Mmm Canada Part 1… The Sweet Edition

No worries, Jasmine, there is still a Savory Edition to come. This one, however is the sweet, made specifically for SHF:Mmm Canada, hosted by Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess herself.

What exactly do you consider to be a Canadian dessert? Beaver tails come to mind for me, but then, I live in Ottawa, home of the controversial Beaver tail.

For those of you not in the know, a Beaver tail is a piece of pastry that is pulled into a shape that resembles a beaver’s tail, deep fried and then given a topping, usually something sweet. I personally like the cinnamon sugar, my children like the hazelnut spread and my husband enjoys the Killaloe Sunrise, cinnamon sugar and lemon. (The picture is from the Beaver Tails website, btw.)

Not exactly a gourmet, Canadian dish, but very yummy.

Still, other than those, I couldn't really think of something that I considered to be a Canadian dessert, though I could think of Canadian ingredients. Blueberries, maple, cranberries, rhubarb. All sweet things that could be used in dessert.

In the end I decided to go with rhubarb, mostly because there is an abundance of it in my backyard, and also because I had made a rhubarb dessert for Jennifer before. But this time I planned to "kick it up a notch" with some homemade ice cream for the topping. Not just any ice cream, Canadian ice cream, rhubarb ice cream!

The ice cream took some advanced planning. The recipe, found on Allrecipes.com, called for baking cut up rhubarb with sugar, alot of sugar, until it was soft and well mixed, before pureeing it in a blender. There is chilling time involved, but no ice cream machine. Instead the cold rhubarb "compote" is folded into whipped cream and then frozen, making ice cream. Easy peasy, right?

And it works out fairly well (though I admit I increased the rhubarb, and the cream.) The compote smells wonderful, the combination of white sugar and the juices from the rhubarb. I had the ice cream, now I needed the cobbler.

I used the same recipe for the cobbler as I had used the last time, my standard recipe, where I increase the amount of rhubarb but keep the sugar levels the same. The color of this cobbler is darker, more caramelized, but for good reason - look what my hubby picked up for me from a garage sale when we were up at my grandparents! For a whole $10! How many women are excited when their husbands buy them a second oven, a convection oven? Mememememememe!

I have used this little baby numerous times since I brought it home - I preferred the cream puffs baked in it to the ones baked in my kitchen oven. And while it bakes wonderfully, it does not heat up my house! Of course it doesn't hurt that it is kept in the basement, where it is cool, and put onto my freezer when I need to use it.

Back to dessert.....

I had one major problem with dessert, and unfortunately, it was the ice cream. Ice cream should begin to melt when you bring it out on the freezer. This one didn't. Half an hour later and it still didn't melt. I like my ice cream slightly melty!

Flavorwise it was a nice match, the rhubarb with the rhubarb. And it did help thin out my patch slightly. Plus gave me a chance to use my new oven.

I'm curious to see what other people come up with for their Canadian desserts, and hope my dessert makes someone think of Canada.

The case of the missing milk

Yes, milk.

Disappeared. Gone, not to be accounted for.

The other day my sous chef and I hit Costco for some basics. Milk, while it has gone up in price since I joined a few months back, is still cheaper at Costco than anywhere else. We bought two bags, which went down to the basement fridge.

Btw, yes, I have a second fridge in my basement. And I will never be without a second fridge again. If we move, one of my fridges is coming with me.

Now neither the husband or I drink milk. The kids do, but we don't. I cook with it sometimes. Both the husband and I use it on cereal, which I haven't done all week. Both kids use it on cereal, too much actually, as there is usually lots of milk left in the bowl when they are done. And they both drink it.

Oh yes, two bags of milk is 8 liters of milk. Plenty for the week, even with all of us eating cereal every day.

It's Wednesday and neither bag can be found. Not in either fridge, not in a freezer by mistake, not visible on a shelf somewhere by even bigger mistake.

So the real question is... Can two children, aged 5 and 9, drink 8 liters of milk in three days?

TWD: Is it Tuesday already?

This week the choice was given over to Caroline, of A Consuming Passion. Her choice was the Peppermint Cream Puff Ring, found on pages 290-292.

I admit, this didn't appeal much to me. It looks pretty, and I'm sure it tastes great, but I just was not in the mood for the peppermint, and that is all I could think of when I saw it. I quietly pouted about it for a short time, then remembered something important.

This is TWD, not the Daring Bakers, and I am ALLOWED to make changes to the recipe! Woot! The Cream Puff Ring was on!

Introducing the "Do it yourself Cream Puff Tray!"


Instead of making one giant ring, I made a bunch of little ones. And then I made a bunch of mini cream puff "fingers", which I personally think looked alot better than the rings. It could be because I used different ovens for them though, so I will have to go back and try this again sometime, for comparisons sake. I'm sure you understand. It is purely for comparison and not because cream puffs are yummy and easy to make.

Oh yes, these are both yummy and easy to make. Guess I forgot to mention that. Filled with whipped cream and a choice of chocolate ganaches, mint (because I felt the mint had to be there somewhere), dark and milk chocolate, everyone got exactly what they wanted. Even if what they wanted was a cream puff with only whipped cream.

Personally, I wanted the milk chocolate. I like milk chocolate.

I made and served these as part of a family Father's Day dinner, so there were lots of people to share in the cream puff tray, and surprisingly, even a few left over.

Even though the mint did not appeal, and I basically skipped that part of the recipe, this recipe is a keeper. For the cream puffs at least, which I will make again. So thanks for bringing it to my attention Caroline!

Next week we get to make mixed berry cobbler, which is perfect as I have plenty of berries that need a home.

TWD: Made so fast your head will spin!

If you are a TWD'er, or even just a lurker, you know that the next week's recipe is usually posted on Monday, the day before we post our previous weeks' recipe. Last week, the day before we posted our French Brownies, Marie chose for us La Palette’s Strawberry Tart to make for the next week, and post about today.

I had my tarts made, and completely eaten, by Monday evening. How fast is that?

I decided I preferred small sized tarts to a large one. They allow for each person to personalize their serving, and well, they just look so cute!

Turns out I had everything I needed in my pantry, so I just got to it and started in, putting my little sous chef to work shelling pistachios to add to the tart dough. (Eventually I had to jump in and help him get my 3/4 cup - he was eating more than he was putting into the bowl.)


Oh, btw, the nut ban in our house if OVER!!! Some of the Daring Baker's might recall in December we had conflicting allergy test results for our oldest son, who tested allergic to peanuts, but because he was eating peanut butter regularly, the allergist considered the test contaminated but would not follow up. He even said to keep him away from peanuts, then added in, "But keep feeding him peanut butter." A second opinion with a different allergist included a blood test as well as the skin test, both coming up negative. So nuts are back allowed into our house again!

And as a result, the first tart that the children ate had peanut butter, mixed in with a spoonful of icing sugar to smooth it out, in the bottom of their pistachio tart shells, instead of strawberry jam. Both asked for seconds (which my 9 year old assembled himself, putting both peanut butter and strawberry jam in this time.)

Personally, I do not like peanut butter, and did not feel a need to put any on my tart. The crispy, cookie like tart stood up well to a generous spoonful of strawberry jam, loaded with strawberries, sprinkled with black pepper, and topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. I ate two. My husband ate two. And before you knew it, they were gone.

I fully plan to make these again. I loved the pistachio in the dough, with the flecks of green, though I recall liking this dough just fine plain as well. I can see making these tarts even smaller, filling them with a chocolate ganache and then topping it with strawberries and cream. Such an elegant and pretty, but simple dessert.

Great choice Marie!

And now I need to go find where I left my book so I can look up the latest recipe!

First trip to the Farmer's Market

It took me much longer than I wanted to make it to the Farmer's Market, held each Sunday at Lansdowne Park, as well as Thursdays starting at 2pm. Out of town trips, plus other events, were conspiring against me, but I was finally able to get there yesterday morning. Along with my basket carrying helper.

You can bet he was happy to come, especially when he got to taste test several things, including this maple cotton candy. Yes, we brought home a bag.

I'm not sure what I would do with garlic shallots, so left these behind. A bit regretfully.

I've had a Bison burger before and found it didn't taste much different than a regular, well made burger. I'm tempted to pick some up next time, though, and see if anyone else in the house notices. Same with Elk. Think I could sneak that past the boys?


In case you were wondering what exactly a Jerusalem Artichoke looks like. A cross between a potato and ginger?


A gift for a foodie friend who likes jewelery? These ingenious ladies had a table under the name of Fork N'Things, where they made different types of jewelery using old silverware. They had pendants as well as bracelettes. What a great way to recycle!

I was told these were picked daily, with whatever looked good in the garden beds that morning. Only what was in season. What a great way to plan your salad.

I'm sure most people don't know that all peppers start out green, and then change colors. We aren't fans of the green, but love yellow, red and orange. Purple is tasty too.


The first local strawberries of the season. We've had a tonne of rain, after a very long winter, so I am hoping there are lots of berries this season. We have a pick your own field up the road from us, so we plan to pick alot this year!


As tempting as these were, I found them a bit pricey, at $6 for half a small bag. Fiddleheads are beautiful though, aren't they?


We brought home a jar of this banana cinnamon jam. I'd have put it in my 9 year old's lunch today if I had been able to figure out where it went. I don't think my 5 year old had the chance to eat it all with a spoon (which he wanted to do after taste testing it) but he might have hid it so he didn't have to share with his brother.

Such beautiful daisies. If only I had the proper light in my garden for these.

We couldn't leave without a visit to the petting zoo, where we were greeted by a friendly face.

I'm looking forward to lots of other visits to the farmer's market as the season progresses. This trip did not result in alot of purchases, mainly because most of the booths were selling plants or bread, with a healthy sprinkling of condiment vendors.

What is your local farmer's market have available right now?

TWD: French Brownies

This week Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook sent us to visit Dorie in France, where a dense chocolate cake was taken for a brownie. A very decadent brownie, with rum soaked raisins in it.

Now I love brownies. And I love raisins. What I don't love is rum. I own some, a dark rum from the Dominican Republic, but I don't drink it.

Fortunately the timing of this choice coincided with my need to make something chocolate and decadent for my swim coach, as a thank you for 9 months of pushing me into becoming a swimmer. A slow swimmer, but still a swimmer. That in itself is a major achievement, so I wanted something special. Thanks Di! This was it!

I gave 3/4 of this to my coach, leaving only a bit behind for picture and my own tasting crew. They didn't really do anything for me, not bad, but not amazing. It's the rum, I'm sure. My 2 boys, on the other hand, loved them, and giggled that Mom was getting them drunk with the rum in it. And the husband said he thought the combination of raisins and a brownie was weird but it worked well together, so he liked them.

No idea how my coach liked them. I'll ask her when I see her in July.

I think I would like to try them again, keeping the raisins, but replacing the rum with something else, maybe a mint liquor? Or an orange. Oooh, maybe replacing the raisins with dried cranberries and using an orange liquor.

Next week we get to make La Palette’s Strawberry Tart. Or rather, I get to post about it. I've already made mine, making this the first TWD recipe that I made the day it was posted!

Don't forget to check out lots of other TWD posters, who are all listed over on the Tuesday's with Dorie website, found here!

Yes, we do eat more than dessert around here (and a meme)

I know it doesn't look like it lately, what with all the flour, butter and sugar seen on my blog in the last week.

People who've read my blog for awhile now know that I usually have a menu plan for the week. It's been a little off lately, but essentially the plan is still there, though it has been only 1-2 days ahead lately - for example I know what I'm going to make on Thursday for dinner (pre soccer game) but still don't know what I'm going to make tomorrow night.

Last week was a bit like that - I knew I was going to make some kind of "fajitas" using pork for Thursday's dinner, but that was it. If I'd have been thinking a bit further ahead, I'd have marinated my pork the day before. Instead I looked at my plan and remembered to take the tenderloins out of the freezer the day before.


Hey at least I remembered that!

I remembered to write down what I put into my marinate, and would strongly recommend that if you make this that you let the meat marinate for a good full day. I only ended up with 5 hours, and it was still good. But it would be sooooo much better if it had time to penetrate further.

I served this tasty pork on flour tortillas with Montery Jack cheese, fresh cilantro, a homemade guacamole, green onions and a bit of sour cream. The kids added salsa to theirs and skipped the guacamole.

Guacamole doesn't look pretty but sure tastes good. Especially homemade guacamole.

So bonus to everyone today - two recipes from me! But you have to read after the meme to get to them. (Is that cheating?)

My new friend Megan tagged me for this 5 Things about you meme, so here goes!

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing ten years ago?
Sick as could be with my firstborn child. Morning sickness is a myth - try all day sickness instead. For 9 1/2 months.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

1. Write up and publish TWD recipe.
2. Get Subway orders organized and delivered for the school lunch next week.

3. Laundry, laundry and more laundry.

4. Pick up something to make for early dinner since it is a soccer practice night. And for fyi, steak sandwiches with home made sweet potato "fries."

5. Clean downstairs bathroom.

5 Snacks I enjoy:

1. chips and dip

2. asian pears

3. chocolate

4. popcorn with extra butter

5. marble cheese

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Culinary school and cooking vacations from around the world. After I’d done all the practical things first.

Places I have lived:
Calgary, Alberta; Germany (army bases); Brampton, Mississauga, Ottawa, North Bay, Pembroke, all in Ontario

Jobs I have had:
Burger King and McDonalds, as well Dairy Queen, as a teenager.

Cashier at a corner store, doing both opening and closing shifts in the same week.

Temp agencies, doing this and that, including one where I spend several days cleaning up someone’s files, and one for Canon where they paid me to load paper into printers over and over again.

Direct Mail facility. Yes, I sent out addressed and unaddressed junk mail. And learned a bit about how to deal with my children’s temper tantrums by having to deal with sales rep temper tantrums.

Stay-at-home-parent. Still mostly doing this, though with a part time job now, and a lot of volunteer work with the school. (Does laminating slave count as a job?)

Play-leader. Silly title for a preschool program. I do crafts with kids, and sing songs and do finger plays in circle with them. I get to color and play playdough as well, and I make a very good Lincoln Logs house.

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 people. Not sure if I can find people who haven't been tagged yet. So I'm going to go back to some of my first blogging friends and hope I didn't retag them.

Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict
Lis of La Mia Cucina
Mary of The Sour Dough
Helen of Tartelette
Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas

Now for recipes!

Guacamole

3 ripe avacados, chunked
1/2 red onion, diced small
big handful of fresh cilantro, chopped fine
1 tsp minced garlic
big sprinkling of kosher salt
heaping tablespoon salsa (I used a fresh made kind, but use whatever you have)
juice of half a lime (zest too if you want.)

Place everything together in a bowl and mush it together with a spoon. How mushy depends on how you like your salsa. Leave it chunky if you like it chunky, or mush it fine if you like it smoother. Mine was somewhere in between.

Pork Fajitas

zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of honey
juice of 3 limes
2 tablespoons finally chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pork tenderloins

Mix marinate ingredients together and place in a large ziploc bag. Add tenderloins and allow to marinate, turning occasionally, for at least 12 hours. The longer the better.

Preheat bbq to medium heat. Grill tenderloins, turning frequently, until desired doneness. I wanted a touch of pink left in mine for moisture.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes under a foil tent before slicing thinly on the diagonal. Serve with guacamole on flour tortillas with choice of toppings. Good toppings are more fresh cilantro, green onions, cheese, salsa, sour cream, sauted onions.

The Cocoa Cupcake Hero, a blast from the past

It has indeed been a sweet week for us, with a dessert just about every night.

Not that the boys are complaining.

I had a few blog events I felt I absolutely had to get in this month, so the boys were the willing recipients of lots of goodies, with this one being their last for the month of May, my entry into Cupcake Hero: Cocoa, hosted by Laurie, my TWD and DB pal, over at Quirky Cupcake.

Please don't mind the terrible picture. I was trying to squeeze it in with a few other things, and was also trying to learn how to take a good picture with no flash. None of those turned out, all blurry, but I think I have it partially figured out (as some of my later, non-cupcake) pictures turned out quite well.

I didn't go out and get a special cocoa for this. I didn't even go get a new container. Not because I didn't want to, but because I wanted to stick to the true recipe. The recipe as was written down for me many years ago by my grandmother.

Yes, I'm on a nostalgia trip again. Been a few of those lately, but that's okay. They remind me of why I love food, and where that love came from. Memories of making things with my grandmother are happy memories, so there is no reason not to enjoy reliving them occasionally.

My grandmother used to make this as a cake, a bundt cake. I have the pan she used on my shelf right now actually. I always called it the mayonnaise cake, but really it was a Miracle Whip Cake. Only this time, it is the Miracle Whip cupcakes.

I'm sure there are people now making faces at the idea, "Miracle Whip? You mean salad dressing? In a cupcake? Ugh." But have an open mind. You don't taste the dressing, but you do get a slight zing in flavor, though more importantly, what you get is a nice moist cake or cupcake. And this is old fashion comfort baking, with only one bowl, no mixer needed, nothing fancy in ingredients. It was the housewife's dream chocolate cake, one that came together in a snap and came out perfect every time.

Even though we always had our Mayo cake plain, I fancied mine up a bit, making a brown sugar banana buttercream (same recipe as for the Opera cake and my 3 tiered cake, but with sauted and rum kissed banana puree added into the sugar syrup.) The match worked very well, as the empty cupcake papers seemed to indicate.

Now, again, I am getting my entry in under the wire. I hope Laurie likes these old fashioned cupcakes as much as we did.

Miracle Whip Cupcakes

Makes 18 cupcake or 1 bundt cake

1 cup Miracle Whip Dressing (You CANNOT substitute something else for this, it just doesn't work!)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
3 tbsp cocoa
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix together the Miracle Whip and the sugar. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir until well mixed and smooth. A few lumps are okay.

Spray a muffin pan and line with muffin papers. Fill 3/4 full. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, but check them at 15. It may take less time, depending on your oven.

Allow to cool. Frost if you'd like, but really, they are good plain.

SHF: Sweet souffles for a sweet Tartelette (And no I'm not bribing her)

Let me restart this post by saying I swear, swear, swear that the deadline for this was the 30th, not the 25th! I was so pleased, thinking I had a days grace to post this, since I made it a few days ago but did not want to squeeze it in with TWD and with the DB.

I was very excited when I read that Tartelette was hosting SHF and had chosen the theme of citrus. I love blog events and have taken part in SHF a couple of times now, but I tend to loose track of it, and with so many wonderful events happening everywhere, it is hard to participate in even 1/4 of the events that I would like to.

Oh for those of you who don't know, this is SHF #43, started by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess. I'm sure the list of blogs wanting to host this event is long. Very long.

Tartelette announced citrus, and I just happend to be reading the May (so last months) Canadian Living Magazine's section on citrus desserts. The pages were already dog-eared, and my mind was twirling with plans to make several of these desserts, only needing an excuse. What a happy coincidence, isn't it? Just when I needed a reason, Tartelette gave me one!

So for her, I made Individual Lime Souffles. The fact that souffles had been on my "to make this year" list was another happy coincidence. Same with the big basket load of limes sitting on my kitchen table.

Souffles do not keep their puff for very long, so I had to make these right before I planned to eat them. Which meant after dinner. When the light was awful. Hence the terrible picture. Which in no way reflects how these came out, or how they tasted.

They tasted amazing. Light and fluffy, even the next morning, cold and floppy. A bright zing of the lime juice and lime zest, oh so good.

I no longer fear the souffle, and will not hesitate to make other variations, including savories, which I've wanted to before but have always been too intimidated to try.

Individual Lime Souffles
May Canadian Living Magazine

Servings: 6

2/3 cup (150 mL) granulated sugar
2 tbsp (25 mL) butter
2 tbsp (25 mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk
1 tbsp (15 mL) grated lime rind
4 eggs, separated
3 tbsp (45 mL) lime juice
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cream of tartar

Garnish:
1 tsp (5 mL) icing sugar

Grease six 3/4-cup (175 mL) ramekins or custard cups. Sprinkle 2 tbsp (25 mL) of the sugar evenly over ramekins. Place on baking sheet; set aside.

In saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; whisk in flour and cook, whisking, for 1 minute. Whisk in milk until smooth; cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Whisk in half of the remaining sugar and the lime rind. Whisk in egg yolks, 1 at a time. Return to heat and cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in lime juice. Transfer to large bowl.

In separate bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Beat in remaining sugar, 1 tbsp (15 mL) at a time, until stiff peaks form. Fold one-quarter into yolk mixture; gently fold in remaining egg whites.

Divide among prepared ramekins. Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven for about 15 minutes or until puffed and almost firm to the touch.

Garnish: Dust with icing sugar. Serve immediately.

The Daring Bakers: Elegance in Baking

In the land of the Daring Bakers, more than 1000 in population, calories don't count. Generous in our cream, our butter, our sugar, we bake up beautiful creations each month and then share them throughout the world.

This month we returned to our roots, to our founders, Ivonne and Lis, who chose this months recipe, but also share co-hosting duties with two of our newer members, Fran and Shea. I wonder if Fran and Shea were questioning what they had gotten themselves into when they saw the recipe for this month.

Seeing as we have Daring Baker's on the far side of the world, or upside down, I'm sure by now you know what the recipe is... the Opera Cake!

But what is an Opera Cake you say? In the words of Ivonne, "For those of you that don't know about this cake, it's an extremely elegant and polished French dessert that is believed to have been created around the beginning of the 1900s. Many people credit a gentleman by the name of Louis Clichy with inventing the cake and that's why it's sometimes referred to as Clichy Cake. So what exactly is an Opéra Cake? Well it's a cake that is made up (usually) of five components: a joconde (a cake layer), a syrup (to wet the joconde), a buttercream (to fill some of the layers), a ganache or mousse (to top the final cake layer) and a glaze (to cover the final layer of cake or of ganache/mousse)."

The recipe chosen for the Daring Baker's version was a compilation of Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets, Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

I chose to make mine for my sister-in-law's baby shower, sharing the cream, the eggs, the sugar and the chocolate.

While a traditional Opera cake is dark in color, one of this months rules was that we stay with light colors in honor of Barbara of Winos and Foodies and her LiveSTRONG event, an event dedicated to raising awareness of cancer. I've been able to participate in both of Barbara's LiveSTRONG events so was not unaware of it.

For my flavoring, I chose to use a strawberry liquor to both flavor my buttercream and for my syrup. I left the cake, the mousse and the glaze as is, not wanting an overwhelming strawberry flavor, but a mild, subtle hint. There was nothing dramatic about my choice of the flavoring. I've been slowly adding bottles of liquor to my pantry and simply chose the one that appealed to me most at the time. Something that I felt would go well with the white chocolate. Strawberry beat out orange, a choice I do not regret at all.

I had only one problem with this cake, and that is the cake itself. The recipe called for placing my oven racks at the bottom and top thirds of my oven, something I missread, as I placed mine in the middle and top third. My pans lined and filled, I placed them into the oven, and then realized my mistake, but let the cakes go anyways.

My middle layer cake burnt on the bottom. I wonder now what would have happened if I had actually placed the rack at the bottom third? Billowing smoke and the fire department?

I tried to salvage that one cake but the burn on the bottom was too strong, while the top did not quite cook through. With only one layer of cake edible, I moved on.

My initial plan had involved making little round Opera cakelettes, which I started to do, even to assembly, when I realized I had miscounted my rounds and would be short 5 circles. How does one miscount that badly?

By this time it was after 10pm and I had run out of almond meal. I had plenty of while almonds and knew I could make my own meal, but I also had two sleeping children. Food processors making meal of whole almonds is not exactly a quiet activity. So I waited until the next morning and then made half the recipe for the jaconde, baking it in the top third of my oven.

This cake came out just fine in 8 minutes.

With all the rest of the components already made, my buttercream with a hint of strawberry thick and creamy, my white chocolate mousse light and fluffy, and my white chocolate glaze standing by, I cut out my last 5 circles, but was not happy with the results. I wanted elegant, not cute.

Eventually I ended up with something classy and elegant.

And those little rounds that I started with?

Tasty.

Worth the trouble? Five different components, none difficult, but time consuming? No, not really. It was good, the strawberry matched well with the plainness of the cake and the white chocolate, but it didn't really grab me and shake me up. My husband ate two of these (and they weren't exactly small), while neither of my children finished one.

It was fun though, and that buttercream I used in my grandparents cake? Well it was based on the buttercream used in the Opera. I liked it, it tasted good, and it came together nicely.

Now, get yourself comfy and go off and read about lots of other Opera Cakes. I need to do the same, once I've managed to read a few TWD posts first (I'm way behind!) Don't forget to leave some comments please!

P.S Did I mention I need another bowl for Bob? Two would be even better. :-)

TWD: Taste of Cinnamon from the past

This week fellow TWD'er Madam Chow, of Madam Chow's Kitchen, chose a great recipe, Pecan Honey Sticky Buns. It comes with a bonus recipe, since you get to make brioche dough the day before and use half of that in your buns.

It also takes a fair bit of time, with an overnight chilling period, plus some rising time, and oops, I would be out of town, so did not have that time to make the buns!

But what's this you see? Lots and lots of pictures?

No, you aren't blind, or crazy, these really are pictures of this recipe being made. You see, I knew this was a great recipe because I'd made it before and just had not blogged about it!

The silky brioche dough, getting ready for it's overnight chilling. My notes on this recipe reminded me for future baking NOT to walk away from the stand mixer as it liked to travel across the counter. Instead, grab a drink and a book, and get cozy beside your mixer, making sure it doesn't take a walk-a-bout when it should be mixing!

I don't like pecans, so I used raisins.

Big difference a bit of time makes, though. Such a nice rise on those buns. See why I left so much space between the buns?
Not to be ignored, the brioche dough that wasn't used for the buns were baked up as a loaf and enjoyed later, plain and toasted with jam.


The buns tasted good but need a bit more time, I think, to get a bit more golden color. There was plenty of honey goodness and gooeyness, and lots of raisins for everyone. I served them with a simple glaze of milk and icing sugar.

Be sure to head over to Tuesdays with Dorie, and check out the buns (hehe) of all the other TWD'ers, and probably a few people who actually post the recipe too! (And get a sneak peek at what we are making next week.... Mmmmm chocolate!)

Happy Anniverithday Grandmama and Grandpapa!

I invented a new word: Anniverithday. It is what you get when you combine a 59th wedding anniversary with an 80th and a 78th birthday party. Alot of reason to celebrate, so it needs a special word. Hence, Anniverithday!

These are my grandparents, for whom we celebrated with a big family pot luck party. While my grandfather is still as silly as he always was, neither of them is in the best of health anymore. They have always been a huge part of my life, so it is especially hard to see them declining.

A few weeks before their anniversary, my grandfather "requested" we do something, if only for my grandmother's sake, who's memory is very bad now and only getting worse. He wanted all of his children, plus spouses, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and most of us were able to attend, along with a few of my great-aunts and second cousins.

There were alot of people, and alot of food.

I was put in charge of the cake for them, and this is what I eventually settled on. (My grandparents were very uncooperative in helping me choose what type to make, instead telling me, "We will love anything you make." How unhelpful is that?)

The bottom layer is a white cake, from The Cake Book, with a layer of brown sugar buttercream, while the top two layers of the cake are the sour cream chocolate cake, also from The Cake Book, with the same brown sugar buttercream filling. I used a store bought fondant, my last choice but I had run out of time to make my own, and had a friend who is very talented with fondant, make me the flowers that I used to decorate the tiers. Finally, I used some pretty ribbon to decorate the layers (and hide my lousy fondant job, but I learned a few things doing this cake, such as don't roll the fondant so thin!)

Oh, btw, Hx of Aardvark Cakes wanted to know what I was making that would take 3 pans (hence I did not buy a madeleine pan,) and this was it. The sizes are 9 inch, 7 inch and 5 inch.

Did I mention that to get to this party, we had to drive almost 4 hours away?

I didn't bring the cake to them all assembled and looking pretty. That would have had me chewing my nails and filled with anxiety with every bump on the road (and let me tell you, Hwy 17 has ALOT of bumps in the road.) Instead I packed up the 3 layers, covered in fondant, and assembled it in their kitchen, while family kept walking by for a peek. Despite my careful packing, I still had to do a bit of repair work to the layers, but for the most part, they were good travelers.

While I was not totally satisfied with the results of the cake, everyone else was thrilled with it. Especially my grandparents.

I've been blessed with two loving, wonderful grandparents, and was glad I could take part and contribute to such an amazing celebration of them and their life together.


Brown Sugar Buttercream
*This is a variation of a buttercream recipe that I used for something else, but I don't at this exact time know the source of it. I will update with the original source later, when I figure out what it is.

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ sticks (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature


1.Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves.

2.Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225◦F (107◦C). Once it reaches that temperature, remove the syrup from the heat.

3.While the syrup is heating, begin whisking the egg and egg yolk at high speed in the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment. Whisk them until they are pale and foamy.

4.When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin slowly (very slowly) pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment. Some of the syrup will spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to stir it into the mixture as it will harden!

5.Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).

6.While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.

7.With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.

8.Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).

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.

Blogging by mail, a box of goodies for me!

I think I've managed to participate in each of the Blogging by Mail events that have been hosted by Stephanie over at Dispensing Happiness. So when she put out the call for participation in a new round, Little Things, I signed up right away!

My partner this time was April from Cookworm, a fellow Daring Baker. And the post office doesn't like either one of us! She had a few technical difficulties getting her package to me, but it finally made it this week, filled with lots of little goodies for me. (And as for why it doesn't like me, well my package to my partner went out early, with a tracking number and a short delivery date, but so far as I can tell, once it went into the hands of USPS, it has disappeared.)

But back to my package of little things....

April knew I liked chocolate, so she gave me a bunch of little chocolates from Scharffen Berger and Guylian, the perfect size for a little pick me up. And she must have known I like little whisks (they are so cute), which is why she included a mini balloon whisk, as well as a fun little egg turner, for me to play with.

The little jar of ginger bears are very cute and are so pretty to look at it that it might be awhile before I open it. But when I do I will enjoy them with a cup of tea, as April sent me two kinds to try. I won't be waiting to try the biscotti though, and will probably have to fight off the children. Maybe I can distract them with the dried mango?

It has just started to rain outside, and the wind has picked up, making the temperature drop and the house feel cool. I may have to go make myself a cup of tea now, which would give me the perfect excuse to break open my cookies.

Thanks so much April for the goodies, and thanks again to Stephanie for another fun round of Blogging by Mail!

And we have a winner!

This was very fun to do with the boys, and had a surprising outcome!

I sat down with my boys this morning and read off all the entries to them, being very careful not to let them know who wrote what as there were a few where I personally knew the story teller and I did not want to influence the boys in their choice. At the end of all the comments, they each had a favorite, though it was not the same one, but they understood that they had to agree on one story.

After careful consideration, they finally agreed up a winner with this entry:

Once upon a time there were 3 little girls who loved to bake with their grandma (true). Grandma loved to bake pies because everybody loved them and she won awards for them (true). Then one day an evil power ranger kidnapped one of the girls (false). So Grandma decided to bake pies to win her granddaughter back. She made 3 award winning pies and taught the girls to make little baby pies. "Not like that Colly" she'd say "you have to flute the edges like this" (true). They all rode flying snakes to the evil power ranger's castle. "Here are some pies in exchange for my little granddaughter" the grandmother offered. "Mmmmm those smell so good" said the evil power ranger "besides this kid is too much trouble". Many many years later, there are 3 little girls who love to bake pies with their mother. Now it's the mother that says "Not like that LuLu, you need to flute the edges like this". (true)And they all lived happily ever after.

"I liked the Power Rangers, it was really fun. It was also quite silly." said one judge.

"I liked how they were telling a story, telling both true parts and false parts, and it was quite interesting." said our second judge.

And then they smiled and giggled like crazy when I told them who had written this entry, their friends from Utah!

Oh and I should add in that their winning choice was not the same as my winning choice.

I believe there was a tie for second place, between Katie and her "sprinkle, sprinkle" two year old, and littlelisa with her Korean cooking class. And both boys thought offering a recipe as a bribe was cheating, though I'm willing to try out the recipe if it just happens to show up on my email. (insert smiley here!)

As I said, this was alot of fun, not just for myself, but also for my boys. Thanks again to Yvette for giving me a chance to host a cookbook giveaway, and to get my kids a bit more involved in the kitchen!

Don't forget to enter to win!

Tomorrow is your last day to enter your comment for your chance to win this fun cookbook!

Don't know about my contest? Well you can read all about it here, or I can tell you about it now - just leave me a comment telling me a favorite story about cooking with "your" child (which could be a niece/nephew/grandchild/neighbor/any child you cook with) or cooking you did as a child. I will then read all the comments to my favorite sous chefs, my own children, and they will pick their favorite story as the winner!

In the meantime, don't forget to head over to Handstand Kids and check out the free recipe from the Mexican cookbook.

TWD: Florida Pie and techincal difficulties

Right off, I need to say. There were no technical difficulties with making, or eating, this pie. They were all Blogger related. Every once in awhile Blogger just does not want to let me do things, and yesterday was one of those days.

Seeing as I had been awake since 4:36am, I didn't feel like fighting with Blogger at the time, so held off until today to try this.

And now back to my pie....

The Florida Pie was the choice this week of Dianne from Dianne's Dishes, and had been on my to make list for awhile. Laziness and other desserts was all that had stopped me from making it. Seriously, read the recipe: a cross between a key lime and a coconut cream pie, piled high on a graham cracker crust. How bad can that be?

Instead of telling you, I'll show you with a picture instead:

Okay my cut isn't perfectly clean. I was in a hurry to cut and photograph it so I could eat it!

But doesn't it look just luscious? The creaminess of the filling, the light, airy meringue with its golden top.

I had to share this out not only with my usual taste tester neighbor, but also with my coworkers. Because if this had stayed around at home, I would have eaten way too much of it. True, that 4:36am wake up was followed by a tough swim set, there is not enough time in a full swim session for me to work off this pie. I don't swim fast enough to burn up all those calories!

I did not mess in any way with the recipe for this pie. I considered briefly adding the zest of the limes in, but decided to try it as written first. I'm glad I did as it made the lime subtle, not overpowering the coconut, but balancing well with it.

Many thanks for pushing me towards this pie Dianne!

My kind of Mother's Day Flowers

Don't get me wrong, flowers are all well and fine. Pretty, and help liven up a room. But they don't last very long and they cost a small fortune, money I would rather have spend on something else, like say new dishes, or a pot. Or heck, even a nice set of oven mitts! Or better yet, skip the flowers and buy a nice assortment of flour instead - with the rising prices, you may spend just as much, though.


Now, these kinds of flowers, again, they won't last very long, but they don't cost nearly as much and are just as effective at brightening up a room! (And if at some point you did buy a "bouquet" of flour, you've contributed to making these as well.)

I made these recently for a baby shower, so they are pretty close to being Mother's Day cupcakes. I think my mother would have enjoyed eating them, vanilla bean cupcakes, filled with dulce de leche, and topped with a light vanilla buttercream. I know she liked to look at them as she was nearby when I made them, enjoying some of the left over dulce on a spoon.

For these cupcakes, I went back to Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, which I had made for last month's Daring Baker challenge. A few changes - I had neither whole milk nor buttermilk, so used a combination of 1% and of light cream. I omitted the lemon but added the seeds of a vanilla bean in addition to some vanilla extract. The little cakes came out with just the right weight and denseness, heavy enough to support the filling, but still light in flavor.

I stuck with the buttercream that came with the recipe, but again, omitted the lemon and stayed with the vanilla for flavoring. I wanted subtle this time, and did not want the off color that comes with pure extract, so used some clear vanilla extract instead.

I understand these were well received at the baby shower, by the mom-to-be and the guests. I was supposed to be there as well but that cough and cold had not yet let go of me and I would have felt quite badly if I had made her sick.

Now the next time you are thinking of giving someone flowers, why not consider giving vanilla bean caramel flowers instead? Or play it safe - an assortment of different flours would be just as nice, and would last longer than a bouquet of mixed flowers.