LittleRedSaid.......

Ice Fishing

2012-01-30T14:09:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Ike's Scouting group had a family ice fishing trip planned....and it was loads of fun. We were fortunate to enjoy good weather (slightly above freezing), good company, and good food. The ice was a several feet thick, but the group leaders arrived an hour early and made quick work of the holes with a gas powered auger. Fun times with friends, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, and catching fish....all good things! We almost had one, but it was the one that got away as it took the hook and the worm. Surely it must have been huge! I spent a lot of time trying to decide what to bring along for food to share and in the end just made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. You really cannot go wrong with those.

The kids each had their own hole to fish, and the people next to us caught two rainbow trout. Ike's attention span for jigging was a little short, so much of the time his hook sat fairly still. Still, it was nice to get outside with friends and do something a little different. I hope your weekend was fun too!

Root Beer Cookies

2012-01-26T16:21:00.000-08:00

I had specifically went in search of root beer extract quite some time ago. I cannot even remember how long ago this was on my mind. I had found recipes for root beer cup cakes, and cookies that had intrigued me. Well, one day I found myself in the brew your own beer store and I spied the small bottles of root beer extract and decided that owning one would put me one step closer to trying one of these intriguing recipes. With Christmas approaching I found myself packing up a package for friends in New Zealand and having extra weight allowance in the package I decided to tuck my bottle of extract inside. With Canada post you pay a flat rate for small package air service for any package between 1 and 2 kg. So if you know me.....you will not be surprised to know that I stuffed that package to within 2 grams of 2 kilograms. The lady running the postal outlet found this to be quite annoying. But I'll be darned if I'm not going to get as much in as I can if I am paying for it!

It is my understanding that root beer is not common in New Zealand....so now they have the option of following the instructions on the label to make themselves 17 L of homemade root beer.....or to try some root beer baking recipes.......Tough call based on the yumminess of these cookies......and the delicious sound of a homemade batch of root beer. I think I might have to try that as well:) While I have seen root beer extract in the grocery stores in the US, in Canada it is less common and you will likely have to seek it out in the you brew beer and wine stores. I think most you brew stores carry it.

If you'd like to give the root beer cookies a try, have a look at the recipe over at Makes and Takes. This is the recipe that I used and I found that I needed all of the water listed to make the dough 'sticky' as shown. I also used golden brown sugar rather than dark (since that is what I had) and it did make the cookies a little lighter in colour......but delicious none the less.

Finished Object and a Pavlova

2012-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

Clearly I love this pattern. This is the third one of these hats I've made now. The pattern is getting easier, and this one....as well as the second one...was made with beautiful yarn. This time it's Manos of Uruguay Maxim in the colourway 'fire'. Perfectly soft and with subtle changes in the colour tone to give it a little more depth. Made for no one in particular, I will have to set it aside until I find someone to make use of it.

My family seems to have recovered from a bout of Norwalk virus that has been making its way around and brought all to a halt last week. Finally, many days later, I felt like I could do some cooking again and we had a proper dinner and a Pavlova which my DH had been asking and asking and asking for. It turned out thoroughly yummy and I could have turned right around and started making another. But then, there are the left over yolks now.........I just need to figure out what to do with them.....hmmm any ideas??? I've read sponge for trifle as a suggestion and may give that a try?? Left over yolks aside......the trifle was delicious and had the most marshmallowy soft interior......

YUM:) I'll definitley be making one again.....and next time I think I'll try banana split toppings. If you'd like to try your hand at a Pavlova try this recipe.....It's very basic and super easy!!

OMG Fudgy Brownies

2012-01-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

So......it has been a busy job of getting back to business after the Christmas holiday. There has been as always...lots to do and lots of things on the go. I will confess, that my Christmas tree is still up...hoping to get to that today. Yesterday, after coming home at the end of a 'too busy' week.....I walked into the house and collapsed on the couch to grab a moment of rest. Fortunately there were left overs for everyone to eat so I did not have to make dinner....just as well as I was beat. Sadly I only managed to rest for maybe an hour before the 24 hour flu my son seemed to be suffering from kicked into high gear. Poor little guy. This morning he seems to have turned it around and it looks as though he will be able to keep down some food.

I grabbed a nice cup of tea and some toast this morning only to notice that the pan of brownies I made the other day was down to its' last slice. So I grabbed a picture of it because once everyone is up and about....it won't stand a chance. I was looking for something to bring to the PAC meeting at the school two days ago and decided to try this recipe. Unfortunately, they did not cool quickly enough for me to take them to the meeting.....so we had to eat them. Well, they turned out fabulously and I will most definitely make them again. I did make a slight substitution as they called for Port Soaked dried Cherries.....which I am sure would be fabulous......but I just happened to have a jar of vodka soaked cranberries sitting on my counter that needed to be used up. I had used the other half of the jar in a pound cake recipe some time ago.....now I finally finished the jar. They were delicious and as rich and fudgy as the recipe claimed it would be......and there was only cocoa powder in the recipe.....so no need for melted chocolate. Some times, this is an issue for me, and it is nice to know that I have a nice fudgy brownie recipe to turn to in my hour of need when there is no chocolate to be found. I was too lazy to try the delicious looking recipe for the ganache icing provided in the recipe....but let me assure you....this recipe is delicious enough to disappear in a day without the frosting....it really doesn't need it!!! Whether you include the booze soaked fruit or opt to add nuts or nothing at all....this is a great browning recipe to keep on hand for those times when you don't have any chocolate kicking around to make brownies. These were so very good and easy...I hope you'll give them a try. Just be sure to remove them from the oven before over baking them. As an added note...in addition to the cherry substitution I mentioned above......I was also out of butter so I used margarine.....and I only had Dutch processed cocoa...which I used rather than the natural cocoa called for....and it still turned out fabulously:)

Rich and Fudgy Brownies
1 cup unsalted butter, and more to grease the pan
2/3 cup flour, more to flour the pan
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Port soaked Cherries (optional see recipe below)
Port Ganache Topping (optional see recipe below)
Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a nine inch square pan (I would recommend lining with parchment if you have it).
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar, followed by the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, cocoa, and baking powder slowly so as not to have it come flying out of the pan. Stir more quickly as it become incorporated. Stir until uniform...this should only take about a minute. Add in the Port soaked cherries at this time if you are adding them....along with any liquid from the pan. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted 3/4 inch deep into the center of the pan comes out with just a few moist clumps clinging to it. This will be about 40 minutes. ( I start testing after 30 minutes and wait until there is no wet batter clinging to the toothpick) Remove pan and set on rack to cool completely. If topping with the ganache, spread it evenly over the cooled brownies and let sit 1 hour before slicing. The topping will still be quite gooey. Keep covered at room temp for 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
Port Soaked Cherries
1/2 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped (or whole dried cranberries)
1/2 cup tawny port
In a small sauce pan bring the cherries and port to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and cool for 2 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Port-Ganache Topping
1/2 cup tawny port
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
In a small sauce pan over medium heat, bring the port to a boil. Boil until the port is reduced to 2 Tbsp. This should take 3 to 6 minutes. Pour it into a small cup or bowl. Rinse the pan well and bring heavy cream to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from the heat. Stir in chopped chocolate and reduced port until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate melted. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Put the bowl ina cool area stirring occasionally. When cooled spread over the cooled brownies, and let set up one hour before slicing.

Mrs C's Garlic Toast Spread

2011-12-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

Hopefully everyone had a nice relaxing Christmas! We sure did here. This is only the second time that we have elected to stay home for the holidays in may years. We spent a nice Christmas Eve over visiting with neighbours, and had our own quiet Christmas at home...just the three of us. I managed to find quite a small turkey......small enough for one turkey dinner....plenty of toasted turkey sandwiches....turkey soup.....turkey pot pie....and even a smidge left over yet. Today I made the soup and pie to use up the bulk of the meat (and my 4th batch of ginger sparkles this holiday....don't know where they all keep disappearing to??). Along with the soup....while there was not enough time to make buns by the time I thought about it....I did run to the store to grab some nice fresh Scotch Baps to turn into garlic toast. This garlic spread is from a family friend (Mrs C) who has since passed away. Many times during the year I find myself pulling out my notebook and making one or another of her recipes.....she was always such a good cook, and a good person.

Mrs C's Garlic Toast Spread
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 oz softened butter
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3-4 shakes of garlic powder
1 tsp sour cream
pinch of pepper and salt

Mix all together and spread on split buns. Toast in oven until topping begins to turn golden.

It's Never too Late for Candy

2011-12-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

Last day of work today before the holidays begin:) And I tried a new candy for this holiday season for Apple Cider Caramels. They did not disappoint! They were pretty straight forward to make and are really quite delicious. I came across the recipe (over at Our Best Bites) while looking for ways to use up the abundance of apples that I had been gifted with. With only a day or two before Christmas there is still time to try out a batch of these caramels....you may even have all the ingredients waiting in your kitchen?? I'm about to make my second batch today....

Cider Apple Caramels
2 cups apple cider (or good quality apple juice)
1 cup whipping cream, divided
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup corn or cane syrup
1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
Simmer 2 cups of apple cider on the stove until the volume is reduced to 1/3 cup. I measured periodically with glass measuring cup. Set aside to cool.
Line a 8 inch square pan with parchment and grease very lighlty to prevent sticking. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine 2/3 cup of the cream, 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice and reduced apple cider. Set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/3 cup syrup and cook over low heat to dissolve the sugar, simmer at medium heat until it reaches 234 F. Remove from heat.
Slowly whisk in cream mixture and 1/2 cup cubed butter stirring until incorporated.
Return to heat and cook to 248F.
Remove and pour immediately into the prepared pan.
Cool completely and cut into 1/2 inch wide logs. Slice each log into the desired size and wrap in waxed paper. Keep in a air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Retro Marshmallow Roll

2011-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

Only a few more days left until Christmas......I can hardly wait for the break. Although work has been a little less busy due to the fact that most of my customers are winding down and taking holidays now....my spare time has been filled with baking and knitting. I just finished making my third batch of Ginger Sparkles, a batch of Buckwheat Cocoa Nib Shortbread cookies and also a batch of chocolate cheesecake cupcakes. (All of these I highly recommend as some of my favourites!!) Last night to add some variety to the baking assortment, I made a marshmallow roll that my mom and grandmother used to make each and every Christmas. It is unbaked and all is held together with a can of sweetened condensed milk. I really loved this slice as a kid and it tastes exactly like I remember it. The original recipe was printed on the back of the Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk label back in the 1940's. (The original recipe called for dates rather than festive cherries....but I like the colour that the cherries bring.) I was prompted to make it after finding recipes online for Lolly Slice which is very much along the same lines with only very minor differences. So if you've made Lolly Slice and like that sort of thing......you may like this as well. Go ahead and try it....it'll take you 10 minutes:) Feel free to make a 1/2 a batch if it seems like too much....that's what I did....but I think I'll be making the other half quite soon.

Marshmallow Roll
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup water
400g package of graham wafer crumbs (malt biscuits would be a very close substitute)
400g package of mini marshmallows
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 1/2 cups glaced cherries red or green or both
1/2 cup dessicated coconut (optional)
Mix all except the coconut in a mixing bowl until well mixed. (The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of water to be added in with the milk, but my mother has never made it that way, so I add the water as I am mixing if it needs it.....and this time I did add about 1/4 cup) Mix with your hands, wetting your hands frequently to stop it from sticking too much to them. Divide the mixture into five equal amounts and shape into rolls or logs about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. I then rolled mine in the coconut because I think it looks prettier, and wrap in wax paper. Keep in the fridge for several hour so that they firm up. Unwrap and slice in 1/4 inch slices as you need them.

Need to Make Last Minute Gifts??

2011-12-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas is approaching fast. It is hard to believe that November is over. Where did it go in such a hurry??? When December hits......the panic to finish my Christmas shopping always sets in. If you are like me and like to make at least some of your Christmas presents.....................have a look at this list of links to handmade gift giving ideas. There is still time! Most of the things listed below are pretty darned quick....although if I'm in a pinch....not much is quicker than candy. Above are the cookies for my son's teacher who has her last day this morning......A bit of information my son was kind enough to share with me last night before bed. Baking is fast.....and when it comes to teachers gifts......a reliable source tells me.....with so many students each year bringing small gifts......consumables are most appreciated. Oh and if you are in Canada....take a minute to stop over at Merry with Children and check out her blog......and her Presidents Choice Gift Card Giveaway. Thanks for stopping by:)

Knitted Gifts

Knit and Felted Slippers- quick and easy and little different. They use exactly one 100g skein of worsted weight wool yarn.
Leaf Lace Knitted Hat- in worsted weight or chunky...it knits up pretty quick
Leaf Lace Scarf- Takes a little longer, using 2 skeins of 100g worsted weight yarn, and goes nicely with the leaf lace hat!
Quick (like only two hours) and Chunky lace knit Cowl
Fingerless cabled mitts
Basic Socks- Instructions for any weight of yarn

Sewing Gifts

Felt Coffee Cozy- fast and simple project
Chenille Scarf- soft and cozy
Repurposed Sweater Cat Toy -something for Kitty
Make a Sock Monkey-They are so cute and easy!
Travel Busy Bag for small children -(scroll on down the page for the instructions)
Hooded Beach Towel
Pin cushion-for friends who like to sew...very easy and pretty

Crafty Gifts
-These are all great gifts for teachers, neighbours, or thoughtful hostess gifts.

Gifts from the Kitchen

Homemade Candy-One of the quickest and I think well loved!
Chutney
Antipasto
BBQ Sauce

Favourite Handmade Gifts from Etsy

Stamped Cutlery- Totally cute and Unique
Screen Printed Linen Goodness- Something a little different
Vandalized Vintage China- Unique and Potentially Offensive Graffiti China
Fun Modern Painted China- Mugs, plates etc...painted with fun themes

Porcelain Graffiti

2011-12-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

With Christmas coming up, I've been on the lookout for gifting ideas.....and I wanted to give porcelain painting a little try. While I was in the thrift shops......I picked up a few things to play with. I figured that the plain white diner mugs at 50 cents a piece were an inexpensive way to give this porcelain painting a try. Worst case......I've only wasted a dollar. And quite honestly, I would have a difficult time painting up china of any real value. I washed them up...good as new... and wiped down the painting area with rubbing alcohol to remove any grease that might stop the paint from sticking.

And then..............

I went to my computer and printed out some words in a font I liked in a size appropriate for the mugs......
Then I cut out the words with a 1/2 inch border around then.....
scribbled soft lead pencil over the back side of the lettering and taped the wording where I wanted it centered on each mug......
And finally traced around each letter with a ball point pen to transfer the pencil lead onto the mugs.
Then, I painted in the lettering with ceramic paint. (I used Deco Art Americana Gloss Enamels) although my preference would have been Pebeo 150....but it is more difficult for me to get.
After letting the painted item sit for 48 hours.... it needs to be placed into a cool oven...let the oven heat with the item in it to 325F and bake for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the item cool in the oven.

Soon we shall see how well the paint adheres to the mug.....and I'll let yo know. Coming up with things to write....seems to be the most challenging part. Let me know if you have any good ideas. If you'd like to purchase ready painted china go and have a look at Vandalized Vintage on Etsy...Be warned, that her brand of humor will most certainly be offensive to some, as many of her personalizations are rude, but are meant to be humorous. Keep in mind that porcelain paints should only be used on surfaces not meant to come in contact with food.

The Mouse Trap

2011-11-29T18:51:00.000-08:00

Making the fruit chutney in my previous post was all so I could try the Edmonds Mousetrap recipe. For those of you not familiar with them....as I was not. A mousetrap is a snack composed of some type of spread on bread covered with cheese which may or may not be toasted. In the case of the Edmonds recipe....the spread was of course chutney, and the snack was in fact toasted....twice. As per the Edmonds directions....you should:

toast one side of your bread
spread the untoasted side of the bread with chutney
top with shredded cheese and minced onion
pop it all back in the toaster oven to melt the cheese
garnish with chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Now, after trying this....I would recommend using chopped onion greens rather than minced onion as you would get a bit of colour for garnish and a milder onion flavour as well. All and all, a nice little snack....This is based on the fact that I alone have almost finished my first jar of chutney filling myself with these tasty little snacks. Ike however does not share my fondness for these.......he's not quite sure of what he thinks of the chutney I think.....perhaps a different spread for him then....

Making a Better Mousetrap

2011-11-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

I was sitting and flipping through my Edmonds Cookery Book wondering what might next be of interest for me to try......when the recipe for mousetraps caught my eye. I have heard of these......but had no real clue what they were about. The recipe called for chutney, of which I had none.......Hmmm....but I did still have 10 pounds of apples left to do something with....A few more pages flipped and there was the recipe I was looking for. So......I actually made a chutney recipe just so I'd have a jar to try the recipe for mouse traps. The chutney recipe was nice though, and made quite a few jars. Maybe enough to share with the neighbours or for Christmas giving. More on the mouse traps later......

Edmonds Fruit Chutney
2 kg apples peeled, cored and chopped
500g onion diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups raisins
4 cups brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice or cloves
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups (or there abouts) Malt vinegar

Put apples, onions, garlic,raisins, sugar, salt, and spices into a large pot. Add enough vinegar to not cover but leave some fruit above the vinegar. Cook at a simmer for about two hours, frequently stirring to achieve the consistency of a jam. Bottle and seal.

Chocolate Macaroon and Lemon Cake

2011-11-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

One of my souvenirs from New Zealand was a cookbook. Books are extremely expensive over there and I had the good fortune to find this book (A Second Helping....More from Ladies a Plate) on sale which brought the price down to a level that was a little more easy for me to swallow. I will admit to a bit of a cookbook addition. I sit and read through them over and over again, cup of tea in hand, just staring at the pictures and considering the ingredient combinations. Regional cookbooks are especially interesting to me. It is curious how years of regional isolation created and maintained pockets of cultural uniqueness and in turn their regional menus. So when I found this compilation of New Zealand favourites......I just had to have it. Here is a recipe that I gave a try. It turned out quite nice and moist......and I will at some point, make it again. The yellow layer is noticeably lemon and the dark layer is macaroonish. Yum!

Chocaroon Cake
(slightly adapted from A Second Helping...More from Ladies a Plate)

Cake Layer
85 grams (1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp) butter (room temperature)
115g (1/2 cup) sugar
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks (room temperature)
170 grams (1 1/4 cup) flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk (room temperature)
2 tbsp syrup

Macaroon Layer
2 egg whites
2tbsp sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 tbsp cocoa powder
icing sugar for dusting top of loaf
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment. Start by making the macaroon mixture first. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually beat in the sugar. Fold in the coconut and sifted cocoa and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar til soft, then beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. Add the egg yolks one at a time beating between additions. Fold in the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) and milk alternately to make a soft batter. Spoon half of the cake batter into the pan followed by half of the macaroon mixture spreading as evenly as possible. Top with the remaining cake batter. Brush the top of the last cake layer with melted jelly, fruit syrup or corn syrup (any syrup) to help the last macaroon layer stick. Top with remaining macaroon layer. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool in tin, then turn out carefully so as not to lose the top macaroon layer. Sift the top with icing sugar, cut into slices and serve.

Sauced Butterscotch Pudding

2011-11-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

Where I live, the rule of thumb for the first snow fall......seems to be right around Halloween. Most often, there is not snow on the ground for Halloween, but there can be. Any time between Halloween and the start of December......we will get snow that stays. We were quite lucky this year as Halloween night was a beautiful night for trick or treating. Remembrance Day seemed to bring on the snow and rain. It really was quite damp and cold....all that slushy snow! This morning the snow continues and it looks as though the snow may stay. That will please Ike as construction of the first snow fort of the year is under way.

The change in temperature brings about a new direction in cooking. More stews and oven baked dishes......and warm desserts. I had been thinking lately of baked puddings.....and this recipe has sat untried in my recipe binder for at least 5 years. Finally last night at 10:00pm I decided I must give it a try. My suggestion was met with some grumbling as the Chocolate Sauce N Cake version of this pudding is so popular in this house, that replacing it with a new and untried recipe was met with a lot of scepticism. However since I wanted to try this recipe.....after all of these years.....and since no one else was going to get off the couch to help with it....I made the executive decision to try something new! It was very good! It makes a Butterscotchy raisin dotted cake with sauce all in one dish. Very yummy, served with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream or a splash of pouring cream. I am expecting the delivery of a large box of apples this morning and I think they might make a nice addition the next time around?? Sort of caramel apple-ish?? A very nice last minute recipe as it uses things you probably have on hand and.....it is super quick and easy:)

If you'd like to give it a try, here it is.....

Sauced Butterscotch Pudding
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup raisins

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups hot water
Measure first 7 ingredients into a bowl and mix. Turn into a greased 8 " casserole. In the empty mixing bowl, stir together the brown sugar, butter, vanilla and hot water until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the batter gently, and do not stir it in. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes until sauce is on the bottom and a top crust has formed which is firm to the touch and a bit golden.
Variations: add 1/2 tsp cinnamon to sauce before pouring over the batter. Or for a Mocha Sauce: Omit last 4 ingredients for sauce mix. Mix 2 Tbsp cocoa and 1 cup brown sugar. Stir 2 tsp instant coffee into 2 cups hot water. Add to cocoa sugar mixture. Pour over batter and bake as usual.

Dark Mocha Cake- A One Bowl Wonder

2011-11-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

Always on the lookout for something new to try........I found this recipe in an old Fine Cooking magazine. It promised to be quick, easy, and delicious. And it kept its promise. It also stays nice and moist for up to 5 days when wrapped in plastic wrap. I'll be making this one again. It's nice on its own.....sprinkled with icing sugar.....with a bit of pouring cream......or warmed with a scoop of icecream. It's very versatile!

Dark Mocha Cake
10 Tbsp butter, soft
1 2/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups coffee, cooled
Preheat oven to 350F. Line bottom of a 9 inch square pan with parchment, and grease and flour pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in 2 eggs, one at a time until sugar begins to dissolve. (about 1 minute of whisking) Mix in the vanilla and salt and then sift and mix in the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Pour in the coffee and gently whisk until smooth and free of most, but not all of the lumps. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth batter with spatula. Bake until cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs....about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Run knife around edges of pan and invert onto cake rack, and remove the pan. Invert again onto a second rack so it is now right side up and cool until just warm. Serve warm, or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Finished Object- Leaf Lace Hat

2011-10-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I'm getting nearly as much done this weekend as I'd hoped:( ....but, my bathrooms are clean, floors mopped, dinner's in the slow cooker, and dough for Halloween party snacks is in the bread machine......and I managed to complete a little knitting project that was hanging around. This is my second attempt at the 'Foliage Pattern' from Knitty.com this time using Cascade 220 in colour 8908.... a nice aqua. I was pretty happy with it.....and it seems my neighbour was too. It now has a new home. It is a nice little project for gift giving.....there may be more of these on my needles. Hope your weekend is wonderful and productive!

Nice & Easy Cookies

2011-10-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

Now here is a quick and easy cookie recipe for when time short. It's quick, easy, made with ingredients you probably have on hand, and really quite yummy! I had been thinking the last few days about what kind of cookie I could make that I had not made in a long time. This fit the bill and was pretty quick to boot. It is a little different, but not so much so that you'll have to worry if some kids won't like them. They are pretty mainstream yummy....and the coffee flavour in them is really very subtle. It makes a nice soft almost 'cake' like cookie.

Coffee N Chip Pan Cookies
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup coffee, (cold)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F Line 11X17 inch pan with foil and spray with PAM. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla and cold coffee. Next beat in baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and finally the flour. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts if desired. Spread dough evenly in pan. Bake 15 minutes until cookie springs back when touched in the center of the pan. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Slice when cool and store in sealed container.

BBQ Sauce for Gift Giving or Keeping

2011-10-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend.....I think I mentioned....we had our neighbourhood pot luck BBQ and I brought over slow cooker BBQ brisket. It is so easy I am embarrassed to tell you just how easy...it certainly does not warrant a recipe. Take (1) 4 lb brisket and toss it in the slow cooker. Pour over a half bottle of your favourite BBQ sauce and let it cook for 8 hours on low heat. (I let mine cook over night while we were sleeping....I'm so lazy) Remove the cooked brisket and shred the meat. Clean out the slow cooker and pitch out the liquid....there will be a lot of fat released from the cooking and you probably would like to get rid of that....I know I would. Toss the shredded meat back into the slow cooker along with the remaining half bottle of your favourite BBQ sauce and let sit in the slow cooker on low or a keep warm setting if you have it. You can add more BBQ sauce if you like it to be more saucy. Serve on a split roll with coleslaw. YUM.

Now this is the BBQ sauce we used. I have made it in larger batches and canned it along with a few other different flavours to give away for Christmas gifts. It's a nice gift for someone that you know who likes to grill! The year we did this for gifts, DH made little wooden crates to hold a row of the four different flavours we made and we printed labels for the tops of each jar with the names of the flavours on it. This time I just poured the batch into a recycled BBQ sauce bottle and threw it in the fridge. Oh, and we added a 'saucy' little label....just for kicks.

Smokey BBQ Sauce
(Adapted from a copy cat recipe found on the internet many years ago)

1 cup ketchup
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp liquid smoke
Add all ingredients to a pot except the liquid smoke. Bring to bubble and lower heat to simmer for 30 - 40 minutes to thicken the sauce. If it become to thick, you can thin is out with a splash of red wine vinegar. Once it has been cooked down, stir in the liquid smoke. Seal while hot in canning jars with the boiling water batch method to keep for long periods or for gift giving......or keep bottled in fridge for immediate use.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-10-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

The chill is in the air now, although the sky is bright and clear, and leaves are falling without the assistance of the breeze. It has been beautiful autumn weather for long walks, mugs of hot chocolate, sweaters and scarves, and warming fires. This weekend, we did all of these......I only wish that the weekend could be longer!

To finish out the weekend, we had our annual outdoor pot luck block party. We had a good turn out with good food and drinks, and best of all....a warm fire. It was a good opportunity to use up the huge beef brisket in my freezer and I pulled out a recipe that I had not made in quite a few years. Pumpkin Cake....from my Auntie Pat. I made them as cupcakes.....and they were OMG good if I do say so myself. They are a nice seasonally appropriate cake for autumn.......I kept 8 for our house and brought the remaining over to share at the pot luck. They would be adorable in mini muffin tins....Maybe next time:) If you'd like to try them.......here they are. They are light and moist and topped with a yummy cream cheese topping.

Pumpkin Bars.......or Cupcakes
2 cups pumpkin
4 eggs beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Blend the pumpkin, beaten eggs, and oil in a mixing bowl. Stir in the two sugars, the salt, baking powder, soda, and spices. Fold in the sifted flour and pour into a greased 9X13 inch pan or into 24 cup muffin pan fitted with paper liners. Bake at 375F for about 25-30 minutes for the cake or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes. Check with a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake or cup cakes. They are done when the toothpick pulls out clean. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature before frosting.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz brick of cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp light cream if needed
Cream the cheese with the butter. Whip in the sugar and vanilla and thin with a bit of cream if necessary. Tint with colouring if desired and spread or pipe onto cake or cupcakes. If icing gets to soft for piping, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up and try again. Store frosted cake in the fridge.

I'm Back....with Chewy Marshmallow Blondies

2011-10-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well......I just spent 2 weeks away in Chicago that were an absolute test of my fortitude. Now I am back.....sanity nearly in tact, and try to fix all the issues that accumulated in my absence. I did manage to spend an entire long weekend doing very nearly nothing.....well nothing very useful......it was nice!

I took some nice walks in the autumn air, and tried to remind myself of all the little things that I should be very thankful for......(It was Thanksgiving this past weekend....here in Canada). I came up with quite a few...enough to confirm that my glass is really half full:)

While I had brought along a small knitting project to work on that would be easily finished on my two weeks away.....the schedule was so horrific, that I didn't even get to start it. Well this weekend......I started it and got a good way through it as well:) I'm starting to think about making Christmas presents now.....before it's too late!

And......back to making school lunches after a two week break! I decided to try this recipe for the lunch box. It is nut free (which is good for Ike's school) but would only benefit from the addition of nuts if desired. It's sweet and chewy goodness and sure to be a favourite with the kids......with a nice glass of cold milk!

Sweet and Chewy Blondie Squares
1/2 cup butter
1 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups marshmallow (mini)
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 8 inch square pan with foil or parchment. Melt together the butter and butterscotch chips and set aside to cool. Beat eggs, vanilla and brown sugar and stir in the butter mixture together with it. Stir the flour, salt, and baking powder in to the wet ingredients until well mixed. Stir in the marshmallows and chocolate chips....and any nuts it you'd like. Spread into prepared pan and bake 15 to 20 minutes until top becomes golden, and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and slice when cool.

More Muffins- Blueberry

2011-09-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

I've been making muffins.....my mom has been making muffins.......hmmm it must be muffin season or something! Well, it is back to school season here and it is a nice little lunch snack to have ready.......or to have with a cup of your favourite hot drink. This is the third batch of muffins that my mom has made from this recipe in the last two weeks. If you have some fresh or frozen blueberries lying around....you might want to give these a try!

Blueberry Muffins
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup + 2 heaping tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp yoghurt or milk kefir
1 tsp lemon zest
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup blueberries
Preheat oven to 425F.
Cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add sour cream, yoghurt, lemon juice, zest and egg. Beat well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and berries. Add dry ingredients to wet gently mixing in by hand in 3-4 increments. Mix only to combine and take care not to over mix. Batter will be lumpy. Spoon into 12 lined muffin cups and sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar. Bake for 8 minutes at 425F, then reduce heat to 350F and bake a further 10-12 minutes. Bake until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Repurposed Sweater Project #2- Felted Kitty for Kitty

2011-09-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

As eluded to on an earlier post......here is the second small project from my sad shrunken sweater.

Our cat 'Ginger' has this cute, yet annoying habit of stealing pairs of socks from the laundry and from unguarded cupboards. Often you could hear her muffled meows as she called for her kittens with one such 'sock kitten' already being carried in her mouth. She would line them up in a row somewhere safe and get ready to feed them. I thought maybe she would prefer her own dedicated kitten to some of my sock pairs.......we shall see......I suppose.

I find Ginger likes her soft toys a little squidgy so I don't stuff them very firmly at all. You could easily increase the size of the pattern to make a nice pillow for yourself as well:) Go here for the PDF pattern and make yourself a litter.

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

2011-09-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, my trip to the farmer's market which had my family crazy for Bannock.......prompted me to buy a huge zucchini. There are lots of things I like to make with zucchini, and I had not made a zucchini chocolate cake in a few years. So I grated up my jumbo zucchini and froze it in 2 cup amounts....ready to make Zucchini Chocolate Cake or a delicious Zucchini Loaf......It is difficult to choose which one I like the best. I might just have to make the Zucchini Loaf again to see if I can decide:) What do you like to make with Zucchini??? A large zucchini such as this one is better suited to baking with rather than grilling or making fritters which is what I would do with smaller, more tender zucchini.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 cup grated zucchini, grated on the small holes
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a bunt ring pan. Combine and sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla and zucchini. Mix in 1/3 dry ingredients, then 1/2 milk alternately ending with the addition of the last of the dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts if desired. Pour batter into pan and bake until cake tester comes out clean....about 50 minutes. Sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar and enjoy.

Repurposed Sweater Project #1- Felted Fish for Kitty

2011-09-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have a little collection of wool sweaters which I gathered through thrift store shopping over the past year or so. I've got a number of small projects in my head that will use up my sweater stash and this was my first easy and quick little project to get it started. Since I had the sewing machine out to work on my fitted sheet for the 3/4 bed....I thought I'd better also tackle this small project as well. It took only 20 minutes to complete. I did not even take the time to make a pattern piece for this.....I just started cutting out the shape of a fish with a folded piece of sweater fabric. The fold is at the tail end.

Then I stitched around the shape, (wrong sides together) leaving a 1 1/2 inch opening to turn it. I chose to make it wrong sides together so that the purl side of the knit would be on the outside when finished. After turning the fishy purl side out........I filled a little scrap of fabric (from my sheet project) with cat nip and stuffed it inside the little fishy.

I then made two french knots with 6 strands of embroidery thread for eyes and secured the thread inside onto the catnip bag. I then closed the opening and secured the thread. All ready for kitty....

Chocolate Banana Muffins

2011-09-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

After we polished off a batch of refrigerator muffins.....I was looking for a new muffin recipe to try. I had the Nigella Lawson cookbook 'Kitchen' out on loan from the library and was interested by her recipe for Chocolate Banana Muffins. I gave it a go and was fairly pleased with the result. It's just a little more interesting than banana bread......maybe......anyway.....you really can't go wrong with chocolate, now can you.

Chocolate Banana Muffins
makes 12
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400F and line a muffin pan with paper liners. Mash bananas and mix in oil, sugar, and eggs. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda into a small bowl. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. Spoon into 12 prepared muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool slightly and move to wire rack to finish cooling.

Adventures in Making 3/4 Fitted Sheets

2011-09-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

That little 3/4 brass bed that we set up in the spare room in our basement has been somewhat 'problemsome'. Having no 3/4 sheet sets for it (which you can purchase from the Sears Catalogue or from other sources online), not enough time to order some, and lacking the interest to spend over $90 on a set.......left me in a bit of a pinch. But, in that pinch I decided to use an extra set of sheets I had for the double bed upstairs in our other spare room. Since the length of the bed is the same, I figured that I would just tuck in all the extra fitted sheet on the back side of the bed so no one would see. This worked fine for the few nights that company used the room. But.......I really would like to have a properly fitted set of sheets for the bed now wouldn't I??? And alas, I am much too cheap to pay the required $90+.......So I decided to retrofit the extra double size set that I had on the bed. Easy right? Just need to open up the corners at the top and bottom of one side and resew them a bit narrower to fit the 48 inch width of the mattress. Unfortunately for me with all the gathering from the elastic in the fitted sheet........it was very difficult to see what was going on. So in the end I decided to cut away the elastic, cut out the corner seams and start with a flat and more manageable piece of fabric. The sheet was much more cooperative in this form.

I knew exactly how I wanted to shape the corners and felt reassured by the thorough instructions at this site that I was on the right track. Well I was a little surprised when I folded the sheet in neat quarters and prepared to trim it to size and cut out my nice square corners....only to find that I could not. The manufacturer had made a similar corner cut, but not at all in the same orientation as I had expected. After a bit of thought, I measured out from both folded edges to locate the intersection of the width and height of the mattress. This point would mark the corners on the top of the fitted sheet. I decided I would still cut out my squares of fabric, but I positioned the corner of my quilting square just outside of the intersection I had marked the corner and tilted the square to more match the angle of the manufacturers cuts.

The angle of placement of the square to be removed only affected the direction that the corner seam would take. So instead of the seam running vertically from the top corner of the mattress to the bottom, it starts at the top corner of the mattress and runs down at an angle. The more you tilt the square, the sharper the angle will be. Mine was only slightly angled towards the foot of the bed.

The formulas for measurement and directions from the link above are very useful, and I will not bother restating them here.

Additionally I would add:

Measure your mattress for length and width very accurately and do not add any ease to the measurement as it will be better for the corner points to be a bit inside the top of the mattress than sliding down the side because the measurement was too big. Mine were a little low but I'm not about to change it now.
Using a flat sheet to start with will eliminate the potential to have to deal with the angle of the corner cut although if you do need to angle it the important thing to note is the location of the where the points of the corners will be on the top surface of the mattress.
Once you have cut out your shape, it is the easiest to serge or zigzag all edges before sewing your corners closed. It will be less bulky, the edges will be protected, and no one will see them as they will be under the mattress.
Your least expensive option will likely be finding a nice double (full) sheet set to work with. Buying separates is usually more expensive.
I used 22 inch lengths of thin elastic for each corner.
Cats are counter productive when it come to making the bed.

I have a wool blanket wrapped around the mattress as a mattress protector since the mattress is original and it kind of creeps me out.

Brass Beds and Bannock

2011-09-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Just in case you didn't know it.....we've had a pretty lackluster summer here. Below seasonal temperatures and lots of rain through the bulk of the summer. The last two weeks of August did provide a few excellent days of summer weather, but for the most part summer was a bust here. Now we are hoping for a lovely fall which can be a gorgeous season here.......and based on the last few days.....it's looking pretty good:)

We are back to school after a very busy few weeks of travel and having house guests. Three house guests in three weeks has to be some kind of record for us! When we moved to Prince George and eventually bought a house......we were told that a spare room was unnecessary as no one ever comes here to visit. For our last visitors we even needed to finish up a bit of work on our other spare room in the basement to accommodate our guests. It was lots of fun filling the room with the odds and ends of furniture we had tucked away. All pieces with sentimental value and good memories attached to them. It's coming along now and perhaps we will feel more inclined to finish up the window trim, plug ins and ceiling, now that it has had it's first use.

The old brass 3/4 bed that DH grew up sleeping on came from his grandmother's house. The brass head and foot boards and exposed box spring are very interesting. Laying on it is rather more like floating as it is quite wiggly. I like it! The pretty triangles quilt and crocheted log cabin throw are from his paternal and maternal grandmothers respectively. Some day I will dig into my mountain of vintage sheets and make a copy of this quilt. I think the muted tones of some of them might duplicate the aged look better than new fabrics. And then on the other side of the room is a little something from my grandmother's farm.....her dresser. All good and interesting things with stories to tell......if only they could talk.

In order to entertain my MIL and SIL, we took them to the farmers market on the Saturday morning and had the most delicious Bannock melt there. Ike was so enjoying his that we decided to make some at home. Home made bannock is very easy and pretty quick to make and this savory version can be pretty addictive. In Canada, the flour version of bannock is believed to have been introduced to the Canadian native population by European fur traders. Now bannock is synonymous with Canadian native culture. It can be baked (if you are a purist) or fried, and I would encourage you to try the fried version only because it is ten times more delicious than the baked variety and perhaps a few times less healthy. A trip to a local pow wow might present the opportunity to try bannock burgers, bannock tacos, bannock with jams or honey. There are many possibilities! All delicious. This recipe has worked well for us.....although there are many out there to try.

Bannock
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp powdered milk
2 Tbsp melted butter
about 1 1/2 cups water

Mix all dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the melted butter and most of the water. Gently mix the flour into the center working in all the flour to a firm dough. Use additional water if necessary. Pat the dough into a flat disc about 2 inches thick. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 20 minutes. Heat 2-3 inches in depth of oil to 330F. I use an electric wok to minimize the amount of oil needed and can only cook one at a time. An electric fry pan also works well but will require more oil to get a good depth of oil. When you are ready, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Take one piece with oiled hands and shape it into a flat circle about 5-6 inches across. It should be fairly thin especially in the center as it will puff up a lot as it fries. Gently place one bannock into the oil and fry gently for 2 minutes per side. Bannock should be a nice golden colour when done. You can serve with cinnamon and sugar, with butter and jam or any way you can think of.
The Bannock melt we made was split in half, filled with a thick slice of jalapeno havarti and a very liberal sprinkling of Garlic Plus seasoning. We kept the dough wrapped in plastic wrap for 3 days while we made a few each day. They are best eaten while still hot.

Slice and Bake Oatmeal Cookies

2011-09-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Some time ago now, I purchased Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies for next to nothing at a thrift shop. I have been wanting to try a few recipes from it for the longest time......but there are no pictures in the book to aid me in making my choice. Finally I decided to go just pick one and opted to go with convenience and try the Oatmeal Icebox recipe since it will be a busy weekend, and I love the concept of the nice uniform size and shape and quite honesty the ease of having a roll of dough in the fridge that I can easily slice off some fresh baked cookies with little effort. Less time cooking....more time visiting. They turned out to be crisp on the outside and a bit chewy on the inside since I only baked them for about 10 minutes just until the cookies were nicely browned. The instructions called for a 12 to 14 minute bake time. Maybe I'll try the last roll of dough at the longer bake time and see if I like the difference. Maybe they will be even better?? I pressed my dough into a wax paper lined loaf pan and once chilled cut the loaf into three long rows. To bake I sliced 1/4 inch slices and placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet and cooled the cookies on the sheet after baking. Before baking the slices were 2 inches by 2 inches.

Oatmeal Icebox Cookies
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 pound butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and ginger and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter, both sugars, and the vanilla and beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Gradually add in the sifted ingredients. Stir in nuts if using. Shape dough into logs or as desired and refrigerate over night or until firm enough to slice cleanly with a sharp knife.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F. Slice dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and lay them with 2 inches between each cookie on foil lined cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes until browned and remove from oven to cool. Once cool store in tightly sealed container.

Saskatoon Rhubarb Pie

2011-08-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Another pie......now that is very strange for me. I probably only make a few pies each year........I'm just not a big fan of pies I guess. And when it comes to berry pies, for which I have painstakingly picked and cleaned all the berries myself......I am a bit reluctant to experiment with all my hard work. This recipe appealed to me because it has some of the Saskatoons replaced by a bit of rhubarb.....which is very easy picking. The thought behind this inclusion is that Sakatoons are often a bit dry while rhubarb adds quite a bit of moisture to the filling. I was really quite happy with the end result which was indeed moist and still allowed the Saskatoons to be the predominant flavour. I find Saskatoon Pie to be a bit on the sweet side of things too so the rhubarb added a little punch of tartness which I love. The filling held together beautifully as you can see.....although this time I baked the pie at night and waited until morning to take the first slice. Pie for breakfast. Personally I think eating baking for breakfast is just gross, but I REALLY wanted to try this pie before I headed out for a little business trip.

While I cannot endorse eating sweets like this for breakfast.......it was a pretty darned good pie. If you find yourself with an over abundance of Saskatoons and Rhubarb......You might like to try this:)
Saskatoon Rhubarb Pie
for a 9 inch pie
your favourite double crust pie shell
1 1/2 cups rhubarb
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups Saskatoons
Preheat oven to 400F
Mix rhubarb with first amount of sugar and microwave to warm enough to allow the juices to release from the rhubarb. Drain and collect this rhubarb juice and add enough cold water to it to make 1 1/2 cups of liquid.
Put the 1 1/2 cups of liquid into a pot and dissolve the cornstarch into it. Add in the lemon juice, remaining sugar, and rhubarb (that you had drained the liquid from) and stir over medium heat unitl bubbling. Once it begins to bubble add half of the saskatoon berries and gently bubble for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining saskatoons. Set aside while you roll your pastry.
Roll pastry and line a 9 inch pie plate with bottom crust. Pierce pie shell all over with a fork. Roll top pie crust and set aside. Pour filling into bottom shell and top with prepared top pastry. Seal and brush top with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes at 400F and reduce heat to 350F and bake a further 20-30 minutes until crust is golden and filling is bubbling. Make sure to wait until the pie is cool before cutting into it!

Huckleberry Pie

2011-08-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

If you had been at my house last week....you might have had a nice piece of Huckleberry Pie. I did not grow up picking huckleberries, and in fact until I met my DH, I was blissfully unaware of their existence. See a picture of the little devils at the bottom of this post. After living in Northern British Columbia for 13 years I accidentally discovered the seething underbelly world of Huckleberry picking. Berry pickers are a curious lot who covet their knowledge of the mother load location and keep it a closely guarded secret right up to their death bed. So I'm not kidding about the accidentally part. After three years of a bit of trial and error......I think I have the time and places nailed down. Next year I am totally ready for you!

If you find yourself in need of a Huckleberry Pie......This recipe turned out beautifully. It's nice to settle down after an afternoon of braving black bears and large mosquitoes ...................to a nice pie of Huckleberry Pie!
Huckleberry Pie

one double crust pie shell pastry for 9 inch pie
4 1/2 cups huckleberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup quick cooking tapioca
2 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 T butter
2 T cream
2 tsp sugar
Preheat oven to 425F.
Line 9 inch pie plate with pie dough. Combine and mix berries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, salt, & cinnamon. Dump into pie shell, dot with butter and top with top pastry. Crimp edges of pie dough, slit top and brush with cream and sprinkle with 2 tsp of sugar. Bake in 425 F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake a further 20 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbling. (Protect edges of pie crust with foil if they are browning too quickly) It is most important to let the pie cool completely before slicing or the filling will run! It's true.....I tested the theory and I won't be doing that again:)

Black Bottom Cupcakes- with Raspberries

2011-08-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

With all the raspberries in season now I've been looking for something to do with them. I picked not quite enough for jam or syrup....maybe just a cup or so from the canes in my back yard. I had intended to make a batch of those delicious Chocolate Cheese Cake Cupcakes......AKA Black Bottom Cupcakes, and decided to throw in some fresh raspberries as well. They turned out fabulously I must say, and I will be making them again before the season is over. I love this cupcake recipe and make it at least 10 times each year, because it is very easy, very forgiving, very fast, and very addictive......even without the added raspberries. But if you have some extra raspberries sitting around......try this one......If this flavour combination sounds like something you'd like......I can almost guarantee you will be the next addict.

Black Bottom Cupcakes with Raspberries

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
raspberries (about 4 per cupcake) (set aside)

Dump all of the above (except the berries) into a large bowl and whisk together, set aside while making topping. Don't worry about getting every little lump out.

Topping:
1 ( 8 oz pkg) of cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
pinch of salt

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar, add egg and salt and combine till smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 18 muffin tins with paper liners. Divide chocolate batter equally into each of the 18 muffin cups. About a rounded tbsp for each. Divided any extra batter evenly between the cups. Drop 4 fresh raspberries on top of the chocolate batter. Top with a rounded tsp of cream cheese topping. Again, divide any remaining cheesecake batter between all cups. Bake for about 18 minutes or until the cream cheese topping begins to brown in a few spots.
Note: You can also make these in lined mini muffin tins and they are equally delicious and even more adorable. If adding raspberries, one per mini muffin would be appropriate.

Twisted Delight- Sweet Chilli Flavour

2011-08-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

While on vacation this summer......we made several stops at Cobs Bread in Victoria. We don't have any in town at home, so I do take the opportunity to shop there when the opportunity presents itself. Cobs is the North American branch of the Australian and New Zealand bake shop chain called Bakers Delight. They make fresh artisan breads in both sweet and savoury flavours. Since my aunt and uncle who we were staying with like the store as well, we took the opportunity to pick up a few different flavours of their 'Twisted Delight' loaves to have along with supper. One of the flavours was Sweet Chilli, and we were so liking the loaf that I decided to try one at home. And this is what we did.......

Sweet Chilli Twisted Delight

1 1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup lard or shortening, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
a few onion greens or chives

Add first 7 ingredients into bread machine pan in the order listed. Choose dough cycle, and let it do it's thing. Remove dough, punch down and divide dough in half. Roll each half out to a 14"X10" rectangle with a long edge towards you. The filling amounts are for one half of the dough recipe. You can put the other half of the dough in the fridge until the next day, or make two loaves.
On the rectangle, spread about 2 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce ( or more to your taste) The more you use, the hotter the loaf will be. I used about 3 tbsp and you could taste the heat a little more than the loaf from the store so I am guessing about 2 tbsp is what they might be using. Sprinkle on the cheese and onion greens and roll up, rolling away from yourself as if to make a cinnamon roll. Pinch the seam closed and move the whole roll onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Now the shaping of the loaf is what I liked about the twisted delight and this is what I think they have done. I used scissors, or you could use a knife, to cut down across the cylinder at 2-3 inch intervals, making sure not to cut all the way through the dough. Leave it attached together by the last layer of dough resting against the pan. Now, my rolled cylinder was quite long with about 12 slices, so I cut it in half and made two smaller (6 slice) loaves. Then turn the cookie sheet so that the cylinder of sliced dough has one end of the dough pointing towards you and the other away. Then roll the top slice to the left and the next to the right, back and forth, all the way to the bottom of the cylinder. Now take each slice and try to lay them a little more like cut side down. They don't need to be laying with the cut side flat....just leaning back is fine. Set aside in a warm spot to rise for 40 minutes. Sprinkle with a bit more shredded cheddar. Bake for about 20 minutes on 350F until golden. Remove from oven and brush loaf with a little melted butter. We really liked these a lot. We made the second batch today, and they are all gone now! I would recommend baking up the whole batch of dough if you are making this to share with company. With just DH and myself at home we managed to snack through the first (half batch) one night and the second (half batch) the following afternoon. Enjoy!

The Calm Before the Crazy

2011-08-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's the weekend!! Finally....with so many things running through my head for what I would like to do on the weekends......it's hard for me to sort it all out. So many things that need to be done, should be done, and I'd really just like to do. Often the last option wins out for me and thus the explanation of why my house continually looks as though it's been ransacked. Maybe this weekend will be different.....and I'll choose to do the important things like clean up, and organize?? Right now, I have a dining room table disassembled on my living room floor, loads of laundry to do, a kitchen counter that is so covered in miscellaneous stuff that you cannot see the counter top....(just as well....it needs a scrubbing too) not to mention a mountain of laundry to wash, fold and put away. Also need to pick up some primer and paint and do a little painting before the cabinet makers come back to finish up a little job in my laundry room.......which I must say I am enjoying immensely.........although the down side is that it makes me feel like redoing my whole house. Hmmmmm I think I may need to make a list....I find this usually makes me feel a little more in control.

Before the craziness begins.....I'm having a calming morning moment with my little cuppa chocolate Ovaltine, a coddled egg, toast and some fresh fruit. That was nice. Let the craziness begin.....

Perhaps the Easiest Socks Ever

2011-07-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

I finally finished up the socks I started while on holiday. I've been wearing them around..... trying to decide what I think of them. I think I will knit another pair...the pattern was very, very easy....the perfect nearly mindless knitting for traveling. Next time though, I will use a smaller needle as these feel a little looser than I'd like. Knit with Berroco Vintage in Colour Way 5192 'Chana Dal' with 4.5mm dpns, and pattern from Ann Budd from the2009 Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts Magazine.

If you only buy one issue of Interweave Knits during the course of a year....the Holiday Gifts Issue is The One To Buy! The recommended yarn for the project was Louet Gems Worsted which I was not interested in as it had no nylon content. Who wants a pair of hand knit socks that aren't going to last. And if you are gifting them....chance are not good that the receiver will be interested in darning them if they get a hole in them. One skein of Berroco Vintage made with only inches of yarn left to spare.

This is really a great pattern for the first time sock knitter. It knits up quickly, is a fairly easy pattern and they have a bit more interest than a very basic plain knit sock.

A Frasier- Too much cake for Two

2011-07-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

This month, the baker's challenge took me longer than I'd anticipated.....it's always such a chore to begin....with so much going on around the house. We finally...here it is.......It's a good one I think!

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

I chose to keep it simple and stick with the classic vanilla cake and strawberry fruit filling. They are in season here and easy to come by.....and cheap right now.....let's not forget cheap. Sadly for me I could not find marzipan in any of the grocery stores here......seems to be a seasonal item...as I have seen it before......so I found a recipe off the internet and gave it a go. I decorated minimally to cover my less than perfect cake.....Did the chocolate squiggles avert your attention from the less than perfect details??

With DH away and 3 of our nearest neighbours all gone on holiday.........the remainder found a new home with some friends of Ike.

Basic Chiffon Cake:

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (270 ml) (5½ oz/155 gm) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (4 gm) baking powder
3/4 cups (180 ml) (6 oz /170 gm) sugar
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (1½ gm) salt, preferably kosher
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) vegetable oil
3 large egg yolks
⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (3.17 fl oz/95 ml) water
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon (3¾ ml) (3 gm) lemon zest, grated
5 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1 gm) cream of tartar
Directions:

Preheat the oven to moderate 325°F (160°C/gas mark 3).
Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons (45 ml.) of sugar, and all of the salt. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk thoroughly.
Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
Put the egg whites into a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment on a medium speed, until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat on a medium speed until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
Using a grease free rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Removed the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring form sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Refrigerate for up to four days.

Pastry Cream Filling:

Gluten Free! Vegans see the links at the end!
Ingredients:
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) whole milk
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon (1/2 ml) (¼ gm) salt, preferably kosher
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (10 gm)cornstarch
1/4 cup (60 ml) (2 oz/55 gm) sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (1 oz/30 gm) unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon (3¾ ml) (4 gm) gelatin
1/2 tablespoon (7½ ml) water
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) heavy cream
Directions:

Pour the milk, vanilla, and salt into a heavy sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and scald, bringing it to a near boiling point. Stir occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a stand mixer add the cornstarch and sugar. Whisk to combine
Add the eggs to the sugar and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
When the milk is ready, gently and slowly while the stand mixer is whisking, pour the heated milk down the side of the bowl into the egg mixture.
Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and continue to cook over a medium heat until the custard is thick, just about to boil and coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and pass through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for ten minutes stirring occasionally.
Cut the butter into four pieces and whisk into the pastry cream a piece at a time until smooth.
Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for up to five days.
In a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand for a few minutes to soften.
Put two inches (55 mm) of water into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
Measure 1/4 cup (2 oz/60 ml) of the chilled pastry cream into a small stainless steel bowl that will sit across the sauce pan with the simmering water, without touching the water.
Heat the cream until it is 120 F (48.8 C). Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the water bath, and whisk the remaining cold pastry cream in to incorporate in two batches.
In a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Immediately fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula.

Simple Syrup:

gluten free and vegan!
You may choose to flavor the syrup. One way is to use flavored sugar (for example: apple cider sugar, orange sugar, or vanilla sugar) or to stir in 1-2 teaspoons of flavored extract. You may also infuse with herbs or spices, if desired or add four tablespoons (60 ml) of fruit juice or liqueur while the syrup is cooling.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup (2⅔ fl oz/80 ml) (2⅔ oz/75 gm) of sugar, flavored or white
1/3 cup (2⅔ fl oz/80 ml) of water
Directions:

Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
Remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly.
Transfer syrup to a lidded container or jar that can be stored in the refrigerator. Simple syrup can be stored for up to one month.

Fraisier Assembly:

Components:
1 baked 8 inch (20 cm) chiffon cake
1 recipe pastry cream filling
⅓ cup (80 ml) simple syrup or flavored syrup
2 lbs (900 g) strawberries
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
½ cup (120 ml) (5 oz/140 gm) almond paste
Directions:

Line the sides of a 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with plastic wrap. Do not line the bottom of the pan.
Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers.
Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with the simple syrup. When the cake has absorbed enough syrup to resemble a squishy sponge, you have enough.
Hull and slice in half enough strawberries to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the cut side of the strawberry against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring.
Pipe cream in-between strawberries and a thin layer across the top of the cake.
Hull and quarter your remaining strawberries and place them in the middle of the cake. Cover the strawberries and entirely with the all but 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of the pastry cream.
Place the second cake layer on top and moisten with the simple syrup.
Lightly dust a work surface with confectioners' sugar and roll out the almond paste to a 10-inch (25 cm) round 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) thick. Spread the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of pastry cream on the top of the cake and cover with the round of almond paste.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the plastic wrap.
Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

That's what it's all about!....Hokey Pokey Biscuits

2011-07-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

This biscuit recipe from the Edmonds Cookery Book has been on my mind for sometime now and I finally gave it a go. The method of melting the butter rather than creaming softened butter with sugar is a little unusual for me. I did have to let the mixture cool down quite a bit before adding my chocolate chips so they would not instantly melt into the dough. I was quite happy with the end result and sent them off to daycare with Ike to share with his friends there. The tin returned empty.......so they are kid approved. The only modification to the original recipe was in allowing the dough to cool completely, and the addition of the chocolate chips of course. The traditional recipe contains no chocolate chips. I will most definitely be making them again.......and perhaps again so I can try them without the chocolate chips. Try them.....you just might like them too!

Chocolate Chip Hokey Pokey Biscuits
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp golden syrup (cane syrup rather than corn syrup if you can find it)
1 Tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Combine butter, sugar, syrup and milk in a saucepan. Heat until butter is melted and mixture is nearly boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm. Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to the cooled mixture. Stir well. Cool dough completely before adding in chocolate chips if adding them. Roll tablespoonsful of dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the balls of dough slightly with a floured fork. Bake 350F until golden, 8-10 minutes.

Beach Knitting, Fires and Slugs

2011-07-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

I always like to have a small project to take along to work on while we travel. This annoys DH to no end. He likes me to watch the scenery as he drives. Quite honestly he is in for entirely less bitching if I am not quite so focused on his driving prowess. Between you and me.....his eye tends to wander....and so does the car........and I have seen a lot of trees in my day....lots!

I actually finished off another pair of fetching fingerless gloves in a pretty terracotta using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino on the trip, but gave them away before I had a chance to take a photo of them. The yarn was just perfect for them, so I may order some more of it:) Next I started on a worsted weight sock pattern. I had some time to myself....so after walking the beach and watching the sea lions play a bit.....I started on the socks. They promised to be quick and easy.......and they have been so far.....hopefully I don't wait three years to complete them.

Ike and Matt had their own fun on the beach. They lit their own fire for us to have supper around, and decided to try some roasted seaweed. Apparently it is salty, but tasty. I am taking their word on this one.

We took some nice hikes and saw lots of neat creatures.........and some of the biggest slugs ever!

A Little Stitching

2011-07-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

We are back.....just in case you noticed....we were gone! We had a 2 week road trip down to and around Vancouver Island.......and we just pulled the camper van back into the driveway last night. We saw and did many things and had a great time (aside from my cold....but I'm such a trooper....I forged onward regardless)....but a post on all of that is yet to come as we encountered a slight issue with photos requiring a bit of salvaging as many were inadvertently deleted.....oops. (I wasn't by me, this time.....thank goodness) But more on that later.

One of the things I noticed about Vancouver Island is the alarming number of thrift shops and also antique shops if you are feeling a little more spendy. I did manage to make one purchase in the thrift shops, and one in an antique store as well. Being limited on space in the camper van....I limited myself to fewer purchases than I might have otherwise made. The towel pictured above was a great thrift store find I made locally some time ago and found the perfect use for in an embroidered tea towel swap before leaving on my trip. In retrospect, I might have chosen a brighter pink for the pink flowers........oh well too late now...........and the lady who received it is more than capable for fixing that if it is bothersome. Now, I have three more of these towels in the cupboard waiting for a bit of embellishment.........I wonder what I should try next?

Have You Tried Rhubarb Lemonade??

2011-07-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

While hunting for great rhubarb recipes, I found a few references to Rhubarb Lemonade. I chose to make a 1/2 batch of a recipe from All Recipes.com. Your really can taste the rhubarb........and I have really liked it. The recipe makes a syrup which you mix off with water in a ratio of 1 part syrup and 3 parts water. If you like the tart taste of rhubarb, you might really like this too! It's pretty, pink, tart, and sweet.........certainly worth a try if you have rhubarb needing to be used up. You could even bottle the syrup in a canner for longer storage. We shall see how the rhubarb crop looks in a few weeks......I may need to make some for a winter time treat.

Rhubarb Lemonade
8 cups chopped rhubarb
3 cups sugar
3 Tbsp grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
water

Put rhubarb, sugar and lemon peel into a large pot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until all of the sugar has dissolved. Strain to collect the juice, pressing the pulp to get as much syrup out of it as you can. You can discard the pulp or use it like a preserve on toast if you like. Add the lemon juice to the syrup and store in the fridge until needed. Keeps two weeks in the fridge. To serve, mix 1 part syrup with about 3 parts water or to taste. It would also be nice mixed off with club soda instead of water.

Vanilla Ice Cream and a Little Hokey Pokey

2011-06-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

With only a few days to go before the start of our holiday, there sat a full liter of whipping cream in my fridge. I had promised to make Ike some ice cream over the weekend and things just got a little too hectic. So rather than have to throw it out, I stayed up one night making the custard base. Deciding on a flavour of ice cream to make is always very difficult for me. Do you try something new and take a chance that you won't like it?? Or do you go with what you know?? Having an over abundance of vanilla beans in my cupboard prompted me to make vanilla. It sort of goes with everything.....and I really wanted to try some Hokey Pokey ice cream. I grew up eating Hokey Pokey by another name. We called it Sponge Toffee and I've also heard it called Sea Foam. What ever you call it......it is yummy and it is a candy that I make every now and again......and especially around Christmas when I need something quick to bring along as an unexpected gift. It is a candy that not a lot of people make any more......at least not in North America......but it's dead easy, so if you want to give it a try you can find the recipe right here. I've always read that the crumbs could be saved to put on ice cream....but I've never tried it. I figured it was about time I did. Because.......Did you know that it ranks as New Zealand's second most popular flavour of ice cream??? How is that I've never tried it then??? Well now I have.....and the verdict.......it's pretty yummy! I've you'd like to try it too........and they don't sell that flavour in your part of the world......the you might just have to make it yourself. Make your favourite vanilla ice cream and stir in Hokey Pokey crumbs at the end of the ice cream making process....before you stick it in the freezer to firm up.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Hokey Pokey (makes 2 quarts or 2 liters)

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 cups half and half cream
1 vanilla bean
1 cup crushed hokey pokey (see recipe here)

Put first 6 ingredients into a heavy bottomed pot and heat on medium heat whisking constantly until mixture begins to coat the back of a spoon. Remove vanilla bean, slit it open, and scrape out seeds to add back to the custard. Put custard in fridge to chill completely. Once chilled add to your ice cream maker and follow its directions. Add 1 cup crushed hokey pokey to ice cream (it will be the consistency of soft ice cream at this point) and stir in before setting churned ice cream into the freezer to firm up.

As Canadian as Puffed Wheat Squares

2011-06-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

Summer holidays are almost here. There has been lots of focus on cleaning and tidying up before we start our summer vacation. Now that we have the Volkswagen Westfalia, it has become a bit of a tradition to take a 2 week driving holiday, and this year we will be no different. While our original intent would have taken us in a different direction, the two week vacation time steered us to an alternate path. We will be exploring Vancouver Island while meeting up, here and there, with friends and relatives. As usual.....I have lots to do and very little time to do it.....

With not a lot of time to waste, it seemed like a good choice to make some puffed wheat squares to have for a lunch box snack this week. I had not realized, but chocolate puffed wheat squares, it seems, while common in Canada are relatively unknown in other parts of the world. They are similar to rice crispy squares in their preparation, but the gooey candy that holds them all together is chocolate flavoured, and the cereal is puffed wheat rather than crisp rice. To me, they are so much obviously better than rice crispy squares.......to DH......he prefers rice crispy squares. His choice still perplexes me, but to each his own. This is a lunch box snack that is quick and easy and quite common place. You can often find them individually wrapped for sale in gas station convenience stores around here. Here they are common....but you never know....they might seem a little different to you.....and they are very easy too:)

Puffed Wheat Squares
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
7 cups puffed wheat cereal
Heat first 5 ingredients over medium heat unit bubbling. Let bubble 2 minutes and remove from heat. Immediately stir in vanilla, then cereal. Stir well until all cereal is coated. Press into a buttered 9 inch square baking pan with buttered fingers and set aside to cool. Once cool slice into serving sized pieces.
Note: Make sure cook at a boil for 2 minutes. If you simply melt all together and do not boil for 2 minutes......the candy will not set up. If this happens, keeping the pan in the fridge will help, but you'll need to leave them in there. Conversely, overcooking the candy can make it too hard.

Rhubarb Recipe #2- Rhubarb Crunch Cake

2011-06-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

Rhubarb continues to be prolific, so I have continued on with another rhubarb recipe to try. My mom acquired this recipe several years ago........and it remains one of her favourites. This time I used up some frozen rhubarb since I didn't think it would hurt the recipe to use it. It makes a nice, not too sweet, moist little snack cake. I used a full 4 cups of rhubarb and did not find any juice left behind after letting the rhubarb stand with the jello powder on it. Probably because the rhubarb did not get to completely defrost. No matter though, as it turned out to be perfectly yummy:)

Rhubarb Crunch Cake
3 cups rhubarb, small dice
1 small pack raspberry jello
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream or (half sour cream/half kefir)
(I used 3/4 cup thickened kefir as I was nearly out of sour cream and it turned out great)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts fine chop
1 tablespoon butter (blend together with spoon for crumb mixture)

Cut rhubarb into small dice, pour jello pouch over fruit, stir to combine, set aside.

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream together. Combine remaining dry ingredients and blend with butter mixture. Batter must have spreading consistency. If needed add a little more sour cream or kefir so it will spread easily with spatula. (this is not a poury thin batter)

Spread half batter in a pam sprayed 9 x 13 bake pan. Spoon out the rhubarb that has been set aside, spooning three teaspoons of juice over the rhubarb and leaving the rest of the juice behind. Drop remaining batter randomly using a tablespoon and carefully draw batter together with spatula.

Sprinkle topping over batter.
Bake 375 degrees 45 - 50 minutes till inserted toothpick remains dry.

What to do with all that Rhubarb??

2011-06-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

I still have rhubarb frozen from last year........And now there is more coming. The cheapness in me simply cannot leave it in the garden. It must be picked......It must be used. In order to rotate my rhubarb inventory, I've been looking for rhubarb recipes to try. So far.....I've made two and I have 3 more that I would like to try. So here is the result of recipe number 1. For this recipe I've used fresh rhubarb as that is what it called for. The filling had a mild taste of sour cream to it and the 'sour cream custard' filling toned down the tart rhubarb. It made a nice change of pace, and is much milder than a regular rhubarb pie.

Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
1 9 inch unbaked pie shell

Topping
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
Preheat oven to 375F. Pour 4 cups chopped rhubarb into unbaked 9 inch pie shell. In a large bowl, beat sugar, sour cream, eggs, and flour until smooth. Stir in vanilla and salt. Pour this mixture over the rhubarb in the pie shell making sure to coat the rhubarb. Bake for 30 minutes.
While baking, prepare the topping by cutting the butter with the remaining topping ingredients until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Set aside.
Remove pie from oven, reduce heat to 350F. Sprinkle topping all over pie and return to oven to bake until filling is set...about 30 minutes. Crust and topping should be golden brown.

Momma Makes.....Wontons

2011-06-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a house with very little prepackaged food. I suppose, at the time, there were not the options available that there are today. Kraft Dinner (packaged macaroni and cheese) was a treat now and again for us kids, and a grilled cheese sandwich was made with real cheddar........not with processed cheese slices. My mom has always liked to cook and to experiment with recipes from friends who also enjoy cooking. Over the years mom has received and traded many wonderful recipes, many of which have become regulars in her cooking repertoire. This one is at the ready in her deep freeze for whenever she wants them. They are quick and fun to make and very delicious.

Oriental Wontons

1 package wonton pasta - approx 75 wrappers (defrosted) or fresh package if avail.
Egg wash - lightly whisk one egg with a teaspoon of water

1 cup lean raw ground pork
8 whole water chestnuts chopped fine (canned in fine)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 cloves garlic minced
4 dashes sesame oil.

Combine meat with chestnuts, garlic and spices and set aside for immediate use or store in freezer in zip lock ( date it as a make a head ) up to two weeks

Lay a sheet of wax paper or a linen cloth over a tea tray. Place one wonton wrapper on work surface, straight side facing you. Brush perimeter of wrapper with egg wash. Place 1/2 teaspoon filling in centre. Fold straight edge away from you to opposite side. Press firmly with both hands all around the filled centre to remove air pockets and seal. Leaving the wonton on the work surface in the same position, brush a dab of eggwash on the underside of the left folded corner and bring both corners together, toward you, to form the traditional nurses cap. (see photo) Fill the tray in a single layer and transfer to freezer over night. When frozen next day, store wontons in a large zip lock bag to remain in freezer for use as needed. Stores well (two months) in freezer.
To cook them, add frozen wontons to gently boiling broth with stirring so they don't fall to the bottom and stick to the pot. Allow broth to return to a boil. Once the wontons float to the top, allow to gently boil for one minute....then they are done.

Thanks for sharing mom:)

Small Projects and Spice Cake

2011-06-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping busy with yard work, work work, house work.....there just seems to be so much darned work to do! Maybe that's why I like small projects to work on.......I've caught up on all of my swaps and got them in the post just in time (I think) before Canada Post began rotating strikes. I think I will have a little break in swapping until the postal situation is sorted out. Above is the little project I last sent out. Go here for instructions to make your own. It's very simple, quick, and I think pretty cute too.

Right now, this is what's growing in my garden, and I'm looking for a good recipe to use it up in. Let me know if you have a favourite rhubarb recipe that you think I should try. In the mean time, I did try a nice recipe from a Hutterite Cook Book for Spice Cake which I was pretty happy with. I think it would do very well with the addition of walnuts......but was perfectly delicious without them as well. It was nicely spiced and got two thumbs up from my son Ike as well!

Sour Cream Spice Cake
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or shortening
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp rum flavouring
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup raisins
Beat together the sugar, shortening, egg and sour cream. Add in vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and add gradually to creamed mixture. Beat well. Toss raisins with a little flour to coat them and fold them into the batter. Spread batter (which is fairly thick) into a 9 inch square cake pan. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 35-45 minutes until cake tester comes out clean when inserted in center of cake. Remove cake from oven to cooling rack and frost once cool with desired icing. I used 1/2 of the recipe below to frost this cake, but a cream cheese icing might also be nice.......I just felt like something a little sweeter this time.

Rum Butter Cream Icing
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
4 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cream
2 tsp rum flavouring
Cream shortening and butter until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and blend on low speed. Beat on high speed until fluffy.

Kids + Dirt = Fun

2011-05-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, this weekend was very busy indeed! A lot of time was spent out doors, which is nice since the weather was beautiful. Saturday morning was spent at the school on a little project that has been brewing for a few years now. Now....it is finally done.

As we left our yard, pushing our wheel barrow filled with tools, we could hear the banging from the dump truck as it left a load of soil on the school field. We were right on time!

People were sorted into groups....some constructed the planting beds while others measured and cleared sod. And the kids wanted to help too, which was nice.

It all came together much quicker than we had thought it might, and the weather cooperated perfectly!

We even had extra soil..... You can never have too much dirt! Soon the classes will be out planting their little crops. The kids that showed up that morning to help got to plant up some flowers...............................

and a rhubarb plant too. We finished up just in time ..........we could hear thunder in the distance as we pushed our wheel barrow home. Hope your weekend was enjoyable:)

Spring in the Yard

2011-05-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Lot's of things are happening outside now. We are seeing more neighbours out and doing yard work. This past weekend (Victoria Day weekend) is the typical weekend for yard work and for planting annuals for this region. I braved the crowds in the garden center and purchased most of what I needed to fill the flower bed along the front of the house. I also got myself a little treat. I purchased a 'Juliet' sour cherry shrub for my yard. Now comes the debate over where to plant it. I have little doubt that this decision will cause some controversy as DH has a simple plan of having nothing in his way when he mows the lawn. We shall soon see who gets their way I suppose. This sour cherry is compact, hardy to Zone 2 and is a very prolific producer, producing dark red cherries suitable to eat fresh or to process.

I managed to spend a few hours putzing around the back yard as well, cleaning out dead foliage from last year's blooms and removing the dead canes from the raspberries. I don't know why I always wait until the spring to do this....oh yes....because I am a procrastinator! I was very excited to see if the onions that my friend's parents gave me last summer had survived the winter......And yeah!!! They had!

They are an intriguing little plant called an Egyptian Walking onion because of the way they spread. Interesting and useful little plants:) I have already been in and used quite a few of the greens already. I am really liking this little plant.

A First Try at Gumbo

2011-05-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have honestly never even thought of making gumbo. But as it happens.....Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

As I read through the instructions....I mean the recipe..... I was intrigued by the process. I didn't want to have to go and buy a whole bunch of ingredients so I tried to work for the most part with what I had on hand. I know I have seen andouille sausage in town here....but I did not feel like going 30 minutes clear across town to 'maybe' find it......So I substituted for a farmers smoked sausage. I had chicken breast and shrimp in the freezer and my neighbourhood grocery store had frozen okra so my plan was taking shape. I used an Emeril recipe off the internet and scaled it down a little bit as I was not sure how this was going to be received. In the end I think it was pretty good! Here is what I did.

Smoked Sausage, Chicken Breast and Shrimp Gumbo
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup onion diced
2/3 cup celery diced
2/3 cup bell peppers diced
2 tsp garlic minced
1 1/2 L (quarts) of chicken broth
500g smoked sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick, browned and drained
1 1/2 cups chopped okra fresh or frozen
2 bay leaves
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
dash hot sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
500g peeled raw shrimp
300g chicken breast, sliced
1 tsp Emeril Essence seasoning
1/4 cup onion greens
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp thyme
You will want to dice all your vegetables, brown the sausage, peel the shrimp, and slice the chicken before you start. I cut the chicken breast in pieces the size of your thumb so they would cook in roughly the same time as the shrimp. Season the peeled shrimp and sliced chicken breast with the 1 tsp of Emeril Essence and set aside in the fridge until you need it.
Start making a roux with the flour and oil. Do this in a large heavy bottom pan. Stir the flour and oil constantly over medium heat with a whisk to make sure the flour does not burn. You must continue to stir the whole time you are making the roux...this might take a while. You want to slowly develop the colour of the roux until it is a medium brown colour. Like a dark peanut butter colour. This took me about 45 minutes.
Once the roux is the right colour, add the diced vegetables and continue to stir scraping the bottom of the pot so the roux does not burn. Cook this way for another 5-10 minutes. The roux will darken a bit. Add minced garlic and stir another minute. Slowly add the chicken broth while stirring with a whisk to ensure not to leave any lumps behind. Add browned sausages, okra, bay leaves, worcester sauce, hot sauce salt and pepper and cayenne pepper. Let simmer for 50 minutes.
Add chicken then 2 minutes later add the shrimp. Cook about 5 minutes or until the chicken pieces and shrimp are opaque when sliced through. Season with parsley, thyme and onion greens. Serve over steamed rice.

Emeril Essence Spice Mix
2 1/2 parts paprika
2 parts salt
2 parts garlic powder
1 part black pepper
1 part onion powder
1 part cayenne
1 part oregano
1 part thyme
Mix all and store remainder in a sealed container.

Lemon Crazy

2011-05-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

We've had good prices here on lemons lately......and I love me some lemons. A while back I had a delicious lemon loaf that I could have sat down and eaten all by myself. After buying too many lemons....I decided to make some lemon loaf myself. It is really the lemon syrup or glaze that makes this loaf yummy. Very fitting for our fine spring weather.....with a cup of tea, coffee or what ever. The flavour is bright and lemony and the texture is coarse but moist.......I really like that you can make this with seemingly next to no special ingredients. If you have a lemon....you very likely will have everything else. You totally have to try this one....yes I mean you! I dare you to make just one. I'm just about to make my fifth one to bring over to my neighbour......her father is doing some volunteer work for our school while up for a visit.......and he's just as cute as a button too! And number six will be for my other neighbour's birthday........ It's like a lemon loaf factory here!

Lemon Loaf
1/2 cup butter or margarine (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (large)
1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
the zest of one lemon
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add one egg and beat in. Add second egg and beat in. Mix in the milk. Set aside. Into a second bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt. Grate in the zest of the lemon into the dry ingredients. Pour the dry ingredients over the top of the wet ingredients and mix just enough to moisten....do not beat this mixture. Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan (or line the bottom and long sides with baking paper to make it easier to remove) and bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
While loaf is baking.....make the glaze by heating and stirring the juice of one lemon and 1/4 cup sugar over medium heat just until the sugar is all dissolved.
The Glaze
the juice of one lemon
1/4 cup sugar

When the loaf is finished baking, poke holes all over the top of the loaf with a toothpick and slowly spoon the glaze over the top allowing it to seep through the loaf. After letting set for 10 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and set it on a cake rack to finish cooling.

Quick Bar Cookies with Chocolate Chips

2011-05-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

Spring is slow to come here.....but we knew it would be that way, with the large amount of snow fall accumulated in the winter. Signs of spring are coming though and maybe it is good that the snow has not all left, piling on a new type of yard work for me. It has been very busy here with work and life and I have been trying to sort out a crochet pattern which seemed so easy at the start, but which has lead to quite a few attempts being ripped and restarted many times already. I am not quite ready to give up though....since I feel pretty close to figuring it out.

After making such a frustrating job of all this crochet 'busy work'.....I nearly ran myself out of time to make a lunch box snack for Ike this week. So I decided to make something really quick. I have not made these in many years. They are quick and easy and chewy if you don't over bake them.

Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
Melt butter and set aside to cool. In large mixing bowl, beat slightly cooled melted butter with sugars, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix flour, soda and salt together, then fold the dry mixture into the wet without over mixing. Fold in chocolate chips. Lightly press into a greased 9 X 13 inch pan and bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes until slightly golden. Top should be slightly risen and sides should just be beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. When cool slice into serving sized squares.

Easter Bunnies, Horses and Flowers

2011-05-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend took us on a visit to see friends and relatives in Alberta. Time has been a little short here, so I am just getting around to this now. We are back home and pretty deep into school work, work work, and very soon to have yard work added to the list.

Ike had such fun in Oyen that I think we might need to get him a job there:) He loves to visit Auntie Lee and Uncle Bill's Green Houses and this trip got a special treat when he got to ride Uncle Bill's horse too.

He was pretty pleased with himself. The drive was pretty through the mountains and prairies and there was lost of wildlife to be seen. We saw trumpeter swans, cranes, mallards, antelope, deer, gophers......and bunnies (of the chocolate variety) as well. Hope your Easter Weekend was fun too!

Lemon Barley

2011-04-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've noticed friends ordering a glass of water with a splash of Lime cordial rather than the usual slice of lime. I had to try this for myself and discovered that it is really quite good. It reminded me of a drink concentrate that my friends in Tauranga gave me over Christmas. This all got me to thinking.....and all that thinking......an abundance of lemons in my fruit bowl.......and a six hour lack of internet service this morning lead to this.........Lemon Barley Water.

Little did I know....Barley Water is the official drink of Wimbledon. While it is usually fruit flavoured......lemon appears to be very common. Now, although I am really happy with the way this turned out....... I am very curious to revisit this experiment with limes.

Lemon Barley Cordial

4-5 lemons (enough to make 1 cup of juice)
1/2 cup pot or pearl barley
1 1/3 cup sugar

Soften lemons by microwaving each one for 15 seconds. Take and set aside the zest of 2 lemons. Juice all lemons and set aside the juice which should be about 1 cup of liquid. You may save the zest of the remaining two lemons for another use....it freezes well.
Put barley in a small sauce pan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and then strain and discard the water. Return the barley to the pot and add 1 1/2 cups boiling water to the strained barley. Add the zest of two lemons to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to simmer and simmer with the lemon zest for 40 minutes. This time strain the barley and keep the strained water. You can discard the barley at this point or set it aside for another use. Return the liquid to the pot and add sugar. Stir to dissolve and boil for just a few minutes. Add the lemon juice and return to a boil. Bottle........an empty wine bottle works well for me. Dilute cordial with water or soda water to taste. I use about 4 to 5 parts water to 1 part syrup. Keeps refrigerated up to 2 weeks.

Baked Eggs in Tomato

2011-04-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

After a lot of thought about this month's challenge.......I settled on this recipe for baked eggs in tomato shells. It is easy, straight forward, a little bit fun and kid friendly too.
Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Baked Eggs in Tomatoes
4 large eggs
4 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup grated cheese
2 Tbsp crumbled bacon
pinch of parsley
pinch of salt and pepper

Slice the tops off of the tomatoes and scoop out and discard the insides. Divide the grated cheese and bacon between each tomato and sprinkle inside. Crack an egg into each tomato and top with parsley and salt and pepper. Set in a shallow pan and bake at 425F for 20-35 minutes depending on how set you want the yolk to be.

Pink Hearts Doily

2011-04-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've never been very fearful of trying to knit beyond my abilities. After all, for the most part...... it's just purl or plain. I just plug along and follow the instructions one after another until I'm done. Crochet is a slightly different story for me. My grandmother spent certainly more time knitting with me.......I must have been around 13 years old by the time I asked her to show me how to crochet. The first thing I made was a huge zigzag afghan. I had made a mistake on the bottom corner and it took me a few more rows to realize my mistake. But, by that point..... there was no stopping me.... I carried on and finished that afghan and it sat in my mom's house for many years with it's odd extra floppy bit hanging off the corner. I did not crochet another thing until 3 years ago. Like knitting, I figured with only one live stitch......I could probably figure it out. While I am 'good' at neither knitting or crochet....I get by. I find you tube videos most helpful when I get stuck, and try to understand what the pattern is trying to accomplish to help understand what it is trying to get across. I had a heck of a time understanding what the last row of this latest project meant........but I think I figured it out by staring at the photo of the finished project......and now it's done. I was over, catching up, with Lazy Kate when the gorgeous job she had done on her crocheted doily prompted me to try something simple...which started my search for an easy project like this one. I have been working my way down in thread size......almost to the point of using those nasty steel crochet hooks. Yes, I am feeling a bit intimidated.....but I'll get there sooner or later. I do have an enormous stash of crochet thread collected from thrift shops over the last few years....and it seriously needs to be used up. Crochet thread really is expensive! Hmmmm.....I'm starting to sound like my grandmother already:)

This pattern was found at Purple Kitty Yarns on the internet for free. It looked to be pretty basic, and quick. With the heavy (it called for a 3.5mm hook) cotton thread I used, it finished up at 8 inches in diameter. Next I will try it again (now that I think I know what I'm doing) with a slightly smaller thread size. When I finished this doily last night..... the first thing that I thought of was 'Oh... I'd better starch this before I take a picture of it....or grama would be mortified'. So I pinned it to my ironing board and sprayed it to dampen it and then gave it a little spray with the spray starch. Not as starched as grama's, but it did neaten it up a bit........So grama wouldn't have to be so embarrassed for me.

Raspberry Smacks

2011-04-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

With four years of bringing baking to my school's PAC (parent advisory council...or PTA) meetings.....it is becoming more difficult to find recipes to bring that I haven't already brought. Well this month I took a gamble and tried a new recipe....which is always a bit risky. Good thing I did, because these were....and still are.... delicious. The recipe is slightly modified from it's original form as I could not bring baking with nuts into the school. If you like raspberry....and pavlova....this could be just the thing for you! It came together with very little effort and is pretty to look at as well......Plus they have the added bonus of an interesting name. I cannot tell you the number of times I've been tempted to give someone a little smack......and now I can.

Raspberry Smacks
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup raspberry jam for filling

Topping
2 egg whites
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp shredded coconut
Crumble the first 7 ingredients together until mealy. I just put it all in the stand mixer with the paddle attachment starting with the dry ingredients, then the butter and finally the wet ingredients., and mixed until it was all uniform. Line pan or use a pan with a removable bottom if you have one. I don't so I lined the pan with aluminum foil so I could remove the squares for easier cutting. A removable bottom would be better as I cracked the topping as it bent while I pulled out the bars. Press into bottom of the ungreased pan (9X9inches).
Carefully spread the jam over the bottom, being careful not to tear up the nicely pressed bottom. I stirred up the jam first very well to make sure it would spread.
Topping:
Beat egg whites until frothy. Add the 1 cup of brown sugar 1/3 at a time beating until stiff. Spoon the beaten egg whites over the jam layer. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 25 minutes until golden. Cut when cool with a sharp knife dipped in hot water between each cut. Cut into 36 squares or less if you like larger pieces.

Finished Objects- Fingerless Gloves

2011-04-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

Funny how some projects can sit around with only very little left to complete them. Somehow....this happened to these fingerless gloves that I set out to make over a year ago. I got to a part in the pattern that I needed to look up instructions on how to do......and set them down for a year. Finally yesterday, with an hour on my hands while watching a movie.......I googled the instructions I needed and did finish them off. Including finishing a picot trim cast off on the second glove, picking up and knitting both thumbs, and weaving in all the loose ends......I was done within the hour. Silly that I waited so long to finish them off. They are pretty darned cute...... fetching in fact. So much so that I am tempted to make some more. With the snow slowly leaving now....it's just the right time of year for them here. Is it just me or do you have unfinished objects hiding in your craft stash too??? I'm hoping it's not just me:)

I used the pattern for 'Fetching' from Knitty, but used Bernat Alpaca rather than that specified in the pattern. To compensate I used smaller needles....a size 2 3/4 mm to get the right gauge. It was a pretty straight forward pattern which I will likely try again!

A Sensible Matryoshka Bookmark

2011-03-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have tried to be a little more sensible about some of the swaps I've been taking part in lately. It is immensely fun to send and of course receive mail from all over the globe. Just the stamps alone make it interesting. The only 'fly in the ointment' on the fabulousness of swapping.....is the postage. And Canada Post has some of the steepest rates:( However....if you keep it to flat swaps that can fit through the 2 cm measuring slot....it is not considered package mail and the rates are slightly more agreeable. So I always hope to be able to flat mail swaps in the interest of saving money. I'm sure you can guess how frustrating it is to find that just because something is too thick for the 2 cm slot the postage goes from $2 to $6 or more. In the interest of more flat swapping.........I decided to join a swap for handmade bookmarks. That's pretty flat right?? Now my little flat and sensible Matryoshka is off to Kuala Lumpur......I hope she has a nice flight:)

Meringue Filled Tea Masala Coffee Cake

2011-03-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I should warn you......this one is delicious! At first.....I halved the recipe with the expectation of sharing the one ring I made with the neighbours. After our small family tasting, I am embarrassed to say.......I doubt that there will be enough left over to share. Read on at your own risk.....................

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. I was quite interested in this challenge as I do like yeast breads and am always happy for the opportunity to try a new recipe. The meringue filling made this one pretty intriguing and I have this packet of Masala Tea Spice sitting in my cupboard that I thought might make a nice addition to the recipe. The only substitution I made was to use Tea Masala Spice in place of the cinnamon called for in the filling recipe and to add 1 tsp of Tea Masala spice to he warmed milk as well. This addition to the milk did make the dough take on a more brown colour from the start. Thanks to Ria and Jamie for hosting a delicious challenge that I will surely make again and again......it was delicious! I highly recommend it for tea with a special guest.......as it is easy, impressive, and really delicious:) ......and the flavouring possibilities are nearly endless. I hope you try it and discover a new flavour possibility!

MERINGUE FILLED COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake
Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:
4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
10 strands saffron for Ria’s version (Saffron might be hard to find and it’s expensive, so you can substitute with ½ - 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom or ground nutmeg. Or simply leave it plain like Jamie’s version)
For the meringue:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar
For the filling:
Jamie’s version:
1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions:
Prepare the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Ria’s version: add the 10 saffron threads to the warmed liquid and allow to steep off of the heat for 10 minutes. This will give the mixture a distinct aroma and flavor and a yellowish-orange hue.
With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.
Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.
Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:
Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).
Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.
Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.
Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.
Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.
Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.
Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

Smore Pancakes

2011-03-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ike came back from his cub scout winter camp out, talking endlessly about the smores pancakes they had for breakfast. After promising for the last week to make them.....tonight he got lucky. While we were having left overs........Ike got his smores pancakes. There is not much to them really. Just make pancakes and sandwich between two of them..... mini marshmallows, milk chocolate chips, and crushed graham wafers. I found them to be quite sweet.....but Ike declared that they were just right!

It is best to assemble them quickly and to use pancakes hot from the griddle. After setting 2 minutes......the chocolate chips were melted and the marshmallows were gooey. Enjoy with a large glass of milk:)

Weekend Project- A Quick Pincushion

2011-03-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a week long business trip in the US. Phoenix was unseasonably warm and much quieter than I had expected for such a large population. It was a good time, the highlight of which was definitely the day spent at the Bondurant Racing School. It is always fun to drive in ways that would get you a ticket if you were to drive that way on public streets! But now, it's the weekend and it's good to be home sorting laundry, unpacking and trying to catch up on what needs to be done next. Somehow, in my absence, an entire tin of baked goods has escaped the notice of the boys......so I still have treats just in case someone pops by:).......of course the more likely out come is that I will eat them.....one by one.

The chocolate slice and ginger slice are both good New Zealand recipes that have now become favourites here........let's just hope I can keep my hands off of them.......but I can't promise anything:)

After making breakfast for the boys, I started on my little list of things to do. The first on the list was to get out a few swaps that have been sitting and waiting for a few last minute additions. The pincushion above, I'm happy to say is finally completed and ready to go out the door. For such a quick and easy project (less than an hour to complete)......I am too embarrassed to tell you how long I let it sit half completed. Well now that monkey is off my back, and it is soon to be mailed. If you'd like to make one.....it really is an easy and quick project......go here for instructions. ( I like to put a layer of steel wool in mine to help keep the pins sharp....but this is not necessary) Or if you'd like to buy one already made......have a look here. She also makes very nice crochet hook rolls which I highly recommend:) Hope you have a great weekend!

Mecia's Jello Cheesecake

2011-03-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

A very nice lady I know brought this deliciously light unbaked cheese cake to a pot luck supper many years ago. I could have easily eatten the whole thing. It is light and easy to make.......and is perfect for a light dessert. Although you may use any flavour of Jello to make this recipe......Meicia always recommended a red flavour as her preference......and I would have to agree with her. If you are looking for a nice light ending to a meal, this might be just the thing.

Mecia's Jello Cheesecake
Social Tea Biscuits (enough to line the pan)
1 cup whipping cream
1 pkg vanilla sugar (Dr Oetker)
8 oz pkg of cream cheese at room temperature
2 small pkgs jello (reds are prefered, but feel free to try another)

Completely line an 8X8 inch pan with a single layer of tea biscuits, breaking biscuits to fill any gaps. (These are like Marie biscuits or arrow root biscuits) Look for the kind that are in a rectangular shape for ease of fitting into the pan. Sprinkle or brush the top of the biscuits with a bit of milk (maybe a tablespoon). Whip together cream and vanilla sugar to hold peaks, and stir into the softened cream cheese. If you cannot find vanilla sugar substitute 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Set aside.

In 3/4 cup boiling water, add 1 pkg of jello and stir to dissolve. Let sit until luke warm, then whip with the cream cheese mixture and pour over the biscuits. Put in fridge to set making sure cream layer is even and touching all sides of the pan.

About 1 hour later dissolve the 2nd package of jello into 1 1/2 cups boiling water and set aside unitl luke warm. At this time you may layer sliced fruit on top of the cream cheese layer in a decorative pattern if desired. It is best if the fruit layer is 1/4 inch thick or less and you may not want to use pineapple as it can stop the jello from setting up. Pour luke warm jello over filling and leave in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If you have put a layer of fruit, be careful when pouring the jello so as not to move the fruit.

Emergency Syrup

2011-03-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I found myself at a loss for syrup. I was with friends at a somewhat remote location with a large breakfast planned including waffles and even pancakes planned.......but with no syrup in sight. At the time, we didn't have a whole lot of choice so we improvised with what we had and came up with a simple syrup flavoured with what we had on hand......namely vanilla and cinnamon. Last weekend, after looking through an old Purity cookbook from my mother inlaw, I was reminded of this experiment when I read a recipe for mock maple syrup. I thought I'd give it a try.......you never know when you might need to make a batch. You just might find it handy some day too! I've adjusted the recipe to used yellow or golden sugar and to not brown the sugar too much since I found the recipe as written a bit too strongly flavoured for my liking.

Table Syrup
1 cup golden sugar
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or maple extract
1 cinnamon stick

Boil golden sugar, cinnamon stick and water for 10 minutes. Melt white sugar over direct heat, stirring constantly until it is melted and just beginning to turn golden. Add sugar and water mixture carefully to the melted sugar and stir until all is dissolved. Remove from heat, and add butter and flavouring. If syrup is too thick, thin with boiling water to desired thickness.

Ginger Crunch......Easy and Delicious

2011-03-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

So.......it's been snowing here.....a lot! It may even be the highest amount of snowfall for this area since we've lived here???? If not, it's got to be pretty close. I've been pretty easy going about it.....after all, I do not mind shoveling snow..........Now, I think I need to concede that the snow banks have surpassed my abilities to throw it high enough. Spring is coming....just around the corner......but the snowbanks are so high, it's difficult to see around that corner.......I guess I can wait a little longer. But in the mean time......I will occupy myself with some of my favourite winter activities.........knitting.......and baking:)

With another PAC meeting coming up tomorrow night......I thought I'd get the jump on some baking to bring. I pulled out several cook books and decided on Ginger Crunch from the Edmonds Cookery Book. The name sounded familiar in the 'you should try this one day' department. I think my friend Alison must have mentioned it. I love ginger, and the recipe appeared to be quite simple. The base is cookie like and the icing......well..... fudge like.....both seasoned with ginger. I'd have to say I'll definitely make it again. It was easy and I enjoyed both the ginger and the chewy texture. I'll have to wait until it cools to taste it again to see if the texture changes.........but the 'few' pieces I did have, practically straight from the oven, were pretty yummy!

I highly recommend it. Update: the next morning it definitely had some crunch! Still yummy!
Ginger Crunch
125g butter, softened (a little more than 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger

Icing
75 g butter (a little more than 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup (I used corn syrup)
3 tsp ground ginger

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder and ginger together. Mix into creamed mixture. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead well. (I found the dough a little too dry to knead.....so I added a few tbsp soft butter and worked it in by hand still in the bowl until it was moist enough to hold together easily with squeezed. Press dough into a greased 20X30 cm pan. I lined the pan with tin foil and sprayed the foil with baking spray to make it easier to remove the bars for slicing. Bake at 190C (375F) for 20-25 minutes or until light brown. Pour hot ginger icing over the base while hot and cut into squares before it gets cold.
Ginger Icing
In a small saucepan combine butter, icing sugar, syrup and ginger. Heat until butter is melted, stirring constantly.

A Daring Panna Cotta with Florentines

2011-02-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

I was pretty happy with the choice of making Panna Cotta for this months Baker's Challenge. I absolutely love creme caramel and other custard type desserts and was thinking that I would probably like this as well. One of these days I will have to try this recipe again with a fruit flavouring as it seems to be more traditional....but to start with.....this version using buttermilk seemed to grab my attention. Plus I like buttermilk recipes since you can substitute milk kefir which I often have on hand anyway. In addition to the Panna Cotta we also were required to make florentine cookies. The recipe provided was intriguing to me as it contained no nuts which could be handy for some people. I have never noticed, nor ordered Panna Cotta on a menu before, but I am assuming it customarily comes with some type of cookie accompaniment and thus the need for this seemingly unrelated recipe??

So, the end result of the challenge.......Everyone Loved it........and asked for seconds. Using the buttermilk gave it a flavour edging towards yogurt.....a bit of a tang. The caramel sauce was super easy, and would be great for ice cream......or apparently just by itself:) The amount of gelatin was just enough to make it thicken.....but not make it like wobbly jelly.......just right in fact. And the boys enjoyed dunking their florentine cookies in through the caramel before eating them up. I will certainly be trying this one again! I like that it makes pretty individual servings....perfect to make ahead for when company is coming. And....I loved that it was super quick and easy! I poured them into vintage ruby coloured sherry glasses....let the Panna Cotta chill.....and then topped them with warm Cinnamon Caramel Sauce. YUM! It you are are looking for something to make for dessert that looks impressive.......you really should try it....

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Cinnamon Carmel Sauce
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
1 cup whip cream, divided
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of water into a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over evenly. Let sit for 10 minutes. Combine 3/4 cup cream, 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium high heat until the sugar dissolved and the mixture begins to simmer. Remove from the heat , and add softened gelatin and stir until fully dissolved. Cool to warm stirring occasionally. Stir in buttermilk and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla. Divide into 6 ramekins, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Prepare Sauce:
Combine brown sugar and 1/4 cup cream in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and caramel sauce is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon and 1 tsp vanilla.

Nut Free Florentine Cookies
Ingredients:
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate
Directions:
Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl)
Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.

This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).

A Little Bit of Swapping

2011-02-21T11:46:00.000-08:00

I've been drowning lately with too much to do and weekends that seem to mysteriously evaporate into thin air.......so I have not been as active with craft swapping as I had in the past. Although this past weekend went by with very little recall of what was accomplished, I have decided to try some quick and painless swaps to get back into it. Last weeks swap was for a handmade needle book. Hopefully my partner will like it!

With my last few pieces of thrifted red wool fabric I made this quick project. It's small enough to be compact (4" X 2.5"), with four wool felt 'pages' for needles and a little pocket at the bottom to hold other necessities. It was a fun little project......I think I might need one now:)

Valentine's Soba and Tempura

2011-02-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

It just so happened that the Daring Cook's Challenge coincided with Valentine's Day this year.......and I have been very delinquent on my Daring attempts these past few months. So......I was pretty happy to see that this month was not going to be extremely time consuming, and not likely to cause me undue stress for a quick Valentine's meal. It was after all a very full day yesterday!

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

It went together quickly, was appealing to kids and adults, and turned out well. The soba noodles were new for us and were a nice addition to the tempura meal.

Soba Noodles:
Ingredients
2 quarts (2 Liters) water + 1 cup cold water, separate
12 oz (340 g) dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)
Directions:
Cooking the noodles:

Heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.
Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool. This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.
Mentsuyu - Traditional dipping sauce:
Ingredients
2 cups (480ml) Kombu and Katsuobushi dashi (This can be bought in many forms from most Asian stores and you can make your own. Recipe is HERE.) Or a basic vegetable stock.
1/3 cup (80 ml) soy sauce or a low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup (80 ml) mirin (sweet rice wine)
*Note: If you can’t find Mirin, a substitute recipe can be found HERE
Directions:
Put mirin in a sauce pan and heat gently. Add soy sauce and dashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Common Hiyashi Soba Toppings:
Thin omelet strips
Ham
Boiled chicken breasts
Cucumber
Boiled bean sprouts
Tomatoes
Toasted nori (Dried Seaweed)
Green onions
Wasabi powder
Finely grated daikon (Japanese radish)
Beni Shoga (Pickled Ginger)

All toppings should be julienne, finely diced or grated. Prepare and refrigerate covered until needed.
Serving:
Traditionally soba is served on a bamboo basket tray, but if you don’t have these, you can simply serve them on a plate or in a bowl. Divide up the noodles, laying them on your serving dishes. Sprinkle each one with nori. In small side bowl or cup, place 1/2 cup (120 ml) of dipping sauce into each. In separate small side dishes, serve each person a small amount of wasabi, grated daikon, and green onions.
The noodles are eaten by sprinkling the desired garnishes into the dipping sauce and eating the noodles by first dipping them into the sauce. Feel free to slurp away! Oishii!
Tempura
Ingredients
1 egg yolk from a large egg
1 cup (240 ml) iced water
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dredging
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) cornflour (also called cornstarch)
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (2½ gm) (0.09 oz) baking powder
oil, for deep frying preferably vegetable
ice water bath, for the tempura batter (a larger bowl than what will be used for the tempura should be used. Fill the large bowl with ice and some water, set aside)
Very cold vegetables and seafood of your choice ie:

Sweet potato, peeled, thinly sliced, blanched
Carrot, peeled, thinly sliced diagonally
Pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, thinly sliced blanched
Green beans, trimmed
Green bell pepper/capsicum, seeds removed, cut into 2cm (¾ inch)-wide strips
Assorted fresh mushrooms
Eggplant cut into strips (traditionally it’s fanned)
Onions sliced

Directions:

Place the iced water into a mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg yolk and gradually pour into the iced water, stirring (preferably with chopsticks) and blending well. Add flours and baking powder all at once, stroke a few times with chopsticks until the ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be runny and lumpy. Place the bowl of batter in an ice water bath to keep it cold while you are frying the tempura. The batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies help create a crispy tempura.
Heat the oil in a large pan or a wok. For vegetables, the oil should be 320°F/160°C; for seafood it should be 340°F/170°C. It is more difficult to maintain a steady temperature and produce consistent tempura if you don’t have a thermometer, but it can be done. You can test the oil by dropping a piece of batter into the hot oil. If it sinks a little bit and then immediately rises to the top, the oil is ready.
Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odor in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter. Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.
Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.
Serve immediately for the best flavor, but they can also be eaten cold.

So many Cupcakes......So little time

2011-02-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Everything seems to take me twice as long as I think it should! I think I really should just take that factor into consideration at the start. This is an early finish for me.......so I should not complain. It is only 7:18pm and I've caught up on the three loads of laundry that I wanted to.........made a batch of pizza buns for snacks.......baked up and iced 72 cupcakes........ made a pan of lasagna for later in the week........wrapped up that baby blanket along with some other gifts for posting tomorrow.......and done the usual weekend tidy and clean the litter box etc.

No wonder I haven't had time yet to have a shower. With two things still left on my to do list for the day......I am feeling quite lazy right now.....maybe they can wait until tomorrow........I think it will have to as I am being called for a Pokemon battle. Maybe tomorrow I will feel refreshed??? Hope your weekend was a good one!

A Quilt Ready to Go

2011-02-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

Finally.....it's finished. It is my habit to put off things which I find intimidating and this project was no different. Although, in the time I wasted....waiting to quilt this project.....I could have done it by hand. But I wanted to try machine quilting. What I really wanted to try was free motion quilting....but I think that might be better for a smaller project to start with. So for this one, I decided to just do random straight line quilting with some hand dyed thread. It took much longer to do than I would have thought considering I was using the machine.....although admittedly at quite a slow speed......since I don't know what I am doing. The binding went on in an evening which was the most enjoyable part of the project for me. Now this little quilt is ready to mail and another project needs my attention. Next I'll try to finish off the Harry Potter letter sweater I started for Ike. Hopefully I will get to that with a little more speed than this one!

A Busy Weekend

2011-02-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

It was another busy weekend! Saturday morning brought a request for waffles........which normally I would have prepared for the night before........but given no advanced notice this time.....I decided to try the quick waffle recipe from the Belgian waffle maker cookbook. It called for baking mix, which is something I have never bought and I really didn't feel like going to the store....plus what would I do with the remainder of the box???? So I decided to make my own. I used this recipe following the instructions for waffle batter (it was the same recipe as the one from the Waring Waffle cookbook anyway) and made a half recipe which was more than enough. Ike did not even notice the difference......but of course DH did. So I guess I'd make them in a pinch.....they were ok. But I'd agree with DH.....the yeast recipe for Belgian Waffles is better....The extra is now in a zip lok bag in the fridge waiting for it's next use.

Then on Sunday, after a few hours at the snow board hill I decided I'd better make some progress on this old project. So here we have it....progress.

Now it just needs to be bound. Stay tuned for the finished picture within the next few days. Hopefully without help from the cat:)

Bathroom Decorating

2011-02-03T06:45:00.000-08:00

Quite some time ago, I was feeling like doing a small project around the house and I decided to paint our main floor bathroom. I painted it in a light mocha colour and put up a decorative wall paper boarder with a sea shell type theme. Having been looking for something to put up on the walls to fill some empty space, I thought I'd just print out some pictures from last summer's holiday to fill the space.

I've got my plain white frames set aside and now all I need to do is get some 5X7's printed up. That's what's on my to do list for today:)

See ya!

Ike's Pikelet Breakfast Sandwich

2011-01-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

We are having a very lazy weekend so far. After sleeping in I decided to give Ike his choice of breakfast. This is Ike's version of the McGriddle breakfast sandwich. I made a recipe of Edmonds pikelets and poured enough batter to make them 3 1/2 inches across. I decided that pikelets would better stand up to the job of 'bun' with a little more resilience than my buttermilk pancake recipe. Once the pikelets were done.....we layered in a microwave scrambled egg, a slice of 'plastic' cheese, and some fried summer sausage and breakfast was ready. It got two thumbs up from Ike....and was really quite quick. Now that I have some left over pikelets in the right size....I might just have one for lunch:) I hope your weekend is a lazy one as well!

Retro Cute Kids

2011-01-19T17:49:00.000-08:00

My mom sent me some photos the other day in an email. Some were cute....some were not. That, I suppose is a matter of perspective. Never the less, this one.....I deem to be more on the retro cute end of the scale.......so I am sharing it with you. This was taken in our front yard......and we had us some really sweet rides....don't you think? This is very early in my bicycle riding career, so this particular bike does not stick in my memory, but I sure do remember my brother Patrick's bike.......it was much cooler than mine! Although.......I'd think it was pretty cool to own the bike I'm on in this picture if it came in a big girl size now:)

And Back Again

2011-01-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but...... Ike and I have been away. We had a good visit to see some friends in New Zealand and got to see lots of interesting things. It's always a positive experience to see what life is like in other counties, and New Zealand did not disappoint us. It was different enough from Canada to be interesting yet similar enough not to be intimidating. And it is the differences in life that make everything more interesting.....don't you think? Ike had a very difficult time understanding that it was Christmas time during the New Zealand summer. Here in the Northern Hemisphere.......Christmas and Christmas traditions are heavily tied to the winter season.

Our usual Christmas meal of roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie was instead lamb on the BBQ. It seams that lamb and ham are the two more traditional Christmas meals and I was perfectly content to enjoy a very nice piece of lamb with some delicious mint sauce. Which was very good...... and for me a real treat since my husband is not a fan of lamb.....I usually only get to make it for company. It's funny how something which is so common place in one area might not catch on else where. A Christmas pumpkin pie is nearly a given here.......in New Zealand.....it doesn't appear that anyone makes them.......and I certainly didn't see any in the stores.......all the more surprising in a land overrun with pumpkins. Oh well, more for me.....one of the best pies out there....no doubt about that.

I was hoping to be able to try some feijoa fruit while I was there....but missed out on the season and was unsuccessful in finding any Feijoa jam to bring home. I did eventually find some in the Auckland airport but worried that I'd not be able to bring in my carry on baggage after clearing customs in Vancouver. That was another interesting difference. There seemed to be absolutely no security at all in the airport for domestic New Zealand flights......this was kind of nice actually:)

While I knew that cars would be driving on the other side of the road, this practice took much more getting used to than I had imagined. It took me no less than three days of riding as a passenger in the front to stop shrinking back in the seat every time I glanced out the window and saw cars coming towards us on the right side of the road. I had been warned to use extreme caution while crossing the streets as pedestrians do not have the right of way, so cars would not stop for you. While I find if difficult to believe that a car would not stop for you rather than hit you......I did not put this to the test.

Ike and I had some really nice time visiting......we got to go to some hot pools, see Rotorua, have delicious New Zealand ice cream, go to the beach, do a hike, saw Pohutukawa, Pukecos........and did a lot of shopping:) Now we are back at home.....back to work....back to school and back to the snow........It's always good to be back home....isn't it??

Now we have lots of catching up to do.................

Knitted Gifts

2010-12-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is whipping up quite quickly! This year as always......good intentions and a fair bit of follow through. I did manage a few knitting projects to pass on to unsuspecting friends and neighbours. I've been waiting patiently for a special holiday knitting edition from Interweave Press to show up at my local magazine shop this year....but finally gave up. Instead, I searched the internet to find which knitting books were new and interesting looking and then......I did a search for them in my local library. I was pleased to find that they had what I was looking for and went to check them out. One of my favourite finds this year has been Joelle Hoverson's 'More Last Minutes Gifts'. The patterns were nicely organized into the time required to compete each project. I found myself making two projects from the book......an easy 2X2 rib hat (made three of them) , and some adorable pointy elf hats in pretty pinks and cream as well (made 5 of them...almost addictive). In all I've made 10 hats in the last little while! Oh and also as you can see in the photo above....I made the Hermione Cable Hat from the Charmed Knits Book. Next I'm going to try the sock pattern from More Last Minute Gifts....it looks straight forward.....and a nice little project for the airplane......and as well I'm working on a little sweater for my son.....hopefully finished before Christmas.

If you are looking to make some last minute knitted gifts....see if you can find 'More Last Minute Gifts' in your library or book store....but if that's not possible here are some links to some free patterns that are quick and cute....in my opinion.

Fuzzy Feet -cute knit to felt slippers using 100g worsted weight wool
Chevrolace Socks- a basic lace pattern sock
Fetching- beautiful fingerless gloves with a simple cable pattern
Dashing- Fingerless gloves for him
Tiffany- Cute Nordic colour work mittens
Tatiana- Adorable Matroshka Doll convertible mitts
Center Square- Easy Worsted weight colour work hat
Noro Hat- Cute ...you kind of need to see this one
Foliage- Chunky & Worsted weight patterns for leaf lace hat
Frontier- Fun kids coonskin hat in novelty yarn
Chunky Lace Cowl- Very easy quick knit
Basic Hat- Knit top down, nice in a striped yarn
Noro One Skein Spiral Hat-the yarn makes it pretty
Rolled Brim Spiral Hat for Kids- Simple & cute
Fish Hat- Cute hat for kids
Lovely Leaf Lace Scarf- pretty and soft
Reversible Cabled Brioche Scarf- Pretty and reversible
Saartje's Booties- Cute cute baby booties
More Baby booties- also cute
Knitted Tea Cozy- Adorable topped with pretty violets

A Daring Eggs Benedict

2010-12-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

This month when the Daring Cook's proposed making Eggs Benedict.....I was pretty excited. It was an opportunity to try poaching eggs directly in water which is something I've never before bothered to do.....and to make Hollandaise Sauce from scratch....something else I had never before bothered to do. I can tell you that I was even more pleased with the results than ever I thought possible. It was delicious. And the most difficult part of the whole process was not licking the Hollandaise bowl clean when it was all done. I did decrease the Hollandaise recipe a bit using two instead of three egg yolks and it was the perfect amount to make 5 eggs. The recommended water temperature for poaching was 190F and again my handy Thermapen saved the day......I highly recommend them. While this may have been one of the simplest challenges....it may well be my most favourite as it had me try something I never had.....it was easier than I'd thought.....and it was far more delicious than I ever imagined. So....I'll be trying this one again and again.

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Eggs Benedict
Ingredients
4 eggs (size is your choice)
2 English muffins*
4 slices of Canadian bacon/back bacon (or plain bacon if you prefer)
Chives, for garnish
Splash of vinegar (for poaching)
For the hollandaise (makes 1.5 cups):
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp. (5 ml) water
¼ tsp. (1 ¼ ml/1½ g) sugar
12 Tbl. (170 g/6 oz.) unsalted butter, chilled and cut in small pieces º
½ tsp. (2 ½ ml/3 g) kosher salt
2 tsp. (10 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
* for gluten free, use gluten free English muffins or bread of your choice
º for dairy free, use a dairy free margarine
Directions:
1. Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer.
2. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and set aside.
3. Whisk egg yolks and 1 tsp. (5 ml) water in a mixing bowl large enough to sit on the saucepan without touching the water (or in top portion of a double boiler). Whisk for 1–2 minutes, until egg yolks lighten. Add the sugar and whisk 30 seconds more.
4. Place bowl on saucepan over simmering water and whisk steadily 3–5 minutes (it only took about 3 for me) until the yolks thicken to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from heat (but let the water continue to simmer) and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. Move the bowl to the pan again as needed to melt the butter, making sure to whisk constantly.
6. Once all the butter is incorporated, remove from heat and whisk in the salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper (if using).
7. Keep the hollandaise warm while you poach your eggs in a thermos, carafe, or bowl that you’ve preheated with warm water.
8. If the water simmering in your pan has gotten too low, add enough so that you have 2–3 inches of water and bring back to a simmer.
9. Add salt and a splash of vinegar (any kind will do). I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to my small saucepan (about 3 cups of water/720 ml of water), but you may need more if you’re using a larger pan with more water.
10. Crack eggs directly into the very gently simmering water (or crack first into a bowl and gently drop into the water), making sure they’re separated. Cook for 3 minutes for a viscous but still runny yolk.
11. While waiting for the eggs, quickly fry the Canadian/back bacon and toast your English muffin.
12. Top each half of English muffin with a piece of bacon. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon, draining well, and place on top of the bacon. Top with hollandaise and chopped chives, and enjoy!

A Month of Cookies-Whipped Matcha Shortbread Cookies-18

2010-12-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas baking would not be complete without a little shortbread. I have this recipe for whipped shortbread that I really love. It is light from all the whipping and if you catch them before they brown......perfect in every way. The trick is to catch them at the very first sign of browning. With the addition of Match powder to the recipe this is a little more tricky than without due to the strong colour addition. This batch is a hint more browned than I would like...following batches will be baked 1 minute less. It can be tricky too using a cookie press as the temperature of the dough is critical. Ideally you should bake one cookie to calculate out the required baking time before baking a whole sheet of cookies.....but as you can see I am lazy. If your house is very warm, the dough can quite easily become too soft. A few minutes in the fridge solves this problem however......and if you are finding it all too frustrating....you can just roll them in balls and flatten them with a fork. I found the dough almost impossible to stop eating with the Matcha powder added....YUM.

Perfect Whipped Matcha Shortbread Trees
1 lb butter, room temperature
1 cup icing sugar (confectioners)
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup corn starch
2 1/2 Tbsp Matcha Powder
3 cups flour
Preheat oven to 350F. Cream the softened butter, icing sugar, vanilla and salt until creamy. Add matcha powder and mix in. Add corn starch and beat in with electric mixer. Add in flour 1 cup at a time beating with electric mixer between additions. Beat until fluffy....about 3-5 minutes with electric mixer. Put dough in a cookie press and press desired shapes onto cold cookie sheet. Bake about 5-7 minutes for cookie press shapes or longer if you are rolling and flattening balls of cookie dough. Stop baking at the first hint of browning. Let set two minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to complete the cooling.

A Month of Cookies-Fruit Cake Cookies-17

2010-12-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

Now I know the idea of Fruit Cake does make some people groan.....I am one of those people. ......but I had these cookies last year at a holiday get together and found them to be surprisingly delicious. So much so that I was compelled to ask for the recipe.....which is something I don't do very often. They are not overly fancy to look at, but do have some festive colour in them from the glazed fruit. Even if you despise fruit cake....you might just love these as much as I do. As an added bonus, they taste better after a few days....making them an excellent choice for gift giving!

Fruit Cake Cookies
2 cups mixed glazed fruit
1 cup raisins
1 cup dates, chopped
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Combine first 5 ingredients and toss until fruit is coated in flour and all fruit pieces are separate. In a large bowl, cream the butter and softened margarine until creamy. Mix in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and stir in. Stir in baking soda, cinnamon, and finally the second amount of flour. Pour the flour coated fruit into the creamed mixture and stir well to combine. Drop in 1 1/2 tablespoon sized amounts onto nonstick cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown in spots. Let sit on cookie sheet for a few minute before removing to a wire rack to completely cool.

Yeah Val!

2010-12-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Val with comment #45. Have a look at her blog for some great crafting and a yummy recipe for potato boats! Yeah Val! Buy your self something nice for Christmas with your $65 gift code. I will email you the information you'll be needing to use it.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2010-12-10 00:13:36 UTC

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and playing! It was interesting to learn your favourite Christmas foods!!

Favourite Things Giveaway ....While I have some Crostata

2010-11-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

This contest is now closed. Thanks to all who entered!
With Christmas preparations well under way....(doesn't it just look like Christmas here???) what a perfect time for another giveaway! Those wonderful folks over at CSN have offered to sponsor another giveaway here. This one is for a $65 gift code that can be used at any of their 200+ stores and can be delivered to any US or Canadian address. Please take a peek at some of their stores which offer anything you can think of from Bathroom Furniture to gorgeous Kitchen Wares and all points in between. There are so many options.....I'm just going to take a piece of Pear & Blue Cheese Crostata from this month's Bakers Challenge to sustain me through the hours of window shopping at CSN. So please feel free to enter for your chance to win a $65 gift code for some fine CSN shopping.

The Details

This Giveaway is open to anyone with a US or Canadian mailing address, as CSN will ship to either location.
To enter the draw for the $65 gift code from CSN please leave a comment at the bottom of this post telling me your favourite holiday food. Is it the turkey??? The stuffing??? Steamed pudding??? I'm curious.....so tell me!
You can enter one time by leaving a comment on this post......and you may leave one additional comment on this post if you are a follower......mentioning that you are a follower of this blog. (a way to say thank you to you super nice followers) so that is a maximum of two entries.
Make sure that there is a way for me to contact you should your comment be chosen. Either leave your email address written in the form jane(dot)doe(at)hotmail(dot)com (so you don't attract spam) or make sure that your blogger account etc. has an email address in it that I can access.
The winning comment will be selected using a random number generator at the end of the day on Wednesday December 8th.
The winner will be contacted by email on December 9th. If the winner cannot be contacted within a few days.....a new winning comment will be selected.....so please leave your contact information.
Please do not leave links to other businesses within the comments.

This Month's Challenge.....Crostata....that's pie!
Now have a quick look below to see the recipe from this month's great Baker's Challenge. The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. Using the pastry recipe provided by Simona we were permitted to find a filling that appealed to us.......I chose to make a rustic pie baked on a cookie sheet with the edges folded in......and pear and blue cheese sounded intriguing to me.

Pear and Blue Cheese Crostata
Filling
4 small to medium pears, cored and chopped
3 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup golden sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3 tbsp cold butter, cut in small pieces
honey, to drizzle on top

Preheat oven to 450F.
Set cut pears aside. Roll pastry out into a 12 inch circle, and transfer onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread pears over the middle of the pastry leaving 1 1/2 inch uncovered at the edges. Scatter crumbled cheese over top of the pears.
Combine the flour, nuts, and sugar. Pinch in the butter until it is like a crumble. Pour this topping over the pears and cheese. Fold in the outside edges to make a circle. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crust is golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle with honey just before serving.

Top 10 + Kitchen Gadgets- For Christmas

2010-11-21T14:47:00.000-08:00

With the gifting season fast approaching, the influx of colourful flyers into our house is enormous. There are so many purchasing options out there. And for me at least, it seems that quite often now....my best chance of getting the item I'd like at the best price (or at any price in some instances) is online. If you have a foodie in your life and are perplexed as what on earth to buy for them........maybe I can offer a few suggestions. Here are a just few things that I have found either indispensible.....handy or otherwise just plain cute, and now consider them to be on my 'must have' or at least my 'would like to have' list.

A proper chef's knife. ($75-$150) If you don't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money....just get a good 8 inch chefs knife....you don't need to go out and buy a whole set. There is very little more annoying than trying to prepare food with poor quality knives, and a basic 8 inch chef's knife is the very least you should need and will get you though the majority of your knifely needs. In subsequent years you might like to broaden your collection and pick up a bread knife, smaller utility knife, filleting knife....you must think about the tasks you are most likely to do to determine the best choices for you. While my knife block holds 7 knives, I find that I predominantly use 3 of them. The 8 inch chef's knife, the 8 inch fillet knife and a 7 inch carving knife. You should be able to pick up an 8 inch chef's knife for about $120 (in Canada....likely cheaper in the US). Places to look are, department stores like, Sears, The Bay, Home Shops, Kitchen specialty shops, Knife specialty shops or online......or even eBay. Brands to consider include Henckels or Wusthof. If you choose to purchase online....take the time to go into a store and handle the knives you are considering.....it's good to make sure it will live up to your expectations. If you find out the following year that the knife that you so thoughtfully gifted is being mistreated.....(ie stored in a drawer instead of a proper knife block or God forbid not being sharpened).......please rescue it and bring it to a good home. Keep in mind that some people have superstitions about giving or receiving knives as a gift so they include a penny along with the knife for the receiver to give the penny back "to pay for the knives"....so then they are not a gift. As an alternative for a much less expensive knife....have a look at the Victorinox Fibrox....well rated and very popular in commercial use kitchens.
Stainless steel measuring spoons and dry measure cups. Everyone should have these....they are not expensive and will last a lifetime. If you can find narrow measuring spoons like these they are super handy for measuring out of spice jars. You should be able to find these in any kitchen shop for about $15. Places like Winners or HomeSense or TJ Max are good places to look.
The Zyliss garlic press. If you cook with garlic (we use a lot) you will wonder how you lived without one. They are inexpensive at about $15 and do look for the one with the matte finish that is dishwasher safe. One of my best buys ever! It's easy to use and easy to clean......you just pop an unpeeled garlic clove into the hopper and squeeze. Readily available at kitchen stores and department stores.
Silicone Spatulas. Very useful and safe with your non stick cook wear. Look for ones that fit well in your hand....not one with sharp or angular contours.....and stay away with ones with wooden handles if you are planning to wash these in the dishwasher. I am now, after at least 10 years looking to replace my le Creuset ones as they no longer fit tightly to their (removable) handle. Plenty of inexpensive and fun looking options out there for under $10. Try looking in places like Winners or TJ Max for the best deals.
A stand mixer. ($250-$400) If the person you are buying for likes to bake.....they will love one of these! Perfect for cookies, cake batters, dough, whipping cream or egg whites..... My DH bought me one of these several years ago and I believe I've more than got my monies worth out of it. I can only comment on the Kitchen Aid models. I have the Kitchen Aid Ultra Power 300 watt model with the tilting head and 4.5 quart bowl. For regular batch baking or even a double batch of cookie dough, this is a good size. The best deals that I have seen for Kitchen Aid Stand mixers have been at Costco and on the Home Shopping Channel. Costco sells the larger 5.5 quart drop down bowl mixer with 575 watt motor for $399 in Canada or $299 in the US. Several times per year it is on sale for $100 off here.....and near Christmas time is one of those times. The Costco unit differs from mine in that it has a larger motor......a larger bowl.......and rather than having a tilting head.....it has a drop down bowl. (If you are from the US......now might be a good time to pick one up as they are on sale right now for $250 plus $15 S&H.) My preference is for the appearance and stature of the tilting head model as it fits under my cabinets where the larger unit would not. Also I much prefer the tilting head for the convenience of changing attachments rather than the drop down bowl which creates a congested space in which to change beaters.......it doesn't drop down quite enough to offer a lot of free space to get your hands in. That being said I ....could get over the bulky appearance and awkwardness of the drop down bowl for the extra watts and larger capacity. I have, on more than one occasion feared for the life of the motor on my unit when mixing a heavy dough.......and I am a fairly moderate baker. Note that Costco has $100 off right now on the Cuisinart stand mixer with a 1000 watt motor...The Cuisinart model might be worth a look.
Digital Kitchen Scale. ($15-$60) I originally purchased myself a kitchen scale for weighing parcels for mailing over seas. If you understand the price structuring of Canada Post and do a lot of overseas shipping.....then you understand how useful your own scale is to own. Since I have one of my own......I have over time discovered how handy they are for measurement for recipes as well. If the person on your Christmas list gets a lot of recipes off the internet....then this might be a handy tool for them.....no more guessing how much 200g of sugar might be. Inexpensive and useful once you get used to using it.
Instant read thermometer. ($15-$100) After watching countless hours of America's Test Kitchen......my mother became sold on the idea of owning a Thermapen......and to my good fortune she gifted one to me as well. No more worries about knowing exactly when something is 'done'. It has been extremely useful for cooking meats, sauces, candy, and even bread. Bread was always the one that I could never get just right since I don't make to so often that I have a feel for it. Well....for white bread.....it's done at 200F.....and a little poke with the Thermapen and the wondering is over! There are a few models available and it is most easily found ( at least where I live) online. There are also some on eBay right now for a good price.....some are the latest model which prices out at $96 plus S&H straight from Thermoworks and there are a few of last years model which are only 1 second slower in reading...but with a much improved price...have a look. (the image shown is the latest model....But I think the auction is for the older model....still an awesome price) And this is the best price I've seen on the latest model. If that seems a ridiculous amount to pay for something that you are not quite sold on the virtues of.....then there are some less expensive ones to choose from (under$20) as well.
A Bamix immersion hand blender. ($139-$300) I purchased a Bamix just before my son was born. I'd seen them in home shows and been impressed with their power. Want to make your own peanut butter, whip skimmed milk for a no fat substitute to whip cream, make your own frozen fruit sorbet instantly, make idiot proof mayo, instant smoothies, make your own puree or baby food, puree soups in the pot........this is the right tool for the job. Solidly constructed....will last your life time! Easy to use......crazy easy to clean! Look for them at home shows, and online kitchen sales and on places like eBay........if you're super lucky....in a garage sale:)....although perhaps not the best source for gift giving.
Kitchen Cuteness is all over the internet if not in your local kitchen supply store. ($10+) M cups Matryoshka Doll measuring cups by Fred were much cuter than I could resist...you might feel the same:) Or these condiment bottle caps over at Perpetual Kid might be up your alley if you are looking for something a little silly. Perpetual kid is well worth a look around in either event. And you could pretty much buy me anything made by Pylones......and I would love it. They make gorgeously frivolous items for those who already have all that they need. You really must go and check them out.....every time I go to Toronto I stop in at William Ashley China shop and inevitably pick up another Pylones item from their kitchen section. The first piece of Pylones merchandise I ever saw was their toaster.......very cute! They make a beautiful hot thermos as well, which Star Bucks has carried at times....you can often get these out of season at excellent pricing.
Cup-A-Cake Holders ($5+) I cannot even remember where I initially saw these.....I think it was in a kitchen shop in Vancouver 2 or 3 years ago. Well I finally caved in and bought some for myself. They are absolutely the perfect thing for carrying a cupcake safely in your lunch without so much as a smoosh to the icing. The individual plastic cupcake holder opens hinged like a book with a spot reserved for your special cupcake. Plastic prongs catch the cupcake just above the paper liner's edge so that your cupcake will not move inside it's protective cocoon. We have been using them for a few weeks now for lunches and just love them to bits. The hinge is plastic......so I think it's only a matter of time before that part fails.......but I bet it takes a few years. Best prices on these were found directly from the Cup-A-Cake people, but you can find them on eBay as well.
Cook Books. ($10+) As a last suggestion.....cookbooks are nice to curl up with with a cup of hot cocoa.......There are lots of online options with plenty of time for delivery and in many case free shipping....have a look at some of these. And if someone you like...likes America's Test Kitchen...Like I do...then might I suggest ....this book.
I could go on and on....but that's for another post.....

I hope you find some useful suggestions here........and there is still plenty of time before Christmas.......So let's not leave it to the last minute! Happy Shopping! Stay tuned as there is a Give Away coming very soon (tomorrow if I get it all together) which just might help you in the purchase of some of the above mentioned gift ideas.

Baking Day Cinnamon Buns

2010-11-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a huge day of baking......sometimes that's just how things work out. I needed to get my Daring Cooks Challenge out of the way (and I was pretty excited to make and eat my first souffle)......I needed to use up some more cream cheese......so I made some more Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes........and someone has left a comment saying that they used the Air Bun recipe to make Cinnamon Rolls.......So I just had to give that a try too! Needless to say, we did a lot of sharing with the neighbours. And......I'm happy to report that the Air Bun recipe did make fantastic cinnamon buns. If you'd like to try a batch......go here for the bun recipe and fill with the Filling Recipe below.

Cinnamon Bun Filling
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Mix first three filling ingredients together and cream until smooth. Pop it in the microwave for just a few seconds if it isn't going to be easily spread....careful not to melt it though.....just to soften. Add optional ingredients and set aside. Move dough to counter and roll out 10"X20" in as much of a rectangle as you can. Spread filling and roll up along long edge so you have a 20" long roll. Slice with a sharp knife into 12 -15 equally sized rolls and set in a pan to rise. Let rise in a warm place for 30- 45 minutes until doubled in size. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350F or until internal temperature reaches 200F. Remove to rack and cool slightly before icing.

Cinnamon Bun Glaze
1/4 cup butter melted
2 cups icing (confectioners) sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp hot water
Mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until mixed in well. Add water 1 tbsp at a time while beating...just until the glaze reaches a spreading consistency....Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

Back with a Daring Cheese Souffle

2010-11-14T15:56:00.000-08:00

I was a little sad to miss out on last months Daring Cook's and Baker's challenge...but things were really just too hectic to do them. But I am back at it with this month's daring cooks Challenge. There is lots on the go here as always seems to be the case....it's actually a very busy day of baking here as I will post about later. But for now...here is the November Cook's Challenge.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

Now I was pretty excited to learn that the November Challenge was to make a souffle. This is my first and hopefully not my last attempt at a souffle. It was the perfect accompaniment for a lunch with the early winter weather we have been having. I wavered back and forth on what kind of souffle to make....and in the end decided to make a basic cheese souffle to start out with. There seems to be no end of sweet baking going on here so a savoury concoction was most definitely in order. We had the souffle for lunch this afternoon with a nice bowl of tomato soup. I chose to try a recipe off the internet from Alton Brown.

Cheese Souffle
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1 1/2 oz or 3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/3 cup hot milk
4 egg yolks
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese
5 egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Grease an 8 inch souffle pan with softened butter and coat with grated parmesan cheese, by dumping the cheese in to the greased pan and turning the pan. Preheat oven to 375F (you will be using only the very lowest rack in the oven).Heat butter and add flour, dry mustard, garlic powder, salt and cayenne pepper to make a roux. Cook 2 minutes. Whisk in hot milk and bring to bubble for two minutes. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and temper them by beating in a few tbsp of hot roux into them. Pour egg yolk mixture into the roux and whisk constantly. Add grated cheddar and whisk to incorporate. In a large bowl whip egg whites and cream of tartar to firm peaks. Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the roux base and fold in well. Add the remaining egg whites in thirds, folding gently. Fill pan to within 1/2 inch of top making sure edges are clean and buttered. bake 35 minutes until cake tester poked into the center comes out clean.

A Month of Cookies-Something Different for the Cookie Tray-16

2010-11-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

When gathering recipes for your holiday cookie offering, it's nice to have some drop cookies, some shaped cookies, and some rolled cookies. I also like to throw in some of these Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes in the mini muffin size as shown above.......since: 1) I love them.....2)They are quick to make ...3)They freeze well...4)Did I mention they are delicious??

Now, I make these so often I'm sad to say that the recipe is pretty much committed to memory.....and if you try them....I bet you'd love them too! These ones are on their way to the Remembrance Day ceremonies here in Prince George. Ike is excited to take part in the parade with all the other Cub Scouts even though I doubt he can fully grasp it's significance. So just in case I've convinced you to try them....here is it......the recipe.

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
Dump all of the above into a large bowl and whisk together, set aside while making topping

Topping:
1 ( 8 oz pkg) of cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
pinch of salt

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar, add egg and salt and combine till smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 18 muffin tins with paper liners. Divide chocolate batter equally into each of the 18 muffin cups. About a rounded tbsp for each. Top with a rounded tsp of cream cheese topping. Bake for about 18 minutes or until the cream cheese topping begins to brown in a few spots.

A Month of Cookies-Chocolate Cherry Chip Drop Cookies-15

2010-11-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Cookie #15, is submitted for your consideration by my very own Ike. Ike made and entered these cookies into a little fall fair close by our neighbourhood. He has been entering cookies and other items into this fall fair for four years now, and this is his 3rd first place cookie submission. It is not clear from the photo, bur they are a chocolate drop cookie filled with white chocolate chips and dried tart cherries. They are soft, chewy and chocolaty.....all very good qualities for a cookie....I think. If you like chocolate cookies....this might be just right for you! Give them a try......Ike thinks you'll like them. Ike sold 100 of these cookies along with about another 100 Ginger Sparkles at a cookie stand this summer to raise money for Cub Scouts outtings.

Chewy Chocolate Cherry and White Chip Drop Cookies
1/2 cup plus 6 tbsp soft butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup white chocolate chips
Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses, egg, vanilla, salt and soda. Mix in flour, cocoa, and cherries and chips. Drop by teaspoonful and bake at 375F for 8 minutes.

A Month of Cookies-Cherry Chip Oatmeal Drop Cookies-14

2010-11-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't get to finish up the October cookie submissions....like I'd planned to.......I decided I'd just put them in when I can. Cookie #14 is a tasty and chewy oatmeal cookie. I thought I'd better grab a photo of them before they are all gone. You can double the batch if you'd like.....which might not be a bad idea if you're doing cookie exchange. A double batch makes about 100 cookies. They are also a nice nut free option for sending into a nut free school. I really liked the flavour combination of the dried Montmorency cherries and the chocolate chips......and even though oatmeal cookies are not my favourite.....I actually liked these for their flavour and chewy texture.

Cherry Chip Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, large
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried tart cherries
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 250 F. In small bowl, whisk together flour, soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs one at a time and then add in vanilla and mix in. Stir in flour mixture. Stir in oats, dried cherries, and chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded spoonful, 2 inches apart on non stick cookie sheet. Bake until tops are golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let sit a few moments on cookie sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool.

A Happy Hogwarts Halloween

2010-11-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ever since Ike as been old enough.....I have encouraged him to choose his Halloween costume, and I do my best to make something fitting his description and also something warm enough for the weather. This year we were fortunate to have an absolutely beautiful Halloween night. This worked out well for me since this is the first Halloween costume I've made for him that is not made out of polar fleece.

Ike decided that he wanted to be a wizard for Halloween and I must admit that it took me a little while to clue in as to what he might think a wizard costume might look like compared with what I might come up with. After a week of mulling over ideas in my head....it dawned on me that Ike's only 'experience' with wizards would be the Harry Potter movies. Good thing I asked......because what he really wanted was a Hogwarts Student costume. Vastly different than the shiny blue Merlin concoction that was brewing in my imagination.

This costume was really a fun one to make and is the first costume that I have bothered to buy a pattern to start with. I purchased the McCalls 5952 pattern and found it to be extremely simple, a nice first time pattern with only 4 pieces. I modified it only slightly, taking 10 inches off the depth of the sleeve at the wrist, also making the back of the hood more 'pointy' and adding a wand pocket on the inside left side. I lined the hood with a wine coloured fabric similar to the Gryffindor colours from the later movies and ordered a Hogwarts crest from Ebay. I found instructions here on making a Chinese Button Frog closure to close the front of the robe. I planned to remove the ties at the neck, but Ike decided he wanted to keep them as well. Thinking ahead to next year, I made the robe a little on the long side. The rest of the costume came together from thrift store finds and from our closet. A mans medium grey V necked camel hair sweater to felt down to size, a boys white dress shirt, a tie of burgundy and gold, and black pants finished off the outfit. Two hot wash cycles with a few pairs of jeans, followed by a trip through the dryer made the mans medium camel hair sweater a little warmer and........just the right size!

Time permitting I decided to think about a Gryffindor scarf and DH thought about the wand. The scarf took a bit of time fussing with the knitting machine to produce it and DH did the most marvelous job on the wand. I think the whole wand construction took only 1/2 hour and cost $5 in parts, with parts to spare to make another. It is constructed with an eleven inch section of oak dowel, a wooden handle for a pail, and a wooden ball. DH drilled out the center hole of the pail handle and wooden ball using the drill press, to match the diameter of the dowel. The dowel runs through the pail handle and into the wooden ball and is all glued together. He also tapered the dowel slightly with sand paper on his drill press. He then stained the working end of the wand and shellacked the handle end, lastly covering all in four coats of spray varnish. I think Ike is likely to get a lot of use out of this one:) After printing out the list of Harry Potter Spells from the internet......there was a lot of practicing!

We had a perfectly great Halloween here even though DH missed out as he had a course to attend out of town:( Grampa, who is visiting, helped out lots with Ike's pumpkin carving and with the knitting machine too!

Knitting more Falling Leaves

2010-10-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

More beautiful fall weather continues here and in keeping with the fall leaves, here is another knitted project with fall leaves. I found this pattern over at Purl Bee and decided that it would make a nice matching scarf for the foliage hat I talked about in the previous post. The scarf took three balls (just over 600m) of worsted weight yarn and took quite a few hours of knitting. The pattern is quite wide, so I might have been able to save some yarn and some time by decreasing the width a little. This scarf is on it's way to it's new home now in the US. I would like to try this again with some more interesting yarn. I. had not yet blocked the scarf before taking the picture and quite honestly I've never blocked a knitted item before. I certainly have no recollection of my grandmother ever doing that.....but it think it really helps with the appearance .....so I guess I should figure that procedure out:) How hard could it be??

Back with a bit of Knitting

2010-10-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

I'm back after a dropping off the grid for a breather. The combination of a nasty cold, a sick kid, a new job, and too many commitments took a bit of a bite out of me. I am now starting to dig out (if only a bit) from the mountain of things to do. Aside from the obvious tasks for this time of year like getting Ike's Halloween costume ready, I've also been finishing up some knitting projects for some swaps I had signed up for before everything got too crazy here. I decided to try a knitted hat swap, and after some searching, I ended up choosing to make a cute lace leaf pattern from Knitty. I had my neighbour model it for the photo below. There was one stitch I think might have done wrong.....so I'd like to try this one one more time. I did really like the pattern and found it pretty easy to follow, and a pretty quick knit. Much quicker than the next project I chose to make.....more about that later. This leaf hat project took exactly 1/2 ball of Patons classic wool and was a very quick project that is perfect for a gift. My neighbour has already hinted that she might like one for Christmas.

A Month of Cookies-Toasted Almond Cookies-13

2010-10-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here is another slice cookie to try if you like almonds. They have a very strong almond flavour due to the toasting of the nuts. I really liked these and will have to make them again. For me this recipe was another winner! The cookie itself a bit chewy....not at all like a shortbread type cookie.

Toasted Almond Cookies
2 1/2 cups slivered almonds, toasted
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup cake flour
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 2/3 cup icing sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, at room temperature

Toast almonds and set aside to cool. Mix almonds with the two flours in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and icing sugar and salt together until light and fluffy. Add egg and stir to combine. Add flour mixture gently with spoon...do not over mix. Line a loaf pan with a long length of plastic wrap and press dough firmly into the pan. Press top level and flat and bring sides of plastic wrap over to cover dough into a firm block. Refrigerate dough for 3 hour. Remove dough from pan and cut down the middle into two long lengths so you end up with 2 square lengths. Cut each length into 1/4 inch thick 'square' cookies and set on a parchment lined sheet to bake. bake at 400F for about 7 minutes or just until edges begin to turn golden. Leave on baking sheet until cool enough to handle, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely

A Month of Cookies- Potato Chip Cookies-12

2010-10-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a recipe that I have not made in many years....since before I met my DH as he had never heard of them. They are pictured above on the left along side the last roll of Mexican Chocolate slice cookies. I actually had to call my mom to get the recipe.....it's from an old Church cookbook and I knew that mom would be able to find her copy quicker than I could find mine. Moms are dependable that way. It was right where I remembered it to be in the cookie section and was pretty straight forward. I have omitted the nuts so there won't be any problems sending them into school tomorrow. This is a good recipe to have on hand that uses up egg yolks. These cookies are a little different with some salt and some sweet notes and are generally well liked by kids and adults.....very few of either have been able to guess the secret ingredient.

Potato Chip Cookies
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup crushed potato chips (I have always used plain ripple)
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in egg yolk and vanilla and mix. Stir in flour and crushed chips and nuts. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls and press with fork to flatten slightly. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes. After a few minutes remove to cooling racks.

A Month of Cookies- Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies-11

2010-10-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I last made these cookies. I did leave myself a note that these cookies were pretty good and I decided that today, I would try to confirm this assessment. (and I did) I really do like the convenience of icebox cookies and also their sharply defined features. Their more controlled shape brings a bit more formality to their presentation. They make a great addition to the holiday baking assortment both from their appearance and their bold colour and flavour. They are richly chocolate with an added punch from the pepper in the recipe. If that sounds like something you might like to try here is the recipe...

Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies
(adapted from the Maida Heatter Recipe)
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 /4 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper
pinch of cayene pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
Cream the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, and vanilla. Sift the cocoa, flour, salt, cinnamon and peppers together and add to the creamed mixture. Divide dough into two halves. Shape each half into a long cylinder about 2 inches in diameter and wrap in waxed paper. Set rolls in the fridge to firm up for an hour. Dough can also be frozen at this time if wrapped very well with plastic wrap. When ready to bake remove frozen rolls and allow to thaw enough to easily slice. Slice into 1/4 thick slices and place on a baking sheet. Bake about 9-10 minutes at 350F. Let cool a few moments on sheet before moving to a wire rack to continue cooling.

A Month of Cookies-Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies-10

2010-10-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

OK I'm taking a cookie baking break today as I have already posted the recipe for this one before.....but I did want to include this one as it is a 'definite October bake' in my house! So go on over here and check out the recipe as I can guarantee you will love it. Today will be busy enough as I will be making a turkey dinner because it's Thanksgiving Day here in Canada. Life here has been so extremely busy here with school and a new job starting up at the same time......I am enjoying the long weekend and the chance to slow down. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to take pause and reflect on the important and positive things that we tend to overlook in the hasty scramble of everyday life. So let's reflect and see if I can find 10 things to be thankful for...................

I am very thankful for,

a healthy and adorable family
friends who I consider family
really wonderful memories of those who are no longer here
people to turn to if I was really in trouble
a safe place to live with unlimited opportunities if choose to take them
a job that fits around my life and takes me to interesting places and people
while I am probably not perfect....I really LIKE me
that I have all the things I need and probably too much of what I want as well
for all the multicultural exposure and interest in the world that comes from being Canadian
all that I've been able to experience to date....so much to see and do....so little time

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

A Month of Cookies-Chocolate Ginger Sparkles-9

2010-10-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a cookie that has been on my to do list for quite some time. In the cooler months I suddenly remember to make certain cookies that I don't make during the summer or spring. I guess it must be the signs of fall, like leaves tumbling across the grass that make me think of pumpkins and spice and all things fall. I believe this recipe was in a cookie collection magazine....either Fine Cooking or Martha....I cannot remember which now.....it has been written out with a note to try it and for the life of me I cannot find the magazine......it's around here somewhere. Maybe I should clean up:) In any event, it takes a good reliable recipe for Ginger sparkles and adds chocolate to the mix. In my books...that's all good! It's moist, chewy and has a bit of ginger bite and the sweetness of chocolate.

Chocolate Ginger Sparkles
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar, extra

Cream butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in fresh ginger, & molasses. Add dry spices and baking soda and cocoa powder and mix in. Stir in flour and finally chocolate chips. Chill dough in fridge at least 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in extra sugar. Place on nonstick cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake at 325 F for 10 minutes until surface of the cookies appear cracked. Cool slightly on sheet before removing to cooling racks.

A Month of Cookies-Chewy Maple Cookies-8

2010-10-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

With another PAC meeting at the school coming up, I had my eye open to find another recipe to try that would promise nut free deliciousness. Even better that this recipe proved to be quite simple.....and even better that it combined two flavours I love....coconut and maple. With no idea about how this one would turn out I gave it a go. The end result was as you might expect....a moist and chewy cookie due to the coconut with a hint of maple....I really think the maple extract helps to boost the maple flavour. Another one to make again sometime.

Chewy Maple Cookies
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup shredded coconut
Cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add in egg, vanilla, syrup, and baking powder and mix in. Stir in flour and finally the coconut. Chill dough in the fridge for 1 hour before dropping by rounded tsp onto a non stick baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 8 minutes. Cool on sheet a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

A Month of Cookies-Lemon Dimples- 7

2010-10-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

With a name like Lemon Dimples....how could you not try these. I really love lemon curd and it just so happened that I had a jar sitting in my pantry just waiting to be used up. So when I chanced upon this recipe over at the Woman's Day site, I decided that I had to try it. The cookie dough, as promised, was extremely quick to mix up, with the only time consuming part being the 1 hour chilling time. No worries there. I did not have any lemons laying around though so I did make a little substitution from the original recipe which called for lemon zest. For how quickly these baked up....I will have to make them again........because I loved them. I loved their lemony deliciousness, and I love that their flavour is a little unusual as far as normal cookie recipes go. If you'd like to try them, this is what I did....and don't skimp on the filling.....make the dent for the filling nice and large and fill it up. I found that the cookies did not spread too much for me during baking, and no filling spilled out. If you love lemon.....you might just love these too!

Lemon Dimples
(Adapted from Woman's Day Recipe)
3/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp orange juice
2 cups flour
1 cup lemon curd for filling
Cream the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg, juices, lemon extract, and stir in. Mix in baking powder and flour and set aside to chill in the fridge for 1 hour. Roll 1 tbsp of dough into a ball and press center to make a dent to hold the filling. Place balls on parchment lines sheets, 2 inches apart. Pipe in about 1 tsp of lemon curd to fill each dent. (Use a sandwich bag with the corner cut off for piping) Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the edges begin to colour. Cool on the baking sheet before removing. Sprinkle with extra icing sugar to decorate.

A Month of Cookies- Mincemeat Cookies-6

2010-10-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Another great soft cookie that really surprised me. With the large amount of mincemeat that I canned up this year......I began thinking about ways in which to use it up other that tarts. This recipe came to mind and I am happy to say I gave it a try. Soft cakey cookies have never been my favourites.....but as my list of soft cookies that I like increases........I may have to change my way of thinking:) This cookie is moist and cakey and has a nice depth of spice flavouring. These cookies get two thumbs up from Ike too, who has eaten more than enough to form an opinion. Give this one a try if you have some mincemeat to use up.

Mincemeat Cookies

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
2 cups mincemeat
3 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mincemeat and stir to combine. Sift dry together and stir in to dough. Drop by teaspoonful on cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes, until the cookies begin to show golden around the edges. Fresh from the oven they have a bit of a crisp exterior, but this will soften as they sit together in the cookie jar.

A Month of Cookies- Zucchini Cookies 5

2010-10-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

I'm still at it here, keeping my fingers crossed that I can sustain the pace. Here we are with cookie number 5 which is a zucchini spice cookie. Now this recipe comes from a very nice friend who had an over abundance of zucchini. Zucchini seems to be one of those things that people are always looking for recipes to use them up. Well, it turns out that this recipe makes a very nice soft and mildly spiced cookie with optional nuts which can be left out if nut allergies are an issue for you.

Zucchini cookies
1 cup margarine or butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts ( optional )
Cream, butter and sugar. Mix in eggs. Mix flour, soda, cinnamon and salt together and stir in to batter. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts if desired. Drop onto greased cookie sheet by teaspoonful, and bake 350 degrees for 15 min or until cookies are firmed up in the center and beginning to brown on the edges.

makes 5 dozen cookies

A Month of Cookies-Cherry Chip Ribbon Cookies-4

2010-10-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Another slice and bake......I just cannot say enough about the ease and convenience of icebox cookies. This one has the extra step of layering the dough to give the cookie some pretty stripes. A tiny bit more effort for a little more cookie bling. This is a nice tasty cookie, and I love the way it looks too. It's nice to have a log of these in the freezer in preparation for unexpected company! Let them thaw until you can slice them.....and you are ready to go. For Christmas you could even throw in some green cherries for a more festive look.

Cherry Chip Ribbon Cookies
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
100g bitter sweet chocolate or semi sweet (1/2 cup chips) or 3 oz, to be melted
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained, blotted to remove excess juice and chopped
1/4 cup chocolate chips extra

Cream the butter and sugar, add egg, milk, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mix until incorporated. Beat in baking powder, then mix in flour until dough is well blended. Divide dough in half and place in two separate bowls. Add the melted chocolate to one bowl and mix in evenly. Add the cherries and chocolate chips to the other bowl and mix until well distributed. You may want to add another tablespoon of flour to the cherry dough if it becomes too wet from any cherry juice.
Line a 3X8 loaf pan with plastic wrap. Take 1/2 of the chocolate dough and pat it down into an even layer in the bottom of the pan. Take 1/2 of the cherry dough and pat it down on top of the chocolate layer making it as even as possible. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and then with the last of the cherry dough. Place loaf pan in fridge to firm up the dough, for a few hours or over night.
Preheat oven to 375F. Once the dough is cool enough to slice, remove it from the pan and remove the wrapping. Slice a 1/4 inch slice of the end of the load and cut that slice into 3 equal pieces. Repeat with remaining dough. Place on nonstick cookie sheet or parchment lined baking sheet with 1 1/2 inches between each cookie and bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to colour.

A Month of Cookies - Buckwheat Cocoa Nib Butter Cookies-3

2010-10-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here's another slice and bake or Icebox cookie recipe that I was tempted to try. I read quite a few bloggers that had given it great reviews, so I decided to give it a try as well. The recipe if from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert cook book and is for Buckwheat butter cookies with cocoa nibs. Now I could only find cocoa nibs here in the health food store and I could only find raw ones....so I roasted them myself at home in a 250F oven for 20 minutes. It seems that raw cocoa nibs have a longer shelf life anyway.......so maybe this will work out better for me anyway. If you'd like to try it as well.....here is the recipe. With a little more effort you can roll and cut these cookies into pretty shapes. I am very much enjoying the look of them though......and the convenience factor of the whole refrigerator cookie thing is very high......so I've elected to roll mine into logs to cool and slice......to each his own!

Buckwheat Cocoa Nib Butter Cookies
adapted from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup roasted cocoa nibs
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

In a bowl mix the flours. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar and salt until creamy. Now add the nibs and vanilla and beat to incorporate. Add the flours mixing until incorparated. You will know it is done when the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl, is moistened and slightly darkened. Form into a 2 1/2 inch diameter log, wrap in waxed paper and let set in the fridge to firm up for several hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350F. Slice dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place on parchment lined cookie sheets with 1 1/2 inches between cookies. Bake until the edges just begin to colour, about 12-14 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through if necessary. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Cool before storing in tightlt sealed container. Cookies are best the second day. On the day of baking some say that the buckwheat flavour is too pronounced. These are a nice butter cookie that are a bit different, and have a distinct nutty cocoa flavour. These are very nice with tea or coffee.