Wow, what a day…not done yet. Yesterday Don stood and hand-chopped everything that goes into his antipasto. Believe me, it is long, hard work but oh so wonderful to eat. It took 3 1/2 hours. We had a friend who sat and ate one whole jar at one sitting a couple of years ago.
Today, he made the mixture for his Tourtiere…again, masterpiece. Ask any of his kids..and family….extended family….friends….acquaintences….get the drift? I have been using the oven all day, so he is waiting to make his pastry to finish that chore.
This morning I started with my new, most favourite shortbread ever. It is called “another shortbread” on this site. Believe me it is fantastic. Don was stealing cookies off the tray before I could put them on the racks to cool. OMG, Try it.
Then I went to making cheese shortbread, whipped shortbread, pumpkin loaves and pumpkin tarts.
I learned a very valuable lesson this morning. I wanted to make my black and white bark. Couldn’t find the cookies that are needed so thought I could use some cookie crumbs for making pie crusts (you know the type), put in my chopped pistachios and best white chocolate. Lo and behold…the crumbs were so stale it all had to be thrown out. Lesson learned…ALWAYS make sure ingredients are fresh. What a waste of time! What a terrible taste.
Earlier this week I made Gumdrop cake (one of my favourites at this time of year), my “new Christmas Cake”, Raspberry Meringues and a Blackberry Orange Tea Loaf. I also made mini Quiche Lorraine tarts for our upcoming wine and cheese evening in December. More on that later.
The rest of this week, I have to make YET, marshmallows, Holiday Shortbread, Pecan Shortbread, Lemon Shortbread, Madeleines, Santa’s Balls, Salted Chocolate Cookise, Citrus Cocada, Blue Cheese Cookies with Pistachios.
I still don’t have any nuts or truffles on the list yet. Shoot!
This is our 26th November 11 bake-a-thon. Sure do love the results..dishes on the other hand…….
Wine please …oh better yet, make that a double…
French Meringue
This is the last of the three meringue recipes. This is the French method. Easy but it does take a long time in a very low oven temperature. You can add colouring and/or flavour of your choice to this recipe and make it your own.
- 4 egg whites
- 2 1/4 cups icing sugar (sifted)
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Butter and flour a baking sheet or use parchment paper.
In a bowl, whip egg whites to foamy and sprinkle a little of the sifted sugar at a time, while keeping the speed of the mixer at medium. When it becomes stiff and looks like satin, stop mixing and transfer to a pastry bag. Pipe the meringue using a large round or star tip.
Place tray in the oven and place a wooden spoon handle in the door so it won’t close all the way.
Bake for 3 hours or until completely dry. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperataure.