Easter Eggs

Happy Easter everyone! Yes, I am a week early, but my parents are headed to Charleston for a wedding Easter weekend, so we had Easter dinner yesterday and I took the liberty of making some sugar cookies. In case you haven't notice I'm a little bit addicted to decorating sugar cookies.

I love the endless possibilities that Easter eggs afford. There are so many different ways to decorate them. I decided to go for more traditional pastel colours and slightly old-fashioned designs. Like the filigree and dots for example.

The flowers are outlined with icing and dipped in sugar. I would have used coarse sugar had I had some handy, alas I am woefully ill-equipped.

And of course what is Easter without chicks? Half of them I dipped their whole bodies in sugar and the other half just their wings...to make them look kind of fuzzy.

The design on these ones is one I used on the Christmas tree cookies I made over the holidays and I think it works just as well for Easter eggs.

I saved my favourite for last. My favourite because I've never actually done brush embroidery until now and I am unabashedly, indescribably, ridiculously in love with brush embroidery. Who knows why? But it's just so elegant and pretty.

So there you have it. My decorated, decidedly non-chocolate Easter eggs. I still want to participate in an Easter egg hunt. Unfortunately my parents decided that once you've reached your twenties you're too old for such things. Oh well. Happy hunting nonetheless!

Sunny and warming up nicely

Oh, hello there! Yes, it's me again. Surprised? I am. But as I sit here, drinking my coffee, having just eaten some rather wonderful pancakes, I feel the need to share said pancakes with you. It's a lovely day outside; sunny and warming up nicely. Spring is on it's way this time, I'm sure of it. No more surprise snow that refuses to melt for weeks. And I am coming out of hibernation at last.

This morning I was inspired to make pancakes. I love breakfast and so rarely get the chance to sit and have a proper breakfast. So I decided to take advantage of my morning off. This recipe was adapted from How to Cook Everything. I began with the basic recipe for fluffy pancakes, substituted some of the white flour for buckwheat flour, and threw in a mashed banana. And, voila! Light and Fluffy Buckwheat Banana Pancakes.

I love when improvised recipes turn out well and these turned out even better than expected. The banana and buckwheat play off each other nicely, the sweetness of the banana tempering the buckwheat, which has a tendency to be overly earthy at times. Rather than substitute the entire quantity of white flour with buckwheat flour, like the recipes suggests, I opted for half and half. I wanted the buckwheat to be present, but not kick you in the mouth and take over. And the bananas, oh. They hovered at the edge, subtle, just hinting at their presence, not overwhelming the senses as bananas sometimes do.

They were the perfect start to the morning. A light sweetness to accompany the light breeze drifting through the window, making the whole apartment smell like spring. This bodes well for the day ahead.

Light and Fluffy Buckwheat Banana Pancakes

1 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 tbsp sugar
Dash of salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 mashed ripe banana

Beat milk and egg yolks together. Mix dry ingredients. Set both aside.
Whip egg whites until stiff, but not dry.
Combine milk mixture and dry ingredients. Mash banana and add to batter.
Gently fold in egg whites until fully incorporated.
Heat skillet and melt butter in pan. Pour some batter into the pan and cook until bubbles form on the surface. Flip and cook until browned.
Add syrup and enjoy!

Perfectly Peanut Butter

Yesterday I made peanut butter cookies. There was a time in my life where I didn't like peanut butter cookies. Which is odd for several reasons. One being that I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like peanut butter cookies (those with allergies aside). Another is that I love peanut butter and I love cookies, so you'd think the two together would create my ultimate love. Not the case. All this in spite of my tendency to eat peanut butter straight out of the jar.

But then I started working at this place called Sweet Flour, where we make the most divine peanut butter cookies. And well, I sort of fell in love with peanut butter cookies.

Since I am surrounded by peanut butter cookies at work I haven't felt the need to make them at home. But yesterday I was sitting on the couch, browsing through my Harrowsmith cookbook for a good cookie recipe and the peanut butter cookies caught my eye.

Carlene Blankenship, who submitted this recipe to Harrowsmith (a magazine, for those of you who have never heard of it), calls them Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies, and I am inclined to agree. They are delicious. And easy.

Now I have an admission to make. I didn't technically follow the recipe. And it wasn't until after the batter was mixed that I even realized I hadn't. As previously mentioned, I make cookies at work. So when I get a recipe for standard drop cookies I tend not to really read through the recipe. Which is bad because, no matter what, you should always read through a new recipe before starting. Even if you're sure the entire quantity of sugar is supposed to be creamed in at the beginning.

Anyway, as you can see, they turned out fine. I don't actually think it makes that much of a difference, but the next time I make them I'll do it properly. And if you make them before I do, properly, without my apparently haughty I-don't-need-recipe-instructions attitude, let me know how they turn out.

Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup pack brown sugar (divided)
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, then beat in. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top of dough and fold in so sugar granules are still visible. (Yes, that was the bit I missed when I made them)
Scoop dough using a 1" ice cream scoop (or just roll them into tablespoon sized balls) and press into 1/4"-thick circles on a baking tray. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes.

You don't actually need to use a fork to press the cookies, but there's something that is just very peanut butter cookies about using a fork. I have a memory of pressing peanut butter cookies as a child and, despite my dislike of peanut butter cookies at the time, I remember feeling like it was something special, putting the finishing touches on those cookies. I can't even remember who was making them, just the fork pressing into the dough to make those distinguishing cross-hatches.

So I would recommend using a fork, if just for nostalgic purposes.

Sea and Sun

Ah, sun and warmth. I had almost forgotten what they felt like. I have used the past week to acclimatize to the cold after coming back from the Bahamas, the beautiful, sunny, warm Bahamas. It is raining right now. And I wish I was back here.

It really was just what the doctor ordered. Apart from some unfortunate food poisoning on my sister's part and some inordinately itchy sand fly bites. But it was nice to get away from the cold and snow for a while. The moment we stepped off the plane it smelled like summer. Like heat, and earth, and sweet flowers on the air. Heady and humid and the greatest relief from the persistent chill of home.

These vacations never last long enough. Especially when you come home to a fresh layer of snow. Especially when I managed to avoid sustaining any serious sunburns (a feat previously unheard of when I'm in tropical climes). Especially when the water is this blue.

For the most part we stayed on the resort, lying by the pool, walking on the beach, drinking margaritas and pina coladas at 11:00 am. And all that was fantastic. I finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo and unblocked some serious writer's block that I'd had going on. Already I'm 9000 words into my next book. It's amazing what a little sun and relaxation will do.

But let's be honest. The reason I'm mentioning this vacation here at all is because of food. The day we went into town for some shopping we stopped for lunch at this little Italian restaurant called Cafe Matisse. It was tucked away in the midst of some legal buildings, it's walls covered in the lively, colourful works of Matisse.

It was here that my family and I made a rather important discovery: we're not really resort people. While the resort food was decent, it had nothing on this place. This home of the best calamari I've ever tasted. Of beautifully plated decadence and food that you could continue eating long after you're full. We are absurdly spoiled food snobs. But I'm okay with it. We know better now. It's not just that we want to go to different restaurants when we travel, I think we need to. Isn't that part of the fun of traveling?

But I'm holding you in suspense, aren't I? You want to know what this beautiful concoction of red and green is. Well let me tell you. This dessert is avocado mousse with raspberry coulis. It was easily one the best things I've ever tasted. The term mousse is used rather loosely here I think. It wasn't actually set with anything as a mousses usually is. It had more of the consistency of slightly runny pudding. I wish I had a better way of describing it because I fear nothing I say is really going to do it justice. It was smooth and subtly sweet. Avocados lend such an unbelievable buttery texture to everything that it was like eating liquid silk. Sweet, creamy liquid silk.

The raspberry coulis provided a lovely tangy quality that offset the sweetness, but if I were to make this, I wouldn't put as much of it. You have to dig quite a bit through the coulis before you get to the avocado. If you ever go to Nassau, Bahamas, I insist that you cannot miss this. Order the calamari and the avocado mousse. You won't be disappointed.

On a completely separate and unrelated note, I do not forget the last promise I made to provide a recipe this post. So here is one for some cookies I made a few days before we left for vacation. They are Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies from Martha Stewart and they got rave reviews from everyone that tried them. They're like a hybrid between chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. Truly warm and comforting on a cold day.

Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chip Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup rolled oats
8 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine flours, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
Cream butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Add oats, chocolate, and nuts.
Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop, or two spoons, drop dough onto a baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake 13 minutes.

This recipe doubles easily without being excessively large. It will still fit nicely in your large mixing bowl. Also, I used pecans instead of walnuts, since that's what I had in the cupboard. I also didn't have enough chocolate, but that's the glorious thing about what gets mixed into a dough. The quantities aren't really important. So pour a glass of milk and enjoy!

Cookies and Chocolates

Well, that was not the month I had planned. I seem to remember saying that part of my New Year's Resolution was to write on here more. That's what I get for voicing my intentions. A jinx. Oh well. I'm here now. And I have for you some cookies and chocolates.

As it were I think cookies and chocolate may be one of the only redeeming qualities of Valentine's Day. As my sister said, it either makes or breaks a relationship or succeeds in making single people feel even more single. It also transforms normally respectable looking places into venues that appear to have been vomited on by giant pink marshmallows.

Then again, it gives me the excuse to make cute cookies and pretty chocolates and I can forgive any holiday that allows me to do that no matter how cheesy or nauseating it happens to be. And I get to use filigree. Which I only recently learned how to do and am rather excited about. Look how pretty it is?

And I got to make cookies look like candies. Candy message hearts to be exact. You know the ones. They cross so far over into the realm of the absurdly corny and saccharine that they're cute. It is impossible for them to function in any form that is not ironic. I was quite happy with how they turned out.

Oh, and the chocolates of course. Which I made with one of the lovely new chocolate moulds I got from my mom for Christmas. They fit so perfectly in the little pink boxes I got. Yes, I realize I am a giant hypocrite. Hating on Valentine's Day and then unabashedly flaunting all the trappings that go along with it. Well, such is the world we live in. And aren't they pretty?

Recipes next time. I do promise. I recently made some delicious cupcakes that deserve mention here, but I didn't get a chance to take any pictures so they will have to wait until I make them again.

A bit of warmth on a cold day

Hello faithful readers! I feel bad that I haven't posted anything lately, but Christmas was hectic. Fun and wonderful, as always, but very busy. But have no fear, my New Years resolution involves writing here more often.

I had extravagant intentions of writing about my adventures in Christmas baking, but I spent so much time baking that I had no time left for writing. I made decorated sugar cookies as well as some chocolates, both molded and dipped. I plan on making some of the same for Valentine's Day, especially since I got some lovely chocolate molds for Christmas, so you will not miss out entirely.

I also attempted to make German springerle, which may have turned out better had I not over-baked them. Next year I will attempt a new recipe and let you know how it turns out. Also, I will watch the oven throughout the baking process. Or just set an oven timer.

Until then I have something else for you. I had several days off recently. Entire days off. No work, no school, only minimal chores to do around the apartment, so I decided to make myself a good meal. In light of the recent snow and cold (and the head cold I contracted) I decided soup was a good way to go. And what I landed on was this lovely recipe from Fine Cooking magazine.

It is called autumn vegetable soup, and though it is no longer autumn, I think it's also appropriate for the chill of winter. It's chunky and hearty and downright delicious.

Soup is easily the best way to get your vegetables. Though vegetables have begun to grow on me in recent years (figuratively speaking of course), they're still not my favourite thing in the world. But even as a child, when I abhorred vegetables with a passion normally reserved for spiders and centipedes, I would eat them in soup. Something about the mingling of flavours, the softening of the normally hard and crunchy carrots or broccoli or celery, makes vegetables nearly divine. They sort of melt in your mouth with the broth, warming you straight to your toes all the while satisfying your appetite and keeping you healthy. The true definition of delicious and nutritious.

So here it is. Autumn vegetable soup. I tweaked it from the original recipe because I had spinach in my fridge and didn't feel like buying kale. I added the cumin and I'm leaving out the salt that it calls for because even with the low-sodium broth I found it a bit salty.

Autumn Vegetable Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
3 medium carrots, medium dice
1 large yellow onion, medium dice
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cubed butternut squash (about half a 2lb squash)
1/4 tsp ground allspice
pinch of cumin to taste
1 quart low salt chicken broth (for those of you not brought up on the imperial system of measurement it's just over 950ml or three standard size soup cans)
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups lightly packed spinach or kale
1 cup chickpeas

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.
Add carrots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, about 6 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for a minute more.
Add the squash, allspice, and cumin and stir to combine.
Add the broth, tomatoes with their juice, and thyme.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add spinach and chickpeas and cook uncovered until squash is tender and spinach is wilted, about 10 more minutes.
Discard thyme before serving. Season with more salt and cumin to taste.

Room4Dessert

Hello there! It's been a while, but the madness of school had finally slowed down so hopefully I'll have at least one more post after this one before Christmas. This one will be accompanied by recipes. I feel I've been a little chintzy on the recipe front lately, so apologies for that.

This week at school was our event/exam week. The final test this year culminated in an event, called Room4Dessert, for which people could purchase tickets and taste our final products. Each group of four was to come up with a verrine (layered dessert), two-bite pastry, preserve, bread or cracker, and two chocolates, one dipped and one molded.

After weeks of preparation, some not so successful test runs, a lot of stress, and more than a little frustration we finally came to end. And, it has to be said, quite successfully. I don't think I'm the only one who would say the event was a resounding success. Everyone turned out some fabulous desserts and the guests all appeared to enjoy themselves.

Below is a picture of my group's table. As you can see our theme was citrus. The chocolates were boxed and at a separate table.

Below is a closeup of our verrines. The were made up of a layer of lady finger sponge, a layer of lime chiboust, which is pastry cream with meringue folded in and set with a bit of gelatin, and a layer of gin and tonic jelly. We topped them with a dollop of whipped cream, a bit of candied lime peel, meringue bits, and a swirl of white chocolate.

The gin and tonic jelly was quite a favourite. It's really like a sweeter gin and tonic. It's light and has a gentle bite to it as the gin makes itself known. It's also quite pretty. It has a subtle yellowish colour and sort of glitters. Perhaps from the air bubbles that get trapped from the tonic water. I got the recipe from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess and I've included it at the bottom of the post. It's like Jell-O for grown-ups.

Our two-bite pastry was a Grand Marnier savarin with cardamom mousseline on a citrus Britanny cookie with caramelized banana and orange. Everyone loved it. So you'll find full recipes for all of that at the bottom. Savarin is made with a yeasted dough that comes out rather dry and is then soaked in syrup. Traditionally they're soaked in rum syrup, but in keeping with citrus we changed it to Grand Marnier. The cardamom pairs beautifully with both the orange and banana, it's slight spiciness just lifts the flavour of the other two, balancing it nicely.

Lastly we had our cheese, cracker, and preserve. I don't have a closeup picture of those but you can see them on the far left of the table picture. The cheese we were assigned was Robiola Rochetta. It's made with a mix of sheep's, goat's, and cow's milk and has the consistency of cream cheese. It's quite mild, but definitely stands out with it's earthy flavour.

We paired it with a thyme cracker. The recipe which can be found at Martha Stewart's website. They're extremely easy to make and delicious. Crisp and a bit salty with the thyme adding extra flavour. They make you never want to buy crackers again.

The grapefruit marmalade we paired with it was quite tangy, but ended up with a nice flavour once we added some oranges after the fact. The recipe for that can be found here, but be sure to blanch the peel before making it by boiling it, draining it, and shocking it with cold water three times or you'll end up with some very bitter marmalade. Also, we had some thermometer trouble when trying to bring it up to the right temperature. I think perhaps going by the timing would work better than going by temp. Much longer and ours would have burned.

Below you'll see our chocolates. The molded one has a white chocolate Grand Marnier center and the dipped one with the candied mint on top has a white chocolate lemon mint center.

Overall we enjoyed the evening and we were happy with the outcome. It's always much more exciting when you get to watch people enjoy what you've made. It is the best part of baking, in my opinion. At the end of it, watching someone's face light up as they eat something you've made them.

Gin and Tonic Jelly from Nigella Lawson

300 mL Water
300 g Caster sugar
2 Lemons
400 mL Tonic water
250 mL Gin
8 sheets Gelatin

Boil sugar and water for 5 minutes.
Add lemon zest and steep, covered, for 15 minutes.
Strain out the lemon zest and add the gin, tonic water, and lemon juice. You should have 1200mL, if not, top it up with a liquid (gin, tonic water, or lemon juice).
Soak gelatin in cold water and boil 50mL of water. Squeeze out the gelatin to removed excess water and whisk into the boiling water.
Remove a about 1/2 cup of the gin mixture and whisk in the gelatin. Then return it to the rest of the mixture and stir it together.
Pour into a mold and let set for six hours.
If using a jelly mold set it in a warm water bath to loosen it before removal.

Grand Marnier Savarin with Cardamom Mousseline

30 g. Yeast

120 ml Water

334 g. Bread flour

20 g. Milk powder

40 g. Sugar

5 Eggs

6 g. Salt

166 g. Butter, melted

82 g. Mixed Peel or currants (optional)

If you have a stand mixer use the bread hook attachment.

Combine yeast and water in the bowl and mix together to create a slurry.

Place sifted flour, milk powder, sugar, eggs, and salt on top and mix.

Knead dough until the dough stretches when pulled gently to form a translucent 'window' so to speak. Pull off a small piece and gently pull it to check.

The dough will be very soft.

In a bowl place the melted butter on top and mix in thoroughly.

Punch down and rest another 10 min.

Add peel or currants to the dough.

Grease 3 standard muffin tins or savarin molds and fill half way.

Let sit in a warm place until the dough rises almost to the rim.

Bake at 385ºF until golden brown and unmold soon after they come out of the oven.

Pour the hot syrup evenly into the muffin tins (about half way) and place the savarins back into the tins to absorb the syrup.

Invert onto a drying rack so that any excess syrup can drip out.

Soaking Syrup

834 ml. Water

250 g. Sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

5 g. Vanilla, pure

Salt, pinch

120 ml Grand Marnier

Boil everything except the Grand Marnier and let sit for about 20 minutes to steep.

Bring back to a boil and strain to remove zest.

Stir in Grand Marnier.

Note: You can make the syrup ahead of time and store in the fridge. Just be sure to reheat it before soaking the cakes and add the Grand Marnier after you've heated it so that none of it cooks off.

Cardamom Mousseline

85 g. sugar

6 egg yolks

cardamom to taste

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup (80ml) boiling water

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) 35% cream

Whisk together sugar, yolks, cardamom, and vanilla extract.

Whisk in boiling water and then whisk mixture over simmering water to ribbon stage. It will thicken and will not sink back into the mixture immediately when drizzled on top of itself.

Whisk to cool.

Whip cream and fold into cooled mixture.

To assemble place small segments of orange and banana on top of the savarin.

Pour about 1/2 tsp more of Grand Marnier over each one.

Top with a dollop of mousseline and a piece of caramalized banana.

Note: To caramelize the bananas, cut rounds into thirds and toss in sugar. Using a creme brulee torch, torch each piece to brown. Alternatively cook them in a pan on low heat.

Sorry about all the metric measurements. They're my school recipes. I will try and convert them and update this as soon as I do. On a related note, a kitchen scale is very handy to have, especially when working out of British cookbooks, which always use metric measurements.

Polka Dots and Bows

Oops. It's been a long time since I posted. This is going to be short and sweet because I'm too busy to actually make anything worth posting about. I just wanted to share with you this baby shower cake I made recently. I was quite happy with the outcome. I really do like making cakes. This was chocolate on the inside with chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream.

Hope you like it!

Cupcakes and Orchids

Here they are, as promised, the pictures of the wedding cake. Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home so the only photos I have are the ones that I pilfered from my cousins on Facebook.

For the 6" cake top tier I used the white velvet cake found in Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Cake Bible. It can also be used to make cupcakes, though I didn't use it here. Instead I used a recipe of Lucy Waverman's found on the LCBO website. The icing is Italian buttercream, piped on with a #9 star tip.

It needs to be said that I am in love with Italian buttercream. It is so delightfully creamy and smooth. Every time I make something with it for people at work, one of my co-workers will comment on it. Not only is it delicious, it is also extremely stable. While it won't stand up to extreme heat in mid-summer, it sets up fantastically and can remain out of the fridge for hours on end, and even several days. Since I feel I owe you a recipe after such long gaps between posts, I will provide the recipe for Italian buttercream. People tend to be intimidated by it, but I promise it's not difficult. It just requires good timing and an accurate thermometer.

Before I get into that though, I just want to point out my gumpaste orchids. I was rather happy with them, having never made gumpaste orchids before. So, yes, I just want to brag a little. One of these days I'll have a post on making gumpaste flowers. It's really not as hard as it looks; it merely requires vast amounts of patience.

On to the buttercream then.

Italian Buttercream from Anna Olson's Another Cup of Sugar
12 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
4 1/2 cups butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until foamy. Gradually add 1 cup sugar while whipping and whip to soft peaks.
Boil 1 1/4 cup sugar with the water, without stirring, until it reaches 115C on a candy thermometer (soft ball stage).
Remove from heat and carefully pour down the side of the bowl of egg whites while whipping. Continue whipping until it has all been added and until the whites have cooled to room temperature (about 5 minutes).
While beating, gradually add in butter. Beat until smooth and add vanilla.
If using that day, keep at room temperature. It will keep in the fridge or freezer for quite some time, but be sure to bring it to room temperature before using and beat it to bring it back to a spreadable consistency.

A Couple Notes about Italian Buttercream:

1. The cream of tartar serves to help the egg whites whip up better. I have made the recipe without it and not encountered any problems, but I would recommend some kind of acid. If you don't have cream of tartar, throw in a teaspoon of lemon juice. It will do the job just as well.

2. If you don't have a thermometer you can scoop a bit of the sugar mixture and drop it into cold water. If it forms a 'soft ball' then it's ready. I do highly recommend a thermometer though.

3. DO NOT let it cook over 115C. If you do it will solidify when it hits the egg whites and not distribute properly throughout the mixture. The sugar is effectively cooking the egg whites into an Italian meringue so it is a crucial step. Make sure your thermometer works (test it in boiling water, it should be 100C) and calibrate it often.

4. Cooking sugar makes a lot of people nervous, so here's a good watch point: the majority of the cooking time is used mostly to boil off the water (which serves to prevent the sugar from burning); you can leave it largely unattended as long as you still see a significant amount of steam coming off it; as soon as the steam starts to dissipate keep a close eye on it; it only needs to cook for a couple more minutes past that point and the temp will climb quickly once the water is gone.

5. It is extremely important that you bring the egg whites back down to room temperature before adding the butter. If you don't, the butter will melt and you will end up with a curdled mess.

6. Another note on curdling: the icing will look as though it's curdling after you initially add the butter. Keep beating it and it will come back together. If it doesn't, see previous note, as that is likely the problem.

7. This is a gigantic recipe that only just fits in a very large bowl. It is intended for a four tier wedding cake (though I used three times the recipe for 150 cupcakes). So cut it in half, or quarter it. Whatever you feel comfortable with. You can always freeze the leftovers.

I swear it's not as scary as it looks. You just need to keep an eye on the watch points and you'll be fine. You can actually put the sugar on to cook right before you whip your egg whites and by the time they reach soft peaks it will be a few minutes away from the right temperature. It saves a lot of time. Organization is key. Make sure all your ingredients are ready to go before you start.

It's a very versatile icing, and people love it. So please give it a try. You will not be disappointed.

A Cup of Tea

Well, that was more time than I intended to pass without posting. Alas, I have been quite busy, most recently with my cousin Jenna's wedding cupcakes. Pictures of that will be posted soon. Until then I have something else for you.

After the British invasion that took place for the wedding (the groom hails from the Mother country) it seems appropriate that I talk about tea. In the early hours of the morning I may favour coffee as my drug of choice, but when I'm writing I consume tea like a fiend. A Boston Harbor's worth of it.

That being said I can't believe I've waited this long to post this recipe. It has been so ingrained in my repertoire for the past few years that I think I just took it for granted. This recipe is the reason I keep ginger root in my freezer and whole cardamom pods in my spice cupboard. It is none other than chai tea.

And I'm not talking about that stuff you get in teabags or those lattes you get at Starbucks. The tea pictured above does not presume to be chai tea all on its own. It is merely a humble Darjeeling waiting to be turned into a nice cuppa.

For those of you unfamiliar with chai tea, it is a lightly spiced and sweetened tea that originated in India. There are many recipes out there for chai tea, but I stumbled across this one a while ago and like it so much that I've not been tempted to try any others. By no means is this the final word on chai tea.

This particular combination consists of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Some also use star anise and other spices. I enjoy the subtle spiciness of this one. It is not overpowering, nor is it cloyingly sweet. It is warm and comforting on a cold day. Its flavour manages to be both familiar and slightly exotic. It is easily one of my favourite drinks.

So as not to tease you further, here is the recipe:

Chai Tea

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 1/2 tbsp loose black tea (Darjeeling or Assam)
1 tbsp raw sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk

Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer gently for 2-3 minutes.
Strain through a fine sieve and enjoy.

Make sure you don't let it boil over. I say this not because I think you're negligent, but because I boil it over nearly every time, almost without fail. I think it is similar to the way I burn grilled cheese sandwiches. My attention span fails me.

It makes one large mug of tea, or two very small ones. It doubles quite easily. I always serve it in my giant, green Tinkerbell mug. Firstly because it is the only mug I own that fits the whole thing, and secondly because of the inscription 'Sugar and Spice' on the inside rim of the mug. I find it too appropriate for the tea to pass up.

So even if it doesn't inspire great words to be put down on paper, at least it's delicious.

An Apple a Day

Nothing says fall like apples. I go through stages of falling in love with certain foods and it is always a love bordering on obsession. My first true food obsession was with apples. They are endlessly versatile, a quality that is often the spark for my fickle love. It's hard to go wrong with apples. Applesauce, apple butter, apple stuffed pork, caramel apples, baked apples, apple cider, the list goes on.

I think the love of apples is fairly universal. Why else would they feature in so many of our recipes? It's also one of the only fruits that people know by variety. An orange, for the most part, is an orange (yes, I'm going to compare apples and oranges), a banana is a banana, grapes don't go much past red and green. But apples we know. Braeburn, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, MacIntosh, Northern Spy, Royal Gala. These are names people recognize. Because we treat our apples differently than other fruit. We give them a bit more respect.

Apples will always remind me of fall. Their crisp sweetness reminiscent of a fall breeze cutting across the hot summer air. Their flavour grounds us after the heady heat of the previous season and gives us something to look forward to. And what better way to usher in autumn than with apple pie?

I love apple pie almost any time of year, but something about baked apples begs to be paired with trees that are on fire with colour. They caramelize so beautifully in the oven. Their sweet juices reach a deeper level of flavour, one that's not too sweet if properly spiced.

The trick to apple pie is two-fold. The first is the apples. They have to be fresh and crunchy. Soft, overripe apples will turn to mush in the oven. Pick ones with a good balance of sweet and tart. Cortland, Gala, Granny Smith, and MacIntosh all work beautifully for baking. I used a combination of Royal Gala and Granny Smith for this pie. I always like throwing in some Granny Smith apples because their tartness is tempered when baked and it's a sure way of making sure your pie isn't too sweet. The second factor is your pie crust. I'm not going to pretend to be a master of pie crust, but the key to flaky pie crust is to avoid overworking it. Mix it only until it just comes together, don't use too much flour when rolling it out, and don't re-roll it. Try to get it right on the first shot.

The recipe I'm going to give you is one that I got from Williams-Sonoma's Pie and Tart cookbook. One thing I find can destroy a good pie is too much crust...no matter how flaky it happens to be. This recipe eliminates that problem by topping it with streusel rather than more pie dough. It's like a cross between a crisp and a pie, bringing the best elements of both together.

Apple Streusel Pie

Basic Pie Dough
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
3 tbsp very cold water

Streusel Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold butter, cut into cubes

Apple Filling
6 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt

For the pie dough, combine the flour, sugar and salt.
Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles cornmeal with no butter pieces larger than a small pea. (You can also use your fingers to blend this, just be sure not to soften the butter too much with your body heat.)
Add the water and mix with a fork just until it comes together.
Form into a disk and tap a few times with a rolling pin to flatten it.
Roll out to at least 12" in diameter and place in 9" pie pan.
Flute the edges and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the streusel, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Cut in butter as with pie dough.
Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the filling, toss diced apples with the lemon juice (this stops them from going brown).
In a separate bowl combine sugar, cornstarch, spices, and salt.
Sprinkle over apples and toss to combine.

To assemble, pour apples into pie shell and cover evenly with streusel topping.
Bake at 375F for 50-60 minutes until the topping is golden and the filling is bubbling.

This is best eaten the day it's made. If you don't finish it the day of, keep it at room temperature if it's only going to hang around for a couple days. The cold of the fridge will break down the cornstarch causing the filling to go soupy.

As always feel free to play with this recipe. I mostly stuck to it this time, but I didn't have ground cloves so I added a bit more cinnamon and nutmeg (not too much though, these are potent). The variety of apples will change the flavour, so try different kinds until you find the one you like best. Add different spices for variety. Throw in some raisins. Whatever catches your fancy.

Above all, eat apples. After all, they're said to keep the doctor away. Let's dig in to an autumn full of apples.

Nice Day for a White Wedding

This week has been extremely busy. I've had work on top of school on top making a wedding cake for this past Friday (yesterday). Needless to say I'm exhausted. But also quite satisfied. Because yesterday was my first official wedding cake. I'd made one before for a wedding cake competition, but it was made of foam and wasn't for someone's actual wedding. After hours of hard work (and some near meltdowns...okay, maybe real meltdowns), the stress of the week paid off. Did I mention that my mom is entirely responsible for maintaining my sanity? Truly I'd be lost without her.

I was very happy with the result. I don't think there's anything more satisfying than putting the final touches on something and having it come together. Like the final brushstrokes of a painting.

Making the lilies was fun. They start off looking like white blobs, but once the petals are tied together and the details are painted on they almost look real.

Piping the black border was a bit terrifying because the slightest mistake and the black will stain the white fondant. But I had success.

Even more intimidating was writing their names on the bottom tier. I think it turned out pretty well. I used one of those food pens with the edible ink. I didn't trust myself with a paint brush. I barely trusted myself with the pen.

During the baking of the cake I had a moment of crisis where I began to question my desire to be a cake artist, but the final result restored my resolve.

On an entirely separate note I made an impromptu chunky tomato sauce about a week ago. It turned out far better than expected for something that I made out of the contents of my cupboard. It was slightly garlicky, with the rosemary adding subtle earthiness. And it was fabulously substantial. Chickpeas and zucchini gave it enough body to be a meal.

As I'm sure you know by now, I love food that is both delicious and easy. So without further ado I will give you the recipe for my fast and tasty chunky tomato sauce.

Tomato and Chickpea Chunky Sauce

16 oz can of chickpeas
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 zucchini, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp rosemary

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds.
Add rosemary and zucchini and cook until softened.
Empty tomatoes into the pan and heat through.
Rinse chickpeas and add to tomatoes. Simmer until heated through.

Serve over pasta or rice, or just eat it on its own. It will keep in the fridge for several days. It was my staple dinner last week when I had no time to cook anything else. Just reheat it gently or zap it in the microwave. Enjoy!

Cuteness and Cake

Today I have for you a cake that I made. The type of cake is not really what matters. I just wanted to show you the finished product. And I have to let you know that none of this would have been possibly without my mom. She helped A LOT.

This was for a baby shower for a friend of my mom's and the theme was jungle animals. With a lot of help from the internet, and some determination, I managed to pull it off.

Here's the sleeping baby monkey underneath the palm tree.

And the giraffe, the elephant, and the bear. The bear is slightly random, as I don't really think there are bears in the jungle. But she's cute, so she's included in our safari (which incidentally is not a jungle thing, but we'll disregard that).

These two guys were my favourite, but I can't take complete credit for them as I got the inspiration for them on Etsy.

The palm trees were the hardest part. They caused us some problems. First the leaves were breaking. Then the royal icing wasn't really holding the way royal icing should. Then we had to cover the tops with infinite flowers and coconuts to hide the mess. But it all ended well with the help of my mom's handy dandy glue gun. I don't recommend this if you want the whole thing to edible, but as long as the people eating the cake are warned, I don't see the problem.

So there you have it, the first of many (hopefully). Next post I'll have a recipe for you.