Peppermint Stars Food

PEPPERMINT STARS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture. Stir in crushed candies. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. , On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut into shapes with a floured 2-1/2-in. star cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool., For glaze, in a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, milk and extract; stir until smooth. Tint with food coloring if desired. Spread over cookies.

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT STARS

Steps:

• Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients; beat until dough holds together. Divide dough in half. Shape each piece into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm enough to roll, at least 45 minutes and up to 1 day.
• Set rack in center of oven and preheat to 300°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 3-inch star-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer to sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps into ball. Wrap; chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until tops feel firm to touch, about 25 minutes. Cool on sheets 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely. Repeat rolling, cutting, and baking until all dough is used. Do ahead Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.
• Stir chocolate in small metal bowl set over saucepan of barely simmering water until smooth. Using small spoon, drizzle chocolate over cookies in zigzag lines. Sprinkle with crushed candies. Drizzle remaining chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate is set, at least 1 hour. Do ahead Can be made 3 days ahead. Store cookies between sheets of waxed paper in airtight container at room temperature.****

PEPPERMINT MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250˚ F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat the egg whites and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until frothy. Gradually beat in the sugar and cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form, about 6 minutes. Add the peppermint extract and beat 2 more minutes.
• Using a small pastry brush, paint four 1/4-inch-wide stripes of red gel food coloring inside a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Fill with the meringue.
• Pipe 2-inch spirals about 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. Bake the meringues 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let them dry in the oven, about 2 more hours.

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT STARS

Steps:

• Make Cookies:
• Make Buttery Sugar Cookie dough as directed, but reduce the flour to 1 1/3 cups and add the cocoa. Whisk the flour and cocoa together.
• Halve dough and wrap each half in wax paper, shaping each into a flattened rectangle, then store each half in a resealable plastic bag. Chill dough until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• While oven heats, roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) between two large sheets of wax paper to slightly less than 1/4 inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, quick-chill on a baking sheet in the freezer or chill in the refrigerator until firm.)
• Peel back top sheet of wax paper and cut out as many cookies with cutter as possible. Transfer cookies, as cut, to a lined baking sheet, arranging them 1 inch apart. (If dough becomes too soft to remove the cookies, quick-chill on a baking sheet in the freezer or chill in the refrigerator until firm.)
• Gather, reroll, and chill scraps to form more cookies.
• Freeze or chill cut-out cookies on baking sheet until firm before baking.
• Bake cookies, one sheet at time, until edges are a shade darker and centers are set, 9 to 12 minutes. For picture-perfect cookies, use cookie cutters while cookies are hot from the oven to trim edges. (Keep trimmings for snacks.) Transfer cookies with a metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies with remaining dough. (Cool baking sheets and use fresh parchment between batches.)
• Decorate Cookies:
• Using the offset spatula or a small rubber spatula, spread cooled cookies with a thin layer of melted chocolate, then sprinkle with some crushed candy canes.
• Let cookies stand at room temperature until the chocolate has set, about 1 hour.

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT SHOOTING STAR CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and boil the kettle. First, make the chocolate cake. Liberally grease the bundt tin with butter, then dust with flour and shake out the excess. Put the cocoa in a bowl with a pinch of salt, cover with 150ml hot water from the kettle, mix until smooth, then set aside to cool. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold everything together. Stir the soured cream into the cocoa mixture, then add to the other bowl and mix until just combined, then scrape into the prepared tin. Bake for 35 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 15 mins in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• When the cake is cool, transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, and make space for the cake and tray in your freezer. Slice the cake into pieces roughly the thickness of your star cutter, then pull each piece out a little, so there is space around each one. Pop the cake in the freezer for 2 hrs, or overnight.
• When the cake is firmly frozen, lay each slice on its side, keeping them in the same circular pattern, and cut out a star, using the cutter, from the middle of each piece. Leftover cake can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 months, ready for making a trifle. Return the cut-out stars to the freezer.
• Now, make the peppermint cake. Grease the same bundt tin and heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each, then add the flour, soured cream and peppermint extract. Give everything a good mix and scrape half the mixture into the bundt tin. Remove the stars from the freezer and line up in a circle on top of the cake mixture (pointy sides up) - make sure there are no gaps and that the stars perfectly line up. Spoon the remaining cake mixture on top, easing it around the stars until they are just covered. Bake for 45 mins until risen and golden brown and a skewer poked into the side of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the icing, melt the chocolate in short blasts in the microwave, or in a bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring it occasionally. Set aside to cool a little. In a large bowl, beat the icing sugar and butter until pale and smooth. Add the chocolate and peppermint extract, and mix again until combined. When the cake is completely cool, place on a serving plate, then swirl over the chocolate icing, easing it about halfway down the sides to create a snowy effect. Place the Maltesers on top of the cake. Will keep for up to 3 days in a sealed container.

CHOCOLATE-AND-PEPPERMINT STARS

Steps:

• Finely grind peppermint candies in a food processor.
• Whisk together flour, cocoa, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl.
• Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until combined, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg, then vanilla, and beat for 1 minute. Reduce speed to low, and gradually beat in flour mixture until combined, about 2 minutes. Shape dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Roll out dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut out star shapes using 2 1/2-, 4 1/2-, and 5-inch cookie cutters. Cut a smaller star from the center of each cookie using cookie cutters that are about 1 inch smaller than the larger cutter used. Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each 1 inch apart. Bake until slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Fill the center of each cookie with ground peppermints. Bake until candy melts, about 6 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets set on wire racks for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks, and let cool completely.

PEPPERMINT BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) and grease a 9x13-inch pan.
• Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, peppermint extract, and food coloring. Add flour and salt till well blended. Stir in 2/3 cup finely crushed candy. Spread evenly into the greased pan.
• Bake until firm, about 25 minutes.
• After removing from oven, immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. Cover with a cookie sheet for 1 minute or until melted. Spread chocolate evenly and sprinkle with 1/3 cup coarsely chopped candy. Cool completely before cutting.

PEPPERMINT BARK

Steps:

• Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Melt the milk and white chocolates in two separate heatproof bowls set over pans of simmering water, ensuring the bases of the bowls don't touch the water. Or, melt in the microwave in 20-second bursts. Add the peppermint extract to the melted milk chocolate and gently mix until combined.
• Pour the peppermint milk chocolate over the centre of the baking tray. Smooth with a spatula until it's 2mm thick, then drizzle over the white chocolate. Gently swirl the white chocolate through the milk using a teaspoon, then sprinkle over the candy cane chunks.
• Leave to set at room temperature to prevent the milk chocolate from discolouring. Once fully set, freeze for 10 mins, then snap into shards. Will keep in an airtight container lined with baking parchment for up to two weeks.