Inspiration..... Mestres em Doces Conventuais Lisboa

I stumbled across Mestres em Doces Conventuais - Masters of Dessert - while shopping in the mall of the Expo area of Lisbon.

What pastries!

Dig the Moorish head dress

Famous custard tarts

Palmier covered with Sweet Egg, Papiros

Eggs of paradise

Food of the Gods, Bacon from Heaven, and Brown Eggs (Chestnut Eggs)

Some kind of egg custard filling in a shell. Do you know?

Divine Gluttony

If I have labeled anything incorrectly just let me know!

French Almond Nougat

For two Christmas's in a row I made this candy to give away in Christmas boxes to friends and family. It is definitely a huge success. Thanks again Martha Stewart!

If you have made butter cream icing before then nougat will be a snap. The timing can be slightly, and only slightly, tricky but the results are worth any effort.

I generally make 4 recipes filling 2 - 1/4 baking sheets.

For 1 Baking sheet I used:
4 Large Egg White - room temperature
1 1/2 Cups Light Corn Syrup
1 Cup of Sugar
1/2 Cup Water

then:

3 Cups of Light Corn Syrup
3 Cup of Sugar
8 Tablespoons of Melter Butter
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract - (1 TBS if you want more vanilla flavour)
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
7 Cups of Whole Raw Almonds with the skin on

Wrapped nougat in the Christmas Boxes

More after the jump.......

Cinnamon Swirl Cookies

I made these Cinnamon Swirl Cookies to give away. I did have just a few.

They were part of my Christmas gift boxes last year. They also features in 2 hospital ward Christmas parties and our own annual Yule party. Crunchy, not overly sweet, and tasty leads me to make these again some time soon. This recipe came from the Martha Stewart site. Until recently they had a cookie of the day post. The post is now called dessert of the day.

You really need to try these:

I made 4 batches in order to have enough to give away.

In total I used:

8 Cups of All Purpose Flour
4 Teaspoons of Salt
2 Teaspoons of Baking Soda
2 Pounds (8 Sticks) of softened Unsalted Butter
4 Cups of Sugar
1 Teaspoon of fresh Orange Zest
8 Large Eggs

For the filling I used:
8 Ounces (2 Sticks) of softened Unsalted Butter
2 Cups of Brown Sugar
2 Cups of Dark Brown Sugar
2 Cups of Chopped Walnuts, lightly toasted
2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

I made theses Cinnamon Swirl Cookies in 2 batches making about 24 dozen cookies.

Just out of the oven

More after the jump.......

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Earlier in the year I was looking for something a little different for Saturday breakfast. Why? Just because. So I set out to find a new pancake recipe. I came across Recipe Girls post for Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.

I had some canned pumpkin puree left over from a recipe in the fall so I thought that not only did the combination sound great but I had the things to make the pancakes with out having to run to the store at 10:00 PM!

I did make a couple of changes:

Cinnamon Filling:
1/2 Cup melted Butter
3/4 Cup Whey Low Brown Sugar substitute
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

Pancakes:
1 3/4 Cups Skim Milk
1 Cup Pureed Pumpkin
2 Large Eggs
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Whey Low Brown Sugar Substitute

Sadly the cream cheese icing was out for us.

On Friday night I combined the melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and let them sit in a resealable bag over night on the counter.

Butter, Brown Sugar, and Cinnamon

The next morning I measured out the ingredients for the pancakes. I Mixed the dry ingredients together and in a separate bowl I mixed the wet ingredients. I added the dry to the wet and mixed well. I had to add a little more milk due to the whole wheat flour. I accounted for the extra milk above.

The Wet Ingredients

I ladled out a pancake into a hot pan and swirled in the cinnamon mixture as Recipe Girl instructed.

Cooking in the Pan

When the pancakes were showing signs of cooking through I flipped them.

Sadly my camera died for the last pictures.. :(

They were very good. I would imagine the icing would put them over the top!

Thanks Recipe Girl!!!