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.

YULE LOG

Steps:

• Separate the 5 yolks from whites, obviously into two separate bowls. Place egg whites in a small mixing bowl and let the whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes or more.
• Grease a baking pan, then line the pan with parchment paper. Finally, grease the parchment paper. I use Crisco (a vegetable shortening) as the grease, but you could use butter, margarine or even (yuck) animal lard. This recipe presumes a 15 inch by 10 inch by 1/2 inch deep pan, but you can use a pan that is larger in any dimension(s), and just crimp the parchment paper at the proper dimensions.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks on high until they are light and fluffy. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating for a few minutes, until thick and lemon-colored.
• In a dry bowl, combine the 1/2 cup cake flour, 1/4 cup baking cocoa (powdered cocoa) & 1/4 teaspoon salt with a whisk.
• Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture and blend on medium, until well mixed.
• Beat egg whites (in a separate clean bowl) on medium until foamy. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. then, slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, beating on high until stiff peaks form.
• Slowly and gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate flour mixture, until no streaks remain.
• Gently spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 350° for about 12 minutes or until cake springs back (do not over bake; certainly not more than 15 minutes. It is better to under bake rather than over bake!).
• Cool the cake for 5 minutes, then invert onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners' sugar (or another piece of parchment paper, dusted with the powdered sugar). Peel off parchment paper.
• Roll the cake up in the towel or paper, starting with a short side. Then let it cool on a wire rack. The cake portion is now done! If you need to take a break, put the cake in a sealed container or plastic bag.
• MAKING THE FILLING. Alternatives: [1] If you are in a hurry or want a white filling, you could instead just use a topping like "Cool Whip"; but it would need to be served within hours, before the Cool Whip melted and went flat. [2] Another white filling can be made by whipping 1 cup of whipping cream until it is light and fluffy, then beating in 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Obviously, this requires the cake to be kept refrigerated, except when serving it. [3] For a white, vanilla buttercream filling, see the "white buttercream filling recipe" at the bottom of this page; [4] For a chocolate buttercream filling, see the "chocolate buttercream filling recipe" at the bottom of this page; [5] For a mocha (coffee) filling, add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules to any of these above.
• Whip 4 egg whites in a clean dry mixing bowl until fluffy peaks form.
• Add the 1 and a half cups of powdered (icing or confectioner's sugar) to the mixer. Then add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 cup powdered baking cocoa. Whip briefly, but to a uniform color.
• Unroll the cake! If you want to make two shorter cakes, simply cut the cake in half before unrolling it. The advantage of this is, you can make one with chocolate filling, the other with a white filling, or mocha, etc.
• Spread it about at least 1/4 inch thick, up to a maximum of 1/2 inch thick.
• Gently and loosely roll the cake, not squeezing! You don't want to squeeze out the filling. Again, the chocolate filling is on the left, the white buttercream (or whipped cream) is on the right. Now, while the white icing looks better, the chocolate tastes much better -- in my opinion.
• MAKING THE ICING / FROSTING: Alternatives: If you are in a hurry, you can use a pre-made, store-bought can of chocolate frosting / icing, instead.
• In a mixing bowl add 1.5 cups confectioners' sugar (also called powdered sugar and in the UK, icing sugar) , 2 egg whites, 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1 teaspoon lemon juice & 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, then whip it up in your electric mixer.
• Add the cocoa, and mix with the mixer until uniform.
• Gently slurp the icing on the cake (top and ends). Note: the log in the photo appears short because I cut the roll in half to make two short logs, rather than one long log.
• I use a pastry blending knife to make the lines in the icing to look like a log! I just drag the front of it across the log. Of course, you can buy special decorating tools for this, also.
• You can also dust it with powdered sugar, to simulate snow!

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.