Happy Holidays Everyone! With X-mas next week, I wanted to capture the holiday spirit by featuring a recipe inspired by one of my favorite independent film series: The Gamers by Dead Gentlemen Productions and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment.
Click here to skip to the recipe for Newmoon’s Candy Cane Lembas.
The Gamers: The Shadow Menace
If you follow the blog, you’d remember when I posted recipes for tarts and scones based off their fantasy series JourneyQuest. The Gamers, though, was the film that started it all. In it, we see a group of college students playing Dungeons & Dragons set in the Fatherall campaign (the same setting from JourneyQuest and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising). At the end of the film, a cruel twist of fate traps their characters in the real world. Years later, as we see in the sequel The Gamers: The Shadow Menace and The Gamers Series, some have adjusted. Others have decidedly not, such as Newmoon the Elf, who can only stand so many seasons in Santaland:
Trapped in indignity and enslaved to candy canes, Newmoon struggles to keep his identity in a world where his brethren exist only in mall-displays or on cookie packages. With this in mind, I wanted to create a dish that Newmoon could make to indulge in not only his heritage but also his love for the red-swirled food of the gods.
So that’s why I’ve chosen to make …
Newmoon’s Candy Cane Lembas
While I could give you peppermint bark and call it a day, I wouldn’t be doing The Gamers‘ elven prince any justice, would I? That’s why I wanted to incorporate as many holiday flavors as I could that would also remind Newmoon of his forest home. To do this, I made a gingerbread shortbread base using ground allspice, roast chestnuts, and maple syrup.
Roast chestnuts are admittedly not abundant in most grocery stores, though you can find them at HMart or Amazon pretty cheaply. They’re also great chopped up and served with buttered green beans or in turkey stuffing. All I’m saying is that it’s not a bad idea to order more than you need for just this recipe. I also leave it up to you as to whether you want to use bourbon-barrel maple syrup (it’s at Costco if you do, though!)
I then made a cream cheese-based frosting using more maple syrup and peppermint extract. You can also use vanilla extract if strongly biting peppermint isn’t your thing. Finally, I dusted the top of these confections with crushed candy canes. Are the holidays destroying your moment of peace? Smash up a pile of candy canes with a hammer, and you’ll find a new joy to the world!
So bake up some Candy Cane Lembas before attempting to capture the holiday spirit with your adventuring party this year. I find that movie nights are great for bringing parties together. Why not start with The Gamers (watch here on The Fantasy Network) and its sequel The Gamers: The Shadow Menace (watch here) by Dead Gentlemen Productions and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment?
recipe
“May I have another candy cane?”
Newmoon's Candy Cane Lembas
Equipment: Stand mixer with paddle attachment, mixing bowl, wire whisk, rolling pin, butter knife, parchment paper, baking sheets, plastic zip bag, kitchen mallet, refrigerator.
Ingredients:
Lembas:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup chopped roast chestnuts
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- Pinch kosher salt
- 3/8 cup maple syrup
Frosting:
- 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- large pinch of kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint or vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 20 mini candy canes
Instructions:
Make the Lembas:
- Preheat the oven to 325° F.
- Cream the butter and maple syrup in the stand mixer until fluffy. Then whisk the flour, ginger, allspice, and salt together in a separate mixing bowl.
- Gradually add the flour blend to the stand mixer until fully incorporated. Then add the chestnuts and let stir until folded in. Turn off the stand mixer.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll 1/4 inch thick. Trim the edges straight with a butter knife to make an 8″x12″ rectangle. Slice the dough in half lengthwise, then cross-cut it into eight pieces.
- Lightly score an “X” onto each piece with the knife and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Press the remaining dough together and roll out an 8″x3″ rectangle. Slice it in half length-wise, then repeat step 5.
- Bake the lembas in the oven 23-25 minutes until the edges begin to lightly brown. Cool completely before decorating.
Make the Frosting:
- Clean the stand mixer bowl.
- Add the butter, cream cheese, maple syrup, and peppermint extract to the bowl and blend thoroughly. Blend in the allspice, then the powdered sugar, a 1/4 cup at a time. Mix until smooth.
Decorate the Lembas:
- Add the unwrapped candy canes to the zip-bag and seal, pressing out a much air as you can.
- Take the kitchen mallet and show them the ancient combat techniques of the treetop masters until pulverized.
- Spread at least a tablespoon of frosting on each piece of lembas, and score it with an “X.”
- Sprinkle candy cane pieces and dust on the lembas, then place them in the refrigerator overnight to set the frosting before serving.
- Eat lembas whole or break along the score lines to enjoy in pieces.
