Mocha Logs Recipes

Steps:

• Place egg whites in a small bowl; let stand at room temperature 30 minutes., Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°. Line bottom of a greased 15x10x1-in. pan with parchment; grease parchment. Sift flour, cocoa and salt together twice. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until slightly thickened. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating on high speed until thick and lemon-colored. Fold in flour mixture., Add cream of tartar to egg whites; with clean beaters, beat on medium until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high after each addition until sugar is dissolved. Continue beating until soft glossy peaks form. Fold a fourth of the whites into batter, then fold in remaining whites. Transfer to prepared pan, spreading evenly., Bake until top springs back when lightly touched, 12-15 minutes (do not overbake). Cool 5 minutes. Invert onto a tea towel dusted lightly with cocoa. Gently peel off parchment. Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with a short side. Cool completely on a wire rack. , For filling, in a bowl, dissolve coffee granules in cream; beat until it begins to thicken. Add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Unroll cake; spread filling over cake to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up again, without towel; trim ends. Transfer to a platter, seam side down. Refrigerate, covered, until cold., For frosting, beat all ingredients until smooth. Spread over cake. Using a fork, make lines in frosting to resemble tree bark. Refrigerate until serving.

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.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, beat butter and coffee granules for 1 minute. Add sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. , Roll dough into 1/2-in.-thick logs; cut into 2-in. pieces. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Or use a cookie press fitted with a star-shaped disk to press dough into 2-in. logs 1 in. apart on baking sheets. , Bake at 375° for 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. , In a microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip ends of cookies in chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Sprinkle with walnuts. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Sift 1/2 cup powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and espresso powder into small bowl. Using electric mixer, beat cream and vanilla in large bowl until soft peaks form. Add cocoa mixture and beat until stiff peaks form.
• Spread 1 side of 1 chocolate wafer with 1 rounded teaspoonful mocha cream; top with another wafer. Continue layering wafers and mocha cream for stack of 5 cookies. Place stack on its side on long platter. Repeat making stacks with remaining wafers and some of mocha cream; form log on platter by attaching stacks with mocha cream. Using offset spatula or rubber spatula, spread remaining mocha cream over outside of log to coat. Cover; chill at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.
• Place platter with yule log on work surface. Using fork, gently pull tines of fork along length of frosting on log to create design resembling tree bark. Sift powdered sugar over log to resemble snow. Arrange meringue cookies or Meringue Mushrooms along sides of log. Cut log on diagonal into thick slices. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cream butter.
• Add both sugars and beat well.
• Add egg and mix well.
• Add flour, coffee powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and 1/2 c walnuts.
• Mix well.
• Wrap dough in wax paper and chill thouroughly in refrigerator (at least two hours).
• Remove dough from refrigerator.
• Using rounded teaspoonfuls of dough, shape into balls using palms of hands and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 12-15 minutes.
• Remove cookie sheet from oven and working quickly place 3-4 chocolate chips in the center of each hot cookie.
• When chocolate has softened, spread over top and sprinkle with balance of walnuts.
• Remove to wire rack and cool.

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine almond flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot powder, ground coffee, salt and baking soda.
• Pulse until ingredients are well combined.
• Pulse in agave nectar until the dough forms a ball.
• Remove dough from food processor and work in dark chocolate with your hands.
• Form dough into 2 logs on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and cool for 1 hour.
• Cut the logs into ½ inch slices on the diagonal with a very sharp knife.
• Spread slices out on a baking sheet and bake at 300° for 12-15 minutes.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool, set, and become crispy.
• Serve.