Santa Baby

Happy Christmas, Hanukah, Festivus, or any other holiday I’m forgeting.  Last year at this time I was finishing up my Mexican style Gingerbread House which can be seen here:

http://cinnamonsweetshoppe.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/part1mexicangingerbreadhouse/

http://cinnamonsweetshoppe.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/part-2-mexican-gingerbread-house-baking/

http://cinnamonsweetshoppe.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/part-3-mexican-gingerbread-house-constructing-decorating/

I began the thought process, research, and design in July of 2010 to have it finished by Christmas. 

This year I decided not to make a gingerbread house as it became too time-consuming and my free time during the summer was devoted to extra martial arts training necessary in order to receive my black belt in September.  Instead, I’m keeping it simple with holiday cookies and brownies, which include my famous 6 inch Gingerbread men.  My men and women will have a little more ‘flavor’ and by that I don’t mean more ginger or molasses.  They will have more clothing and style.  Over the weekend I started experimenting with wardrobe and this is what I came up with.

As we get closer to the holidays I’ll be posting more pictures and how-tos, so keep following. 

 

Cookie Decorating Class

I will be having a holiday cookie decorating class on December 17th, 2011 from 2:00 to 4:00pm and you’re all invited. 

Location:
El Rincon Mexican Restaurant
Blair Mill Shopping Center
112 W. Moreland Ave
Hatboro, PA 19040

If you live in the Philadelphia area and are available, please e-mail me at cinnamonsweetshoppe@verizon.net with your name and phone number.  Payment in full (cash only)must be received in order to hold a seat.  Payment may be dropped off at El Rincon Restaurant after I confirm your seat.  I am limiting this class to only 15 participants so rsvp early. 

This is going to be a fun and easy class.  Not to mention a tasty one too.  This class will teach participants how pipe onto cookies, flood cookies, marbling and sugar sanding.   

 

The class is only $25 and includes training materials, recipes, 5 pre-baked cookies, a starter kit, lunch with a drink.  Stop by El Rincon Mexican Restaurant to see my display of decorated cookies we are going to make. 

For more information e-mail me at cinnamonsweetshoppe@verizon.net

Homemade Apple Cider

At my last doctor’s appointment, she told me to eat an apple a day to increase my fiber intake.  Did you know there is just as much fiber in one apple as there is in one serving of Metamucil?  The apple is certainly more appetizing and they are abundant this time of year.     

Tanner’s Farm Market had the best selection of apples I’ve seen.  They sell both locally grown and out of state apples at good prices.  The red delicious were firm and shiny. 

The cinnamon sticks and cloves not only added flavor to the cider, but they are fragrant when simmering. 

Throw all of the ingredients in a pot and simmer for 2 hours.

 Ingredients:

8 Red Delicious apples, quartered, seeds and peels removed
1 cup sugar (I used half sugar and half Splenda to make it less guilty)
4 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbsp. nutmeg
6 whole cloves
3/4 tsp. whole allspice

Directions:

Place the apples in a large pot with 10 cups of water. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Bring the mixture to boiling, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Use a potato masher to mash the apples, then stir the mixture into a strainer with a large spoon. Make sure you get all the juice!

Set aside the applesauce you’ve now just made, and pour the cider into a glass bottle. Remove the cinnamon sticks and cloves from the applesauce and drop them into the bottle with the cider. Refrigerate.

YUM!

Decorated Sugar Cookies

I got the idea for these Mexican themed cookies from clip art I found on the internet.    I used a basic rolled sugar cookie recipe with royal icing.  For those who wonder why cookie decorators charge so much money for sugar cookies here is why.  It took me all weekend to make just 20 of them.  Background icing colors must dry completely before adding details on top and that could take 8 hours or longer.  The more details in a cookie the longer it takes.  

There is a lot of down time while waiting for cookies to dry so it didn’t take the entire weekend, however, I had to bake the cookies on Friday, begin decorating on Saturday, complete decorating on Sunday, and will package them today.