I hope all of you Americans had a great Thanksgiving! Now it’s time to move along in the winter holidays….

Just wanted - for those who didn’t follow the November thread - summarize the December Topic: I think the consensus is a holiday-themed baking item from any of Rose’s books. I saw plans for cookies, fruitcakes, and Buche de Noel. Anything else is welcome, too, as long as it’s Christmas-y, Hanukkah-y, or whatever other holiday-you-are-celebrating-in-December-y! Let’s see some beautiful cakes!

Please correct me if I got it wrong.

If there’s any time between all the Christmas preps also spit out ideas for a January bake-off.

Thanks for staying on top of this Silke!

Oh dear, I googled other holidays in December. Since I take it that we are non-denominational here’s your pick of holidays to bake from. Knowing me lately I’ll pick December 31st - unlucky day!

So let’s see what you’re baking for “Wear Brown Shoes Day” and “National Noodle Ring Day”! 

1 Eat a Red Apple Day
1 World Aids Awareness Day
2 National Fritters Day
3 National Roof over Your Head Day
4 Santas’ List Day - we hope you are on the “Nice” list
4 Wear Brown Shoes Day
5 Bathtub Party Day
5 Repeal Day - The 21st Amendment ends Prohibition. I’ll drink to that!
6 St. Nicholas Day
6 Mitten Tree Day
6 Put on your own Shoes Day
7 International Civil Aviation Day
7 Letter Writing Day
7 National Cotton Candy Day - would you like some fairy floss?
7 Pearl Harbor Day
8 National Brownie Day
8 Take it in the Ear Day
9 Christmas Card Day
9 National Pastry Day
10 Human Rights Day
11 National Noodle Ring Day
12 International Children’s Day - Second Sunday in December
12 National Ding-a-Ling Day
12 Poinsettia Day  
13 Ice Cream Day
13 Violin Day
14 National Bouillabaisse Day
15 Bill of Rights Day
15 National Lemon Cupcake Day
16 National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
17 National Maple Syrup Day
18 Bake Cookies Day
18 National Roast Suckling Pig Day
19 Look for an Evergreen Day
19 Oatmeal Muffin Day
20 Go Caroling Day
21 Forefather’s Day
21 Humbug Day
21 National Flashlight Day
21 Look on the Bright Side Day
22 National Date Nut Bread Day - or September 8!?
23 Festivus - for the rest of us
23 Roots Day
24 National Chocolate Day
24 National Egg Nog Day
25 Christmas Day
25 National Pumpkin Pie Day for recipes see Pumpkin Nook ‘s Cookbook
26 Boxing Day
27 Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day27 National Fruitcake Day
28 Card Playing Day
29 Pepper Pot Day
30 National Bicarbonate of Soda Day
31 Make Up Your Mind Day
31 New Year’s Eve
31 Unlucky Day

How about something low-cal for January.

Dec 16 sounds good - National Chocolate Covered Anything Day! 

Low-cal sounds good. Perhaps healthy? Something whole grain? Though I’d have to pass again, my cookies will be traditional and untraditional German, not from Rose’s book, and my bread is non-Rose as well

Though I think I’ll still make something from RHC as a Christmas dessert, was thinking of the mini cakes with a chocolate core. Not very holiday-y though….

What is everybody else making? Carolita? I see you’re back!

in the spirit of the holidays, here some stars i made.  enjoy:

http://myyellowkitchen.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/lemon-02-poppy-seed-sour-cream-cake-page-41-–-the-stars/

Hector - your link doesn’t work :-(

oops, i think it is fixed now.  http://myyellowkitchen.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/lemon-02-poppy-seed-sour-cream-cake-page-41-–-the-stars/

Hector, those cakes look lovely! What type of mold did you use? I like your idea of combining calamansi and lemon, have to try that myself.

thx shimi, calamansi has the flavor of a lemon, a little more acidic, but a lot tastier.  i find lemons “flat” in flavor profile, although Rose’s lemon poppy seed sour cream cake does not need any booster in flavor because the poppy seed and the sour cream are already plenty flavor and work just fine with plain lemons.  in other words, my cake was an overshot.  but my plan is to remove the poppy seeds, and make this cake into whatever special lemon/orange/citrus cake you want to showcase with local fruit.

of course, calamansi is harder to find, but freezes extremely well (freeze the juice only, separate from the zest which can also be frozen), so i accumulate thru the year in my -20oF chest freezer.

it was a token of luck that i ran out of calamonsi for this cake, so i ended up using 25% of lemon juice, this effectively toned down the calamonsi while still making this cake “extraordinare”

i used a 12-cavity silicone pan, each 1 cup capacity, shape is called mini-pandoro, paderno pro-chef brand, italy.

Calamansi is so easy to find here, it’s the ubiquitous citrus in Malaysia! A lot of people have a plant in their backyard. Thanks for the idea, i never thought of subbing anything else for the lemon.

Will keep an eye out for the cake pan too, I’ve seen some paderno products here but don’t know if they have the whole range. There’s also another brand of silicone products from Italy called Tesca(?), I’m not sure if I got the name right - are you familiar with it? Lekue is nowhere to be found unfortunately…

I like the Holiday (any holiday- you pick) theme for December.

For Jan or Feb, would anyone like to do a citrus theme?  Those months have a lot of wonderful in-season choices (Seville Oranges, Meyer Lemons).  Here’s a citrus availability chart from a site that Rose recommends for sevilles:  http://www.ripetoyou.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=66

If you all want to do low-cal for January, I would vote for a small portion cake (Rose’s philosophy) like a baby cake or maybe a 6” round.

Consider yourself blessed to have a calamansi tree, it is really a great thing other than lemons!

I am liking Paderno a lot (made in Italy by Prochef).  They seem a little thinner and less shapely than Lekue, though, but not a big concern.  Paderno does have a lot, if not all, different shapes, it is mostly sold to chefs, but now they are starting to target the retail market.  Try befriend a bakery or chef and have access to the Paderno wholesale catalog, there are hundred of pages of stuff!

Yes, I have a few Tesca (Tascoma????) pieces, but they aren’t 100% silicone.  When you do the stretch test, you see the white fillers.

here is the link of a holidesque picture, the city lights resemble twinkling lights.

http://myyellowkitchen.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/genoise-03-rose-page-169-sugar-and-glutten-free/

Ooh, I vote for a citrus theme soon!

Bungalow Barbara - 04 December 2009 05:29 PM

Ooh, I vote for a citrus theme soon!

Me too, me too!