Happy Halloween!

A few images from what I've been doing for the past month. Sadly, today was the last day the Farm was open until next year, and I will miss it and the people I've been working with.

Cortland apples, ready to be candied and carameled. Sorry, no pictures of caramel - they would disappear off the trays almost as fast as we could make them.

I love how the red candy apple drips and the blue candy apple drips co-mingled together. Such pretty colors.

Gourmet chocolate apples. These ones still needed a drizzle of white and dark chocolate before they were done.

Best seller this year, a combination I made up, Skor toffee bits with cinnamon chips, on milk chocolate, drizzled with white and dark.

Ever seen a blue candy apple before. Pretty.

Kettle corn, fresh from the kettle. Highly addictive stuff.

Chocolate dipped marshmallows. Very popular and alot of fun to make.

Pretty gourds. So many beautiful pumpkins and gourds at the farm. Now all covered in snow.

Ghosty sugar cookies, with royal icing. Probably could have done these for the September Daring Baker's Challenge, but waited until October instead.

More pretty pumpkins. Would they look so happy if they knew they were about to be devoured?

Pulled pork. Smoked with applewood chips on the bbq, long and low, pulled by hand and then tossed in a smokey bbq sauce before being served on a soft kaiser roll. Too bad you can't get them again until next October!

I made many more things over the last month: cinnamon buns, pumpkin cinnamon buns, maple pumpkin pies and tarts, pumpkin chocolate chip scones, pumpkin streusel muffins (notice a theme here?), but did not take as many pictures as I normally do. So fun to "work" at what I love doing, being in a kitchen and covered in flour.

PS Have you seen the newest Pamela Von Twilight video, Saunders Farm Monsters? Based on some of these pictures, can figure out where I am in it?

I Hearts Cooking Clubs: Mark Bittman Edition: Potluck

Who doesn't love a jar full of chocolate chip cookies? Not my family, that's for sure. I personally prefer oatmeal raisin, but generally don't turn down a soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie.

Looking back over the last few weeks of cooking Mark Bittman, it seems we don't really like much of his recipes at all. So since this week's theme for I Hearts Cooking Club was potluck, I wanted something that we did like. These cookies qualify.


At least I'm assuming the boys liked them since I didn't hear complaints about "those" cookies from their lunch boxes (which I did hear when I put Bittman's oatmeal raisin cookies in for the second day in a row - no one liked those.)

While these cookies don't replace any of my previous recipes, they are a nice change. I would make them again, and probably will.

Merry Christmas: A snack for Santa

It's Christmas Eve and my house just got a little quieter.

I had to work today and did not get home until about 6pm. Despite this, we still managed to have our traditional fondue for dinner (I added raw shrimp and a hot cheese dip this year, replacing beef and spinach dip, what a great change!).

A bit of a cuddle to watch a Christmas holiday movie and then it was time to get at least one child settled and off to bed.

Christmas Eve has a another couple of traditions for us: each year the boys get to unwrap one present, which is always a new pair of pajamas. After changing, they get Santa's snack ready for him, set it out and then head off to bed.

The choice of drink is always chocolate milk (Santa knows he can warm it up if he'd like), and it is always an apple for the reindeer, not carrots. Long discussion when into choosing this - we figure Santa gets white milk at every other house, so he'd like a bit of a change. And the reindeer always get carrots, but why shouldn't they get a treat and something different as well?

This year, the boys chose to leave Santa some caramel shortbread squares, something I have been making for a few years. They can be made ahead and frozen, so lack of baking time is no excuse not to try these.

If Santa likes these squares as much as my family does, there won't be anything but crumbs left on the plate tomorrow morning.


Caramel Shortbread Squares
This recipe can be found in my baking binder, hand written on a scrap of paper, with no source given.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened and divided
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup flour
1 14oz can condensed milk*
3 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
3 squares of semi sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, or with a stand mixer, beat together 1 cup of the butter with the icing sugar and salt, until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix only until combined. Press into a 9x9, non-glass pan that has been buttered and floured.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool while you make the caramel.

In a medium sauce pan, melt the remaining 1/2 cup of butter over low heat. Stir in the condensed milk and the corn syrup. Keep an eye on this mixer and stir frequently until the caramel becomes golden and thick. When the caramel reaches your desired color, stir in the vanilla.

Pour the caramel over the crust, spreading evenly.

Melt the chocolate squares in the microwave, then drizzle the warm chocolate over the top of the caramel.

Chill for 3-4 hours before cutting into squares or bars. If you plan to freeze the squares, be sure to cut them before you freeze them.

Good at room temperature and still slightly frozen.


* Btw, a can of condensed milk in Canada reads 10 oz, whereas one from the US reads 14 - however I recently took a can from each country and weighed them. The can from Canada weighed 2 grams more than the one from the US, but it had a pull tab on the can. In other words, they are the same!

Tyler Florence Fridays: I think I forgot to do something important

Please ignore the mess in the background.

But fortunately my husband stepped up to the "plate" and pulled out a camera!

My little sous chef requested cheesecake for his birthday cake, an odd choice for a 7 year old, but one I was able to do. And while cheesecake recipes are everywhere, I turned to Tyler for this special occasion cheesecake. Then made my own adaptions.

Tyler's Ultimate Cheesecake sounds fantastic on its own, with a warm blueberry sauce, but not what I thought the birthday boy would like. Instead I went with cookies, Oreo cookies, and changed the crust, then eliminated the lemon, adding crushed Oreo's part way through the cake, with more crushed Oreo's on top.

I increased the baking time by 1o minutes, but still found it quite soft in the middle. Still very good, very tasty, and well enjoyed by everyone, but soft.

Sorry, there is none left to show a picture of the cookies suspended in the luscious cheesecake, or floating on top. None left to show you the creaminess, smooth and comforting. Not even any Oreo's left. You will just have to try and imagine it.

Only a few more chances to join in on the weekly Tyler Florence Fridays!

Bake Along 4: How do you eat your 'Reos?

Are you a dunker?


Do you take them apart to lick off all the cream inside?


Or do you just dig in with a big bite?

Personally, I'm a big bite, double stuffed Oreo kinda girl. And I try to not buy Oreos more than once or twice a year. Less often, if I can avoid the temptation.

So why am I here with the Megan and Nic doing a cookie bake along that is about Oreos? Well, it's Oreos! If I could make them, and have to put the effort into making this very stiff dough, rolling, flattening, chilling, baking, the torture of cooling the cookies while making the overly sweet vanilla icing, then I might be less tempted to buy them!


Do you think you could resist?

Faux-Reos - King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion (Can you buy King Arthur Flour at a regular grocery store in the US? I must investigate!)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 7/8 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) unbleached all- purpose flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa powder

FILLING
1/2 envelope (1 teaspoon plus heaping 1/4 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) cold water
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) confectioners’ sugar

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the salt, egg, water, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Beat in the flour and cocoa until well combined; the dough will be very stiff.
Roll the dough into balls about the size of a shelled chestnut, or a “shooter” marble - the big marble you use to shoot at the little ones. (For those unfamiliar with either chestnuts or marbles, this is about 2 level teaspoons of dough.) Place the balls on parchment-lined or lightly greased cookie sheets and flatten each ball until it’s 1/8 inch thick, using the bottom of a glass dipped in cocoa powder. You may also use a cookie stamp, for a more realistic faux-reo effect. To get a nice crisp cookie, it’s important to press them thin use a ruler on the first one so you can see just how thin 1/8 inch is. (If you press them thinner than 1/8 inch, you run the risk of having them burn.) Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the cookies for 18 minutes. It’s important to bake them just the right amount of time: too little and they won’t crisp properly; too much and they’ll scorch. Watch them closely at the end of the baking time, and at the first sign of darkening edges or first whiff of scorching chocolate, remove them from the oven immediately: Remove the cookies from the baking pans and cool them completely on a wire rack.

TO MAKE THE FILLING: Soften the gelatin in a cup containing the 2 tablespoons of cold water, then place the cup in a larger dish of hot water and leave it there until the gelatin is completely dissolved and the liquid is transparent. Remove the gelatin from the hot water and let it cool until it’s room temperature but hasn’t begun to set.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream the shortening, then beat in the vanilla and the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, beating until the mixture is light and creamy Beat in the gelatin.
Sandwich the cookies, using about 1 1/2 teaspoons for regular faux-reos, more for double-stuffed. (You’ll have some filling left over if you fill the cookies moderately.)

If you want the flavor variations, go see Megan's post. But don't tell me about them because, frankly, messing with the traditional vanilla icing is a terrible thing to do and I don't want to know about it.

Bake Along 3: Malted Milk Cookies

Notice I didn't say "vanilla" malted milk cookies?

I was sure I had a jar of malted milk powder, but now I think I must have thrown it out after the kids and I discovered we didn't like it as drink. Ooops? We did, however, like the chocolate malted milk, so I still had that on hand and just used it instead of the plain powder. And I skipped the vanilla bean part, since you wouldn't be able to taste it over the chocolate.

I'm not a fan of Martha recipes, or of Martha herself. Sure, these are easy enough to make up, but how the heck do you pipe the dough for these? It was very thick and I could tell right away that it would not be nice to my pastry bags, so I tried with a heavy duty ziploc. Twice. After the second one broke, I decided to skip that part of the instructions and just scooped them instead.

That was last night. And I still have no idea how these taste as they are still on the counter, waiting to be eaten. The kids had big cookies in their lunches already, and I had sent in cupcakes for their classes Valentine's day celebrations, so they did not need extra cookies in their lunches. And I'm sure they will be disappointed to find I don't bring them any for after school snack. But I will have them ready for them tomorrow when they get home.

Unless they are inhaled after dinner tonight.

Despite being from Martha, I suspect these cookies are highly edible. I hope they are since 3/4 of the dough is in the freezer to be baked off later!

Go see Megan or Nic to see the recipe and to see who else baked along with them.

Those black and white things again

Well, they aren't pretty.

And, as usual, I have problems with recipes from Martha.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.... Try 2 1/2. Using a scoop of the size indicated.

My icing never thinned out enough to make spreading easy, and if I had added much more water, I'd have had a glaze, not an icing. Hence the streak marks, worse on the "black" side.

Spread on flat side of cookie.... So the bottom of the cookie? Cause that is the only flat side I had, the top was very rounded and would not have set down on a plate well if I'd have iced the bottom side.

On the other hand, my oldest is drooling to have some (instead I've sent him to bed for the night and said he could have some in his lunch.)

And the recipe is so quick and little, that throwing out the first batch of dough was not much of a waste. Yes, it was still as waste, but not nearly as bad as some other recipes-gone-wrong I've had before.

So, Megan, Nicole, what's next?

Multi-tasking and cookies do not always mix

There is supposed to be a picture here for you, a picture of black and white cookies, which I was "baking along" with Megan and Nicole.

Instead, let me tell you a little story....

Thursday afternoon I was home, with lots of things to do, but time in there to get some baking done before I had to run off, get my kids off the bus, throw them into the van with their dinners in a lunch box and not come home until all of their combined activities were done. This is our new Thursday routine, trying to maximize our time and minimize my driving. My plan ahead was for Sheppard's Pie, which was in their thermoses, and I thought cookies would be a nice addition as well.

So the potatoes were on the stove, boiling, the meat was already browned, the oven was preheated. The butter was softened and all the cookie ingredients were out, the try was lined with parchment. I was all set and ready to go with the cookies, creaming away when the phone rang.

Taekwon-Do. Our school is hosting a tournament next month, a big one, and in addition to some of my usual office coordinator tasks for the school, I have also been working on a team jacket with logo for the students to wear at the tournament. The jackets we picked look great and we were just settling the last few details of the logo.

Mixer running, in and out of the room I go, jotting down notes between adding ingredients (oops I was supposed to put the buttermilk in two additions, not all at once!), scooping the dough onto the pans, a few more notes, into the oven the cookies go, another note, back to the potatoes, drain them, melt my butter and warm my milk, another note, another phone call with the supplier about my previous notes, write notes from him with his corresponding information, put the Sheppard's pie in the oven, those cookies cooling on the counter do not look like the smooth topped cookies I expected.

Phone calls done, cookies cooled, onto the glaze, clean up the counter a bit first, what is this I see?

An egg.

No, the egg.

The one supposed to be in the cookie dough.

Not sitting on the counter.

Hmmm wonder how these cookies will taste without it, can I fake it?

No. Not so good for faking.

Check the time, bus is arriving in 30 minutes, still have to pack up for piano and assemble the thermoses.

Do I have any more butter out at room temperature?

No.

Do I have time tomorrow to try this again? Hmmm maybe. Have to see. (And for the record, no, I did not.)

Oh dear.

And that is my tale of the cookies that aren't. Looks like I will have time to make them tomorrow though, after swimming, before I need to go out again, so I'll just take some butter out now.

Sigh.... I'm sorry Megan and Nicole!

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas Eve and the children are in bed, finally.

Important advice for everyone out there - do not wait until Christmas Eve day to do your baking! Even if you have everything else done, this is not good planning!

This is what I spent today doing. My baking. I had to, or we'd have had nothing to put out for Santa tonight. Not even a box of Oreos. I probably could have found him some chocolates. I do have left over cake. But Santa deserves baked goods that were made just for him. Left over cake won't cut it.


From left, around, are Gooey Coconut Dream Bars (from Phe/om/enon Holly,) Meyer Lemon Squares (recipe later), Raisin Oatmeal Cookies (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, minus the pecans), and Spicy Ginger Cookies (from The Canadian Baker, not my usual recipe since I would have had to look for mine.)

In addition to these items, I also "threw together" our Chritmas Eve dinner, a broth fondue with fresh veggies, a bit of this and a bit of that. The children loved being able to pick at what they wanted to eat, but spent a good chunk of dinner running back to my laptop, conveniently found on the kitchen counter, so they could see just where in the world Santa was right then! (And for the record, at 10:17 pm, he was in San Juan, Puerto Rico.)

(In retrospect, maybe the last minute baking was a good idea - I didn't make nearly as much as I might have otherwise, if I'd been doing so well in advance and freezing as I went.)


Dinner was followed by a walk around the block, to see the lights. Unusual that we needed umbrellas and snow jackets to do so, though. Rain is melting the snow, but also making things very slippery around here. So if you are driving, be careful!

Before getting the boys off to bed, we had to assemble our tray for Santa and the reindeer. We break with some traditions, providing the reindeer with apples instead of carrots, and normally we leave him chocolate milk, something he rarely gets. This year, with the cold and the rain, we decided to leave him hot chocolate milk instead, kept warm in a thermos, with a mug nearby. The children chose what to leave him for cookies (the ones they themselves had just been sampling.)

The kitchen is cleaned, the dishwasher is running, the Christmas lights are on. I think it is time to curl up and enjoy a few minutes of quiet before the chaos that is Christmas morning comes.

May you and your family have a wonderful day, filled with love and happiness. And a good cookie or two.

Yes, there is some baking going on

Looking at my blog recently, it sure doesn't look like there is much going on in my kitchen. No, it is no longer immaculate - far from it! Nor have I packed everything up. I simply have not been inspired to make much lately and have stuck with alot of tried and true things.

I do have a few things in the files, though, and a new file building of other items to make.

Actually, in the next little while, you can expect to see alot of items that were made off recipes from other bloggers. I did pack most of my cookbooks when prepping for selling, but there has also been so many good things in the blog world recently that I have taken my inspiration from them rather than going looking for something in the dwindled cookbook pile.

Let's start with these cookies, from my friend Megan over at My Baking Adventures. I actually did comment when she made these that I was changing my plan for the day from my standard ginger cookie to these instead, and did. Or did as soon as I picked up some shortening, which I'd have needed to do for the ginger ones anyways.

I pretty well left these just as as, only using the seeds from half a vanilla bean instead of the extract.

These cookies were great! They did not last long at all and I am surprised there have not been requests for more.

The one thing I need to add in to Megan's recipe for these is in regards to the texture of the cookies. I admit, I jotted this one down on a post it note for that day, so did not add in all the instructions. Which means I could not remember if you were supposed to press down on the balls after putting them on the cookie sheet. So I did some of each and what a difference!


If you press down lightly on the ball, flattening the cookie a bit, you will get a flatter, thinner, crispy cookie with a smooth top. If you leave them as is, you will end up with a smaller cookie, but much thicker, chewier and with a crackly top. It doesn't show in the pictures but only because these cookies were made a few days later, after the dough had sat in the fridge for awhile. And by then I'd decided I liked the chewier version best so didn't press down on the dough balls. It's all about what you like!

Speaking of liking - I would really like to make this recipe I read a few days ago for a pumpkin cranberry muffin, but cannot remember where I saw it and don't seem to have sent it to myself. If it was your recipe, please let me know so I can start roasting my little pumpkin and make those muffins while the kids are still willing to try eating pumpkin!

The chocolate says it all

Well, not my cookie.

A plate sized peanut butter, chocolate chunk cookie. Made as a gift.

Four ingredients + 30 seconds of mixing + chocolate writing = one happy birthday girl.

Giant Peanut Butter Cookie
based on the recipe from Kraft Canada

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk chocolate chunks (I cut mine up from a big Hershey bar)

Preheat oven to 325F, and line a round pizza pan with parchment paper - you do not need to cut this paper round or to size, and it is actually easier to remove the big cookie if you leave the paper hanging over the edge of the pan.

Mix everything together well in a big bowl.

Spread out the sticky dough on the pan, getting an even layer all the way to the edge.

Bake for at least 30 minutes, or until cookie is puffed and cooked all through - it will still be very soft in the center. Let cool, still on the pizza pan, for 10 minutes before using the extra parchment to help you pull the cookie off onto a baking rack. Do this slowly, the cookie might still be soft and might want to bend in the middle.

To write on the cookie as I did, melt some extra chocolate on low in the microwave, then transfer it to a small zip top sandwich bag. Snip a corner and write your message. It will look great, even if you do it in a mad dash rush, like I did.

TWD: Madeleines without the "bump"

When the choice for today's TWD was announced, Traditional Madeleines, chosen by Tara of Smells Like Home, I was both excited and disappointed.

Excited because it was a recipe I had wanted to try but had not been sure about, but disappointed because I wasn't sure I could make them without the proper pan. I felt a little better when the decision was made to allow for an alternate recipe, but not much. I wanted to make the Madeleines. And I don't really object to buying a new pan, it just isn't practical at this time.



Then I sent an email off to one of my favorite bakers, Tartelette, who is usually Lis' baking guru, but occasionally I have to borrow her as well. However if anyone would know about the making of these little French cookies, it would be Tartelette. And she assured me that I could indeed make the cookies in a mini muffin pan, and also let me know I could order a pan online if I wasn't able to find one. (Which is kinda funny, because I found one after that conversation, but didn't buy it as I was already buying 3 other pans for something else!)


These cookies mix together in minutes. Takes longer to get the eggs to room temperature. Actually, it takes longer for those eggs than it does to bake these, in a mini muffin pan. So if you don't count the minimum 3 hour chilling time, these cookies take about 12 minutes to make and bake.

I substituted fresh lemon juice for the vanilla, but otherwise left things alone. But I can see the flavor possibilities with these simple little cookies. Their airy texture, light but similar to a pound cake, would be nice with so many flavors, not just citrus. Though the lemon zing in these little morsels is very nice.

The children haven't tried them out yet, but I suspect they will enjoy them and ask for more. Probably ask for chocolate, too.

Now I will likely have to consider if I want to invest in a proper pan, or just enjoy them in mini muffin shape. While I contemplate this, I will likely be starting next week's challenge tomorrow, Pecan Honey Sticky buns, a recipe I have made before, including the brioche dough recipe, but will happily make again.

Everyone knows a turkey...

And in this house, the turkey still has a name and is walking around somewhere, glad to have survived Christmas dinner intact.

And while that smelly bird strutted his stuff in a large pen with others (I've been involved in a turkey harvest - they smell and they strut and they are dumb!) we enjoyed a completely different Christmas dinner entirely, where the cow was not so well off as the turkey was.

I planned my Christmas dinner some time back, probably in late October or November, whenever the December 2007 issue of Fine Cooking made it to my door. The beef tenderloin on the cover made me drool and glad I was not a vegetarian. It's simplicity also appealed to me, though the price of a good beef tenderloin made me shudder. It's not often a 30 pound turkey would be cheaper than buying a small piece of beef. Yet despite this, I forged ahead with my plan and carefully put aside this magazine where I could find it again (which I actually did!)

This beef was amazingly good. It was so tender you could cut it with the side of your fork. The seasoning was perfectly matched to the beef, though not overpowering. It was good hot or cold, and still wonderful the next day as leftovers.

My plate styling, however, was not so good. So forgive the picture and just take my word for it - this beef was great!

I had made the creamy mustard sauce included in the recipe, replacing the cream fraiche with sour cream when I could not find any. It was alright but certainly not needed with such a flavorful beef. I think if I were to make it again, I would use a grain mustard instead.

Mashed potatoes accompany the photo on the cover, but I didn't want those. I wanted a potato and fennel gratin I had seen on The Barefoot Contessa, and when I was actually able to find the recipe online, cheered! The fresh fennel in the gratin was going to be a nice side to the crushed fennel seeds on the beef. In fact, it was a wonderful accompaniment. Made in advance so that all I had to do on Christmas Day was to throw it in the oven, it was creamy and mild and delicious. Word of warning though - if you make it in advance, don't be surprised if your potatoes look greyish underneath the cheese and cream. Don't worry, that disappears during baking.

To go with my beef tenderloin and potato fennel gratin, I oven roasted some fresh, sweet carrots, and white asparagus. I hadn't planned on white asparagus but that was all that was available at the stores. The white was a bit too woody, though still tasty, and the carrots were so sweet and soft that they melted into your mouth.

Dessert had to be a made in advance affair. Nothing too fancy, nothing over the top. Not with the piles of chocolate that filled the stockings, and bowls of candy scattered around the house. With those requirements in mind, I chose to make some mini tarts, almost cheesecake like, decorated with fresh fruit. I found the recipe for these little bites on Joy of Baking, when looking for some other recipe. The bases, a shortbread cookie dough tart, could be made in advance, as could the lemon filling, freeing me up to enjoy time with my family on Christmas Day. A quick five minutes with my pastry bag and some fruit and I had a pretty plate of dessert. Served along side some of the other goodies I'd made in advance (sugar cookies, ginger cookies and caramel shortbread squares), the only thing I needed to do was put on a pot of tea.

I was very pleased with Christmas dinner this year. Everything was either made in advance or required only a little bit of prep work a few hours in advance. Nothing required standing over the stove at the last minutes. There was no rush to get a gravy gone while everything else stood by and got cold. I even had time to set the table early.

I hope everyone else had as lovely a Christmas meal as we did.

(I've just discovered that despite having used the sugar cookie dough several times in the life of my blog, I have never put the recipe up anywhere. I think I will have to go look for it and post about it tomorrow, as well as the recipe for the caramel shortbread squares.)

Fennel and Rosemary Beef Tenderloin with Creamy Mustard Sauce
by Fine Cooking Magazine

1 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tsp ground fennel seed
1 tsp kosher salt, more to taste
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 1/2-3 lb beef tenderloin, excess fat trimmed
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375F.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, rosemary, fennel seed, salt and pepper. Stir to make a paste. Pat the beef dry with paper towels and rub the paste all over the surface of the meat. If necessary, tie the roast at 1 1 /2 inch intervals. (The roast can be seasoned and refrigerated up to 4 hours in advance.)
Put the roast on a rack on a small, rimmed baking sheet or in a shallow roasting pan. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center reads 120F for rare, 125-130F for medium rare, or 135F for medium, 40-50 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the creme fraiche, mustard and lemon juice. Season lightly with salt to taste.
Transfer the roast to a carving board (preferably with a well for collecting juices) and let it rest, uncovered for 10-15 minutes before carving it into 1/3 - 1/2 inch thick slices. Serve the beef, passing the mustard sauce at the table.

Remember: Calories Don't Count on Christmas!

They don't count on your birthday either, btw.

So how many candies did you nibble on while making your gingerbread creation this year? I can honestly say none, though I can't say the same for my children, who had already gone through half of this tray before I took the picture. With icing.

And while they worked on their gingerbread train, I decorated a little extra treat to bring to a friends house - a cupcake tree! This was alot of fun, and a huge hit with the kids at the party!

But Christmas Eve would not be complete without a treat left out for Santa, who really does need to remember that calories don't count! Each of my children picked a cookie for Santa, from a large selection that I had made and decorated, and picked the only two snowflakes in the entire box that had blue on them. Go figure.


In case you are wondering - we leave out an apple instead of carrots for the reindeer. We figure after everyone else has left them carrots, they could use a little something different. They must have loved it because the only thing left this morning was a few seeds!

Oh, and Santa actually prefers Chocolate milk over white, but Mrs. Claus limits him. Not in this house though! He drank it down to the bottom, leaving an empty cup, a few crumbs, and lots of presents!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

The children are done trick or treating, and the loot has been checked. Now while my family curls up on the couch and enjoys our yearly viewing of The Nightmare Before Christmas, please enjoy a treat from our home to yours - some lovely chocolate cookies!

The recipe for these cookies comes from Nicole over at Baking Bites, who posted about some very cool mummy cookies some time ago. I've had that page open since then, and finally got them finished late this afternoon. My mummies don't look nearly as good as hers (my white chocolate was not cooperating so I moved on to ghosts covered in a glaze of icing sugar and milk and some plain bats,) but they sure taste good!

I hope you have had a wonderful Halloween!

(And yes, that is my little pumpkin, all dressed up! I didn't have time to carve it up, any further than to pull out the seeds.)

A long distance thank you!

Looking at my blog over the last year, there has been alot of belated and delays and such. You'd think I was frequently late and disorganized.

I'm not, really I'm not.

So even though I've had these wonderful cookies for quite awhile now, I'm not late.

A little background probably would help at this point.

A little while back, two of the Daring Baker's decided to host a Blog Event called the Risotto Relay. Make a risotto, post about it, and you could win a package of Tin Tams. If you are from Australia, you know what a Tim Tam is. But if you are from Canada, Tim Tam's sound like a knock off of Timbits. That is what I always thought when I heard the name Tim Tams, though it never matched up with what I had heard and seen of Tim Tam's from the Down Under blogs that had mentioned them.

Now I like risotto. The other three members of my household, however, don't. Sure you can make a small batch of risotto for one or two, but sorry, I don't have time for making something for one person and something different for everyone else. So I sadly declined the invitation to participate, and my chance to win the package of Tim Tams.

That's where Stephanie came in to my rescue!

Stephanie, a fellow Daring Baker, has relocated to Australia, and was sympathetic to my desire to try Tim Tams. She offered to send me some by mail and I was happy to accept!

Now when Stephanie made her offer, I was expecting a small package containing something about the size of a chocolate bar. What I wasn't expecting was a good sized box with not one but FOUR different kinds of Tim Tams!

Original, Dark Chocolate, Chewy Caramel and Latte!

Holy Cow!

My initial plan had been to try all four types before blogging a huge thanks to Stephanie, who asked me to let her know what the three types she hadn't tried yet were like. But since I am conserving them, if I wait until we are done all of them, it might be awhile before she would get to hear how the tastings went. (And I must add that I am showing remarkable self restraint in not having inhaled all of them yet.)

So far we have eaten the Original and the Chewy Caramel. The Original were very good, nothing like what I was expecting. Layers of cookie, sandwiching a chocolaty filling, and covered by chocolate. The Chewy Caramel was even better and reminded me of a Twix bar, which is good because it will be alot easier for me to get a Twix when I crave those Tim Tams than it will be for me to replenish our supply of Tim Tams. (The shipping on them alone makes that cost prohibitive.)

Haven't opened the other two packages yet, so I can't yet give my opinion of them, but I'll get there!

So another huge THANKS! to Stephanie for this great gift! The offer of some Tim Horton's coffee is still there if you want it! I won't try sending you Timbits though.

SHF #35 - Figs! Figs! Figs!

Ivonne said "Figs." And I said "Huh?"

I've only bought a fig once before. I had no idea how to tell if it was ripe or not, and seemed not to be since it did not taste very good.

I admit, I was nervous. Ivonne sent me some information to help me find a good fig, but it didn't help. It didn't help because I could not find a fresh fig to use any of it on.

That's right, it is fig season, but I could not find a fresh fig. Every store said that they were expecting them any time but hadn't received them yet. Every store.

I did manage to find some soft dried figs though, and with those in hand, found a recipe I thought I could slip past my family - Homemade Fig Newtons!

These are not store bought cookies. Heck, I can't say what they taste like cooled completely as they are still warm on my stove and I've already eaten a piece and mmmmm'd through it.

The recipe was lacking a few details, but I managed to get through it. Next time I would reduce the amount of sugar in the filling as it was very sweet.

Now to see if I can get the rest of the family to eat them. Otherwise I will have a full pan to myself.

Homemade Fig Newtons
From Recipezaar.com

1	lb dried figs or 2 lbs fresh figs
1	cup sugar
1	cup water (1 c. for dried figs, 1/2 c. for fresh)
1/2	cup butter, room temp
1	cup sugar
1	large egg
1	tablespoon cream or milk
1/2	teaspoon vanilla
1/2	teaspoon salt
1	teaspoon baking powder
1 3/4	cups flour

1. Dice figs, soak in water 1 hour.
2. Add sugar & cook on medium heat until of thin jam consistency.
3. Beat sugar, butter, egg, milk & vanilla until well blended.
4. Add dry ingredients.
5. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.
6. Place 1/2 on well floured dough cloth; knead about 6 times.
7. Roll out to 1/4" thick. Line 13 x 9" glass baking dish; cover with figs.
8. Roll remaining dough, cover figs. Cook at 350° for 30 minutes.
9. Let cool and cut into squares. Depending on the size you cut you can get a couple dozen cookies.

More macaroons

After my success with the Pistachio Macaroons, I decided to try again, just to see if the first time had been a fluke. I didn't have the luxury of no children around me this time, so knew my window of opportunity would only be as long as they stayed distracted somewhere else.

Since Helen had been the provider of my first recipe, I went back to her for this one as well. Only a few changes to it - I did not have the cute little pink and white candies that she did for the topping or the filling. And the white chocolate I had on hand did not want to melt in the warm cream. So I left my pink macaroons naked on top, and filled them with a milk chocolate ganache instead of a bright pink white chocolate ganache.

No one seemed to mind at all.

It looks like the first batch was not a fluke afterall!

Want to make these macaroons? Go see Tartelette!

Looking towards Paris

Macaroons are all the rage in Paris right now. At least that's what both David and Dorie tell me in their blogs, and I've seen it a few other places too.

But what do you do when you can't get to Paris to try Pierre Hermes macaroons?

Well if you can't convince Tartelette to come visit you and make them for you, then you use her recipe to make some of your own!

I think I was very intimidated making these, despite the increased confidence I've had in my baking abilities since becoming a Daring Baker back in January. Before I even tried, I badgered Helen with questions about conversions and what type of nuts are used - are they toasted or raw? Should I buy my pistachios with or without shells? Won't you please come make them with me?!

I even planned it out to make them on a morning when both my children would be away from home, so I would not have to worry about being distracted by them, or little hands trying to get in to help.

Despite getting conversions from Helen, I actually decided to try the recipe using her measurements, in grams, instead of in cups. While my scale is quite horrible, it was sufficient enough to use for this project. (Somewhere on my kitchen wish list is a digital kitchen scale, but for now, I work in cups and usually pull out the scale for chocolate.)

In the end, it took more time to grind up the nuts in the processor then it did for the entire balance of the recipe. Everything came together quite well and easily, and the cookies piped nicely onto the parchment lined trays. I probably should have made my mounds a bit larger, and it seems I could have given them one or two more turns of the spatula before I started piping, but aside from that, I apparently did them right!

By the time I was done, I had 39 beautiful little green macaroon sandwiches, and a bowl full of chocolate ganache!

Thanks for all the help Helen! I think I need to go make the other recipe you game me now, the one for the pink macaroons!

Oh, and a note for my husband.... No, this does not mean I don't still want to go to Paris. Someday.

***Note*** The only change I made to this recipe was to omit the ground ginger from the ganache. I knew my family would prefer the plainness of the ganache to the ginger.

Pistachio Macarons, adapted from Stephane Glacier.

Makes 35

225 gr powdered sugar

60 gr almonds

65 gr pistachios

3 egg whites (about 100gr)

green food coloring (optional) (powdered is better)

25 gr granulated sugar

In a food processor, run the nuts and powdered sugar until the nuts are finely ground. Run through a sieve if needed.

Whip the egg whites until foamy, slowly add the granulated sugar, until they are glossy. Add the green food coloring if using.

Slowly fold the nut/sugar mixture into the whites with a wide spatula. The mixture should remain shiny and flow easily.

Fill a pastry bag with the batter and pipe small rounds onto parchment lined baking sheets.

Let the macarons rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 315 and when they are ready, bake them for 12-15 minutes.

Let cool, remove from the paper and fill with the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache Filling:

8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter

1 tsp. ground ginger

Place the chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir with a whisk until smooth. Add the ground ginger. Let cool to room temperature and use as desired.

Bars, bars and more bars

No I'm not suddenly taking up drinking. Nor have I headed out to Alberta to try and pick me up a young and single prince.

No, instead I have been enjoying not having to go to work (session is done for the summer), by baking up some bar cookies!

Monday was my first, where I made butter tart squares, from a recipe I had pulled from a magazine years ago. It had been sitting in my binder, just waiting for the day when I would make it! That day came when I had planned on making a different square but was missing an ingredient.

I didn't eat much of this one - I admit it (and I'm sorry Mom!) I cannot get past the smell and flavor of the Mexican vanilla she brought me. To me it has a slightly coconutty smell to it (and that's the best I can do to describe it.) I like coconut. But not in my vanilla. Normally I wouldn't have used that vanilla in something where the vanilla flavor would stand out. But I didn't expect it to stand out in the butter tart! (Oh and I was just about out of my homemade vanilla.)

My husband, on the other hand, very much enjoyed this, butter tarts being one of his favorite things (that I don't make very often.) It was goeey, though less so after it had been chilled, (which I would recommend be done BEFORE cutting.) I skipped the nuts and instead added a few extra raisins.

Now this is the recipe I had initially planned on making. Or one of them. It comes from the blog Cookie Madness, where Anna does indeed make cookies, but so much more! And all of it sweet and good. Except the things with the peanut butter. (Can you tell who does not like peanut butter?)

Chocolate Raspberry Crumb bars!

I've heard rumors that Anna has been the big winner at some of the baking events she highlights, but admit I've never gone looking to confirm this. Based on her creativity, I wouldn't be surprised though.

I learned a very important bit of information when I went to make this recipe, which accounts for the delay in making them - we Canucks get a different sized can of condensed milk than those in the US do! The recipe called for a 14oz can, which is 420ml. We get 300ml cans. So despite my butter being ready to go, and the rest of my ingredients ready, I had to delay making this until I made it to the store to buy a second can of condensed milk!

Aside from that little hitch, the recipe comes together beautifully.

And left me with half a can of left over condensed milk to make the second one of Anna's recipes, the Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars.

I think I could have eaten an entire tray of these on my own. I love butterscotch, and I love cheesecake!

No, they don't look like much, but they make up for it in taste.

I did make one small change to the recipe. Okay, two. First I omitted the nuts. Nothing new there. Then, after I patted down the crust into the bottom of the pan, I sprinkled the bottom with Skor pieces! No, the baking ones don't come covered in chocolate, but are just pieces of the toffee. Which I could probably eat with a spoon from the bag (but have never done!)

Fortunately this recipe did not make a 9 x 13 pan's worth of bars. Even giving some away to friends, these did not last long. I ate far too many of them, and likely would have eaten more had there been more.

It's a good thing I got busier by the end of the week, and have been doing this this week as well, otherwise I would probably still be making squares and bars. And eatings, because afterall, you have to test each of the recipes you make, if only for quality control and so you can report on the flavor on your blog!

Butter Tart Squares

I ripped this recipe out of a magazine several years so. The only information I can find about where it came from is a web site: www.whatsupkids.com

Base:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
Topping:
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped pecans (which I substituted with more raisins)

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add flour and salt and stir until well combined and crumbly.
Press into the bottom of an 8x8 inch pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until pale golden around the edges.
Using the same bowl, combine egg, egg whites, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla and stir until well blended and smooth. Stir in raisins and pecans, if using.
Pour filling over the base and return to the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden and bubbly around the edges. It will puff up a bit as it bakes and then settle again when you remove it from the oven. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
Makes 16 squares.