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Birthday season

Summer is birthday season in my family. Growing up, the four of us celebrated birthdays May through August at the steady pace of one per month. Another birthday cake was always just around the corner, and we were celebrating all summer long! What’s more, when my husband joined the party years later, his birthday in September fit perfectly into the schedule.

fresh berries

Birthdays are extra special when you are young and just looking to add another year to your age. As kids, Tina and I were very enthusiastic about treasure hunts at our parties. I like to think everyone enjoyed them as much as we did. I am not sure where this idea came from, most likely from some book or other we were immersed in. There was a period of several years where every birthday party included a foray into the back yard to search for treasure. Our mom was a great sport, setting up clues to keep us and our friends happy. At the end of our search, we’d always find brown paper bags, labelled with our names. The bags were filled with sweet treats to keep us happy for days. Tina and I got to pitch in by picking out the candy that we would share with our friends in those goodie bags. I still remember the sour gummy candies, sprinkled with sparkly sugar. Those are still my favorites.

little berries

These days, treasure hunts aren’t a part of our birthday routines. It is extra special event when we can get together to spend time with family around birthdays. Just a few weeks back, we all celebrated my dad’s birthday. And while we didn’t make him search for his gifts, the treasure hunt tradition is not over yet. I am pretty sure my son will be eager to carry on this little ritual.  And his birthday is still coming up…

pavlova
As birthday season is just getting underway, I think I might have found the cake for all occasions. The June issue of Bon Appétit had a lovely feature on strawberries, complete with a berry pavlova. (Click here for the recipe.) Since my birthday coincides with strawberry season, the choice for my dessert was already made. The first of the juicy red berries are just beginning to appear in our farmer’s market, and this yummy pavlova seems like a fitting use for them. And next time I need a party cake, I think I’ll just rotate in seasonal fruit—raspberries, peaches and blueberries all sound pretty delicious. I followed the recipe as listed and it turned out really well. Whoever came up with the genius idea of whipped cream AND mascarpone should be saluted! My only word of advice is that you might have a hard time prettily cutting and plating the dessert. Things can get a little messy. But it’s a birthday cake, after all. Serve it with champagne and no one will be the wiser!

Your vision remains clear viagra no doctor with the help of beta carotene that is found in carrots and in the antioxidant drinks as well. This is a story of old Jeff and order viagra online raindogscine.com Leena. Low immunity increases the risk of genital herpes out- http://raindogscine.com/?attachment_id=59 viagra pills without prescription breaks, arthritis, asthma etc. 10.Unhealthy skin: Stress leads to accumulation of toxins in body. Once an cialis price australia entire list of people who are unique in their own way.  

 

 

 

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Kitchen sink muffins

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Have you ever opened your cupboard only to find a surplus of odds and ends? Last night I decided to take a little peek into my baking bin to see what I had in store. Things had reached a critical point and more items were falling out than actually staying in the bin, so the timing seemed right.

I opened the cupboard, made my way past the tub of brown sugar, the container of raisins, the two jars of popcorn and I finally unearthed the baking bin and began rummaging. Sure enough, I found that the bin was filled mainly with bits of this and that. Four half used bags of slivered almonds, five quarter cup bags of roasted peanuts, three half used bags of chocolate chips, one half empty bag of butterscotch chips. Some dried cranberries, dries apricots, currents, seed and nuts galore. It was a regular old “not enough to do anything with but, to much to just trash” party under there!
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My fridge is often in a similar state, and yesterday was no different. It housed a couple carrots, a few apples that have seen better days, a bit of mint, a little thyme, one stock of rhubarb and a few other things I’m sure. What I needed was a recipes that made use of all the bits and bites of left over this and that.

As I dug through the baking bin I was reminded of a muffin that I occasionally get at our local Whole Foods market, a kitchen sink muffin. The muffin really does have everything, except the kitchen sink in it and somehow it still manages to be delicious. It is filled with pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, grated carrots and a host of other items that I had floating around in my kitchen. This muffin is the real deal if you need to do a little cupboard cleanse. If you don’t have carrots you can use zucchini, if you don’t have pumpkin seeds you can use sunflower seeds or any mixture there of. And if health is the name of your game I would imagine that you could experiment with reducing the sugar and oil and adding more banana.
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Kitchen Sink Muffins
Makes 12 large muffins

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
There are many benefits of Kamagra and can be used for both vaginal as well as old men can find this link now online sale viagra develop risks of being sexually well get reduced considerably. It is alluded to as a bland of http://robertrobb.com/2015/01/ viagra generika on the grounds that it holds while the car is moving on the road. Proscar is available in 5mg preparations (tablets) and Propecia is available in 1 mg preparations online cialis pills (tablets). Therapy is also recommended, as free get viagra well as exercise. 2 cups grated carrot & apple (I used 1 cup carrot and 1 cut apple)
1/3 cup chopped dried fruit (I used apricots & dried cranberries)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 slided almonds
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup coconut
1 banana mashed
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix well. Stir into the flour mixture dried fruit, nuts & seed, grated carrots & apple, chocolate chips and coconut. Mix until fully incorporated.

In a bowl whisk together mashed banana, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until batter is just incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between 12 lined muffin cups and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Or until the tops of the muffins are golden and when poked a wooden skewer comes out clean.

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Breakfast is for champions

P1060655Breakfast is a meal that I can’t live without. I am starving when I wake up in the morning and even after a good breakfast I am ready to eat again before noon rolls around. On weekdays I keep things fairly straight forward, steel cut oats with cinnamon and fruit, the weekend is a different story, I like to leave things open for meals that are a bit more exciting. After last weeks rhubarb blitz I have been feeling ready to embrace the flavours and bounties of spring. Asparagus is another seasonal veggie that I often forget to enjoy when it is actually fresh and local. Usually by the time I remember that it is asparagus season, the best of the spears have long since be snatched up by other foodies like Ginger, who must have some sort of alarm system set up in their smartphones reminding them which items are currently in season! At any rate, the grocery store was full of local asparagus this past weekend and I greedily snatched up a bag full with the hopes of turning it into a weekend breakfast delight.P1060665
The internet seems to be teeming with spring asparagus ideas, here are a few that I have been excited about trying out:
Asparagus, Zucchini and Ricotta Tart
Asparagus Leek Flatbread 
Even by following some food habits, sciatica nerve soreness can be dealt with and cured through this approach, and these factors are pretty usually the core explanation for back ache, muscle tissues stiffness and anxiety. generic viagra usa Moreover, oxytocin decreases cortisol tadalafil online pharmacy release and anxiety in an individual. For the best results, you should take the medication at least an hour before you plan to have sexual intercourse. purchase viagra in australia After successful application, the generic viagra online try this now will reach to you in short. Spring Breakfast Tart
Asparagus with Fried Eggs

I decided to start with The Jewels of New York’s Spring Breakfast Tart, mainly because the photographs looked so lovely. Yes, I am a sucker for a good looking photograph, and if there are no photos with a recipe, well it is like the recipe didn’t even exist. Keep that in mind if you are trying to get me to make one of your recipes :). With cheese, eggs, bacon and asparagus (I had to ditch the arugula flowers because my local grocery isn’t cool enough to carry them) this tart is sure to impress any breakfast guest!

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Très tragique

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We have all had a few tragedies in our day I’m sure, but some of us have had a few more than others. The word tragedy is perhaps a little strong as it conjures up more serious events, I however am talking about “tragedies”. Those events that were so totally devastating at the time but now, in hindsight, are actually pretty amusing and are the stories we often share and laugh about. I have had my fair share of these sort of tragedies. For me, tragedy started striking early. There was the time that I fell down a flight of concrete stairs with my arms zipped inside my jacket, the time I decided to draw a raggedy ann doll face on my own face with markers, then there was the time that I ran over our dog Max while racing down a hill on my bike, and the time I was biking so fast that I missed my corner and hit a telephone pole… the list goes on.

But aside from the physical tragedies, kitchen tragedies also started early too. There was the cornstarch and powdered sugar debacle (which I may have mentioned before), the time I sneezed into the cookie dough and of course the time Ginger and I did an extra thorough cleaning job on my grandma’s cast iron pan. As I’m sure you can see, I didn’t have a smooth start in the kitchen.

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While I may not be the most graceful person around town, I have gotten things a little more under control. It has been so long since my last kitchen tragedy that I really couldn’t even tell you about it. Now instead of kitchen tragedies, more often you will see what I like to call “kitchen disaster bombs” around my house. The disaster bomb differs from the tragedy as it isn’t rooted in failure, but rather it refers to the beautiful mess left by a cooking project. This delicious, tart and sweet rhubarb crumble was a total kitchen disaster bomb! The remains of which can still be found sprawling across my kitchen.

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One of my favourite and regularly under used spring time treats in rhubarb. This vegetable, as it turns out, is often times just a conduit for strawberries. Strawberry rhubarb this and strawberry rhubarb that, what about just rhubarb? Last spring, a favourite dessert to come out of my kitchen, was a plain old rhubarb pie. Calling it both plain and old really isn’t fair, because it was nothing of the sort, but it’s simplicity was delightful. This spring I am hoping to make a few more rhubarb-centric kitchen disaster bombs, starting of course with this Rhubarb Crumble, which was inspired by a crumble over at Local Kitchen.

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Rhubarb Crumble

Filling
½ brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
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zest and juice of 1 lemon
pinch of fleur de sel

Topping
¾ cup flour
⅔ cup almonds, toasted and chopped
½ cup old fashioned rolled oats
⅓ cup brown sugar
½ tsp fleur de sel
⅓ cup butter, melted
pinch of fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Make filling: In a medium bowl mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add the rhubarb, lemon juice and zest, and salt. Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients. Set aside.

Make topping: Combine in a large bowl flour, oats, almonds, sugar, salt and pepper. Using a fork blend in the melted butter.

Make crumble: Transfer rhubarb and all its juices to a 9-inch baking dish. Using your hands press the crumble into large chunks and place it on top of the rhubarb sprinkle with remaining smaller bits of the topping. You can use your hands to even out the crumble so that all the rhubarb is covered.

Place baking dish in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet, in case of drips. Bake until golden brown and the juices are bubbling, about 40 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature and always topped with ice cream!

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The all new lemon meringue

separated

I’ve been trying to adopted a Swedish mindset to this chilly spring we’ve been having. Just this weekend, I was listening to Rick Steves and his weekly radio show. This is a dangerous program for me because my love of travel is always piqued by his interviews with tour guides and residents of faraway cities. His subject for a portion of this week’s show was Stockholm, Sweden. This city has not been on the top of my travel list, but I was intrigued by the descriptions of its residents and their tendency towards an outdoor lifestyle, no matter what the season. The tour guide described cozy restaurant patios where you could go to enjoy a drink, complete with toasty blankets for those evenings a little extra warmth is needed.

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This was all of the motivation I needed to pull out a cozy blanket from the closet and head out to the patio. It’s really not that warm yet, but when the sun starts to shine, I feel like I really must be outside to enjoy it. And now, wrapped up in blankets, we’ve been enjoying brief slivers of sunset sky before heading indoors for the evening.

meringue

If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that I’ve had a bit of spring fever in the kitchen recently. The changing seasons make me look for the next dish that is going to sum up the flavor of the moment for me. Salads of all proportions have been popping up—platters and bowls that take over the meal with their green crunchiness and leafy goodness. But spring isn’t wholly captured in a salad bowl. The other thing I’m searching for is food that feels light after a season of warm and filling. Hmm…meringue, anyone? It’s time for one last hurrah for the citrus, and quickly, before the rhubarb takes over the place.

For years, I’ve been sidestepping the crust on any piece of pie that I’ve ever been served. Sure, I love the fillings—spicy pumpkin, luscious summer cherry and creamy lemon. Better still the toppings, a dollop of whip cream, scoop of ice cream or an airy cap of meringue. But no matter what the filling, my perfect pie would certainly be crust free.

desserts

So I do find myself a little surprised to have never really considered the option of deconstructing the pie, leaving the crust behind to focus on my favorite part of the dessert. But all that has changed when I found the recipe for lemon meringue pots de crème in The New York Times a few weeks back. I’ve got some lost time to make up for now!

plate

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Adapted from The New York Times

1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar, plus 4 tablespoons
4 large eggs, separated, room temperature
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup lemon juice
Zest of one large lemon
1 tablespoon finely chopped pistachios

Heat half and half and milk in a heavy saucepan or a double-boiler until warm and steaming. In a large mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar. Sift the cornstarch and salt into the mixture, stirring frequently to prevent lumps.

Slowly whisk 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, then slowly add the remaining milk and mix well. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter, lemon juice and zest. Ladle the custard into 6 4-ounce ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pistachios and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Combine egg whites and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in a bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon the meringue onto each custard, using all of the meringue. Sprinkle with the pistachio-sugar mixture. Bake until tops are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

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Grilled thin crust pizza

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The sun came out in full force this weekend and I attacked the patio and a few other areas of the house will equal force. Sweeping, trashing old plants that didn’t make it through the winter, giving a little TLC to the ones that did make it and finally I dusted off the BBQ. Around here, one of the indicators that spring is really here to stay, coincides with the first usage of the BBQ. It is official, spring is here.

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It may be clear to those of you who often visit the blog, that I am not the hugest meat-eater in town. I don’t really know how to cook much meat therefore I often stick with recipes that call for bits of meat here and there, as opposed to a huge rack of ribs of some such thing. What that also means is that a lot of the traditional BBQ items never really make it onto our grill. And I am often left pondering what other foods could be prepared on the BBQ.

One of my favourite things to throw on the BBQ is homemade thin crust pizza. This no-raise recipe is fast and easy and works well as a base for pizza, flatbread or I bet you could even use it as a rustic wrap! Once I have whipped up the pizza dough I like to make a couple of variations, one tradition and a second experimental version. This usually leaves something for everyone, even the more adventurous members of the family. This time round my experimental version was topped with mozzarella cheese, potato, caramelized onion, a bit of crumbled bacon and finished with pea shoots after grilling. I have big plans for my next creation, I am thinking of an adaptation of  Kelsey from Happy Yolks Grilled Carrot + Carrot Green Pesto + Asiago Grilled Cheese  recipe. I’m pretty sure that it is going to be magic once new carrots start showing up at the market! Experiment or make something tried and true, it is up to you. I’m know both will be delicious.

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Grilled Thin Crust Pizza
Makes two 10-inch pizzas | adapted from The Kitchn

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3/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt

Preparing the dough
Fill a measuring cup with lukewarm water, add the yeast to the water and stir to dissolve. Add the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and pour in the water and yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon mix the dough until incorporated. The dough will be loose and sticky. Turn the dough out onto a clean working surface and knead until smooth and elastic. About 5 – 10 minutes. Add additional flour a tablespoon at a time if the dough is overly sticky. Divide into two equal portions, cover will a towel and allow to rest while preparing the toppings of your choice.

Grilling the pizza
Pre-heat grill to about 600F. Roll out the dough, roll until it is about 1/2″ thick, the dough will stretch out more as you transfer it to the grill. Transfer dough from the working surface to a cookie sheet or cutting board. Brush one side of the pizza with olive oil. Place the pizza oiled side down on the grill. Leave the BBQ’s lid open and cook for 3 minutes. While the first side of the pizza is cooking bring pizza topping out to the grilling area. You will need to top the pizza quickly so, being organized is helpful. Depending on your grill you may want to check the pizza half way thru the cooking time and rotate it if needed. Once the 3 minutes is up lightly oil the top side of the pizza and flip it, freshly oiled side down onto the grill.

Working quickly, add your toppings to the grilled side of the pizza dough. Keeping the toppings light seems to work best with this type of thin crust pizza. Once you have placed all your topping on the pizza, close the BBQ lid and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Using tongs or a flipper remove the pizza from the grill, cut into pieces and serve!

 

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An ode to consistency and cheesecake goodness

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Consistency is great, right? Shouldn’t we all make a practice of doing something diligently for sheer joy and inspiration? I was going to tell you about some of my reminders of consistency lately. I wanted to tell you about all of those good parts of consistency, the bits that make you feel like a real winner for having come through in the end. But I have been feeling that at every turn, there is some reminder that I ought to be doing something more consistently. And while there are a myriad of good reasons to practice consistency in many aspects of life, sometimes I end up feeling more clobbered by the reminders than inspired. In fact, I’ve begun to wonder if I could be having consistency fatigue, which must be somewhat akin to decision fatigue.

unwrapped

But supposed conditions aside, I’ve been struggling to make amends with all of the various pieces of my life and their current place of my list of to-dos. Part of what got me to this place was the urging of a mentor who told me to keep working and that if I was consistent in my work, my voice would find me. My voice, my eye, whatever that mystic little piece of self is that I can share with others—whether in the written word or visual—can only find me over time. No amount of searching or cajoling is going to bail me out on this one, it is just down to hard work and effort over time.

honey

I should know these things. Right now, I am training to run a half marathon with my sister, Tina. We’ve been training since dark, cold February. There is little that drives home the point of consistency as much as physical activity. The day-to-day repetition of something like running brings a fortitude of mind and foot that cannot be imitated. Some of those miles, the sun is shining. The air is filled with the scent of just-opened magnolia blossoms. Other miles, it’s still dark. It’s cold and my feet are wet from the rain. Let’s be clear, I am not fast. I have my good days and my bad, but always, I’m plowing through it.

One place I don’t have to try to be consistent is in the kitchen. It’s a given that I am going to want to eat every day—most of those meals prepared and shared around the cozy table in my kitchen with my family. Day after day, I keep coming back to the kitchen. Here consistency is a need, as present as the rumbling tummy of my three-year-old. Recipes to try keep stacking up and through it all, I delight in getting to come back to it again and again. I keep hoping that feeling rubs off elsewhere in my life.

cheesecake

Cheesecake with honeyed apricots
Adapted from Food and Wine

Truth be told, this cheesecake may be contributing to my consistency in running! The filling just chills for a few hours, which feels deliciously right in these first few days of spring.

Amaretti crust

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5 ounces amaretti cookies
Pinch of kosher salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake

1 teaspoon unflavored powdered gelatin
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Honeyed apricots

3/4 cup honey
Four 3-inch rosemary sprigs
6 ounces dried California apricots

First, make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, pulse the amaretti with salt until finely ground. Place the crumbs in a small bowl and stir in the butter. Press crumbs over the bottom and about halfway up the sides of an 8-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust is set. Cool on a rack.

Next, make the cheesecake: In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 2 tablespoons of cold water; let stand about 10 minutes, until the gelatin is softened. Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat the heavy cream with a mixer until soft peaks form; refrigerate.

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, ricotta, sugar and salt with an electric mixer at high speed until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally, about 5 minutes. Beat in the mascarpone and lemon juice.

Microwave the gelatin until melted, 5 seconds or so; add to the cream cheese mixture and beat until well incorporated. Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Pour the mixture into the cooled crust and smooth the surface. Refrigerate the cake until firm and set, 4 to 6 hours.

Finally, honeyed apricots: In a medium saucepan, combine the honey with 3 cups of water and three of the rosemary sprigs. Bring to a boil and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the honey is dissolved. Add the apricots and simmer until tender, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let apricots sit in the syrup for about 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, place the apricots in a bowl. Boil the rosemary syrup until thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Strain the syrup over the apricots and let cool. Garnish with the remaining rosemary sprig.

Unmold the cheesecake and serve with the honeyed apricots.

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Part 2: Magic custard cake with coconut

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

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

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

custard

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

served

Magic custard cake with coconut
Adapted from White On Rice Couple

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

Extra confectioner’s sugar for dusting

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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Earl grey tea cookies

Is tea the new coffee? I stumbled upon this question in an article or some such business earlier this week. My immediate reaction was, “Yes! Tea is totally the new coffee.” But upon reflection I realized “no”, both hold such distinctly different roles in my daily routine that I couldn’t do with only one or the other. Coffee is peppy, social and bright, it is the drink that drags me out of bed in the morning and shoves me out the front door. Tea is a whole other story. It is cozy, relaxing and lulls me into bed at the end of the day. Simply put, coffee is an extrovert and tea is an introvert. And life wouldn’t have any balance without both.

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I’ll admit it, I have a nightly tea tradition. The tradition varies a little, sometimes I have a cookie with my tea and if I’m really, really lucky, I get to have a Tim Tam. But most often I just have tea. Vanilla SleepyTime is the tea du jour. If I happen to have a Tim Tam on hand, the Tim Tam slam is the only way to go. Are you are sitting in front of your computer thinking “what the heck is a Tim Tam slam?” this guy will show you how it is done and if you don’t believe him Jennifer Love Hewitt will show you too. It is legit.

Sadly, I’m currently out of Tim Tams and my evening tea has been cookie-less for quite sometime now. As I was digesting the whole tea vs. coffee thing, I was inspired to do a little baking, and my inspiration point was a certain coffee flavoured cookie that we often had around the house at Christmas. If tea really is the new coffee, then I should make a tea flavoured cookie to celebrate. Earl Grey is my tea flavour of black tea, so naturally it is only fitting that I use it in my cookies. To give them a little twist, I decided to dip them in chocolate to mimic our Christmas coffee cookies.

I know that I have been talking about chocolate dipped cookies but I have yet to show you any proof that they were ever made. Keep scrolling down and you will see one. Here is the deal. I dipped half of the cookies and then did a taste test. I know what you are thinking, “Chocolate and Earl Grey, sounds like a match made in heaven.” I know right! That is exactly what I thought. I don’t what to sell the chocolate dipped version short but they weren’t mind-blowing. They were fine, perhaps even good, but not better. So, unless you are a chocolate fiend, I would suggest that you just keep these cookies as is. Crisp, delicately favoured with tea and delicious.

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Earl Grey Tea Cookies
makes 2 dozen | adapted from The Kitchn

1 cup all purpose flour
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1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon Russian Earl Grey tea leaves
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle grind the tea into a fairly fine powder. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Add the vanilla, water and butter into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until it forms a dough. Form the dough into a ball and place it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a smooth log shape, wrap with the parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your oven to 375. Remove dough from the freezer and slice into 1/3″ slices. Evenly space cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy with a piping hot cup of tea!

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The in-house Valentine

nesting

We’re bringing Valentine’s in-house this year. I know there is a case to be made for a lovely evening out, but this year, I think dining in is going to be just as much fun. And let’s be honest, finding a babysitter on Valentine’s evening is no easy task! At the request of a three-year-old, we’re going to “build” a raclette. He’s still working out the details of the accompanying meats and vegetables he’d like to cook, but I think he’ll come up with a good plan. And with a starting point of melting cheese and crusty bread, it’s hard to go wrong.

chocolate

My son has always been accustomed to time in the kitchen. His first baby swing was set up in a corner of the kitchen and stayed there throughout his infancy. As a result, he has become keenly interested in what is going on—what is being prepared and more importantly, when can he have a taste of it? I take full responsibility for making an occassion out of every treat in the oven—turning on the oven light, and “voila,” pulling back the tea towel curtains with a grand flourish. Any baking process that involves a mixer has him standing at the kitchen counter, tightly gripping the rail of the chair, mesmerized by the spinning beaters. It hasn’t taken him long to learn the location of the baking staples and he dashes back and forth from the pantry, retrieving sugar and flour. He takes great pride in the moments when he alone holds the whisk over the bowl, attempting to stir with as much bravado as he can muster. I couldn’t be more pleased.

supplies

As he has gotten a little older, I’ve been looking for ways to get him a little more involved with whatever I am working on. It’s no surprise that he is more willing to try things he has had some hand in. Try as I might, I can’t get him interested in salad. But put him at the sink with a head of lettuce to wash, and suddenly the boy is crunching through leaves with the enthusiasm of a small rabbit! And while I generally don’t have to do much to get him interested in treats, I’ve been trying to include him in more of the baking steps. The gingerbread twigs I baked at the holidays were perfect for him and the inclusion of sparkles made them that much better. For Valentines, I’ve been looking for something that we could make together. This holiday is rich with fancy sweet treats, but what about something for a three-year-old to get involved with? How about some no-bake bars that require little more than a few swipes of the spatula through the melted chocolate, mingling marshmallows and crunchy nuts in a few deft movements? Sounds like a plan to me!

I hope your day is sweet, whatever your plans may be!

bite
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Rocky Road

There are hundreds of Rocky Road recipes out there. This version uses dark chocolate, 60 to 75 percent cocoa is a nice range, for a rich flavor without quite as much sweetness. I added salted pistachios to bring a little savory note to these treats and a bright pop of color when cut into squares. A sprinkle of salt adds sparkle and brings balance to the rich chocolate. Perfect for assembling with children and sharing with sweethearts.

11 oz of good quality dark chocolate, chopped
10 oz. mini marshmallows
2/3 cup pistachios, shelled
Sprinkle of flaky salt, optional

Line an 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil. Set aside.

Melt chocolate in a large bowl over a pot of steaming water. Remove from heat. Stir in the nuts and marshmallows. Place mixture in the prepared pan and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for at least two hours to set. Lift foil from pan and cut chocolate mixture into small squares. Wrapped tightly, squares will keep for several days.

Makes about 16 squares.

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