September 23, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Blueberry muffins

I love blueberry muffins. My mom makes amazing blueberry muffins, and hers are the standard to which every other muffin falls short. She uses the recipe of her good friend.

I grew up within a short drive of the Wild Blueberry Capital of Canada, and blueberries are the official fruit of my home province. Represent, bitches.

There is a large blueberry field behind my dad’s cottage, so I have eaten a lot of blueberries in my life. In fact blueberries are such a big deal where I grew up, we have town festivals to celebrate them. Imagine. Everybody turns out just to pimp one particular fruit. When I was little, we’d dress in blue shirts and stand on marked spots to form a big human blueberry and they’d take aerial photos.

Time required: 1 hr

Yields: 14

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $28

Cost per muffin: $2

Kitchen implements I used:

muffin tin + large muffin liners

Ingredients:

2 C flour
½ C granulated white sugar
½ tsp salt
3½ tsp baking powder
1 C milk
⅓ C vegetable oil
1 egg
1 C blueberries

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat open to 400°F / 204°C and put muffin liners in tray.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Measure out the milk and oil into a liquid measuring cup.

4. Beat egg until it’s foamy, then add to liquid.

5. Add wet to dry, stirring until just combined. The batter will have a slight pull to it.

6. Fold in the blueberries. Hopefully you have Canadian berries, but if not I guess you’ll have to make do with your inferior fruit. Frozen berries bleed colour but who cares because the bluer the merrier.

7. Spoon batter into prepared tray.

Leave some room for expansion.

8. Bake 18-20 minutes and move to wire rack.

9. After cooling, store in a sealed container. Take one with your tea and call me in the morning.

Verdict: Delicious! The texture improved over night.

I did try one last night after they were freshly made, and found it a bit disappointing. The bottom of the muffin stuck to the liner. I called Mom, who suggested bake them for 15 minutes, leave them in tray for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

But when I had one this morning, it was bang on and the liner peeled off without sticking. So I think I’ll reduce baking time by 2 minutes next time and see how it goes.

Playlist: Final Fantasy VI – Another World of Beasts

May 23, 2013 by essex121514

Peanut butter blossoms (by Boyfriend!)

This recipe comes from BHG: New Cookbook: 12th edition which is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca

Time required: 1 hr

Yields: 54

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $48

Cost per cookie: 88 cents

Spring is in the air folks… The cats are acting like kittens, my allergies are flaring up in huge raging hives, and the bake sales at work have begun for another season.

I was asked if SpatulaGoddess could make something for the bake sale fundraiser for whichever cancer research thing was going on at the time, and I said “No. but I can make something for you.”, not offended by this but it seems my colleagues forget that I was baking my own goods before I met SpatulaGoddess. I won’t say that I have ever made anything as exquisite as my lovely, but I have never served anything that lasted, and the compliments abound… maybe it’s just been too long since I’ve baked for them… BAH!!!

I love peanut butter cookies who doesn’t? I know the ones I love are in the Red Checkered Cookbook that my mom used, and also got for me when I moved out, so I went looking there, my original plan was to make peanut butter ninjamen cookies, but once I found page 218 in that wonderful book my plans changed BIG TIME, beside the cookie recipe I was looking for I saw the recipe I used. I changed the hershey kisses with Reese’s mini peanut butter cups… ENJOY.

Kitchen implements I used:

Nemo the KitchenAid
large baking sheet
parchment paper

Ingredients

Ingredients:

½ C white shortening
½ C smooth peanut butter
½ C granulated white sugar
½ C golden brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 TBSP milk
1 tsp vanilla
1¾ C white flour
¼ C granulated sugar (reserved)
1 package of mini peanut butter cups

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 176°C / 350°F

Flour, milk/egg/vanilla, sugars/baking powder/soda, shortening/peanut butter

1. Put shortening and peanut butter into mixing bowl.

2. Put the ½ cup of granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda, in a separate bowl.

3. Put milk, egg, and vanilla in a separate container.

4. Put flour in a separate bowl.

Nemo doing his thing

5. Beat “Step 1” ingredients with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.

6. Add “Step 2” ingredients and beat until combined, scraping the bowl.

7. Beat in “Step 3” ingredients.

8. Beat in as much of “Step 4” ingredient as you can, stir in the rest. I am guessing this was written for those that do not have access to a Kitchen Aid… cuz Nemo KICKS ASSSSSS and has no issues mixing in almost 2 cups of flour.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Peanut butter balls in sugar.

9. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, and roll them in the rest of the sugar.

10. Place balls 2 inches apart, (ballroom) am I right fellas? Ahem.. anyways back to the topic at hand. 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

11. Bake at 350°F for 10 – 12 mins or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned.

12. Immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into the middle of each cookie, and transfer to a wire rack and let cool

Cooling

Verdict: As I said to my buddy from work whom I sent a pic of these to after making them… “I AM A MUTHER$&#*^$ GENIUS!!!” These far exceeded my expectations, I was thrilled with how great these turned out. SpatulaGoddess was so impressed she wants me to make more… But isn’t willing to let me play with the centres. I know there are other great things to stick in the middle of a peanut butter cookie.

Playlist: Godsmack, Disturbed, Slipknot, Random J-pop… that’s how I roll

May 14, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Patty’s lemon yo-fu

If you are tired of your spousal unit eating all your desserts, make something they won’t touch. Fruit! Citrus! Yogurt! TOFU!

It’s kind of weird but good. This was inspired by my Healthy Desserts cookbook. I added banana and yogurt because it was tasting rather blah without it.

Time required: 30 min

Yields: 4

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $26

Cost per portion: $6.50 (almost as ridiculous as going to Booster Juice actually)

Kitchen implements I used:

bad ass blender
zester
juicer

Ingredients:

1 package of extra-firm silken tofu, drained
1 lemon, use zest and juice
1 banana
box of raspberries
¼ C honey
4 heaping spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt

Instructions:

1. Blend the shit out of the tofu. Which is harder than it sounds.

2. Zest and juice the lemon.

3. Throw everything in the blender except the raspberries and puree or whatever until it’s smooth.

4. Chill for a bit, add berries, voila!

Verdict: I liked this but I’d like it better if it came out yogurt smooth, it was a bit gritty going down. It tasted good. I doubt Boyfriend will eat it. His eyebrows almost shot off his face when he saw me pickup tofu at the grocery store (which by the way was in the deli aisle).

Playlist: construction

May 12, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Patty’s apple strudel explosion

If a pastry explodes in the oven, does it make a sound? More importantly, does it still taste good?

I researched how to make traditional strudel pastry but it sounds like a nightmare so, not today. I trawled the entire grocery store looking for phyllo pastry and discovered it’s kept near the frozen berries. This is my first strudel and I’m pleased with the results, however next time I’ll add raisins and reduce the lemon juice.

Shout-out to Boyfriend for being my camera man.

Time required: 1.5 hours

Yields: 6 pieces

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $24

Cost per piece: $4

Kitchen implements I used:

large baking sheet
parchment paper

Ingredients:

3 apples
3 TBSP golden brown sugar
2 TBSP water
½ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
2 TBSP powdered corn starch
¼ C lemon juice
4 sheets of phyllo pastry
2 TBSP melted butter
3 tsp finely ground bread crumbs

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F / 176°C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour.

2. Peel, core, and mince the apples. Toss them in a sauce pan with the water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer and cook on Med-Low for 10 min, stirring often.

3. Combine corn starch and lemon juice, whisk until smooth, then add to cooked apple mixture and simmer for 1 more minute before removing from heat.

We do not want juicy strudel.

4. Place one piece of phyllo on the baking tray. Brush with butter, and sprinkle one teaspoon of breadcrumbs. Don’t stress about making this even, doesn’t really matter.

Do this two more times, then add fourth and final layer (do not add butter or crumbs to top layer).

5. Spoon the filling down one side vertically, leaving room at the edges.

Give camera man 2 thumbs up.

6. Use the parchment paper to support the pastry as you lift it, you’re trying to tuck it over and under the apple filling, and then carefully roll it over like so. Once you’ve got the first turn, peel the parchment paper back towards you.

Keep turning it, and between turns try to smooth it with your hands to an even shape.

This was a little nerve-wracking, worried about tearing it.

Roll it up 3-4 times until it’s at the edge.

7. Brush butter inside the open edge then flip it so the seam is on the bottom. Tuck the ends in.

8. Dust with a cinnamon sugar mix.

9. Bake 20-25 min until golden brown.

10. Cool on rack at least 5 min before serving. Mein gott! What is this?

Verdict:

You want to get judged harshly? Tell people in advance you are using phyllo instead of making the pastry yourself.

Response from best friend: “0_0 That is really shocking.”

This was fairly simple to make. Aside from the explosion, it turned out great. I may have had a tantrum when I saw that, but I cut it in thirds first, and got 4 nicely sliced pieces, and 2 messy pieces. Cutting through the strudel after it’s baked it harder than I anticipated.

Playlist: Eric Carmen – Hungry Eyes

May 10, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Chocolate fudge fail

Blast. I was really looking forward to this. How disappointing.

This recipe comes from Old Tyme Fudge. I love that website. I’m pretty sure it’s a great recipe and I screwed up. Phooey.

I wrote up this post last night after I put the ~~fudge~~ sludge in the pan. So, just pretend it set and follow along.

Before you get started: Have you read my fudge guide? I have done this successfully before, I swear.

Time required: 8.5 hours (about 1 hour of actual doing stuff)

Yields: about 30 pieces

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $34.

Cost per piece: $1.14

Kitchen implements I used:

KitchenAid mixer
8″ square pan
tin foil
heavy-bottomed sauce pan (2.2 qt size is not big enough)
silicon spatula
lots of extra spoons

Ingredients:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate (I used Callebaut Belgian chocolate)
3 C sugar
2 TBSP corn syrup
1¼ C milk
4 TBSP butter
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Line the square pan with foil and grease it. Also grease the entire inside of the sauce pan, all the way up the sides. Grease the flat beater of the mixer too.

2. Chop the chocolate and melt on Low heat until smooth.

3. Combine everything in the sauce pan except the butter and the vanilla. Heat on Medium, stirring constantly.

And definitely using a bigger pot next time.

4. Once mixture boils, reduce heat to Med-Low and STOP STIRRING. Insert candy thermometer.

Yikes. This is almost disaster territory. Perhaps this was a portent of things to come.

5. Once mixture reaches 238°F / 114°C, remove from heat.

6. Carefully place pot into cold water bath. Add butter but DO NOT STIR.

7. Let it cool (it only took 30 min this time) until temp falls to 120°F / 49°C.

Once the mixture has cooled to this stage, there will be a skim on top, just ignore it. Transfer to mixing bowl and pour in the vanilla.

8. Beat it. How long? Who knows.

I planned to do 28 minutes on speed 2 which worked great for my penuche batch, but after 13 minutes it has acquired “that frosting look” which I’ve read about before.

9. Pour into prepared pan and smooth, let sit at least 4 hours.

10. Lift out of pan and score the top with a knife, then slice into squares.

What’s this what’s this?!

Argh!!

God, no! That is never a good sign. Fudge shouldn’t rise with the knife.

Verdict: It tastes delicious but is a failure. Supposedly fudge is ready to be poured once it looks like frosting. Whoever said that can go directly to hell and not pass go. I will freeze this until I figure out what to do with it. I’ll try this again soon, stay tuned.

Playlist: 46 albums of Sailor Moon music!

May 8, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Chocolate avocado pudding

I know. It sounds weird. But it’s strangely delicious.

I found this recipe in a book called Healthy Desserts, there is no author listed but the byline says Culinary Notebooks. I got it at Chapters.

Time required: 1.5 hours

Yields: 3-4 puddings

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $24

Cost per pudding: $6

Kitchen implements I used:

food processor
ramequins

Ingredients:

3 avocados, peeled and pitted
½ C cocoa
⅔ C honey
1 tsp vanilla
dash of coarse sea salt

Instructions:

1. Peel and pit the avocados, and use a butter knife to gently separate the peel from the fruit. I fumbled one and dropped half an avocado on the floor so I didn’t have enough. Curse and scream as desired.

2. Puree until smooth, and add everything except the salt. Mix well.

During the taste test it was way too bitter so I doubled the amount of honey from ⅓C to ⅔C which improved things dramatically, however I find it now tastes a bit too honeyed. Foiled again.

3. Spoon into ramequins and sprinkle with sea salt.

5. Cover in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.

Verdict:

“Here, try it.”

“No thank you.”

“You… don’t want it? Why not??”

“You said it was bitter!”

“That was before I added more honey! Try it. Before my feelings are hurt.”

“Okay… it tastes… like chocolate pudding.”

“But do you like it?”

“It tastes like chocolate pudding.”

“So that’s a yes?”

Playlist: Bat for Lashes – Siren Song

April 9, 2013 by spatulagoddess

All about fudge

Prepare to get schooled. I’ve added four how-to guides, all devoted to fudge. If you have never made fudge, or your fudge never turns out, this is for you. It’s written for the total newbie, and explains the science of good fudge making, how to actually beat it successfully, and the common problems that ruin fudge.

Fudge 101 – introduction to fudge

Fudge 102 – fudge for newbs

Fudge 201 – beating fudge

Fudge 202 – it’s all over but the crying

What are you waiting for? Get fudging.

April 7, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Penuche fudge – SUCCESS!!

Miracles really do happen. I made penuche fudge. And it set! Pardon me while I sob with joy.

I guess the sixth time is the charm? It’s been over a year and a half since I first dabbled in making fudge, and it was such a discouraging endeavor I promised myself I’d wait a good long while before subjecting myself to such misery again.

I found this recipe on Old Tyme Fudge, and I followed it exactly (aside from one minor adjustment since I ran out of something.) I really like this site because the author writes very clear recipes, and has good tips for fudge newbs.

Before you get started:

Underbeaten fudge will never set, and overbeaten fudge will turn into a brick. The time window between those stages is razor-thin. Beating fudge to the proper consistency is probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in the kitchen, and I’m still learning.

If your fudge doesn’t set, or gets bricked, don’t get discouraged! You can freeze underbeaten fudge to be used as a topping for ice cream, and bricked fudge can be re-melted.

Don’t go trying to double recipes or substitute ingredients until you know what you’re doing.

Fudge must be stirred, and then not stirred, at specific times. If you stir at the wrong stage you will get grainy lumpy fudge which is worse than having no fudge at all.

Hot sugar is napalm. Once it’s getting close to the right temperature you have to watch it like a hawk and get ready to pounce. Turn off the tv, turn off the phone, shun the world when you are making fudge.

Humidity will ruin your fudge, unless you compensate for that by increasing the cooking time and temperature, but that’s more at the expert-level. If it’s wet outside don’t even bother.

Time required: 8.5 hours (about 1 hour of actual doing stuff)

Yields: about 30 pieces

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $25

Cost per piece: $0.83 (can you price perfection?)

Kitchen implements I used:

KitchenAid mixer
8″ square pan
tin foil
heavy-bottomed sauce pan
silicon spatula or sturdy wooden spoon
lots of extra spoons

Ingredients:

4 C brown sugar (I used 3 C golden brown and 1 C dark brown)
1½ C of 2% milk
pinch of salt
¼ C golden corn syrup
3 TBSP butter, unsalted
1 TSP vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Line the square pan with foil and grease it. Also grease the entire inside of the sauce pan, all the way up the sides. Grease the flat beater of the mixer too.

2. Combine everything in the sauce pan except the vanilla. Heat on Medium, stirring constantly.

Ugh, yummy!

3. Once mixture boils, reduce heat to Med-Low and STOP STIRRING. Insert candy thermometer.

4. Once mixture reaches 238°F / 114°C, remove from heat. It takes a long time for the sugar to reach the correct heat, mine took about an hour. Hence the beer.

5. Just as it’s about to hit the right temperature, remove from stove and carefully place pot into cold water bath. DO NOT STIR. Sugar will keep getting hotter and hotter if you let it sit there, so the cold water bath will immediately bring down the temperature and prevents the fudge from overcooking.

6. Let it cool for about an hour, until temp falls to 120°F / 49°C. Once the mixture has cooled to this stage, there will be a skim on top, just ignore it. Transfer to mixing bowl and pour in the vanilla.

Also don’t worry about the fat that rises to the surface.

7. People tell you “beat until it loses the gloss” or “beat until it lightens”. That’s really hard to judge when you are new. Today’s fudge took 28 minutes of beating on speeds 1, 2, and 3. In the past I’ve had fudge turn into a brick under 9 minutes, so there is a learning curve here.

It was a dark molasses colour at first.

After about 10 minutes it had lightened considerably but was still runny.

Now 20 minutes in and I’m worried, why isn’t it firming up? What have I done wrong?

About 25 minutes, still seems fairly glossy, and runny, but when I raise the beater the ropey strands are getting stiff.

After 28 minutes I couldn’t take it anymore and stopped. I am not sure if it’s because a KitchenAid beats with such force, but it seemed like the beater was moving too easily through the fudge. When I would stop to scrape the bowl it was harder to do by hand so I figured it must be close to done.

8. Pour into prepared pan and let sit at least 4 hours. Hmmm, air bubbles. I don’t remember air bubbles in fudge before.

9. Lift out of pan and score the top with a knife, then slice into squares.

Real fudge is creamy, and sort of shears away from the knife. It also melts on your tongue, and tastes amazing. Like this!!

Verdict:

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. It set. Come look, it set!!”

Sigh. So good. Am so happy.

Playlist: Celldweller – Stay With Me (Unlikely)

March 17, 2013 by spatulagoddess

Grandma’s Scotch cakes – St. Patrick’s style

This is my Grandma’s cookie recipe which was published in a local book by her church society. I have pimped them up for St. Patrick’s Day which is my favourite day of the year. Scotch cakes are really quick to put together! If you are a lazy froster like me they are even faster.

I had a lot of trouble with my camera today.

Time required: 1 hour

Yields: around 24-28 cookies depending on the size of your cookie cutter

Total cost if you have none of the ingredients: $38

Cost per cookie: $1.35

Kitchen implements I used:

KitchenAid
cookie cutter ala shamrock

Ingredients:

2 C flour
1 C butter, softened
½ C icing sugar
½ C powdered corn starch
½ tsp salt
food colouring as desired

optional frosting (3 C icing sugar, 5 TBSP butter, 2 TBSP milk, 1 TBSP lemon juice, dash of vanilla, 2 drops mint oil)

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 204°C / 400°F.

2. Cream the butter.

3. Combine all other ingredients (except the dye) in a bowl, and slowly add to the butter and beat til just blended, then add dye. It will look crumbly when it’s done.

4. Roll the dough into a big ball and knead it for a few minutes, then separate dough into 2-3 balls.

5. One at a time, roll out each ball on a floured surface until about ¼” thick. Use awesome cookie cutter and transfer to pan.

6. Bake 7 minutes, cool in pan 1 min, then transfer to wire rack. The edges should be slightly golden.

7. Meanwhile make your frosting. Beat softened butter, then add icing sugar, milk, vanilla, and lemon juice. Beat until combined, then add dye and peppermint oil.

Peppermint oil is really strong, you do not want to overdo it here.

Frost your cookies and top with leprechaun poop if desired.

Verdict: These were really good. Sláinte!

Playlist: Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine

December 27, 2012 by spatulagoddess

Ninjabread men

CHUCK NORRIS! These ninjas are cut out for action!

My friend M (actually I have two friends named M, but this one is the boy) gave me a very cool gift last year and I have been waiting for December to use it. It’s a set of 3 ninja cookie cutters. M has a penchant for gifting me with ninja-related presents and the cookie cutters were just SO AWESOME.

Ingredients:

⅔ C shortening
½ C brown sugar, packed
2 TSP ginger, ground
1 TSP cinnamon
¼ TSP cloves, ground
pinch of salt
1 egg
¾ C molasses
3 C flour
1 TSP baking soda
½ TSP baking powder

Instructions:

1. Moving like the wind, pre-heat your oven to 190°C / 375°F.

2. Quietly cream together the shortening, sugar, spices, and salt.

3. Beat in egg, to death. Add molasses and blend into the night.

4. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add dry mixture to the wet with deadly accuracy. Cream together as if your life depends on it.

5. Roll the dough to ⅛ thickness, as even and smooth as the deadliest katana. Your hands move like a whisper, cutting the dark shapes into the dough.

6. Release the ninjas. Transfer them to a baking sheet that has been greased with lightning or lined with parchment paper.

7. Bake 6-7 min. Cool on rack. (Here is Boyfriend taking them out of the oven for me.)

Oh noes! The ninjas are burnt. Let’s try another round.

8. Frost with traditional ninja accessories. (I used my basic butter cream and divided the bowl of frosting in thirds. One part I left plain, and the other two I added highly concentrated no-taste black and no-taste red pigment. To achieve a darker black, I added cocoa to that bowl because it’s a lot easier to get black frosting if you start with chocolate frosting.)

I didn’t use the red dye yet, I’m going to let it sit overnight to darken. Stay tuned for more ninjas later this weekend.

Go ninja go!

Verdict:

Making these was a lot of fun. The first few ninjabread that I rolled did not turn out so well. As I was transferring them to the cookie sheet, I squished them. They ended up misshapen and burnt.

For the second batch I got Boyfriend Unit to hold a piece of parchment paper tightly against the cookie pan, and I plopped the dough right on to that, and rolled it out, cut the shapes, and then just peeled the excess away so the ninjas did not have to be moved. It worked much better.

The ninjas tasted pretty nice. I’ve never made gingerbreads before, they are tricky to work with. I have new respect for my sister J’s skills.

Playlist: Placebo – Running Up That Hill

SpatulaGoddess.com

chocolatiering, baking, delicious recipes, spectacular disasters

Tag Archives: experiment

Blueberry muffins

Peanut butter blossoms (by Boyfriend!)

Patty’s lemon yo-fu

Patty’s apple strudel explosion

Chocolate fudge fail

Chocolate avocado pudding

All about fudge

Penuche fudge – SUCCESS!!

Grandma’s Scotch cakes – St. Patrick’s style

Ninjabread men

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