Tag Archives: boyfriend

by

O Canada cupcakes – by Patty!

Nothing says Canada like red, white, and maple syrup. Happy birthday Canada! =)

These cupcakes have a lot in common with red velvet, but they are not red velvet, they are full of real maple goodness instead. I wanted to make something with our official colours, and a flavour that is undeniably Canadian.

Time required: 2 hrs

Yields: 24

Cost per cupcake: $1.75

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $42.00

Kitchen implements I used:

  • muffin tin & cupcake liners
  • KitchenAid mixer

Cupcake ingredients:

  • 2¼ C flour
  • 1¼ C granulated white sugar
  • ½ C butter (one stick)
  • 1¼ C milk
  • 1 TBSP cocoa powder
  • 3 TSP baking powder
  • 1 TSP salt
  • 1 TSP pure maple syrup
  • 1 TSP pure vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • red food colouring, I just winged it

Buttercream frosting ingredients:

  • 3 C icing sugar
  • 5½ TBSP butter, room temperature
  • ¼ TSP pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ TSP pure maple syrup
  • 2 TBSP milk
  • 1 TBSP of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions:

CUPCAKES:

1. Pre-heat oven 177°C / 350°F.

2. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl.

3. Beat on High for 4 minutes, scraping sides constantly.

Once everything is in, add the food colouring.

Totally didn’t bother measuring the red dye.

Thinking, “When it starts to resemble Canadian red I’ll stop.”

Perhaps not the best plan.

Yuck, pink isn’t one of Canada’s colours, this won’t do!!

Nothing says “I love my country” like vulva pink batter…  ah well, maybe a miracle will occur in the oven. (Hah, get it?)

4. Ladle into muffin pan, filling about two-thirds of the way.

5. Bake 20 min, and immediately remove cupcakes from pan and place on cooling rack.

6. Cool at least 1 hr.

FROSTING:
1. In large bowl, cream butter and icing sugar together.
2. Add half of the milk, and mix well.
3. Add vanilla.
4. Add remainder of the milk and lemon juice.
5. Mix until you can no longer feel sugar granules.

After they are frosted, get patriotic and devour!!

Hurrah! They turned out red after all! Miracles do happen.

Verdict: You know, this is the first time I have actually gotten exactly 24 cupcakes, usually I run out before I get to the final one. Yes!!

The colour did darken as they baked. Thank God.

The maple flavour was very subtle, almost to the point I didn’t notice it. Next year I’ll increase the amount of maple syrup to at least one tablespoon.

Boyfriend and I ate some cupcakes as we watched the Canada Day fireworks from our balcony.

He said, “Patty, you make great cupcakes. It’s like vanilla cupcakes, with lemon vanilla frosting.” (unintelligible salivating sound).

Playlist: Final Fantasy OSTs

by

Patty’s maple bacon brownies

Today, in a gesture of overwhelming self-sacrifice, I am making a dessert with bacon for Boyfriend. He doesn’t know it yet. I’m meeting him at a bar later to celebrate something, and I will be arriving with bacon brownies.

Why is this a gesture of self-sacrifice?

Well dear reader: I don’t like bacon.

Some people, when they find out, assume:

  1. I am allergic
  2. I have a religious restriction
  3. I am insane

But they are wrong. I just don’t like it. I love pulled pork and ham, but bacon does nothing for me. Boyfriend’s parents almost crashed the car when they found out.

“But how?” they gasped. “How can anybody dislike bacon?!”

Well, if you are curious why I don’t eat bacon you’ll have to make it to the end of this post.

Good to know before you start: I assume that regular bacon from the grocery store will work, but since we are celebrating a special occasion, I went to the butcher shop and got a pound of premium bacon.

I used Nova Scotia maple syrup from Maple Berry Farms in Fenwick. If you do not have real maple syrup, well…. I feel sorry for you. I picked up this bottle on my trip home in the spring.

Kitchen implements I used:

  • baking pan 8″ x 8″
  • 2 cookie trays

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb bacon
  • 2 TBSP real maple syrup
  • 1¼ C unsalted butter
  • 1¼ C granulated white sugar
  • 1 C cocoa powder
  • ¼ TSP salt
  • 2 TSP vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ C flour

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 177°C / 350°F. Line cookie trays and baking pan with tinfoil, do not grease.

2. Place bacon on tray and baste with maple syrup. Cook until it is a) not raw, and b) not burnt.

When you decide it’s done, place it on plates lined with paper towel and blot it well, on both sides. Meanwhile…

3. In microwave on High, melt the butter. This will take around 2 min, stirring every 30 seconds.

4. Stir in sugar, cocoa and salt. Microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir. Let the mixture sit 5 min.

5. Add the eggs one at a time.

6. Add vanilla.

7. When everything is combined add flour.

8. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan.

9. Layer in the bacon strips. I cut the bacon into small pieces so it will (hopefully) be easier to cut the brownies later.

10. Pour remaining batter on top. Bake 25 min.

11. Cool brownies completely in pan before slicing.

12. Enjoy?

Verdict: Yes, it must be love! I fully expect to be worshiped forever after making this. The flavour I can only describe as a brownie that tastes chocolatey yet smokey.

Boyfriend adored this. I did not.

Bacon, ugh. I just do not like it; it smells weird, it feels weird, it’s fatty and gross and just ugh – no thanks! That said, Boyfriend loves bacon with an intensity that borders on eroticism. I don’t understand.

Prior to making this I had no idea how to cook bacon. I figured this site would have a decent explanation, so I baked it in the oven. But 10 minutes wasn’t doing it, so I consulted my friend M and sent him pictures of the partially cooked bacon, and he guided me through to cooking it to completion. (Thanks buddy!)

I am guessing the size of this bacon was the problem? Oh well!

I brought the pan of brownies to the bar, and Boyfriend and K got to try them. They said it was great. J and E, however, almost vomited. It seems to be very taste-specific. I didn’t care for them.

I think it would have been different with small strips of bacon cooked to a crispy texture. I told Boyfriend if he would like to have this again, he can cook the bacon. I cooked 13 strips and only used 4.

Playlist: Cobra Starship – Good Girls Gone Bad

by

Rhubarb cobbler

When I was small, I lived beside an elderly man with a large vegetable garden. It was like having my own Mr. McGregor, and I was the rabbit unable to help myself from raiding his rhubarb.  Mmmm, pilfered produce! I am not sure why I ate so much of it, uncooked rhubarb can be quite sour, and I never did eat an entire stalk…

Tonight I made my first cobbler with the rhubarb I found in the market the other day. But will the fruits of labour be as sweet when the ingredients are purchased instead of purloined?

A cobbler is a layer of stewed fruit, covered by chunks of pastry, which are supposed to resemble a cobbled road after baking. This is a Better Homes & Gardens recipe.

I’m going to give a shout-out to Boyfriend’s mother for providing advice before I started. This whole “break topping / spoon topping” was confusing.

Time required: 1.5 hrs

Yields: 9 portions

Cost per portion: $4.00

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $36.00

Special kitchen implements I used:

  • flour sifter
  • 2 quart baking dish
  • cookie tray lined with tinfoil (to catch drippings)

Good to know before you start:

1. The leaves of the rhubarb plant are poisonous.

2. The stalks of the rhubarb plant are a natural laxative.

Topping ingredients:

  • 1 C flour
  • 2 TBSP granulated white sugar
  • ½ TSP baking powder
  • ½ TSP salt
  • ¼ C unsalted butter
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • ¼ C milk

Filling ingredients:

  • 1 C granulated white sugar
  • 2 TBSP cornstarch
  • ¼ TSP cinnamon
  • 1 TBSP water
  • 1 TBSP butter
  • 4 C diced rhubarb stalks (about 6 stalks)

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 204°C / 400°F.

2. Wash rhubarb stalks and slice into one-inch pieces. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl sift together: 1 C flour, 2 TBSP sugar, baking powder, and salt.

4. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form.

5. Slightly beat an egg and combine with milk.

6. Mix egg into crumbs until moistened. Set aside.

7. In a large pot, stir together: combine sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, water, and butter.

8. Add rhubarb, stirring until all pieces are coated.

9. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Let mixture bubble, stirring occasionally.

10. Pour hot fruit mixture into baking dish. The dish has been placed onto a foil-lined baking tray to catch any overflow.

11. Immediately spoon topping onto rhubarb. (Try to make small mounds of pastry, I ended up with a… decorative spiral.)

12. Bake 20 min.

13. After baking, cool on wire rack at least 20 min. Scoop and serve.

Verdict: Delicious! This is the first time I’ve cooked with rhubarb, but it won’t be the last.

I used a 1.5 quart baking dish instead of a 2 quart one, mostly because I am short and lazy and couldn’t reach the bigger dish. However, I’m glad I used that size, because I found there was not enough fruit. I would use 6-8 cups next time, maybe 10 stalks?

I was really happy with how this turned out.

You can make cobbler with lots of different fruits, what would you choose?

Playlist: Wizardry V soundtrack

by

Patty’s peach tarts

There is only one way to celebrate Labyrinth Day on June 13, and that is by watching the movie and eating peaches!! I wanted to make a peach pastry fit for a goblin king, delicious enough to make you forget everything. But when Boyfriend brings home the wrong ingredients and the whipped cream turns into butter, will he survive long enough to taste a tart?

If you are not aware, Labyrinth Day falls on June 13 because the movie was released in June 1986, and Jareth’s clock has 13 hours. The importance of peaches should be obvious!

The only person as mad for Labyrinth as I am is Best Friend, so she was the #1 choice to discuss my dessert plans. We looked at lots of recipes, and saw some really interesting peachy things, and in the end I decided to make tarts, topped with either fresh whipped cream, or vanilla frozen yogurt. I already had heavy cream, and made up a pie crust in the afternoon.

I asked Boyfriend to pick up 10 peaches and a container of frozen yogurt, and figured I could make up my mind between whipped cream and frozen yogurt later. He returned with ten pieces of fruit, which upon closer inspection, were not what I requested.

“These aren’t peaches,” I said.

“Yes they are.”

“The skins are smooth. These are nectarines.” I picked one up.

“No, they’re peaches! They were in the peach section.” he insisted.

“Being in the peach section doesn’t mean they are peaches, darling. Didn’t you notice they’re not fuzzy?”

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” he said. “These were the  last ten peaches they had so I got them all for you.”

I examined the fruit more closely.

“No. You got the last six peaches and four nectarines, is what you got.”

“Too late now.”

What to do? Six peaches wasn’t enough, and the store was closed. Peaches and nectarines have similar characteristics, and (I hoped) complimentary flavours, so I decided to use both.

Time required: 2.5 hours

Yields: 2 tarts

Cost per pastry: $15.00

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $30.00

Kitchen implements I used:

  • 2 shallow, fluted ramequins
  • 1 cookie sheet (to catch overflow)
  • deep skillet

Tart ingredients:

  • 6 peaches
  • 2 nectarines
  • 4 TBSP butter (half a stick)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • ⅛ TSP cinnamon
  • smidgen of cloves
  • nip of nutmeg
  • ¼ C dark brown sugar, packed

Instructions:

Step 1 – Prepare a pie crust and refrigerate it. (I’ve mentioned this before but if you can’t make pie crust I can’t help you, I can barely help myself.)

Step 2 – Prepare the fruits: peel, core, and slice them. They will collapse during baking so don’t slice them too small.

Step 3 – In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the fruits. Once the butter has melted, increase heat until the fruit juice gets bubbly. Or you could be lazy like me and add the butter and fruits at the same time, bwahaha!

Step 4 – Once it’s bubbling, add: cinnamon stick, ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and brown sugar.  Once everything is mixed in and the sugar has melted, reduce heat, and simmer for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I have no shame in admitting that the sole reason I opted to include a smidgen and a nip was to show off my cute mini spoons! They measure: pinch, dash, smidgen, and nip.

Step 5 – Cut pastry to size and place into ramequins. Set ramequins on cookie tray. Save the remaining pastry for another use and refrigerate.

Step 6  – Discard cinnamon stick, and ladle fruit mixture into crust.

Step 7 – Bake 30 minutes, and cool on wire rack at least 20 min.

Top with whipped cream or frozen yogurt, or enjoy just the way they are.

Verdict:

Um, speaking of whipped cream… while the tarts were cooling, I made up whipped cream – except I got immersed in a book and walked away from the mixer. When I checked in on it later, my whipped cream had turned into butter.

Things were still okay because I knew we had frozen yogurt in the freezer as back-up and the tarts smelled really good. My jovial mood lasted until I opened the freezer, and then I got pissed.

“Oh darling! What’s this?”

“It’s vanilla frozen yogurt.”

“Really? Because the label says ‘vanilla with chocolate chunks and caramel’.”

“It was in the vanilla section!” he protested.

“Do you even read labels?”

In the end, I had a lack of peaches, ruined whipped cream, and the wrong flavour of frozen yogurt. Not a great start! We both glowered at each other. But it was a stupid thing to be angry over, so I told Boyfriend to eat his tart. And actually… they were really good!

Not quite what I planned, but still very tasty.  I’d make two small changes next time; halve the butter, and double the fruit.

This morning while I was writing up this post, Boyfriend – armed with Wikipedia – lectured me on the nature of peaches and nectarines.

“A nectarine is a peach. It’s a mutated peach, but it’s a peach!” he says smugly.

“Great, mutated fruit! That still doesn’t change the fact that I asked for peaches and you brought home nectarines and the wrong frozen yogurt.”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s nothing.” he said.

“Nothing? Nothing? Nothing tra-la-la!?!”

Playlist: Phantasy Star III soundtrack

by

Patty’s peach-apple crisp

A golden blend of succulent fruit, crunchy oats, and sugar. But after a month of kitchen failures, can I possibly succeed?

I purchased a bag of apples recently, and left them on the kitchen counter as bait.  I was hoping to lure Boyfriend into the kitchen, and expected that once he saw those lovely apples, he would be overcome with the urge to make me an apple crisp. He hasn’t made one in forever, and I think I am overdue to receive one!

Alas it was not to be.  The apples ended up in the living room somehow, and I only just discovered them yesterday, and it was time to face the cold hard truth; if I wanted an apple crisp, I would have to make it myself.

I’ve never made my own apple crisp before, but I helped Boyfriend make one, two years ago. And by “helped” I mean I peeled the apples. Here goes!

Good to know before you start:

Apples collapse quite a bit during baking, so make sure they pile up nice and high above the edge of the dish or you’ll have a sunken crisp.

Adding water to a crisp will result in a softer topping. I prefer it to be crunchy as possible so I didn’t add water.

Preparing fruit for baking always takes forever.  The sugar and heat will brown the fruit any way so no need to add lemon juice.

Time required: 2 hours

Yields: 12 portions

Cost per serving: $2.58

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $31.00

Special kitchen implements I used:

  • glass baking dish, 8″ x 11.5″
  • cookie tray (to catch the overflow)
  • apple peeler & apple corer
  • pastry blender

Ingredients:

  • 8 apples
  • 4 peaches
  • 1/2 C granulated white sugar
  • 1 TBSP flour
  • 1 TSP ground cinnamon
  • 1 C quick rolled oats
  • 1 C flour
  • 1 C dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 TSP: ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves
  • 8 TBSP butter (one stick)

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 191°C / 375°F.  (I waited until the fruit was sliced to do this.)

2. Peel and core fruit. Cut each apple slice in half, cut peaches to similar size. Place in baking dish for now.

3. In a large bowl combine: white sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Add fruit to bowl, and toss until thoroughly coated, then transfer back to baking dish.

4. In a medium bowl, combine: oats, flour, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I may have mentioned this before but I REALLY LOVE BROWN SUGAR.

5. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form.

6. Place baking dish onto cookie tray, and sprinkle crumbly mixture over fruit.

Yes. It's impossible to take a picture of your own thumb without looking like dweeb making obscene gestures.

7. Bake 40 min.

In which I discover the hard way that the oven mitts have a hole in them and almost dropped the dish on the floor. Owch.

8. Cool 1 hour and serve.

Verdict:

“Hmm. Pretty good,” I said around my spoon.

Boyfriend shook his head. “Not pretty good. Damn good!”

I read several recipes and saw that they all have pretty standard ingredients, so I just added another fruit and picked a sugar and spice ratio that seemed appealing to me. You could probably cut down the sugar, especially if you’re not going to use tart apples. I was really happy with this.

I chose peaches because I just re-watched Labyrinth for the millionth time and have them on the brain. Jareth, you can give me a peach any day.

You can use lots of different fruit in a crisp. What would you use?

Playlist: Labyrinth soundtrack

by

Pride goeth before the cake

The dessert I made last night kind of imploded.  You’ll see what I mean by the end of this post. This morning as I stood in the kitchen, surveying the aftermath, and wondering “What the hell is that?”, three irritating platitudes sprang to mind:

  • you learn more from your mistakes than your successes
  • cooks can eat their mistakes
  • too many cooks spoil the broth

The über-annoying thing about platitudes (aside from how often one hears them) is when they turn out to be true. Measure twice, cut once. Ugh, spare me.

Last night I made three separate disasters.  It would probably have been a good idea to stop after the first failure, but I went for the hat trick anyway. Because I am committed. Since the post I was planning for today isn’t coming,  you’ll have to make do with my latest failures.

#1: Let them eat cake!

the incredible collapsing birthday cake ™

This beauty was Boyfriend’s birthday cake.  He loves oatmeal cake, and I had never made one before. He gave me the recipe used by his family and it seemed easy enough. Where did it all go wrong?

Probably my selection of a bundt pan for a cake with a heavy batter. Never doing that again. Ripped apart by its own weight when I removed it from the pan.  This resulted in a panicked call to Older Sister # 3, who suggested “Turn it upside down and frost like a motherfucker, he’ll never notice!” — it’s true, he didn’t.

#2: Oh fudge!

stirring…stirring…. WTF?

Hmm that certainly isn’t normal.  Never seen that before.

Tyler Durden called: “Where’d the fat go??”

I was melting chocolate on low heat to make fudge, and suddenly, this strange oily substance rose to the surface.  “Okay,” I remember thinking, “what’s up with that?  Did it seize?”

Treating it like seized chocolate failed miserably. I think the result speaks for itself. I turned off the stove and came back to observe later.  All of the fat had risen to the surface and congealed. This was a nightmare to clean.

#3: Rage on the marble slab

“Burnt cream” indeed!

This was particularly upsetting, my beautiful crème brûlée, ruined!!

Normally this lovely custard is topped with a thin layer of sugar, like a pane of rich brown glass. But this is what happens when using cane sugar that hasn’t been thoroughly dried, and too much of it.  The glass-like quality turns into a lump of burnt rock.

#4: The invisible mint sauce

mint….sauce??

On a whim I decided one night we just had to eat lamb with freshly made mint sauce, despite the fact that neither of us had ever cooked lamb before, or made mint sauce.  But that was okay, we had a bag of fresh mint picked from a friend’s garden.

I’m still not sure where I went wrong, but all the liquid evaporated, leaving soggy mint leaves (and no sauce) behind.  This was served on undercooked lamb and raw potatoes, attempts to broil Parmesan potatoes… did not work out.

#5: Pillars of the cake

coming soon to a restaurant near you, Torn Bottom Cake! ™

This was a double layer chocolate cake for my friend M. Both layers were mysteriously missing large chunks of their batter, which was stuck to the pan. That seam along the bottom right is where half of the cake ripped entirely off and got smashed back on.

Now, before baking this cake, I made sure the pans were well greased and dusted with cocoa.  I used my ninja frosting skills and filled all of the holes with buttercream frosting. Birthday Boy didn’t notice. BUT I KNEW. >.<

#6: A square of two gingerbreads

1st attempt: gingerbread top loaf!

As you can see, I did not actually use a square pan, oops. And half the loaf remained in the pan. After a few days I tried again, confident that if I used the correct pan things would go my way.

Certainly not “just like Mom’s.”

2nd attempt: it’s all over but the crumbs now

My first two gingerbreads were disasters.  Dare I try a third?

#7:  The cookies are (not) rising

peanut butter flat breads ™

molasses spice flats ™

What we have here is a failure to rise. The cookies are expanding out but not up. Despite making dough that included two leavening agents, my cookies never rose.

Boyfriend would disagree that these are disasters because they tasted good.  I believe that if it doesn’t look proper, into the disaster pile it goes.

#8: Bread on a wire

Save time on slicing, make “cracked loaf” ™

For the busy household, cracked bread saves precious minutes of the day, who has time to slice a loaf of bread anymore??

#9: So easy a child could make it

1st attempt: never do this on the stove

Confession: I’ve never made Rice Kripsy squares. Awhile ago (okay a long while ago), I picked up some marshmallows, planning to make them. And completely forgot about them until the other day.

I looked up the official Rice Kripsy square recipe, which says to use a stove top. It seemed so easy. Unaware that stale marshmallows do not react like fresh ones, I got to work.  I called up Mom to chat and tell her what I’m making.  She suggests using the microwave instead.

Too late now!!

I glance at the clock, and the sauce pan, wondering why over 25 minutes have passed but the marshmallows have not melted. At all.

Boyfriend walked in the door. “What is the amazing smell?”

I am feeling proud of myself, still unsure if the weird brown mass in the pan is normal.

He walked over to the stove.  “What the hell is that?”

I calmly explain it’s my first batch of Rice Kripsy squares, obviously!

He looked at me, puzzled.  “Why aren’t you using the microwave?”

I explain that the Kellogg’s website said to use the stove.

So he calls up his mother.  We have now consulted two mothers plus the official recipe. It’s a group effort now. There is no way this can fail.

He helps me pry the strange buttery marshmallow mass from the pan, and get started on a new batch, using a glass bowl in the microwave.  Boyfriend was kind enough to microwave and stir, microwave and stir.

I wait, wondering when the marshmallows will finally melt. Then I turn around, and see him pouring the cereal into the unmelted marshmallows.

“What are you doing!?!”

“They’re not melting, they’re just shrinking!”

“And you thought it was a good idea to add the cereal anyway?!”

2nd attempt: “There is only one Lord of the Squares, and he does not share power!”

Now I am confused, sad, and downtrodden, complaining that everything I bake turns to hell.

Boyfriend hugs me and says, “No, no, you can make stuff I can’t even pronounce and it’s delicious, we’ll get fresh marshmallows and try again.”

I am reminded why I care for Boyfriend so much after this pep talk.  Every cook needs a cheering squad.

#10: If a cake implodes in the oven, does it make a sound?

the cheesecake that wasn’t

And finally, here is the result of last night’s poll. After two failed batches of Rice Krispy squares, I was determined to make something, anything, and plus I had just asked my readers to vote in a poll and felt commited at this point.

Because I had a vision. I wanted to make an apple cheesecake, on a bed of honey graham crackers, with a layer of homemade caramel sauce and minced apple, and a cream cheese filling mixed with apple sauce and honey.

Oh, how beautiful it seemed in my head! And you know, it does taste pretty good. But from the moment I took it out of the fridge and began slicing it, two great cracks appeared, and it slid apart. In fact, it seemed liquid.

I consulted Older Sister # 2, who determined it was probably a combination of too much liquid, not enough cream cheese, and not enough cooking time. This makes sense.

This morning I showed the fallen cake to Boyfriend who (if you can believe it) laughed in my face.  He says he didn’t laugh and he doesn’t remember laughing – possibly because he hadn’t drank any coffee yet? Whatever!

I’m going to try again, and it’s going to work, and maybe, if you are really nice to me when you get home, you can have some.

Keeping those silly platitudes in mind, I have realized three important truths:

1. Eating your mistakes when they are raw is foolish.

2. When attempting to make something new that everybody in the world knows how to make but you, do it before anybody else gets home.

3. If you don’t remember when you bought the marshmallows, maybe get fresh ones.

by

Belgian chocolate peanut butter cups

Chocolate and peanut butter belong together.  This post is dedicated to Older Sister #3, who is a chocoholic. I’d send you some if they would survive the mail. Maybe we can make these the next time I visit.

When you’re working with chocolate, go big or go home.  I used my favourite Callebaut Belgian chocolate for these, although you could use bakers chocolate squares if you wanted to.

This recipe is also from the Chocolate! book by Good Housekeeping, which is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

Peanut butter is one of those thing I like having around just in case I’ m hard up for a sandwich. This may seem surprising because I hate nuts. Yet the flavour of peanut butter, I love!

I don’t recall a time when I didn’t like peanut butter. I used to take the jar with a spoon downstairs on Saturday morning to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in the simple days when April O’Neil was edgy, Fun House still played at lunch time, and I could hop on my Pogo ball around the block. Of course this was also the age when I thought that a bowl of brown sugar (and just brown sugar) was a suitable breakfast. Ah, childhood!

Good to know before you start:

This recipe is supposed to yield 60 pieces. I got 30, and I didn’t overfill the cups.  YMMV.

Once again, chocolate will seize if it comes into contact with moisture, so melt on low heat, uncovered, using dry pans and utensils.

Time required: 2 days (1.5 hrs + overnight chilling)

Yields: at least 30 portions

Cost per portion:$1.19 using Belgian chocolate, $0.64 using bakers chocolate

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $35.71 using Belgian chocolate, $19.00 using bakers chocolate

Special kitchen implements I used: 

  • kitchen scale
  • mini baking cups

Ingredients:

  • 9 oz white chocolate
  • 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate
  • 1½ C creamy peanut butter (divided into two ¾C portions)
  • 1⅓ C salted peanuts, crushed

Step 1 – use a serrated blade to chop the chocolates, setting each into a separate container.  (In retrospect I could have placed the chocolate directly into the sauce pans but didn’t think of that. The containers were pre-weighed.)

Step 2 – place the mini baking cups in a container (or three).

Step 3 – in a sauce pan on Low, melt the white chocolate and half of the peanut butter, stirring until smooth.

Step 4 – spoon mixture into baking cups, filling about halfway.  Refrigerate 10 minutes.  Oops, forgot to take a picture of this step. I ended up removing half of the baking cups as I ran out of chocolate.

Step 5 – in a fresh sauce pan, on Low, melt semi-sweet chocolate and half of the peanut butter, again stirring until smooth.

Step 6 – pour the semi-sweet chocolate onto the chilled cups in the fridge.  If desired, sprinkle crushed nuts on the top.   ( I placed some peanuts into a plastic bag and crushed them with my rolling pin.)

Step 7 – chill overnight and enjoy.

Verdict: Purely on taste I think these are great.

Visually I’m annoyed with myself; the top is not smooth. I suspect this happened because I chilled them immediately after pouring the semi-sweet chocolate onto the white, next time I’ll shake the container and let the semi-sweet layer settle and smooth out before chilling. I do like the contrast between layers and the perfect ridges though.

I put nuts on half of them for Boyfriend. This was also a strategy to prevent myself from eating too many. I hate nuts! He’s not home yet so I’ll have to wait to hear his opinion.

The candies themselves are quite small, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to get 60 out of this.

Sorry about the picture quality today, while I was making these my digital camera batteries died, so I took the pictures with my cell phone, but forgot the flash was off.

Playlist: Duran Duran

(Edited May 5 to add price of Belgian chocolate).

by

“Down with the sickness”

Well, I am sick. Boyfriend came home from work with a nasty bug, and within two days I caught it, and this is officially a House of Misery ™.

Not much baking going on here. Currently the fanciest thing I’m making is soup from a can. Actually I’m not even doing that, just lying on the couch and sadly mumbling about tea and soup, until Boyfriend catches my subtle hints and makes it for me.

Easter dinner was a far cry from what I’m used to; grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup. That would be horribly depressing, but luckily on Good Friday, Boyfriend and I were invited to dinner with friends at their home, and it was lovely – if I focus on Friday instead of Sunday it’s okay.

I haven’t done much this weekend, aside from playing the new Mortal Kombat game on PS3. If you enjoyed the first three MK games, do yourself a favor and buy it. Right now. It is so good, it’ll make you forget about all the mediocre games released between 1997 and 2010. Total old school goodness. This is the first MK I’ve loved in 15 years.

In fact, this MK is so good, it almost makes me forget about the pain in my throat and the ringing in my ears – almost.

by

Patty’s pumpkin cheesecake bites

This idea has been percolating in my brain for awhile. I like pumpkins. I like cheesecake. Could they combine into something cool like Voltron? Turns out yes, yes they can.

The pumpkin is a native squash of North America and harvested in autumn. Being Canadian and born in October, this pleases me greatly. How many other types of produce can be used as doorstops and in competitive sports? I’m dying to go pumpkin chucking now.

Good to know before you start:

  1. The proportions that I used yielded a cheesecake with a subtle flavour. If you like the bold taste of pumpkin and want that punch-out flavour you’ll need to increase the amount of pumpkin and spices used.
  2. Let the cream cheese sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours.

Time required: 2 days (overnight chilling)

Yields: between 40-64 pieces

Cost per slice: $1.42

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $57.00

Special kitchen implements I used:

  • electric beaters
  • baking pans: 9″ x 13″ nestled inside a 14.5″ x 10.5″ pan
  • tinfoil & plastic wrap
  • flour sifter (for the sugar)

Crust ingredients:

  • 5 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
  • 1¾ C graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/4 TSP ginger

Filling ingredients:

  • 4 blocks of cream cheese, softened (32 oz or 1,000 g)
  • 1¼ C dark brown sugar
  • ½ TSP cinnamon
  • ⅛ TSP cloves
  • ⅛ TSP pumpkin spice
  • ⅛ TSP allspice
  • ⅛ TSP nutmeg
  • pinch of ginger
  • 2 TBSP powdered cornstarch
  • ½ C heavy cream
  • ½ TSP vanilla bean paste
  • 5 large eggs, room temp
  • 1 C pumpkin filling

Topping ingredients:

  • 1½ C sour cream
  • 3 TBSP granulated white sugar
  • 1 TSP vanilla bean paste

Step 1 – using centre rack, preheat oven to 176°C / 350°F.  Fill kettle and boil. After water boils, leave on Low for use later.

Step 2 – line 9″ x 13″ baking pan with foil, and grease the foil.

Step 3 – melt butter in sauce pan on Low.

Step 4 – measure out the graham cracker crumbs and mix in the ginger.

Step 5 – stir graham crumbs into butter and remove from heat.

Step 6 – press the crumbs into the prepared pan by hand and bake 10 min, then cool on rack.

Step 7 – in a medium bowl, combine: brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin spice, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cornstarch.

Stir them together, and since brown sugar tends to clump I ran it through a flour sifter.  (This picture is before sifting.)

Step 8 –  in mix master on Medium speed, beat cream cheese for 5 minutes. Use a  rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl constantly.

Step 9 – once the cream cheese is beaten up, stir in the sugar mixture, one third at a time.

Step 10 – beat in the eggs, one at a time, don’t over beat.

Step 11 – beat in pumpkin filling.

Step 12 – stir vanilla bean paste into heavy cream, the add to cream cheese.

Step 13  – pour into prepared pan, and place that pan inside the large baking pan. Using the hot water from the kettle, pour water into the outside pan so it rises about halfway up the side of the pan containing the cheesecake.

Bake in oven 50 minutes. When you remove cake from oven, turn oven off.

Step 14 – in a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla bean paste to create topping.

Pour this onto the cheesecake and carefully spread it with a soft spatula.

See the little black flecks? Those are the pods from the vanilla bean.

Step 15 – place this back into the oven for 5 minutes (oven is off).

Step 16 – cool on rack for 2 hours, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Step 17 – in the morning use the tinfoil to lift the cake out of the pan. Use a hot knife and cut it into 8 or 9 strips, and then cut each strip into 5 or 6 pieces.

Step 18 – let pieces sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before consuming.

Verdict: I’m very happy with this. Initially I worried that the spices and pumpkin would be overpowering, so went easy on those amounts, but next time I’d increase it to 2 cups of pumpkin filling, and at least half a teaspoon for each spice. This particular cheesecake had a subtle yet distinctive pumpkin flavour. I garnished them with blueberries and fired up the espresso machine to make cinnamon dolce lattes for two. Boyfriend said, “Yum.”

by

Patty’s blackberry crostata (that wasn’t)

A crostata is type of pie, an Italian baked dessert tart with an open face. It has a bottom crust and a filling, but no top crust. The pastry is folded so it comes up over the edge of the fruit and forms a small rim.

I won’t write this step-by step because if you can’t make a pie already, frankly you’re doomed. Here is the abbreviated version:

  • Roll a pie crust flat and place it on a cookie sheet
  • Make filling: mix 2-3 C fruit with ¼ C sugar & 2 TBSP flour
  • Place filling on crust, stopping about 2-3″ from the edge
  • Fold the crust up and over the edge of the fruit pile
  • Use your google-fu to view methods of folding the crust
  • Bake at 218°C / 425°F for 30-35 minutes
  • Cool and devour

I made mine with blackberries, which tasted wonderful, but alas not quite so picturesque:

And it all seemed to be going so well! Until I started rolling the pastry, and then I started swearing like a sailor and shouting in rage. After it finished baking and we sampled it, I changed my mind. This tasted great. Pie + blackberries = win.

Pie crust is the bane of my existence. All of my pie crusts are uneven, torn, patched, and could not be called “round” even if you were being generous. They become something which I not-so-fondly refer to as  “Frankencrust”.

Sorry pie crust, it’s not you, it’s me.

It has to be me, because this recipe in the hands of other people works out well, which leads me to believe the problem is my pastry rolling technique, or lack thereof.  I’ve tried making the pasty in advance, refrigerating the pastry before rolling, the counter and rolling pin are nicely floured, used a chilled marble slab, rolling from the centre in the method described by others, and still no luck.

Boyfriend says I am too hard on myself, and that the taste is important, not the look. I just can’t help from wishing that I could “get it”. I want to make a pie that looks so awesome you say OMG WANT NOMNOMNOM. Not something that looks like it fell off the reject pile.

I thought a crostata was the answer I had been searching for. A pie with half the crust, how easy this will be. Hah. My cookbook has a lovely picture of a crust folded over like some ninja pastry origami, and while I knew my first attempt would probably have room for improvement, I wasn’t expect this.

If a pastry with half the amount of crust isn’t the answer, all I can do is keep trying. Boyfriend is wholly behind this idea.