Polk County
Living
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • December 23, 2015 7A
Baking for the holidays
The I-O staff tries out three new holiday recipes with mixed results
By Jolene Guzman
Anytime you have to eat
fudge with a spoon, there is
something wrong.
That is how my assigned
recipe (self-assigned, I might
add) turned out — spoon re-
quired.
I failed at making fudge.
But my generous co-
workers, the guinea pigs in
our newsroom exper i-
ment, complimented the
flavor.
They even poured it over
Lukas Eggen’s brownies
(which turned out fantastic,
for the record) and said if I
put it in a jar, I could pass it
off as sundae topping.
Kind-hearted souls.
Actually, it did taste like
fudge — it would have been
better if it had resembled a
solid — but at least I fol-
lowed the ingredient-mixing
part of the recipe OK.
Helping it set up was the
problem.
I think I was fine until I
reached the part of the
recipe that said “beat until
entire mixture has thickened
it loses its gloss.” I’m still not
certain I know what that
means. I’m guessing I didn’t
mix it long enough.
Oh well. You can’t succeed
(or fail) if you don’t try, right?
I can always use it for top-
ping on vanilla ice cream.
By Lukas Eggen
I spent a rather large
number of nights watching
Iron Chef as a child. Add to
that Chopped, Kitchen
Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen
and Restaurant Impossible,
and you’d think I’d have a fu-
ture in cooking.
I even had a few dreams
of stepping into a TV kitchen
and doing battle, showing
off my culinary skills.
Alas, over the years I
found out cooking talent
cannot be passed telepathi-
cally.
My cooking ability ex-
tends to a few dishes and
promptly ends there.
This baking challenge was
a chance to prove myself.
When I proudly an-
nounced to my parents I
would be baking something
for the first time, their reac-
tion was not to give me any
tips. Instead, they laughed.
Who needs baking tips? It
was time to show off Iron
Chef Lukas.
I’d love to say I spent
hours in the kitchen, per-
fecting my craft.
Honestly, I used Betty
Crocker brownie mix.
I wasn’t going to stop
there. In a moment of artis-
tic inspiration, I decided to
try and add strawberries
covered with green icing and
M&Ms to give the illusion of
tiny Christmas trees.
The photo made it look so
delicious! And it didn’t seem
too hard.
I took out my first straw-
berry, began to put the icing
on it and quickly realized I
made a big error.
As a young child, art was
never my favorite class. I
was always the kid who peo-
ple said, “Oh that looks in-
teresting, tell me about what
you made?”
At the time, I mistakenly
thought people just took a
great interest in my artwork.
Years later, turns out not
even I could tell what I was
attempting to portray.
My “Christmas trees”
looked more like green
blobs with chocolate on
them.
Turns out in 25 years, my
artistic ability hasn’t im-
proved at all.
As for the brownies, they
turned out pretty well if I
don’t say so myself.
Apparently not spraying
the pan beforehand is a bit
of a no-no, as I found out (as
is leaving fresh strawberries
out over the weekend).
But, all in all, I’d say my
foray into baking was a
(semi) success.
Look out Iron Chef. A new
challenger is coming.
By Emily Mentzer
When discussion of holi-
day baking came up in a
news meeting (full disclo-
sure: I may have brought it
up), my co-workers and I got
the idea that we could try
out some recipes and see
how they work.
I expected a “Pinterest
Fail.”
The only way they would
let me play along is if I
promised to try something
tricky.
Well, this Swedish Sand-
wich Cookie is something I’d
been wanting to try for a few
years, and definitely fits the
bill.
I would not recommend it
to a beginner, but I would
highly recommend the
cookie.
The texture is very like
shortbread, very rich with
flavor, but the dough, while
easy to assemble, is difficult
to work with.
Not only is it sticky, it
crumbles under the slightest
pressure from a rolling pin.
I had to use a lot of flour
to get it to stop sticking, and
even then, it was a constant
fight.
Once I got them complet-
ed — made easier with my
husband’s suggestion of
adding a splash of water to
the dough, similar to what
you might do to a pie
crust — it was clear that
these cookies are definitely
a “win,” and worth the ef-
fort.
The cookie was good the
day of baking with a crisp
texture, but almost better
the next day, having soft-
ened up nicely.
I love holiday baking in
our home, not just for the
smells, but giving away bags
of handmade goodies to
neighbors and friends, mak-
ing old favorites of loved
ones who have gone, and
trying new recipes such as
this one.
Happy baking and Merry
Christmas!
Fabulous
Failed fudge
One-half cup butter
One cup semisweet
chocolate chips
One teaspoon vanilla
extract
two cups white sugar
One (5 ounce) can
evaporated milk
10 large marshmal-
lows
One cup chopped wal-
nuts
For directions, go to
www.polkio.com
Source: Allrecipes.com.
JOlEnE guzman/Itemizer-Observer
Fudge is not a candy for the faint of heart, and doesn’t
always turn out quite as planned.
Brownies
in a box
Betty Crocker brownie
mix
two eggs
Water
Vegetable oil
strawberries
green frosting
m&ms
mix the brownie mix
with the eggs, water and
vegetable oil. Coat the
strawberries with frosting
and m&ms and place on
the cooked brownies.
lukas EggEn/Itemizer-Observer
Brownies from the box are easy for a beginner. but cre-
ating a forest out of strawberries proves challenging.
Swedish Sandwich
Cookie (Syltkakor)
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 table-
spoons sugar, divided
1 large egg yolk
1 large egg, separated
(I used both egg whites)
2 to 2 1/4 cups all-pur-
pose flour
3 tablespoons ground
almonds (I used pecans)
3 tablespoons red cur-
rant, strawberry, (apricot,
blackberry) jelly (jam). (I
probably used closer to
half a cup)
For directions, go on-
line to www.polkio.com.
EmIly mEntzEr/Itemizer-Observer
Swedish Sandwich Cookies are delicious and lovely, but
tricky to make because of a sticky and fragile dough.
Happy Holidays
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