Tag archive for sweet

I have numerous childhood memories that I have to call partial memories. One of these such memories revolves around blueberry picking. When we were young our family did a fair amount of adventuring and also did a lot of food growing and collecting.

We had a large garden that was probably the size of a football field or maybe 5 or 6 fields. It’s hard to know where the truth actually lies these days. Ginger and I spent most of our summer days amongst the rows of veggies, helping with weeding but primarily sampling the goods.

One late summer day I recall the family loading up into my dads big’old red Ford. There was my mom and dad, ginger and I and likely a plethora of buckets, we were heading up into the mountains to pick blueberries. We weren’t just off to the local farm, we had actually set out to forage for wild berries.

I’ll be honest with you here, I may have been fudging the details in the beginning of this story. In fact, I have no memory of how we got into the mountains, if we were really on a blueberry picking mission or if we just stumbled upon a patch of wild berries while hiking. What I do clearly remember is that I was pretty sure that picking wild blueberries was a terrible idea!

Although I was young, I did know one thing. Bears like berries. Especially wild mountain blueberries. We were basically sitting ducks, collecting buckets of bear food and then stealing it from them!! We really were asking for trouble, am I right here or what?
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I had some berry picking tactics that I hoped would ensure that I wasn’t caught by a bear. I’ll share them with you just in case you plan on doing a little mountain blueberry picking sometime soon.

1. Always pick berries with someone who feels responsible for you. Ever heard of sibling rivalry? Don’t choose your older brother or sister, think parent or grandparent. They will likely try to protect you.
2. If you find a rustling berry laden bush, make sure that you check all side of the bush before you just assume that it is your uncle Pete picking berries on the other side of the bush.
3. And my final tip, always be the closest person to the car. Even if it means that you will not be getting the biggest juiciest berries. None of that matters if you are the one being eaten by a bear.

On that very helpful note let’s get down to the business of eating blueberries. Whether your berries came from a farm or were stolen from some mountain bears, what are you going to do with them? Maybe a little cobbler? I adapted this Martha Stewart recipe by adding a tablespoon of fresh rosemary to the cobbler topping.

I am calling it Summer Chop Madness, but it seems like most meals around here involve some kind of chopped salad. I’ve been busy shopping at the farmer’s market, as well as my favorite family farm and the best way to use the great selection of fresh veg is with giant salads. I should also mention the crazy heat that we’ve been sweltering in, as I am sure it has had a part in this. On a hot summer evening, a cool salad bowl is just what I want to eat. We’re not talking about a leafy green number – these salads have enough heft to carry a meal. Wedges of newly dug potatoes, handfuls of the best green beans and no end of cucumbers. But more on that later. With all of this talk of salad, I feel I am within my right to bake cake or two.

I have no favorite summer fruit. I cannot be pinned down to just one top pick. I love them all in their turn – the few weeks when each one has a little window of perfection before giving way to the next one on the list. For us, cherries have been enjoying their time to shine. While I can’t get enough of a just-warm cherry clafoutis, like this one, I do have a new cherry recipe to add to the mix this year. I found this amazing recipe for a cherry picnic cake just about the time cherry season was starting. I’ve been baking it on a weekly basis ever since. And now that we are nearing the tail end of our season, I am finally getting around to sharing it with you.

After my first time baking this cake, I spent several evenings standing at the kitchen sink with a dark apron and a box full of cherries to be pitted. You see, this recipe is just as happy with fresh fruit as it is with frozen. I imagine myself pulling this cake out of the oven on a grey winter day, when the smudge of a juicy cherry will make a slice of pound cake seem like the sweetest treat. And all of my cherry pitting efforts will be well rewarded in that moment.

But for now, I’ll be serving thick slices of this cake in the garden or packed up for a picnic. It travels so well and you know you won’t go wrong when you finish off a meal with this treat.

This cake turned out perfectly the first time I made it, so I haven’t changed a thing from the original recipe. I did make one swap, toasted walnuts for the pecans called for in the original recipe. Go with your favorite flavor on that one. And while a 6-inch cake pan may not be in your cupboard, I made do with a 6-inch soufflé dish the first time around. Since then, I added a pan to my collection. I know it is going to be well used!

CHERRY PICNIC CAKE

Recipe by Tara O’Brady via Herriott Grace

Makes 2, 6-inch round cakes

For the cake

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (256 g) cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

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1 1/3 cups (275 g) granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling if not using the glaze

4 large eggs

Seeds scraped from a vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons thick yogurt or sour cream (not nonfat)

1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts

1 cup pitted dark cherries, fresh or frozen

For the glaze (optional, but recommended)

1 1/4 cups (142 g) confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1/4 cup heavy cream

A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 300°F and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter two 6-inch round cake pans and line both the bottom and sides with parchment. Butter generously.

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl, set aside.

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream on the medium-high setting for 8 minutes. Scrape down the bowl regularly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Turn the mixer down to low, mix in the flour in two additions, alternating with the yogurt until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the nuts with a spatula. Spread one-quarter of the batter between the prepared pans, then scatter with a few of the cherries. Continue to layer dollops of batter with cherries until finished. Smooth the tops with a spatula, then sprinkle with granulated sugar if you are not planning to glaze the cakes later.

Bake the cakes for about 60 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. They are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before unmolding. Return the cakes to the cool rack and allow to cool, right side up, until completely cool.

If you are making the glaze, whisk together all ingredients until smooth. The glaze should be soft enough to drizzle nicely from a spoon. If more liquid is needed, add more cream one teaspoon at a time. Spoon the glaze over both cakes and allow to set for at least one hour before cutting.

These cakes keep nicely at room temperature for a few days and will look lovely under a cake dome or loosely covered in plastic.

I have had cake on my brain for some time now. The craving goes back to early summer of last year. You see, the summer months around here tend to be birthday ladened months filled with one cake after another starting in April and not ending until September or October. Usually not a year will go by without a slice of cake in May for my Dad, two slices in June, one for Ginger and one for Scott, another slice for me in July and one for my Mom in August… you get the picture.

Perhaps there was some sort of sugar or flour shortage last year but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t get a single slice of cake all summer long and that has left me with a serious cake depletion. To make maters worse, it seems like everyone on the internet is making the most amazing looking layer cakes. I have been saving a list of all the cakes that look totally amazing that I NEED to make and of course eat. Below is a collection of some of my top picks and links to the original photos and recipes.

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I bet that if I snuck into your kitchen right now and took a peek in your fridge or maybe even your freezer, I would find a bag of cranberries. That blessed extra bag of cranberries that you bought for the holidays just in case and never ended up needing.

I have had those bags of cranberries before. They start out in your crisper drawer and then as time goes by, reality sets in and you realize that you aren’t going to use them in the near future and they silently slip into the depths of the freezer. Then one day, months from now when you open up the freezer, freshly back from a run (or at least this is what happened to me) and in serious need of something to eat, you realize that the blueberries are all gone and no, a cranberry smoothie will not do the trick. So before you let those cranberries sneak up into the freezer, haul them right out and get busy making this delicious Cranberry Orange & Pecan Coffee Cake from Joy the Baker.

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Better yet, do what I did and turn your coffee cake baking into an event with a friend! Brew yourself a pot of coffee, we made Irish Coffee and then get a bak’n. All of these ridiculously lovely photos were taken by the ever so talented Joann Pai. Hand modelling by myself.

I am currently sitting in front of the computer looking for a little motivation. It is hard to get down to business when visions of campfires are dancing through your head. This weekend marks the unofficial start to summer around these parts. Camping is a big part of our summer activities and I have come to equate the beginning of summer with our first camping trip. So, summer begins tomorrow and at this time tomorrow I hope to be sitting in front of a campfire relaxing.

Snacks are a really big part of camping, especial the driving part of camping. Last year, I had some pretty good success with popcorn, so for our first trip I have decided to take this years popcorn to the next level. Earlier in the week I stumbled on this popcorn recipe on The Kitchn and they kindly forwarded me on to Top With Cinnamon, where the official recipe to this years camping popcorn lay. When it comes to popcorn there isn’t much that beats a straight up buttered popcorn or kettle corn. Oftentimes I find fancy popcorn flavours too sweet or too salty or otherwise just overly flavoured. But this coconut chocolate kettle corn strikes the perfect balance, a little sweet, a little salty and a whole lot yummy. I have modified the original recipe a little as I have had a lot of success making kettle corn with a little more oil and a little more popcorn than the original called for. When you have proportions that work for you, why mess with it I figure. The next time I make this recipe I think that I am going to try adding some of the coconut into the pot with the popcorn. I have no idea if it will work or not but it seems like it could be tasty.

Coconut Chocolate Kettle Corn

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1/2 cup popcorn kernels
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut (plus a little more for sprinkling at the end)
salt to taste
1/4 cup semisweet/bittersweet chocolate, melted

Once you begin popping the popcorn this recipe comes together very quickly. You would be well served to have all your ingredients measured and set aside. Begin by laying out two cookie sheets. You can cover them with parchment paper for easier cleanup if you like. Placing your melted chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock with the corner snipped off will also speed up the process.

Place a large pot on a medium high element, add the coconut oil and three kernels of corn. Once all three kernels have popped add all of the popcorn to the pot and shake. Once all the kernels have been coated in oil sprinkle evenly with sugar. Continue shaking the pot until the vigorous popping slows. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the remaining few kernels to pop. Divide the hot popcorn between the two trays. Working quickly, sprinkle the popcorn with coconut and salt to taste. Next drizzle the melted chocolate onto the popcorn and top with a little more coconut if you like. Let cool until the chocolate has hardened or until you can wait no longer. Store in an airtight container.

One of my all time favourite things about having a collaborative blog with Ginger is the opportunity it provides to play off of each others ideas. That is exactly what I did this week. I’m sure that you remember Ginger’s decadent Cheesecake with honeyed apricots. When I saw it I nearly lost my mind, apricots, fresh or dried are a favourite of mine, and as luck would have it I was on the hunt for a delicious, quick and easy dessert.


I knew that a cheesecake, as yummy as it would have been, wasn’t quite in my timeline. So I stole the honeyed apricots idea, it fit with my timing and I began searching for something to pair them with. In these types of situations I like to turn to google for help. I did numerous random searches like “best easy dessert in the world” or “quick and easy dessert”, what kept coming up for me was Panna Cotta. Apparently, if you don’t know how to make Panna Cotta, you should, because it is a lifesaver. Not only are the ingredients simple but you can easily fancy it up with a little fresh fruit, a compote or honeyed apricots!

Perfect Panna Cotta
Server 4 | Adapted from David Lebovitz

You can find the recipe for the Honeyed apricots with Ginger’s cheesecake recipe.

1 cup half-and-half
1 cup whole milk
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1 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons cold water

Heat half and half, milk and sugar in a sauce pan. Once the sugar has completely dissolved remove the pan from the heat and add in the vanilla.

Lightly oil four custard cups or teacups with a flavourless oil.

Add cold water to a medium mixing bowl and gently sprinkle the gelatine powder over the water. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the warm Panna Cotta mixture into the medium bowl and stir until the gelatine is full dissolved.

Divide the Panna Cotta mixture amongst the four oiled cups and chill until firm. This will take about 2 to 3 hours. If you are unmolding your Panna Cotta run a sharp Knife around the edge of the dish, unmold onto individual serving plates and top as desired. Enjoy!

I wish that I could tell you that these didn’t take the better part of an evening to make and that they totally weren’t worth the trouble. That would be a lie. Truth is, I did spend a good 4 hours in and out of the kitchen mixing, freezing, photographing, shaping, freezing, photographing, freezing, tempering, dipping… and so on. But it was totally worth it.

Growing up, creme eggs were always the Holy Grail of Easter candy. They were soft, creamy and slightly gross, in that intriguing kind of way. How did that gooey yellow centre stay in the middle of the egg? How did it all get inside a chocolate egg? These were questions I wanted to know! Damn Cadbury and all their tricky candy!! They just kept me wanting more.

Although creme eggs don’t hold quite the hallowed spot that they used to in my holiday treat line up, I can’t seem to let Easter pass without one somehow ending up in my grocery basket. This year I have stayed strong, that is until I saw the DYI creme eggs up on Food52. I just couldn’t say no, they used to be a childhood favourite after all. Who doesn’t want to relive fond childhood memories?

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So what sets these guys apart from the 2$ version that you can pick up at just about any store in the city? Um, let’s see. First there is the outer layer of silky rich dark chocolate, gone is the overly sweet milky chocolate. And the filling? The filling is smooth, but not to runny, sweet with a hint of salt (which is sheer genius) and finally there is the slight crunch of the tiny beads of vanilla. All and all a sophisticated take on the classic and you can rest assured knowing that you can pronounce every single ingredient used in the making.

So if you love your creme eggs as much as me and you have a few hours burning a hole in your evening, visit Food52 where Ashley Rodriguez shares the complete recipe and instructions and shape up a batch for yourself. Remember to read the recipe through first! I always like to remind you of this because I often fail to do so. While I didn’t take the time to read the recipe through this time, I did set aside a little time to read some of the comments. You should do this too, I found a lot of the comments to be really helpful. Good luck, and Happy Easter!

Part 2, you might wondered? What is there to follow up on after Tina’s post of the Magic Rose Custard Cake. Well, it started a few months back with an order of new cookbooks. I think I’ve mentioned here before that I tend to be a little behind the times on the newest releases, but only because I’m still cooking through something else! But amongst this particular batch was the amazing book by Aran Goyoaga, of the inspirational food blog Cannelle et vanille. There is a lot I could say about this book and how Aran’s way of gluten free cooking has influenced my kitchen over the past few months. But I am going to cut that story short for now and just tell you that now I have a better selection of flours in my cupboard. And there is nothing dull about variety…

Baking with a new range of flours has been a quite a process for me. While I typically charge headlong into most any new recipe, now I take a step back and wonder if I could make this same dish with different flours. Baking without gluten is a whole new learning curve, blending flavors and textures of various flours to achieve new results. It has added a new level of experimentation to my cooking and a great appreciation of my kitchen scale. So when Tina shared the Magic Custard Cake recipe that appeared on White On Rice Couple’s blog, you can probably guess what I was thinking.

Some careful consideration was given to the recipe before I made my tweaks. First off, this custardy cake has no intention of being a mile-high event. The comfort of this cake is its crepe-y texture, topped with a silky layer of custard and dusted with a snowy finish of powdered sugar. And since ensuring the batter would rise didn’t seem to be an issue, I was off to improvise. Rice flour, coconut flour—what was it going to be?

My first attempt was the chocolate version and it was delicious, so I decided to keep playing with flours and flavors. As you can see, the magic in this cake is the seperation of the three layers of cake, right in the pan while it bakes. A few cakes were made and I may have shared pieces with anyone who would come over with their own plate! What I finally settled on was the coconut custard cake. The slightest hint of coconut flavor in the cake creates a delicious note for me. And while I haven’t tried to make this cake with regular wheat flour, I would wager that most anyone who tastes this cake won’t even miss the wheat flour.

Magic custard cake with coconut
Adapted from White On Rice Couple

½ cup unsalted butter
2 cups milk
4 eggs, separated
1/8 teaspoon white vinegar
1 ¼ cups (150 g) confectioner’s sugar
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½ teaspoon coconut flavoring
1 cup (115 g) super fine brown rice flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Generous pinch of salt

Extra confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 8″x8″ baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a little paper to hang over the edge of the pan.

Gently warm the milk until just warm and set aside. Melt the butter and let it cool a little.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks, adding the vinegar at the halfway point. Set the egg whites aside.

In a second bowl, beat the egg yolks and confectioner’s sugar until the mixture is a pale yellow. Add the melted butter, water and coconut flavoring and continue to mix until well incorporated.

Mix in the flour and salt. Slowly add milk and vanilla extract; continue mixing until the batter is smooth. Divide the egg whites into thirds and fold in one portion at a time, gently mixing until all of the egg whites are folded in and there are no large clumps of egg white in the mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake until the top of the cake is golden, about 50 to 60 minutes. The cake will still jiggle a bit at this point. Allow to fully cool in the pan, maybe even in the fridge, if you are a bit anxious. Once cool, carefully lift out the parchment paper and cake, cut into squares and dust with confectioner’s sugar just before serving.

One thing is certain, I like eggy dishes. Savory, sweet, breakfast or dessert, I love them all. There is nothing like a cherry clafouti, a flan, popovers and Dutch babies. Love them. Last week while perusing through some of my usual food blogs in search of dinner ideas, I encountered White on Rice Couple’s Magic Custard Cake. A custard cake is my dream, the soft custard middle, a thin cake layer, awwwwww.

It took me all of about 5 minutes to decide that I was going to make this magic custard cake, and I was going to make it as soon as the last bite of dinner was down.

I have made the cake a few times now. Yes, a few times in the last week. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. Temperature is important, make sure that your butter and milk are not too hot. Adding a splash of vinegar to the egg whites will help them hold their shape and leave you with a fluffier cake layer. Finally when you are folding the white into the batter, you want to achieve a fairly even consistency. Under mixing the whites will give you a two layer cake without the soft custardy centre and over mixing with give you a very thin cake layer.

Magic Rose Custard Cake
Adapted from White on Rice Couple

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups milk
4 eggs, separated
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1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon food-grade pure rose extract (not rose water);
extra confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preparation
Pre-warm your oven to 325°F. Butter a 8″x8″ baking pan.

Warm the milk to about lukewarm and set aside. Then melt the butter and let it cool down a little. In a medium size mixing bowl beat egg whites to a stiff peak, adding the vinegar at the halfway point. Set the eggs aside.

In a second mixing bowl mix together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is a pale yellow. Continue mixing while adding the melted butter and the tablespoon of water. Mix until incorporated.

Beat in the flour, once smooth slowly add the milk, vanilla and rose extract, continue mixing until the batter is smooth. Divide the egg whites into thirds and fold in one portion at a time until all of the eggs are folded in.

Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake until the top of the cake is golden, about 45-60 minutes. Allow to fully cool, dust with confectioner’s sugar and cut into squares.

This Sunday I had the pleasure of spending the better part of the day hanging out with the very talented Joann from Slice of Pai (don’t forget to check her out on Instagram). For a month or so Joann and I have been talking about doing a collaboration. On Sunday the planets or perhaps more accurately, our agendas finally aligned and we carved out a bit of free time in-between babyshowers and other such obligation to share some time baking and taking photographs. I have been really excited about this collaboration because Joann has an such an amazing eye for food styling and photography. The majority of the photographs you see here today are Joann’s handy work!

Our morning started nice and early (for a Sunday) with me arriving on Joann’s doorstep with a giant box of props and a bottle of whiskey. The whiskey was one of the props of course! Our plan was to bake shortbread two ways, savoury and sweet. I have always loved baking that mixes sweet and salty so when we came across a recipe for a delicate sweet and salty pre-dinner cocktail shortbread (enter the Whiskey) I was all in. For our sweet selection we chose an amazing buttery and crisp almond shortbread sandwich. The almond shortbread maybe one of the best shortbreads I have had in years; so good that I have since made a second batch. See below for recipes.

Sweet and Salty Herbed Shortbread
Recipe Adapted from Food52 

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sal
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1 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary, thyme and lavender
1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack positioned in the centre. In a medium bowl sift together flour and salt. In a small bowl, combined 2 tablespoons of sugar and the chopped herbs. Using your fingers gently rub the sugar and the chopped herbs together, this will release the oils from the herbs. Stir the herb mixture into the flour.

Add butter chunks to the flour, mix using a fork until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough into a 9-inch round or square baking pan; gently pat the dough down. Using a fork prick the dough and sprinkle the remaining teaspoon of sugar evenly over the dough.

Place the pan in the oven and bake the shortbread for 20 to 30 minutes, until it is golden and no longer looks at all wet. While the dough is still warm, score it into fingers using a very sharp knife. Allow it to cool completely in the pan before separating the pieces.

Almond Shortbread Sandwich Cookies
Recipe adapted from FineCooking

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sal
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond meal
Strawberry jam
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a mixer combine butter, sugar and salt at low speed. Mix the ingredients on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes until the butter blends with the sugar but isn’t perfectly smooth. Continue mixing at low speed while adding the flour and almonds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue mixing until the dough begins to hold together. Be careful not to overmix.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, quickly rolling the dough to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Thinner cookies will make a more attractive sandwich.

Make an even number of cookies and cut a smaller shape into the middle of half of your cookies. This will become the top of the sandwich. The tops of the cookies can be fragile so make sure the border is fairly wide. Transfer the cookies onto baking sheets and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

While the cookies are cooling position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat to 300°F. Bake the cookies until golden, about 30 min. Halfway through the baking time switch the pan from top to bottom and rotate them 180 degrees, cook for the remaining time.

Allow the cookies to fully cool. Place a small teaspoon of jam in the centre of the cookie bottoms and spread the jam lightly over the cookie avoiding the edges. Using a sifter dust the cookie tops with confectioners’ sugar. Place the sandwiches tops on the jammed cookie bottoms and very gently press together.