My New Resume...

Does anyone need a social media savvy, culinarily inclined, New Media Journalism student for an intern?  See the above cookies :)

Interview with Chocolate & Zucchini

Back in November, (ugh, where has the time gone?) I was fortunate enough to meet Clotilde Dusoulier, of Chocolate & Zucchini fame.  She was in Canada to be the writer in residence at the Stratford Chef School. While she was here she also managed to make her way over to Toronto and give a talk at George Brown College, (where I did my Chef Training) and sign books at The Cookbook Store.  

Clotilde was nice enough to answer some questions I had for her about the changing role of the chef and her experience with the students at the Stratford Chef School and I'm finally getting around to sharing those answers with you.

In other exciting news, today is the first day I’m doing a video post! I’m back in school taking a post grad in New Media Journalism and one of the things that I’ve found myself surprisingly drawn to is video editing.  I’m having a lot of fun with it and I hope you enjoy the video of Clotilde! 

Inspired by my meeting with Clotilde, I made some yogurt scones with a recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini.  To make it a little more fitting, I opted to make them Chocolate Chip Yogurt Scones, but feel free to use whatever mix ins you’d like.

Yogurt Scones, (from Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini)

215 grams (1 2/3 cup) flour


30 grams (2 rounded tablespoons) sugar


1 teaspoon baking powder


a good pinch salt


30 grams (2 tablespoons) butter, chilled


125 ml (1/2 cup) plain yogurt


2 tablespoons milk


2 to 3 tablespoons chopped nuts or dried fruits, or 1 teaspoon citrus zest, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 2 teaspoons orange flower water, or the flavoring of your choice (optional)

(Yields 8 small scones)

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Dice the butter and blend it into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter, until no visible lump of butter remains. Add the yogurt, milk, and whatever flavoring ingredient you want to use, and blend them in until the dough forms a ball. Handle the dough as lightly as you can. Avoid overmixing, or the scones won't be as tender.

Pat the dough into a flattish round, about 3 cm (a little over an inch) in thickness, and cut into eight wedges with a knife or a pastry cutter (alternatively, use a cookie cutter to make eight neat rounds). Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet, giving them a little space to expand. Bake for 15 minutes, until the top of the scones is set and lightly golden.

Serve warm, with an assortment of spreads, such as clotted cream, butter, jam, honey, nut butter, apple butter, maple syrup...

Welcome to 2012!

New Years Eve is generally a disappointing night for me.  I rarely have big plans.  This may stem from the fact that as a child I used to always get sick right before New Years and end up spending it with a fever, on the couch, watching Blues Brothers.  I think that tainted my NYE experience early on and I just never recovered from it.


Instead of going out and doing fancy things, I've frequently settled for making a nice dinner at home and drinking large amounts of wine until everything seems ok :) 


This year I went to my parents house where I shared dinner with them and some of their friends.  To finish off a wonderful meal of lobster, I made these Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse with Frangelico Soaked Cherries, topped with a Ferrero Rocher.


NYE may not have been an extravagant night out, but it was a decadent night in.  Here's to 2012 being a fabulous year for everyone!


(No recipe for the cherries, I just cooked some pitted bing cherries, with a little sugar, a little cornstarch and finished it with frangelico).


Chocolate Mousse, (Adapted from What Megan's Cooking)

8 oz of hazelnut chocolate bar, (I used Ritter Sport dark hazelnut chocolate bar) coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water, divided
2 tablespoons butter (no substitutes)
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups whipping cream; whipped with 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract until stiff peaks form

In a microwave or double boiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water and butter until the chocolate and butter are melted. Cool for 10 minutes.

In a small heavy saucepan, whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F, about 1-2 minutes. (*It took me closer to 10 minutes). Remove from the heat; whisk in chocolate mixture.

Set saucepan in ice and stir until cooled, about 5-10 minutes. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into dessert dishes and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

from My Baking Addiction

Let Her Eat Cake

When my nephew Alex was little, my brother used to think it was funny to play a game called “What do you like more?” The game basically consisted of him asking my nephew what he liked more, between his Auntie Bri, (me!) and something else.  


In the past, I’ve lost to things like ice cream, dragonflies and dump trucks as things he likes more than me.  I’ve never liked that game.  



Fast forward four years and Alex is now far too smart to be fooled by his Papa into saying things are better than his Auntie Bri who gives him cookies and takes him to play mini golf.  His younger sister, Julie, on the other hand, is just getting to the age where my brother once again thinks this is a hilarious game to play.

I have no doubt that Julie would happily tell you that chocolate cake is better than Auntie Bri, even if Auntie Bri was the one who made the cake…  Just let her eat cake!

If you’re looking to please a demanding, (but adorable) 2 year old, this cake will certainly do the trick.  The only change I made to the recipe below was to make add a sour cherry layer instead of just straight ganache.

Winner! Gagnant!

For one lucky reader, Christmas has arrived a month early... Congrats Lynne! Hope you enjoy your brand new KitchenAid Food Processor.

Now you can make all the hummus your heart desires.  Or what about pie crust? It's super easy to make in a food processor and then you can turn out cute little chocolate ganache tarts like these ones.  As if there was every any doubt, I recommend a recipe by the lovely Dorie Greenspan.

Cupcakes!

Being back in school is interesting.  For the first time I’m actually enjoying myself, which is both surprising and awesome.  As this is my third venture into post-secondary school, I’m definitely coming at it differently than when I did my undergrad.  Probably most importantly, I’m not worried about marks.  I just want to learn new things and take advantage of  the resources I have available to me while I’m in school.  It’s simple.  Some people don’t get that yet.

Some students feel the need to argue with instructors, to give people attitude and to make a general nuisance of themselves.  I think of these people as being sour and in need of some sweetness in their lives..  So I baked them cupcakes.  I don’t think it made them sweeter, but with cupcake in their mouths, at least they couldn’t talk.

I’ve made these vanilla bean cupcakes before, they’re my go-to recipe from Amy Sedaris, (tweaked to use a real vanilla bean) but as usual I played around with the frosting.  This time I made a mocha buttercream icing with sprinkles on top, because who doesn’t love sprinkles? 

Don’t forget to enter my contest here!  You could win a brand new 13-cup KitchenAid food processor.  You’ve got until this Friday, (November 25^th) to enter.  Good luck!

giveaway, Giveaway, GIVEAWAY!

To fully jump back into blogging, and to convince readers that they should still come visit me here, I’m giving away something shiny and new!  Oooooh!  KitchenAid has provided me with a brand new 13-cup food processor to give away to one lucky reader.  Exciting!

I’m going to make this real easy for you, in order to qualify for the random draw that I will do on Friday, November 25^th, all you have to do is comment on this post and tell me:

-One thing you’d make with your new food processor

AND

-One thing you’d like to see me make on Jumbo Empanadas. 

Easy peasy.  If you’d like a second contest entry, then tweet something like: 

“@brilynnferguson is giving away a KA food processor on Jumbo Empanadas http://jumboempanadas.blogspot.com/2011/11/giveaway-giveaway-giveaway.html and I want to win it!” 

Feel free to customize your tweet, you’re a creative bunch, just make sure you @mention me and link to this page and BAM! you’ve got a second entry!

Apologies to my foreign friends, the contest is only open to Canadians, but everyone else is welcome to comment!  Good luck!