Marcella Cooking Stuff • Holiday Baking
Holiday Baking
It's starting to feel redundant but this is another weird month. Christmas is around the corner and for the first time ever, I won't be seeing my family. One of the downsides to living across the country and being in a freaking pandemic!!! We are all alive, we are healthy, we have jobs, and we all have homes. We are not going to sit in the sadness but instead focus on how lucky we are. Moving on.
This week I baked for two days straight creating six different treats to mail home to my family members. I'm exhausted and so full from trying all of them, many times, but I'm also happy. When I need an escape, I turn to food. Not only eating it, which is my all-time favorite thing to do but getting lost in a project. Earlier this week I was feeling down and said the words to Marco, "I need to get lost in a project." Voila...the s'mores saga was born. After s'mores, I moved on to the holiday treats. So I got busy, I got out of my head, and I created something for the people I love. All is well.
In today's newsletter, you'll find all the dessert recipes for you to create at home, Pumpkin Cheese Lasagna, and fun holiday wine pairings from Your Weekly Whine.
P.S. Is it acceptable to eat latkes ALL eight nights? Because that's all I want every day this week.
Maple Oat Nut Cake
I have been working on this for a while now. In the '90s and early 2000s, Starbucks had the best maple oat nut scone. RIP. My stepmom, Mary, ate them religiously and I'll never forget scraping the icing off with my teeth. That was the best part. This cake is an ode to that scone and not to toot my own horn but it's really freaking good.
Find my Maple Oat Nut Cake recipe, here.
Spiced Snickers
Everything you love about a classic snickerdoodle spiced up a bit with ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Need I say more?
Find my Spiced Snickers recipe, here.
Lemon Drops
Back in June, I started working on a lemon poppy seed cookie. I made about 5 variations and wasn't happy with any of them. I got rid of the poppy seeds and landed with these guys, which I'm now calling Lemon Drops.
Find my recipe for Lemon Drops, here.
Chocolate Hazelnut cookies
You have seen these many times before and there is a reason, they are amazing! I was working on a variation of these, dropping the hazelnuts and adding cacao nibs/coffee beans and espresso powder. I had to retire them early because they had so much caffeine they were like crack. We are happy with the hazelnut variety. Bonus: they are gluten-free.
Make these Chocolate Hazelnut cookies with my recipe, here.
Earl Grey Madeleines
I love these cookies. Soft sugary cakes with subtle Earl Grey flavor. Yeah, they are technically tiny cakes eaten like cookies. Whatever they are, they are heavenly and I could eat the whole batch.
Hurry up and make these Earl Grey Madeleines with my recipe, here.
* I have excluded the Cinnamon Rye Shortbread from this newsletter because the recipe needs a little more work.
Pumpkin Spinach + Cheese Lasagna
Once I made the pumpkin and cheese manicotti at the beginning of fall I knew I had to make a pumpkin lasagna. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Melty cheese mixed with toasty butter, sage, and a hit of sweetness from the Autumn Buckskin pumpkin puree...yum.
I turned this into a project by roasting my own pumpkins and making my own ricotta. You can simplify this recipe by grabbing those things at the store. We will all have plenty of time at home in the next few weeks and I highly recommend taking the time to make this lasagna. It is a little time-consuming but none of its hard, I promise.
Find the recipe on my website, here.
Wines and Pairings for the Holidays
Hi everyone, I’m Madison, founder of Your Weekly W(h)ine, a weekly newsletter with wine knowledge in a digestible, fun format plus all the dog content you need to make it through the week.
If you’ve ever read my newsletter, you’ll know that one of my favorite things is wine + food pairings, especially unexpected ones (like… holiday cookies and wine!), so I am thrilled to be here to share some of my favorites for the holidays.
Sparkling wines
Nothing says fun or instantly makes a celebration (even small ones at home!) like sparkling wine. They are a great choice not only to start your meal (as they’ll go great with probably any appetizer out there) but the acid and the bubbles in the sparkling wine can also pair so well throughout-- cutting through some of those richer, heavy foods we tend to have this time of the year on our holiday menus, like creamed greens, or scalloped potatoes, and be so refreshing and light against them.
I’m big into finding sparklers that won’t break the bank but are high quality, so always steer people in that direction-- Cap Classique from South Africa, Franciacorta from Italy, Cava from Spain. In my newsletter tomorrow I’ll actually be diving into some of these favorite holiday sparklers a bit more!
Big, bold reds
Winter is the time to break out those big, bold reds-- not only do they tend to be higher ABV (so, warm you right up!) but especially the ones that have been aged in oak will have nice vanilla and baking spice notes that will pair well with red meats on the table, or even mushroom-based dishes for the vegetarians and vegans!
One of my favorite big, bold reds to pull out this time of the year is, of course, a big Cabernet Sauvignon, or a nice Syrah with its peppery notes. More recently; however, I’ve been trying various Petit Verdots from around the world. Petit Verdot is classically a grape used in small percentages for red Bordeaux blends, but when made just on its own is a big, bold wine with flavors of plum and sage-- making it a natural choice for this holiday season.
Port
And, when the night is winding down, and you pull out the rich holiday pies or cakes? That’s the time to reach for that bottle of Port that has been collecting dust in the back of your shelves! I personally cannot drink Port on its own, but when paired with a rich dessert-- wow, both the wine and the dessert can be elevated beautifully.
But whatever you pair with your meals this holiday season, I hope you enjoy, stay safe, and have a wonderful end to a tremendous year. Head on over here to sign up if you’d like to hear more about my favorite holiday sparklers tomorrow, and Marcella will also be sharing a holiday menu that I am incredibly excited to try out myself at home soon!
Pet photo of the week:
June, Madison's pup!
Thing everybody needs:
A star of David tree topper to tie everything together.
Do you have a favorite holiday treat? A family recipe that has been made year after year? I want to hear about them!
See you next week,
Marcella