Greek New Years Cake (Vasilopita).

This post is a little late but hopefully you guys can try this out next New Year's!

Holiday traditions are very important to me. I love the traditions my family has created over the years, it excites to me add my creations on top of those. This tradition is the perfect end to the holiday season and a perfect way to start the new year.

The meaning of Vasilopita is to bless the home and bring good luck for the new year.  A coin is hidden within the cake before baking, then on New Year's a slice is cut for the house, all members of the family (youngest to eldest), groups and present visitors. The person who receives the slice with the coin is rewarded with good luck for the year!

Vasilopita  

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 eggs
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1/4 powder sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Grease a 10" round cake pan

In a medium bowl with a mixer cream the butter and sugar together until light. 

Stir in the flour and mix until the mixture is well combined.

 Add in the eggs one at a time and keep well blended.  Blend in the baking powder and milk then lastly combine the lemon juice and baking soda.

Pour into the greased cake pan. 

You can either add in the coin before baking or cut a slit in the cake after baking and then hide the slit with power sugar. I am a fan of adding in the coin pre-baking. Make sure you wash/sanitize the coin, I like to wrap it foil as well.

Bake for 20 minutes

Remove and sprinkle the remaining power sugar and almonds. Bake for an additional 20 - 30 min.

Cut a piece for the home, then each member of the family starting with the youngest. If you have guests over make sure you cut a slice for them as well!

I'm sure you're curious who got the coin this year? Nick and I did!

 I cut one for each of us and "us", each member of our families and my roommate.

Here's to an amazing 2011!!

Raspberry Walnut Bars.

Each year around Thanksgiving my company has a bake-off. I'm not much of a baker, but I'm always up for friendly competition. After going through my roommates baking recipes I decided on these raspberry walnut bars. I figured everyone would bring something festive, so wanted my baked good to standout. Since raspberry isn't a typical fall flavor- why not give it a whirl!

Raspberry Walnut Bars


Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cups raspberry jam
• 2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Spray an 8 inch baking pan with cooking spray and line with a piece of parchment paper. Make sure to leave excess paper hanging over the side. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray as well

In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy- 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture- mixing until combined (do not over mix)

Transfer two-thirds of the dough to the prepared pan and press evenly then

spread the jam on top.

Crumble remaining dough over the jam and sprinkle with the walnuts and coconut

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely in pan

Holding both sides of the parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan. Cut into squares and serve!

These bars were a hit! It was a close competition.. I got 3rd place, not bad for a novice baker. I guess the crowd was looking for festive cookies afterall - Dan Coe's Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies won.

Next Year- It's on!

Pumpkin Pie with a Twist.

I am already thinking about what to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving dinner staple, everybody loves pumpkin pie (including me!) So why not give it a try? The problem is, I'm not really much of a 'baker'. So I have decided to give the pie a test run before the real deal.

As much as I love pumpkin pie, I decided to steer away for them traditional pie and try something with a twist- Amaretto!

Amaretto Pumpkin Pie


Ingredients:

• 2 cups amaretto or lady finger cookies, crushed fine
• 2/3 cup melted butter (I used light butter)
• 2 cups pumpkin puree, unsweetened if canned (make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup half and half ( I used light)
• 1 1/4 tablespoon cornstarch
• 4 tablespoons amaretto
• 2 pinches of salt (intensifies the flavor of the pumpkin)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375

Toss the crushed cookie crumbs and butter in a small bowl until well-combined. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" pie pan. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool

In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. (easy, right!) 

Pour into the cooled pie shell. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean- It was closer and hour for me.

Let cool completely before cutting. Serve with cool whip, if you like

This was a huge hit among friends, so I will be bringing this to the Guerrieri Thanksgiving celebration!