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Since this is my first post of 2010, I guess a Happy New Year is in order! I hope all of you have had a great start to this new year and that you will have the inspiration, energy and passion needed to reach success in all of your goals. How wonderful it is to get a fresh start every new year!
I can hardly believe my blog is 2 years old today! I feel like it was just yesterday that I decided to post a few photos and recipes and see what would come of it. 130 some posts and 122 followers (!) later, I'm still at it, albeit a little inconsistently lately. Balance is hard to achieve between obligations and the things I love to do, choices have to be made. I'll get there though, that's what life is all about!
I want to share one of my family's favorite desserts with you today. When I get a request for pecan pie but I don't have time to make the pie dough, I make these squares. They're so easy to make, almost too easy, I could have them everyday! For a change I used hazelnuts and golden raisins in this batch but you could use walnuts, pecans, currants, dried cranberries or pretty much any combination of dried fruit and nuts you like. As I said, it's all about choices!!! :)
Maple Hazelnut Butter Tart Squares
adapted from here and here
for the base:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
for the topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups golden raisins (or other dried fruit)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnut, skins removed, coarsely chopped (or other nuts)
To make the base:
Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment or aluminum paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, with your mixer of choice, cream the butter and sugar together well. Add the flour and mix until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into the prepared pan and bake at 350F for 10 to 15 minutes. The base with be golden when ready. Don't over bake it as it will become hard but don't under bake it either or it will be too soft.
To make the topping:
Combine all the ingredients for the topping and mix well.
Spread the mixture over the base and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. The top will be golden and cracked and beautiful!
Let cool to room temperature in the pan then cut into squares. Top with whipped cream or the ice cream of your choice.
So, Christmas is in a few days, 2009 is almost over and frankly, I have a hard time believing it. I mean, where did this year go? There were so many things I wanted to do that will just have to wait for next year, and a few will probably have to wait even longer. Maybe it's just the Holiday Season, which always makes me a little weepy, well, OK, weepier than usual, but I just seem to notice that everything is changing around me at the speed of light. The kids are growing up way too fast, and I mean WAY too fast. One minute it was Fall and the next minute there was like 2 feet of snow on the ground. on November 17th, I was stoked when Susan of Food Blogga announced the 3rd season of her Eat Christmas Cookies event and I had a whole month to choose which cookie recipe I could send in. And now, it's December 20th (What?!) and I'm once again at the last minute. How did this happen? Your guess is as good as mine.
In any case, I still love baking cookies and I have baked my fair share since the beginning of December, but they were just my "usual" cookies, cookies that can already be found either here or on other great food blogs so I'll spare you the reruns. The recipe I want to share today is one that I've wanted to try for a long time but it just got to the bottom of the list and I forgot about it. This week, I happened to have all the ingredients handy so I went for it! These are so crispy and crunchy and fragrant, they remind me of Lace Cookies but with a nuttier flavor.
Santa, I hope you like sesame seeds!!! :) Please check out the Eat Christmas Cookies round-up page for more great cookie recipes!
Sesame Snap Wafers
adapted from Robin Hood Baking Festival 1999
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sesame seeds*
Start by toasting your sesame seeds. I like to do this in a dry, nonstick pan, over medium heat. Watch them carefully and move them around often as they could burn easily. Toast the seeds until they're fragrant and golden. Be sure to do this a little in advance, you want them to have time to cool before you make the cookie dough.
When your seeds have cooled to room temperature, preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder; set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugar, egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and the sesame seeds and mix well.
Drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, about a teaspoon's worth per cookie, leaving enough space between the cookies as they spread while baking.
Bake the cookies about 6 to 8 minutes, or until golden. You can leave them a little longer if you like them crispier. The cookies will be soft right out of the oven so leave them on the baking sheet a minute or so before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
* You can use all sesame seeds or a combination of sesame seeds, black sesame seeds and flax seeds. I used 1 cup of sesame seeds and 1/4 cup of flax seeds.
If any of you are at all like me, and I suspect many of you are, there are these personalities, chefs, cookbook authors or food enthusiasts, that you just swear by. To some it's Ina Garten or Bobby Flay, others love Dorie Greenspan, Donna Hay, Jamie Oliver or Curtis Stone. I love every one of those guys. But, as I have mentioned a few times before on these pages, I am always inspired by Ricardo.
Last month, I had the chance to meet Ricardo at a book signing. I did my best not to look like too much of a groupie but I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time I spoke with him! If you've ever watched one of his shows, you know he comes across as this charming, easygoing and all around nice guy. I can now vouch for that, he is genuinely charming and charismatic.
Now, I didn't just want to share this news with you as in "Nanananana, I met Ricardo!", so I decided to share another one of his recipes. Dukka is a mix of fragrant spices and crushed almonds which is typically served as an appetizer with cubes of crusty bread and olive oil in New Zealand restaurants. Since I've never been to New Zealand, I'll take Ricardo's word for it...
I decided to fill small jars with the spice mix, decorate it with ribbons and give it as a gift. This is perfect as a last minute hostess gift or as part of a more elaborate basket of goodies with a bottle of fine olive oil and a crusty baguette. Or you can easily serve this at a party as part of an appetizer tray. Have fun!
Dukka
Adapted from Ricardo Larrivée via Foodnetwork.ca
2/3 cup whole blanched almonds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
cayenne pepper, to taste (1 used 1/8 tsp but will use a bit more next time)
In a food processor, grind the almonds coarsely. You can also do this with a mortar and pestle. Transfer the almonds to a small bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and store in an airtight container.
To serve: Transfer the dukka to a serving bowl and serve alongside a small bowl of extra-virgin olive oil and cubes of crusty bread. Dip the bread lightly in the oil, then in the dukka and enjoy!
Well, it's officially a month to Christmas and boy, is it ever starting to feel like winter! No snow yet, but the days are getting cooler. Hats, mittens and scarves are becoming a must and so is testing holiday recipes! What better excuse to bake a pie than having to test it out?
Let me tell you, this was one successful test. The original recipe didn't call for caramelizing the top but after seeing the baked pie, it just screamed "brûlée"! And what a great dessert to serve for a special occasion. Something like, oh, I don't know, Christmas maybe? Or New Years? Or maybe, just because you wanted to bake something sweet for your sweetie!
Maple Brûlée Pie
adapted from the top of a can of maple syrup, really!
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Sugar to caramelize the top
Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the syrup, eggs, milk and brown sugar. Mix well and pour into pie shell.
Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the custard is set.
This can be eaten at room temperature, as is. Another option is to put it in the refrigerator to cool completely, cut out portions, sprinkle some sugar onto the slices (the sugar you choose is up to you, works just as well with granulated sugar or coarse sugar) and fire up your brûlée torch! Caramelize the sugar until you get a nice crunchy layer on top of the creamy custard. Serve with fruit, ice cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream. Make sure you have some company, this is a sweet, sweet pie to be shared among friends. :)
Note: For the pie crust, I used a recipe from Karen Barker I found on Serious Eats. The dough came together beautifully and the crust turned out flaky and golden. I think this'll be my go to pie crust, for a little while anyways. Click here for the recipe!
Another Note: I'm thinking this could be spiced up with a grating of nutmeg or tonka bean. Mmmm, I'll let you know when I try.
Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies... How can someone say those words and not think that Christmas is just around the corner? How can someone smell the slightly spicy, molasses scented batter and not feel like taking the Christmas decorations out of storage right this minute? I tell ya, I almost did!
These cookies really do smell like Christmas and they are perfect in every way. Just the right amount of spices, just sweet enough and crunchy like a ginger snap. Per-fect. The only thing I did differently is make twice the cookies specified because I like the smaller, crunchier cookies.
Thank you Pamela of Cookies with Boys for choosing this as one of the November recipes for Tuesdays with Dorie. This will also be my last Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, for a while anyways. I have so many cookbooks and magazines I want to bake recipes from and with all the weekly recipes, it's just too many desserts. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is such a thing as too much dessert!!! It was so much fun being part of such a great group of baking enthusiasts, I most certainly will miss it. But I'll keep visiting the members' blogs and hope my Tuesdays with Dorie friends will keep visiting me too. I just need a little more time to be creative, and bake what I feel like, when I feel like it. The Holidays are just around the corner, I'll be baking up a storm pretty soon, so stay tuned!
I know, I know, corny title, but I just couldn't resist. I woke up one morning last week and I just needed to bake bread. I was literally obsessed with it. Am I the only one this happens to? Anyways, I started looking for a recipe that wouldn't be complicated but still good and to which I had all the ingredients.
I found this Buttermilk Honey Bread on Rosa's Yummy Yums, via Food Blog Search (I just love that site) and it was perfect! There is just something so satisfying about bread baking. You start with next to nothing and end up with a fragrant little miracle! The first time around, I made three small braided loaves; one went to a friend and the other two loaves didn't last very long, we devoured them!
The weather has gotten quite cold very quickly around here, we even had snow yesterday. So I decided to make the bread again, I certainly can't think of a better thing to do on a cold day than bake! This time I followed the original recipe and made two braided loaves. We'll have some fresh bread tonight with dinner, whatever that might be...
Visit Rosa for the recipe (she has it in English and in French!) and have a great weekend!
EDIT: I just noticed when I was uploading my pics to Flickr that in the post, the photos look dull compared to what they look like in Flickr. Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a way to remedy this? Thanks for your input!
Alright, we're back! Man, let me tell you, these biscuits, scones, little bread-type-sweet-potato-thingies, whatever you want to call them, are well worth the wait! A little cinnamon, a little nutmeg, a grating of tonka bean just for fun, a cup-a sweet potatoes and a bit of buttermilk to help the process along, a sprinkling of coarse sugar for texture and about 25 minutes later these beauties come out of the oven fluffy, puffy and golden. Just a whiff of their sweet-savory aroma will make you want to put on a warm wool sweater, a comfy pair of boots and go walking in the crunchy fall leaves.
Thank you Erin, aka Prudence Pennywise, what a great choice of recipe! Please visit Erin's blog for the Sweet Potato Biscuits recipe (as a bonus, she also has a Sweet Potato Roll recipe in the same post. Score!). And have a look at the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll, you never know what tasty variations you'll find each week!
As if I didn't have enough cookbooks and baking books and foodie magazines that I love to bits already, I keep discovering new magazines that are so fabulous I can't help but to buy them on the spot! One of those magazines is Delicious. I think the first one I bought was last January and I promised myself I would stop looking for it in news stands because, well, I just have enough magazines, you know. But it just jumps out at me! The articles, the recipes, the pictures, oh, the pictures!
I do make it a point to write a list of recipes I want to try as soon as I get the magazine, which isn't very hard as all the recipes are mouthwatering! In the most recent one I got there was this recipe for a Chocolate and Hazelnut Slice, which I also found on their website but under the name Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles. I think these are really more like truffles, considering the amount of chocolate and cream they contain! Perfect for the Holidays, which are just around the corner you know, better start baking!
Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles
Adapted from Delicious Magazine
50g butter, plus extra for greasing
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting the pan
150g skinned hazelnuts*
90g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
500g bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
2 large eggs
225ml heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease the base and sides of a 20cm square cake pan with a little butter. Dust all over with cocoa powder, knocking out the excess. Or use a springform pan and line the bottom with parchment before buttering and dusting with cocoa powder.
In a food processor, place 100g of hazelnuts, the flour, sugar and salt and process until coarsely ground. Roughly chop the rest of the nuts and stir in. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat, then add 150g of chocolate. Let it melt slightly, then whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well between each addition. Stir in the nut mixture until well combined. Spoon into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan.
To make the ganache, put the rest of the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Bring the cream just to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for a few minutes then gently stir until melted and thickened. Spoon over the cold hazelnut base and spread out. Tap the pan on the counter to smooth the ganache evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours. Cut into squares with a warmed knife, wiping the knife after each cut. If you used a round springform pan, cut the round parts off and then cut the rest into squares. The baker needs a treat too, right?
To assemble as a gift: put in a decorative box or cellophane bag and decorate as you wish. Keeps in the fridge for up to a week.
*To skin the hazelnuts: Put the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast in a 350F oven for about 10 minutes. Place the hazelnuts on a clean dish towel and rub them with the towel to remove skins.
