Food on Perlkönig

Recipes: Butter Chicken Meatballs

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve finally found a basic butter chicken sauce recipe that I’ve tweaked and am very happy with. I love how flexible it is. Adjust to taste! I used it to make butter chicken meatballs for a work event. I liked them so much I made them at least three or four times over the holidays.

Baking with Store-Bought Egg Whites

Fri, 07 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know why I never thought of it before, but you can go and buy egg whites in a carton at the store. How do they work when making meringues? Actually, they work really well!

Recipes: Indian Food

Tue, 30 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been trying to be more adventurous in my cooking lately. It was getting to the point where there were really only a handful of dishes I could reliably make. It gets boring! I’m also trying to find more meals with fewer carbs and more meals with leftovers I can bring to work.

Einkorn Flour

Tue, 05 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve read a few things about einkorn flour , so have kept my eye out for it. I happened across some BC-grown einkorn in my local organic food store. I thought I’d give it a try. The package insisted it could used one for one for regular whole wheat flour. The only way to find out is to try!

Recipes: Seven-Grain Bread

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Finally got all the ingredients together for an excellent-looking seven-grain bread from the ever-excellent Gisslen book Professional Baking. It may just be my favourite bread so far! But Adele says I say that about every new bread recipe I try 🙂 She still prefers the oatmeal bread , but I’m going to keep making the multi-grain for a while methinks. As mentioned in previous posts, the recipe is done by weight.

Recipes: Biscuits and Flatbread

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

We’re hosting two sets of holiday dinners this month (one of them vegetarian), and we’re going nontraditional. I’m still scared of killing everybody with a poorly cooked turkey. That means new recipes, which means practice. I have the whole month off, so fortunately I have the time. I’ll share the recipes I finally end up using. Anyway, Smitten Kitchen is a beautiful food blog where I’ve found a number of great recipes.

Recipes: Cucumber Lemonade

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Smitten Kitchen is a very attractive and long-standing food blog. I haven’t been able to make any of her more complicated recipes, but I have quite the list of things I want to try. Adele and I love lemonade, and when I saw this idea I had to make it. I know summer is over (this is something ideal for a really hot day), but it could also make for something a little different at a dinner party.

Recipes: Oatmeal Bread

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This is my favourite bread. I skipped a couple of weeks, and when I finally got back to it, I was reminded all over again how delicious this bread is. It’s soft, moist, and much more flavourful than plain white bread and has a nice chewy crust. This recipe is adapted from one found in: Eric Kastel and Cathy Charles, Artisan Breads, At Home with the Culinary Institute of America (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010) 54–5.

Recipes: Best Brownies Ever

Mon, 24 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I love, love these brownies! No sooner do we finish a pan, I make another one! This recipe only uses chopped chocolate (no cocoa powder), so the quality of your chocolate is really important. Use the best you can get your hands on. Go make a pan now. You won’t regret it. The following yields a 9×13 pan. Cut it in half for an 8×8 pan. 3 sticks butter 12 oz.

Recipes: Pecan Pie

Sun, 08 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Adele loves pecan pie. I’ve been looking for a good recipe and have thus far failed. I came across a new book by The Culinary Institute of America called Baking & Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft. It’s another text book similar to the Gisslen book I refer to often. Overall, though, I prefer Gisslen’s book. Baking & Pastry has lots of great recipes and good pictures, but the recipes are, for the most part, high yield.

Recipes: Homemade Yogurt

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There are lots of sites out there with yogurt recipes. Here’s the one I ended up using: At least 1 litre milk (I use whole) 1–2 tbsp sugar per litre of milk 1/4 cup powdered milk per litre of milk 2–3 tbsp starter per litre of milk (optional) 1 tbsp vanilla per litre of milk Heat milk in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water until it reaches 180F, stirring frequently.

Recipes: Whole Wheat, Hamburger Buns, and Scones

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It has been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve had a couple people ask for my most recent recipes. Here they are. All recipes are adapted from Gisslen’s book Professional Baking . No photos, I’m afraid! 100% Whole Wheat Bread This is the most moist and delicious whole wheat bread I’ve ever tasted. It makes enough for two large 9×5 loaves. The secret to soft whole wheat bread is enough water and powdered milk.

Recipes: Pretzels and Pita

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I made soft pretzels and pita bread today. The pretzels don’t quite taste like pretzels I’ve had in the past, but they were still delicious. The pita bread turned out really well for a first try. The pockets formed beautifully. I did half directly on the baking stone and half on a dry baking sheet. They both worked out great. I didn’t have the whole wheat flour for the pita, but the all-white-flour version worked out just fine.

Recipes: Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2012/10/chocolate-pumpkin-cake-and-cupcakes-with-vanilla-bean-swiss-meringue-buttercream/ I had a bunch of pumpkin left over from the pumpkin cheesecake I made , and the person in the office that loves pumpkin ended up not loving cheesecake, so I had to make something else. The first place I went was Grace Langlois’s excellent baking blog. Her recipes have been very reliable and delicious! Well back in 2012 she posted a recipe for chocolate pumpkin cake, and I gave it a shot.

Recipes: Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/swirled-pumpkin-cheesecake-recipe-122759 I’m running a little behind on my blog postings. I baked this cake back on my birthday along with a neapolitan mousse cake and an angel food cake . There are a half-dozen people in our group who also have birthdays in May, so I brought in cake for all of us. This pumpkin cheesecake was a new one for me, and it turned out marvelously! It was super creamy and full of that pumpkin pie flavour.

Recipes: Neapolitan Mousse Cake(s)

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2013/04/neapolitan-mousse-cakes/ Tasty! I love strawberries, so the idea of a strawberry mousse was too much not to try. I don’t have 3-inch ring molds, so I decided to make a single large cake. I did some math and thought a 9-inch springform would be enough, but not quite. Next time I’ll use my 10-inch pan; I’m confident it will contain it all. I didn’t bother with the ganache topping this time.

Recipes: Biscotti (again)

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://dinnerontheweb.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/biscotti-toscana/ I’ve tried twice previously to make biscotti, with less-than-ideal results. After my second failed attempt, a colleague sent me a link to her sister’s blog and her biscotti recipe. I finally had time to try it out. Success! I finally got the texture I was expecting. They taste great. There’s still lots to experiment with, but I’m encouraged now that I have a place to start from.

Recipes: White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Pudding

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2012/11/white-chocolate-vanilla-bean-pudding-tarts-easy-halloween-treats/ Nothing beats the flavour of real vanilla beans! I’ll never go back. Adele is a big white chocolate fan, so I decided to try this pudding recipe. I didn’t bother with the whole tart thing. I just made the pudding. It was awesome, but not quite chocolatey enough. The vanilla flavour was very dominant. Next time I’ll try 8 or even 10 ounces of chocolate. Delicious though!

Recipes: Butter Tarts

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ButterTarts.html Adele loves pecan butter tarts, so I finally set out to find a recipe. This one is easy to make, and using a muffin tin is a great way to do these if you don’t have tart tins. I’ve made this recipe twice now. The first time I did mini-tarts, and the second time I made a single 9-inch tart. In both cases I just put some chopped pecans in the bottom of the tart before filling.

Recipes: Lemon Meringue Tart

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2013/01/lemon-meringue-tart/ You will notice that I get a lot of recipes from Grace Langlois’s blog . That’s because finding good recipes online can be a real bear. When you find a person who posts as regularly as Grace, who knows how to write good recipes that you can replicate with relative certainty, and who, on top of it all, is responsive to questions, you stick with them! If I want a recipe, the first place I’ll go is Grace’s blog and then branch out from there.

Recipes: Sour Cream Doughnuts

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://christiescorner.com/2011/10/19/recipe-old-fashioned-sour-cream-doughnuts/ My favourite Tim Hortons doughnut is the sour cream glazed. I just can’t get enough of them. Now that I have a deep fryer, I decided to do some searching for a recipe. This one made some big claims, and it’s close, but not quite right. They were good, though. Yield: Only made 6 four-inch doughnuts and holes; glaze recipe makes far too much Verdict: I will have to try this again.

Recipes: Bomboloni Redux

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Adele bought me a deep fryer for Christmas! What does that mean? Doughnuts! Specifically, a delicious Italian pastry called bombolone. I’ve made these before , but this is the first time I had access to vanilla beans and the proper “doppio zero” flour. (Costco sells vanilla beans for $1.20 each. A far cry from the $4.00 each at WalMart.) The original recipe can be found here. It’s the orange zest that really sets these doughnuts apart.

Recipes: Plain White Bread

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Well I’ve made a half-dozen different types of bread lately but I’ve yet to make just a plain white loaf of bread. That changed yesterday. I tried Gisslen’s white pan bread recipe. I was hoping for two loaves, but apparently the only pans I have are 9×5, which appears to be relatively large. So I only got one (albeit large) loaf. The result was absolutely delicious. It had a great texture, was nice and soft, and very tasty.

Recipes: Christmas 2012: Baking Plates

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I’m discovering that I suck at taking photos. I just get so involved in the baking that I don’t even think about it until we’ve eaten (or in this case given away) all of it and I go to post on the blog! I do apologize. In the interest of saving my marriage, let me set the record straight. Adele is the one who started and has maintained the tradition of Christmas baking plates for the past many years.

Recipes: Christmas 2012: Party Food

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Now that we have an actual home with a little space, we were finally able to throw a Christmas party this year. Many couldn’t make it, but we really enjoyed spending time with those that could. We also took the opportunity to do some more holiday baking, but of things that people didn’t get on the baking plates . Also unlike the plates, I can actually share these recipes. Unfortunately I did not take pictures!

Recipes: Malted Ice Cream

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We’ve been making gallons and gallons of ice cream in the past months. We have a 2-quart Cuisinart ice cream maker and have lately tried making malted ice cream. First, my base sweet cream recipe: 2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream 2 cups (1 pint) other dairy 1 cup sugar 1/8 tsp salt (optional) 6 egg yolks I like a really high-fat ice cream, so I use 18% table cream as my “other dairy.

Recipes: Pizza, brioche, and angel food

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We had some family staying with us this last week and we had a larger family dinner to boot, so I had three baking opportunities. Here’s the breakdown. Pizza I love pizza—specifically, real honest-to-goodness Italian pizza napoletana. I even bought a baking stone for my oven just so I could at least try to re-create such deliciousness at home. It takes a little work, and a standard home kitchen generally does not have the tools to make the process as easy as possible, but when it’s all said and done, it’s so worth it—even if the results are not (yet) quite what I’m aiming for.

Recipes: Bread Week

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I am clearly insane. I know my body does better on almost no carbs. The pounds fall off, a host of minor annoying symptoms decrease, and I just feel better all around. So what do I go and do? I learn to make bread—good bread. My favourite book acquisition of late has been Wayne Gisslen’s Professional Baking . So far everything has worked out very well. He gives excellent theoretical and technical information followed by many scores of recipes.

Recipes: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Just made vanilla ice cream with vanilla beans for the first time. WOW! I don’t think I can ever go back to vanilla ice cream with extract ever again—even high-quality extract! Absolutely delicious! I just might eat this entire batch right now! Costco here in Calgary currently sells Rodelle-brand vanilla beans in batches of 10 beans for under $13 dollars. That’s the cheapest per-bean price I’ve ever found. 2 cups cream 1 cup table cream 2/3 cup sugar 2 vanilla beans 6 egg yolks Standard process: Combine all the cream/milk and sugar in a pot.

Recipes: Coconut Dacquoise

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: Wayne Gisslen, Professional Baking, 5th ed. (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 349. Ingredients Powdered almonds (60%) Sugar (80%) Cake flour (28%) [I just used all purpose flour] Coconut, grated (10%) Egg whites (100%) Sugar (80%) Method I don’t bother with almond flour because it is more expensive than raw almonds. Instead, if you have a decent blender, process the almonds in the blender until finely ground.

Recipes: Raspberry Gelato

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

(yields 2 quarts) Original Recipe: Cuisinart® Instruction and Recipe Booklet for the CIM-60PCC Series Ingredients 4 cups red raspberries (thawed, if frozen) 1 cup sugar 2 ¼ cups half-and-half, divided 6 large egg yolks ¼ cup skim milk powder 1 cup heavy cream 2 tsp vanilla Method Purée the raspberries in a food processor or blender until smooth. Press the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and pulp. I ended up with 2 ¼ cups of purée of the most appetizing colour.

"CookWise" by Shirley O. Corriher

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 4/5 Shirley O. Corriher, CookWise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed (New York: William Marrow, 2011). I thought BakeWise was a much better book. Not only does this book (which was written before BakeWise, I’ll grant) spend half the book talking about baking, I think the book could have been better organized as well. It’s still a good book and has some great-looking recipes, but I found BakeWise to be more intuitively and usefully organized, with more specific information.

"Pie in the Sky" by Susan Purdy

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 4/5 Susan G. Purdy, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes; 100 Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Breads, and Pastries Home-Tested for Baking at Sea Level, 3000, 5000, 70000, and 10000 feet (and Anywhere in Between) (New York: William Morrow, 2005). If you bake, and you live above 3000 feet, then this book is for you. It’s an excellent resource for concrete, trustworthy advice about high-altitude baking. I love that every recipe has been tested.

"Professional Baking" by Wayne Gisslen

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 5/5 Wayne Gisslen, Professional Baking, 5th ed. (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009). I love this book! This is a textbook used in cooking schools. It’s perfect if you really want to learn how baking works from the ground up. I love, love, love it! Not only does it have all the standard recipes, it goes through in painstaking detail how they work, why they work, and what to do when things go wrong.

"BakeWise" by Shirley O. Corriher

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Rating: 5/5 Shirley O. Corriher, BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes (New York: Scribner, 2008). Awesome, awesome, awesome! Corriher goes through all the main categories of baking: cakes, meringues, pies, cookies, and breads. She goes through all the ingredients, the chemistry behind how they work, as well as some awesome basic recipes. For people like me who want to take the next baby step from slavishly following recipes to starting to understand how recipes work (and don’t work), this is an awesome book.

Recipes: Mississippi Mud Pie

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2012/06/mississippi-mud-pie-best-chocolate-cake-pie/ Well this is my last baking experiment until we move into the new house. I’ve been packing the pounds back on. Once we’re in the new place, we’re going to move to a weekend-only baking schedule. (Yeah, right. We’ll see.) There are just too many recipes to try!! This is one of those cakes that are meant for show. If you just want the flavours, it’s easier to make the cake, dole some pudding and whipped cream on top, and then sprinkle it with Oreo crumbs.

Recipes: Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/biscotti/ChocolateHazelnutBiscotti.html Well, you really should have a stand mixer to get the dough the right consistency. I also didn’t flatten my logs enough, so they didn’t cook all the way through. The final product was bitter, but I think that’s because of the nuts. I may have over-toasted them. I’m going to try the recipe again once I can get my stand mixer out, and I’ll report back. They weren’t awful, but they weren’t delicious either.

Recipes: Quiche Shell and Filling

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://foododelmundo.com/2009/11/15/quiche-with-a-perfect-crust/ I’ve made quiche before, but I didn’t want to buy pre-made shells this time, so I found this recipe and gave it a try. It worked out really well! Two cups of liquid is too much. One and a half is plenty. I used Swiss Gruyère cheese, which has a slightly higher fat content than plain Swiss, so that added to the final liquid amount. The crust was good, but it didn’t seem to get all crispy.

Recipes: Vanilla-Coconut Panna Cotta with Strawberry Jelly

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipes: http://gracessweetlife.com/2010/12/vanilla-coconut-panna-cotta-with-pomegranate-jelly/ combined with http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/03/strawberry-shortcake-trifle/ I didn’t have any pomegranate juice, and I wasn’t in the mood to make an angel food cake, so I combined the two recipes and made the panna cotta with the strawberry jelly. I also didn’t want to fill the fridge with 12 individual desert cups, so I just did a large 9×13 pan. (It has to hold almost 12 cups of liquid!) For the jelly, I doubled the recipe and used a full three packets of gelatine.

Recipes: Chocolate Panna Cotta

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/05/milk-chocolate-panna-cotta-with-port-cherry-sauce/ This was my first panna cotta. I didn’t have milk chocolate, so I had to use bittersweet with some added sugar (1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup). Ultimately, it would taste much better with milk chocolate. It still tasted good, don’t get me wrong, but it was a very rich chocolate flavour. Fortunately, Adele and Ellen really like dark chocolate. It was a little rich for me. The texture was a little grainy, too.

Recipes: Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2012/01/hazelnut-cookies-with-chocolate-chunks-biscotti-alle-nocciole-e-cioccolato/ These are pretty tasty cookies, but they’re no better than my standby chocolate chip recipe. I do like the hazelnut crunch, though. I measured this recipe by weight instead of volume. (Doubled, I used more like 3 cups of flour instead of 4.) The dough is indeed runnier than other cookies doughs, so it does help to set it up in the fridge for that hour. Yield: Doubled, using tbsp-sized balls, about 6 dozen (a little more).

Recipes: Homemade Ice Cream

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Who doesn’t love ice cream?!! It is hands down my favourite food. I can eat it any time, anywhere, and indefinitely. Here at the Brooks house, they have a 2-gallon ice cream maker, and we have put it through its paces. We have made and consumed about 20 gallons of ice cream over this past month and experimented with a few new recipes. Here are the two winners (in my view).

Recipes: Cannoli Siciliani

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2010/06/cannoli-siciliani-the-ultimate-italian-pastry/ Well, things kinda worked out. The recipe appears to be sound, but not cooking with alcohol meant using grape juice instead. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it. I also didn’t have proper cannoli molds. (I’m in the middle of nowhere and things take forever to get to us.) I instead used wooden dowels, which worked OK after being fried a couple of times, but it took some work to get the cannolis off the mold the first few times, plus they float, so I had to use the basket to hold them under the oil.

Recipes: Amaretto Cheesecake with Almond Crust and Amaretto-Caramel Sauce

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/05/amaretto-cheesecake-with-almond-crust-and-amaretto-caramel-sauce/ I had a big container of mascarpone cheese and wanted to do more than just mix it in with whipped cream (which is delicious, too, by the way). I did a search and found this recipe for a mascarpone cheesecake! It still uses some philly, but it’s mostly mascarpone, and it completely changes the flavour and texture. Even I wanted a few bites! It doesn’t have as strong a cheese flavour, and the texture is smoother than a traditional cheesecake.

Recipes: Angel Food Cake

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/heavenly-angel-food-cake/detail.aspx Well, I’ve been making pastry cream by the boat load, so I’ve been freezing egg whites by the dozen. We finally decided it was time to do something about them. Ellen had never made an angel food cake from scratch, so we decided to try. We found this super easy recipe and it turned out beautifully! So delicious! Since we made bomboloni again yesterday, we have a ton of pastry cream and egg whites.

Recipes: Chocolate Hazelnut Pots de Crème

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2012/01/chocolate-hazelnut-pots-de-creme-pots-de-creme-al-cioccolato/ Well we tried to make creme brulee, but the recipe we used didn’t set up properly. Once we find the one that works, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, we decided to make these pots de creme (which are essentially chocolate creme brulees). It took twice as long to setup than what the recipe recommended, but they did finally bake. They were way rich, but still very delicious.

Recipes: Bomboloni

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original Recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/08/bomboloni-alla-crema-krapfen-italian-cream-filled-donuts/ Bomboloni are a traditional Italian pastry. This recipe worked great, and the resulting doughnuts were delicious! They were just so light and full of air. The orange zest added a little freshness and of course the pastry cream was marvelous! There wasn’t enough cream, though, to fill all the bomboloni the same. We did a few the proper way for pictures, but the rest just received a little dollop of cream injected through the side.

Recipes: Chocolate Cheesecake with Butter Caramel Sauce

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2010/09/chocolate-cheesecake-with-chocolate-sauce-butter-caramel-sauce-and-hazelnuts/ I really don’t like cheesecake, so I’m sorry my reviews can’t be more detailed. Adele and Ellen tell me it’s a very good cheesecake. I didn’t make the chocolate sauce as I had some leftover ganache from a previous recipe. I made the caramel sauce, but I was not impressed with it. It was fine if used right away, but once it hardened, no amount of microwaving could reconstitute it smoothly.

Recipes: Homemade Oreos Redux

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

When I started my Adventures in Baking , Homemade Oreos was one of the first things I made. The girls had a bake sale today, so we made more of these cookies last night. We tripled the dough recipe and doubled the filling recipe. I use 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie and 1 tablespoon of filling. The recipe yielded 8 dozen individual cookies and enough filling to make 3.

Recipes: Double Chocolate Brownie Semifreddo

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2010/07/donna-hays-double-chocolate-brownie-semifreddo/ This worked out really nice. It’s super rich, just like the chocolate mousse, but it doesn’t have the same structure. At room temperature, it does start to “melt.” What’s wonderful is how easy it is to stir in whatever you like. It doesn’t require an ice cream maker, and it’s just different enough from the mousse to have a place in the cookbook. We didn’t have brownies, so I was going to fold in toasted hazelnuts.

Recipes: Dark Chocolate Almond Crackles and Chocolate Thumbprints

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2010/05/dark-chocolate-almond-crackles-chocolate-thumbprints/ Made two different kinds of cookies today: Dark Chocolate Almond Crackles and Chocolate Thumbprints. Almond Crackles: This is a straightforward recipe except for the blanched almonds. What a pain! It took 30+ minutes just to blanch 1 cup. You can buy blanched, but I’m told you lose a lot of flavour if you don’t do it yourself just before using them. *shrugs* The cookie is just not worth it to me if I have to blanch almonds.

Recipes: Strawberry Tart

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/06/crostata-di-fragole-con-crema-pasticcera-e-chantilly-strawberry-tart/ This recipe turned out beautifully! The pastry was delicious, it didn’t break when transferring, the pastry cream worked the very first time, and all together it was just gorgeous! I didn’t have vanilla beans, so I used 2 tsp of excellent Mexican vanilla extract. Next time I’ll add a third teaspoon. It was also just the littlest bit not sweet enough. I used normal sugar instead of caster sugar, so in the future I’ll add a few more tablespoons of sugar.

Recipes: Torta Caprese (Flour-less chocolate cake)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/05/torta-caprese-flourless-chocolate-torte-graces-sweet-life-goes-to-print/ I’ve made a few flour-less chocolate cakes, but none of them turned out as excellent as this one! This recipe used more eggs than others that I’ve tried, and the addition of the nut meal is genius. The nut flavour is actually quite subtle, but the little crunch adds so much. The real magic, though, is the addition of the Paneangeli “Lievito Pane Degli Angeli” Vaniglinato – per Dolci, an Italian “yeast for cake” baking product.

Recipes: Nutella Cream Pie

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Original recipe: http://makinglifedelicious.com/2011/02/05/happy-5th-world-nutella-day-nutella-cream-pie/ The recipe was straightforward and seemed to work out really well. It wasn’t too cheese cakey, and the toasted hazelnuts of course taste great. I used a store-bought Oreo crust. I under baked it a little bit, but it was still tasty. The topping recipe made way too much whipped cream, and you really should put the topping on just before serving. After making so many pure chocolate desserts lately, the hazelnut was a nice change.

AiB: Sorbet

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/StrawberrySorbet.html I’ve always assumed sorbet is pretty easy to make, but I never really tried. This recipe worked great! Purée fruit, add some lemon juice, mix with simple syrup, freeze. Couldn’t be easier! I did a batch with 4 pounds of strawberries and 1 pound of Saskatoon berries. De-li-cious. Actual yield: However much fruit you start with. Verdict: Keeper!

AiB: Good ol’ fashioned Chocolate Pudding

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolatePudding.html I love chocolate pudding! It’s an absolute favourite of mine. I really enjoy the chocolate mousse I’ve been making , but it’s really rich. Sometimes you just want that smooth chocolate texture. I finally decided to find a cooked pudding recipe that worked. I decided I couldn’t go far wrong with Joy of Baking, so that’s the recipe I went with.

AiB: No-Bake Chewy Cookies and Cream Bars Redux

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://picky-palate.com/2011/03/17/no-bake-chewy-cookies-and-cream-bars/ I have made these four times now , and I think I’ve decided what I like best. Because there are seven kids, you have to double it, which gives you a 9×13 pan. We like them a little denser with coarsely crushed Oreos. The best so far is a bag and a half of marshmallows (approx. 675 g) with a half cup of butter and two trays of Oreos (each tray had three rows of 10 cookies each, so a total 60 cookies).

AiB: Sweet Chocolate Chip Waffle Cookies

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://ohmysugarhigh.com/chocolate-chip-waffle-cookies-recipe/ These turned out quite nicely! They firm up but still remain a little chewy. The coconut adds a great flavour, and the waffle texture is a nice change from plain (but still yummy!) chocolate chip cookies. It’s a little bit of extra work—you can only do 4 cookies at a time instead of a dozen, but the final product is worth it.

AiB: Craggy Flourless Chocolate Cake

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/craggy-chocolate-cake/recipe.html?dishid=10332 I kinda liked it! It’s a different texture, but a really nice flavour. It’s crisp on the outside but light—almost like a souflé—on the inside. I think the texture would be even better if I had the 8″ pan. You’ll notice in the picture that the outside is quite a bit higher than the middle. This is because I only had a 9.

AiB: Oreo Chocolate Truffle Tart with Chocolate Glaze

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/04/oreo-chocolate-truffle-tart-with-chocolate-glaze/ This was delicious! I used a 9″ pie pan because I didn’t have an 8″ tart tin. It’s much faster to make than the Chocolate Mousse Cake but still satisfies much of the chocolate craving. It gives a nice smooth texture and rich flavour. It beats plain chocolate cream pie any day. Actual yield: N/A Verdict: Keeper! Glaze from above

AiB: Mini Boston Cream Pies

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://gracessweetlife.com/2011/03/mini-boston-cream-pies/ Well the sponge cake tastes good, though I baked it a little thin. The pastry cream recipe didn’t work at all, though that’s at least partly my fault. I overcooked it. In my own defense, the recipe does say to boil the milk, but that’s at least partly why my cream turned to jelly. I instead found a different pastry cream recipe and used that.

AiB: Cookie Dough Dip

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/12/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-dip/ Yuck! I’m afraid this recipe does not succeed. I don’t like cream cheese much, so I ran it by Adele and Ellen (both big cheesecake fans) and they didn’t like it either. We even let it sit for a couple days, but it didn’t help. Skip this one. Actual yield: 1 soup bowl of dip Verdict: No good!

AiB: Butter Cookies Redux

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. This is the second time I have made butter cookies. Because I have used so much butter lately, and I was making three different recipes with butter today, I thought I’d use margarine and see how it went. Well they still taste great, but the texture is completely different. I know many of you will roll your eyes and say “I could have told you that,” but don’t make these unless you’re going to use real butter.

AiB: Banana Streusel Crumb Cake

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.noraisinsonmyparade.com/2011/05/banana-streusal-crumb-cake-make-this.html Oh my, this was delicious! So moist! This is a killer recipe. I didn’t have cake flour, so I did the 2 tbsp of corn starch thing. Go and make this right away. You will not regret it. Actual yield: Doubled, it yielded a nice deep 9×13 pan. Verdict: Keeper!

AiB: Cinnamon Buns

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://sorumblyinmytumbly.blogspot.com/2011/05/clone-of-cinnabon.html This recipe yields a dough that’s a little hard. I’ll go easier on the flour next time. They still worked out OK and tasted great. The frosting was delish. Next time I’m going to add a splash of lemon. Actual yield: 12 buns Verdict: Keeper (but needs a little work)

AiB: Cinnamon-Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/03/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread/ So delicious! This was my first attempt at any bread recipe. I still have lots to learn, but it still tastes great! Go and try it—now! Actual yield: 1 loaf Verdict: Keeper.

AiB: Brownie Challenge

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Previously I tried a “perfect brownie” recipe. In the comments section of that original recipe was a recipe for supposed Martha Stewart brownies. We also happened to have a box of Ghiradelli’s triple chocolate brownies. The ultimate verdict was mixed. For me the Giradelli’s was dead last. It tastes good, but it has too much flour for my taste. The Martha Stewart brownie was equally moist and I think it has a nice flavour.

AiB: Chocolate Mousse Redux

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. This is the second time I have made the chocolate mousse. This time I did it as a layered parfait, and I used bittersweet chocolate. The bittersweet chocolate makes all the difference. Semi-sweet chocolate is just that little bit too sweet. Num!

AiB: Cinn-a-bun Cheesecake

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.perrysplate.com/2008/02/cinn-bun-cheesecake.html I made this two days ago but it just got eaten yesterday. I had a 10″ pan, so I only did two layers instead of three. I used gingersnaps for for the cookie. I hate cheesecake, so I can only go by what Adele and Ellen have said—namely, “Yum!” They really liked it. It certainly looks delicious! This appears to be a good recipe.

AiB: The "Perfect" Brownie

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/07/how-to-make-perfect-brownies/ Made a pan for before the girls came home, but they were half eaten by the hunters and guides before they could even cool! At least I got one piece set aside for each of the kids. I used Hershey’s cocoa powder. There is no way enough batter for a 9×13 pan. The brownies literally melt in your mouth. They’re quite delish, though I’m not sure yet if they’re perfect.

AiB: Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.thehazelbloom.com/2010/11/caramel-apple-upside-down-cake-with-cinnamon-whipped-cream/ Well I broke the cardinal rule and baked something new when company was coming. My heat was a little high when I browned the butter, so part got burned. That meant when the cake was baked and I flipped it, it stuck and tore. It tasted great, though! The cake batter itself tasted delicious. I will definitely try this one again.

AiB: Chocolate Banana Muffins

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.thehazelbloom.com/2011/02/chocolate-banana-marble-muffins/ Well these are pretty good, but not terrific (and that may very well be my fault). I doubled the recipe, and perhaps I should stop doing that. Doubled, the batter was quite thick. There was no way I could marble the chocolate mixture as it was even stiffer. The first batch I think I undercooked. I cooked the second batch for about 4 minutes longer.

AiB: Chocolate Mousse Cake

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.sugarduchess.com/2011/04/chocolate-mousse-cake/ Oh—my—goodness. This was divine! It is super, super rich. A tiny slice is all you need. Because I know nobody would believe that I made this, I’m attaching pictures. I only had a 10-inch pan, so it’s not as tall, but for a first attempt, I think it looks pretty good. It tastes terrific! Actual yield: N/A Verdict: Delicious! Keeper!

AiB: Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://picky-palate.com/2010/02/11/cinnamon-roll-sugar-cookies-yes/ These cookies turned out awesome! Even hours later, chilled, they are soft and delicious. The kids love them. They really do taste like little cinnamon buns! There wasn’t nearly enough icing, though. Depending on how much you like on the cookies, you could almost double the icing recipe. The cookies are a little fiddly to prepare, but they are really worth it.

AiB: Coffee Cake Muffins with Cinnamon-Sugar Crust

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2010/08/02/cinnamon-sugar-crusted-coffee-cake-muffins/ The original blogger appears to have used some sort of mini muffin pan. I only had cupcake pans. As a result, I didn’t try to encrust the whole thing in cinnamon and sugar—just the top. It’s not the best coffee cake I’ve ever had, but it is still quite good—especially fresh, hot, with butter. They only take a few minutes to make, 15 minutes to cook, and were a nice addition to breakfast this morning.

AiB: Korova Cookies

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.ledelicieux.com/2011/01/17/korova-cookies/ My cookies just came out of the oven and they are delicious! This is a great (and incidentally, eggless) double-chocolate cookie recipe. I only have salted butter, so I reduced the salt somewhat. I also used plain table salt. My research says that using fleur de sel as anything other than a finishing touch is wasted. If it’s baked in, table salt or kosher salt is fine.

AiB: Millionaire’s Shortbread

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.blueeyedbakers.com/home/2010/9/7/millionaires-shortbread.html This recipe did not turn out so good. The shortbread is not particularly good. The butter cookies I made earlier are far superior. The caramel recipe resulted in essentially toffee. The layer was impossible to cut through without cracking and it was far too hard for my liking. The idea sounds good, but I would use completely different recipes for the different layers.

AiB: No-Bake Nutella Cookies

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2011/01/28/no-bake-nutella-cookies-2/ Delicious! I didn’t have a cookie scoop, so I had to use an ice cream scoop instead. Mine didn’t flatten like the pictures show, and they’re a little brittle. I think smaller cookies would help with that. Regardless, they taste great! We’ll see what the kids think when they get home, though I can’t imagine them not liking them.

AiB: Hasselback Potatoes

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/06/16/hasselback-potatoes/ I made crockpot roast and potatoes tonight. It was also my first attempt at gravy. It didn’t thicken much, but it was tasty. For potatoes I decided to do the hasselback. I just did an olive oil coating on top, a glob of butter, and Italian seasoning. They were quite tasty. They’re a nice change from straight baked potatoes. The kids liked that they could be broken up into discs.

AiB: Apple Crisp Truffles

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/?p=12651 Well I found something my wondrous Vitamix does not do that well. The mixture this recipe creates is a thick chunky paste that ends up mostly stuck under the blades of the blender. It did an OK job, but I’m going to try to find another way. I was pretty sure the kids wouldn’t love these, so I just did one batch.

AiB: Lemon Meringue Custard with Butter Cookies

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/05/lemon-meringue-custards-with-butter.html So this is actually two complementary recipes. I made them yesterday. First the custard: Crap! It didn’t look anything like the picture. It was only the faintest yellow, and while it had a lemon flavour, it didn’t taste anything like lemon meringue pie. The recipe made hardly any, too! I doubled the recipe and still only got 6 1/2–3/4 cup servings.

AiB: Samoa M&M Blondies

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Part of the Adventures in Baking (AiB) series. Original recipe: http://www.eatatallies.com/2010/08/samoa-m-blondies.html These are delicious—assuming you like coconut! The recipe called for a 9×13 pan, but since all my brownies so far have been too skimpy on the batter, I went with an 8×11.5 pan. Well as luck would have it, this recipe actually creates enough batter. The result were brownies slightly undercooked in the middle. They’re supposed to be moist in the middle, but the next time I make these I will use a 9×13 and see what I get.

AiB: Brown Sugar Peach Semifreddos