Dashing Through A Winter Wonderland: Yule Log Recipe (2024)

This week...

Dashing through a winter wonderland...
It snowed... which was wonderful...
It was bitterly cold, which was not so wonderful...
and I'm finding, the faster I go...the further behind I seem to be.

enough appetizers for a crowd like that?!
Luckily it was online... so we had enough of everything!!

The Hometalk Video is in this post!!
If you want to watch... it's all here!

As far as the rest of the week...

ornament demo... No worries friends, you can catch it here:

We had winners of ornament kits: If you are:

Patti Coach
or
Cheryl Youngbar
you were the winners.
Please send your mailing information to:
BlueRibbonKitchen@aol.com
Congratulations!!
I will get those kits to you right away.
Thank you to everyone that entered!!

We talked about Christmas trees...

Including my very favorite Santa photo tree.

I LOVE putting this tree together every year.

We chatted about adding a little holiday cheer to kitchen spaces...
I made this sweet tree planted in a bright Christmas red
colander with barns and
vintage kitchen tools.

It was so much fun!!

It occurred to me:

Bûche De Noël

Karri Perry-Blue Ribbon Kitchen 2016

12SERVINGs

SpongeCake

Sponge Cake

Heat oven to 375°. Set the oven middle rack for baking thiscake. Using a 18x13" rimmedbaking line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on long sides. Do not use any vegetable spray or butter to grease the pan--parchment paper only for this type of cake, baked in this pan.

Whisk flour, cornstarch, salt and 1/3 cup cocoa powder in a smallbowl Sift once. Set aside.

Heat the milk, butter until just melted in the microwave. Add the oil,vanilla, and espresso powder. Stirgently and set the warm mixture aside.

Meanwhile, beat the 5 eggs with an electric mixer on low speed andstream in the sugar.— Mix until just combined. 20 seconds.

Place the mixing bowl with the eggs and sugar over a large pot ofsimmering water, making sure that the bowl does not touch the water. Heat the egg and sugar mixture to 100 degrees,while whisking constantly.

Once egg mixture has reached 100 degrees, immediately remove and beginto whip the eggs on medium speed for 1 minute, then on high for a total for 4-6minutes or until the batter is light fluffy and holds a ribbon shape.

Reserve one cup of the foamy batter in a medium bowl, set aside.

In the main bowl, Sift in three batches of theflour/cornstarch/salt/cocoa mix.

Combine with a light touch, using the least amount of folds toincorporate the dry ingredients.Remember to go all the way to the bottom of the bowl to look for drypockets.

Add the vanilla/oil/milk espresso powder mixture to the reservedfoamy batter.

Mix together gently but create a uniform batter…this will be alittle runny… just make sure it is not watery.

Add the reserved batter mixture back into the main bowl in two parts. Be sure to gently incorporate. Adding this will loosen the chocolate batter…Theoverall batter should still remain light and foamy, but will not be quite asthick after adding the mixture.

Quickly (as in don’t wait too long, the foamy eggs will begin todeflate) Pour batter into a preparedbaking sheet.

Using an off-set spatula, spread batter to all corners, making thecake even.

Bake on middle rack of a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 10 minutesor until cake is set.

Remove cake from oven and let rest for 2 minutes.

Use a paring knife, loosen all the edges.

Sprinkle cake to with cocoa powder—lightly.

Place a sheet of parchment on to and invert cake onto a coolingrack.

Remove original parchment backing.—let cool for 5 minutes. Dust with cocoa powder and while the cake isstill warm… Roll the cake into a log.Rolling the cake will only work while the cake is still warm from theoven. Use the new parchment the cake wasjust inverted onto, to help lift the cake gently into shape.

Rest cake log seam side down and let cool completely.

Once cool, fill log anddecorate.

Make-Ahead fillings, frosting & décor

Meringue Mushrooms

***

Meringue Mushrooms

Preheat oven to 200°.Whisk egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in a large heatproof bowlset over a medium saucepan of simmering water (bowl should not touch water)until egg whites are very liquid (mixture will be warm to the touch) and sugaris dissolved (rub between your fingers to check), about 5 minutes. Remove bowlfrom heat and beat with an electric mixer until stiff, glossy peaks form (bowlwill feel cool), about 5 minutes.

Line a rimmed bakingsheet with parchment paper. Fill a largepiping bad with a 2A tip. Fill bag withmeringue and pipe button caps –tops to the mushrooms. Make mushroom tops about1-2 inches in diameter. Pipe stems of varying heights. If desired, use a wet fingertip to remove anypeaks or to smooth surfaces.

Bake meringues for 1-2hours or until dry to the touch –but not browned (meringue will be soft when itfirst comes out of the oven but will dry and crisp as it cools).

To Make Ahead: Store mushrooms in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

To Assemble Mushrooms: Using aserrated knife trim a flat plane onto one end of each stem. Melt ¼ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Dipthe bottom of a mushroom cap into the melted chocolate, or use an off-setspatula to spread chocolate onto the bottom of the cap. Add the flat/cut end of the stem to thechocolate. Hold the two pieces together,using the melted chocolate like a glue.

If desired, add detailwith a toothpick-mimicking the underneath side of a mushroom. Let mushrooms setup. Once mushrooms are made, dust verylightly with cocoa powder for an earthy look, or dip caps into melted red candymelts adding a sprinkling of small white nonpareils for a whimsical look.

Chocolate Ganache Filling

Heat cream on low until very warm, just below asimmer. In a medium heat proof bowl, addchocolate chips, espresso powder and salt.Pour the warm cream over the chocolate/espresso mixture. Let the warm cream melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth. Let cool.Ganache will thicken and become glossy as it cools. Once cool, whip for 1 minute to fluffganache. Do not over mix.

To MakeAhead:Ganache can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring toroom temperature before using.

Mascarpone Filling

• 1 cup mascarpone, room temperature
• Pinch of fine salt
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ⅓ cup powdered sugar

Preparation

Using anelectric mixer on low speed, beat mascarpone and salt in a large bowl. Withmotor running, gradually pour in cream. Increase speed to medium and beat inpowdered sugar. Continue beating until mixture forms medium peaks.

ToMake Ahead:Filling can be made 1day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (Frosting for theoutside of the log)

Preparation

Mix the vanilla, salt, and cream together. Set aside.In a medium bowl, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed, untillight and fluffy. Reduce speed to lowand add the confectioner’s sugar. Beatfor 2-5 minutes on medium until light and creamy. Add the cream mixture, beat on high anadditional 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.To Make Ahead: refrigerate up to two days-tightly wrapped in therefrigerator. Let come to roomtemperature and lightly whisk to fluff frosting before using

Chocolate Covered CherryMice

Preparation

Drain and pat dry the cherries with the stems attached. Melt chocolate. Dip each cherry into the melted chocolateholding the cherry by the stem. Placechocolate- covered cherry onto a parchment lined try. While chocolate is still liquid and not set,affix a candy kiss to the cherry—opposite of the stem, creating the mousehead. Add two slivered almonds for earsand let set up. To Make Ahead:refrigerate mice in an airtight container, being careful to not jostle-the earsbecome extra fragile when chilled.

Almond Pine Cones

Mold marzipan into a small log shape about 1 ½- 2 inches long.. In a repeating pattern, add sliced almondsto the marzipan, creating a pine cone look.Dust lightly with confectioner’s sugar to create the look of snow. To Make Ahead: Cover in an airtight container for up to 2days at room temperature-pine cones will be firm-but still edible.

Assembly: Gently unroll cooled cake. Spread a layer of ganache, followed by a layer of mascarpone filling across cake leaving about 1-2 inches around the edges. Roll the log, resting seam side down. Place log on a serving platter or cake round. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Frost cake, covering completely with buttercream frosting. Using melted chocolates in a piping bag with a tiny snip at the pointed end, drizzle melted chocolate to mimic a birch log. Refrigerate frosted and filled log up to two days, well covered. Remove cake from refrigerator 90 minutes before serving. Just before serving add candy mice, pine cones and meringue mushrooms.

Extras: