Archives for December 2014

Buche de Noel – Repost

December 25, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

I don't have a lot of time today, but did want to wish everyone out there a joyous holiday season! As another year wraps to a close, we at Oui, Chef are grateful for the friends we've made here, and look forward to cooking more great food with you in the new year.

This buche de noel is one that Jackson and I whipped up a few years back, and was enjoyed after our Christmas Eve dinner. It is a combination of a few different recipes we found, inspiring a whole new holiday treat. It has a chocolate genoise cake layer, a filling of white chocolate mousse, and a coffee buttercream frosting….a few meringue mushrooms for decoration and you have a festive dessert worthy of any holiday table.

Peanut Butter TKOs

December 23, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

When I was but a wee lad my favorite store-bought snacks were Oreos (and this was long before any of that Double-Stuff business), and Drake’s Funny Bones. While Oreos in a multitude of varieties are still with us, sadly, Drake’s the makers of Yodels, Ring Dings, and Devil Dogs stopped producing my childhood addiction years ago. Everyone knows what an Oreo is, but for those who’ve never heard of Funny Bones, they were sort of like a chocolate Twinkie that had been filled with peanut butter cream, then dipped in melted milk chocolate.

To be honest, if I had one now I’d probably gag on it due to its overt sweetness and weak, milk chocolate flavor (I am decidedly a dark chocolate kinda guy), but as I kid….I gotta tell you, they were the bomb!

Double Chocolate and Mint Cookies

December 19, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Alas we have come to the third and final cookie I made for this year's holiday swap, and I'll have you know that this one was the clear winner among all voters under the age of 20 in my giving universe. My original plan was to make a peanut butter filled version of Thomas Keller's TKO's (his version of an oreo) as the 3rd cookie in my trio, but when I saw these little monsters posted by my friend, Sally, on her terrific food blog Bewitching Kitchen. One look at her post and I knew that these would be a hands-down winner with the kids, while also being a bit more holiday-ish in feel. In addition, I figured they'd survive shipping better than the relatively fragile TKO sandwich cookie.

Apricot Rugelach

December 16, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Today I present to you MY second favorite cookie of the three I made this year to satisfy the requirements of our family holiday cookie swap. I emphasise the MY in the prior sentence, because by most accounts the cookie I will be sharing next, a mint-chocolate offering, was the runaway winner of the popularity contest this year; but as I've stated here before, my being one of the very few folks on the planet not enamored of the combo of chocolate and mint, those cookies fell to a distant third place in my personal ranking of this year's cookies.

Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

December 12, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

It's time once again to share some of the sweet holiday treats that I baked up for what is now our 3rd Annual Dunn Sibling Holiday Cookie Swap. Per my brother's recommendation a couple years back, he and I and our sister (along with a few other select invitees) have exchanged holiday cookies to commemorate the season now that we've all reached the point in our lives where we need absolutely NOTHING in the way of traditional Christmas gifts, and our kids, poor deprived things, have so much that they can no longer even generate a Christmas wish list, let alone come up with a request for things they may actually need.

Sugar Pumpkin Soup with Curry and Orange

December 9, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

For the first year in a VERY long time, I didn't carve a Jack-O-Lantern at Halloween this year. Given that my kids are finally all old enough that they've outgrown "trick or treating", and that I live in such a low-density neighborhood that we are NEVER even a blip on the radar screen of the young ghosts and princesses out looking to score candy, I was finally able to let the "holiday" (can you tell I've never really been a fan?) slip by practically unnoticed.

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

December 5, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Not to sound like too much of a snob, but THIS is what chocolate truffles should look like.

Not that I really have anything against the perfectly round and smooth confections that most commercial chocolatiers (even very high-end ones) sell as truffles, as many of them can be quite excellent.

But for me, truffles should look like the gnarly little fungi that inspired their name, and not something so perfectly formed that they look like they were machine made. There….I'll step down off of my soapbox now.

Spicy Cheddar Shortbread Cookies

December 2, 2014 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

I came across this recipe from Mark Bittman while searching my files for a little nibble to keep on-hand for visitors over the Thanksgiving holiday. These are super easy to make and addictively tasty….like Cheez-its on steroids.

Archives for December 2014

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