Amarelo da Beira Baixa: Amarelo is a raw sheep and goat milk cheese from Portugal's Beira Baixa region. It has a semi-soft to firm and tangy flavor with just a hint of bitterness at the finish.

Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve: Uplands Pleasant Ridge is one of the most exquisite farmstead cheeses made in America. The product of Wisconsin's own Mike Gingrich, this award-winning cheese is a wonderful rival to France's noble mountain cheese, Beaufort.

La Peral:  La Peral is a lightly blued, rare and delicious cheese hailing from the village Illas in Northern Spain. It is made from pasteurized cow's milk to which sheep cream has been added.

Pecorino delle Balze Volterranne: This raw organic pecorino from Tuscany is made with vegetable rennet of wild artichoke. It's aged in oak barrels for 60 days, the rind covered in oak and olive wood ash.

Garrotxa: Garrotxa is a goat's milk cheese produced in the Catalonia region in northern Spain. Garrotxa is made in a traditional manner by a small artisanal creamery known for its consistently high quality, and it shows!

PermaLink

Finishing up this year's Project Foodie gift guide is our "Over the Top" guide with picks that dig deep into the wallet, but will surely bring huge smiles to the foodie who gets them. And while we really do love these items (ok we want these things!) we know many are out of the average foodie's budget, especially this year.  Still, they are great to dream about and who knows, maybe Santa has a hidden pot of gold set aside just for one of us! 

Sniffing Chocolate!

Finding that perfect chocolate truffle can be just as elusive as finding that perfect red wine, but now you don't have to look any further than Vosages Chocolate. Touted as being one of the most expensive brands ever sold, I would have to say it's worth each and every bite.  Rich and creamy unlike anything else you will ever taste, truly a treat for the senses. In this chocolate Sensory Collection ($375) you get 40 bars from 15 countries and 42 aromas aimed at teaching you chocolate tasting in a fun and entertaining way. - picked by Heather Jones

Have Foodie will Travel?

How about going on a food focused vacation with your favorite foodie?  Trips can vary from attending a food festival to cooking classes.  Here are a couple that stand out as great foodie trips... 

Chef's Holidays is a series of Chef led cooking classes and demonstrations held over 2-3 day periods in Yosemite National Park each winter. This year, which marks the 25th anniversary of Chefs' Holidays, the presenting chefs include several great San Francisco area chefs but also chefs from throughout the country including those that have been on Top Chef.  Plus, you get to see a serene, scenic and almost magical view of Yosemite National Park in the winter. Packages start at $1050 for 2 nights and $1300 for 3 nights in the Ahwahnee Hotel, excluding travel costs. 

The Northern California Wine country (Sonoma and Napa counties) have weekend events, festivals and other food and wine activities all year long.  Bring your foodie here, stay in a Bed-and-Breakfast, sample wine, attend festival events and eat at amazing restaurants.  What else could be better?   This spring's Artisan Cheese Festival  looks to be a great event.  One of my favorite places to home base is Healdsburg, CA which is the home to Michelin two stared Cyrus as well as several other more casual restaurants.  And my favorite bed-and-breakfast in the area is Hayden Street Inn. 

If you're looking for an organized tour then Sur La Table's hands-on cooking vacations may be the way to go. Trip choices include Italy or Vietnam with hands-on cooking workshops, guided tours, tastings of local food and wine, and more.  Trips range from $4,400 - $4,800 per person, double occupancy, excluding airfare.  - picked by Foodie Pam

Foodie Food

I personally love a gift basket full of edible treats. This love dates back to those Hickory Farms packages that would appear at my grandmother's house during the holiday season and later ones from Harry & David. But no one puts the ultimate food basket together like the folks at Zingermans.  The oils, vinegars, cheeses, breads, and more are some of the best food items you will ever taste. They have many gift baskets available at every price range, but the Food Fantasy Gift Spectacular ($300) basket or the Creme de la Creme ($500) are baskets worth dreaming about. - picked by Heather Jones

In need of quality caffeine?

This may be a big spend, but long-term it would be a savings to brew your own espresso every morning. What I like about the Gaggia Classic 14101 Espresso machine ($508.96) is that it uses either fresh ground coffee or the convenient pods.  According to Amazon reviewers, this machine produces a nearly perfect espresso for a fraction of the cost of the super high-end espresso makers. - picked by Rosemary Mark

Whirled Peas?

VitaMix (starting at $499).  Yes it is just a blender and yes it has an associated pitch-man type air to it, but I've used this blender and it really is great at what it does.  It's a powerful blender that put my prior blender to shame.  Now I admit I haven't made hot soup, ice cream or many of the other unusual items that can be prepared in it, but I have used it when making several meals and for making adult smoothies (ice+milk+banana+vodka+Kahlua = yum).  I was particularly impressed with how evenly it crushes the ice.   If your foodie complains about their status quo blender then this baby may just be the fix they need. - picked by Foodie Pam

Top Chef in Training

When I was in culinary school I knew nothing about sous vide style cooking, but it seems that nowadays cooking sous vide is a must know skill. For the serious home cook or budding professional there is a home sous vide machine .  Channel your inner Thomas Keller and make every meal a restaurant quality meal with this new device. - picked by Heather Jones

PermaLink

Written by Nick Malgieri

Here are a few hints to help make baking Christmas cookies an easy and pleasurable experience:

Choose you recipes well in advance -  Make a list, then eliminate a third of the recipes.  Paging through cookbooks looking for recipes makes us all overly ambitious.

Make a photocopy of each recipe - then you won't have to bring books into the kitchen, especially if your counter space is cramped.

Make a physical inventory of your ingredients.  I can't tell you how many times I've opened a cupboard and seen that the ginger or baking powder are sitting on the shelf, only to discover later on when I was ready to use them, that the container or jar only had a little left in the bottom.  Open jars, bags, and other containers to make sure how much is there.  Sniff spices to make sure they haven't become too old to impart the flavor you need.

Inventory equipment, too -  Make sure you have the correct sizes of pans, especially for bar cookies which would bake up too thick or too thin if you change the pan size.  Check that you have cutters and any other specialty equipment required.  Take a look at the parchment paper or non-stick foil to make sure you have enough.  And don't forget the containers you'll need for storing the baked cookies.

Over-estimate - your use of staples such as flour, sugar, butter, and eggs.  You might taste a new recipe and decide you need another batch or two.

Clean the refrigerator and freezer - make sure you'll have room to chill doughs and freeze baked cookies.

Get a buddy - Enlist the help of a friend so you can bake together and be twice as productive.  Decide on how you'll split the baked cookies beforehand, though.

Bring to room temperature - If you are preparing any recipes that require room temperature ingredients, take them out late the night before so they'll be at the right temperature for mixing.

Get an early start - Have a good breakfast and start baking early in the day.  I like to start in the pre-dawn hours to make sure I won't be distracted by the phone during the first few critical hours.

Mise en place - Measure out all the ingredients before starting a recipe, then go back and check that they're all there.  Nothing is worse than putting a pan of cookies into the oven and realizing that you never put in the baking powder or you missed one of spices.

Butter is better - When pans need to be buttered, use soft, not melted, butter - it coats more thickly assuring a good release.  Just put a stick of butter into a small pan or bowl with a brush and place it near the stove.

Be comfy - Wear comfortable shoes that give you good support, especially if you're not accustomed to spending an entire day on your feet.

Feed yourself  - Plan on a nourishing and easy lunch before you start baking - this can be as easy as making a sandwich and wrapping it up.  You'll be happy you did when you get hungry and don't need to stop to decide what to eat, or worse, start picking on the nuts and chocolate and wind up with an upset stomach and still have hours of baking ahead of you.

Make a place for the cookies - Unless you have a really large kitchen, plan on a place for cooling baked cookies.  Cover your dining table with a heatproof pad and set out some racks.  I use a couple of cheap folding tables that are stored in a closet most of the time.  For heavy baking days, I use one to hold ingredients waiting to be used and another to hold the cooling racks and finished cookies.

Use a ruler - If you need to cut bar cookies into 2-inch squares, measure the correct distance so they'll look neat and all be the same size.

Above all, enjoy the process - holiday baking should provide you with as much pleasure as the results will to their recipients.

Nick Malgieri, former Executive Pastry Chef at Windows on the World, is a 1996 inductee into Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. His latest book is The Modern Baker (DK Publishing, 2008). His recipes have been published in the New York Times, Cuisine, Restaurant Business, Family Circle, McCall’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, and other magazines and newspapers throughout the United States. He is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post Food section and writes a monthly column for Tribune Media Services, which appears in newspapers all over the United States. Currently, he directs the baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School) and frequently serves as a guest teacher at many cooking schools.

PermaLink

Writen by Julia M. Usher

Photography by Steve Adams

While recent expositions on the relationship between taste and memory have been appetizing, who needs a panoply of famous writers in the New York Times (and now in a book) to affirm what the humble cookie exchange has been telling us for decades? I've been to more cookie swaps than I can count over the years. (I'm up to seven already this season. Read my byline, and you'll see why.) And, sure as the sun rises each morning, these parties invariably unfold this way:

Cookie swapper: You've got to try my [insert cookie name]. It was my mom's [or insert gramma's] special recipe. She made it every Christmas.

Julia: Mmmm . . . [while taking a bite]. Mmmmm . . . [again, while secretly wondering what all the fuss is about].

Cookie swapper: I make it every year, but it never comes out quite like my mom [or insert gramma] made it.

Julia: Hmmm . . . any idea why? [asked, knowing full well that memories have a way of playing tricks on tastebuds]

Cookie swapper:  No, not really. But it's the best, isn't it? [said, beaming ear to ear, fully expecting a positive reply]

Julia: Mmmm . . . [for lack of anything better to say]

Now I'm not one to burst anyone's bubble, and sometimes these family heirlooms do register quite high on my foodometer. But, more often than not, they are positively flavored by their bakers' recollections of time spent with mom (or, shall I say, gramma) during Christmases past.

And so? Does our tendency to overinflate our treasured recipes make them any less praiseworthy? Fortunately for those around the cookie table, not so much. We only get into trouble when we fail to divulge the secret ingredient - that special vignette, or that snippet of family history, which makes the recipe linger as sweetly in our minds as on our tongues.

That said, I give you my mom's special Christmas Morning Croissants - and the story behind the cookie - with the hope that you'll spread the season's joy by sharing your favorite recipes and tales here. Consider this our virtual cookie swap, subtext preferably included!

Julia M. Usher is the author of Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year (Gibbs Smith, 2009). Julia is currently on book tour, baking, tasting and swapping cookies nationwide. For more information, visit www.juliausher.com.

Christmas Morning Croissants

Recipe excerpted from Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year by Julia M. Usher, Gibbs Smith, 2009.

My Mom made these flaky sour cream and walnut pastries by the Tupperware container-full every Christmas morning. (Mind you, I grew up in the sixties when Tupperware was what silicone is today.) Before my sibs and I were allowed to see what Santa had brought us, she insisted we eat the container clean. (Naturally, we ate pretty damn fast.) My croissants are more crusty with caramelized sugar than hers, but they're the best just the same. And that's a fact. No trumped up promises, guaranteed.

Cookie Key

Complexity: Moderate
Active Time: 1 hour
Type: Rolled; hand-shaped
Prep Talk: The dough for these cookies must be refrigerated 2 - 3 hours before it can be easily rolled without sticking. Baked cookies are best stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 - 3 days. Unbaked cookies may also be frozen up to 1 month. When ready to serve, thaw on a prepared cookie sheet for 25 - 30 minutes; then brush with egg wash and bake as directed.

Sour Cream Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into tablespoon-size pieces
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg yolk (reserve the white)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  

Cinnamon-Walnut Filling

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup walnut halves, toasted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg white (reserved for the egg wash)

1. Prepare the dough: Stir the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until it resembles very small peas.

2. Whisk the sour cream, egg yolk, and vanilla extract together in another bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gradually stir in the sour cream mixture, blending just until combined. (A few butter lumps are perfectly fine. Avoid over-mixing, as it will toughen the dough.)

3. Divide the dough into three equal portions. Flatten each portion into a disk and wrap tightly with plastic. Refrigerate 2 - 3 hours, or until the dough is quite firm.

4. Make the filling: Meanwhile, place the sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until the nuts are finely ground, but not pasty. Set aside.

5. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two or more cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

6. Shape the cookies: Work with one disk of dough at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle, about 1/16-inch thick. Using a 12-inch cake pan or bowl as your guide, trim the dough to a uniform circle. Carefully pick up the edges of the dough and brush any excess flour off the back with a pastry brush. Sprinkle the disk with one-third of the reserved filling, taking care to cover the entire surface as evenly as possible. Gently press the filling into the dough.

7. With a sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the circle into sixteen wedges. (For a fancier effect, use a fluted pastry wheel.) Starting at the widest end, roll up each wedge to form a crescent. (After each crescent is rolled, brush any scattered sugar mixture off the work surface so that it doesn't get on the back of the next cookie.) Place the crescents, loose ends facing down, 1 - 2 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Repeat with the remaining disks.

8. Whisk the reserved egg white until slightly frothy and brush it evenly on top of each cookie. (If you plan to freeze the crescents, do not apply the egg wash until after the cookies are thawed.)

9. Bake 15 - 17 minutes or until the cookies are light brown on their tops and bottoms. Eat warm from the oven for best flavor, or transfer immediately to wire racks to cool.

PermaLink