Spiced Cranberry and Grand Marnier Torte

Merry Christmas! Today is the 2 year anniversary of my blog! AND the anniversary of me attempting to make this torte again. I saw this torte on the Bon Appetit website and FELL IN LOVE... unfortunately, my love was unrequited last year as the torte melted hours before we served it and forced my family to lie to me on Christmas Day (they're so nice, but I know that it sucked...see sucky recipe blog post here)

HOWEVER! I will not allow this torte to defeat me! I decided to change the frozen filling to a pastry cream this year, and followed the directions a little more carefully. I made a few changes, and so decided to put it up on my blog!

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 9 oz. package of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp. sugar
7 tbsp. melted butter

Pastry Cream (I doubled this recipe):

2 1/2 c. whole milk
Zest of 1 orange
6 egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
5 tbsp + 1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. Grand Marnier (**ps-I discovered that an airplane sized bottle of Grand Marnier is about 6-7 tsp.)

Topping:

1/2 c. port
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. honey
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 c. fresh/frozen and thawed cranberries
White Chocolate Curls (**I used a bar of Ghirardelli White Chocolate at ROOM TEMP...cold makes it extremely difficult to curl)

Directions:

To Do The Night Before


Topping:

1) Whisk port and cornstarch in a skillet (no heat) to blend.
2) Add sugar, honey, and spices then bring to a boil.
3) Add half of cranberries, cooking until the mixture comes to a boil.
4) Immediately remove from heat and add remaining cranberries.
5) Allow to come to room temperature, then chill over night.

To Do the Morning of (at least 2 hours before assembly):


Pastry Cream:

1) Warm milk and zest over medium-low heat until steaming.
2) Meanwhile, whisk yolks, sugar, flour, and cornstarch until smooth.
3) Once milk steams, add half of milk-zest mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
4) Transfer egg yolk mixture back into the rest of the milk mixture, whisking constantly.
5) Increase heat to medium-high, and whisk cream until thick (coating the back of a spoon).
6) Remove from heat and whisk vigorously to prevent clumping.
7) Stir in vanilla and Grand Mariner.
8) Allow to come to room temperature, then chill until firm before assembly.

To Do Before Assembly (at least 1 hour):


Crust:

1) Blend wafers, chocolate chips, and sugar until fine.
2) Add melted butter and blend until wet crumbs form.
3) Transfer all but 1/2 c. of crust mixture into a pan with high sides and a removable bottom, pressing firmly to form crust.
4) Chill or freeze until firm.

Assembly:


1) Remove crust from pan.
2) Fill crust with pastry cream.
3) Top with reserved crust mixture.
4) Top with cranberry topping.
5) Top with white chocolate curls.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Hot Chocolate

**Warning: this hot chocolate is NOT super sweet. Personally, I can't handle super sugary hot chocolate. This recipe was an attempt at recreating my mom's hot chocolate. It failed, but it was still pretty damn good! Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

16 oz. milk (we used almond milk)
10 tsp. Twining's drinking chocolate
1/8 tsp. cardammon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 shot Rumpleminze (or other peppermint schnapps)
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. Stevia (**I like Stevia better than sugar for the whipped cream since it dissolves so nicely)

Directions:

1) Heat milk on low until steaming (about 5 minutes)
2) Whisk in chocolate, then spices.
3) Turn heat off, and add Rumpleminze
4) In a jar (pint size or larger), combine cream and Stevia. Secure lid and shake vigorously until the cream stiffens like whipped cream. 
5) Divide hot chocolate into mugs and top with a dollop of whipped cream.
6) Sprinkle with cinnamon, chocolate or peppermint shavings, or just leave as is!
7) Pass out from happiness!

Happy 100th Post to Me!

This is my 100th post! I cannot believe it! And it's so appropriately timed, since I started this blog almost precisely 2 years ago AND this recipe is worth, at least, 100 bucks!

Homemade Pasta with Roasted Garlic, Onion, and Mushroom Marsala Sauce


1. Mom and I made the following homemade pasta recipe. I would suggest 4x the olive oil, a 1-3 ratio of whole wheat to white flour, and about 3-4 tbsp. of water.

2. Roast 1 quartered onion and 1 bulb of garlic until soft and golden brown.

3. Saute onion and garlic in 1 c. white wine, 1 c. chicken stock, and 1/2 c. marsala.

4. Add chopped mushrooms and reduce until desired consistency.

5. Remove lid and blend with an immersion blender (NOTE: This was my first time using an immersion blender AND I NEEEEEEEEED ONE! I felt like an Iron Chef).

6. Serve on top of your yummy, homemade noodles (we did fettucini) with shaved pecorino-romano, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper!

7. Get seconds.

8. And thirds.

9. Refill wine glass...and maybe get just one more serving. Seriously, this was SO good!