Christmas Logs 4 Food

YULE LOG

Steps:

• In a bowl, beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla on high until thick and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low; beat in chocolate and water until blended. Add flour and baking soda; mix well. , In another bowl, beat egg whites on high until stiff peaks form. Fold in the chocolate mixture. Spread evenly in a greased and floured 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. , Meanwhile, sprinkle a kitchen towel with confectioners' sugar. Invert cake onto the towel. Starting from a short end, roll up cake in the towel. Place seam side down on a wire rack to cool completely. , Unroll cake; spread coconut-pecan frosting to within 1 in. of edges; roll up cake without the towel. Cut and reserve a narrow diagonal slice from each end of the cake. Attach diagonal cake slices with a little of the chocolate frosting to opposite sides of cake. With remaining chocolate frosting, frost the top and side of the cake. With the tines of a fork, make strokes in the frosting to resemble bark on a tree trunk. , For the mushrooms, half large marshmallows widthwise for mushroom caps. Attach cut side of caps to mini marshmallows for stems. Dust tops of mushrooms and log with cocoa; place mushrooms around the log.

CHOCOLATE YULE LOG

Steps:

• Whip powdered sugar, butter, cocoa powder, salt, and coffee liqueur together in the bowl of a stand mixer on high speed. Transfer buttercream into a separate bowl and add mascarpone cheese. Mix until combined; set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush a little melted butter over a 13x18-inch rimmed sheet pan. Line pan with parchment paper and brush remaining melted butter on top.
• Combine cocoa powder, salt, and flour together in a bowl; whisk or sift to break up clumps.
• Place eggs in the clean bowl of your stand mixer. Add sugar and whip until fluffy, thick, and very light in color. Add 1/2 of the cocoa powder mixture and vanilla extract; mix on low speed for a few seconds. Beat in remaining cocoa mixture on low for a few seconds. Switch to high speed; stop once mixture is moistened but not fully blended. Pull off the whisk attachment and whisk batter with it until evenly blended.
• Pour batter onto the prepared sheet pan and spread out with a spatula, leaving some room around the edges. Tap pan on the counter to knock out the large bubbles.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is dry and edges start to pull away from the sides, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Dust a clean kitchen towel with enough powdered sugar to cover an area slightly larger than the sponge cake. Remove cake from the oven. Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top. Run a spatula under the parchment paper to make sure it's not stuck to the pan.
• Quickly flip pan on top of the sugared area to invert the cake. Remove parchment paper and dust cake with more powdered sugar. Gently roll cake up inside the towel; allow to cool for 15 minutes.
• Unroll cake and dollop buttercream on top, reserving some for later. Spread frosting to the edges. Roll cake up over the frosting, using the towel to lift it if needed. Sprinkle more powdered sugar on top. Wrap log in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
• Combine chocolate chips and hot cream in a bowl. Let sit for 1 minute. Whisk until chocolate melts.
• Make an angled cut 3 inches from one end of the log. Place log on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Apply some buttercream to the angled slice and attach it to one side. Spread a layer of ganache all over the cake, except for the swirls. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up ganache.
• Carve lines into the ganache using the tip of a knife to create the appearance of tree bark. Refrigerate until completely chilled before serving. Dust with cocoa powder and powdered sugar.

CHRISTMAS LOG

Steps:

• Crumble the Swiss roll into the bowl and add the biscuit crumbs, jam, orange juice and dried fruit and mix together with your hands.
• Place the mixture on a board and shape into a roll about the size of the original Swiss roll, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge.
• Using a potato peeler, scrape about 15g chocolate into shreds on to a plate.
• Break the remaining chocolate pieces and put in a small bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted, or melt in the microwave.
• Beat the butter, then beat in the coated but still melted chocolate
• Unwrap the log, and using a knife, spread with the icing, use a fork to make it look like tree bark and dust with icing sugar to resemble snow.
• Put on a plate and sprinkle with chocolate shreds.
• If liked, make fondant icing mushrooms and dip the heads into cocoa powder, then colour some fondant icing green and cut out leaves.

CHRISTMAS LOGS

Steps:

• Combine the flour, yeast and butter or margarine by hand until mixture is crumbly. Stir in the egg, egg yolks, heavy cream, salt and vanilla. Mix together and let stand in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
• Mix the walnuts, 1 1/3 cups of the sugar, the cinnamon and bread crumbs. Stir in the egg whites and let the mixture stand for 1 hour.
• Divide the dough into fourths. On a surface sprinkled with white sugar, roll 1/4 of the dough out very thin (you should be almost able to see through the dough) into a rectangular or square shape. Spread 1/4 of the filling over the rolled dough. Cut the dough into 2 1/2x2 1/2 inch squares. Roll each square up like a jelly roll and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Keep the dough you aren't working with in the refrigerator.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20 minutes. Keep a close eye on these cookies as they tend to burn easily because of the sugar that is on the dough.