Chocolate Nut Yule Log Cookies Recipes

CHOCOLATE YULE LOG

Steps:

• Whip powdered sugar, butter, cocoa powder, salt, and coffee liqueur together in the bowl of a stand mixer on high speed. Transfer buttercream into a separate bowl and add mascarpone cheese. Mix until combined; set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush a little melted butter over a 13x18-inch rimmed sheet pan. Line pan with parchment paper and brush remaining melted butter on top.
• Combine cocoa powder, salt, and flour together in a bowl; whisk or sift to break up clumps.
• Place eggs in the clean bowl of your stand mixer. Add sugar and whip until fluffy, thick, and very light in color. Add 1/2 of the cocoa powder mixture and vanilla extract; mix on low speed for a few seconds. Beat in remaining cocoa mixture on low for a few seconds. Switch to high speed; stop once mixture is moistened but not fully blended. Pull off the whisk attachment and whisk batter with it until evenly blended.
• Pour batter onto the prepared sheet pan and spread out with a spatula, leaving some room around the edges. Tap pan on the counter to knock out the large bubbles.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is dry and edges start to pull away from the sides, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Dust a clean kitchen towel with enough powdered sugar to cover an area slightly larger than the sponge cake. Remove cake from the oven. Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top. Run a spatula under the parchment paper to make sure it's not stuck to the pan.
• Quickly flip pan on top of the sugared area to invert the cake. Remove parchment paper and dust cake with more powdered sugar. Gently roll cake up inside the towel; allow to cool for 15 minutes.
• Unroll cake and dollop buttercream on top, reserving some for later. Spread frosting to the edges. Roll cake up over the frosting, using the towel to lift it if needed. Sprinkle more powdered sugar on top. Wrap log in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
• Combine chocolate chips and hot cream in a bowl. Let sit for 1 minute. Whisk until chocolate melts.
• Make an angled cut 3 inches from one end of the log. Place log on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Apply some buttercream to the angled slice and attach it to one side. Spread a layer of ganache all over the cake, except for the swirls. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up ganache.
• Carve lines into the ganache using the tip of a knife to create the appearance of tree bark. Refrigerate until completely chilled before serving. Dust with cocoa powder and powdered sugar.

YULE LOG COOKIES

Steps:

• Place the pistachios and sugar in a food processor; cover and process until ground. Set aside. In a microwave, melt 1 cup chocolate chips; stir until smooth., In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, melted chocolate, milk and almond extract. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pistachio mixture., Divide dough into eight portions. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm., Shape each portion into an 18-in. rope; cut each into six logs. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cut the ends of each log at an angle. Using a small amount of egg white, attach removed pieces to each log, forming branches., Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks., In a microwave, melt remaining chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Working in batches, dip cookies in chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. With the tines of a fork, make strokes in the chocolate to resemble bark. Dust with ground pistachios., For mushrooms, pinch half of each marshmallow to form a stem; flatten the other half for cap of mushroom. Dust tops of mushrooms with cocoa. Attach to cookies with a small amount of melted chocolate., Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

CHOCOLATE AND NUT YULE LOG

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10-by-15-inch jelly-roll pan with nonstick cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat paper with cooking spray; set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup granulated sugar until pale yellow. Whisk in almond extract and flour just until combined (do not overmix); set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. While beating, slowly add remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) and beat until stiff and glossy. Whisk one third of beaten egg whites into yolk mixture; gently fold in remaining whites with a rubber spatula. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan; bake until center of cake springs back when lightly pressed, 15 to 17 minutes.
• Immediately after removing cake from oven, run a knife around edge of pan. Dust top of cake with confectioners' sugar; invert cake onto clean parchment paper, and gently peel off the lining paper that's now on top of cake. Starting from a short side of cake, gently roll cake, along with clean paper, into a log; let cool, seam side down, 30 minutes.
• Once cake has cooled, prepare filling and frosting. Gently unroll cake, and spread with filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border; starting from a short side, carefully re-roll (do not roll paper in cake), and place, seam side down, on a baking sheet or serving platter. Spread log with frosting; sprinkle with almonds. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• To serve, use a serrated knife to slice off the ends of the log neatly, revealing interior. Dust with confectioners' sugar, and, if desired, garnish with Marzipan Mushrooms.

NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE MOCHA YULE LOG

Steps:

• Whip together 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream, the confectioners' sugar and espresso powder in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Spread a heaping tablespoon of the whipped cream onto one side of 39 chocolate wafer cookies (wipe the spoon clean with a rubber spatula between dollops). Spread the whipped cream out on the cookies with a small offset spatula. Stack 5 cookies on top of each other. Repeat with the remaining cookies (including the one without whipped cream) so that you have 8 stacks total. One of the stacks will have a cookie on top with no whipped cream; this stack will be the top stack.
• To build the log: Lay out a piece of plastic wrap about 20 inches long on the countertop. Working across the entire length of the plastic wrap, lay one of the cookie stacks on its side. Gently press the remaining 7 cookies stacks together, end to end, finishing with the top stack, to make one long cookie log that's about 15 to 18 inches long. Wrap the log up in the plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
• While your stack is chilling, make the ganache: Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the remaining 1 1/2 cups heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 10 minutes, then stir until completely melt. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer and refrigerate until completely cool, about 30 minutes. Just before frosting, whip the ganache until it just begins to loosen up, turns lighter in color and is spreadable, 30 to 45 seconds. It's important not to overwhip or it will become grainy.
• Cut a 2- to 3- inch diagonal piece from the top end of the log and place it on top of the log at an angle; this will be the branch. Spread the ganache over the log to cover it completely. Heat a metal fork. Use the tines and the back of a the fork to draw a bark pattern in the ganache, running it along the surface in short strokes.
• To make the mushrooms: Shave the tops of 6 of the meringues with a rasp grater until they are smooth and round and resemble mushroom caps. Smooth the tops with a wet finger. Mix together 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar with 1/4 teaspoon water in a small bowl to make a glue. Smear a little of the sugar glue on the bottom of each meringue and stick a marshmallow to it to make a stem. To make a shorter stem, simply cut the marshmallow in half with kitchen shears. Let the mushrooms sit for 30 minutes until the sugar water has hardened. Dust the tops with cocoa powder.
• Decorate the cake with the mushrooms, rosemary, mint and cranberries. Shave the remaining meringue over top of the cake to make snow. Slice the cake on a diagonal for serving.

CHOCOLATE-NUT YULE LOG COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs until light & fluffy.
• Add salt & mix well, then cup-by-cup add the flour.
• Last, add the chopped chips and mix well.
• Shape dough into little "logs" (about 1 1/2" long).
• Arrange "logs" on UNgreased cookie sheets fairly close together (don't spread much) -- about 14 to a 10x15 sheet.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes (golden brown); transfer to a cooling rack.
• Melt the shortening & chocolate chips, stirring to mix smoothly.
• Dip one end of each cookie into the chocolate, scraping off the bottom against the edge of the bowl; dip cookie into chopped nuts, then return it to the cooling rack (place waxed paper underneath to catch the chocolate drips).
• OR sprinkle with seasonal or holiday sprinkles and skip the nuts altogether.
• Let cookies sit on racks until firm.
• Store in covered tins with waxed paper between the layers.

NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE YULE LOG WITH CHOCOLATE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Beat cream, cocoa, 3 Tbs. liqueur and sugar to stiff peaks in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix marmalade with 2 Tbs. liqueur in a medium bowl. Select a platter long and wide enough to fit a 12-inch yule log with two 'knots.'
• On flat side of the first wafer, spread a scant teaspoon of marmalade and 1 1/2 tsps. of the cream mixture over entire surface, then top with another wafer, flat side up. Repeat until you have about 3 inches of wafers. Stand stack on its side at a slight angle on the serving platter. Keep adding to log until 16 wafers remain.
• Stack 8 wafers, also on a slight angle, on each side of the log to form two knots.
• Spread remaining whipped cream mix over whole log, coating completely, then create 'bark' by running fork tines along the log and each knot. Cover gently with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.
• Using a toothpick or ice pick, make a small hole in the bottom of each nonpareil. Stick a chocolate kiss into each hole to form mushrooms. Decorate log with clusters of mushrooms, and scatter raspberries around the platter. Slice and serve.

HAZELNUT YULE LOGS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon juice and zest. In another bowl, mix flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture., Place hazelnuts in a small bowl. On a lightly floured surface, roll 1/2 cupfuls of dough into 1/2-in.-thick ropes, about 22-in. long. Cut ropes into 2-in. logs. Lightly brush each log with water; roll in hazelnuts to coat. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.