the cookies on baking tray with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated over at 375F for about 10 minutes. Cool the cookies.

Spread the glaze on each cookies and decorate with sparkling sugar.

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President's Choice & Blogger Aid

As a member of BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine's project View and Review I received a box of goodies from President's Choice.

President's Choice is a Canadian Company that offers their customers some unique and superior products.

For the Holidays, this year, they have some wonderful new products. Great for gift giving, and sure to dazzle guests at your holiday party!


PC Butter Fudge in three flavors.

PC Truffles dusted with cocoa powder. Each velvety smooth bite delivers an intense hit of sumptuous dark chocolate!

PC Double Chocolate Covered Almonds with Peppermint. The almonds are coated in rich dark chocolate, then enrobed once more with creamy peppermint-flavoured white chocolate sprinkled with red and green candy pieces.

PC Pad Thaï & Mango Coconut cooking sauce. The Pad Thaï cooking sauce includes real peanut pieces for authentic flavour. Just add sauce to meat and veggies while cooking and prepare some noodles.

PC paper napkins.

The members of BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine have published a cookbook where 100% of the proceeds target children and education through the World Food Programme called School Meals. Purchases can be made by clicking here.

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Cookies filled with Jam

I volunteer at the Military Family Resource Center and was asked to be a 'helper' for a baking class. I was all excited. We had 15 persons that had signed up. We spent a Wednesday morning baking six different kind of cookies. I am sharing the recipe for the Cookies filled with Jam. They are delicious. You can store the cookies in a airtight container and they will last a week. For the workshop we did use store bought jam but would be best with your homemade jam. Use your imagination for the shape of your cookies. Any cookie cutters will do.


Cookies filled with Jam

Dough:
250 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
125 grams icing sugar
pinch of vanilla seeds
pinch of salt
1 egg white
350 grams all-purpose flour

Filling:
200 grams jam

Mix butter until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar, vanilla seeds, salt, egg white and flour. Combine until you have a nice dough. Wrap the ball into a plastic paper and cool in the fridge overnight.

The next day roll out the dough and cut out with your favorite cookie cutters shape.

Place the cookies (one half) on baking tray with parchment paper.

For the other half of the cookies cut out a whole in the middle and place on a second tray.

Bake in a preheated over at 375F for 6-8 minutes. Cool the cookies. Spread one half with the jam and cover with the other half. Sprinkle icing sugar on top of cookies.


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Winner of the Epicure Selections Giveaway

The winner of the Epicure Selections Giveaway is Suzielarose. Her favorite appetizer is pâté or a smoked salmon mousse with toasted pumpernickel bread.

Congratulations!

The name of the winner was picked by my husband.
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Caramilk Fudge

I love this time of the year. I am planning for the visit of my two oldest kids at Christmas. We love spending quality time together. They already requested their favorite meals and desserts. Since they are both at university they don't spend much time in the kitchen. I am trying a new fudge recipe for them.

Tomorrow we have a cookie exchange at the Military Family Ressource Centre. Eighteen girls signed up. I had to make a double batch of this fudge. I love this new combination. I will be making it when the kids come home.

If you have not done it yet you still can participate in my Epicure Selections Baking Giveaway. You have until Dec. 10th, midnight WST to participate.

To-Die-For Caramilk Fudge
Printable Recipe

2 c. Brown Sugar
1 can Condensed Milk
3/4 c. Butter/Margarine (shouldn’t use soft margarine)
1 c. Icing Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
4-6 Caramilk Bars (recipe called for 6 but I’ve made it with 4 most times too)

8×8″ greased pan

1. Microwave brown sugar, condensed milk, and butter for 8-9 min (Always 8min in my microwave). STIR every 2 minutes.

2. Add icing sugar and vanilla. Mix with handmixer for 4 minutes.

3. Pour half the mixture into a well-greased pan.

4. Lay the caramilk bars and pour the rest of the mixture on top and smooth!

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Epicure Selections Baking Giveaway

Exciting news today, Epicure Selections will send a Holiday Baking package to one of my lucky readers. Epicure Selections is a Canadian Company that sells through direct sales. They offer the finest quality food products.

The following prize has a value of $125.00

Cherries & Berries
Gingerbread Spices
Chrystallized Ginger
Dark Belgian Chocolate
Pure Cocoa
Baking Powder
Measuring Cup Set


1- Please leave a comment below and let me know what is your favourite Appetizer.
2- Only one entry per person.
3- Anyone can comment but the contest is open to Canadians only.
4- You have until Thursday December 10th, midnight WST to participate.

If you don’t want to miss any upcoming giveaways subscribe to my blog and follow me on Twitter.






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Maple Date Bars - Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club

For this month our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club is making cookies. We thought that a 'Vitual Cookie Exchange' would be fun.

Last week my parents flew from Québec and I wanted to have a treat to eat when we arrived home. I bake a batch of Maple Date Bars. I haven't had date bars in a while since all my recipes are high in fat. To my surprise this low-fat recipe is really good. Within couple days the bars were gone. They were enjoying them even for breakfast with a good cup of coffee. I like the fact that these bars uses one of my favorite ingredients: maple syrup.


See what others are baking this month for our cookie exchange:

*Jamie: Raspberry Strippers

*Val: Orange Walnut Tassies

*Aggie: Peppermint Patties

*Shelby: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprints


Recipe:
Maple-Date Bars

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Aylmer Gourmet Pasta Sauces

I received a package with Gourmet Pasta Sauces from Aylmer. One night that my son was playing hockey I wanted to prepare a quick, healthy meal. In less than 20 minutes Dinner was ready. I prepared pasta with Aged Four Cheese. We enjoyed our Dinner. I was impressed with the taste of this product compare to canned pasta sauce or in a jar. The sauce can be heated in the microwave for 90 secondes. We topped ours with fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano and served with a green salad as a side dish. They have three other varieties of pasta sauce: Vine-Riped Tomato & Basil, Fire-Roasted Tomato & Garlic, Grilled Portobello Mushrooms which I can't wait to try. Another plus for this sauce is that there are no preservatives, added sugar, or artificial flavours and colours.

For more information please visit their website:
Aylmer Gourmet Pasta Sauce

On a another note my parents came to visit us from Québec. They spent a week in beautiful Comox Valley. This was the first time that they ever visited British Columbia. It was nice to have a chance to show them where I live and the life that we have here. We also drove to Victoria to visit my cousin. We were greated with a beautiful Dinner. For the night we stayed at a wonderful B&B: The Fairholme Manor. I would recommend this B&B to anyone that visits Victoria. Sylvia is a charming host and makes delicious breakfast. We had fresh fruits, smoked salmon eggs benedict, a to-die-for Chocolate Espresso Loaf. Coffee was Caffee Umbria. I love the strong taste of it. She also had published a cookbook: Fabulous Fairholme: Breakfast & Brunches

Website: Fairholme Manor

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Grilled Pepper Poppers & an Award

(My son Mathieu (15) took this picture)

For this month our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club shared tapas-appetizers. I choose to prepare Grilled Pepper Poppers. I enjoyed the delicious creamy texture of the filling but the poppers were a bit too hot for my taste. Next time I will make them using those small sweet peppers that you can find in different colors at your grocery store. Also the filling is really good as a dip for veggies or tortilla chips.


Recipe:
Grilled Pepper Poppers

Also you can visit these blogs that participate in this monthly event:

The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch: Harvest Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Tartlets

More Than Burnt Toasts: Windowpane Potato Chips & Sliders with Shallot-Dijon Relish

Aggie's Kitchen: West Indies Shrimp & Mini Ham and Cheese Frittatas

Mom's Cooking Club: Warm Cranberry Walnut Brie & Mini Crab Cakes with Herbed Aioli

Award:

I received this award from Eat me, delicious a great vegetarian blog from Vancouver, BC. She also has a cute cat and you can find delicious dessert recipes on her blog. Thanks for the Award.

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Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

This Nutella Swirl Pound cake is buttery and chocolatey. This cake was baked on Thursday because my son is refeering in a hockey tournament this weekend and I wanted to have a sweet treat to grab and go between games. I first saw that cake on Val's blog More Than Burnt Toast

You can bake the pound cake without the Nutella. I like to cut it in small cubes and eat it dipped in Chocolate Fondue. A delight.

Recipe:
Nutella Swirl Pound Cake: Food and Wine Magazine Oct. 2009
{Printable Recipe}

Blogs to visit:

Kitchen Simplicity

The Cinnamon Quill

Zoom Yummy

Purple Cookie

Imperrfections

Let Her Bake Cake

Pâtisserie Natalie

On Monday Oct. 26 visit Nine Bloggers for a Halloween Treat:
Trick or Eat

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