Project Life - Catching Up! (December)

 

And here I am with the December Spread. Since I was very much behind on Project Life throughout the 3 months or so prior, I thought it might be fun to make an effort to do something every day for December.

Since I love Advent anyway and there is actually a lot to record around this time of year it seemed the perfect month to do it! Hence the December Daily.

On this spread I seemed to have a pretty good balance of pictures and journaling - wish that would always work out that well. The only thing that is maybe different, is the journaling behind the doily. It folds open when you pull out the card to reveal all the journaling.

 

As you can see I finally used up the rest of the journaling cards I made way back when. I wrote about them here.

 

 

 

Love it when the kiddos contribute drawings or their stories!

 

 

 

A cutout filler card I cut with the Silhouette.

 

 

 

 

On this next spread I have actually a lot of journaling going on, but it’s mostly hidden behind the photos. All of them pull out and either have a card type layout that folds open or have  a long piece of paper taped to the back to reveal the journaling, which is then folded up accordion style.

 

 

At the bottom left I sewed a vellum pocket on the card with some silver thread. The folded up paper that tucks  inside  the vellum pocket, lists the gifts each of us got for Christmas!

 

 

As you can see, I’m still missing the journaling to summarize Christmas Day events. I have written a fair bit about it already in other places of the album, but I wanted this as a quick summary.

 

 

And I’m also still missing some journaling here, as well as a photograph.

 

 

 

And this is pretty much December, once I caught up on the two missing items and journaling the New Year’s Eve photos.

Why am I showing you unfinished spreads? Because one of my next posts will be about catching up with Project Life. From mildly behind to totally, overwhelmingly behind!

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Awe-ful Little Witch And a Freebie

Studio Rosey Posey teamed up again to make Awe-ful Little Witch!
Finding My Way was so much fun for us to make, so we just carried on and this little miss has found her way into a witch costume!
The kit which includes 74 elements, 7 papers and an alphabet is just $3.49 this weekend only!
Make sure you don’t miss it!

And here are the elements:

And the papers:

  

So, that’s my latest adventure in digi scrapping land!

And there will be a few more things over time. I’m having such fun with  being back in Photoshop, that I’m finding it hard to stop! Yay! What a difference an extended break can make!

We’re off to a kids birthday party this afternoon, so excitement is running high around here!

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Butternut Squash Casserole (gluten-free)

I am not usually one to experiment with new dishes on major holidays, mostly because I don’t need the stress of a possible failure. But this year I wasn’t in the mood for the traditional, very good, but somewhat heavy sweet potato casserole.

Initially I just decided to forgo it altogether. But while I was cooking on Christmas day I kept on coming back to the cubed Butternut squash I had in the refrigerator. I was going to make soup with it after Christmas, but for some reason I decided to just go and experiment with it for Christmas dinner casserole instead.

I was going for sweet, but I wanted lighter - more flan like,  rather than a heavy casserole. But with a little bit of a crunch. And it had to be gluten-free. And it had to be with sugar since my mother in law can’t tolerate any sugar substitutes. Do however feel free to substitute with Ideal sugar substitutes.

And let me tell you - the end result was one of the best Holiday side dishes I’ve had in a long time. It was rich and creamy, but somewhat seemed light and delicate at the same time. Almost like an egg custard, but more substantial. With a decadent creaminess and a delicious little crunch from the topping!

In fact, I’m thinking of making another one today, just because it was so good and everyone enjoyed it so much, including the children. It was super delicious the next day, cold right out of the refrigerator! Almost like a pie!

We even had a couple of people that don’t like butternut squash at the table, that loved this dish!

 

 

So here is what I did!

 

Ingredients:

1 Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (you can also roast it and just use the roasted flesh. In that case skip the boiling!)

3/4 cup white sugar or Ideal Sugar Substitute

1  cup milk

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. buttery vanilla baking emulsion or vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp. vanilla custard powder (the boiling kind, not instant! Or you could substitute corn starch and up the vanilla extract to 3/4 tsp.)
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted

TOPPING
3 cups gluten-free checks cereal, crushed (I used the rice checks)
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar or Ideal Brown Sugar Substitute 

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Boil the butternut squash until fork tender in plenty of water. Or roast it in the oven or cook it in the microwave. Whichever way you prefer. As long as the butternut squash is fork tender by the end of it, you’re good!

Brush a 10 inch round casserole dish with some of the melted butter. Set the rest of the butter aside.

Drain (if you boiled it) and let it sit in the colander for a few minutes so the water can really drain out. Return to pot and put them back on the stove to briefly evaporate any remaining water.

Once dry either mash or rice (it’s what I did) the butternut squash. You should have just over 3 cups of mashed/riced butternut squash.

Mix the mash with the white sugar, milk, cream, vanilla, salt, eggs and remaining melted butter. Whisk to combine well. Sprinkle in the custard powder and whisk until all is combined well.

Pour this mix into the buttered casserole dish and bake for 35  minutes.

In the meantime, combine the crushed checks, melted butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Spread over the top of the custard and return to the oven for another 20 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and crunchy and the custard is set.

Serve hot or cold. Serves 8-10.

 

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Elisenlebkuchen - low-carb, gluten-free and sugar-free

There are many things and foods that say “Christmas” to me. Especially German/Bavarian ones for me! None more so than Elisenlebkuchen however! They are a Bavarian specialty and every year I feel compelled to make them! They remind me of crisp cold winters, Christkindlmarkets with Gluehwein (German mulled wine) and ... Lebkuchen!

 

 

What makes these so special is that they are mostly comprised of nuts. They have a very delicate spice and they are moist and delicious, even after weeks of storing (if they are done right anyway!)

However, they are also very sugary in their original form.  They usually contain a lot of candied peel, sugar in the batter and then they are traditionally either covered in a thin sugar glaze or a thin coat of dark chocolate. And I mean THIN!

 

 

But, not exactly low-carb friendly, even though easily made gluten-free, which I wrote about in my recipe here last year.

So this year, I revisited the low-carb/sugar-free version! And they turned out beautifully! I made a regular version, a low-carb version and a gluten-free version since we have a lot of different allergies and ways of eating to cater for around our parts. I had to actually mark them, because I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference otherwise!

Today I do however want to focus on the sugar-free/  low-carb variety!

So, without further ado, let’s get to it!

 

Low-Carb Elisenlebkuchen

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup erythritol/xylitol, powdered (measure after powdering)
• 1 cup Ideal sugar substitute (could substitute bulk Splenda, Truvia etc. )
• 3 tbsp. polydextrose
• 4 tbsp. monin sugar-free syrup (vanilla)
• peel of 3 large lemons
• peel of 3 large oranges
• peel of 1 large lime

• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp EACH of the following ground spices:

Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Allspice, Nutmeg, Cardamom, guar gum (xanthan works too)

• 1/2 tsp buttery vanilla bakery emulsion or vanilla extract
• 240g Hazelnuts; whole (8.5 oz.) *almonds/pecans/walnuts work too, but it’s not nearly as good :)*
• 240g Hazelnuts; finely ground (8.5 oz.) - or more of the whole ones and you can grind it fine yourself
• 50g Walnuts; coarsely chopped (1.8 oz.)

 

• rice based baking wafers or rice paper (50mm) if you are eating gluten-free, wheat  based Oblaten if you are not. These are somewhat optional but much better with! A word on the Oblaten . Yes, they aren’t low-carb, strictly speaking. However, they only add less than o.5 carbs to your cookie, that it is worth it in my opinion. Not only do they prevent sticking, they keep the moisture in like nothing else and are an integral and traditional part of Elisenlebkuchen.

For the coating:

Sugar-free chocolate or Lindt 85% (or a combination of both) and 1 tsp coconut oil or palm shortening per bar of chocolate. It varies how much you need, depending on how much you use and how large your cookies are. For the above recipe I usually need 3 bars of Lindt and 1 tbsp. of palm shortening, if I cover them all in chocolate.

Traditionally they also come glazed with sugar glaze, which is a whole separate post by itself. And it will be at a later date, where I am comparing a couple of products to make a “sugar” glaze. For now, if you can afford the carbs, use Ideal Confectioner’s Sugar Substitute. It works just like regular powdered sugar and gives great results.

If not, just stick with the chocolate coating!

 

Preparation:

Place the peel of all the fruit, the xylitol, the polydextrose and the sugar-free syrup in a small sauce pan and under constant stirring heat until just boiling. Take the pan off the heat and set aside to cool.

Now, place the whole hazelnuts in the food processor. Start pulsing them until coarsely chopped, then add the sweetener and peel mix and pulse some more until evenly incorporated. Add the emulsion/extract and pulse to incorporate. Add the eggs and pulse some more until you  have a uniform mass.

In a separate bowl, combine the spices, walnuts and hazelnut flour. Add the mix from your food processor and thoroughly combine with a spatula.

 

 

Cover the bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for 24 hrs. It may seem a little runny at first, but it will thicken up quite a bit in the next 24hrs.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 F.

Lay out the baking wafers on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Scoop equal amounts of the nut mix onto the wafers and smooth out with your finger. I find that the easiest way to get the round ones uniform is to use an ice cream scoop. Scoop some nut mixture on the Oblaten and smooth the edges down. Using moist fingers can help as the dough will be a bit sticky.

 

                    

 

Of course, this year I am ahead of this little game, as my father in law made me a so called “Lebkuchenglocke” at my request, which makes this process much easier and faster! You just smear some of the dough into the bell part, place the oblate on top, hold it over your baking tray and twist. The wire on the inside goes around and releases the sticky dough and out plops the cookie! So handy, so efficient! Thank you, Jarvis!

 

          

 

 

If you are not using oblaten/baking wafers, just scoop some dough onto the parchment and press it down  a little with moistened fingers, just like you would on the baking wafers!

 

 

 

If you are using rice paper and don’t feel like cutting out lots of little circles, you can just cut rectangles. It works just as well and it’s  much faster!

 

 

Bake for 12 minutes or until the Lebkuchen are lightly golden brown. It is important that they are not quite done in the middle though. You should still see some moisture in the middle!

 

 

Set them aside to cool a little.  It’s easier to get a thinner coating of chocolate when they are still a little warm.

Melt your chocolate with the coconut oil or palm shortening.

Brush the coating on as thinly as you possibly can, but make sure everything is covered. We want an even coat, without large globs, but not so thin that the cookie underneath peaks through.

 

 

 

If you have used baking wafers, just brush on a thin coat of chocolate coating over the top of the Lebkuchen. Let completely dry for a few hours and store in a cookie tin. None of the coatings should be tacky anymore!

If you didn’t use baking wafers, you will need to dip or brush your entire cookie. First a coat at the bottom, let dry, then a coat on the top of the cookie. This will also seal the moisture and flavors inside, which is essential for these!

Lebkuchen need to sit for a while to develop their prime taste and texture. They need a minimum of 6 days in that cookie tin, so take that into account when planning to make these!

They will however keep for several weeks in a cookie tin and personally I think they taste the best after they have matured for about 1-2 weeks!

 

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Cinnamon Star Cookies (Zimtsterne) - revisited the low-carb way (LC, GF, SF)

Last year I posted the gluten-free, but sugared version of these traditional German Christmas cookies.

This year I want to add the sugar-free and therefore low-carb version of these lovely cookies!

 

 

 

The biggest challenge of these cookies is to get the slightly crunchy meringue top right, which isn’t an easy undertaking with sugar substitutes!

However, it has worked pretty well for me when using the ingredients I will be listing  below. However, I can’t guarantee that this will work out equally well if you start to substitute other sweeteners! Chances are it won’t as my previous attempts of meringues with other combinations, didn’t work out all that well! The only exception would be to replace everything with diabetisweet or other maltitol based sweetener. Maltitol tends to act just like sugar. I like to avoid Maltitol so it’s hardly ever in any of my recipes.

 

A quick note: The pictures are taken of the cookies made with cashew flour, rather than hazelnut as a special request. The cashews aren’t as fine as hazelnuts or almonds would be.

Now without further ado - the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 3 whole Egg Whites (room temperature*)
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
• 3/4 cup of Ideal sweetener
• 1/2 cup of Erythritol, powdered +plus more for working the dough (Xylitol works too)
• 1 tbsp. polydextrose (optional)
• 2 drops of stevia extract
• 1/4 tsp butter vanilla bakery emulsion (or vanilla extract)
• 2 tbsp. Ground Cinnamon
• zest of one Lemon, or strips of lemon peel finely ground in food processor ***
• 2-⅔ cups Ground Hazelnuts (also known as Filbert Nuts) - other nuts or seeds like almonds will also work**                                                           

Preparation:

* You will get more volume when beating egg whites if you first bring them to room temperature.

** If you can’t get ground hazelnuts/almonds, grind them in a food processor. It doesn’t have to be as fine as almond flour, but it should be pretty fine, with the odd bit of slightly bigger nuts. Once you’re done grinding, THEN measure them for this recipe!*

***Since we are using fresh lemon peel, I usually throw the lemon peel strips (made using a potato peeler) in the food processor, with some of the measured nuts and run it through the food processor again. Then I add the xanthan gum for even distribution and pulse a couple more times.*

 

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

 

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, powdered erythritol and salt until frothy. Under constant beating, dust in the polydextrose, little by little.

 

 

Once you have soft peaks, add the Ideal, again little by little and under constant beating until you have somewhat stiff peaks. It’s important to use the erythritol first, as it takes the longest to dissolve!

 

 

Fill 1/3 of the meringue mix into a Ziploc bag and set aside.

 

 

Fold the cinnamon, lemon peel (if you haven’t already) and ground nuts into the remaining 2/3 of the meringue mix.

 

Line your work surface with a large sheet of plastic or parchment paper.

 

If your dough is on the very sticky side, sprinkle it with some more ground nuts and powdered sugar substitute and work the dough through a little. Mine was quite workable to begin with and didn’t need any additions.

Top with another plastic sheet or parchment paper and  roll out the dough on your plastic sheet. If the top is really sticky, add some more ground nuts etc, or line the top of the dough with another sheet of plastic and roll it out to about 1/2 inch thickness.

 

 

Peel off the top layer of plastic/parchment paper.

For the low-carb cookies I went with 1/4 inch thickness to make more! But if you do this, remember to reduce the baking time to about 8-9 minutes!

 

 

With a star cookie cutter, cut as many stars as you can get and place them on a cookie sheet. It helps to dunk the cookie cutter into some powdered sugar substitute as you go.

 

 

Reroll the left-over dough and continue cutting out stars until there is no dough left.

 

Now snip the corner of the Ziploc bag with the meringue mix.

 

 

Either, roughly pipe a thin layer of the meringue mix, spreading it out evenly all over the top of the star with the back of a small spoon. Or, and this is currently my favorite method, pipe a generous dot in the middle of the star, then pull the meringue mix to the corners with a knife. Try and keep the layer thin and as even as possible!

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the trick for the meringue top to be at it’s best. Let the cookies dry for 4 hours. This step is optional but I would recommend it as the meringue gets crispier that way. Since it’s very dry around these parts, I generally go with 4 hours of drying time. However, if  it’s damp where you are, overnight (8 hours) might do the trick. Just leave them uncovered on your counter.

Preheat oven to 300F.

Bake for 15 minutes. Don’t overbake these! You want them to be moist on the inside! Let the cookies cool completely before trying to move them. The meringue topping will crisp up a little too!

 

If you don’t want to mess around with cookie cutters and such, you could also just make snowy “kisses”. Roll a small ball of dough in your hand. Press it to about 1/2 inch height with your finger, pipe on some meringue mix. Now with these I would recommend letting them dry. Since there is more meringue topping, the drying for several hours helps to make them into crispy meringue topping rather than the lemon meringue pie type of topping! And the meringue doesn’t turn brown as quickly as the non-dried meringue either!

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the difference in the meringue for not drying (the stars) and drying (the snowy kisses)

 

 

Granted, I did leave those stars in a tad too long as they caught around the edges a little too, but see the difference in the meringue? When you let it dry out  a bit, you get a snowier white! And as you can see, they are easy to over bake! So get them out before they go that darker golden brown around the edges!

 

Oh and by the way, the above meringue recipe works GREAT as a lemon meringue pie topping!

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