Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
Published December 13, 2020
Star Bread
Sugar and spice, and everything nice. Treat your loved ones to Star Bread, filled with your heart's delight. Perfect for Christmas morning, or gifted with love. Just as impressive as two turtle doves.
Assembly video on Instagram @athome_withrenee.
Dough
3 1/2 Cups Flour, divided
1 Package Yeast
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Low-fat Milk
1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 Egg, at room temperature
Filling
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, softened
2/3 Cup Nutella
Topping
1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
1 Tbsp Sugar
Combine 2 cups Flour, Yeast, Sugar, and Salt in a large bowl. Mix on low speed. Heat Milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup for 1 minute. Add warm Milk, Butter, and Egg to flour mixture and mix until combined. Mix in remaining 1 1/2 cups Flour. Switch mixer to dough hook and knead dough for 4 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough is ready when it feels tacky but doesn’t stick to your fingers.
Place dough in a large bowl coated with nonstick spray and cover with plastic. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Gently press down dough. Cover and let rest 5 minutes.
Place dough on a lightly floured pastry mat and cut into four equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and let rest for 5 minutes. Transfer chocolate hazelnut spread to a bowl and warm in the microwave for 15 seconds or until easy to spread.
Roll one piece of dough out into a 10-inch circle and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread with softened Butter, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Spread approximately 3 tablespoons Nutella spread over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
Roll out the second piece of dough into a 10-inch circle, and stack on top of the first piece of dough. Spread with softened Butter and Nutella, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Repeat process with remaining dough, leaving the top circle bare.
Place a 2-inch round cutter in the center of the dough. Press gently to leave an imprint. Use a sharp knife to cut the circle into 4 equal sections, from the imprint in the center to the edge, cutting through all the layers. Wipe knife clean and cut each section into 4 equal strips, for a total of 16 strips.
Using both hands, pick up 2 adjacent dough strips and twist them away from each other twice. Pinch the ends of the strips together firmly. Repeat with remaining strips of dough, for a total of 8 points. Cover the star loosely with plastic and let rise in a warm place until puffy, about 25 minutes. While the star rises, preheat oven to 375°F.
Brush dough gently with melted Butter and sprinkle with Sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden. Serve warm or microwave induvial pieces about 10 seconds to warm up.
Naked Frosted Gingerbread Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese
Don’t be naughty this season. It is best to be nice! Gift this gingerbread cake, layered with cream and spice.
Instructional video on Instagram @athome_withrenee.
Cake
¾ Cup Sugar
¾ Cup Butter, room temperature
2 Eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ Cup Molasses
3 ¾ Cup Flour
2 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
1 ½ tsp Cinnamon
1 ½ tsp Ginger
¾ tsp Cloves
¾ tsp Salt
1 ½ Cup Hot Water
Frosting
½ Cup Butter, salted, room temperature
8 oz Package Cream Cheese, room temperature
4 Cups Confectioners’ Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease athree 8” round pans. Line with parchment rounds and grease again. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the Sugar and Butter until smooth and light. Add Egg and Molasses and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves and Salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined well. Slowly pour in the Hot Water and stir until smooth. Bake for 20 minutes or until center checked with toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then transfer carefully to cooling racks.
In a mixing bowl fitted with paddle attachment, beat the Butter and Sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes) on medium – high speed. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the Confectioners’ Sugar, Cinnamon and Vanilla. Beat on medium speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy. Cover with plastic wrap until cakes are cooled.
When cakes are cooled completely, level tops with bread knife or cake leveling knife. Place an 8” cake board in the center of a turntable. Add one layer of cake to the cake board. Use about ¼ of frosting and spread evenly to edges. Repeat with two other layers. Spread remaining frosting around cake. Using a dough cutter or bench scraper (holding at a 90° angle), scrape off frosting on the sides of the cake. Fill in extra frosting where necessary and repeat until desired look is achieved. Level top of cake with scraper until clean edges are formed.
Transfer to a serving platter and decorate as desired.
Gingerdoodle Whoopies
Jump right into the holiday spirit, while you're waiting for Santa to pay you a visit. These Gingerdoodle Whoopies are sure to please, you should leave one for Santa under your tree.
Cookie
1/2 Cup Butter Softened
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1 Egg, at room temperature
3/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Molasses
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Cloves
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 cup Sugar for Rolling
Cinnamon Buttercream Filling
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and Sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir in Egg, Vanilla and Molasses. Whip 1-2 minutes or until it turns a light brown color. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are just combined. Scoop a 2-teaspoon ball of dough into your hands and roll. Coat in granulated sugar. Place on silicone baking mat, lightly greased cookie sheet or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake 6-7 minutes or until outside looks cooked but inside is still soft and gooey. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack.
For the cinnamon buttercream: mix Butter, Sugar, Vanilla, Cream and Cinnamon together until a thick and smooth frosting forms. Spread 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of buttercream onto one cookie. Top with another cookie and place onto serving platter. Repeat with remaining cookies.
Nana’s Italian Christmas Cookies
Nana's Cookies have a soft, cake-like texture, and are full of a warm, licorice flavor. Anise is the star ingredient as bright as the light - shown in the sky on Christmas Day night.
Cookie
3 Cups Sifted Flour
1 Cup Sugar
½ Cup Crisco Oil
4 Eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbl Anise
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Lemon Peel
1 tsp Orange Peel
Icing
½ Box Confectioners’ Sugar
1 Tbl Anise
Green Food Coloring
Warm Water as Needed
Preheat Oven 375°F. In a large bowl, mix Oil, Eggs and Anise. In separate bowl whisk Flour, Baking Powder, Lemon and Orange Peels. Add to wet ingredients until well combined. Flour hands and roll pieces of dough to form pretzel shapes about 2” long. Bake 8 -10 minutes. Cool completely.
Mix icing ingredients until thin consistency is obtained. Dip tops of cookies in icing and let them drip through cooling racks. Once dry, ice again.
Wishing you a merry season from my home to yours!
Enjoy!
Renée Meuse Lovley