Tag Archives: Brown Butter

Brown Butter Banana Bundt with Maple Glaze

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Nothing makes my husband happier than a banana cake sitting on the counter, ready for him to slice at his whim all week long. (Unless of course it’s slices of this, tucked away in the freezer) This Brown Butter Banana Bundt Cake, created by Anna Olsen, takes that simple comfort and elevates it. Instead of just melting the butter, you brown it until it turns nutty and flecked with flavour, giving this banana cake a depth you don’t usually find. And while maple and banana might sound like an unusual pairing, the maple adds a gentle warmth that makes this cake feel just a little more special — and somehow even better the next day.

Keys to Success

  • Let the Butter Go Far Enough: Brown butter is what sets this banana Bundt cake apart. After it melts, it will bubble. Then it will foam. Keep going. You’re looking for golden brown flecks at the bottom of the pan and a nutty aroma. Don’t pull it off the heat too soon — that’s where the flavour lives. Tip: Transfer it immediately to a heatproof bowl so it doesn’t keep cooking in the hot pan.
  • Use Very Ripe Bananas: This isn’t the time for barely-speckled bananas. The darker and softer they are, the deeper the banana flavour and the sweeter the cake. If your bananas are just yellow, wait. It’s worth it.
  • Take Pan Prep Seriously: Bundt cakes are dramatic. They either release perfectly… or they don’t. Brush your pan generously with a mixture of vegetable oil, flour, and shortening, making sure to coat every ridge and corner. This extra step makes all the difference. Let the cake cool for 20 minutes before turning it out — too soon and it may break, too late and it can stick.
  • Bake to Temperature: In addition to testing with a cake skewer, use an instant-read thermometer for precision. Inserted into the centre, the cake should read 200–205°F when fully baked. This ensures a moist crumb without underbaking.
Brushing homemade cake release mixture into a fluted Bundt pan to ensure the Brown Butter Banana Bundt Cake releases cleanly after baking.

Brown Butter Banana Bundt with Maple Glaze

A deeply flavourful banana Bundt cake made with brown butter and maple syrup for rich, nutty depth. Finished with a glossy brown butter maple glaze, this tender cake improves in flavour over time and is perfect for slicing all week long. Recipe created by Anna Olsen.
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Servings 16 servings
Calories 487 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 10 cup Bundt pan

Ingredients
  

Non-stick mixture for coating pan

  • 16 grams all-purpose flour
  • 25 grams vegetable oil
  • 25 grams vegetable shortening, like Crisco

Banana Cake

  • 227 grams unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 775 grams mashed ripe bananas, about 6-8 bananas
  • 300 grams granulated sugar
  • 156 grams maple syrup
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
  • 450 grams all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, or 1/4 teaspoon Morton's Kosher salt

Maple Glaze

  • 90 grams unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 60 grams maple syrup
  • 1 Tablespoon milk
  • 162 grams icing sugar, sifted
  • 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, or 1/8 teaspoon Morton's Kosher salt

Instructions
 

Make Non-stick coating for pan

  • Whisk together flour, oil and shortening until smooth.

Make the Bundt Cake

  • Preheat and prepare the pan: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Using a pastry brush, very generously coat the inside of Bundt pan with the non-stick mixture. Don't forget the center post. Set pan aside.
  • Brown the butter: In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Continue cooking until it foams, then turns golden brown with nutty-smelling brown flecks on the bottom, about 3 minutes after melting.
    Immediately transfer the butter to a heatproof bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.
  • Mix the wet ingredients: Pour the slightly cooled brown butter into a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the mashed bananas, sugar, and maple syrup until well combined.
    Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until smooth.
  • Add the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
    Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and gently fold just until combined. Do not over mix.
  • Bake: Scrape the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top.
    Bake for 60–70 minutes, until a cake tester or skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. You can also
    For extra precision, you can also use an instant-read thermometer — inserted into the centre of the cake, it should register 200–205°F when fully baked.
  • Cool: Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a cooling rack.
    Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.

Make Maple Glaze

  • Brown the butter: In a small saucepan, brown the butter as you did for the cake. This second batch will brown more quickly — about 1 minute.
    Transfer to a heatproof bowl and let cool for 5 minutes.
  • Whisk the glaze: Whisk in the maple syrup, milk, and icing sugar until smooth and pourable.
  • Glaze and set: Spoon or pour the glaze over the cooled Bundt cake, allowing it to drip naturally down the sides.
    Let the glaze set for about 1 hour before slicing and serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 487kcalCarbohydrates: 71gProtein: 5gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 89mgSodium: 269mgPotassium: 260mgFiber: 2gSugar: 43gVitamin A: 595IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 35mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Banana cake will always be good. But browned butter makes it unforgettable. It’s a small extra step, but it changes everything — the aroma, the depth, the way people go back for a second slice. So take the time. Brown the butter. Your future self — and anyone lucky enough to grab a slice — will thank you.

Slice of Brown Butter Banana Bundt Cake topped with maple glaze, revealing a soft, moist interior.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Coffee Toffee Cookies

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When a cookie title contains the words brown butter, it better deliver that toasty, nutty flavour profile. If you’re curious about the science behind brown butter, here’s a quick primer. Butter is composed of butterfat, milk protein and water. When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk protein. As you heat the butter, and it begins to bubble and sputter away, the water evaporates and the hot butterfat begins to cook the milk solids, turning them from creamy yellow to speckled brown and your whole kitchen smells like toasted hazelnuts. It’s these toasted milk solids (not the fat itself) that give brown butter its nutty taste 

The issue I have with using browned butter in baked goods is that once it is mixed with the sugar, flour, and eggs, the brown butter flavour becomes quite subtle. So I’m always left wondering if it’s worth it to take the time to brown butter when baking. And then I came across this Bon Appétit article, “For the Best Brown Butter, You Need Milk Powder.”

Author Shilpa Uskovic explains, “If you want brown butter to be the mayor of Flavourtown, the main character of the story, you’ve got to maximize those milk solids. Enter from stage right: nonfat dry milk powder. Milk is mostly water with some fat and milk solids (same building blocks as butter, just different ratios). Remove the water and fat and you get nonfat milk powder—what is essentially pure milk solids. The very same milk solids that play a starring role in brown butter. Which means all you have to do is add a scoop of milk powder to melting butter, and you’ll go from brown butter to brownest butter.”

The brown butter flavour of these cookies is quite pronounced, and certainly worth the effort of taking the extra time to prepare the toasted milk powder. Most supermarkets carry milk powder. It is most commonly sold as skim milk powder. Here in Ontario I buy it at Bulk Barn. I include detailed instructions in the recipe for how to make your own toasted milk powder. The recipe makes more than you will need for one batch of cookies. Keep it in the fridge and use to boost the flavour of a buttercream or frosting.

The recipe incorporates a mix of all-purpose flour and bread flour. The higher protein content of bread flour will make the cookies a bit chewier. A heaping teaspoon of instant espresso powder will give the cookies a more adult flavour profile and help temper the sweetness. I also added some toffee chips. You could use Skor Bits or make your own toffee. I have included the recipe if you’re keen to try. If you have a candy thermometer you can make your own toffee.

What is really critical here is to avoid using regular chocolate chips from the supermarket. You want the very best quality chocolate here. My favourite are from Valrhona. I love their 64% Manjari bittersweet feves (discs).

Here are a few tips for cookie success:

  • Scoop your cookie dough with an ice cream scoop for consistent size. Scoop the cookies while the dough is still soft, before chilling.
  • Chill the cookie scoops for at least 3 hours or up to 72 hours, so that all the flour in the dough has a chance to hydrate. Make sure you wrap the cookie dough balls well with plastic wrap so that they do not dehydrate.
  • Double up your baking sheets when baking the cookies, so that the bottom of the cookies do not get too brown.
  • Don’t add all the chopped chocolate to the cookie dough. Hold back about 1/3 of the amount. After the cookies have been baking for about 5 minutes, remove from oven and stud each cookie with an additional few chunks and then continue baking. You will get Instagram worthy melting pools of chocolate on top of each cookie.
  • For perfectly round cookies, all you need is a round cookie cutter larger than the size of the baked cookies. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, place the cookie cutter over each cookie and give the cookie inside a spin. This quick swirl will help smooth any uneven edges.
  • Use a good quality flaky sea salt to sprinkle sparingly on the just baked cookies.

Click here to print recipe for Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Coffee Toffee Cookies.

Brown Butter Oatmeal Cornflake Cookies

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When Robyn over at Sweetish Co. posted about these cookies on Instagram a few weeks ago, my brain went on high alert. Oatmeal and cornflakes together in the same cookie? Sounded like breakfast to me!

I tweaked her recipe a bit and browned the butter first. Brown butter is the like the secret sauce of baked goods. It amplifies all the flavours. It adds depth, richness and a nutty caramel flavour to these cookies. Browning butter is not difficult, but you do need to allow some time to brown and then chill it, before making the dough.

I also added some raisins to the cookie dough, because according to my family, raisins are mandatory in oatmeal cookies. I think that they would also be excellent with dried tart cherries instead of raisins. If you are a more is more kind of person, a handful of milk or blonde chocolate chunks would not be amiss. I think that dark chocolate would be too overpowering though.

Butter is composed of butterfat, milk protein and water. When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk protein. As you heat the butter, and it begins to bubble and sputter away, the water evaporates and the hot butterfat begins to cook the milk solids, turning them from creamy yellow to a splendid speckled brown colour and your whole kitchen smells like toasted hazelnuts. It’s insanely gorgeous!

Pro tip: If you want to adjust any of your cookie recipes to incorporate brown butter, remember that as the water evaporates during the browning process, the butter loses some moisture, 15-20-% loss. You need to make up for that lost moisture by adding some water to the dough. For every 113 grams (1 stick) of butter you brown, add 1 tablespoon water to the dough.

Although you can certainly bake the cookies right after making the dough, I would encourage you to chill the dough overnight. A 12-24 hour rest will really result in a better cookie. Chilling cookie dough does 3 things:

  1. Helps control spreading: Chilling solidifies the butter in the dough. Butter in chilled cookie dough takes more time to melt than butter in room temperature dough. The longer the butter stays solid, the less the cookies spread.
  2. Affects Flavour: As the dough spends time in the fridge, it dries out, thus concentrating the flavours of all the ingredients, and resulting in a more delicious cookie.
  3. Affects texture: Chilling allows the dry ingredients time to absorb the wet ingredients in the dough. This change in texture results in a chewier cookie with crispy edges. Cookies baked right after making the dough tend to be softer and doughier.

If you are a member of my youngest sister’s family, please feel free to omit the sprinkling of Maldon sea salt flakes. (Imagine my excitement when I discovered the jumbo tub!) The rest of you, please sprinkle a few flakes on each cookie before baking. It’s sublime.

Let me know if you bake these and what you think.

Click here to print recipe for Brown-Butter-Oatmeal-Cornflake-CookiesDownload

Chewy Browned Coconut Butter Cookies

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These cookies are vegan. If you don’t follow a vegan lifestyle, I realize that’s probably not the best opening line if I’m trying to pique your interest and keep you reading this post, but stay with me here. I promise you it will be worth it.

My experiences with vegan baking have been lacklustre. I will take the proffered sweet, politely take a bite, and say “it’s good”. And what I really mean is, it’s good, for vegan. You need that qualifier.

With these cookies, that qualifier is not necessary. These cookies are good. Actually, they’re great. They’ve become one of my favourite cookies. And that’s high praise coming from someone who has over 75 cookie recipes on her blog.The secret ingredient is coconut butter, not to be confused with coconut oil. Coconut oil is just the oil extracted from coconut, whereas coconut butter is ground-up coconut. Coconut butter is available at many health food stores, and online, or you can make it yourself. The talented Dana, over at at minimalist baker has a foolproof recipe.

Those clever folks over at Cooks Illustrated figured out that if you melt and cook the coconut butter, it becomes brown and nutty and delicious. Right out of the jar, it’s almost pure white.Give it some heat and about 7 minutes and this is what happens. And big bonus, your house will smell amazing!No need to pull out the mixer for these cookies. Just stir everything together in a big bowl. You need all purpose flour, of course. Some brown sugar adds to the chewiness. Baking soda and baking powder give lift. No eggs or butter are needed. The coconut butter holds these cookies together. Oh, and don’t forget a pinch of salt!Pro-tip: Use an ice cream scoop to get even sized cookies that will bake evenly. Gently flatten the cookies and sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt. Not too much, as you’ll add more after dipping in chocolate.The original recipe at Cook’s Illustrated did not include dipping them in chocolate, but coconut and chocolate just belong together! I tempered my chocolate for dipping, and if you have an instant read thermometer and a bit of patience, you should temper your chocolate as well.

Tempering the chocolate before dipping will give the cookies a smooth, glossy evenly coloured coating. Biting into into the chocolate coating, will produce that crisp satisfying snap . Without the tempering process, the cocoa butter separates out and you get a streaky, dull grey coating. I give detailed instructions on how to temper, in the recipe.

Click here to print recipe for Chewy Browned Butter Coconut Cookies.

Rhubarb and Pistachio Bundt Cake

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Pretty soon, we will be winging our way from rhubarb season straight into strawberry season. I am a little sad about it, my husband, less so! This pretty bundt cake was inspired by a brown butter strawberry-rhubarb glazed donut over at the charming blog, Adventures in Cooking. If you don’t know about Eva’s blog, you should check it out. It’s stunning.

Eva baked buttermilk donuts and dipped them into a pretty pink glaze, concocted from brown butter and pureed strawberries and rhubarb. I adapted her glaze and put it on this amazing rhubarb-pistachio bundt cake. Truthfully, the cake was almost faster to put together than the glaze, but taking the time to brown butter and roast the berries and rhubarb is worth it.

The first time I made the glaze, (yes, I ended up making it twice!) and poured it onto the cake, it was too thick and a bit fibrous from the strawberry seeds and stringy rhubarb pulp. So on the second go-round I strained the glaze through a fine mesh strainer and got the perfect consistency.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, the glaze is enriched with a bit of melted white chocolate to give it that extra oomph! You could, of course, make the cake plain, without the glaze, but why would you want to?

Studded with tangy rhubarb and crunchy pistachios, this cake is not too sweet. A little slice is the perfect afternoon pick-me-up.

Click here to print recipe for Rhubarb and Pistachio Bundt Cake.

Pan Fried Butternut Squash and Apple Salad

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black-round-serving-platter-2Guys, I have big news! Perhaps not internet breaking caliber news, but still, kind of exciting. Did you know you could make a vinaigrette with melted browned butter instead of oil? Kind of mind blowing, I know!

There are no shortage of butternut squash and apple salad recipes out there. A quick Google search unearthed 613,000 of them! What makes this one special is the dressing. It’s a brown butter and apple cider vinaigrette and it’s bonkers awesome.

Regular readers of this blog know my love for brown butter. I have used it in seven different desserts. But it had never occured to me to use it as the fat in salad dressing. I have to give credit for this genius idea to Toronto chef Haan Palcu Chang.

If you have never had brown butter before, you are in for a treat. It adds a layer of toasty, nutty deliciousness to anything it touches. Making it couldn’t be simpler. Butter is composed of butterfat, milk protein and water. When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk protein. As you heat the butter, and it begins to bubble and sputter away, the water evaporates and the hot butterfat begins to cook the milk solids, turning them from creamy yellow to a splendid speckled brown colour and your whole kitchen smells like toasted hazelnuts.

The squash is thinly sliced and pan fried until is is almost charred. A cast iron skillet is perfect for this, but a non-stick skillet will also do the job.charring-in-cast-iron-panYou can cook the squash ahead of time and warm it in the oven just before assembling the salad. A tart apple like Granny Smith is a wonderful contrast to the sweet squash. Brown the butter just before you are ready to serve the salad. If you make it ahead of time the butter will start to solidify.black-round-serving-platterWhile the vibrant orange hue of butternut squash is gorgeous on its own, adding a crunchy topping of toasted hazelnuts, a verdant shower of mint and green onions and ruby red jewel-like pomegranate seeds turn this salad into a pretty stunning masterpiece.dinner-for-2

Click here to print recipe for Pan-Fried-Butternut-Squash-and-Apple-Salad.

on-white-plate

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Crunch Cake

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cake-sliceswhole-cake-2Last week was my birthday and I made my own cake. Some people think that having to bake your own birthday cake is quite sad, but I’m not one of them. When you bake your own cake, you get exactly what you want. I gave quite a bit of thought about what to bake. (Way more thought than is probably healthy, I’ll admit).

As an early birthday present to myself I ordered Bobbette and Belle’s new cookbook. I read through it and stuck post it notes on over half  half the pages. The photography is gorgeous and there are so many recipes that inspired me. It is a very well written book with lots of tips and techniques. While some of the recipes are not for rookie bakers, the instructions they give are very thorough.
bb_book_fullsizeAs soon as I saw their Salted Caramel Toffee Cake, I knew I found my intended. Three layers of  classic vanilla cake filled with homemade salted caramel buttercream, toffee pieces and a caramel drizzle. 

This was my starting point, but I made a few changes. here’s how my cake came together.

 

I started with their recipe for a classic vanilla cake but I browned the butter first. cake-ingredientsBrown butter adds a layer of toasty, nutty deliciousness. Making it couldn’t be simpler. Butter is composed of butterfat, milk protein and water. When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk protein. As you heat the butter, and it begins to bubble and sputter away, the water evaporates and the hot butterfat begins to cook the milk solids, turning them from creamy yellow to a splendid speckled brown colour and your whole kitchen smells like toasted hazelnuts. It’s insanely gorgeous!

It is best to brown the butter in a light coloured pot, so that you can easily monitor the browning process. Note that only the milk solids will turn brown. the butterfat stays clear. As soon as you reach the perfect brown colour, pour the butter out of the hot pot to let it cool completely.white potbrowned butterYou will need to chill the brown butter and let it harden before you can cream it with the sugar.creaming-brown-butter-and-sugarDivide the batter evenly into 3 pans and bake.cake-batter-goes-into-pansNext I decided to alternate layers of brown butter vanilla cake with layers of almond meringue. I thought the textural difference of pillowy soft cake layers would be fantastic with chewy crunchy meringue. soft-peaks-for-almond-meringuepiping-meringueA salted caramel buttercream would be the perfect glue to hold all these layers together.buttercream-one-cube-at-a-timebuttercream-2Admittedly, there are a lot of components to prepare for this cake. Don’t try to do it all in one day. Make the components on day one and assemble on day 2. I have included detailed instructions on how to make all the parts, in the recipe below.

Click here to print recipe for Brown-Butter-Salted-Caramel-Crunch-Cake

Light the candles and make a wish!make-a-wish

 

 

 

Brown Butter Banana Cake with Coconut Meringue

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serving cake 2Ok, let’s all breathe a big sigh of relief. We made it through January. We’ve heaped the recommended daily servings of veggies onto our plates all month long. I’ve posted about carrots, green beans, cauliflower and chick peas. It’s officially February. Can we please talk about (and eat) cake?

Specifically, this cake. Brown Butter Banana Cake with Coconut Meringue. This is indeed a magical cake. A layer of airy coconut meringue is spread over a base of banana cake batter. The whole thing goes into the oven and comes out perfectly baked, 30 minutes later. As I placed it into the oven, I  had my doubts that the cake layer would be completely baked by the time the meringue was golden brown.

But, given the source of this recipe, I should have known not to worry. This cake was crafted by the genius mind of pastry chef Joanne Yolles. I have been a fan since I first tasted her coconut cream pie at Scaramouche restaurant many years ago. It’s kind of brilliant to layer meringue over cake batter. Culinary alchemy at it’s finest.

We need to brown the butter because “brown food tastes better“. This recipe is a perfect way to use up those brown bananas buried deep in your freezer.what you'll needbeating brown butterI used a 10 x 10 inch cake pan. A 9 x 13 pan would also work well. Don’t use anything smaller. You want a shallow layer of cake, so that the cake batter and meringue are done at the same time.tipping batter into pansmoothing out banana battertopping with coconut meringueThe brown butter banana cake is feather light and very fragrant. The coconut meringue is soft and all marshmallowy underneath that crispy browned top.cake for 1Top with a light dusting of icing sugar.a dusting of icing sugarAnd, a scoop of vanilla ice cream too, because you deserve it.with ice cream 625 sq

Click here to print recipe for Brown Butter Banana Cake with Coconut Meringue.

cake for 3

Baked Apple Spice Donuts with Maple Brown Butter Glaze

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yeast donuts with milk 1F 625 sqSometimes, when I’m in the shower, belting out “My Man” from Funny Girl, there’s a little voice inside my head that tells me I could be Barbra’s vocal doppelgänger. But then the steam in the bathroom clears and I realize that, no, I can’t sing like Barbra Streisand. But that’s ok, because you know what I can do? I can bake donuts.

Yes, I said bake donuts, not fry. Who even knew such a thing was possible? Well, as it turns out, lots of people, particularly two of my favourite bloggers, Joy over at joythe baker, created Apple Cinnamon Baked Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze and Naomi over at bakersroyale crafted Baked Apple Donuts with Caramel Drizzle. 

Before I knew it, that bossy little voice in my head, ordered me to go online and get these baked donut pans from Amazon. Never mind that I had recently declared a moratorium on online shopping after my girlfriend Paula whispered to me that she was going cold turkey, especially with shoes. She sensibly pointed out “We only have two feet you know. How many pairs could we possibly wear?” The little voice in my head agreed with her and said, “Yeah, no more online shopping for me anymore either.” However, in my defense, I will say that these pans are way cheaper than my current shoe crush.

The big question was, should I make the yeast style donuts that Naomi crafted or the cake style ones that Joy featured? The Cake vs. Yeast Donut debate can get almost as heated as the New York vs. Montreal Style Bagel debate. Apparently, people are very passionate about their foods with holes in the middle.

Yeast style donuts rely on yeast to do the leavening work. They have a more open crumb structure and a chewier texture. Cake donuts, on the other hand, rely on baking powder and/or baking soda to do the heavy lifting. They result in a donut with a tighter crumb structure, and are denser and more crumbly than yeast donuts. Unable to decide which ones to try, I ended up making both. That way you don’t have to. You’re welcome!

Truthfully, I have no business making any variety of donut this week as there are more pressing matters at hand. Instead of baking donuts, I should be reading Chapter 12 in my Canadian Securities textbook, clearing all the food photography props off my dining room table so I can set it for the Rosh Hashanah lunch I am hosting later this week for 21 people, and watching the season premiere of Big Bang Theory. sifting dry ingredients for cake donutsgrating apples-2diced applesThe cake donut batter is quite loose and can be piped. The yeast donut batter needs to be formed by hand. They are really fun to make.piping cake donuts into panforming yeast donutsBoth varieties were delicious. My friends at yoga inhaled (deeply!) the cake variety and the staff at my hair salon quickly gobbled up the yeast ones. My personal preference was for the yeast donuts. I really liked the chewy heft of the dough. The yeast ones do take longer to make, but it is not hands on time, just dough resting time.

I adapted Naomi’s recipe by adding cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg to the dough and instead of topping them with a caramel drizzle, I crowned them with a Maple Brown Butter Glaze. You can either chop or grate the apples. If you chop them, you end up with little bits of apple poking out from the dough and they look quite rustic. I love it when my baking looks like it didn’t come out of a factory, but rather was made with love in my kitchen. If you prefer a tidier donut, grate the apples so they remain inside the dough.

The topping for the donuts can be made quite thick, so it needs to be spooned on or spread, or thin so you can dip them like a glaze. The main difference is the amount of liquid, in this case, maple syrup, that you add. The other liquid ingredient in the glaze is brown butter. This is a small extra step that makes a huge difference in flavour. If you have never made brown butter, give it a try. It is as simple as melting butter over medium heat until it browns. The nutty aroma and taste will astound you and you will soon be browning butter for everything. One of my favourite restaurants here in Ottawa makes brown butter and then lets it solidify, whips it and serves it with their house made bread. Genius!icing cake donuts 626 sq I don’t want to say goodbye to the summer, but Baked Apple Spice Donuts make saying hello to fall very sweet indeed.

Click here to print recipe for Baked Apple Spice Donuts with Maple Brown Butter Glaze.

Traditions and a Brown Butter Apple Tart

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two tarts 2 625 sqTraditions. All families have them. Those little rituals passed down from generation to generation that help shape your family by creating a sense of interconnectedness, you know, that warm fuzzy feeling that makes you appreciate being a part of this clan. Traditions can help create memories that fill your mind with laughter, love and joy. Hopefully your family has multiple positive traditions and not too many of the negative ones, that sadly get passed from generation to generation, like the ancient family recipe for guilt and passive-aggressive bullying!

Almost every summer my siblings, their spouses and kids and my mom descend upon us at the cottage for the Labour Day weekend. About eight years ago my youngest sister and brother and I were swimming in the lake and the next thing we knew, we had swum from our cottage to a little island in the middle of our lake, and back again, about a 2 kilometer swim. No one can really remember how the decision to swim this little marathon came about, but we have repeated the swim every summer since then. Lest you think we are elite athletes or something like that, let me assure you we swim the entire way with head-up breaststroke. None of us likes putting our heads in the water. So we talk and laugh, and cough the entire way there and back. My husband insists I wear a waist belt that has a little swimmers safety flag attached to it so that boats can see me and not run me over. He loves me dearly, I guess!the swimmersOver the years, various other family members have joined us and in 2009, my then 9 year old niece did the swim for her very first time! She is part mermaid. Last year my brother’s new wife joined us for the first time and we almost had to boot her out of the club when she started doing a proper crawl stroke and actually got her head wet. This summer she is 7 months pregnant, so we excused her. My brother made up some baseball hamstring injury excuse so he did not join us either. My 14 year old nephew completed the swim for the first time this summer and we were all very thrilled about that.

I have one brother-in-law that is known for his competitive nature. The first year he joined us for the swim, he was upset that my sister and I were swimming faster than he was. He claimed that it was his swim trunks that were slowing him down. Apparently they were not very aerodynamic as they kept filling up with water. Being the keen competitor he is, he removed the swim trunks, and swam commando. We made him promise to never do that again! Every third year, my cousin Lewis joins us, and he has come to treasure this new tradition, as well as the Double Coconut Granola and yogurt breakfast that awaits him when he is done. In addition to my little safety flag, we always have a canoe alongside us just in case someone gets too tired. This year my brother-in-law Guy got coerced into the role of spotter.

Regular readers of this blog may already know that my drink of choice in the summer is a cold glass of Prosecco. While I have no problem drinking alone, (I find my own company very amusing!), cracking open a bottle and sharing it with my sisters is even more enjoyable and has become a tradition that we have all come to love. However, this past weekend we only drank one bottle of Prosecco. We discovered a new wine that we all fell in love with. My siblings and mom brought me a case of assorted wines as a little thank you gift.bottle and glassWe all became smitten with a California wine by Ironstone called “Obsession.”. Made from the Symphony grape (a hybrid of the muscat and grenache gris grape), this wine was luscious. My brother-in-law chilled it in the freezer an hour before we served it. It has floral and citrus notes, with peach and pear overtones. It is clean and balanced with a crisp and slightly acidic finish, which saves the wine from being too cloyingly sweet. It is the perfect aperitif wine. A new tradition has been born!

I decided to test a new Rosh Hashanah recipe over the weekend since I had my niece Kailey here with me. Although she is only 12, she is an extremely gifted baker. She did all the baking and I shot the pictures. We made a brown butter apple tart, a take on the traditional Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake. Browned butter is one of those magical culinary techniques that makes everything taste  and smell better.

kneadingrolling dough

lining tart panlining pie shellThe custard filling is enhanced with vanilla bean and brown butter. It doesn’t get much better than that.  Topped with thinly sliced apple rings, this tart is sure to become a new Rosh Hashanah or fall tradition at your house.apples 2

placing applesbrown butter fillingNot only did my niece bake the tarts, she also helped wash the dishes!washing dishesicing sugar

Click here to print recipe for Brown Butter Apple Tart.

a slice