Twelfth Night

To mark the Twelfth Day of Christmas we had a little feast.

I made a Three King's Cake and stuck one whole almond into the almond paste filling.  Whoever found it when we ate the cake later was to be named King of the Twelfth Night.  Lex found it.  In the first slice.  Lucky boy.  He was thrilled to be King.

The cake (and the croissants that I made at the same time) baked up a little darker than I expected.  I think it was because someone bought whole wheat flour instead of white flour. 

This is a photo of the main course before it went into the oven.  

It's the only one I took.

After we ate dinner, we had a Twelfth Night Nerf Gun Fight.

When reading about various Twelfth Night traditions, we found one called Perchtenlaufen, where hundreds of young men wearing masks run around the villages in the alps with bells and whips to drive out evil spirits.  You know what that sounded like to us?  Guys looking for an excuse to run amok.  Running amok in our house looks like masked young boys with Nerf guns.

Therefore:  Twelfth Night Nerf Gun Fight.

Plus, it rhymes.

We all selected some guns and some protective gear, and then we divided into teams:

Parents vs. Kids.

However, it quickly became an Every-Man-for-Himself-Nerf-Free-for-All.

And then we had to find all the darts.

Closing Notes:

I had a really hard time finding a King's Cake recipe that wasn't the New Orleans version or the Mexican version, and I really like the cake I made, so I need to keep track of how I made it.

Here goes:

Use puff pastry from the store or the croissant puff pastry recipe that you usually use.

Roll out two 10 inch circles.  Maybe next time try for more circular circles because these were a little wonky.

Fill bottom with almond paste.

Almond Paste:

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup ground almonds

1 egg yolk

1 Tbsp vanilla

Remember to put a whole almond into the cake filling!

Put the top on and cut lines into pastry.  (Be more decorative next time.)  Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes.  You can top the cake with powdered sugar, although I forgot to do this and it was still sweet enough.

Also, do you want to know how I made the baked sausage dish?

Ingredients:

2 Apples

2 Sweet potatoes

Baby carrots

1 Red onion

4 Sausages

Sage

Thyme

Rosemary

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

3 Tbsp Honey

Bake at 400 degrees for an hour.

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