Jumbo Empanadas

My New Resume...

2012-01-17T20:43:00.003-05:00

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

Interview with Chocolate & Zucchini

2012-01-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

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

Clotilde was nice enough to answer somequestions 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’mback in school taking a post grad in New Media Journalism and one of the things that I’vefound myself surprisingly drawn to is video editing. I’m having a lot of fun with it and I hopeyou enjoy the video of Clotilde!

Inspired by my meeting with Clotilde, I made some yogurtscones with a recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini. To make it a little more fitting, I opted tomake them Chocolate Chip Yogurt Scones, but feel free to use whatever mix insyou’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 1teaspoon citrus zest, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 2 teaspoons orangeflower water, or the flavoring of your choice (optional)

(Yields 8 small scones)

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

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, bakingpowder, and salt. Dice the butter and blend it into the dry ingredients with afork 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 inuntil the dough forms a ball. Handle the dough as lightly as you can. Avoidovermixing, or the scones won't be as tender.

Pat the dough into a flattish round, about 3 cm (a littleover an inch) in thickness, and cut into eight wedges with a knife or a pastrycutter (alternatively, use a cookie cutter to make eight neat rounds). Placethe 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 asclotted cream, butter, jam, honey, nut butter, apple butter, maple syrup...

Welcome to 2012!

2012-01-01T22:48:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-04T23:30:00.001-05:00

Whenmy nephew Alex was little, my brother used to think it was funny to play a gamecalled “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 icecream, 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 fartoo smart to be fooled by his Papa into saying things are better than hisAuntie 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 ahilarious game to play.

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

If you’relooking to please a demanding, (but adorable) 2 year old, this cake willcertainly do the trick. The only changeI made to the recipe below was to make add a sour cherry layer instead of juststraight ganache.

ChocolateGanache Cake (from Gourmet, 2001)

For cakelayers

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder(not Dutch-process)

1 teaspoon instant-espresso powder

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter,softened

2 cups packed dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

For ganachefilling and glaze

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

20 ounces fine-quality bittersweetchocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped in a food processor

Make cakelayers: Preheat oven to350°F. Butter 3 (7- or 8-inch, 2-inch-deep) round cake pans and line bottomswith rounds of wax or parchment paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour,knocking out excess.

Whisk togetherwater, cocoa, and espresso powder until smooth, then whisk in milk and vanilla.

Sift togetherflour, baking soda, and salt.

Beat togetherbutter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speeduntil fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Addflour mixture and cocoa mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour andmixing at low speed until just combined.

Divide batteramong pans (about 2 1/3 cups per pan), smoothing tops. Bake in middle of ovenuntil a tester comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes for 7-inch pans or 20 to 25minutes for 8-inch. Cool in pans on a rack 30 minutes, then invert onto racks,remove paper, and cool completely.

Makeganache while cakes bake: Bringcream to a simmer in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk inchocolate until smooth. Transfer ganache to a bowl and chill, covered, stirringoccasionally, until thickened but spreadable, about 4 hours. (If ganachebecomes too thick, let stand at room temperature until slightly softened.)

Assemblecake: Arrange 1 layer ona cake stand or plate and spread 2/3 cup ganache evenly over it. Top withanother cake layer and 2/3 cup ganache, spreading evenly, then third cakelayer. (Chill ganache if necessary to keep at a spreadable consistency.) Chillcake until ganache filling is firm, about 1 hour. Keep remaining ganache at aspreadable consistency, chilling when necessary.

Spread a thinlayer of ganache over top and sides of cake to seal in crumbs, then chill 30minutes. Spread remaining ganache evenly over top and sides of cake.

Cooks' notes:• Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead, cooled completely, then chilled, wrappedwell in plastic wrap. • Ganache may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.Let stand at room temperature 2 to 3 hours to soften to a spreadableconsistency. • This cake can also be made in 2 (8-inch, 2-inch-deep) round cakepans. Split layers horizontally, then use 1/2 cup ganache between layers.

Winner! Gagnant!

2011-11-25T08:47:00.001-05:00

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.

Dorie Greenspan's Good for Everything Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 T) very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
2 1/2 T very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces
About 1/4 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening care cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing — what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 3 tablespoons of the water — add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.

Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling. (If your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge.)

To roll out the dough: Have a buttered 9-inch pie plate at hand.
You can roll the dough out on a floured surface or between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap or in a rolling slipcover. (I usually roll this dough out on the floured counter.) If you’re working on a counter, turn the dough over frequently and keep the counter floured. If you are rolling between paper, plastic or in a slipcover, make sure to turn the dough over often and to life the paper, plastic or cover frequently so that it doesn’t roll into the dough and form creases.

If you’ve got time, slide the rolled-out dough into the fridge for about 20 mins to rest and firm up.

Fit the dough into the pie plate and, using a pair of scissors, cut the excess dough to a 1/4- to 1/2-inch overhang. Fold the dough under itself, so that it hangs over the edge just a tad, and flute or pinch the crust to make a decorative edge. Alternatively, you can finish the crust by pressing it with the tines of a fork.

To partially or fully bake: Refrigerate the crust while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Better the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil, fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust and fill with dried beans or rice or pie weights. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake for 25 mins. Carefully remove the foil and weights and, if the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, return the pie plate to the oven and bake for about 8 minutes more, or until the crust is very lightly colored. To fully bake the crust, bake until golden brown, about another 10 minutes. Transfer the pie plate to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

Cupcakes!

2011-11-21T18:58:00.001-05:00

Being back in school is interesting. For the first time I’m actually enjoyingmyself, which is both surprising and awesome. As this is my third venture into post-secondary school, I’m definitelycoming at it differently than when I did my undergrad. Probably most importantly, I’m not worriedabout marks. I just want to learn newthings and take advantage of theresources 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, togive people attitude and to make a general nuisance of themselves. I think of these people as being sour and inneed of some sweetness in their lives.. So I baked them cupcakes. I don’tthink it made them sweeter, but with cupcake in their mouths, at least theycouldn’t talk.

I’ve made these vanilla bean cupcakes before, they’re mygo-to recipe from Amy Sedaris, (tweaked to use a real vanilla bean) but asusual 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 untilthis Friday, (November 25^th) to enter. Good luck!

giveaway, Giveaway, GIVEAWAY!

2011-11-14T23:13:00.001-05:00

To fully jump back into blogging, and to convince readersthat they should still come visit me here, I’m giving away something shiny andnew! Oooooh! KitchenAid has provided me with a brand new13-cup food processor to give away to one lucky reader. Exciting!

I’m going to make this real easy for you, in order toqualify 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 JumboEmpanadas.

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

“@brilynnferguson is giving away a KAfood 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 creativebunch, just make sure you @mention me and link to this page and BAM! you’ve gota second entry!

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

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

2011-11-11T19:39:00.001-05:00

If you had of asked me six months ago where I would be today, there’s no way I could have predicted this. I’m back in school again, this time doing a one year New Media Journalism postgrad program. But what’s most surprising is that I’m actually enjoying it!

So I’ve been writing again, a lot, but mainly school related. It’s inspired me to get back into blogging and sharing my cooking. I also have aspirations to add some new forms of content to the blog. I’m learning how to shoot and edit video at school and I’d like to try out some video posts! I’m excited about it!

But today, I’m sticking with what I know and giving you my new favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, from Chef at Home, Michael Smith. I had the pleasure of hearing Michael Smith give a talk in Toronto a few weeks ago and I met him afterwards during his book signing. I was thrilled to discover that he’s not only an amazing Chef, but an amazing speaker as well. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also super nice and pretty easy on the eyes too!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, (From the book Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen by Michael Smith)

½ cup butter at room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Whisk in the egg and vanilla until well combined.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Scrape down the butter bowl and gradually add the flour mix, beating just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon.

Scoop out a ball of the dough, roll it briefly in your hand to an even ball, then place it on the cookie sheet. Flatten the ball slightly. Repeat, leaving 3 or 4 inches between the balls.

Bake for exactly 12 minutes, (test the first batch, depending on your oven and the size you make the balls, you make have to reduce this time). Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove and cool further on a rack. If you overbake these cookies, they will be crispy, but baked for just the right amount of time, they’re wonderfully chewy and perfect!

Makes about 18 cookies.

Because Cream Cheese Icing is a Terrible Thing to Waste…

2011-06-22T21:18:00.000-04:00

Lately when I make icing I haven’t been using a recipe, I’ve just been estimating quantities of things that taste good, (like butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla bean paste) and mixing them together. This means that I occasionally end up with too little icing and have to make more, or I have too much icing and refuse to throw away the extra. I then I have to find a use for the extra icing besides simply piping it into my mouth. Piping it into a strawberry and then popping that strawberry into my mouth is so much classier and more socially acceptable…

Oreo Brownies and Apartment Hunting

2011-06-13T21:14:00.000-04:00

The search for a new place to live is a pain no matter when you have to do it or what you’re looking for. This process is made especially difficult by people who lack basic communication skills. I am currently in the unfortunate position of having to look for a shared apartment with roommates and the interactions I’ve had with some people during my search is enough to make me want to live in a cardboard box under a bridge. At least then I’d have the place all to myself.

I have spent the past weekend trekking all over the city from place to place, checking out apartments and having interviews with potential roommates. It’s not enough for me to like a place, the roommates have to like me back. So far the stars have not aligned for both of those things to happen. Many of my encounters with potential housemates could have been avoided altogether if people would simply learn to write a proper roommate wanted ad. For example:

-If you’re a vegetarian, or worse, a vegan and you don’t want animal products cooked in your kitchen, you should probably mention this upfront. It saves us both a lot of time and energy.
-If your basement apartment has low ceilings and can only accommodate people who are 5’5 or shorter, this is an important point to note! But furthermore, when I tell you I’m 6’2, and inquire as to whether or not this will be a suitable apartment, you should NOT encourage me to come check the place out. I will be angry when I walk in and bash my head.
-If your apartment is directly beside a college bar that is notorious for it’s massive crowds of underage students who puke on the street at 3am and cause a general ruckus, you can’t hide that. I will in fact notice that this is the case when I come to see the apartment, even if you’ve planned our meeting for 2pm on a Monday.
-If you have animals in the apartment and do not care for them properly, you should probably only try to rent to someone without a sense of smell as there is not enough febreeze in the world to cover up that odour. Once again, this is something I will notice.

If we actually get to the point where we’re having a little chat to see if we’re compatible on some small level, please choose your interview questions with a smidgen of thought. I don’t think you’ll ever have someone admit to bringing home randos at three in the morning or being kicked out of their last apartment or skipping rent payments, but thanks for asking, (for the record, the answer to all three questions is no).

If someone would just gift me with an awesome 1 bedroom apartment to myself, that would be great. Until then, I’ll be eating these oreo brownies. They’re pretty fantastic and fudgy and filled with oreos and I could easily have eaten the whole pan after a day of hiking around to look at apartments.

Cookies n’ Cream Brownies (from Baking Bites)
1 cup butter
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups oreo-type cookies, coarsely chopped (approx 20-24)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, and grease lightly.
In a medium-large saucepan over low heat, melt together butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally. Whisk in sugar, salt and vanilla, then turn off heat. Whisk in eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Stir in flour and cocoa powder until mixture is uniform. Fold in chopped oreo cookies and pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Crush 3-4 additional cookies finely and sprinkle on top of batter, if desired.
Bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, but not coated with batter.
Cool brownies in pan for about 20 minutes, then carefully lift brownies out of the pan using the aluminum foil as a handle and place on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Makes 36 brownies (or 48 bite-sized brownies).

Look to the Cookie

2011-05-31T21:53:00.000-04:00

Cookies are my favourite thing to bake. They're easy and offer instant gratification. The cookie dough, which I might argue is the best part of any cookie, is ready in no time and warm, gooey cookies from the oven can be had in less than 25 minutes. What's not to like? How could anyone not love a homemade cookie? Or someone who makes them homemade cookies? And why don't people settle their differences over cookies and milk?

I'm not the only one who thinks cookies are the solution to all problems. Does anyone remember the Seinfeld episode with the black and white cookies? Jerry really sums it up best when he says:

"The thing about eating the Black and White cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate And yet somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved"

Valuable life advice- Look to the cookie!

Chocolate Chip Cookies a la Anna Olson, (via Foodnetwork.ca)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.
Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.

***These are my go to chocolate chip cookies and they're infinitely adaptable. To make half chocolate/half vanilla cookies, simply swap out 1/4 cup of flour for 1/4 cup of cocoa in half the dough and bake as usual. Assemble the cookies by pinching a ball of chocolate dough and a ball of vanilla dough and squishing them together.

Where Is the Love? Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Brownies

2011-05-09T20:50:00.001-04:00

Just like the Black Eyed Peas in 2003, people got me, got me questioning, where is the love? Cause I am not feeling it lately. You know those times when it feels as though the universe if conspiring against you? And things just seem to be going awry? That’s pretty much my life right now. My roommate, Diesel, has decided to sell the condo, which means for the past two weeks, potential buyers have been parading through my living space with possible intentions of taking it away from me. I eye each person with wariness, silently pleading for them not to make me go through the awful ordeal of trying to find another place to live. I may not love living with Diesel, but the rent is cheap, the amenities are good, the location is where I want to be and above all else, moving is a pain in the ass and I don’t want to do it! People have tried to tell me that I don’t have to worry about finding a place too quickly because he needs to give me proper notice before kicking me out. But then I remind them that I don’t have a lease and I pay rent month to month, in cash. It’s both a positive and negative aspect of living here.

As if the threat of soon being homeless wasn’t bad enough, I have to put up with all the condo gawkers coming to see the place on a daily basis. At first Diesel just told me people would be coming randomly for showings but after a few surprise knocks at the door, (not cool when I’m in the shower) I informed him that he needed to be more specific about when viewers would be arriving. So now I get sporadic texts that say things like “maybe ppl coming 6-7 and 9-10”. Between 9pm and 10pm on a Tuesday? Seriously? I get up at 6am, I want to be in my pajamas, lounging around at 10pm, I don’t want to have to look presentable for when strangers tramp through my bedroom. This does not make me happy. Coupled with a myriad of other life disasters lately, I am definitely not feeling like the universe loves me.

But when all else fails, find the love in brownies. More specifically, Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Brownies. I took a basic brownie recipe and stirred in some balsamic roasted strawberries like I use in my favourite ice cream. Once the brownies have completely cooled, use a cookie cutter to turn them into hearts for extra love.

Best Cocoa Brownies (via Smitten Kitchen as she adapted them from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet)

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks, 5 ounces or 141 grams) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (9 7/8 ounces, 280 grams) sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 7/8 ounces, 82 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt (or a heaping 1/4 teaspoon flaky salt, as I used)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 cup (66 grams, 2 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional- or Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, like I used)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added.
Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.
Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes is Medrich’s suggestion but it took me at least 10 minutes longer to get them set. Let cool completely on a rack. Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Shameless Copycat Starbucks Oatmeal Fudge Bars

2011-05-03T21:59:00.000-04:00

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It’s good advice and I should remember to apply it to all areas of my life, not just baking, but for the time being, let’s focus on the baking. A while back a co-worker insisted that I try Starbucks Oatmeal Fudge Bars. She claimed that they were addictively good and that I was missing out by never having tried one. One afternoon, after a few weeks of reminders, I was feeling the need for a sugar fix and ventured out to my closest Starbucks, (it’s like you can’t go a block anymore without tripping over a Starbucks) to pick up an Oatmeal Fudge Bar. Turns out they aren’t half bad! In fact, they’re kinda good… Almost addictively good…

A couple days later I felt a sugar craving coming on again and started itching to return to Starbucks. Damnit! They had me hooked, but I refused to be fooled twice. I knew I could make their overpriced bars myself and serve them in reasonable portion sizes that coffee shops seem oblivious to, (since when did muffins become the size of soccer balls?). A quick internet search proved that I wasn’t the only person looking to make these bars at home and I turned up a number of results for copycat recipes. I then made my own Oatmeal Fudge Bars and brought them into work to share with my co-workers. The result? Homemade bars beat Starbucks bars, hands down. And I was left feeling victorious, if only in one small area of my life. Starbucks won’t fool me twice.

Copycat Starbucks Oatmeal Fudge Bars
(Makes 36 bars)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 14-ounce can (1-1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Set aside 2 tablespoons of the butter. Beat the remaining butter with mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat until well mixed. Beat in eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla. In another large bowl stir together flour and baking soda then stir in oats. Gradually stir dry mixture into beaten mixture. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the 2 tablespoons butter, the sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate . Cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Press three quarters of the oat mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15×10x1inch baking pan (or something close to it). Spread chocolate mixture over the oat mixture. Use your fingers and dot the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate. Tip: Wet your fingers slightly to help prevent sticking.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned (chocolate mixture will still look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 2×2 inch inch bars.

Hello Spring! Hello Cupcake!

2011-05-01T19:57:00.001-04:00

When I made these chocolate cupcakes a month and a half ago, the green icing was festive for St. Patrick's Day. But since I didn't get around to writing about them until now, I suppose I should put some sort of spin on the choice of icing colour and say it's for Spring, which is hopefully going to arrive and stay any time now. If it snows one more time this year, I'm getting on a plane and going back to Australia. Even though it's approaching winter there, it will still be nicer than here. On the upside, chocolate cupcakes never go out of season especially if they're made using Magnolia Bakery's recipe. I made the icing by adding a bit of green food colouring and Baileys to vanilla buttercream. You could substitute the Baileys with another flavour, but I don't think Baileys should be season specific either...

Magnolia Chocolate Cupcakes, (From the book More from Magnolia by Allysa Torey)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (see Note)
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream

Note: To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for approximately 5–10 minutes. Stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces of chocolate remain. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm 5–10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. At the bakery we ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream.

Chocolate Ice Cream

2011-04-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

A little while ago I was over at my cousin’s house, enjoying a dinner of homemade chili fries and wine, and discussing various important subjects when the topic of ice cream came up. Her boyfriend mentioned that one of the greatest things about being an adult was that he could now eat ice cream for dinner. I think there was a Seinfeld episode about that too… Anyways, I felt like we bonded over our mutual love of ice cream so a little while later when I was making chocolate ice cream for my Dad, (it’s his favourite flavour) I couldn’t help but think of my cousin’s boyfriend and how much he would like it too. I later recounted this to my cousin but as I said it out loud I realized it sounded pretty creepy to tell her I have thoughts of her boyfriend. I assured her they were strictly on an ice cream loving level and that there was no cause for concern.

If you want to impress an ice cream lover in your life or if you simply have a love of ice cream yourself, you should make this chocolate ice cream. The recipe comes from David Lebovitz’s, The Perfect Scoop and that’s all you really need to know to understand that it will be amazing.

Chocolate Ice Cream, (From David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop)
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)

Sweet Pretzel Cookies are the Opposite of Bikram Yoga

2011-03-28T22:37:00.000-04:00

A while ago I mentioned how I had started attending Bikram hot yoga classes. At the time I said I wasn’t exactly enjoying them. Now, after 20 classes, I can firmly say that was an understatement. Not only do I not like Bikram yoga, I hate it. Strong words? Perhaps. But true. I gave it a chance. People told me it would get better. It does NOT get better. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! Wooo, that felt good to get off my chest! Some people would question why I would attend so many classes if I dislike it so much. It’s partially because I’m stubborn and hate giving up on things and also because I saw results with Bikram yoga. I felt myself getting stronger and more flexible and quite quickly too. But those good things are more than cancelled out by the fact that it’s such a struggle to force myself to attend classes because of how terrible I feel before, during and afterwards.

Before the class I’m anxious, wondering if I had drank enough water throughout the day to hydrate myself, how I’m going to feel during this particular class, how hot it’s going to get, (it varies depending on how many people are in attendance and on whether the instructor decides to regulate the heat or not) and if I would make it early enough to get a good spot. During the ridiculously long 90 minute class I struggled to make it through each day without getting dizzy and having to lie down, without feeling faint and without falling out of too many of the poses. After the class, during the time that you’re supposed to feel rejuvenated and ready to take on the world, full of energy and pep, I felt like I had been run over by a bus, thrown off a cliff and then put through a washing machine. All I want to do after each Bikram yoga class is curl up into a ball and sob quietly, drink a fruit smoothie and then eat mass quantities of baked goods to undo all the potential good I had just done in class, to make me feel better.

These amazing cookies are the exact opposite of Bikram yoga. They might not be good for me as far as caloric content goes, but they more than make up for that in the happiness that they bring. These cookies make me want to hug strangers, tip 110% and help old ladies cross the street. They just generally inspire goodwill. I originally had the idea that I wanted to use pretzels in a cookie as I love salty/sweet combos, so I bought a bag of pretzels to facilitate this. But then I started to eat the pretzels on their own and before I knew it I was left with about a cup and a half of pretzels left. I knew cookie time was then or never, so I got to work. I started with Alton Brown’s recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and tweaked it to my satisfaction, by browning the butter first and then adding not only chocolate chips but also crushed pretzels and dried cherries, cranberries and blueberries. The end result? Cookies that make life ok again, even after a hellish Bikram yoga class, and that’s quite the accomplishment!

Bri’s Sweet Pretzel Cookies, (Adapted from Alton Brown’s The Chewy)

2 sticks, (8oz) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups lightly crushed salted pretzels
¾ cup mixed dried fruit, (I used a combination of dried cherries, blueberries and cranberries)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Continue to heat until the butter turns brown and smells wonderfully nutty. Be careful as it will go from lovely and brown to black and burnt quite quickly.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, pretzels and dried fruit.
Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Happy Pi/Pie Day!

2011-03-13T18:32:00.000-04:00

This Mini Apple Crisp Pie, topped with Vanilla Ice Cream, Walnut and Honey was born out of necessity. I didn’t want to make it, but I had to. I needed reasons to use up ice cream, aside from just shovelling it into my mouth. For some silly reason, my condo building is without power today from 9am-5pm so I’m currently sitting at Starbucks trying to kill time. About a week ago, signs went up in the elevators in my building, stating that the power would be off today and to take appropriate measures to assure that none of your food spoiled during the outage, which would shut off all fridges and freezers. Is a week really enough notice for such a thing? Why wouldn’t the powers that be, consider doing their repairs in two, four hour spurts so that everyone’s lives were less disrupted? Apparently I’m the only person that employs logic when making decisions. And of course, this is occurring on one of the few days that I get to leave work early so instead of being able to spend my free afternoon baking, I’m sitting in a noisy Starbucks. I didn’t manage to snag one of the comfy armchairs either so I’m sitting on a wooden chair near the entrance where a cold wind blows in every time someone opens the door. It’s not pleasant.

What all of this means is that for the past week I’ve been eating a lot of ice cream because I can’t bear the thought that it might melt and be spoiled if the power outage drags on. I thought I should attempt to pair the ice cream with something, so I made apple crisp. And since I had some leftover frozen mini pie shells that I didn’t want to thaw and refreeze, I scooped the crisp into the pie shells and topped them with ice cream, walnuts and honey. And since tomorrow is 3.14/Pi/Pie Day, it seemed very appropriate that I tell you about my born out of necessity mini-pies. Happy Pi Day everyone!

Reasons to Bake Cake

2011-03-04T21:32:00.003-05:00

I like birthdays but only because they’re an excuse to bake cake, other than that, they’re not much fun. So I started looking for other reasons to bake cake. Office jobs are great for that, you can bring in cake for any reason and people will devour it. Perfectly valid reasons for bringing cake into an office:

-It’s snowing
-It’s Tuesday
-The Leafs won a game
-It’s Friday
-The Raptors won a game
-It’s Thursday
-It’s raining
-It’s Monday
-It’s almost Spring
-It’s Wednesday

See, there are an infinite number of perfectly good reasons to bake a cake, or cupcakes, or cookies or bars and to bring them into an office. The only downfall to all is this is the toll it takes on my bank account. I would happily bake and bring treats into the office everyday of the week, but my bank account tells me repeatedly that’s not permissible. I randomly consider putting a tip jar beside my free baked goods, but I don’t have the nerve to do it. I should make piggy bank cupcakes one day and see if that inspires any goodwill in my direction. It’s not that I do this expecting something in return, but reception work just doesn’t pay enough for me to bake at a high frequency for free. I want to, I really do, but I can’t. So I try to impose restrictions on myself, like I’ll only bake for a birthday. But I very quickly break those restrictions and end up baking for reasons like, it’s Thursday. I can’t help myself.

Two of the treats pictured today actually were made for birthdays. The first was a chocolate banana cake with strawberry jam filling and whipped cream topping. The second was a chocolate salted caramel cake, (which I’d previously made here) and was re-requested for a birthday. Usually I refuse requests to make the same thing twice, but the birthday boy was over the age of 90, so he can have whatever he wants. The third was made because my friend Ruby likes bright colours and has been insisting on a rainbow cake for ages so I finally fulfilled her request with vanilla rainbow cupcakes with cream cheese icing and more rainbow sprinkles.

What’s your best excuse for baking? I can always use another one..

Amy Sedaris Vanilla Cupcakes, (My favourite vanilla cupcake recipe, which can by dyed any colour you like)

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk

Turn oven on to 375 degrees F.
Put butter in mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can be really stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: vanilla, baking powder, salt, flour, and milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I'm doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted second best in the city by New York Magazine.
Frost with Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.

Post World Dulce de Leche Day Round Up

2011-03-03T22:09:00.002-05:00

After World Nutella Day I was pretty excited for World Dulce de Leche Day, although I think I needed more backing power. It was not quite the resounding success I had hoped for, The round up consists of a small but awesome group of bloggers with an immense love of all things DdL. I know there are more DdL lovers out there so I'll have to start my campaign earlier next year to get more people involved. Nevertheless, enjoy the following treats, they look pretty amazing. I certainly haven't tired of the sweet, caramelly goodness of dulce de leche yet so I will be in using it throughout the year.

First up we have The Happy Sorceress of Dispensing Happiness who has been my biggest supporter of World Dulce de Leche Day. She certainly didn't disappoint with Dark Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes. These beauties are actually stuffed and drizzled with DdL, that's my kind of cupcake!

Next up is Haalo of Cook Almost Anything at Least Once, who made these amazing Cajeta Meringue Tarts. I love this idea! Who wouldn't want a mouthful of cajeta in cute little tart form? So good!

Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen decided to use DdL in the traditional South American cookie, Alfajores. For anyone who has not tried these before, you are seriously missing out! I tried to make alfajores once before, but mine didn't look nearly as good as Cakelaw's.

What's better than one dose of Alfajores? TWO doses of Alfajores! And to make that happen, I urge you to visit A Sugar Coated Ink where you'll find more mouthwatering Alfajores.

And I made Dulce de Leche Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Dulce de Leche Icing. I had originally planned to take these bars to an Oscar party, but somehow through a miscomunication, I ended up not going, so I took them to work instead. The people at work loved them. They said they were one of their favourite things that I've made for them so far, and I've made them quite a few things!

Thanks so much to the little group who participated in World Dulce de Leche Day! We'll conquer more of the world next year!

Happy World Dulce de Leche Day!

2011-02-28T08:35:00.000-05:00

I love delicious, arbitrary holidays and that’s why I decided a few weeks ago, on World Nutella Day, that there should also be a World Dulce de Leche Day. Patience is not my strong suit so I couldn’t wait any longer than the end of February to declare a second gooey, sticky, food centred holiday. February 28th has arrived and that means that if all has gone according to plan, there should be a spike in food blog posts about dulce de leche and the world will be a sweeter place today. If you’re one of the lovely people who have chosen to wax poetically, or otherwise, about the virtues of dulce de leche, send me a link to your post and I’ll do a round up of goodness at the end of the week.

I’ve been swimming in dulce de leche for the past month and have actually made a few things that didn’t make it onto the blog because I ate it all before taking a photo. Like the dulce de leche frozen yogurt. I just couldn’t stopping dipping a spoon into the freezer for a little taste and before I knew it I was scraping the bottom of the container. But I did manage to take a photo of these Dulce de Leche Apple Bars. The recipe comes from Recipe Girl and originally called for a browned butter icing, but I switched it to a cream cheese dulce de leche icing, to double up on the dulce de leche. The bars are cakey and moist, with juicy chunks of apple and the complex sweet taste of dulce de leche. They’re pretty fantastic and completely worthy of World Dulce de Leche Day! Hope yours is delicious!

Dulce de Leche Apple Bars, (Adapted from Recipe Girl)

1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups chopped, peeled apples
½ cup dulce de leche

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×9-inch square baking pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
4. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture, just until combined. Carefully stir in apples.
5. Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop dulce de leche by heaping Tablespoons over batter. Drag a butter knife through dulce de leche to swirl through the batter. Drop remaining batter over dulce de leche.
6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until browned and firm to touch. Let cool completely.
7. When cool, ice with your choice of icing, click over to Recipe Girl's site for her browned butter icing, I didn't follow a recipe, I just mixed together cream cheese, butter, dulce de leche, icing sugar and cream until it looked like icing... Sorry for the randomness.
8. For cleanest cuts, chill completely and slice into the bars with a sharp, thin knife. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Dulce de Leche Cookie Sandwich

2011-02-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

World Dulce de Leche Day is TOMORROW, that's Monday, February 28th! If you're stuck for an idea about what to make, bake a batch of cookies, any type of cookie, place a spoonful of dulce de leche on a freshly baked and cooled cookie and sandwich it together with another cookie. Presto! You've got yourself a post for World Dulce de Leche Day and a sweet treat to beat away a case of the Mondays. It's win-win. I opted for Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies to go with my Dulce de Leche, but feel free to choose whatever makes you happy. Just be sure to send me a link and let me know about it tomorrow!

Banana Dulce de Leche Smoothie

2011-02-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

Have you figured out what you’re making for Dulce de Leche Day yet? February 28th is fast approaching so get those recipes ready! No need to come up with something extravagant either, (though by all means, go ahead if you want to) you could just make something simple like this Banana Dulce de Leche Smoothie that I made today. It consists of nothing more than a frozen banana blended with milk, yogurt and a big dollop of dulce de leche. It’s the perfect post-yoga beverage. As I mentioned a little while ago, I’ve started doing Bikram yoga because I got a deal on a 25 class pass. When I first started, I hated it. It made me feel absolutely terrible but people kept telling me it would get better and that I would start to love it. Today marks my 14th class and I’ll tell you straight up, I still hate it. Hot yoga is hell yoga. The problem is, it’s extremely effective… So even though I’m in agony before, during and after every class and I wonder if I’ll make it til the end, I’m seeing improvements. I’m also stubborn and determined to use up the entire 25 class pass so I force myself to keep going. As a reward for dragging my body to yoga I make myself something awesome after each class, like Raspberry & Blueberry Crumb Bars or a Banana Dulce de Leche Smoothie, any suggestions for next time?

As always, a friendly reminder to get your Dulce de Leche posts ready for Monday, February 28th, you’ve got one week before the big day! If you want to read more about it, click here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T04:25:00.000-05:00

Is it a Hallmark holiday? Yes. Is it horribly cheesy? Yes. Does it put ridiculous pressure on guys to come up with something romantic for the girl in their lives? Yes. Does it make girls feel bad if they if they don’t have a boy to celebrate with? Yes. Is it avoidable? No. So if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and you might as well eat cake while you’re doing it. Food is generally the best part of any holiday and Valentine’s Day is no exception. It’s one of the only days of the year where it’s totally acceptable and justifiable to cram your face full of chocolate and ice cream and sweets. It’s definitely my kind of holiday.

Regardless of how you feel about Valentine’s Day, you’re still going to see red and pink hearts everywhere and read mushy cards and hear love songs on the radio, so you might as well embrace it and do what I did. I invited my friend Ruby Clicks over for some wine and cake ball making, which translated into eating a lot of mashed up chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, reminiscing about our travels and then going out for a candlelit sushi dinner complete with hearts on the plate. What’s not to like about that? As a bonus, Ruby takes really pretty pictures and was able to help me sort out why my fancy camera was acting up. It seems that the auto-focus is broken, (sadface) but that I can still take pictures using manual settings until a life sponsor swoops in to fix things… I think I’ll be struggling with this one for a while, bear with me.

If you want to get into a festive Valentine’s Day mood, The Kitchn has a great recipe and tutorial for making cake balls. If you plan on making your own cake and icing, (which you’d be a fool not to) the whole process is somewhat time consuming, but I like that. You could mix and match cake and icing flavours to your heart’s content but chocolate seemed very appropriate for Valentine’s Day and cream cheese icing is appropriate for everyday.

I’d like to leave you with two thoughts:

1- Dulce de Leche Day is coming soon, February 28th, so start planning your recipes. For more info, click here.

2- In the words of the great 50 Cent- “I love you like a fat kid loves cake!” Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Get Your Dulce de Leche Recipes Ready!

2011-02-10T21:17:00.000-05:00

While it's perfectly acceptable to eat dulce de leche with a spoon, I know you bloggers are a creative bunch so get your recipes ready for World Dulce de Leche Day! It's coming soon, so get in the kitchen and get busy. Then, on World Dulce de Leche Day, February 28th, post your amazing masterpieces and send me a photo and a link for the ultimate dulce de leche round up. And yes, I've been made aware that there's actually a Dulce de Leche Day in Argentina, but really, can you ever have too much dulce de leche? It shouldn't be restricted to one country, we need to bring this sweet to the whole world!

If you need help making dulce de leche, David Lebovitz provides the following recipe which couldn't be easier, (and doesn't risk having a can of boiling liquid explode everywhere).

Dulce de Leche or Confiture de Lait (Adapted from The Perfect Scoop)

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).
Pour one can (400 gr/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.

Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.

Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).
Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.
Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using.

Coming Soon: World Dulce de Leche Day!

2011-02-05T20:13:00.000-05:00

There seems to be a “day” for everything. Today was World Nutella Day, January 23rd was National Pie Day, April 14th is National Pecan Day, May is apparently is a whole month devoted to Chocolate Custard, September 17th is National Apple Dumpling Day and December 7th is National Cotton Candy Day. I don’t exactly know who makes up these so-called National and World Days, but I feel like I need to add one to the mix- World Dulce De Leche Day. I will concede that Nutella is pretty amazing, but Dulce de Leche is equally so and it deserves a day in the spotlight too. How about arbitrarily making February 28th,World Dulce de Leche Day? Why not? Who wouldn’t want a day devoted to sweet, gooey, decadent dulce de leche? Food bloggers have got quite a lot of influence around the interwebs, so spread the word, there’s a new holiday in town and it’s delicious!

For any of you out there who may not be familiar with dulce de leche, (what rock have you been living under?) it’s a thick, caramel-esque spread which is Latin American in origin and whose name is literally translated as “sweets made of milk”. Dulce de leche is essentially sweetened milk that has been cooked to the point of caramelization but how this is achieved, varies.

One way to make dulce de leche is by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk, in the can, fully submerged in water in a pan on the stove top. If that sounds scary, it should. If you’re not careful, there’s a possibility that the can could explode. The thought of boiling hot dulce de leche being flung all over my kitchen in a single bang does not appeal to me. That’s why I’ve adopted David Lebovitz’s much safer method of pouring a can of sweetened condensed milk into a pie plate, covering it with tinfoil and baking it in a water bath at 425F for about an hour to an hour an a half, until it darkens. Same great results, minus the explosion potential. Win-win.

I’m going to get the February 28th Dulce de Leche Day festivities started early with, (another) David Lebovitz recipe, this one for Dulce de Leche Brownies. I already love brownies so when you add swirls of dulce de leche, it pretty much puts them over the top. And it’s easy to do too! Now then, on to official business, if you’d like to participate in World Dulce de Leche Day, simply make an awesome sweet treat using dulce de leche, take a photo and post about it to your blog on February 28th! Send me the link and your info to brilynnf @ yahoo dot ca and I’ll do a round up of all the awesomeness! If you don’t have a blog, that’s cool, just send me a pic and a line about you and your recipe and I’ll post that too. Spread the word! There’s no reason World Dulce de Leche Day can’t become as successful as World Nutella Day, (or why the two shouldn’t be combined for ultimate world domination).

Dulce de Leche Brownies, (from David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life in Paris)

8 tablespoons (115g) salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (140g) flour
optional: 1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup dulce de leche

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (175 C).
Line a 8-inch (20 cm) square pan with a long sheet of aluminum foil that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides. If it doesn’t reach all the way up and over all four sides, cross another sheet of foil over it, making a large cross with edges that overhang the sides. Grease the bottom and sides of the foil with a bit of butter or non-stick spray.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour. Mix in the nuts, if using.
Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Here comes the fun part.
Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Storage:These brownies actually become better the second day, and will keep well for up to 3 days.

Raspberry & Blueberry Crumb Bars and Hot Yoga

2011-02-01T21:32:00.001-05:00

So I’ve started doing Bikram style hot yoga. Everyone I’d talked to who had done it said how great it was and how amazing they felt afterwards. They raved about it. They reported being able to sleep better afterwards. They called it refreshing and rejuvenating. It all sounded too good to be true, I had to try it for myself. Then I saw a deal to get 25 hot yoga classes for $35 and I took it as a sign to jump on board. The verdict? All those people lied to me. It does NOT make me feel better. After my first class I felt like I’d been turned inside out, beaten up and run over by a bus. I promptly returned home, showered and went to bed. This was at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Bikram yoga destroyed me. I was told it would get better. The second class was exactly the same. For those of you unfamiliar with Bikram style yoga, it takes places in a very hot studio, (around 105°F, but hotter when you cram that room full of sweaty wannabe yogis) and is a 90 minute session which consists of 26 postures, throughout which you’re encouraged NOT to drink water, NOT to wipe your sweat away and NOT to leave the room for any reason. They’re very particular.

It was after my third hot yoga class that I made these Raspberry & Blueberry Crumb Bars. All I wanted to do was go to bed but I had promised to bake something to bring into work the following day. Given my post-yoga state of confusion, it’s a wonder they turned out at all, especially as I had to make numerous substitutions to the original recipe. I had intended on going to pick up some groceries after yoga but I completely forgot in my quest to get home as quickly as possible so that I could collapse. That meant that when I started to try to put these bars together I realized I didn’t have enough butter or flour or lemons. Absurd! What kind of baker doesn’t have butter and flour? So I had to make changes like substituting cream cheese for part of the butter, ground oats for part of the flour and limes for lemons. I’ve given you the original recipe with my substitutions in italics. As for the yoga, I’m persevering and am determined to go to all 25 classes that I’ve paid for, even if it kills me. As incentive not to die, I’ve decided that I get a treat after every yoga class and these bars are perfect for that. Besides, they’ve got anti-oxidant rich berries and fibre from the oats. They’re practically health food. I’m sure Bikram would approve.

Raspberry Blueberry Crumb Bars, (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour (1 ½ c flour, 1 ½ cup ground oats to make 'flour')
1 cup cold butter (5 ounces butter + 3 ounces cream cheese)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon (zest of 1 lime + ¼ cup milk)
4 cups fresh raspberries (2 cups raspberries, 2 cups blueberries)
1/2 cup white sugar, (½ cup brown sugar)
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
On a work surface or in a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan. I lined my pan with parchment paper. It makes it easier to remove the bars when they are done.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar, the cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the raspberries. Sprinkle the raspberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Mini Banana Cream Pies

2011-01-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

It was -22°C today in Toronto, -30°C with the wind chill. That sort of temperature does not inspire me to want to go outside. Ever. Instead I stayed in and thought about all the warm and tropical places I would rather be. And after I accepted the reality that I’m stuck here for at least 2 more months of winter I decided to spend the day baking. However, deciding what to bake is never an easy task. As usual, I spent an absurd amount of time scanning recipes and trying to find something that I felt like making and for which I also had all the ingredients, because as previously discussed, there was no way I was going outside.

Then I saw some bananas sitting on the counter and narrowed my search to banana recipes. I should really have more banana recipes in my repertoire and should make them more often because The Boy likes “anything with banana”. I mentioned my boyfriend in my last post, (and how he’s not impressed with my oversized male roommate…) but despite the only recent mention, he’s not new and he’s actually existed on my blog for quite some time, albeit in various disguises. If you’ve been around Jumbo Empanadas since the early days, you may also know The Boy as a certain Ukrainian Princess who refused to eat pierogies…

Other than that though, he’s a pretty good eater, likes sweets and will generally try anything I put in front of him, (pierogies being the obvious exception). As I said, he especially likes anything with banana. He also likes pudding. Given those two facts, it seems like banana cream pie should be one of his favourite desserts. While looking at recipes with bananas, I sent him a quick message asking his opinion of said pie, as I thought it odd he had never requested it. Turns out he’s never had banana cream pie. How is that possible?

I shouldn’t be surprised though, this sort of situation happens quite often. I ask him what he thinks of something, he replies he’s never had it and I then add it to the “list of things to make The Boy”. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I evidently ending up making banana cream pies, they’re still on The Boy’s list. He lives in another city and didn’t get to try any of these. But I figure if I keep making banana desserts like this he’ll have to come visit me more often…

Banana Cream Pie (from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours)

2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar, pressed through a sieve
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits
3 ripe but firm bananas, sliced

To make the custard, bring the milk to a boil. In a separate saucepan, whisk together the eggs, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until blended and thick. Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about ¼ of the hot milk. Continue to whisk while slowly pouring in the remainder of the milk. Bring the mixture to a boil while whisking and continue to whisk for 2 minutes at a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Let cool 5 minutes before whisking in the bits of butter until fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool. Remove from the fridge and whisk again before scooping into tart shells, alternating with a layer of sliced banana until you reach the top of the shell.

***I used Dorie’s recipe for the custard only. For the tart shells I used a 3-2-1 pie dough, fully baked and cooled. I topped the mini pies with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a banana slice with caramelized cinnamon sugar on top. There are chocolate curls beside the tarts in the photos, but afterwards I added those on top too.

Platonic Pretzel Rolls

2011-01-16T20:34:00.002-05:00

A number of people who I’ve talked to find it strange that I have a male roommate. One of my coworkers said she would only live with girls and wouldn’t know how to deal with a male roommate who wasn‘t her boyfriend, (particularly one found off Craigslist). Another person told me it was impossible for members of the opposite sex to live together platonically. I disagree with both of those people. For one thing, guys are far easier to live with than girls because in general, they’re pretty direct. If there’s a problem in the house, they’ll just tell you about it instead of leaving a sticky note on the fridge and then avoiding you for a week. And it works both ways, if something your guy roommate is doing is pissing you off, you can yell at them without worrying about hurting their feelings. They’ll take it in stride, either fix the problem, (or not…) and move on.

Secondly, not only is it possible for members of the opposite sex to live together without being anything more than friends, it’s absolutely necessary. When roommates date, it always ends poorly and generally results in someone having to move out. It took me over a month of solid looking just to find a place to live and I have no intention of having to repeat that process because of something silly like dating my roommate. Furthermore, I have a boyfriend who does not want to even entertain the idea of roommates dating. He has nothing to worry about though, because my roommate Diesel doesn’t have a sweet tooth and doesn’t really care about food and that’s essentially in direct opposition to everything that I believe in.

When I first moved in I tried to be a good roommate and share some cookies that I had made. I gave Diesel the cookies along with my rent cheque and he politely accepted them but didn’t seem too enthusiastic. I thought maybe he just wasn’t feeling well. But then on a separate occasion I baked some banana and chocolate chip muffins and left some with a note to help himself. He didn’t touch them. Another day I left cookies cooling on a rack, open for the taking and he couldn’t have cared less. Eventually he told me he just didn’t have a sweet tooth and would rather have chips or a salty snack than baked goods. At that point I considered moving out because I couldn’t possibly be friends with someone who would reject my baking. I calmed down though and got over it, more for me.

I thought maybe he would appreciate good savoury food at least, that is until I found out that his main concern with his meals was quantity over quality. He told me he’d been to a few ‘fancy’ restaurants with multiple course meals and that he wasn’t very impressed as he always left hungry. I suspect he’s a fan of All You Can Eat buffets. When I made a roast chicken he commented that I could have just bought one already roasted at the supermarket for $9.99 so why bother making it at home? When I bake bread he tells me they sell that at the supermarket too. These comments are met with great sighs from me. On the upside, however, it should leave my boyfriend feeling very confident that I will never, ever want to date my roommate. I couldn’t even consider dating someone who wouldn’t appreciate the food I made for them and would rather order Dominoes than eat a homemade gourmet pizza. And do I even need to go into detail about how much it would break my heart to try to date someone who refused my baked goods? It’s the biggest insult I can think of.

So yes, it’s very possible to live with a member of the opposite sex and have a completely platonic relationship, it’s especially easy if you disagree on fundamental life basics. These pretzel rolls are the only thing Diesel has eaten that I’ve made that’s elicited a bit of a positive response. It went something like this: “Those bread things you made weren’t bad, but you know can buy bread at the store, right?.” High praise.

I found the recipe for these pretzel rolls over at Sweet Pea’s Kitchen and she found them at Stresscake. Make them and enjoy!

Hey! I Make Sandwiches!

2011-01-08T08:50:00.001-05:00

One of the benefits, (as far as food blogging goes) of moving into a new place is that the changes that occur during this process usually make for some interesting stories. In my case, acquiring a new and previously unknown roommate means that everyday is something of an adventure. As stated in my last post, Diesel, (the roommate) and I have very different eating habits. I have yet to witness him cook a meal that takes more than 5 minutes and doesn’t require the use of a microwave.

The other night Diesel had a friend over. The two of them were hanging out and having a couple beers when I came home. As our kitchen, living room, dining room and Diesel’s den are all just one room, it meant that while I went about preparing my dinner and doing dishes, I was randomly drawn into their conversation. After asking me about what I was making the friend proceeded to ask if Diesel had cooked me dinner yet. I looked at him with a bit of a puzzled expression and replied that I didn’t think Diesel cooked. Period. It was at this point that Diesel’s head swung in our direction indignantly as he said “Hey! I make sandwiches!”

Ah yes, sandwiches. The height of culinary achievements. Now don’t get me wrong, some sandwiches are pretty awesome, like this bacon and avocado grilled cheese on homemade bread. Diesel’s sandwiches, however, are more of the 4th grader lunch box variety: pre-sliced bread, deli meat and processed cheese. He’s got some work to do before he’s allowed to make me a sandwich. If it ever comes to that though and he decides on a grilled cheese, I hope he makes them the way I do. I like to start my grilled cheese on the stove top, fried in butter so that the toast has nice colour but then I finish it in the oven so that the cheese is melty all the way through. MMMmmm melty cheese….

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-01-03T19:53:00.001-05:00

I was reminded over the holidays that I had stopped writing my blog. It happened a few times, but the person who brought it up was usually my Mom. When she did this, other people would feign interest and ask why I wasn’t writing anymore. Not that they ever really read my blog in the first place, but apparently people become concerned if you stop doing something. I haven’t stopped cooking, although my circumstances have changed once again.

I’m back in the city and working a new job and living in a teeny tiny condo with a random roommate I found on Craigslist. Part and parcel with condo living is a lack of space, the biggest sacrifice for me being the lack of kitchen space. Or the lack of a kitchen. The room that houses the kitchen, (if you can call it that) is also the living room, dining room and my roommate’s office. It’s just one room, the kitchen being one wall of that room, with no island or counter space to speak of. I’m not exaggerating when I say I have about one and a half square feet of counter space, if that. A portion of that counter space is taken up by a toaster and a paper towel holder. I’d put the toasted somewhere else if there was anywhere to put it. There are no drawers in my kitchen.

The only upside to all this is that despite the fact that I’m sharing this incredibly tiny excuse for a kitchen, my roommate doesn’t cook. I will henceforth refer to him as Diesel, (as in Vin Diesel…) as he seems to consume little more than protein shakes and things that can be microwaved. For example, he popped a frozen pizza in the microwave tonight and announced “Dinner is served in two minutes!”. I proceeded to joke that that wasn’t real food. He informed me that it was indeed real food and that he was in fact a balanced eater as he drinks his vegetables in the form of V8, occasionally eats a piece of fruit and has yogurt, which is healthy. Diesel is the type of guy who lifts very heavy weights at the gym. I consider him a personal alarm system for the condo. He’s great really. As far as random Craigslist finds go, I could have done much, much worse. And I love that he doesn’t cook because it means more space for me and my kitchen gadgets, I just have to rearrange his jugs of protein powder sometimes…

Speaking of kitchen gadgets, I had to downsize mine when I moved into the condo. So I don’t have all my fancy baking pans, or my food processor, or more than two mugs, but I’ve got most of the basics. Granted, my basics are very different from a lot of other people’s basics, like Diesel’s. Prior to moving in I asked him what sort of kitchen stuff he had so that I would know what to bring and not duplicate anything as there’s no room for that here. He told me he had all the basics. I arrived to find exactly ONE pot and ONE pan, four plates, two mugs and a handful of cutlery. There wasn’t even a cutting board. Needless to say, I couldn’t live like that and somehow found room amidst the protein powder to stash my kitchenaid mixer and various other essentials. I quickly ran out of room in the kitchen though and have devoted one of the drawers of my bedroom dresser to kitchen wares.

All of this to say that my cooking adventures have been somewhat subdued, but not completely squashed. I’ve been baking for the people at work again and on the weekends I tend to cover the kitchen/living room/dining room/den with dishes as I make meals for the upcoming week. One of the tastiest things I’ve made recently is this Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup from none other than the fabulous Dorie Greenspan. Having finally acquired her most recent book, Around My French Table, for Christmas, I’ve gotten right into creating from it and this was the first recipe I tried. I’m never disappointed by Dorie and this soup was no exception. It was fresh and flavourful and everything you’d expect from something labelled Vietnamese. And it was wonderfully warming on a cold and dreary winter day.

Bananas, Ice Cream and Mariokart

2010-09-23T17:29:00.001-04:00

During my second year of university, I lived in a house that was full of primarily varsity basketball players, (of which, I was one). I lived in the basement with two other girls from the women’s team and on the first floor there were three guys from the men’s team. We each had separate entrances so you had to go outside to enter each other’s apartment and talk to each other in person. There were many times, however, that instead of going outside and around the house to communicate with the guys, we’d just yell through the vents. The house wasn’t very soundproof so we could easily have entire conversations without leaving the comfort of our own apartments, (this was especially useful during the winter). There was one thing that would make me go upstairs though and that was Mariokart.

In my younger days I was a pro at Mariokart on Super Nintendo. I was confident that no one could beat me, whether it be on Rainbow Road or in Battle Mode, I dominated. But my expertise was limited to Super Nintendo. I never advanced past that gaming system. When Nintendo 64 came out, I didn’t jump on the bandwagon and left my game playing days behind me. Or so I thought. Enter Kenny. Kenny was one of the guys who lived upstairs and he had a Nintendo 64 and Mariokart. We were hanging out one day and somehow Mariokart worked it’s way into our conversation, (as it does…) and I started shooting my mouth off about how good I was at it. Well Kenny immediately challenged me to prove it and so we wandered upstairs to have a match.

I wrongly assumed that since I was an expert at Mariokart on SNES, I would also be an expert on N64. I wasn’t ready for a controller with a dozen extra buttons and a rumble pack and all sorts of new things. On our first round, Kenny destroyed me with bananas. He would litter the track with them and shout “There are ‘nanners all over the track!” and I would steer my way into most of them, spinning out and ultimately losing race after race. Gradually I got somewhat better, but Kenny and his bananas continued to get the best of me. We had many rematches after that, usually sparked by Kenny yelling down the vent “Bri! Nanners! Briiiiiii!” and me bounding up the steps. Ever since those days, I can’t help but think of Kenny and ‘nanners all over the track whenever I start to bake with bananas.

Banana Sour Cream Cake, (from Mindfood)

125g butter, softened
¾ cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
¾ cup sour cream
¼ cup milk
1 cup mashed bananas
2 ¼ cups self raising flour
¼ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease and line a 20cm round cake pan with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold in cream, milk and banana. Sift flour and baking of soda over batter and gently fold through.

Spoon batter into cake pan and smooth. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

*****Mindfood suggests a sour cream and white chocolate icing which I should have made, but I used a sour cream, icing sugar and butter recipe instead. It turned out ok, but not amazing so I’m not going to post that. To make the cake look pretty I sprinkled it with dried edible flowers and served it with a Brown Sugar Balsamic Swirl ice cream from Bon Appetit, which was pretty awesome and deserving of a post all to itself.

PFB Voting and A Story About Pavlova

2010-09-20T19:24:00.005-04:00

It’s time to vote for your favourite contestant to advance to the next round of Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog. Hopefully that’s me! You’ve got until September 23rd to make your vote count and can do so right here.

And for you, I’ve got a little story about food and travel! Back in university, I did a semester abroad at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. A lot of my memories from those 6 months revolve around trying new foods and seeing new places. One of my favourites finds was the New Farm Farmer’s Marke. It was there that I tried Greek yogurt for the first time, sampled wine on Saturday mornings and learned to actually enjoy eating olives. Aside from my market finds, one of my many food discoveries in Australia was the pavlova. A wonderful dessert that every Aussie I met, fiercely defended as being Australian in origin. I had no reason to doubt them at this point although I thought it a bit odd that they were so adamant that pavlova came from Australia.

Fast forward 5 years and I found myself in New Zealand, once again eating and traveling around and enjoying myself immensely. That is, until one night when I was cooking with friends and the topic of what to make for dessert came up. Someone asked me if I’d had a pavlova since being in New Zealand. I foolishly replied “That’s the Australian meringue dessert, right?” Uh oh. Now Kiwi’s are generally pretty laid back people, they don’t tend to get angry very often but there’s a limit to every Kiwi’s patience and apparently I crossed the line when I dared to suggest that pavlova might come from Australia. Clearly, according to the kiwi’s I was with, it’s a Kiwi invention. Only Kiwi’s could come up with something as delicious as pavlova, not bloody Australians!

Upon my return home I decided to test out my pav making skills with a bit of seasonal Canadian flavour. I topped my pavlova with a maple syrup infused whipped cream and some fresh peaches and blueberries. Maybe I can now start claiming that Canadians invented the pavlova?

Pavlova, (from the very Kiwi, Edmonds Cookery Book)

3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup caster sugar
3 teaspoons cornflour

Preheat oven to 150 C. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff. Add water and beat again. Add sugar very gradually while still beating. Slow beater and add vinegar, vanilla and cornflour. Line an oven try with baking paper. Draw a 22 cm circle on the baking paper. Spread the pavlova to within 2 cm of the edge of the circle, keeping the shape as round and even as possible. Smooth top surface over. Bake pavlova for 45 mins, then leave to cool in oven (Do not open the oven while it is baking! It may deflate!). Carefully life the pavlova onto a serving plate. Decorate with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Serves 6.

Silent Sunday: Waffles with Blueberries, Peaches and Maple Syrup

2010-09-19T11:31:00.002-04:00

Project Food Blog: Challenge #1

2010-09-17T21:05:00.007-04:00

I Love to Bake and Blog: Peanut Butter Banana Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting

Ready, Set, Blog Post! That’s the title of the first round of Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog, a riff on the popular cooking elimination programs that are currently dominating reality TV. This is the beginning of 12 weeks of challenges which will ultimately lead to one food blogger being crowned the next food blog star and winning a cool hard $10000 and a special feature on Foodbuzz for a year. That’s a big deal. And here’s why I think that food blogger should be me:

Pumpkin Gnocchi: I wish I could go to Italy to learn to make it authentically!

I was never one of those kids who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. While other youngsters had dreams of being ballerinas, fire fighters, astronauts or famous singers, my stock standard answer of what I wanted to be when I grew up was “I don’t know.” As I progressed through elementary school, that answer didn’t change. In high school when others were picking out university programs, I selected six schools at random and applied, without any idea where it would lead. In university when others were applying for jobs or further education I still didn’t know what I wanted to do next and so I decided to take some time off.

Me at The French Laundry: The happiest place on earth, (forget Disneyworld...)

It was during that time that I began to truly identify my love of food and also when I began blogging. For a period of time I thought maybe I could earn a living cooking, but with a university degree in Physical Health and Education, I decided that I had better head to culinary school first. After a year long chef training program I started my first job in a restaurant kitchen, ready to begin a culinary career. Things were finally starting to take shape, except I hated it and wanted to quit after my first week. It improved following the rough start and I managed to stick it out for 14 months, but I knew that restaurant work wasn’t for me. Back to square one.

Culinary School: I learned a lot, but the restaurant business is not for me

Once again, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I took off and traveled for a year. The one thing that remained constant throughout my travels was my love of food and desire to taste as much of each country as I could. Looking back through my travel pictures, there’s an inordinate amount of food photos to prove it. Since returning home I’ve been looking for a job and applying to a variety of positions but as always, without knowing what it is I really want to do.

Pad Thai in Thailand: Street food is awesome

For anyone who’s been in this situation before, you’ll be familiar with the line of questions you get from others who are trying to help you out. One of the most popular questions is “If money/time/obstacles weren’t an issue, what would you most want to be doing with your time, what would make you happy?” This is not an easy question. I started by answering with my old favourite response of “I don’t know.” But then I started to think about it and the beginnings of a new, better answer began to form.

Skydiving in New Zealand: Not as big a rush as eating at The French Laundry

What would make me happy? I’d ultimately like to spend my days cooking, baking, eating, photographing, traveling and writing about it all. Essentially, I would like to be a professional food blogger. But how do I make that happen? Foodbuzz has provided me with a good way to start on the path to food blogging success with Project Food Blog. Not only would the exposure be good, but just think what I could do with $10000! I could take the Ice Cream Technology course offered by the University of Guelph, the only one in Canada of its kind. I could plan a trip to Italy and learn pasta making from the masters. I could outfit my kitchen with all sorts of new gadgets. And throughout it all, I’d be blogging and sharing my cooking experiences with the world. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

Adventuring and Eating Around the World: Something I'd like to do more of

So when voting opens for the first challenge on September 20th, help make my food blogging dreams a reality by voting me into the next round of Project Food Blog. Need any more proof that I’m serious about food? Here are three reasons:

Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream: One of my favourite homemade flavours

-I started blogging in 2006, over four years ago, I’m serious about this!
-When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is what’s for dinner.
-I got a bigger rush out of eating at The French Laundry than I did from skydiving.

Vanilla Bean Mousse Cheesecake

2010-09-10T21:46:00.004-04:00

How do you like your cheesecake? Thin graham crust with a dense cream cheese top, baked in a water bath? Shortbread crust, light cream cheese and sour cream top, baked long and slow? No crust, no-bake, gelatin set? Cottony Japanese cheesecake? The variations are endless and I haven’t even touched on flavour possibilities. When I think of cheesecake my ideal is something dense and richly full of cream cheese, preferably baked and usually with fruit and booze incorporated somehow. It’s funny how people’s interpretations of the same thing can be so very different. What one person finds perfectly accepted, can turn another off completely.

I’m generally not a fan of no-bake cheesecakes but that’s probably because they were on the menu when I worked at the restaurant and I had to make a whole lot of them. When my friend V requested that I make her a no-bake cheesecake, quite honestly, I wasn’t overly enthused, but after looking around a few blogs I settled upon a recipe from Dessert First that was appealing and I simply tweaked it to match the ingredients I had on hand. Much to my surprise, I quite like how it turned out too. It’s not at all like the cheesecakes I usually enjoy, the texture is on the verge of being a mousse, but it’s pretty awesome nonetheless. I especially like the gingersnap crust instead of the typical graham and really, you can never go wrong with using real vanilla beans.

I was in Tonga a few months ago and I acquired a bunch of vanilla beans so I’ve been using them in everything I bake. I love the telltale black flecks that identify that a real vanilla bean has been used instead of extract.

Vanilla Bean Mousse Cheesecake (Adapted from Green Tea Cheesecake from Dessert First)

1 cup gingersnap crumbs
4 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
10 ounces whipping cream
12 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
7 ounces milk
1 vanilla bean
2 teaspoons powdered gelatin

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Line a 9x9 square pan with parchment paper and butter lightly.
Combine gingersnap crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a medium bowl until well combined and crumbly. Press firmly into the bottom of the pan with your fingers.
Bake in oven for about 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack while you make the filling.
Whip the cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Set cream aside.
In a clean mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until soft and creamy (do not overbeat and liquefy it). Add the sugar and beat to combine.
Heat the milk in a small saucepan until almost boiling. Split vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the pot, add the bean. Remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Return and heat until almost boiling, remove from heat and remove the vanilla bean.
Bloom gelatin in about 3 tablespoons of water.
Add in the milk to the cream cheese and mix until combined.
Fold in the whipped cream gently with a rubber spatula until combined.
If the gelatin is solid, heat in microwave for 10 seconds at a time until liquid. Make sure it is liquid or it will not blend smoothly with the cheesecake.
Add the gelatin to the cheesecake mixture and fold until combined.
Pour the cheesecake mixture into prepared pan.
Refrigerate for at least an hour until set.

Mysterious Vietnam

2010-09-02T10:36:00.006-04:00

'Cyclo' ice cream sundae at Fanny

In the past 10 months I’ve set foot in 10 different countries. I’ve noticed that when I’m telling people about the different places I’ve been, one country seems to get more attention than the others. Everyone seems to be intrigued by Vietnam, there’s something mysterious and exotic about it that piques curiosities. For me, it was all about the food. I’d had a craving for Vietnamese Spring Rolls since the day I knew I was going to Vietnam. They were one of the first things I ate as soon as I could find a market. I wandered to the food section, (past 19 vendors selling knock off tshirts and knick knacks) and plunked myself down in front of the first stall that I saw with a woman rolling up fresh spring rolls. I pointed and the next spring rolls came to me. That’s pretty much how I did most of my ordering in Vietnam. I saw something I liked, I pointed at it and a few minutes later a similar plate would be put down in front of me. It was a good system.

Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Ice cream might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Vietnam but Fanny ice cream parlour came recommended by Dorie Greenspan and I’d have been foolish to ignore any advice given by such a smart and wonderful woman. Fanny has a few locations around Vietnam and I managed to get to two of them, (in Ho Chi Min City and Hanoi) and am so glad that I did. When I arrived in Ho Chi Min City, (HCMC) it was approximately a million degrees outside, humid and I was sick for the first time in South East Asia. As I lay on my hotel bed, feeling like death warmed over, all I wanted was something cold and delicious to make me feel better. When I managed to muster enough strength to drag myself out of bed, I headed out for ice cream.

Rice Paper Drying in the Sun

I didn’t realize what an adventure it would be to get there. I had been in large South East Asian cities previous to HCMC, I’d been to Kuala Lumpur and to Bangkok but for some reason, HCMC overwhelmed me. It was the scooters. HCMC has an insane amount of scooters that dominate the roads, the sidewalk, everywhere and don’t abide by any sort of laws or regulations. One local joked to me that in the morning scooters drive on the right side of the road and in the afternoon they drive on the left. I’m still not entirely sure that was a joke. Crossing the road should be an Olympic event in HCMC. Traffic lights mean nothing.

Chicken For Sale at the Market in Hoi An

The best way to cross a street is to look in the direction you want to go and to walk there without hesitation. The scooters will swerve around you. It’s true, they will. It’s also true that I saw three scooter crashes in one day. Anyways, after crossing multiple streets and being sure I was going to die each time, I arrived at Fanny and it was worth it. Besides all of the amazing homemade ice cream flavours to chose from they also had the most interesting sundae options. I chose a ‘Cyclo’ which is pictured here and is composed of a scoop of strawberry, mango and coconut ice cream, orange slices, whipped cream, waffle cone and a grape and it was as fun to eat as it was to look at.

Boating in the Mekong Delta

After the insanity that was HCMC I headed south to the Mekong Delta, a land of floating markets, long boats and some amazing scenery. The floating markets were an experience unto themselves. Some of the boats remained stationary, others brought their goods to you. Some specialized in one item, (like watermelon) others offered a few different items. And how do you tell what each boat is selling? They hang a pole from the bow or the stern and tie on one of each item they have on offer so you can see from a distance if you want to travel to that boat. It was really interesting to see. On the way back from the floating markets we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch.

Fried Elephant Ear Fish for Lunch

The menu was limited, but one of the offerings was fried elephant ear fish. I jumped at the chance to give it a try and when they brought out a whole fish I was certainly glad I did. Along with the fish came all the fixings to make my own cold rolls, complete with fresh herbs to customize it the way I wanted to. My dining companions, (who had all opted for safer options that they recognized) eyed my dish with curiosity but seemed wary of having to disassemble a fish on their own so I started doing up cold rolls for them to try as well. I’m always surprised by how little some travelers are willing to try. The way I look at it, if I’ve come all the way to Vietnam I want to experience everything it has to offer. Some people just want a sandwich. It baffles me.

Fresh Herbs and Greens at the Hoi An Market

Since Dorie’s recommendation of Fanny had been so great, I decided to follow her advice once again after leaving the Mekong Delta and heading north to Hoi An. She had attended a cooking class there and I was determined to do the same so it was off to the Red Bridge Cooking School. Dorie has a wonderful account of the experience there and I’d have to say that mine was quite similar. Our menus were the same and as she mentions, one of the most interesting parts was seeing how rice paper is made. I had actually had a previous demonstration of this while traveling along the Mekong Delta. There they made mass quantities of rice paper wrappers and showed us how they dried them in the sun, (along with their laundry) before packaging them up to sell.

Seafood Pancakes Made at the Red Bridge Cooking School

As with my cooking class in Thailand, this one included a market tour. The only bad thing about markets in foreign countries is that I can’t bring them home with me and there’s always so much that I don’t get to try. And then there’s the things that I try and love but then can never find again. I think that’s what spurs me on to travel more because there are so many things out there that I never see at home.

Outdoor Food Stalls

If it’s food you’re looking for, Vietnam delivers. As with most of the places I visited, I felt like my time there was too short. There were lots of places I still wanted to explore and wasn’t able to. That probably means I just need to start planning another trip…

New Discovery: Tamarillos!

2010-08-28T14:37:00.003-04:00

I am currently suffering from what must be a combination of the worst jet lag ever, sleep deprivation and all the gross germs picked up while on board 4 different airplanes. As much as I love traveling and seeing new places, there are certain things that I could do without, such as 36 hour journeys to get from one side of the world to the other and flight schedules that have me narrowly missing my plane and being the last person to board. And then there’s the repercussions of said schedule, like ending up in the sickly condition in which I currently exist. It’s not pleasant. But, back to the good bits of traveling; discovering new foods!

While in New Zealand I was always on the lookout for foods not normally found in my Canadian kitchen. One of the fruits that I discovered was tamarillos. They’re also known as tree tomatoes, however in 1967 the name was changed by the New Zealand Tree Tomatoes Promotions Council to distinguish it from garden tomatoes and to increase its exotic appeal. Tamarillos can be eaten like a kiwi fruit simply by scooping out the insides with a spoon, however, the skin and the fruit closest to it are bitter and should be avoided. The black seeds on the inside are edible, like those of a passion fruit. And the taste? My first bite made me think of gooseberries, red currants and plums. Tamarillos are quite tart and as such are good when baked up with a little sugar, but can also be used in savoury applications, like chutneys and relish. As is often the case with me, I went the sweet route and make tamarillo jelly as well as some tamarillo muffins. The jelly was especially easy to make as it was nothing more than tamarillos, sugar, lemon juice and a vanilla bean, cooked on the stove top for an hour and then bottled. Although at the price of tamarillos, unless you’ve got your own source, you may want to go the cheaper route and just make muffins…

Tamarillo Muffins, (adapted from the New Zealand Tamarillo Growers Association)

½ cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
½ cup milk
100g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
3 tamarillos, peeled and chopped
1 tamarillo, peeled and thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 200C. Line and lightly grease 10-12 muffin cups.
Sift together sugar, flour and baking powder.
In another bowl, combine egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Add chopped tamarillos.
Pour batter into muffin cups and top with a slice of tamarillo.
Bake 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the muffins.

Cooking to Say Thank You

2010-08-21T04:12:00.003-04:00

The Last Cinnamon Roll with Cream Cheese Icing

Four years ago one of my most wonderful friends, (V) moved to New Zealand to pursue teachers college. As is often the case when people head overseas, she fell in love with the country and with a boy, (Orange) and never returned home. One of the great things about being in New Zealand has been being able to spend mass quantities of time with V and Orange. They’ve been super accommodating with my comings and goings and have allowed me to use their apartment as a home base while I’ve traveled around the country. Originally I’d planned on staying in New Zealand until December when my visa expired, (I’ve been here since last December) but a huge change in plans will see me heading home to Canada next week. Issues with my crazy landlord meant that I also moved out of my apartment sooner than I had anticipated. V and Orange came to rescue me, packed my things into their car and brought me back to their place where I’m spending my final days in New Zealand. To attempt to repay them for their generosity I’ve been cooking dinners and treats. Both of them work during the day so I occupy my time by cooking up elaborate meals for all of us to enjoy when they get home. For example, a couple nights ago I made lasagne with fresh pasta, homemade tomato sauce and béchamel sauce with veggies. Somehow, an entire pan of lasagne disappeared in less than 24 hours. I had made a large quantity with the thought that some of it could be put in the freezer for a quick dinner another night. V has repeatedly told me that nothing in their house makes it into the freezer because Orange will gobble it down before it has the chance. Turns out she was right. What didn’t get eaten for dinner went into packed lunches the next day and that lasagne was gone in no time.

Lasagne with Fresh Pasta, Tomato Sauce, Bechamel and Veggies

On another day I decided to make cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting. I used the No Knead Challah recipe to make a big batch of dough so that along with the cinnamon buns, I could potential make another tasty treat a day or two later. So V and Orange arrived home one night to discover a plate of cinnamon buns. With her hand poised over the plate, ready to snatch up a bun, V asked me if I had taken photos yet for my blog. I said since it was dark, I’d wait until morning to take photos with natural light but that they could dig into the cinnamon buns right away, thinking surely there would be some left over. The next morning there was but one lonely cinnamon bun. I suppose I should just take that as a compliment but it‘s not as impressive taking pictures of one cinnamon bun compared to a whole tray of them.

Braided Challah with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Blueberries

Seeing as though the first batch was such a hit, I then used the leftover challah dough to make a second batch of cinnamon buns, this time around I added diced apples to the filling to make them apple cinnamon rolls. These disappeared just as quickly, as well as a braided challah loaf that I filled with blueberries and sweetened cream cheese. There have already been inquiries as to when the next batch will be made… The no knead challah dough recipe is so easy to make that I really haven’t got any excuses as to why I can’t make more either. The recipe comes from the awesome book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois and I’ve previously blogged about a Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah that I made with this dough as well. But really, the possibilities are endless, the dough is so versatile that you could fill it with any number of sweet options and it‘s bound to be a hit.

Apple Cinnamon Buns with Cream Cheese Icing

Master Challah Dough Recipe

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbl instant yeast
1 1/2 tbl kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp table salt)
4 lg eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast and salt. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add in the flour. Stir until you don't see any more dry bits of flour. Cover (not airtight) and stick it in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 4 days. The longer you let it sit in the refrigerator, the better tasting the dough will be.
If you want, you can let it rise for 2 hours on the counter, pinch off the dough that you need to make your Challah. However, with only a 2-hour rise, the bread isn't very flavorful. Still good, but definitely not as good as if you had let it sit 1-4 days in the refrigerator.

Cooking My Way Around New Zealand

2010-08-17T06:02:00.005-04:00

Free Form Veggie Tart

Hands up all of you who have heard of Helpx! How about WWOOFing? While WWOOFing seems to be the one that’s more commonly known, both operate worldwide under the same sort of umbrella, providing room and board in exchange for labour, (Helpx stands for Help Exchange and WWOOFing stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms). The difference between Helpx and WWOOFing is that Helpx is much more broad based. Whereas WWOOFing hosts are looking for workers to pitch in on predominantly organic farms, Helpx hosts request assistance with a wider range of tasks. Helpx tasks might include farming but it could also be painting, home improvement, child minding, gardening or cooking, just to name a few examples.

Pear, Prosciutto and Parsnip Tart

I had never heard of Helpx until a few months ago when my cousin told me she was planning a trip to Europe and was going to use Helpx as a way of stretching her travel funds as well as a unique way to see a number of countries and get to know the local people. When she told me about this I was already in New Zealand and was starting to think about getting a job instead of just wandering aimlessly about the country, as I had previously been doing. But instead of settling down in one location to look for paid work, I started to use Helpx. The beauty of this system is that as opposed to getting a regular paying job which ties you to one location, with Helpx you can work for as little as a few days in each location, allowing you to see more of the country. At this point you’re probably wondering what Helpx has to do with a food blog. Like I mentioned, one of the tasks that Helpx hosts request assistance with is cooking so when I perused the Helpx ads I looked for hosts who would welcome a cook into their home/hostel/lodge.

Duck Fat Fried Potatoes on Salad with Pears

In the end I stayed at 5 different Helpx locations, with the shortest stay being 5 days and the longest 6 weeks! I cooked in each place I stayed, (among other odd jobs) and each one was vastly different. Clearly I got along well with the people at the place where I stayed for 6 weeks, I initially went with the intention of staying a week and found that I just couldn’t leave. That was at Sublime Vineyard and Bed & Breakfast. My hosts, Steve and Fenella were absolutely wonderful and I can’t thank them enough for the time that I spent with them, it was certainly one of the highlights of my trip to New Zealand. The photos in today’s post are all from a lunch that Fenella and I catered for a winery tour group. I was fortunate that at Sublime, both Steve and Fenella are great cooks and between the three of us, some truly amazing meals were had, (and given that they have their own vineyard, a lot of amazing wine was consumed too!). That also meant that their kitchen was well stocked and their ingredients were fresh. When we wanted veggies we went out to the garden, when we wanted chicken for dinner Steve simply killed one of the chooks. It was heaven.

Dining Table Set at Sublime for Catered Lunch

Not all of the places that I Helpxed at were like that. I never had any bad experiences per say, merely interesting ones that generated stories for me to tell later. It was fascinating to go into people’s homes and businesses and to see how they ran things. Shocking would also be another word to describe it. For the most part the people were all very nice but you just know that Gordon Ramsey would have had a field day tearing them apart if he ever saw the state of their kitchens. At one restaurant that shall remain nameless, fresh seemed to be synonymous with frozen and quantity with quality. I suppose this should have come as no surprise after the current Chef revealed that she liked her steak well done… When I was given the initial tour of the kitchen and pantry, the Chef also explained how certain dishes were made. Stock came from a powdered cube. Apple pie filling came from a can. Hors d’oeuvres came from the freezer. Mushroom and leek sauce was made with a can of soup. Bolognese was simply ground beef with a can of spaghetti sauce mixed in. Desserts were made in big batches, frozen and then reheated in the microwave just before being served. Throughout the tour I had to constantly remind myself to smile and nod politely and to keep a look of horror off my face.

Prosciutto and Parmesan from Italy with Lemon

Aside from the odd practices that I observed in professional kitchens, I also encountered a number of people with unusual eating habits. I met a grown man who didn’t eat vegetables and refused to eat any food that had touched vegetables, (is it any wonder his kids were picky eaters?). I met a woman who was thrilled when I showed her how to make fresh pasta but said her husband was a meat and potatoes kind of guy who proclaimed pasta to be “town tucker” and wasn’t interested in it. I met a man who was completely devoid of a sweet tooth and who I therefore had a difficult time understanding because he refused all of my baked goods. Loving sweets as much as I do, I just couldn’t wrap my head around anyone not having at least one sweet weakness. I met a surprising number of people who had never had pierogies before and I quickly remedied that, (and thus created more work for myself as much to my enjoyment, pierogies were then requested on subsequent occasions). I met even more people who ate dinner in front of the television instead of at the table, (something that never happened in my home growing up). But to end on a high note, I also met an 11 year old who can extol the virtues of fresh pasta and can make it herself from scratch, (I’m sure you can guess who her parents are).

No Knead and Whole Wheat Bread

This post only scratches the surface of my Helpx experiences but as you can see, many of them are ones that I won’t forget and I would encourage anyone who’s looking at trying something new or who wants to truly live in a different culture while traveling to give Helpx a go. You might end up in some odd or unusual situations, but that’s all part of the fun and at the very least you’ll get some material for a blog post out of it. :)

As for anyone who’s looking for an amazing Bed & Breakfast to stay at while in New Zealand, look no further than Sublime. Steve and Fenella live in a beautiful location, overlooking their vineyard and you won’t find better meals anywhere else! I would return there in a heartbeat.

Cookies to Calm the Crazies

2010-08-15T04:47:00.005-04:00

Based on my experience, all landlords are crazy. And not in the “ha-ha, that person is so fun and crazy!” kind of way, but more like the “aahhh, that person is a complete nut job and should be committed” kind of way. If your landlord is not like this, then perhaps I just attract crazies? I really don’t know why. I’m a good tenant, I pay my bills on time, I’m quiet, I don’t throw parties and I’m likely to be regularly baking up yummy treats and looking for people to give them away to. When I moved to New Zealand I thought that maybe my landlord luck would change, being on the other side of the world and all. Not so. My crazy landlord here has that same quality of craziness that my other landlords have had, just with a Kiwi accent.

She’s thoroughly entertaining though, the kind of person that other people want to hear stories about, but don’t actually want to know. For privacy’s sake, let’s just call her Karen. Karen is a petite woman with wild hair that she tries to tame by securing half of it into a low side pony, while allowing the other half to roam free. She’s got nimble little hands that she uses to make gestures while she talks and I could see her being good at untying knots or burying nuts in the ground like a squirrel. I believe she’s somewhat of an insomniac and also potentially has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She likes things to be placed in very specific places and is visibly disturbed when they’re not where they belong. She’s also got some interesting eating habits. She only eats singular items in a sitting. For example, for lunch she’ll eat three hard boiled eggs, in proper egg cups, but with nothing else. I saw her go through a mushroom phase where she ate only stir fried mushrooms, a big bowl of them. And she routinely used to make large quantities of oven baked potato wedges to enjoy once again, on their own. I never inquired about her eating habits, just observed them with amusement. Perhaps you’re wondering how I know all of this if she was just my landlord, well it turns out she became my roommate as well! When she initially moved in, it was under the guise of doing some fixing up around the apartment but after a few weeks I realized that no fixing was being done and it seemed that Karen was there to stay. She called it camping out and said how much fun it was to have a roommate again! Lucky me.

When it came time to break the news to Karen that I would be moving out, I had a feeling she wasn’t going to take it very well. The mere thought of it was making me uncomfortable as I highly dislike confrontation. To soften the blow I decided to bake some cookies to give her along with the bad news. No one could possibly be mad at me while eating a delicious White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie, could they?

Alton Brown’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, (Adapted slightly from Alton Brown via Foodnetwork, my substitutions are in italics)

2 sticks unsalted butter, (melted to the point of browning)
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, (I replaced this with a chopped up 250g macadamia and white chocolate bar)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Thai Cooking Class

2010-08-07T03:17:00.003-04:00

Given my love of Thai food, it was only natural that I take a cooking class while in Thailand. I had hoped that after my class I might be able to replicate at home some of the amazing food I had been eating. What I didn’t account for was that you can never really recreate Thailand at home. Eating in Thailand is an experience unto itself. More than just the food, it’s the location, the people, the sights and sounds, all rolled into one. Even when I eat good Thai food outside of Thailand, it can never totally compare to eating Thai food in Thailand. It’s taken me a while to accept that. Nevertheless, I will continue to try to cook Thai dishes in the hope that I can bring a little piece of my Thai adventure back to life.

The cooking class I took was a wonderful experience and there was certainly no shortage of food. On the menu for the class was:

Hot and Sour Soup
Green Papaya Salad
Pad Thai
Green Thai Curry
Cashew Nut Chicken
Mango Sticky Rice

The class was small, with only 8 people and began with a market tour. There, our Chef introduced us to a number of Thai ingredients, many of which people hadn’t cooked with before and told us a little about each one, including how they might be used in Thai cooking and possible health benefits. We then rode in the infamous tuk-tuks to the cooking school. Each of us were kitted out with an apron, side towels and our own work station with a single gas burner. Then we got down to business and created a veritable feast of all my favourite Thai dishes. After cooking we sat down and ate together and probably had enough food for three times as many people, but none of us were complaining about the excess as it was all just so good!

However, another problem with trying to recreate such awesomeness at home is the lack of authentically Thai ingredients. Just look at the photo for the green curry prep, which consists of snake beans, the cutest little eggplants ever and a kaffir lime leaf. None of those exist at my local supermarket. When I’m in the city I could probably source them out, but the point is, they’re not readily available. And as sad as that makes me, maybe it just means I should start planning another trip to Thailand to get my fix... Just as soon as that lucky lottery ticket turns up or my life sponsor reveals themselves, I will be on the next plane!

Pumpkin: It's Not Just For Hallowe'en

2010-08-05T04:55:00.004-04:00

In North America, pumpkin is primarily used for pie and jack-o-lanterns. That’s pretty much it. In New Zealand, where pies are usually savoury and Hallowe’en doesn’t exist, pumpkin takes on an infinite number of other roles. It’s available in the supermarket pretty much year round and it’s just your ordinary, everyday vegetable. However, as anyone who’s ever carved a pumpkin will know, they’re difficult to dissect. If you’re planning on roasting your pumpkin, there’s a much, much easier way than taking a knife to it, which I learned from my favourite baker/cook/awesome person, Dorie Greenspan. Simply wash and dry your pumpkin, place it in a roasting pan, rub it with a little oil and then roast it whole in the oven until a knife can easily be inserted into the skin. When you take the pumpkin out, it’s soft and easy to cut into. The guts can be scooped out and discarded and the perfectly roasted pumpkin flesh can be scraped away from the skin, ready to use in whatever you’re making. I chose to turn it into some delicious pumpkin gnocchi.

Gnocchi is a relatively new addition to my everyday cooking repertoire. I used to think it was difficult and fiddly to make, but like most things, the more you practice something, the easier it gets. It also helps if you learn some tips along the way that simplify the process. The first few times I made gnocchi, it was of the plain potato variety and I used both flour and eggs. I’ve since eliminated the use of eggs, to no adverse effects. I’ve also found that I like different flavoured gnocchi, like sweet potato, squash, or in this case, pumpkin.

Making consistently good gnocchi doesn’t require a recipe so much as a feel for what you want. Because the water content in your potatoes or pumpkin can vary quite a bit, it’s difficult to give according measures of flour. If you add too much floor, your gnocchi will be tough and if you don’t add enough it will fall apart or turn to mush in the boiling process. Knowing how much is the right amount requires practice, trial and error or a good teacher who can help you along the way. Don’t be afraid to mess up gnocchi a few times before getting it right, because once you do, there will be no stopping the flavour combinations that you can come up with. And with only 3 ingredients, this gnocchi is about as simple as it gets so there‘s no reason not to give it a shot.

Simply roast a pumpkin, scoop out, mash and salt the flesh and then begin adding flour until you’ve got a kneadable dough. Let your dough rest for a bit, (you can use this time to get some sauce underway or maybe even clean up the kitchen) and then divide the dough into manageable sections, roll it into a snake and cut your gnocchi to desired size. If you want to be fancy, you can roll each piece of gnocchi with a fork to give it that cool, grooved look, but if I’m feeling lazy, I skip that step. All that’s left is to cook the gnocchi like pasta, in a big pot of boiling water. The gnocchi will initially sink when you put it in and then float to the top when it’s done. That’s all there is to it! I chose to let the natural sweetness of the pumpkin shine and went with an easy butter sauce with cinnamon basil, but there’s no end to the different sauces you could pair with gnocchi.

An Open Letter To New Zealand…

2010-08-03T17:16:00.002-04:00

Dear New Zealand,

I like you, I really do, you’re beautiful and adventurous and laid back all at once, but I’ve got a bone to pick with you. For some reason you fail to build your houses in accordance with your weather. Winter exists in New Zealand. It gets cold here. There’s snow in the mountains and frost at sea level. The temperature routinely dips below 0°C at night. Given all of this information, why are the houses not insulated, windows single paned and not properly sealed and why can I see my breath while standing inside my apartment? The portable heaters that are strewn about the houses here and that suck every drop of moisture out of the air are not doing an adequate job of keeping me warm. Central heating is a wonderful invention, I urge you to look into it.

With love and wearing lots of layers,
Brilynn

When I first arrived to New Zealand it was summertime and I couldn’t believe the number of coffee shops that existed on every corner, but it all makes sense now, Kiwis need mass quantities of hot beverages in order to keep warm all winter. I’ve taken to drinking litres and litres of tea in the hope that if my insides are warm, my outside will be too. I also wear no less than four layers, including 2 polar fleeces, a scarf, fuzzy slippers and a blanket while inside my apartment. Inside. In addition to the tea, I’ve been making soup to help rid myself of the omnipresent cold. One of my favourites is butternut squash soup. You can almost just puree roasted butternut squash and eat it as a soup, but if you add things like chicken stock, onion, garlic, cumin, smokey paprika, salt and pepper and my favourite add in, coconut milk, it makes for a delicious soup that can help you forget, if only for a few minutes, about the cold.

Christmas Baking with Chocolate Gingerbread

2010-08-01T23:55:00.003-04:00

I’m back with something sweet! Hopefully my computer troubles are over and I can concentrate on more important things, like baking! I know a lot of you in the Northern hemisphere have been sweating lately, but in the backwards land that is New Zealand, the colder weather has me feeling like it should soon be Christmas. I sometimes forget that just because the seasons are inversed here, doesn’t mean the holidays are. Lately I’ve had it on the brain that Christmas should be right around the corner. The days are short, it gets dark early, there’s a chill in the air and I’ve been eating clementines, a sure sign that the holiday season is upon us… Or maybe not. Anyways, since I’ve been in a festive mood, I decided to do some Christmas-y flavoured baking in the form of these Chocolate Gingerbread Bars from Martha Stewart.

Every review I read of them was positive and I’m convinced it’s a good recipe, but I didn’t love the molasses that I used for them. In many ways New Zealand is like Canada, but there are little differences that only become more apparent after you’ve been here for a while. Anyone who’s ever been to Thailand will know the expression “Same same, but different.” That idea applies here too. When I go to the grocery store here they’ve got most of the same ingredients as back home but they’re not identical. The molasses I got here had a stronger, more bitter flavour, (one of my tasters likened it to black liquorice) and I felt it almost overpowered the bars. To compensate for that I decided that a vanilla been frosting was needed. When I was in Tonga I picked up a bundle of vanilla beans and I’ve since been using them with reckless abandon. I used an entire vanilla bean to make a simple icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla bean seed frosting to spread in between the bars. It added enough sweetness and contrast to offset the strength of the molasses and in the end, these bars were quite addictive. So addictive in fact that I had to get them out of my sight so I packaged them up and gave them to a friend of mine who was supposed to share with her boyfriend. I received a call today saying that he never got one…

Chocolate Gingerbread Bars, (from Martha Stewart)

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper. Dust paper and sides of pan with cocoa; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, ginger, pumpkin-pie spice, and baking soda; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, molasses, egg, and sour cream until smooth. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Using paper overhang, lift gingerbread from pan. Transfer to a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares. Before serving, dust bars with confectioners sugar, if desired. (To store, keep in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 3 days.)

***The only thing I changed, besides adding the vanilla frosting, was to omit the pumpkin pie spice and ground ginger which I replaced with cinnamon, nutmeg and grated fresh ginger.

Technical Difficulties

2010-07-18T05:36:00.002-04:00

It figures. Just when I thought things were going to get going here again, I got thrown a curveball. I have an Acer AspireOne Netbook that won't turn on. No lights, nothing. The problem isn't the battery or the adaptor as I tried alternate ones, it's something in the actual computer. I'm so unimpressed. Hopefully whatever is wrong with it is covered by warranty that won't require me to send my computer back to Canada to be fixed. Fingers crossed.

Thailand Part 1

2010-07-13T05:19:00.002-04:00

There’s good eating in Thailand. Really good. So good that I have dreams about it. Regularly. And I wake up with drool on my pillow and the strong desire to hop on the next plane to Thailand because only authentic Thai food will satisfy my craving. I’ve tried to recreate the dishes I ate in Thailand and I’ve tried to find equally good versions on menus of restaurants here but nothing compares. Not only is Thai food in Thailand amazing, but it’s also cheap. The best Pad Thai I’ve ever eaten in my life cost me less than $1. It was from a street vendor that was recommended to me by a local. It was the type of place that my travelling companions usually would have passed by without a second glance but under the guidance of a friendly Thai, they were convinced to give it a try. I can’t thank him enough for his suggestion. We returned to that nondescript street stand with multicoloured plastic tables and chairs many times afterwards as we determined that Pad Thai was perfectly suitable not only for dinner or lunch but breakfast and snacks as well. Just thinking about it now is making me hungry.

But Thailand is so much more than just Pad Thai. It’s a beautiful array of spices and herbs and curries and rice and noodle dishes. It’s chilis and lemongrass and coconut milk and sweet, sour, hot and spicy all rolled into one. Nowhere is this more evident than in the markets where my mouth watered at every turn. I found the best way to navigate was by sense of smell and to follow your nose à la Toucan Sam, (anyone else remember those Fruit Loops commercials?). Once I’d found the source of whatever smelled good I would just point to it and say please. Often times I had no clue what I was eating, only that it tasted good and that’s all that mattered. To spur my appetite even further, I found that wandering the market with a Chang beer in hand was a good idea. With an alcohol percentage of 6.4%, plenty of food was required with each Chang that was consumed.

Besides Pad Thai, another dish that was featured on most menus in Thailand was Green Thai Curry. And it was ah-mazing! Despite the fact that I wanted to constantly try new things, I found myself repeatedly ordering the Green Thai Curry. I wouldn’t even realize it until the words were out of my mouth. Sometimes I’d intended on ordering something else but when the time came to speak up I’d blurt out “Green Thai Curry!” like I was possessed. The combination of slight heat from a chili, sweet from the coconut milk and sour from kaffir lime leaves was too good to be true. And I couldn’t get enough of the little Thai eggplants and snake beans that were so often used as the vegetable base. I didn’t care if the protein was chicken or pork or nonexistent so long as all the herbs and spices were right and it was served with a generous portion of rice to help sop up all the delicious sauce. If only I could make it as good at home! I cleverly thought that a Thai cooking class might be the solution to all my problems, but more on that next time…

Anybody out there?

2010-07-11T03:00:00.003-04:00

It’s been over a year since my last post so you’d all be forgiven for thinking I was never coming back. I wasn’t sure that I would either, but here I am so I’m going to give it a go. With that in mind, it’s going to be a slow start to ease myself back into the process. When I stopped writing my blog it was for a combination of reasons but mostly because it had stopped being fun and had started to feel like an obligation. My blog was supposed to be my creative outlet and instead it was draining. At the time I was working long hours at the restaurant as we were coming into the busy season and that didn’t leave much time for cooking at home, let alone photographing, writing and blogging about what I made. One day I just stopped blogging and to my surprise, instead of feeling guilty about it, I felt like a weight had been lifted. I continued to enjoy reading other blogs, though I admit, it was with less frequency and my commenting nearly stopped altogether. I should have put up some sort of farewell post but I’ve never liked goodbyes so I simply made a clean break and quit the blog altogether. For a while afterwards I would still think about blogging meals that I made but it didn’t happen and in time I felt less of an urge to do so. But I never stopped making new things, (or writing) and my love of food has become stronger if anything.

Since I stopped blogging, there have been a number of changes in my life. For one thing, I now live on the other side of the world, in New Zealand. I quit my job and 9 months ago I decided to embark on a whirlwind adventure that has largely been unplanned and has taken me to 8 different countries. Along the way I’ve eaten a lot of amazing food but haven‘t been in one place for long enough to have my own kitchen or do very much cooking. Until now. I have just moved into a new apartment where I’ll be for at least the next few months. To get back into the swing of blogging and to give myself a little extra time to get my kitchen stocked I decided to post some of the food photos I’ve taken throughout my recent travels.

To kick things off are a few shots of some Malaysian street food I got from the Chinatown district of Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur was my introduction to South East Asia and it was certainly different than anywhere I’d been before. As I wandered through the city I felt enshrouded in a combination of humidity, smog, noise, lights and new smells. It was almost overwhelming. As food is one of the best ways to get to know a new place, I dove in head first, (with total disregard to my Westernized stomach) and pulled up a plastic chair to a street vendor selling noodles. Few words and lots of pointing were exchanged. I learned very quickly that it was much easier to order what I saw other people eating than to try and figure out if there was a menu and whether or not I could read it. I had mostly success with this method and rarely came across something I didn’t care for. I took to eating all my meals from street vendors, from fruit in the morning, (sometimes with a sweet, like the sesame ball pictured above) to rice and noodles throughout the day. Whenever I was at a loss for what to do in the city, a new culinary adventure awaited. And so it continues with my return to blogging and many more culinary capers to come...

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

2009-05-26T10:39:00.004-04:00

A couple summers ago when my little nephew Alex was visiting we were all entertained by playing a game with him called “What Do You Like More?” It was a pretty straight forward game, we would simply name two items and ask Alex which one he liked more. My brother especially enjoyed replacing one of the items with Auntie Brilynn and asking him questions like “What do you like more… Bear or Auntie Brilynn?” or “What do you like more… Cookies or Auntie Brilynn?” or “What do you like more… Mosquitoes or Auntie Brilynn?” or “What do you like more… Dragon flies or Auntie Brilynn?”. For the record, I tied with Bear, (his favourite stuffed animal) lost to dragon flies and beat out both cookies and mosquitoes! You can find out all sorts of interesting information by playing this game with other people, not just a three year old. For example, if you were to play this game with me and compare everything to rhubarb, rhubarb would probably lose every time.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or chocolate? Chocolate.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or lobster? Lobster.

Ok, so maybe those ones were obvious, but if we keep playing, you’ll notice the rhubarb hating continues.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or three day old stale pizza? Pizza.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or doing the dishes? Dishes.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or chopping herbs and shucking oysters? Finally, a victory for rhubarb!

It’s not that I actually hate rhubarb but given the option of eating rhubarb or something else, nine times out of ten I’ll choose the something else. Despite this, rhubarb intrigues me. Possibly in part because it brings back fond memories of plucking a sun warmed stalk of rhubarb from the garden and proceeding to eat it by dipping the end in a cup of sugar between bites. These days I want to pair it with more savoury dishes, perhaps in a tangy bbq sauce or a chutney? Even though I’m harbouring thoughts of savoury rhubarb, I’ve been making nothing but sweet things in the form of Strawberry Rhubarb Ripple ice cream and Strawberry Rhubarb Mousse. If you asked me what do you like more… Strawberries or rhubarb? Strawberries would clearly win.

Unfortunately there aren’t recipes to accompany these dishes. The ice cream was made as an afterthought. I had made strawberry rhubarb jam and decided that I wanted to swirl it into a vanilla ice cream base. So I did. And it was good. It was extra good when eaten out of Cinnamon Tuiles, which I will provide a recipe for. Those were sort of an accident too. I had to make tuiles for a dessert at work and I’d never made them before so I did a trial run at home first. It just so happened that it paired great with my ice cream. The Strawberry Rhubarb Mousse was adapted from a recipe for cherry mousse that I found in Food & Drink magazine, which I’ve touted before as a great free publication put out by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. I made that one for Mother’s Day as Mom requested ‘something with rhubarb’ and I grudgingly complied.

Cinnamon Tuiles, (Adapted slightly from Gourmet, November 1998)

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and stir in flour, cinnamon and a pinch of salt until smooth.

Drop batter by the tablespoon full onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave a lot of space in between as these cookies spread immensely. Bake cookies in middle of oven 6 minutes, or until golden.

Once you remove the tray from the oven, let the tuiles rest for about a minute before you try to remove them. If you try to pick them up too soon, they’ll fall apart. As soon as you’re able to gently lift a tuile off the parchment without tearing it, they’re ready to mold. You can mold them any way you like, I’ve pressed them into muffin tins as well as draped them over coffee cups and small bowls, it all depends what shape you want. Cool cookie completely and then transfer to an airtight container. Tuiles keep 5 days in an airtight container at cool room temperature.

Dessert Special

2009-05-18T13:00:00.005-04:00

Carrot Cake with Candied Carrots and Carrot Shooters

Given my extreme inability to make decisions, it’s a miracle that I can figure out a dessert special every night at work. And truth be told, I can’t always. Sometimes I get part way through an idea and have to call for reinforcement. Like the day I made carrot cake. I had no problem making a carrot cake with nuts, raisins and spices, topped with an orange scented cream cheese icing but figuring out how to make it look interesting, (and not from 1972) left me drawing a blank. When in doubt, the guy with the tall hat and name embroidered on his jacket is probably a good person to ask. His answers, however, are sometimes more than I bargained for. I was looking for a little something to garnish my carrot cake with and ended up making candied carrots and carrot shooters to order.

Chocolate Caramel Walnut Tart Wrapped in Raspberry Jelly with Raspberry Confetti

Dessert specials allow for a little more freedom like being able to make carrot shooters. It was nice for one night, but it’s definitely not something I’d want to do at the height of summer business. Kind of like the day I made a Chocolate-Caramel-Walnut Tart and needed something to garnish it with. The tart on its own is quite nice, but needs some colour to look good on a plate. Chef suggested I do something with raspberry syrup and agar agar… that snowballed into wrapping rectangular pieces of tart in a raspberry jelly and then sealing the jelly with a blowtorch and sprinkling raspberry jelly confetti around the tart in a pool of crème anglaise. Once again, it was interesting for one night, not so fun for the whole summer.

Bread Pudding with Chocolate Sauce, Creme Anglaise and Vanilla Ice Cream Coated in Chocolate Crumbs

As much as I’d like to get an industrial ice cream machine and make every summer dessert ice cream based, it’s not going to happen, (sadly). That means I have to come up with new summer desserts for a menu change happening very shortly. This task should not be as difficult as it is for me. I’ve been pouring over cookbooks and looking through blogs for inspiration and coming up empty. I see tons of beautiful desserts and things that I love, but they don’t necessarily translate well in my work kitchen. Some items are too fancy, some are too plain, some are out of season, some are too fragile, we don’t have the equipment, the time, the right customers or the labour force for others. I’ve been told to employ the K.I.S.S. strategy to my summer dessert making, but with so many options, (and also restrictions) I can’t seem to narrow it down to five new menu items.

Lemon Curd Tart with Fresh Strawberries, Creme Anglaise and Strawberry Coulis

So I’m asking for your help. Bloggers and blog readers are notoriously generous and full of great ideas and I want you to help me choose some new dessert options for work. What are your favourite desserts to make and eat? What would you like to see on a restaurant menu? While you’re being creative with your suggestions, keep the following in mind:

-The dessert has to be able to be refrigerated for storage, without compromising quality.

-It has to be able to stand up to extreme heat and humidity, (meringues and sugar garnish are out).

-It has to be relatively easy to make, (because I’m not working 7 days a week for the rest of the summer).

-There needs to be a chocolate dessert, a fruit dessert and something cakey, (those don’t have to be together, but have to exist somewhere).

-It has to look pretty on a plate.

-I don’t have an ice cream maker :(

-It has to be able to be mildly mass produced, (and without taking me forever to do so or occupying all of the stoves and ovens and bench space).

Thanks for the suggestions… if I end up choosing any of your ideas, I’ll be sure to let you know! And will probably then ask for your mailing address so that I can send you something as thanks for helping save part of my sanity…

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries for a Wedding

Before the Heat

2009-05-14T00:49:00.002-04:00

The heat is coming and summer is fast approaching. For school aged kids, teachers and anyone with holidays due, this is something to look forward to. Summer means days filled with bike riding in the sunshine, swimming at the beach, bbq’s and eating freezies. Or at least that’s the way I remember it once being… This summer is going to be different. I work in a restaurant where the busiest months of the year are by far the summer months. It’s so much busier that the staff size effectively doubles from May to September to be able to handle the flux in business. Having started my job there mid September of last year, I missed the majority of the rush. I have heard horror stories of how busy it was and will be, but I have yet to experience it myself. You could say I’m kind of like these Cinnamon Rolls and Peanut Butter Cookies, they’re waiting to be baked and I’m waiting to be overwhelmed by work, both of us are heading into the heat. I’m hoping that when it’s all over, I fair as well as they did…

Sangria Bites

2009-05-10T23:55:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I posted about Manhattan Drops, which are basically a sophisticated version of jello shooters. I got the recipe from Food & Drink Magazine and along with the Manhattan Drops, there were recipes for Cucumber Rose Gin and Tonics, White Russian Bars, Cosmopolitan Meltaways and Sangria Bites. Since the Manhattan Drops went over so well, I thought I’d give one of the other recipes a try and decided on the Sangria Bites, mainly because I had most of the ingredients on hand.

If you want to be classy, serve the Sangria Bites in individual spoons, topped with a little lime zest. If you want to go the trashy route, make them in one big pan, hand everyone a spoon and let them dig in. Although the alcohol content in these isn’t as potent as the Manhattan Drops, after enough of them, no one will care how they’re served.

Given the success of these two recipes I think I’m going to venture out on my own and start turning all my favourite drinks into jellies. I’m going to make jellied drinks the new black. Next up on my list to make? Mojito jellies. You know you want some.

Sangria Bites, (Adapted from Food & Drink, Spring 2009)

1 ½ cups lime simple syrup, (equal parts sugar and water, infused with the zest of 3 limes)

3 packages (7g each) unflavoured gelatin crystals.

2 cups Spanish red wine

½ cup Grand Marnier

Extra lime zest for garnish

Pour the simple syrup into a small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin overtop and stir to combine. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 2 minutes. Place this mixture over low heat and stir, gently splashing around the sides of the pan until all the gelatin has dissolved. Do not boil.

Stir the win and Grand Marnier into the gelatin mixture. Stir slowly for 1 minute. Pour into an 8 inch glass baking dish. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until very firmly set.

Cut the jelly into cubes and serves with a little lime zest on top.

Blueberry Maple Fro Yo

2009-05-07T13:09:00.003-04:00

Favourite fro yo
Yummy blueberry maple
In chocolate cup

***************************************************************

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator

Blueberry Maple Frozen Yogurt
1 750ml container of yogurt, (whatever % you feel like using)
Maple sryup, to taste, (I start with maybe 1/4 cup combined with the blueberries and add more when I mix it into the strained yogurt if I think it needs more)
Blueberries, as much as you want, (maybe a cup and a half is a good place to start)
Vodka, a splash
Strain the yogurt overnight. On the stove stop, combine maple syrup and blueberries and cook until the blueberries release some juice and soften. Chill completely and stir this into the strained yogurt. Add a splash of vodka. Pour into ice cream machine and then freeze.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-05-07T00:54:00.001-04:00

These blossoms mean that cherry season can't be too far off! The countdown is on.

Fresh Pasta

2009-04-30T18:28:00.003-04:00

Reasons chickens are better than roosters:

1- Chickens lay eggs.

2- Chickens don’t crow at 3am.

We had a rooster once. Dad thought it would be a good idea to get a silkie chicken and rooster pair. The logic was that we thought we would end up with some eggs and the pair of them would look pretty neat. What he did not account for was the fact that our rooster would turn out to be deranged. He had no clue what time of day or night it was and would crow for hours on end in the middle of the night. I hated that rooster. One day Dad had finally had enough of him too and took the pair out to a friend’s farm where the rooster could crow as much as he wanted without robbing us of sleep and sanity. Now we have six chickens and although I’m not sure why Dad thought we needed SIX of them, I like them a whole lot better than that stupid rooster. Six chickens, however, equal up to six eggs a day. That means I have to continuously come up with ways to use them up.

Besides ice cream, one of my favourite ways to use eggs is by making homemade pasta. Michael Ruhlman, in his new book Ratio gives this easy to remember recipe for basic pasta dough:

Pasta Dough = 3 parts flour : 2 parts egg

I find measuring by weight a whole lot easier than by volume or piece, especially if some of the eggs your chickens are laying are double yolkers. But for those of you that don’t have a scale, (just go buy one, seriously) Ruhlman says that ratio works out to approximately 1 cup flour : 2 eggs. I use 00 flour when making pasta, (an Italian fine grind) and I find it works the best. Once you’ve got your pasta dough made there’s no end to the things you can do with it. I would be happy eating fresh pasta with lots of butter and a little cheese but since I was cooking for others I thought it would probably be better to make a meal of it. So I made a pesto sauce and also fried up some green onions, red peppers, bacon, shrimp and scallops. Tossed the whole thing together and there was dinner. Very good dinner.

Simple Breakfast Math

2009-04-27T23:02:00.006-04:00

Homemade bread

+
Homemade maple smoked bacon
+
A poached egg courtesy of the chickens in my backyard

= 1 Tasty Breakfast

Team Cookies

2009-04-27T01:15:00.005-04:00

Sometimes writing ideas come to me without any effort and in full detail. Other times I can only form thoughts in bits and pieces. Today you get the latter. But it comes with cookies!

Cookie of the Day: Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Team Cookies.

Word of the Day: Schadenfreude.

Website of the Day: FMyLife.

Colour of the Day: Maroon.

Activity of the Day: Tennis.

Hunted Animal of the Day: Wild turkey.

Destination of the Day: Korea.

Rule of the Day: Rule #76, No excuses, play like a champion.

Song of the Day: Savior by Rise Against

Team Cookies (from Jls’ Mom and adapted slightly by me)

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup soft butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup lightly-packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream together peanut butter, butter, white and brown sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla , and beat until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour and baking soda and salt, and stir into peanut butter mixture. Add chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheets. Place in oven at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on rack. Makes 4 dozen.

My notes: These cookies are my favourite. And yes, I’ve already posted about them here and in ice cream form here, but they’re my favourite and it’s my party and I’ll post about them again if I want to. For those who are allergic to chocolate, (sad but true) substituting toasted pecans for the chocolate chips works well. In the past white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips have also been swapped in, but I like the chocolate ones best. If you don’t use chunky peanut butter, I’d suggest adding salted peanuts and omitting the salt.

First Morel of the Season!

2009-04-25T13:09:00.000-04:00

Curtis Stone Can Cook Me Dinner Anytime

2009-04-23T22:11:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently got my passport renewed. The last time that I had to do that was four years ago when I was headed to Australia as part of a University exchange program. I find it almost impossible to believe that it was so long ago that I was enjoying soaking up the Australian sun, playing beach volleyball at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and taking weekend trips to Byron Bay. I have some great memories of my time in Australia and ever since have had quite the soft spot for Aussies. Especially tall, adorable Australian chefs like Curtis Stone. And before any of you try to tell me I’m being suckered in by a pretty face and charming accent, the man can seriously cook and has the background to prove it. Long before I discovered him on his TLC show, Take Home Chef, Curtis was working as head chef in several Michelin-starred restaurants in London. So there.

His newest book, Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favourite Mood, contains approachable recipes gathered under chapters with titles like Brunch That Will Blow Their Minds, Something to Eat on the Sofa and Sweet Dreams. Given my recent brunch party, affinity for eating on the sofa and everything sweet, I definitely approve of his choices. The book is also full of gorgeous pictures of almost every recipe and quite a few of Curtis too. I think I could have made anything from this book and been pretty happy. The only thing that would have made it better were if I ran into Curtis at the supermarket while gathering ingredients and he came home to cook with me. That’s practically reason enough to move to L.A. and hang out excessively at Whole Foods. Or to move to Australia and find someone just like him, (ha, as if anyone could be as great as Curtis Stone…). I even tried to get Chef to hire an Aussie at work but so far my pleas have gone unanswered. Maybe my wonderful blog readers should start a letter writing campaign to Chef in support of my need to have Aussies in the kitchen…

A few notes on the recipes I made…

Brownie Cupcakes: Truly a cross between a brownie and cupcake and frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting, these went over very well. The frosting received extra compliments and I used the leftovers to top banana muffins and my fingers.

Steamed Mussels with Chorizo and White Wine: Mussels are a weekly affair at my house and this version got high praise. The sprinkling of fresh cilantro on top was a great addition.

Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Goat Cheese Tarts: I took these with me to my brunch potluck and was pleased with how they looked and tasted. Andrea went back for more of this tart over the caramel/pecan/chocolate tart, so it must have been alright.

Seafood Wonton Soup: Wonton soup, like mussels, is something I used to think couldn’t easily be made at home. Although slightly time consuming to fill wonton wrappers, (don’t overfill!) it’s not difficult by any means and the results are better than most places you can buy it at. Certainly worth making again.

Brownie Cupcakes (from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favourite Mood)

Cupcakes
6 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, (60-70% cacao). Chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
4 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, (60-70% cacao). Chopped

To make the cupcakes: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line a standard cupcake tin with 8 paper cupcake liners. Stir the chocolate and butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat until they melt and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the syrup and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and light. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the flour and baking powder, and stir just until blended; then stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling them completely. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes puff and crack on top and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out with fudgy crumbs attached. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

To frost the cupcakes: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it is light and smooth. Beat in the syrup. Place the chocolate in another bowl and set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat until bended and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is well blended. Spread the frosting generously over the cooled cupcakes.

Brunch

2009-04-22T16:58:00.011-04:00

Some people seem to lead such interesting lives, always meeting new people and traveling all over the place. Often those people will be told they’re so lucky to do all the things they do. The thing is, they’re not lucky, they simply create opportunities for themselves that most people don’t. One such person is my friend Andrea. Andrea is always on the move and manages to find fun in even the most dismal of places so if you’re invited to do something with her, it’s to your advantage to say yes and go along for the ride.

Whereas some people make tentative plans to do things in the future, Andrea just does things. I don’t know how many times I’ve talked about doing potluck lunches or dinners with friends, only for them not to materialize. A couple days ago Andrea invited myself and another friend over for potluck brunch. It wasn’t hard to put together and yet it’s something I’d probably talk about more than ever do.

When we arrived at Andrea’s yesterday she had set the table in bright spring colours, complete with champagne flutes and coupes, (legend has it they were modeled on the breasts of Marie Antoinette, Andrea's full of trivia too) fluffy chicks for company and fresh fruit. Our flutes were soon filled with champagne and Chambord as we set out the rest of our feast. I decided to bring themed baking and went with savoury and sweet tarts because brunch is one of those wonderful meals where if it’s acceptable to drink in the morning, it’s also acceptable to eat dessert. For savoury tarts I made Wild Mushroom and Spinach Tarts from Curtis Stone’s new book, (review to come soon) and for sweet I went with Caramel, Pecan, Chocolate Tarts, a switch up on a Dorie Greenspan recipe I’ve made numerous times. We also had homemade granola and a Dill and Ricotta Cheesecake whose recipe came via 101 Cookbooks.

It was a great way to start what could have been a day full of random activities. Unfortunately I had to cut things short to head into work. Being employed really gets in the way of spontaneity. It gets in the way of travel too. Flying away is on my mind since I got my passport in the mail today, (I had sent it in to be renewed, was it really four years ago that I went to Australia???) and just having it in my hands made me want to go places… Faraway places… I get a travel itch every now and then and it seems to have flared up lately. If I were more like Andrea I would probably be on a plane right now. Instead I’ll look at old photos, pine for days when I’m in a new place and then head into the kitchen to bake away my frustrations.

Manhattan Drops

2009-04-20T11:33:00.003-04:00

Last week I invited the work crew to come over after service for a little bonding time outside of the kitchen. I considered making some snacks for the evening, but cooking for cooks is not the most relaxing thing ever. Especially not when they’re making stuff like this and demand for there to be a winner when cook offs take place. I decided a much better option would be to stock the fridge with beer. It’s less stressful for me but still keeps everyone happy. Buying beer is boring though and I like to make things. So how could I make something but not have to worry too much about being judged? Make sure that whatever I made was full of booze and I had just the recipe. One of my favourite, (and free!) food magazines is Food and Drink which is put out by the LCBO, (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). Sure, it’s just a giant advertisement for the liquor store, but all food magazines are full of ads and at least this one pairs food with alcohol and has some pretty solid recipes to boot. Anyways, in one of the recent issues there was a section on cocktails that had been turned into jellies that caught my eye. Basically, they’re a more sophisticated version of jello shooters. Instead of neon coloured jello shooters spiked with so much vodka they barely set and served out of Dixie cups at high school parties, these alcoholic jellies are borderline classy. The photos in Food and Drink are gorgeous and the recipes include Cucumber Rose Gin and Tonics, White Russian Bars, Cosmopolitan Meltaways, Sangria Bites and Manhattan Drops. I made the Manhattan Drops and the biggest complaint I received was that I didn’t make enough of them. Apparently a kitchen crew gathering isn’t so far off from a high school party afterall…

Manhattan Drops, (from Food and Drink, Spring 2009)

1 jar, (225mL) maraschino cherries with stems

1 cup simply syrup

3 pkgs (7g each) unflavoured gelatin crystals

1 ½ cups rye whisky

¾ cup sweet vermouth

¼ tsp Angostura or Peychaud Bitters***

Drain cherries well and blot on paper towel. Menawhile, pour the simple syrup into a small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin overtop and stir to combine. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 2 minutes. Place this mixture over low heat and stir, gently splashing around the sides of the pan until all of the gelatin has dissolved. Do not boil.

Combine whisky, vermouth and bitters in a bowl. Stir in gelatin mixture. Stir slowly for 1 minute.

Arrange cherries, stems pointing up, in mini tart tins, round candy moulds or small ice cube trays. Divide alcohol mixture evenly between moulds. Transfer to refrigerator for 45 minutes or until softly set. Straighten any slanted stems. Chill for a least 1 hour longer.

To unmold, dip bottoms of moulds briefly in body temperature water. Use a rubber spatula to lift jellies out of moulds.

Makes about 48.

***Note- I didn’t use Bitters, but did add a little splash of the marschino cherry liquid. I also set mine in a mini muffin tin and surprisingly didn’t have trouble getting them out after dipping the bottom briefly in warm water.

Chef Challenge: Battle Cream Cheese

2009-04-14T20:53:00.006-04:00

Zeppole

I’ve previously told you about how lucky I am to work in a restaurant where we get to do some pretty neat things in the kitchen when we’re not busy. Sometimes that comes in the form of challenging Chef to create something on the spot, but sometimes Chef will flip the tables and challenge us instead. Usually that involves Chef telling us to produce a fully plated dish, using whatever we want, in under 30 minutes. This doesn’t sound like it should be a difficult task, but if you’re an indecisive person like myself, it can be 30 minutes of torture.

Cook1's Lamb Dish

The other day I was bugging Chef to make me something wonderful and he decided that I should instead make something for him. I hate when he does that. To buy myself some time, I suggested that one of the other cooks should have to take on the challenge. When Cook1 came back into the kitchen from a trip to the walk in fridge, completely unaware of what was going on, he was told he had 30 minutes to plate two identical dishes and that he’d better hurry up and get started. He began scrambling around to gather ingredients and come up with something to make. As he was doing this, Cook2 who had been observing, was pulled into the game when Chef told him he also had 30 minutes and the same challenge. I escaped being a direct part of the challenge as I actually had some work to get done before service. As Cook1 and Cook2 approached the 30 minute mark, (with Chef counting down in Iron Chef fashion… 10 minutes have elapsed) I suggested they should get 45 minutes instead as it was becoming clear that 30 wouldn’t cut it. I’d fail on the real Iron Chef as I’m all for giving out extra time when needed. Coming up with a dish under pressure is hard enough as it is, I’ll take any bonuses I can get.

Cook2's White Fish Dish

When Cook1 and Cook2 finished their dishes they had to explain what they were before we all gave them a taste and Chef gave his opinion on the outcome. That’s also my opportunity to ask questions like “What part of the dish did you think of first?” I find it interesting to hear how other people conceive of a dish and where their ideas come from. I like answers that tell a story and let me get a little glimpse into their twisted minds, (they work in a kitchen, their minds are inherently twisted… we’re an odd bunch). I dislike answers like “I don’t know.”

Cook1 chose to make a lamb dish with greens beans, rice, walnuts and a pear puree.

Cook2 made a white fish mousse with rice and veg medley.

I love these little challenges because two completely different dishes were made, using different techniques and different trains of thought to lead to a final product. It’s just neat to watch.

Chef's Appetizer

The following day Chef told me to make him something amazing. I decided to make donuts since it’s something that allowed me to use the deep fryer. I don’t have a deep fryer at home, especially not an industrial one, so I like any excuse to use it at work, (even though really hot oil kinda scares me). I was also looking for an excuse to try out a recipe I had seen in Giada DeLaurentiis’ most recent book, Giada’s Kitchen. She calls them Zeppole, but they’re basically deep fried pâte à choux. Also, you can call me a cheater if you want, but I used a recipe. It’s much harder to create something pastry related in 30 minutes without some sort of recipe to build on. It’s not nearly as forgiving as cooking. I did, however, create two dipping sauces to go with the zeppole that I made without measuring utensils. The first was an orange caramel and the second a maple blueberry compote. When Chef came to taste them, he asked if they would be super mind blowingly awesome and amazing. Somehow, between the time he asked me if I was making him something and tasting time, his request got a few more adjectives tacked onto it. And while I wouldn’t qualify the zeppole as super mind blowingly awesome and amazing, they were alright but definitely best almost right out of the fryer.

Chef's Main

Later that night Chef decided someone should still complete a proper challenge and since a new sous chef just started this week, he was the perfect candidate to choose. To make things more interesting, Chef decided to compete against him and allowed the cooks to choose a mystery ingredient for them to use. There’s nothing like starting a new job and immediately being thrown into competition with your boss… The New Sous handled it a million times better than I would have. And being the generous group that we are, we granted them a fifteen minute preparation period, followed by one hour of cooking to produce an appetizer and main dish in Battle Cream Cheese. I really should have been taking notes as this happened last week, but from what I can recall, this is what they made…

New Sous' Appetizer

Chef’s Appetizer: Bacon wrapped around a cream cheese filling, topped with lobster ceviche and julienned marinated peas, sprinkled with small diced red onion and a reduced lemon liqueur drizzle.

Chef’s Main: Venison chop topped with cream cheese, leek and mushroom, with green beans, candied cherry tomatoes and pine nuts.

New Sous’ Appetizer: Smoked salmon, potato and cream cheese croquette, sitting on top a cream cheese based sauce and topped with orange and onion relish and micro greens, surrounded by a reduced balsamic drizzle.

New Sous’ Main: Chorizo stuffed chicken breast with a mustard and cream cheese sauce, accompanied by grilled portabello mushrooms, orzo and veg.

New Sous' Main

After plating their dishes, both the kitchen team and servers got to taste everything and vote on whose they thought was better. Everyone chose their favourites except me. I gave my opinion on what I liked and disliked about each dish, but refused to say definitively which I liked better. Chef and New Sous are both waiting for this post because they think I’m going to reveal a winner. I keep telling them I love them both equally and refuse to cast a vote. Instead of leaving them completely in limbo however, I’ve decided to let you vote. In the comments section, simply say who you think should win Battle Cream Cheese, based on which dish you think you’d like better. At least this way they’ll be able to sleep at night. Although I don’t know how accurate that decision method is either since Chef has been known to comment on my blog anonymously, using up to four aliases to keep his identity a secret. I might have to start Chef at negative four votes just to give New Sous a fair chance.

Zeppole (from Giada DeLaurentiis’, Giada’s Kitchen)

½ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ tsp salt

1 cup all purpose flour

4 eggs

1 T grated orange zest

Vegetable oil for frying

Combine the butter, sugar, salt, and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flour. Return the pan to low heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture forms a ball, about 4 minutes. Transfer the flour mixture to a medium bowl. Using an electric hand mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each egg completely before adding the next. Add the orange zest and beat until smooth. Set aside.

Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep fry thermometer registers 350F.

Using a small ice cream scoop or 2 small spoons, carefully drop about a tablespoon of the dough into the hot oil. Make three more zeppole, being careful to not crowd the pan. Turn each zeppole once or twice, cooking until golden and puffed, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and continue frying the remaining batter in batches of 4.

Happy Sunday!

2009-04-11T23:55:00.005-04:00

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns.
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons,
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns

Lemon Currant Hot Cross Buns (From LCBO Food and Wine Magazine, Spring 2009)

Dough:
2 cups 2% milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. dry instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups dried currants

Hot Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. water

Icing:
3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1. For the dough, stir milk, sugar, yeast, lemon zest and vanilla in the base of a tabletop mixer or by hand and let sit 5 minutes. Add flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and currants and blend. Using a dough hook attachment, knead until elastic, but dough still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. (If mixing by hand, stir until stiff, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic but still sticky.) Place in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours.

2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place in a greased 9x13-inch cake pan. Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 45 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 350° F. (180c)

4. Bake buns for 40 - 45 minutes, until a rich golden colour. While buns are baking, prepare hot glaze.

5. For hot glaze, stir sugar, lemon juice and water in a small pot over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. When buns come out of the oven, poke holes with a bamboo skewer and brush buns with glaze repeatedly, allowing glaze to soak in to buns. Let buns cool in pan.

6. For icing, beat icing sugar and lemon juice until thick and pipe a cross onto each bun. Store buns in pan until ready to serve. The buns are best served on the day they are baked but can be baked ahead and frozen.

Ice Cream and Chickens

2009-04-07T00:07:00.003-04:00

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a snowy backdrop.

I’ve made ice cream four times in the past week. It was supposed to be a celebration of spring and the arrival of warm weather. I woke up this morning, ready to freeze the Vanilla Bean custard I made last night and discovered 15cm of snow on the ground. Where did that come from? The Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt photo was taken only days earlier when the temperature climbed to a hopeful 14°C, (57°F) and now this. I had hoped we were done with snow this year. As much as I like to ski and can appreciate the beauty of a white, snow covered landscape, I’m done with winter. Bring on the sun. I want to see flowers blossoming, asparagus and rhubarb coming up in the garden and I want to ride my bike. I want to continue making ice cream but I want to eat it outside on the deck. And I want it to be so bright outside that I have to wear sunglasses. Is that too much to ask?

Orange Popsicle Ice Cream

There may be another reason I’m making so much ice cream and that would be that I have approximately a million eggs to use up so I’m making lots of egg based things, (challah, egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs…). The source of all these eggs? Chickens! Six of them. They’re in my backyard and each of them is laying an egg a day. For some time now Dad has been complaining that eggs are always on the grocery list and that I go through too many eggs with my baking and ice cream making. He recently came up with a solution to that problem. He built a chicken coop and acquired six chickens. Now I’ve got more eggs than I know what to do with and ice cream is accumulating in my freezer at a rapid rate as that seems to be my favourite thing to make with eggs.

Green Tea Ice Cream

When I want to make ice cream, one of the first places I look for a recipe is David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. Sometimes I make his recipes exactly as written and other times I tweak them a bit to suit what I’ve got in mind or on hand. Once I’ve got an ice cream idea I usually check Lebovitz’s book for a recipe before looking anywhere else. Work is usually the source of my ice cream making inspiration, (no real surprise there considering it’s where I spend most of my time) and one of the guys at work is currently addicted to green tea. I think he’s single handedly decimating the kitchen’s supply of green tea so when I felt like making ice cream earlier this week, green tea was an easy choice. It had also been a long time since the last time I used my matcha powder to make ice cream in the form of Matcha White Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream, so it was definitely time. The Orange Popsicle Ice Cream you see here was also inspired by a workplace conversation with someone who said they loved creamsicle bars. This ice cream is pretty close in taste, although I’d like to try making my own version of creamsicle ice cream that incorporates an orange sherbert swirl into a creamy ice cream.

Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt

While I was thinking about an orange sherbert swirl I got distracted from ice cream for an instant and somehow drifted into frozen yogurt land, (which is useless for using up eggs, but tasty nonetheless) and I decided that it was imperative I make Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt. I have a few bottles of POM Wonderful sitting in my fridge and I’ve been contemplating what to do with them besides drink them as is. The colour drove me to make frozen yogurt out of one of them. I reduced a bottle of POM Wonderful by about a quarter and could have reduced it even more but I was impatient. I then stirred in a little less than half a cup of sugar, a squirt of lemon juice, a splash of vodka and about 2 cups of plain, strained yogurt, (you could use Greek yogurt if it’s available to you, otherwise strain 2% yogurt overnight in a sieve). I absolutely love frozen yogurt made with strained yogurt, (I also love eating strained yogurt with maple syrup and blueberries and think I should make a frozen yogurt out of that too) and the pomegranate was perfect with it. It was definitely an experiment gone right.

And last but certainly not least, we’re back on track with using up eggs by making Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is not new to me. I’ve previously exalted the virtues of the humble vanilla bean and after recently making vanilla bean cupcakes with a friend I decided I need a Vanilla Bean Ice Cream fix. David Lebovitz to the rescue again, (although I’ve made vanilla bean ice cream using a variety of recipes and never been disappointed) he’s got a modified version of the Vanilla Ice Cream in The Perfect Scoop, posted on his blog. I chose to go for a richer custard and used a couple extra egg yolks, it was a good choice.

Any suggestions for what flavour of ice cream I should make next? What are your favourites?

My chickens! And their eggs.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, (from DavidLebovitz.com)

For a richer custard, you can add up to 3 more egg yolks. For a less-rich custard, substitute half-and-half for the heavy cream, realizing that the final texture won't be as rich or as smooth as if using cream.

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Note: Used vanilla beans can be rinsed and dried, then stored in a bin of sugar. That sugar can be used for baking and, of course, for future ice cream making.

Duck, Duck… Duck

2009-04-05T01:06:00.007-04:00

The more you do something the better you get at it, (hopefully). Excelling at anything comes only after hours of practice, (at least 10000 according to Outliers author Malcom Gladwell) and I understand that, but it still kills me to make mistakes if they’re at all avoidable. As much as I love experimenting and trying new things, I hate when they don’t work out. I hate it even more when things don’t work out in the restaurant kitchen as opposed to the safety of my home kitchen. That wide eyed look of fear Chef sees on my face when he throws something new at me is exactly that, fear. It’s a fear of messing up, even though I know it’s a part of learning. And it’s a fear of letting others down, especially those who believe in me the most. But along with the fear is a desire to achieve and to do better. A nervous desire, but desire nonetheless. I’d like to be at the point where not only can I understand why something didn’t work but also see when something needs adjusting while there’s still time to fix it. That’s one of the major problems with baking, there’s a finite amount of time in which to make changes. As soon as whatever you’re making goes into the oven, there’s nothing you can do except have faith that you’ve done everything properly and that it will turn out. If not, hopefully you’ve learned what not to do for next time. Cooking is more flexible to an extent, but if you overcook the duck there’s no way to make it raw again.

Speaking of duck, since the only way to get better at something is to keep doing it, I’ve been cooking a lot of duck lately. The price of duck is motivation to learn quickly how to do it right. Because when you mess up duck it hurts on many levels.

Cassoulet with Duck Confit

At the restaurant we serve cassoulet with duck confit and it’s probably one of my favourite things on the menu. I’ve wanted to make it at home for ages and finally decided if I was going to do it, I was going the full nine yards by first making the duck confit and then soaking and cooking the beans and assembling everything with a bread crumb crust and a prolonged bake in the oven. I used a recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie for the duck confit. Don’t let the fact that it takes over two days to complete put you off making your own duck confit. It’s not difficult and the hands on time is minimal. The pay off is definitely worth it as you’re left with beautifully done duck legs and a vat of duck fat that can be used for all sorts of awesome things, like making duck fat fried potatoes. The cassoulet recipe I used was taken mostly from Fat although I improvised a little bit. Consequently the end result was good, but not as good as at work. It was certainly a learning experience though. My finished dish lacked both seasoning and moisture, but at least I was able to determine that.

Duck Fat Fried Potatoes with Duck Confit Hash and A Runny Egg

Like I said though, when you make duck confit, you end up with leftover duck fat and the best thing you can do with that is to use it to fry up some potatoes. I happened to also have a leg of duck confit leftover one morning so I decided to make one of the most decadent but also amazing brunches ever. I shredded the duck leg and made a duck confit hash with peppers, onions and homemade bacon, (also from Charcuterie) then fried up some potatoes in duck fat and served the two with a runny egg overtop. Breakfast has never been the same since.

Mandarin Pancakes with Peking Duck

Mandarin pancakes might sound like breakfast food but they’re usually served for dinner in dishes such as Mu Shu Pork or, as in this case, with Peking duck. The pancakes are made with a simple dough, often made of just flour, boiling water and sesame oil which is allowed to rest and then rolled out flat and sandwiched to another pancake before being browned in a frying pan. The pancakes are then pulled apart and used to wrap up other ingredients, like duck. Mandarin pancakes are one of my favourites and I don’t make them nearly enough, I think it’s the sesame oil in the dough that I just can’t resist. When you pair Mandarin pancakes with Peking duck, life is good.

And last but certainly not least in my adventures in cooking duck is Pan Seared Duck Breast with Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit, served on Roasted Squash Risotto. Pan searing duck breast and finishing it in the oven is fast becoming my go-to way to make duck. I’ve also recently made Soy and Maple Glazed Duck, and Duck Breast with Chili, Honey and Ginger Glaze using the pan searing method. It’s pretty easy to do, (just be careful not to leave it in the oven too long and over cook it, I like my duck pink, thank you) and can be served with any number of sauces and sides. I’m a big fan of pairing fruit with meat and an even bigger fan of cherries so when I saw a recipe for a Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit I knew it was meant to be. As for the risotto, it’s one of those few dishes that I’m comfortable enough cooking that I no longer refer to a recipe. I know the basic method for making risotto and I’ve found that you can introduce any flavour you want to a risotto and it takes fairly well. That being said, as comfortable as I am making risotto in my own kitchen, if you asked me to do it at the restaurant it would be a completely different story…

Pan Seared Duck Breast with Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit with Roasted Squash Risotto

Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit (from Gourmet, 1991)

1 1/2 cups dried sour cherries
1/2 cup white-wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups thinly sliced shallot (about 1/2 pound)
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar

In a bowl let the cherries soak in the vinegars for 30 minutes. While the cherries are soaking, in a heavy skillet cook the shallot and the onion in the butter, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the shallot is soft. Sprinkle mixture with the sugar and cook the mixture, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the cherries with the soaking liquid, simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until almost all the liquid is evaporated, and season the confit with salt and pepper. The confit may be made 1 day in advance, kept covered and chilled, and reheat when needed.