Author Archives: saltandserenity

Homemade Marshmallows and Hot Chocolate Mix

This morning I had the opportunity to bike the countryside of the Emerald Isle (Ireland). The lush pastoral landscape offered endless hills in 40 shades of green. The climbs were steep, with very little opportunity for cruising. My heart rate went into the red-line zone (gasping for air and unable to speak a coherent word) and I was dripping in sweat.

Sadly, this was just a virtual tour of the Irish countryside. Our instructor at today’s spin class, the very funny Roger, has quite the active imagination. He took us for a ride in the stunning Irish countryside and promised us that if we pedaled hard, there would be a pub at the end of the ride with a cold pint waiting as our reward. About halfway through the ride Roger sang out, “put your arms up in the air”. I raised both arms and gave him fist pumps. My husband and daughter looked the other way and pretended they did not know me. Apparently instructors always yell out these instructions, but no one ever follows them. Oops!

Roger kept talking about a bonus track. I had no clue what he was referring to until 45 minutes into the class, when we normally begin the cool down, he told us to ratchet up the tension on our bikes for one final hill. This was a special 60 minute class. Lucky me! I survived. Sadly there was no pub at the end of the ride. Just the dregs of my now lukewarm water bottle.

Annoyed that I didn’t get my visit to the pub, I decided that I deserved a treat when I got home. Hot chocolate and marshmallows seemed like the perfect way to cap off my morning.

To be honest, growing up, I was never really a marshmallow fan. At overnight camp I would stick my marshmallow into the camp fire and set it on fire. I would remove it, blow it out and eat the carcinogenic burned crispy part and throw the fluffy inside away. I never did have the patience for toasting them golden brown. Yet another quality I admire in my husband. He will wait until the fire has burned down to low embers and hold his marshmallow just at the right height to obtain that perfect burnished bronzed colour.

I only recently began a love affair with marshmallows several years ago, after a lunch at Jean Georges in New York City. The meal was delicious but my favourite memory of that lunch was the Bon Bon trolley that they wheeled to our table at the end of our lunch. As the waiter approached our table with the trolley he opened a huge glass jar filled with handmade pink marshmallows and lifted one out with tongs. Then he proceeded to cut each one in half with very fancy silver scissors. I inquired whether marshmallow cutting was a position you had to be promoted to. He responded that it was an entry-level job. I am still thinking about applying! Just in case you are wondering, the Bon Bon trolley also held cotton candy, salted caramels and assorted chocolates. It was a pretty special day for me! Ever since that day I have wanted to try my hand at making my own marshmallows.

I knew that making marshmallows requires precision and a candy thermometer. I turned to my favourite culinary scientist for the how to, Alton Brown. Gelatin and ice-cold water are placed in the bowl of the stand mixer. Then sugar, water, corn syrup and salt are placed in a heavy bottom pot and brought up to 240° F. The mixture should then be allowed to cool to 210° F and then poured into the stand mixer bowl while it is mixing on low-speed.

Then you turn the machine up to high-speed and mix for 12-15 minutes until the mixture cools to lukewarm. In the last minute of mixing you can add any flavourings you like. I added some vanilla bean paste. While it is mixing, prepare a 9 x 13 inch pan by spraying it with Pam and then coating it with a mixture of cornstarch and icing sugar. Then tip the goo into the pan and spread it out with an oiled spatula. This is a very gooey mixture. Dust the top with more cornstarch and icing sugar and put it aside to set for at least 4 hours or overnight. Resist the urge to lay your head down on this pillowy softness. It will not end well.

I topped half of my mixture with some toasted coconut.

A serrated knife does an excellent job cutting the marshmallows, once they have set up. You will have to wash the knife off fairly often while cutting.

Now, onto the hot chocolate:

When my kids were little the only way I could get them to go outside to play in the winter was to bribe them with hot chocolate when they came back in.

They would indulge me and play for about 20 minutes and then come inside on the pretext of having to go to the bathroom. After helping them struggle out of their snowsuits we were all sweating and no one was anxious for the dance that required getting back into all those layers. And then it was time for hot chocolate.

I will admit that I resorted to a packaged hot chocolate mix. Truthfully, the kids didn’t even like the hot chocolate either. It was really all about the marshmallows. They would scarf down the marshmallows I let them heap in the hot chocolate and I would end up pouring the hot chocolate down the drain.

At the time, it never occurred to me that you could make your own hot chocolate mix. But you can, and it’s spectacular! This recipe, from the folks at Cook’s Illustrated, makes enough powdered mix for about 20 cups of hot chocolate. It can be stored in the cupboard for about three months, so when the craving for a cup hits you, simply stir 1/3 cup of the mix into some hot milk!

The uniqueness of this mix is that it contains two kinds of chocolate. The first, of course, is cocoa powder. There are two types of cocoa powder, natural and dutched, (also known as Dutch processed). For this recipe you want to seek out the Dutch processed kind. Camino makes an excellent dutched process cocoa powder that is available in the organic section of the supermarket.

Dutched cocoa powder has gone through an alkalizing process, which gives it a darker color and makes it less acidic. The result is a richer, more intense chocolate flavor and a nice deep chocolate color. You will sometimes see Dutched cocoa powder called for in recipes for beverages or desserts that aren’t baked since the flavor is less bitter than regular cocoa powder.

The mix also contains white chocolate, which gives the final drink a soft creamy texture.

The final ingredients in the mix include skim milk powder, which adds a sweet dairy flavour, confectioners’ sugar, which dissolves more easily than regular granulated sugar and cornstarch, which is added to the powdered sugar to help thicken the cocoa. All the ingredients get pulverized in the food processor.

Click here to print recipe for Homemade Marshmallows.

Click here to print recipe for Best Ever Hot Chocolate Mix.

Killer Chicken Cashew Chili

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Ask any of my family members and they will tell you that I am one of the most unobservant people around. I am just not curious about other people and their business. I never stop to gawk at car accidents, I am always the last person to know any of our street gossip and I never notice new haircuts or things like that. My siblings love to tell the following story as a stellar example of how notorious I am for missing the obvious.

In 1999, my dad was sick with kidney disease and heart problems. He needed to have heart valve replacement surgery. After the surgery, the doctor came out of the operating room and told us the surgery went well. I stayed at the hospital a few more hours and then I flew back to Ottawa. Several days later, my sister called me and told me I better come back to Toronto. My dad was fighting an infection and was not doing well. I caught the next flight and went straight to the hospital.

I went directly to his room. I peeked inside and saw a nurse sitting with my dad. He was sleeping. None of my family members were anywhere to be seen. The nurse smiled at me and left the room. I gave my dad a kiss on the cheek and sat down and started talking to him, holding his hand as I sat. It was a warm summer day and I thought it was so strange that his cheek and hands were so cold. After a few minutes I went out into the hall, looking for my mom and my siblings. They all came running down the hall, crying and hugging me. It was at that moment that it dawned on me why my dad was so cold. To this day, I still get teased about how unobservant I can be.

However, there is one place where I am observant – the supermarket. I love to play a little game while waiting in line at the grocery store. I check out the contents of the carts around me. You can usually tell a lot about a person by their choice of groceries. While doing my shopping in the first week of January I inevitably noticed carts full of Lean Cuisine and Weight Watcher’s frozen dinners, diet soda, cans of tuna and lots of fruit and vegetables. This is the month that we typically resolve to eat light and healthy.

Chili is not traditionally known to be a healthy food. Usually made with beef it is high in fat. This chili is made with chicken and therefore much lower in fat and calorie content. The first time I made this chili was at a Potluck dinner at a neighbor’s house. We were standing at the buffet table spooning food onto our plates. The woman standing next to me, had her plate heaped full of the chili I had brought. She remarked how delicious it looked. I smiled and said, “Thanks, I made it.” She asked what kind of chili it was and I answered, “Cashew Chicken Chili.” She almost dropped her plate. It turned out she was fatally allergic to cashews. Hence the name “Killer Chili.”

This chili relies on both dried whole chiles as well as chile powders. The combination of whole chiles and powder add a depth of flavour to the chili that you would not get if you just used chili powder. For the whole chiles, I used both New Mexico and Guajillo chiles. Ancho chiles would also be an excellent choice. I buy my dried chiles on-line from chilly chiles.

The dried whole chiles need to be toasted and then soaked in boiling water to rehydrate them for about 20 minutes. Once they are soaked, I removed the seeds. If , like my sister, you like your chili painfully spicy, feel free to add the seeds as well. The rehydrated chiles get blended with chicken stock and some cashews to create an incredibly flavourful sauce. The cashews add body to the sauce.

Ground cumin, ancho chili powder, chipotle chile powder, salt, onions and garlic round out the additional spices. Canned tomatoes and the pureed chiles create a liquid base for one cut up chicken. Once the chile is done simmering, a touch of bittersweet chocolate is added. The chicken is removed from the sauce once it is done and the meat is removed from the bones and shredded. It goes back into the sauce with some canned white and black beans. Rich, sweet and mildly hot, this chile takes the edge off any roughness in your day!

Pam’s Cornbread is the perfect accompaniment to this chile.

Click here to print recipe for Killer Chicken Chili (also known as Chicken Cashew Chili)

Aging Gracefully and New Experiences

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I’m not quite sure why, but goal setting has always made me uncomfortable. So it goes without saying that I am not big on making New Years Resolutions. That being said, as 2012 came to a close last night, I am feeling in a reflective mood. I suppose that happens naturally as we age. While I don’t have any specific goals in mind, my fervent hope is that I will age gracefully! By that I mean that I wish to be an interesting, informed, engaged and active member of society in my senior years. I have been blessed to have known several such women in my lifetime.

I do not want to spend my later years in isolation, feeling bitter and unloved. Aging gracefully requires acceptance and on the flip side, a healthy amount of denial. Although, to be completely honest, I am not quite ready to accept that without the aid of Schwarzkopf Golden Brown 254, I would be completely grey! Good genetics and luck certainly play a role, but I firmly believe that the keys to aging include staying active and challenging yourself to step out of your comfort zone and be open to trying new experiences.

That being said, while I am active each day, I tend to get stuck in a rut and am not exactly adventurous regarding trying new activities. I have several friends who have discovered the joy of spinning and one in particular who has become addicted to it. She says that she sweats all the toxins out of her body during spin class and attributes this form of exercise to her glowing complexion and firm body. If I didn’t love her so much, it would be very easy to be jealous. My husband is an avid biker (not the Hell’s Angels kind!) and has also recently jumped on the spinning bandwagon.

I am pleased to announce that I recently lost my virginity! My spinning virginity, that is. We were away on a family holiday in Costa Rica and last week I shocked my husband by signing us up for a spin class. My goal for my first class was to stay on the bike for the entire 50 minutes and not have to do the walk of shame, leaving the studio, halfway through, trailing a puddle of sweat behind me as I retreated.

For all you spinning novices our there who may be tempted to give it a whirl, here are my helpful hints to get you through your first class:

When the instructor tells you to turn up the resistance on your bike, put your hand over the tension knob and pretend you are increasing it, but do not, under any circumstances, dial it up. Remember to begin spinning a little slower so that it looks like you actually have increased the resistance.
Avoid eye contact with the instructor.
Resist the urge to jump off your bike and stuff your towel down the instructors throat as he continually yells what he believes to be motivating little bon mots to get you to work harder.
If you think you are going to throw up and/or die, and really do need to stop for a minute or so, get off the bike under the guise of adjusting the seat height. This should buy you a minute or two to catch your breath.
Resist the urge to jump off your bike and rip the power cord of the stereo system out of the wall because the techno beat of the music is making you want to scream. Recite something calming in your mind instead. I did my yoga chant and closed my eyes.

I successfully managed to stay on for the entire class and further shocked my husband by signing up for the next day’s class. As of this writing I have attended four spin classes and during my last class, I do believe I won the “Sweat Game.” The rules are fairly rudimentary. Whoever has the biggest puddle of sweat under his or her bike at the end of class, is the winner. Extra points for not slipping and wiping out in your own puddle of sweat when class is over.

I am planning to continue attending spin class at when I get home although I doubt that the view at my local Goodlife can compete with this one. Oh well, I can always close my eyes and imagine!

Flushed with success at attempting something new (spinning), I decided to challenge myself to experience something new each and every day while on holiday.

On Tuesday, I had my very first Mojito! It was challenging, but I managed to finish the entire glass in about 10 minutes! I discovered that indeed, I do like rum!

On Wednesday, I had my very first “Churrasqueira” experience. Churrasqueiras are restaurants serving grilled meat, many offering as much as you can eat: the waiters move around the restaurant with the skewers, slicing meat onto the client’s plate. Here at our hotel the skewers contained nine signature cuts of meat: Marinated Chicken Wings, Mexican Style Chorizo, Marinated Pork Belly, Baby Sirloin, Top Sirloin, Rib Eye Steak, Filet Mignon, Skirt Steak, and Boneless Leg of Lamb.

On each table was a round little disc of cardboard. One side the disc was coloured green, signifying to the waiters that you are a serious carnivore and wish the meat parade to continue. The flip side of the disc is red, which lets the waiters know that you have already unbuttoned your pants and are unable to swallow another bite. Mercifully, once they see red, they will stop bringing meat to your table. One member of our group is on the Paleo diet and he was in pure ecstasy. Luckily, his shorts had an elastic waistband that night.

One of the good things about aging is that your memory begins to fail. While on the surface, this may seem like a negative thing, it can actually be a quite agreeable and favourable. On Thursday, we went white water rafting. Apparently we had been to these rapids the last time we were in Costa Rica in 2005. I had no recollection of it whatsoever, so the whole experience was new and fresh for me. And quite an exhilarating thrill. My husband sat in the stern of our rubber raft and was masterful at guiding us through the class 3 rapids. We only got bounced out of our raft once.

Today we visited Rio Perdido, a thermal mineral gorge. They had a series of zip-lines and other aerial adventures that are not for the faint of heart. In my continual quest to try something new each day of this holiday, I swung over the Rio Blanco Canyon in a fantastic imitation of a human pendulum. I climbed to the top of a platform and on what can best be described as a “Tarzan swing” I held on for dear life (I was attached to safety cables, lest you think I have completely lost my mind) and swung over the gorge from one platform to the other. The guide on the opposite platform was supposed to catch me as I swung towards him, but he pushed me and I swung back to the first platform where the guide pushed me back again, as if I were on a giant swing! I screamed quite loudly to the amusement of my entire family. Apparently they do this to everyone and I was the last one in on the joke! My pounding heart certainly reminded me that I was alive and well!

In two days our blissful holiday comes to an end. While it is unlikely that I will continue on my once a day newness quest, I certainly intend to continue to open myself up to new experiences. If my glowing friend is reading this, save me a seat at spin class!

I wish you all a healthy, happy and serene 2013.

Brown Sugar Roasted Tomato Soup

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This is a photo of my backyard. Last week 40 centimeters of snow fell on our city and yesterday, to add insult to injury, an additional 25 centimeters piled up! That’s over 2 feet of snow for those of you not familiar with the metric system. In any language, it’s a sh#@load of snow!

Just In case there is any doubt about where I fall on the love-hate spectrum of winter, I reside on the far right. I despise winter! However, my oldest son recently became certified to teach skiing, so in the generous spirit of the season, I am thrilled for him and all the skiers out there.

Last week, I promised no more cookie postings in December. However, I did not promise no more sugar. I couldn’t go cold turkey without sugar, so there is just a little bit of brown sugar in the following recipe. I felt that I needed to offer you a warm buffer against the nastiness that is winter.

A big bowl of steaming hot tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich are the consummate comfort lunchtime meal for many a school age child. That being said, my childhood lunchtime never included this classic tummy warmer.

When I was growing up, my sisters and I came home from school everyday for lunch. Our public school was a short 8-minute walk from our house. The walk could be done in 7 minutes if we took the shortcut, but I seem to recall that we had to pass by a scary house if we took it, so we toughed out the extra minute. We always watched the Flintstones at lunchtime and usually ate Kraft Dinner or a Swanson’s Chicken Pot Pie or a T.V. Dinner. Hey, it was the 70’s and we were a modern family!

I never really developed a taste for tomato soup until recently. I tried Campbell’s tomato soup in university and didn’t particularly care for it. If I needed comfort, my go-to soup was my mom’s chicken soup or, in a pinch, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle.

Lately, I have been noticing tomato soup popping up on restaurant menus and on all the food web sites and magazines. The world is a darker and scarier place now and I suppose tomato soup is the quintessential reminder of those simpler, gentler times.

I discovered this Brown Sugar Roasted Tomato Soup on www.seriouseats.com. I get an e-mail everyday from them. Serious Eats is a website focused on celebrating and sharing food enthusiasm through blogs, video and online community. They are passionate about food, informative, inclusive and, most importantly, they make me laugh.

Instead of serving this soup with the traditional grilled cheese sandwich, it gets a topping of cheddar cheese croutons. Brilliant, and quite delicious, this may become your new favourite go to comfort food when your world seems a little too treacherous and uncertain to handle.

Canned tomatoes are drained and then topped with a little brown sugar to enhance their natural sweetness. A quick roasting in the oven and the tomatoes and brown sugar caramelize into sweet deliciousness.

Finely grated cheddar cheese and olive oil get massaged into some whole grain bread cubes and then the whole lot gets tossed into a hot oven.

Click here to print recipe for Brown Sugar Roasted Tomato Soup.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies

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You know that it is time to stop posting new cookie recipes on your blog when your inbox begins to fill up with comments from readers who tell you that they have baked several batches of your cookie recipes and now their clothes are feeling a little snug. Hey people, I got my own tight pants problems here!

So, that being said, I promise that this is my last cookie post for December. These cookies were inspired by Alice Medrich. In her book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies, I was transfixed by a recipe for Salted Peanut Toffee Cookies. After reading her description, I knew I had to try these.

“Encrusted with toffee-coated peanuts and accented with flaky sea salt, these updated peanut butter cookies have a tender, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread texture. “

I whipped up a batch but sadly, I found the cookies to be a bit dry. I was envisioning a chewy peanut butter cookie with a crunchy coating. And then I remembered Mom Mom Fritch’s Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. My sister sent me this recipe almost 12 years ago and we had a good laugh over the name Mom Mom.

You see, when my first son was born, almost 23 years ago, he was my parent’s first grandchild. We asked my dad what he would like to be called, perhaps Zaidy or Grandpa. He said no, since he called his dad Pop, it only seemed fitting that now he would be called Pop Pop. As a joke, my husband said to my mom, and we’ll name you “Mop Mop.” We all laughed but somehow the name has stuck and 13 grandchildren later she is called Mop Mop (or more affectionately Moppy) by all those near and dear to her.

As it turned out, Mom Mom Fritch makes killer peanut butter cookies. There is no flour in her recipe, so they are super chewy and moist. Rolling them in chopped honey roasted peanuts before baking adds a wonderful crunchy texture which contrasts so well with the chewy cookie in the center. I decided to take them up a notch further and pressed a nugget of white chocolate into each cookie as soon as they came out of the oven. (That genius idea was courtesy of Alice Medrich.) Heaven!

Spray your measuring cup with Pam and the peanut butter will slide right out!

Using a 1 tablespoon spring loaded scoop makes easy work of forming the balls.

Roll peanut butter ball in egg wash and then into chopped honey roasted peanuts. You will need to press the chopped nuts into the ball to get them to stick.

Press a nugget of white chocolate into each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven.

Click here to print recipe for Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies.

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

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Usually at this time of year I am the one packaging up and sending cookies out to everyone I love. So this year, it was a wonderful change of pace to be the recipient of some cookies. As a participant in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, which I wrote about a few days ago, I received three packages in the mail, each containing a dozen very delicious cookies.

There is something so exciting about getting a package in the mail. I suspect that little thrill of finding a parcel in my mailbox is the primary factor contributing to my on-line shopping addiction. By the time the box arrives, I have completely forgotten about it, so it comes as a wonderful surprise. (Lovely, that is, until the credit card comes later in the month reminding me that I bought myself these gifts!)

My bounty from the Cookie Swap included:

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies from Dana of hot pink apron. In the accompanying note she said,”They’re simple yet painfully addictive – you’ve been warned!” She was right!
Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies from Kate of kate’s plate. Deep and dark and deliciously satisfying with my morning latte!
Sour Cream Softies Cookies and a beautiful handmade origami ornament from Lisa of je suis alimentageuse. The tang of the sour cream kept these cookies from going over the sweet edge.

I am a big believer in sweet generosity! I have always felt that baking for other people is one of the most thoughtful gifts that you can give. Rather than shop for gifts for all the people in my life for whom I am grateful, I decided many years ago to bake. And somehow, over the years my gratitude has grown to include a circle of about 44 people!

While I may get a little bored baking the same treats year after year, certain items in my gift box are mandatory or there may be an uprising. Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark and Gingerbread Snowflake Cookies are sacrosanct.

I decided to add Chocolate Toffee Cookies to the mix this year. These cookies take chocolate loving to the next level. Deep dark bittersweet chocolate combines with toffee bits to create a chewy cookie with bits of crunchy toffee in the center. A sprinkling of Maldon Sea Salt on top of the cookies adds an incredible textural component as the little salt crystals crunch gently between your teeth and then dissolve on your tongue. After my friend Edward received his box of cookies he sent me the following brief email:

Subject: Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Are you insane? You should be locked away. They are “O.F.S.”……..out f^#*ing standing.

High praise indeed for some pretty yummy cookies!

The toffee in these cookies comes from chopped up Skor bars. Chop up more Skor bars than the recipe calls for since the little bits of chopped up toffee have a mysterious way of disappearing! I wondered where those little bits had gone to and then I discovered them on my hips this week!

Eggs and brown sugar are mixed well for about 5 minutes.

Add cooled melted chocolate and butter mixture and then the chopped Skor bars.

An ice cream scoop works well to portion dough so that all your cookies are exactly the same size and bake evenly.

Halfway through the baking I like to sprinkle the tops with a bit of Maldon sea salt. The cookies are done when the tops have a beautiful crackly surface. They will still look a bit wet on top but remove them from the oven anyways. If you bake them for too long you will have a dry crumbly cookie instead of a chewy one.

Click here to print recipe for Chocolate Toffee Cookies.

World peace Cookies V 4.0

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If you found yourself in the post office last week, chances are that the lineups were long and they seemed awfully short-staffed. Were they off sick with the flu, or perhaps hung-over from last night’s office party where our loyal postal workers may have tied one on? No, not quite. I have, in fact, uncovered the real truth. Many of these postal workers were in the storage room in the back of the post office where all the parcels are kept. These mild-mannered civil servants were shedding their conservative navy blue uniforms and changing into their alter ego costumes; several were caught red-handed and charged with tampering with federal mail. The guilty parties could be seen with cookie crumbs caught in the folds of their fur and around their mouth. You see, December 5 was the postal deadline for mailing your cookies for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Over 600 food blogger across North America had signed up to participate. With over 1800 boxes of cookies being shipped all across North America, who could blame these postal workers for breaking into the booty?

It all started at the beginning of November when I received an email invitation to participate in a cookie swap. My automatic response was to hit delete. This sort of thing is fraught with landmines. Having people over to your house and then having to be polite and pretend to like their green christmas tree cookies or spritz cookies with a maraschino cherry in the center. Smiling and nodding with a mouthful of vegan shortbread when a fellow baker asks you, “Can you believe they weren’t made with butter?”

Before I hit the delete button, I read a bit further and realized that this cookie swap did not require any human contact. This was my kind of get together! “The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Salivate. Get lots of great ideas for next year’s cookie swap.” This creative endeavor is the brainchild of Lindsay at Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. They “hosted” their first swap last year and had over 600 food bloggers participating. I hit reply and before I knew it, I had the mailing addresses of 3 food bloggers to send my creations to. The last time I impulsively hit reply and joined something resulted in my becoming a food blogger, so more goodness could only follow. The rules of this swap stipulate that you can not submit any cookie recipe that has previously been posted on your blog.

I have over 25 cookie posts on this blog! That meant I’d have to come up with something new and completely different. My brother-in-law Richard came to the rescue and presented me with a new cookbook, “The Sugar Cube” by Kir Jensen. Kir is part of the exploding food cart scene in Portland Oregon. Her tiny little pink food cart turns out some majorly delicious treats. I was immediately taken with a little cookie called Kir+DorriePierre. How could I not try these with a name like that! It turns out that the Dorrie behind these cookies is cookbook author Dorrie Greenspan and the Pierre is the famed Parisian chocolatier Pierre Hermé. This is a well-travelled little cookie!

In Version 1.0, Parisian chocolatier Pierre Hermé created these chocolate sable (French butter cookies) for the Paris restaurant Korkova. Pierre’s version pushed the traditional sable envelope by using light brown sugar in addition to white sugar and adding cocoa powder, chunks of bittersweet chocolate and enough fleur de sel to make them completely addictive. In 2000, Pierre passed the recipe onto cookbook author Dorrie Greenspan and she dubbed them Korkova cookies. When her neighbor Richard tasted them Version 2.0 was born. He renamed them “World Peace Cookies”, because he was convinced that a daily dose of Pierre’s cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness. These cookies went viral on the blogosphere. Then Kir Jensen, owner of the charming Portland food cart “Sugar Box” took the recipe and tweaked it to create Version 3.0. She substituted dark brown sugar for light brown, added an egg yolk for additional fat, mixed in some cacao nibs, rolled the edges in sugar and sprinkled the cookies with extra fleur de sel. I followed Kir’s recipe, but found the resulting cookies “too chocolatey”. I know that this phrase may be blasphemy to some of you chocoholics out there, but the nuances of the three different types of chocolate in the cookie (cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate chunks and unsweetened cacao nibs) were not detectable.

Enter Version 4.0. I removed the cocoa powder and replaced it with an equal amount of all-purpose flour. I feel that this modification really allows the bittersweet chocolate chunks and the unsweetened cacao nibs to really shine through. I hope that Pierre, Dorrie and Kir would approve. These are not the typical chewy gooey chocolate chip cookie. You get a nice little crunch from the rolled edge of turbinado sugar when you first bite into these cookies. The inside is tender and slightly crumbly and the bitter note of the unsweetened cacao nib plays off beautifully with the bittersweet chocolate and the deep molasses flavour of the dark brown sugar. The flakes of sea salt take this cookie to the next level. These cookies are perfect for mailing because they will keep well in an airtight container for up to two weeks. These cookies deserve the best quality chocolate you can find. I chopped up 10 ounces of 66% bittersweet Valrhona feves.

Cacao nibs are added to these cookies as well. Cacao nibs are the edible part of the cocoa bean after it has been harvested, dried, fermented and hulled. Cacao nibs have a similar taste to roasted coffee beans. They add some textural crunch and a hint of bitterness to these cookies which sounds strange but really complements the sweetness in these cookies.

I shaped the dough into a rectangular loaf and then wrapped and chilled it.

After an hour in the fridge they were ready for slicing.

The edges were rolled in some fine turbinado sugar and then they were baked.

Click here to print the recipe for World Peace Cookies Version 4.0.

Latkes and Compromise: The Secret to a Happy Marriage

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Several weeks ago I was asked if I would appear on a local cable TV show and demonstrate how to make “low-fat ” latkes. This disturbed me greatly and I quickly responded that unfortunately I do not believe in low fat latkes. I think latkes are meant to be eaten only once a year, the real way. (fried in oil!) A once a year indulgence really celebrates and honours Chanukah the way it was intended. She responded “OK – You’ve convinced me! You make a good point. I was thinking of the healthy diets people are seeking. But you’re right that maybe the normal latkes represent what Chanukah is about. So let’s go ahead.” Unfortunately, the timing of the taping coincided with when I was going to be out-of-town, so we shelved the idea for next year.

This Saturday (December 8) marks the first night of Chanukah. In the second Century, the Holy Land was ruled by Syrian Greeks. King Antiochus IV was in control of the region. Under his rule, Jews were severely oppressed and not allowed to practice their religion openly. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it. When they sought to light the Temple’s menorah they found only a single vial of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days. And hence, the reason for the tradition of eating foods fried in oil during Chanukah.

Every year I see recipes for all kinds of variations on the traditional latke. Several years ago Bon Appetit magazine promised a “Gorgeous Chanukah Feast” featuring both cumin scented beet latkes and gingered carrot latkes. While at first glance they seem intriguing, I could not actually see myself preparing either of these or any of the other interesting variations I have read about. In the first place my family would revolt. In the second place, I only make latkes once a year and I crave the traditional potato variety from my childhood. I suspect that many of your families are similar to mine and sweet potato-parsnip latkes would not be met with cheers of joy.

My mother has an incredible sense of smell. In our family, we joke that she can smell foul odours a day before they actually occur. My childhood memories are filled with her going from room to room, sniffing and muttering, “What’s that smell?” One of her least favorite smells was that of food cooked in oil. She claimed that she could smell the oil for weeks afterwards. Now I must be honest here and admit that I inherited my father’s sense of smell – that is to say that his lack of sense of smell. He had sinus problems and his nose malfunctioned often.

That being said, once a year, on Chanukah, we had latkes. My mom’s latkes are fantastic. They are lacy shreds of potatoes, fried until crisp. The lingering smell of frying oil was quickly chased away by my mother’s secret blend of cleaning agents, a potent, lethal combination of Joy and Ajax. Do not try this at home unless you are wearing a gas mask.

The first time my husband took me home to meet his family (we were not married yet, we had only been dating for about 3 months) was during Chanukah. His mom made latkes. They were thick and creamy, not the thin lacy crispy shredded latkes that I grew up with. After we were married we had our families over for a Chanukah party. Of course, we could not agree on which kind of latkes to make, so we ended up making both. The guests were starving by the time the latkes actually appeared at the table so both kinds were gobbled up very quickly. Not being able to resolve which type were superior, I created a compromise recipe. These latkes are thin and crispy around the edges, but still creamy in the centre.

Russet potatoes are my choice for the best latkes.

A Cuisinart makes fast work of the shredding.

Half the shredded potatoes are set aside and the other half go back in the Cuisinart with an onion to be coarsely chopped with the steel blade.

The shredded and grated potatoes and onions get wrapped in cheesecloth and then you squeeze the heck out of them. Let the liquid sit for a few minutes. Drain off the liquid but keep the potato starch. This is the secret to latkes that do not fall apart while cooking.

Add a beaten egg, some kosher salt and about 2 tablespoons of matzoh meal or panko bread crumbs.

I like to fry my latkes in vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet. A heavy-duty non-stick pan will work if you do not have cast iron. A slotted serving spoon makes it easy to get the latke mixture into the pan.

I made some applesauce to go with the latkes. No recipe here. I used a combination of Granny Smith, Honey Crisp and Golden delicious apples. I quartered the apples. No need to peel or seed if you have a food mill. I added about 1/2 a cup of water to the pot, covered it with a lid and cooked it on medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft. Then I put the whole mess through the food mill, which does a great job of filtering out the peel and seeds.

Click here to print recipe for Compromise Latkes .

The Name Game

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My husband and his five siblings are in a family business together. We decided about 8 years ago that we should begin to educate our children, the next generation, so we founded a family council. We get together twice a year with the goals of fun, family togetherness and enlightenment in mind. Our most recent council meeting took place in Fort Lauderdale several weeks ago. There are about 24 of us who participate in these meetings.

It doesn’t seem to matter how old you are, we all revert back to some fairly petty childhood behaviours when we get together with our siblings. Even though we are all adults now, somehow we regress backwards to our 10-year-old selves, squabbling, poking and just plain irritating the heck out of each other. In order to have a more productive meeting this time around, one of the professionals we are working with suggested a seating plan for the meeting room. As co-chair of our family council, I was a little worried about how this would be received. Some members have control issues and would likely not take too kindly to being told where to sit.

And then I had the brilliant idea of creating cookie place cards. I figured everyone would be so busy admiring them and munching on them that no one would even notice that they were being directed as to where to sit.

I needed a sturdy cookie dough that would survive the flight from Ottawa to Toronto. I decided on making two kinds of dough, Gingerbread and Brown Sugar Cookie dough. I pulled out my alphabet cookie cutters. I can’t remember where I got these, but I do know that up until now, they had only been used with play-doh. I gave them a good scrubbing and got down to work.

It’s best to roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper while it is still soft and then chill until firm.

A table knife can be used to gently nudge the letters out of the cutter. Give them a bit of room on the cookie sheet as they do swell a bit with baking.

I decided to use royal icing to decorate the letters with. If you are new to decorating cookies, check out Sweetopia’s blog. She is really amazing and she has many videos that really show how to do it well. I used her Royal Icing Recipe for my cookies and it is one of the best I have tried. To colour the royal icing, I bought gel food colours from Americolor. The little squeeze bottles are great.

Here is a little video I made to demonstrate decorating the letters. I clearly need some videography courses!

Once I had all the letters, I needed to decide how to turn them into name cards. I decided to make cookie boards to “glue” the letter onto, using royal icing as the glue.

The icing needs to dry for at least 24 hours, before packaging it up.

I am happy to report that the cookie place cards were a big hit and family harmony was achieved. I think all would agree that the highlight of the weekend, planned by the “Fun Committee” (yes, we actually have a fun committee!) was dinner at a Mexican restaurant followed by bowling. It’s possible that margaritas and tequila shots may have been consumed!

Mustache Cookies (piewithsparkles.com)

Autumn Salad

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Several years ago I got involved in volunteering at an organization called “Soup Sisters.” It was founded in 2009 in Calgary by Sharon Hapton. This organization supports women’s shelters across the country with the very simple and heartfelt gesture of providing home-made soup. Their tagline is “Warming hearts, one bowl at a time.” Sharon’s good friend from Ottawa, Lynne Oreck-Wener attended the Calgary launch, and was so moved by this wonderful program, she decided, along with Lori Thompson and Marien Barker, to start-up a branch of Soup Sisters in Ottawa. They decided to donate the soup to Interval House, a local women’s shelter here in Ottawa. Along with several other volunteers, we assist by arriving early and setting up all the soup stations, or staying late to assist in the clean-up.

The soups are cooked at Urban Element, a cooking studio here in Ottawa that is home to an incredible professional kitchen. What was once a Fire Station has been converted into a charming culinary workshop. They kept the original red brick walls and built a state-of-the-art kitchen, complete with shiny stainless steel counters and appliances, butcher block islands, sharp knives and spoons and whisks of every size and shape. The drawers are stocked with clear containers neatly labeled, containing just about every pantry item you could imagine. Five kinds of peppercorns, and six varieties of salt had me feeling slightly jealous.

Each month, a different group of participants (12-20 individuals) come together to cook. The groups differ each month. One month saw a group of employees from a law firm, using the evening as a team building opportunity. Other groups have included friends and family getting together to celebrate a special birthday. The groups break into teams of 4, each preparing a huge stock pot of delicious soup. Our job, as volunteers is to wander around, making sure that no one chops off a finger or grates a knuckle, help the participants find what they need, and generally coral the chaos. Once they finish chopping and sauteing, the soups are set on simmer and the group sits down to a little meal of soup, salad, bread and wine.

Each participant pays a $50 fee, for which they receive training from a respected guest chef, the chance to work in a modern, contemporary professional kitchen, some new cooking skills, dinner, wine and most importantly, the glow of gratification from helping others.

Each session begins with a short address from Lula Adam, public education coordinator at Interval House.

“When the women realize someone has taken time from their Sunday night to do something to help them, it really touches them. These are women who haven’t really had a lot done for them, so it really does make a difference. When women first come here, they often feel isolated and alone. This is a gentle reminder that people in the broader community do care.”

After dinner the participants gather back in the kitchen to package the soups. They are encouraged to write a personal message on the label, such as “made with hugs” or “made with love”. Each month when I volunteer, and watch the groups of women participating, it becomes clear, that these women care about their mission. They want to make a difference beyond writing a cheque. These are indeed soups made with love. If you are interested in their soup recipes, check out their wonderful new cookbook.

Last month when I was working there, our guest chef was Tara Rajan. She prepared a roasted squash and apple salad for the group. This is my interpretation of her salad.

Perhaps because I am a Libra, (the sign is the scales) when I cook, I am always thinking about balance. I once read a beautiful definition of balance by Jasmin Tanjeloff, on the blog Tiny Buddha.

“To me, it means that you have a handle on the various elements in your life and don’t feel that your heart or mind are being pulled too hard in any direction. More often than not, you feel calm, grounded, clear-headed, and motivated.”

Balance in cooking is just as important as balance in the rest of your life. When creating a dish I look for all the flavour elements to be in balance. These elements include salt, sour, sweet, spicy and bitter. I like to include the textural elements of creamy and crunch as well. Of course, not every dish needs all these elements, but when you do hit them all, sometimes it can be an incredible culinary party in your mouth.

I started with some obvious fall staples, squash and apples.

I like acorn squash because it looks like flowers when you slice it. Plus, the skin, when roasted is quite tender, so I never bother peeling it. I used Honeycrisp apples. Empires or Royal Galas would also work well.

The apples and squash are brushed with a little vegetable oil and maple syrup. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and they are ready for the oven.

I prepared a dressing using sunflower oil, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, salt and pepper. In order to give the salad a hit of heat and some crunch, I prepared spiced pumpkin seeds. Shelled pumpkin seeds were coated with egg white and then tossed in a mixture of chipotle chile powder, sugar, and salt. They went into a moderate oven until they were toasted to perfection.

To assemble the salad, I started with a base of roasted squash and apple slices. I topped that with a few radicchio leaves, and a big pile of tender mache (lamb’s lettuce). I drizzled the salad with dressing, and topped it with some spiced pumpkin seeds and a few shavings of salty white cheddar.

Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen

Author Archives: saltandserenity

Homemade Marshmallows and Hot Chocolate Mix

Click here to print recipe for Homemade Marshmallows.

Click here to print recipe for Best Ever Hot Chocolate Mix.

Killer Chicken Cashew Chili

Pam’s Cornbread is the perfect accompaniment to this chile.

Click here to print recipe for Killer Chicken Chili (also known as Chicken Cashew Chili)

Aging Gracefully and New Experiences

Brown Sugar Roasted Tomato Soup

Click here to print recipe for Brown Sugar Roasted Tomato Soup.

Click here to print the recipe for World Peace Cookies Version 4.0.

Latkes and Compromise: The Secret to a Happy Marriage

Click here to print recipe for Compromise Latkes .

Autumn Salad

Click here to print recipe for Autumn Salad.

Click here to print recipe for Homemade Marshmallows.

Click here to print recipe for Best Ever Hot Chocolate Mix.

Pam’s Cornbread is the perfect accompaniment to this chile.

Click here to print recipe for Killer Chicken Chili (also known as Chicken Cashew Chili)

Click here to print recipe for Brown Sugar Roasted Tomato Soup.

Click here to print recipe for Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies.

Click here to print recipe for Chocolate Toffee Cookies.

Click here to print the recipe for World Peace Cookies Version 4.0.

Click here to print recipe for Compromise Latkes .

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Click here to print recipe for Autumn Salad.