ManGingerbread

The Cronut creator on thinking outside the gingerbread house for the holidays

hen Dominique Ansel, chef and owner of an eponymous bakery in New York, got the ingenious idea to combine breakfast favorites the doughnut and the croissant into one delectable Cronut, he was hailed as “a culinary van Gogh” and “the Leon-

ardo da Vinci of modern confection” by even the harshest food critics from around the globe. His bakery holds Zagat’s highest ranking in the category.

But if your holiday plans don’t include a trip to Manhattan to sample Ansel’s signature gingerbread cake, our gift to you is the recipe straight from his personal files. — Michele Shapiro

What’s your all-time favorite holiday dessert? In France, Christmas for me was a really good caramelized apple tart with lots of butter, sugar and liberal use of Calvados brandy.

What’s your favorite holiday tradition?I love choosing the tree and decorating it. Last year we did it at the bakery and I hand-carried a 10-foot-tall tree into our little greenhouse.

In your book, you talk about thinking outside the gingerbread house. What are three creative uses for your gingerbread cake?It’s perfect for a holiday-inspired tiramisu. Just soak the gingerbread in milk and assemble it with a little mascarpone cream. You can also bake it into French toast or bread pudding.

If you could create a gingerbread man or woman to represent a character from any CBS series, who would it be?Maybe two gingerbread women for 2 Broke Girls. They did a whole episode about the Cronut and I thought it was hilarious.

InstructIons:1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, pref-erably on a convection setting. Melt butter in microwave and set aside.2. Combine salt, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, flour and sugar in a bowl and mix together using a whisk.3. Add eggs and pear purée to dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Add melted butter; stir to combine.4. Pour mixture into a nonstick pan and bake on the middle rack until golden brown and springs back to the touch, about 12 minutes (depending on the kind of oven you use).5. Let cool; serve at room temperature.

DOMINIQUE ANSEL’S GINGERBREAD CAKEYield: One 8-inch-square cake

Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes (Simon & Schuster)

Dominique Ansel

Maitre d’

IngredIents:¾ cup unsalted butter½ teaspoon salt½ teaspoon baking soda½ teaspoon baking

powder1 teaspoon ground

nutmeg1 ¼ cups all-purpose

flour1 cup plus 2 tablespoons

granulated sugar2 eggs6¼ ounces pear purée

AnseL: TiMoTHy KurATeK/CBs

114 DECEMBER 2014 | watch! cbswatchmagazine.com

Maitre d’

TV stars share “sweet” traditions worth celebrating

FavoriteMy

Holiday treats

Evette Rios, Recipe Rehab

CARIOU ChRIStMAS ShORtBREAD COOKIES(adapted from The Purity Cookbook)

IngredIents:2 cups butter, softened¼ teaspoon vanilla1 cup icing sugar or brown

sugar (or ½ cup of each)4 cups flourCo lored sprinkles or chopped

maraschino cherries, for garnish

CArL

son:

ACe

Pixs

/iMAg

eCoL

LeCT

; CAr

iou:

eri

C Le

iBow

iTz/

CBs;

rio

s: V

Anes

sA s

TuM

P/Tr

iuM

enT

erTA

inM

enT

“Being Swedish, we would open our presents on Christmas Eve after church. Then Christmas morning, my mother would make us all Swedish pancakes, which we would eat while we enjoyed our holiday gifts. Although some of my traditions have changed with my own children, Swedish pancakes on Christmas morning is one that we still honor—delicious!”— Amy Carlson, Blue Bloods

LISTEN UP!I Love the Holidays, an album of

holiday music by Blue Bloods star

Amy Carlson’s band Office Romance,

is available on iTunes.

“My favorite cookies are alfajores. They’re traditional Latin American cookies with a dulce de leche filling. I love making them because they’re fun to assemble and get the whole family involved. It’s a group effort; everyone pitches in to fill and coat them. Henry Ford would have been proud of my family’s division of labor, but maybe not as proud of how many ‘fall off ’

the assembly line!” — Evette Rios, host, Recipe Rehab

Len Cariou, Blue Bloods

Amy Carlson, Blue Bloods

“I love my wife’s Christmas shortbreads, and look forward to them every year. She brought the recipe, and the tradi-tion, from her family. Every year, Heather sets aside a day to fill the house with Christmas music and the fragrance of baking shortbreads. Those cookies are like gold melting in my mouth.” — Len Cariou, Blue Bloods

InstructIons:1. Cream butter with vanilla and sugar. Mix in flour 1 cup at a time.2. split dough into two batches. roll one batch out onto floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. repeat with second batch.3. Decorate with colored sprinkles and/or chopped maraschino cherries. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

cbswatchmagazine.com watch! | DECEMBER 2014 117