Donsuemor Cookie Winner!

Congratulations to Mira Stancevic, the winner of the Donsuemor "Show Me Your Cookies" Contest!

Mira displayed an amazing cookie prowess, having baked 18 different cookie recipes with her sister and cousin (see above). Her entry was chosen from all entries by Random.org, just so you know I wasn't playing favorites. :)

Mira, you'll be receiving a box of gourmet French cookies from Donsuemor to share with your sister and cousin, or to keep for yourself.  Whatever you choose, please get some rest. You must be exhausted after all that baking.

Fabergé Egg Nog

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year for two reasons, the first being Wendy and Doug Smith's homemade English toffee, a bag of which I would request for my last meal if I was able to plan for it.

The second reason is the wide availability of egg nog in every grocery store. I know, I know, the homemade stuff is soooo much better, but when I looked up the recipe I realized it was way easier for my purposes to just buy a quart and call it a day. And by "my purposes" I am referring to a concoction that I drink from Thanksgiving through the middle of January, or as long as I can get my hands on egg nog. It's a White Russian (vodka, Kahlua and cream) with egg nog instead of cream, and I can't get enough of 'em.

Anson and I had been throwing around names for it because "White Russian with Eggnog Instead of Cream" is a little clunky. Our friend, John, came up with the perfect name the other night: "Fabergé Egg Nog." It was a perfect description of this drink, named after bejeweled eggs made for royalty: luxurious, decadent and Russian in it's provenance.

It's not too late for you to give it a try, New Year's Eve would be a perfect night in my opinion. Or, for that matter, any night the egg nog is still flowing would also be perfect.  Enjoy it while you can!

Fabergé Egg Nog
1 1/2 oz  vodka
3/4 oz     Kahlua
6 oz        Egg Nog (regular or light)

Fill a rocks glass with ice. Pour vodka and Kahlua over ice. Top with egg nog. Grate a little fresh nutmeg over the top if you want to pass it off as your own. Stir and enjoy!

Show Me Your Cookies! Donsuemor Contest

You might remember in October when I first came across these great Cute Cakes from Donsuemor at BlogHer Food in San Francisco. Theses delicious little bites, like a rich cake or light brownie, made themselves into a breakfast for me, the way all baked goods should.

I later learned that Donsuemor, despite it's ostensibly French name, is actually a gourmet bakery in Berkeley, California. The name was created by the combination of the names of the owners--Don & Susie Morris. Cute, huh?  They do make French-style cookies though, turning out beautiful Madeleines, French Almond Cakes (Financiers), and the aforementioned Cute Cakes, all made with all-natural ingredients.

So, the nice folks at Donsuemor have hooked me up with a fun little giveaway--a big box of their gourmet cookies for the winner!

What do you have to do to win these delicious treats?
Show me the cookies you plan to put out for Santa, or
Show me the cookies you did put out for Santa, or
Show me the cookies you would put out if you had kids.

They can be fancy set-up shots, or just snapped with your camera phone. Don't worry about it, I just want to see what you've done!

I'll chose a winner on December 28th. The winner's name and blog (if applicable) will be announced on the Donsuemor Facebook page and the Donsuemor Twitter account. You will be famous! :)

Send your photos to SarahOlsonPhoto at gmail dot com by 11:59pm PST on December 27th, 2010. I will chose a winner randomly and notify by email.

Good luck and thanks for playing!

Gingerbread Hot Cocoa with Friends

It all started when Casey, Stephanie, Garrett and I stopped in for a pre-dinner drink at Bittersweet in Oakland a couple months ago. This drink was not what you might imagine though, it wasn't a champagne or a martini, it was a Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa. Rich, buttery caramel married with melted chocolate and a zing of salt at the end to keep you on your toes. It was unlike any other salted caramel edible I've had. This was one of those rare combinations of flavor that makes your eyes open wide after you've had a moment to let the flavors wash over your taste buds. At that moment I became one of the salted caramel converted.

Not being much of a confectioner, I asked them all how one could possibly endeavor to recreate this magical concoction at home; I wanted to have it every day of my life. As we passed the drink around, they explained various ways to make the caramel, hot cocoa, and how to get the spark of salt at the end.

Over the next couple weeks, this whole conversation morphed into a hot cocoa challenge for the four of us. We would all come up with unusual ideas for hot cocoa and one of us was charged with recreating the hallowed Salted Butter Caramel Hot Cocoa. After weeks of recipe testing, photographing, and drinking more hot chocolate than I normally do in a full year we are here to show you our hard work.

My co-conspirators are Casey Barber from Good.Food.Stories, Stephanie Stiavetti from Wasabimon and Garrett McCord from Vanilla Garlic. I know what they've cooked up, but I'm not telling.  Don't be lazy and just go visit their blogs to find out. :)

As for me, you might know by reading my recent post, I've had molasses on the brain, so Gingerbread Hot Cocoa was a natural for me. I think you'll have all these ingredients on hand if you do any kind of baking during the holidays. I hope you like it, but if you don't you've got three more really great recipes to choose from.

Gingerbread Hot Cocoa
4 cups whole milk (you can use 2% as well)
1 inch of ginger root, cut into coins
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole allspice berries
Dash white pepper
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chunks, whatever kind you prefer

Pour milk into heavy bottomed sauce pan and add ginger root, cloves, cinnamon stick and allspice. Heat slowly over low heat until it comes to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove aromatics from milk.

Heat milk again to a simmer over low heat and add chocolate chunks, molasses and white pepper, stirring until melted and thoroughly incorporated.  Amount of chocolate can vary based on your taste.

Remove from heat and serve with cookies, marshmallows or that oversized tin of popcorn you got at the office gift exchange.