Nothing Says Christmas Like Gingersnaps...

Christmas is all about tradition at our house.  Despite having spent time living overseas for three years and in a few different homes...one thing always stays the same at Christmas...gingersnaps.  My kids won't have Christmas without them and this recipe is to-die-for when straight out of the oven....crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside.  This year, we were very late in putting up our tree...December 23rd to be exact...but the tree-trimming celebration still included hot chocolate and our yummy fresh gingersnaps...comfort in a cookie.

Gingersnaps

3 3/4 cps all purpose flour
3 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups butter at room temperature
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs well beaten
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
granulated sugar for rolling

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy.
Add eggs, beating until fluffy.  Add molasses, lime juice and vanilla.  Continue beating until well combined.  Gradually add the flour mixture, beating until just blended.
Divide the dough into two portion, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.  (The dough can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for a few days).
Preheat the oven to 350F  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball.  Roll the ball in the granulated sugar and place on the baking sheets.  Bake for 10 - 12 mins.  Transfer to a rack to cool.  These will keep in an airtight container for a few days...or freeze and take out as you need them.

The Annual Neighbourhood Gingerbread Build - This year...Harry Potter!

Each year my friend Dianne...lovely, brave, self-less Dianne....has a gingerbread party and invites a number of (ultra-competitive) women together to drink wine, eat yummy food and compete to see who can build the 'best' gingerbread house.  Well, there are no actual prizes...only self-proclaimed winners...but some incredible details that would blow your socks off.  Miniature lights, trees, skating rinks, Russian tea-house themes....you name it.  Each year these lovely women start drawing up blueprints around March and work, and re-work their masterpieces before coming in for the kill in December.  It's so much fun.  And lovely Dianne is the hostess above all hostesses....a beautiful lunch, ready-made gingerbread houses for everyone (you just have to bring your candy), icing tubes prepared, a beautiful smile and take home shortbread.  I LOVE being a guest, but it sounds like torture as a hostess!  Where's the fun in that?  She is obviously a better person than me...So cheers to Dianne and to my loveable neighbourhood competitors!

BBQ Beef Sandwiches for Grey Cup festivities!

The Grey Cup is the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl in the US....well, its smaller, much more modest cousin...but it celebrated it's 100th game this past weekend, and so it was a big deal for us canucks!  While we love our pulled pork sandwiches for tailgating, we latched on to this BBQ Beef sandwich recipe some years ago and it stuck.  And it is a bit of a healthier alternative (don't tell Z and K).  Some short prep, toss in the slow cooker and it's a snap to make!  Zach was my guest photographer for this entry...he had to get a shot of his double-decker sandwich garnished with dill pickle slices and red onion on an over-sized toasted garlic bun!

BBQ Beef Sandwiches (adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)

2 (1.5 lb) flank steaks

1/3 cup dark brown sugar, divided

3/4 tsp black pepper

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup ketchup

3 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce (if you are not allergic!)

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp prepared mustard

1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

12 (2.5 oz) sandwich rollsred onion rings and dill pickle slices to garnish

Cut each steak in half crosswise. Combine 1 tbsp brown sugar ad pepper. Rub steaks with sugar mixture. Place remaining brown sugar, tomato paste and next 10 ingredients (through dry mustard) in a slow cooker, stir well. Add steak and turn to coat. Cover with lid, cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce to low and cook 6 - 7 hours until steak is tender. Remove steak from slow cooker (leaving sauce in cooker). Shred steak with 2 forks (don't do this until ready to serve or it will dry out). Return shredded steak to cooker, stir well to coat with sauce. Spoon onto buns and garnish. 375 cals.

Virtuous Apple Ginger Muffins

A favourite muffin inspired by a recipe by the lovely Sophie Dahl.  There is no sugar and the recipe uses spelt flour, oats and applesauce to keep it moist.  The result is a lighter-than-air treat that is moist, tasty and good for you....top that!  All this in an effort to increase my health efforts before Christmas...I even tried a very cool ballet-inspired fitness class this week...so between doing that and eating these muffins, I should be guilt-free by Christmas!  If only it were so easy.

What the heck...try the muffins...they are good.  'Nuff said.

Virtuous Apple Ginger Muffins

Sunflower oil (or paper cases)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or 1/8 tsp dry)

1 1/4 cup spelt flour (you can use whole wheat flour)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 cup greek or natural yogurt

3/4 cup agave syrup or honey

1 firm apple, peeled, cored and diced

3/4 cup of raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a 12 hole muffin tin with sunflower oil or use paper cases.

Sift baking powder, soda, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in flour and oats.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add in all the wet ingredients, apple and raisins.  Stir very gently just until dry ingredients are folded into the batter.  Pour batter into muffin tins.  You can garnish each with a thin slice of apple, if you like.

Bake for 25 - 30 mins until tops are brown.  Serve warm with apple butter.

Sometimes it's the occasion over the recipe - Candy Apples for a brace-free smile

Sometimes, it is more about the occasion and the gesture than it is about the recipe.  FYI...that is huuuuge rationalization...but today I actually believe it!  Someone got her braces off today...over a year of no corn-on-the-cob, apples, chewy candy (or so the dentist said...), nuts or hard food...which makes this a perfect occasion for surprise candy apples!

I actually wanted to make caramel apples and roll them in an abundance of candy treats, but time was not on my side and the Bulk Barn only had a candy apple kit....some terrible sugary, red-dye concoction that is mixed with sugar and boiled to 150F....but it looks great and it's a tasty treat on a special occasion!

The (brace-free) smile, running hugs and secret photos for BBM were enough to make it all worthwhile.

Candy apples always take me back to the good ole days when Simpsons used to put on the Christmas windows.  I can play back those cold, snowy days, watching the magical windows light up with colourful animation and Christmas sparkle....and there would always be those lovely old men with their carts of popcorn, candy apples and roasting chestnuts waiting for us on the corner.  It wouldn't be the same without a candy apple and some hot chestnuts to complete the occasion.  What a warm and wonderful memory.

Although I don't have a recipe to share (it's on the back of the box)...I did take the liberty of rolling the warm candy apples in toffee bits and sprinkles.  A tip for next time....the toffee bits work the best and they taste better too!

Oh Yeah....Smothered Hot Chocolate Cookies!

So, it's getting dark earlier now...certainly not as early as I remember of my days in Britain....in November,  it would actually start getting dark at 3:30 pm.  Seriously.  But I digress....it is getting dark earlier...and cold...and I actually wore gloves today.  So these cookies are very appropriate....fudgey chocolate cookie, smothered in chocolate frosting with a lovely marshmallow surprise inside.  Uh huh!

Just like a warm hot chocolate in front of the fire...but better because it is sweeter and meltier and slathered in chocolate!  So, we welcome the cold.  We embrace the cold.  We mock the cold....Bring it!

Smothered Hot Chocolate Cookies

Cookies:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
About 9 large marshmallows, halved crosswise

Frosting:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons (just under 1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa, soda and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand up or electric mixer, fitted with paddle attachment.  Mix on medium high speed until pale and fluffy (about 2 mins).  Reduce speed to medium low, mix in egg, milk and vanilla.  Mix in flour mixture all at once and stir until combined.  Dough will be slightly sticky.
4. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart.  Bake cookies until firm (8 - 10 mins).  Immediately press half a marshmallow on top of each cookie and pop back into the oven for 2 mins.  Let cool completely on wire racks.  If the cookie is still warm when you try to ice it, it will be a slippery, gooey mess...

Frosting:
1. Put confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl.  Melt butter with cocoa in a saucepan or the microwave (for about 30 seconds).  Stir well.  Add butter mixture to the confectioners' sugar.  Whisk in milk and vanilla.
2. When cookies are cool (see above), spread about one teaspoon or so of frosting on top of each cookie to cover the marshmallow.  Not too much or a drippy cookie, you will have!  Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temp for a couple of days.

Start the log fire...and enjoy.

Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

Have you heard of chia seeds?  Yes...the same chia as in CHIA PETS, but without the pet part...and definitely more edible.  Chia seeds are the new superfood...high in omega 3s and good for staving off hunger due to their expanding properties!  Read more about the health benefits of chia seeds and obtain more recipes at the following site....http://www.chiaseedrecipes.com.

I found this recipe while doing a detox.  No wheat, no dairy, red meat, no....air.  But this recipe was a keeper because it made me feel like I was cheating and it gave me a great little chocolate fix.  The texture takes some getting used to and you should not be expecting the same smooth chocolate pudding-type texture that we are all accustomed to.  So, while Z and K were not really interested in trying it (their loss!)...it helped me over the detox hump and I've made it many times since.  Guilt-free chocolate pudding...need I say more??

Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

1 1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup chia seeds
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 - 2 tbsp agave nectar
chocolate chips for garnish (optional)

Whisk together all ingredients until cocoa lumps have dissolved.  Refrigerate until set (1 - 2 hours).  Garnish with a few sprinkled chocolate chips (but not if you are on detox or dairy-free).  Enjoy

Pumpkin Muffins - Fall has arrived!!

Ahhh...Autumn!  I love summer, but there is something so comforting about the arrival of fall.  Z says that September is really like New Years, since it is the time when school starts and everyone gets back 'at it' from the lazy summer months.  A renewal of sorts.  And I love pulling out the warm woolly sweaters and boots.   I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season today.  It inspired thoughts of an old favourite recipe for pumpkin muffins from my university days.    Not really health-conscious per se....so I've added a couple of options to lighten them up in brackets.  Personally, the full recipe without modification is still the best.  Everything in moderation, right?  These are best fresh out of the oven, while still warm and crumbly....preferably with a hot tea on the deck with crunchy, coloured leaves underfoot.  

Pumpkin Muffins

4 eggs
1 cup sugar  (3/4 works okay too)
1 cup veg oil (or 1/2 cup veg oil and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce)
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
3 cups whole wheat flour (or 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup whole spelt flour)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp soda
2 tsp powder
1 tsp salt

Beat eggs, sugar, oil (and applesauce, if using) and pumpkin.  Mix well.  Sift together dry ingredients.  Add to egg mixture with raisins (or cranberries) and mix until just combined.  Bake at 400F for 15 mins.

Mixed Rice - "Maze Gohan"

This is a family favourite...my grandmother was famous for this recipe!  It took many years for me to actually finalize the recipe (it's still a work in progress), as it was 'in her head' and I needed to keep calling her every time I made it to tweak it here or there.  So this is a valuable commodity in our family and I hope this entry will help keep the tradition alive.  It travels well and feeds a crowd, so we usually make this in the summer for bbqs or picnics...but it would be equally good in the winter.  I made this last for our 'summer birthdays' pool party in July and it always meets with rave reviews and nostalgic thoughts...

Maze Gohan

2 boneless chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces - it's easier to do this if the meat is partially frozen)
2 grated carrots
One handful of green beans, cut on the diagonal
1 can of bamboo shoots (cut thin)
8 dried shiitake mushrooms (or fresh)
1 pkg kampyo (dried gourd...comes in long strips)
1/2 cup frozen green peas
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Japanese soya sauce (shoyu)

5 cups cooked rice
1.5 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vinegar (rice or white)
2 tbsp mirin
salt

Sesame seeds and/or eggs for garnish

Soak kampyo and shiitake (if using dried) in hot water for 1 hour.  Cut shiitake and kampyo small.
In a medium saucepan, boil water and add chicken for 5 mins.  Add vegetables, shiitake and kampyo.  Boil until vegetables are tender.  Mix equal parts shoyu and sugar and add to vegetable mixture.  Let marinate for at least 10 mins.  Drain and squeeze.
Mix sugar, vinegar and mirin together in a measuring cup and add to rice.  Let marinate for 15 mins.  Mix in vegetable mixture (cut, do not stir...).  Cook peas in accordance with package directions and add to rice.  Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with black sesame seeds or eggs.

Egg garnish - beat 2 - 3 egs with a bit of salt.  Pour thinly into a teflon pan.  Roll and slice thin (long strips).

Cherry Vanilla Cake with Pink Dream Icing

It's a double whammy today...Easter dinner with the family and a celebration of two lovely young girls' birthdays...So what could be more appropriate than vanilla cake with maraschino cherry bits and a fluffy pink icing with pastel Mini Eggs?
When K was just three, she had a book called 'EAT YOUR DINNER, BA'...where a stubborn little bear had trouble eating his dinner...until his Dad pulled out dessert - 'a honey cake with pretty pink icing and cherries on top'....suddenly his appetite came back!  K loved that book and was so taken with the cake image that she requested this cake for her 3rd birthday.  I made one similar, but this is the grown up version...with the cherries in the cake!  So twelve years later, we re-create a favourite!  Happy Birthday to my lovely, sweet niece and my baby girl....

Cherry Vanilla Cake
(adapted from Chatelaine)

3 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs (room temp)
4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 - 375 ml jar maraschino cherries, drained well, dried with paper towel and chopped (save some of the juice for tinting the icing)

Preheat oven to 350F

Spray 2 round 9 inch cake pans with oil and line with parchment circles.  Spray circles.  Stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat 1 cup of butter in a large bowl, using an electric mixer beat until creamy, about 1 min.  Gradually beat in sugar, then eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, scraping down sides of bowl, if needed.  Repeat, ending with flour mixture, beating just until blended.  Stir in cherries.  Divide batter between pans and bake in centre of oven for 25 - 30 mins or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool in pans 15 mins, then remove cakes to wire rack and cool completely.

Fluffy Icing 

This is an excellent icing.  Beautiful to show and easy to make.  It makes a glossy white frosting, which can easily be tinted with a bit of food colouring, or in this case some of the juice from the maraschino cherries.  

1 cup white corn syrup
2 egg whites, room temp
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla

In a small saucepan, bring corn syrup to a rolling boil.  Meanwhile beat egg whites and cream of tartar to stiff moist peaks.  Beating constantly at high speed on electric mixer, gradually add the hot syrup in a thin stream.  Continue beating until frosting hold stiff shiny peaks.  Beat in vanilla and/or food colouring.  Makes enough to frost an 8 - 9 inch layer cake.  Decorate as you see fit!

Sweet 15 - Sticky Buns

Someone turned 15 in our house today...So the best of the best for a fifteen year old girl was brought out this morning...waking up to 'Fifteen' by Taylor Swift (there is a 'song count' on today...how many times can you listen to the same song in a day....we were up to 7 by the time she left for school)...having sticky buns, hot chocolate and bananas with sugar and milk for breakfast...does it get any better than that?  The grin on her face as she was sitting down to eat, was worth the price of admission!

So these sticky buns are from the secrets of my lovely Jill.  They are THE breakfast in our house for birthdays, Christmas, cottage stays...actually any event will do.  Last year when Z's hockey finals landed on K's birthday, we actually took a big pan to the arena with us and shared the bounty at 8 am on a Saturday!  They never get tired.

The real beauty is how easy they are...make ahead the night before and pop them in the oven in the morning.  They make you look like a rock star for very little effort.  Thanks Jilly.

Sticky Buns

2 loaves frozen bread dough (or pizza dough)
Instant butterscotch pudding (1 box)
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/3 cup brown sugar.

Thaw dough and cut dough into bite sized pieces.  Arrange pieces evenly in a greased angel food pan.  Mix butter and brown sugar together.  Sprinkle the butterscotch pudding mix over the dough then pour the butter mixture over the top evenly.  Cover lightly with waxed paper then a tea towel.  Let rise overnight.  Bake at 350F for 20 mins.

Confession:  I sometimes increase the butter and brown sugar.  I find that you need to cover the pudding mix pretty well with the wet mixture or else you'll just get dry powder on the top when it's baked.  Try to cover the dough with the wet mixture and add more butter, as needed.

Hungry for the Hunger Games - Flourless chocolate cake

With the hysteria over the Hunger Games in full force at our house, I decided to surprise the troops with a 'Hunger Games' dessert.  A simple flourless chocolate cake (and I do mean simple....I can say this because I made it TWICE....the first one got overdone while I worked on the stencil for the mockingjay symbol), with a stencilled icing sugar mockingjay...voila!

The stencil was printed off the internet and then lovingly cut out with a exacto-knife.  While it generally turned out okay...lifting the final stencil off sent some powered sugar in a pouff onto the dark chocolate cake....a damp paper towel took off most of it.

A fitting 'tribute' to the newest teen craze!

Simple Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes one 8-inch cake

4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (I used 76% cocoa solids)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
confectioners sugar for dusting the stencil

Preheat oven to 375F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan.  Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper and butter the paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces.  In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, melt chocolate with butter, stirring until smooth.  Be careful not to let the bowl touch the simmering water or the steam to escape the sides to touch the chocolate mixture.  Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into into chocolate mixture.  Add eggs and whisk well.  Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.  Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven for 25 minutes or until the top has formed a thin crust.  Cool cake in pan on a rack for 5 minutes and then invert onto a serving plate.

When the cake is completely cool, place stencil on top of cake and dust with confectioners sugar.  Be careful when removing the stencil so the extra sugar doesn't drop on the cake!  I lifted the stencil with the exacto-knife and removed with a butter knife for more support.  Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or sorbet.

Ne'er Fail Crisp Chicken Legs with Sweet Tomatoes

I've been delinquent...when I started doing this blog, I figured an entry a week would be appropriate.  It's been really busy at work, so I have kind of slowed down on the entries, but I am realizing that this is fun and creative and it is a wonderful outlet for the stresses of the day job...so a resolution to be better is in order!

In the spirit of simple, but very tasty recipes...here's a keeper.  My girlfriend Christina gave it to me in an email recipe exchange...although I'm not always good about participating in those...this recipe has become a staple in our house.  I love it because it is so simple, it has gorgeous colours and aromas, and if you were really in a jam, you could make it a one pot meal by adding halved baby potatoes or cannellini beans.   Otherwise, you can add a green vegetable and orzo or mashed potatoes for a very yummy, casual dinner.

4 - 6 chicken legs (the ones with the back attached)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
a big bunch of fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
2 big handfuls of red and yellow cherry tomatoes,halved and ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves
1 chili finely chopped (optional)
olive oil
Optional adds:  baby potatoes (halved) or 1 tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Season chicken pieces all over and put them into a snug fitting pan in one layer.  Throw in all the basil leaves and stalks, then sprinkle over with tomatoes.  Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chilli and drizzle the whole thing with olive oil.  Place in oven for 1.5 hours, or until chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone.  Voila!

Restorative Brownies

It's been a bad week...well, let's keep it in perspective...we're healthy and alive, so it can't have been that bad.  So I'm being a bit of a drama queen, but that is sometimes the necessary first step of healing.  I think it is in a 12 step process somewhere!  I've heard of restorative yoga...I've never been, but the the image it conjures up is lovely.  Something that somehow restores peace, harmony and health back to your body.  Nice, huh?  So, I'm re-naming my brownie recipe...Restorative Brownies.  Yes, they will restore peace, harmony and health (umm...okay not if you are diabetic) to your life.  They will make you feel better than you did before.  Really!

Restorative Brownies

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup dutch processed cocoa
2 cups of sugar (ya, I just said that...see above)
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Melt butter in a large saucepan or microwave in a large bowl.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cocoa.  Blend in sugar, eggs and nuts (if using).  Pour batter into greased 9 x 13" pan.  Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 - 35 mins.  Eat plain or frost with chocolate frosting when cool.

S'more brownies:  layer the bottom of the pan with graham crackers before you pour the brownie batter.  Bake for 25 mins.  Sprinkle chocolate chips then mini marshmallows on the top and bake for 10 more minutes.  Drizzle with caramel sauce if it's been a really bad week.

Chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies

Eating an Oreo (R) is like a journey back into childhood...pulling chocolate cookies apart and licking the filling out....that's the way I preferred to eat them...OR you could take the whole thing and dunk it into a big glass of milk...usually while watching 'Gilligan's Island' or the 'Partridge Family' after school.  Usually a whole row would disappear before the first commercial.  Sigh....

Well let me say that these are (if I do say so myself) BETTER than that!!  The cookies are buttery and yummy and the filling is much more...shall we say 'natural'?  The nice thing is that you can flavour the filling however you like...with vanilla, cocoa or espresso, or add some peppermint and pink food colouring for a nice Christmas treat (as above).  I think these will become regulars in our repetoire....

Chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies
(adapted from Joy the Baker)

For the Filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract (depending on how strong you want it)

For the Cookies:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

15 Tablespoons (7 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, but into 3/4-inch cubes, at room temperature (this is important)

For the Filling:

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to boil over medium heat.  Remove from the heat and add the finely chopped white chocolate and peppermint extract.  Make sure all the chocolate is covered by the cream.  Let stand for 1 minute (this is important), then whisk the white chocolate until completely melted.

Transfer the filling to a small bowl and let stand until room temperature.  You’ll need the filling thicker to assemble the cookies, so cover the filling and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or an hour, until a thick consistency is reached.  If the filling hardens too much, it can be rewarmed in the microwave for a few seconds.  It’s best if left at room temperature until the proper consistency is achieved.  This may mean leaving it out overnight.

For the Cookies:

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed.  With the mixer running, add the butter a few pieces at a time.  The mixture will have a sandy texture at first and then will begin to form peddle-size pieces.  As soon as the dough starts to come together, stop the mixer.  Make sure all the butter is well incorporated.  If there are large butter pockets, mix for a few seconds more.

Form and roll the dough straight from the mixer.  The dough becomes hard to work with if chilled.

Transfer the dough to a board and use the heel of your hand or a pastry scraper to shape the dough into a block about 5 by 7 inches.  Cut the block into two pieces.

One at a time, roll each block of dough between two pieces of lightly floured parchment paper until about 1/8-inch thick.  Using a cookie cutter, cut into 2 inch rounds.  Place 1/2 to 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.  You can form and roll the dough scraps once after the first roll.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking.  Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets for 2 to 5 minutes.  They’ll be too soft to move straight from the oven.  Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

To Assemble the Cookies:

Place half of the cookies upside down on a work surface.  Whip the filling lightly with a whisk to loosen it.  It will lighten in color and fluff up.  Be careful not to overwhip or the filling may begin to separate.

Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip.  You can just scooped the filling out by the half teaspoonful.  Pipe or dollop one teaspoon of filling  in the center of each upside down cookie.  Gently, using your fingers, press the cookies together until the filling comes just to the edges.

Store in airtight container.  These also freeze well for a couple of weeks.

Granola Crunch

One of my goals in doing this blog is to have a resource for my kids when they leave the nest and want a recipe from their childhood.  So, if I think of the recipes my kids will want to pull from this blog when they move out of the house...this isn't necessarily one of them.

Not because they don't love the granola...more because I doubt the thought of making a big batch of granola will enter their minds!  But, it's becoming a favourite in our family and a permanent fixture in a glass jar on our counter so here it is...great with vanilla yogurt and berries for breakfast, throwing into a small container for a snack during the day or just taking a scoop from the jar and pouring directly into your mouth (as I have seen my son do when he thought I wasn't looking...)!!

Granola Crunch
(adapted from Trish Magwood)

4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 cups chopped almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped cashews
1/4 cup flax seeds

Pre-heat oven to 325F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl combine oats, coconut, almonds and cinnamon.  In another bowl, combine oil, maple syrup and honey.  Gently fold wet mixture into dry mixture until coated, allowing clumps to form.  Spread evenly over baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally or until golden.  Remove from oven.  Stir and cool.  Stir in dried fruit, nuts and seeds.  When completely cool, store in airtight container for up to two weeks.  Include a spoon for direct pouring into mouth!   

Blueberry Muffins Extraordinaire

It's cold outside and right now there are snowball-sized snowflakes falling gracefully from the sky...time for comfort food.  I have always been a fan of blueberry muffins.  I know they are not as healthy as they sound...really just small cupcakes, un-iced.  Well, maybe not that bad, but certainly not diet-food.  It's okay, because when it's cold you need warmth and comfort.  Well here it is...

Blueberry Muffins Extraordinaire

1/2 cup melted butter (cooled)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sa;t
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tsp lemon zest (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Whisk the butter, eggs and milk in a bowl.  In another bowl (or bowl of stand mixer), whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.  (Don't stir too long or the mix will become goopy and the muffins will be tough when baked).  Fold in blueberries and lemon zest (if using).  Divide among the muffin cups and sprinkle the muffins with one teaspoon of sugar.  Bake until a toothpick comes clean and the muffins are golden, 25 - 30 mins.
Eat warm...if you want to be really bad, spread with butter before eating.  Enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

The best chocolate chip cookies...really!

Chocolate chip cookies are comfort...they are sweet and melty and feel like a good hug.  We've tried a lot of recipes, but this one is the one we keep coming back to.  I think Kara has it memorized.  If I wasn't so old, I might memorize it too....:)  So, live on chocolate chip cookies...we love you.

The best chocolate chip cookies.

(Adapted from Anna Olson)

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl, using a fork, stir flour with cornstarch, baking soda and salt until evenly mixed.  Measure out chocolate chips.  Place butter in a large bowl.  Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth (about 1 min).  Beat in brown and granulated sugars  until fluffy (about 2 mins).  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Using a spoon, stir in flour mixture and chocolate chips until just evenly mixed.
2) Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop out a small cookie scoop of dough (we like our cookies a bit bigger) and place on sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough, spacing at least 2 inches apart.  Do not press down.
3)  Bake, one sheet at a time, in centre of oven until cookies are golden around the edges (12 - 15 mins for large cookies...8 - 10 for 1 tbsp sized cookies).  Let stand for 2 minutes then remove to rack to cool.
4) Eat as many as you can right now...they go fast!

New Years Day - Japanese style!

A tradition in Japanese culture is to have a special feast on New Years' Day.  I remember the big feasts at my grandmothers' house.  She would cook for days in advance and a stream of people would come by the house over the course of New Years' Day...'open house' style.  We would set and re-set the table for new guests to arrive.  I miss those days.  Great memories.  On this new years, we did a 'mini' New Years Day...sushi, sunomono (cucumber salad...my sister's first attempt...and a good one!), bbq duck, mochi, mizuyokan (red bean cake...eating is meant to be 'good luck' for the new year) and japanese chow mein...a yummy, nostalgic and great time together.  Here is my grandmother's recipe for Japanese Canadian chow mein...simple but it's all in the technique!!

Nanny's Chow Mein

1 lb boneless chicken breast (cut in bite-sized pieces)
1 med stalk of celery
2 med onions
Couple of handfuls of mushrooms
handful of green beans
1 package dried brown chow mein noodles (available at Japanese market)
2 tsp garlic
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
green onions or goma (black sesame seeds) for garnish

Thinly slice onions lengthwise, creating long, thin slices.

Cut beans on a diagonal, to produce nice, thin slices...but watch your fingers!  Slice celery thinly on the diagonal and mushrooms in half and then sliced.

Spray a large saucepan or dutch oven with cooking spray and add one tbsp of vegetable oil.  Heat over medium heat and add the chicken pieces.  Stir and cook until no longer pink.

Add onions and cook until transuculent.  Add salt, sugar, garlic and the rest of the vegetables.  Cook, stirring frequently, until veg is tender but not too soft.  Add the chow mein noodles and stir.  Cook with the lid on to steam the noodles, stirring occasionally.  If the noodles start to stick to the bottom, add a bit of water to the pot.  In the interim, spray a medium non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-low heat.  Beat the eggs in a bowl and add a bit of salt.  Pour the egg mixture into the frying pan in a very thin layer (save some for a second batch).  This should be almost paper thin.  Heat over medium to low heat until set.  Do not let it brown.  When set, roll carefully off the pan with a spatula, creating a toilet roll effect. Remove to a cutting board and slice the roll on the short side to create long lengths.

When chow mein mixture is done.  Remove to a serving platter and garnish with egg strands and goma or green onion).  Gochisosama!