It seems like only yesterday I was going on about how wonderful it is when a product delivers as promised. Oh wait, it was yesterday. Yes people, my wonderful new beater blade has bit the dust. Serves me right for bragging about it. On the 10th batch of the Toblerone shortbread I was making, the spout of the bowl I was using to pour the chopped Toblerone into the mixer, accidentally hit the top of the spinning blade and it cracked my wonder blade into several pieces. All my fault!! I should have been more careful pouring. So I had to bake today using my old beater blade and it took way longer than usual because I had to keep stopping the machine to scrape down the sides. But not to fear, Golda’s Kitchen offers next day delivery so I’ll be back in business again tomorrow.
I got the recipe for these cookies many years ago when I worked at the now defunct David Wood Food Shop, in Toronto. I was pregnant when I worked there and the pastry chef took pity on me and fed me as many as I could eat. (Which was a considerable amount). Just knowing these cookies were in the shop made me practically skip to work everyday. I went through terrible withdrawal when I left to have my baby.
This is an odd recipe as you cream together the butter and brown sugar, but the white sugar gets sifted in with the flour as part of the dry ingredients. I never really understood why that is and what difference it makes. But that’s how they made them at David Wood and who am I to mess with perfection?
The recipe instructs you to quarter the macadamia nuts. Please go ahead and do that if you are that type of person and have the patience. Truthfully, I just add them whole. I find that the beater blade breaks them up somewhat and it all works out fine. I like to use salted macadamia nuts. (I know, what a shock!)
The edges get a little bit crunchy and the center is wonderfully chewy. Macadamia nuts and white chocolate have such a natural affinity for each other. The little hint of salt from the rich nuts balances the creamy sweetness of the white chocolate.
On Day two of my holiday baking adventure, I made Toblerone Shortbread. I got the idea for these cookies from pastry chef Anna Olson. She was preparing them on Cityline TV. She made a basic shortbread and topped each one with a chunk of Toblerone. I decided to kick it up a notch and mix chunks of Toblerone right into the dough. Toblerone, for those of you who don’t know, is a triangular-shaped milk chocolate bar filled with honey and almond nougat. I sometimes play games with myself and bake things I don’t really love, so I won’t eat too much of them. I thought I was safe here. I don’t really like honey and nougat, and lately my tastes have shifted to dark chocolate.
I bought 8 jumbo (400 gram size) bars and proceeded to chop them up. As I was chopping I took a small taste to see what we were dealing with here. It had been a long time since I hed tried a Toblerone bar. I let the chocolate melt in my mouth and then chewed the crunchy almond nougat. Oh #&@!& !!!! I do like Toblerone! Good thing I bought extra.
The recipe begins with creaming room temperature unsalted butter and icing sugar together. Can I just take a moment here to tell you again how much I love my new beater blade! Nothing makes me happier than when a product delivers as promised. Every time I use this blade I wonder what took them so long to come up with this idea. The beater blade is shaped like the regular paddle blade but it has little windshield wipers on the edges of the blade that scrape down the sides of the bowl for you. Mixing the dough is so much faster because you don’t have to stop the machine and scrape down the sides with a spatula.
I am all about saving time. I have always thought it would be brilliant to be able to get a pedicure and have your teeth cleaned at the same time. The hygenist could work up top in your mouth, and the esthetician could work down at your feet. They wouldn’t get in each others way and it would be such a time saver. I suggested it to my dentist and he looked at me like I was crazy. If there are any dentists out there, I really think this would be a great way to increase your revenue.
Chop up the Toblerone bars. Cream icing sugar and room temperature butter together. Add sifted dry ingredients. Add Toblerone .
I use an ice cream scoop to form the cookies. That way, they are all the same size and they bake evenly.
It is not necessary to chill this dough before scooping and baking. It is necessary to keep your mouth shut while scooping. This dough is amazing raw.
Last Monday I finally treated myself to a cortisone shot in my elbow. You may be thinking, “What kind of treat is that?” Well here is the sad story of my baking injuries. Last December I piped over 160 gingerbread snowflake cookies and gave myself an awful case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Just a simple matter of overuse of some very small, not often used muscles. It finally healed by late February but then this summer, after finishing the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, I noticed pain in my elbow. Of course I ignored it and by September it was so bad I could not lift a coffee mug or squeeze toothpaste without terrible pain. I went for to the Baking Sports Medicine Clinic and began physiotherapy for tendonitis (also known as tennis elbow, or in my case, bakers elbow).
It was getting a little bit better but not much. After 10 weeks I asked my therapist what else I could try as I was starting to get desperate. I had over 40 gift baskets to bake for the holidays. I blogged about this briefly last year. 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 I had to get going. Thus the cortisone shot. I have heard from many people that a cortisone shot does not hurt. They are liars! My arm felt like it was going to fall off for the first 2 days but then magically, by the 4th day, the pain was gone. It is my own personal holiday miracle.
So here, for the next 7 days you can follow along with me on my baking frenzy.
On day one I tackle Almond Pecan Caramel Corn. I found the recipe for this addictive treat many years ago, in a sweet little book called, “Gifts of Food” by Susan Costner. I only make this recipe when I have somewhere to take it as I have absolutely no willpower at all when it comes to this popcorn. Each recipe uses a pound of butter. Do not tell people this when you give it to them as they will hate you for life. I have altered the recipe slightly and add about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt to each batch when I am making the caramel. A tall heavy non-stick soup pot is ideal for making this. A candy thermometer is helpful as well. I like this one as it has a ledge at the bottom so the bulb can not touch the bottom of the pot and give you a false reading.
I popped some microwave popcorn. I toasted the almonds and pecans and mixed everything together in a big bowl. If your counter is not heatproof, place the bowl on a cooling rack.
The caramel contains sugar, corn syrup, water, salt and butter.
When the caramel reaches 280 – 300º F, it’s time to pour it onto the popcorn and mix well. Then it gets spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and you wait (or not) for it to cool. If you are impatient and try to eat it before it cools and totally hardens, it is still quite sticky and can pull out a filling! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Today is the first night of Chanukah. When I was growing up, Chanukah meant potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce. My mother would make them and then complain for days about the smell of oil from frying which lingered in the house for days.
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, his lack of sense of smell. He had sinus problems and his nose malfunctioned often.
That 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. I do recall one year, she set up the electric frying pan on the ironing board in the garage, plugged it in with 5 extension cords snaking all the way from the front hall, all so so she could keep the smell out of the house.
When my husband and I first began dating, he took me home to celebrate Chanukah with his family. His family did not shred their potatoes for latkes. They pulverized them in the Cuisinart so the resulting latkes were thick and creamy, not the thin lacy crispy shredded latkes that I grew up with. And, if you can actually imagine this, they served them with ketchup!! I almost broke up with him. 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. We have since agreed on a “Compromise Latkes Recipe” that makes us both happy.
On my last trip to Israel, I discovered that Chanukah there is celebrated with jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot). The word, sufganiyot, comes from the Greek word sufgan, meaning “puffed and fried.” In Israel doughnuts, fried in oil, commemorate the miracle of the oil that burned in the temple in Jerusalem for eight days, although the supply appeared to be enough only for a single day. Most people shy away from making their own doughnuts. It is usually a fear of frying (too dangerous or too fattening) or a fear of working with yeast, as most traditional doughnut recipes call for yeast.
I have never made doughnuts but not because I fear frying or yeast. I own a deep fryer, which gets used once or twice a year for French fries. And I am not afraid of yeast, especially after baking my way through 43 bread recipes in the book “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.” No, I shy away from doughnuts because when I was pregnant with my daughter, I ate too many of them. I would go for my doctor’s appointment, and then, only after I was weighed, I would stop at Lady Jane Doughnuts for a chocolate doughnut topped with coconut. Sadly, Lady Jane, is gone, replaced by a Pizza Pizza franchise. And curiously, to this day, my daughter, who is now 19 years old, does not like doughnuts.
But, a lot of years have passed since I overindulged on doughnuts and with Chanukah coming up; I decided it was the perfect time to enjoy them again. And, I was fairly certain that my husband would not top his doughnut with ketchup.
As doughnuts are best served fresh from the fryer, I wanted an easy recipe for entertaining which did not require too much fussing or time. While doughnuts are traditionally made with yeast, I have uncovered a wonderful recipe which relies solely on baking powder and baking soda for leavening. No rising necessary. The dough mixes up quickly and the donuts can be formed and set aside for frying up to 2 hours in advance. Then all you have to do when guests arrive is fry the doughnuts and serve them fresh and hot! These are old-fashioned doughnuts; crunchy on the outside and tender yet sturdy on the inside. The addition of buttermilk to the batter helps to create this wonderful texture.
When I started researching doughnut making, every recipe I read, used oil for frying the doughnuts in. However, Cook’s Illustrated, did a head to head taste off between Crisco and peanut oil and found that the doughnuts fried in Crisco absorbed much less fat than the ones cooked in oil. The Crisco fried ones also held up better, staying fresh longer than the ones fried in oil. So although Crisco was not used at the time of the rededication of the second temple, I am recommending it anyways, for superior doughnuts.
Just a little aside here. If you are planning to use a countertop deep fryer, melt the shortening first in a pot on the stove or in the microwave. Do not put the entire block of shortening right into the deep fryer. You will damage the heating coils, short out your fryer and lots of smoke will fill your kitchen. Not that I know anything about that. You will notice in the video below, I just used my Le Creuset porcelain enameled cast iron pot on the stove. My countertop deep fryer was broken missing.
Yo print the recipe for these doughnuts, click here.
The batter comes together very quickly. Buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt.
It makes a very sticky batter. Flour the counter and your rolling-pin well.
There are special doughnut cutters but I just improvised with a glass and piping tip. It worked quite well.
A candy thermometer is essential if you plan to deep fry on the stove. They are readily available, and, if you are going to invest in one, I recommend this one, by Wilton. It has a foot at the bottom to prevent the thermometer bulb from touching the bottom of the pot. You want to avoid this as you will get a false reading.
Since I am not a jelly doughnut kind of girl, I just gave my doughnuts a quick bath of sugar and cinnamon. My husband devoured several (without ketchup, for the record).
These are a biscotti unlike any other you may have tried. Traditionally, biscotti are hard, sturdy cookies, made for dunking into coffee or tea. These biscotti are firm but crisp and quite crunchy and airy all at the same time. They are delicate and will shatter if you are not careful handling them. It is a lot like eating a crunchy cloud, if you can imagine that. I call them breakfast biscotti because they are made with Special K cereal. That’s what gives them their unique texture.
This recipe comes from a childhood friend’s mother (Mrs .B). I was friends with the daughter of the family and my sister was friends with the son. Working as a tag team, we managed to wear Mrs B down until she gave us the recipe.
Biscotti, in Italian, means twice cooked. The cookies are first formed into a log, cooked until slightly firm, allowed to cool, then sliced into thin cookies and baked a second time until firm. All cultures around the world have their own form of this cookie. Jewish bakers haveMandelbroit (meaning almond bread), the English have their “Rusks”, in France they are called “Croquets de Carcassonne”, in Greece, “Paxemadia” and in the Ukraine they are called “Kamishbrot”.
These biscotti keep well in an airtight container for several weeks. I have almost managed to convince myself that they are a complete and healthy breakfast!
The dough mixes up quickly in the kitchenaid. Oil and sugar are creamed until light. Next the eggs are added. This is followed by the dry ingredients and finally, the Special K.
The dough is quite sticky, but do not be tempted to add more flour. Scrape out dough onto a heavily floured counter and knead lightly. Divide dough into 4 and then form logs. Bake logs for about 30 minutes until slightly firmed up.
After logs have cooled for at least an hour, slice on the diagonal. A serrated knife or chinese cleaver works well for this. Sprinkle with cinnamon, turn slices cut side up and return to the oven for second baking.
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup shortening
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups Special K cereal
¾ cup slivered almonds, toasted and cooled
cinnamon for sprinkling on half-baked cookies
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add oil, shortening and vanilla and mix until well blended. Add salt, flour, baking powder, special K and almonds. Mix just until blended.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into 4 pieces. The dough will be quite soft and sticky. Flour your work surface well so that you can handle the dough more easily. Roll each piece of dough into a log, about 2 inches wide and about 8 inches long. Place two logs on each baking sheet and brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Bake for about 20 minutes, switching pan positions halfway through.
Remove baking sheets from the oven and let logs cool for about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees F. Place each of the cooled logs on a cutting board and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Using a serrated knife, cut into ½ inch diagonal slices. Arrange slices on parchment lined baking sheets, cut side down. Bake for about another 40-45 minutes, switching pan positions halfway through. The mandelbroit will be a bit soft when you take them out of the oven, but they will harden upon cooling. These freeze very well and our family likes them even better frozen.
To say that I have been doing a lot of travelling lately would be an understatement. Over the course of 8 days, in the later half of October I was on 6 airline flights. I was in Philadelphia to help my aunt celebrate her 80th birthday. From there I flew to Tel Aviv to help my brother-in-law celebrate his 50th birthday (and what a celebration that was!) and then went to Boston to visit my daughter for “Family Weekend” at her college.
This is all a long winded way of telling you that now I am sick! I’m not surprised. Breathing in everyone else’s germs on all those flights was bound to lead to this. My throat is sore, I have a headache and I am coughing something fierce. I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself and wishing for some of my mom’s chicken soup. Since I live in Ottawa and she lives in Toronto, that wish wasn’t about to come true. So I hauled my sad self out of bed and made my own. Of course I had to share with you.
Making good chicken soup is a lot like making good bread. It takes time. But it is unattended time. You can be busy doing other things (like coughing and sneezing and napping) while the soup cooks. There are only two things you need to know to make good chicken soup. The first is that you must use chicken stock, not water, as the liquid. The second is that you must allow enough time to chill the soup, after cooking, so that all the fat can be removed. If you follow these two rules, you will have wonderful chicken soup.
Chicken stock is a mystery to many people. Exactly what is it and how is it made? Stock is simply chicken bones, simmered, in water, with aromatic vegetables (typically, carrots, onion and celery) until the bones have given every ounce of their flavour to the liquid. This usually takes about 2-3 hours.
In every good restaurant you will find a pot of stock simmering on the back burner. Throughout the day, chicken bones and vegetable scraps are thrown into the pot. At the end of the day the pot is strained and the liquid is chilled overnight. The next day the hardened fat is skimmed from the pot and the remaining liquid is used in soups and sauces. It can be used in place of water for cooking rice and other grains. Good stock is the foundation for great tasting soups. Chicken bones are easily purchased from the butcher . (what did you think they did with the bones after deboning all those chicken breasts?)
Exact recipes for chicken stock and chicken soup can be found at the end of this post, but here is a pictoral version.
Begin by making a big pot of chicken stock. Fill a large pot with about 8 pounds of chicken bones and fill with cold water, just covering the bones. Bring to a boil and then remove the foam from the top layer.
Add some carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, peppercorns and parsley stems. Simmer for 2 hours.
Now your chicken stock is done. Just strain the liquid and discard all the solids. (I like to save the carrots. Although they have no nutritional value whatsoever after being cooked for 2 hours, they are delicious and I add them to my finished soup) Pour the strained stock over fresh chicken bones and a whole chicken. Bring to a boil, remove foam from top, add fresh carrots, celery, onions. bay leaf, peppercorns and parsley stems. Simmer for 2 more hours.
After the bones and chicken have given all their flavour (about 2 hours) strain the soup. I save these carrots as well, to add to my finished soup. Using 2 forks, remove skin and bones from whole chicken and shred the meat into bite sized pieces. Put reserved carrots and shredded chicken into fridge. Let pot of strained soup sit on the counter until cooled a little bit. Cover pot and chill in fridge overnight. The next day, remove layer of hardened fat off the top.
Bring soup to a boil, add salt and pepper to season. Add carrots, chicken and some boiled wide egg noodles. Serve. Sigh!
Then make a wish to feel better so you can travel somewhere warm to escape the snow! (yes it snowed last night in Ottawa!)
1 whole chicken
7 pounds chicken bones
12 cups chicken stock (recipe below)
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch lengths
2 celery stalks (with leaves), cut into 2 inch lengths
2 parsley stems (not the leaves)
10 black whole peppercorns
1 dried bay leaf
salt and black pepper to taste
chopped parsley and/or dill
cooked egg noodles or white rice, if desired
Pour chicken stock into a large stockpot. Add chicken bones and whole chicken and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and, using a slotted spoon, skim off the foam that has risen to the top. Add vegetables, bay leaf, parsley stems and whole peppercorns. Let simmer for about 2 hours.
Strain the soup and transfer it to a clean pot. I love the flavour of the cooked carrots, so I always save them to serve in the soup. Using 2 forks, remove skin and bones from whole chicken and shred the meat into bite sized pieces. Discard all bones and other vegetables.
Put reserved carrots and shredded chicken into fridge. Let pot of strained soup sit on the counter until cooled a little bit. Cover pot and chill in fridge overnight. The next day, remove layer of hardened fat off the top.
Bring cold soup to a boil. Turn down heat and add cooked egg noodles or rice, reserved carrots and chicken and simmer for about 5 minutes, Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and/or dill.
Chicken Stock
Makes 12 cups
8 pounds chicken bones
12 cups cold water
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 carrots , peeled and cut into 2 inch lengths
2 celery stalks (with leaves), cut into 2 inch lengths
2 dried bay leaves
2 parsley stems (not the leaves)
10 whole black peppercorns
Place bones and water in a stockpot and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to a simmer and using a slotted spoon, skim off any foam on the surface. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, for 3 hours.
Strain liquid and discard all the vegetables and bones.
Refrigerate stock and remove layer of fat from the top. Use stock as needed, or freeze in small containers for a later use. Stock keeps well in the freezer for 4 months.
Every family has their own birthday traditions. When I was growing up, birthdays were celebrated with a “Deluxe Bakery” (Deluxe was actually the name of the bakery) cake, complete with pink buttercream flowers, which my sisters and I fought over. Now that I have my own children I let each of them choose their favourite cake and I bake it for them. My youngest always picks chocolate. My middle child usually selects something challenging for me to recreate. One year it was a treasure box, another year we made a swimming pool, complete with bright blue Jell-O as the water. My oldest, whose birthday is in December, always requests strawberry almond shortbread cake. It’s not always easy to find great berries in the winter.Yesterday was my birthday and I began the day by baking my own cake. Now don’t go feeling sorry for me. I have been baking my own cake for many years now. When I was younger, my sister had a friend who worked at a bakery. Every year she would bake and decorate her own birthday cake. We always thought it was the saddest thing. However, now that I’m grown up, I think that baking your own birthday cake is a joyous thing to do. Think about it. No having to be gracious and pretending to be thrilled when someone brings you a chocolate cake, when what you really wanted was carrot cake.
Not that I would know anything about being gracious! I am ashamed to admit that one year my good friend bought me an over the top artisan bakery creation for my birthday. We were at my cottage for a girl’s weekend. I told her, “Thanks, but I made my own cake for tonight. We can serve yours tomorrow night.” So, no I don’t get any points in the generosity of spirit category for that one, but I did get to eat my carrot cake on my birthday.
The carrot cake I’m takling about here is not your standard issue carrot cake. I am talking about a dense, moist carrot cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese frosting, showered with toasted coconut. The lemon curd filling keeps it from being too cloyingly sweet, something that too many carrot cakes are guilty of. This cake was created by my friend Pam. This is not one of those cakes that you mix up in one bowl and then bake. Baking it requires you to dirty pretty much every bowl, measuring cup, spoon, spatula and whisk you own. This cake is a labour of love.
Ever since I watched Emma Feigenbaum make Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies on the “Best Burgers” episode of Everyday Food, I have been unable to think of anything else. I know that lots of people bash Martha Stewart, but I happen to love this show. There are no bells and whistles, no audiences applauding when the host mentions cheese, garlic or wine. (Sorry, Rachael Ray, I love you, but I just can’t stand that phony applause) There are no “fake friends” coming around for dinner parties (Ina and Giada). It’s just a simply produced show with a gorgeous set and appealing recipes that make you want to cook. I find all the cast members credible and really enjoy Emma, the newest cast member. She has the sweetest smile. I think we could be friends.
I managed to resist baking them for about a week, but then suddenly, all 3 of my children were under my roof for an entire 48 hours. I had to bake! As I was taking the butter out of the fridge to soften, my stack of Lindt fleur de sel chocolate bars caught my eye. I always have at least 8 bars on hand in the fridge. You never know when the craving will hit. I decided to chop them up and use them in the cookies instead of regular chocolate chips.
Over the years I have had favourite chocolate chip cookie recipes. We were hooked on Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Chip Cookies for a while, but they were just too much trouble. Apparently what makes them so special is the Valrhona feves (giant oval shaped chocolate discs), but seriously, I live in Ottawa, and sourcing them was a pain! They also required 24-72 hours of chilling time for the dough before baking. When you have a craving for chocolate chip cookies you don’t want to wait 3 days!
Before Jacques Torres’, we were into Marcy Goldman’s Better Baking.com Chocolate Chip Cookies (she nicknamed them “Big League” Chocolate Chip Cookies). But they required you to melt half the butter and then cool it and she also recommended chilling the dough for 24 hours. Problem was, everyone ended up sneaking little bits of cookie dough from the fridge and by the time we got around to baking them, there was hardly any dough left. Also, for some reason, I always got inconsistent results with this recipe.
Lately we have been worshipping at the alter of Michael Smith’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. But I just could not stop thinking of these Giant Cookies Emma made. I was not disappointed. They were crisp around the edges and chewy in the center. The addition of the fleur de sel chocolate chunks took these cookies to a whole new level.
When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, people are in one of 3 camps. There are those who love them all warm and gooey from the oven. Then there are those who prefer them once they have totally cooled, and the chocolate has a snap when you bite into them. Finally, there are those who love them best straight from the freezer once they have cured for a few days. Granted, that camp is quite small (BTW, I am firmly in this camp) but they have their followers.
Chop the chocolate, cream butter and both sugars together, add the vanilla and egg.
Using the mixer is ok for incorporating dry ingredients, but mix in chocolate chunks gently with a spatula.
Form cookies using a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Don’t overcrowd. 4-5 cookies per sheet is the maximum. Bake for 14-15 minutes.
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 100 gram bars of Lindt Fleur de Sel Chocolate. coarsely chopped
Fleur de Sel for sprinkling (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined; mix in vanilla.
With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture; mix until just incorporated. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chunks.
Drop 1/4-cup mounds of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, at least 4 inches apart and away from edges of pan. (You will fit about 4 cookies to a sheet; bake in two batches, using two baking sheets per batch.) Bake until golden, 14-15 minutes, rotating sheets front to back and from top to bottom of oven halfway through.
As soon as they come out of the oven, sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of fleur de sel. Cool 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.
Yes, I realize that it’s September 3 and most other food bloggers are waxing poetic about corn, peaches and tomatoes. And yes, I realize that most other food writers were over and done with strawberries by late June. But I live in Ottawa where everything matures just a little bit later. In fact, it’s one of the reasons that I am so happy I raised my children here in this city. Even kids mature a bit later here. In Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver most kids in Junior High are smoking their first joint. At the same age, kids in Ottawa are just getting around to smoking their first cigarette. I am hoping that this late maturing thing will apply to my aging body as well. Maybe I will develop deep wrinkles much later than my sisters in Toronto.
I was at the farmer’s market yesterday and saw gorgeous baskets of tiny fresh strawberries, I could smell them from 10 feet away. Of course I got carried away and bought a 4 litre basket. After gorging myself on berries and plain yogurt (with a dad’s oatmeal cookie crumbled on top) yesterday I managed to make a small dent in the basket.
We are spending the last long holiday weekend at the cottage and my family is coming to visit from Toronto. It is still meltingly hot here, although I hear it will get cooler this weekend. With a promise to my niece Kailey to make some dulce de leche ice cream, (she wrote me a letter from camp telling me she loved me, how could I say no?), I decided to use both bowls of my ice cream machine and make two flavours, strawberry and dulce de leche. One last hurrah for summer!
Strawberry Ice Cream
(from the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker recipe Book)
4 ounces fresh ripe strawberries strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
3/4 cup whole milk, well chilled
1 1/2 cups 35% cream (heavy cream), well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine strawberries, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Stir gently and allow the strawberries to macerate in the juices for 2 hours.
2. In a medium bowl, use a whisk to combine milk and remaining sugar, whisking until sugar is dissolved.
3. Whisk in heavy cream and vanilla. Add any juices from the strawberries.
4. Pour into ice cream machine and let mix until thickened, about 20 minutes.
4. Add sliced strawberries. Mix for 5 more minutes.
5. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container. Cover surface of ice cream with plastic wrap and then put on lid container. This will help prevent the formation of ice crystals. Freeze for an additional 2 hours.
In my last post I declared that this would be the “Summer of Ice Cream.” I had grandiose plans about creating a different flavour every few days and posting about them. It began well with this. So well in fact that I got stuck on dulce de leche ice cream and made it about 5 more times. Finally I moved onto making Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream. (Sorry, no pictures, I ate it all too fast). If you are interested in trying it, use a basic vanilla ice cream recipe and reduce the milk by about 1/2 a cup. Add 1/2 a cup of cold espresso or strong coffee, and about 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds. When the ice cream is finished mixing, swirl in about 1/2 cup hot fudge sauce. Store bought fudge sauce will do but the Cook’s Illustrated recipe is sublime. Unfortunately, my plans for the summer of ice cream came to a complete halt when it became obvious that I was eating most of the ice cream and my shorts were getting tight.
I am fortunate to be able to spend the entire summer at my cottage. When we first got the cottage we had guests almost every weekend. My kids were small so we would invite other families with kids so they would have playmates. As the years have gone by, the kids are busy with other things and don’t spend as much time here at the cottage. We have gotten lazy about inviting company. But this summer I decided to be sociable again. So sociable in fact that we have had back to back guests since mid-July. One set of guests would leave and by the time the sheets were washed, dried and put back on the bed, the next set of guests were arriving.
I do not stress out too much about all this entertaining because when my friends or family ask if they can bring anything, I reply, “Yes, could you bring dinner for Saturday night?” Everyone is used to it by now and they are all happy to contribute. I make Friday night dinner, Saturday and Sunday lunch and everyone has a great time. To make things easier this summer, I came up with a standard cocktail time snack, that we have been serving every weekend.
This cheese biscuit recipe comes from a Quebec restaurant called Les Fougeres. They are the perfect accompaniment to Frozen Peach Bellinis. They are crunchy and a little bit spicy. And best of all, the dough freezes beautifully. They are like the savory version of Pillsbury Slice and Bake cookies. It makes me feel very happy and secure to know that my freezer is stocked full. I think it harks back to my childhood when I would pick the frosting off the frozen Sara Lee bananna cake (Yes mom, it was me!).
These biscuits are easy to put together. Butter and cheddar contribute to their richness and toasted pecans and a surprising ingredient (Rice Krispies) contribute to their crunch. A pinch of cayenne adds some welcome heat.
You can mix the dough in a big bowl by hand or do it in the food processor. Form the dough into logs and wrap in waxed paper to chill. Then just slice and bake.
Add a big bowl of raw peas in a pod and a pitcher of frozen peach bellinis and watch the good times roll!
1. In the bowl of a food processor, fitted with the stainless steel knife, add flour, sugar, salt and cayenne. Pulse to combine.
2. Add butter and pulse about 10-15 times until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add cheddar, pecans and rice krispies and process breifly, about 30 seconds until crumbly.
3. Dump dough out onto counter, divide in half and and form each half of dough into sausage shape. Roll each log in in wax paper.
4. Chill.
5. Slice into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
6. Bake in a preheated 350°F (190°C) oven until golden, about 15 minutes.
Note: These biscuits can be successfully frozen in the sausage shape and simply sliced and baked when desired.
Frozen Peach Bellinis (serves 2-3)
3/4 cup prosecco (Italian sparkling wine)
1/4 cup peach schnapps
1/2 cup fresh peach puree* or peach nectar (such as Ceres brand)
1/2 cup ice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
* Only use fresh peach puree if peaches are ripe and juicy. To make your own puree, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut a small x in the bottom of each peach. Plunge peaches into boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove peaches from boiling water with a slotted spoon and dunk in a bowl of cold water. Skins will slip off easily. Cut peach in half and discard pit. Puree peaches in blender or food processor. Any left over puree can be frozen in ice cube trays. When frozen, pop cubes into a zip loc bag and keep in freezer.
Yesterday was my birthday and I began the day by baking my own cake. Now don’t go feeling sorry for me. I have been baking my own cake for many years now. When I was younger, my sister had a friend who worked at a bakery. Every year she would bake and decorate her own birthday cake. We always thought it was the saddest thing. However, now that I’m grown up, I think that baking your own birthday cake is a joyous thing to do. Think about it. No having to be gracious and pretending to be thrilled when someone brings you a chocolate cake, when what you really wanted was carrot cake. 
