Oven Roasted Plum Cakes

The instructions stress that under no circumstances are you to press the plum down into the batter. I resisted every urge... maybe I pushed just a little. The cake just kept on rising and almost swallowed the plums.

But no matter what the little cake looked like, it was absolutely delicious tasting. I am surprised I was willing to share these cakes with others. I think it was only because I have some additional plums in my kitchen and ready to whip up another batch.

I am not a huge fan of plums and almost passed on making these cakes. I am so glad that I didn't. Something magical happens when you sprinkle plums with brown sugar and baked them. The fluffy orange zest seasoned cake isn't hurting the situation.

I shard the Plum Cake with people who love plums, and people who have plums on their list of dislikes. All agree unanimously these Plum Cakes are a tasty treat that can't be beat!

I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

I noticed these pictures have no frame of reference for size. The recipe indicates it yields 12 cakes. However, I purchased giant plums and had to use the oversized muffin tin to fit them in. So imagine these big! I asked Andrew if I should cut the plums into quarters next time - but we both agree that more cake and less plum doesn't give us the opportunity to justify these as a full serving of fruit.

Summer Vegetable Tart

Phyllo pastry layered with butter and fresh ground pepper. Filled with sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, mixed with Goat cheese.

I don't have much to say other then it takes a minute to make, and is very delicious.

Served it up for dinner and loved it!

Leaf Shaped Fougasse

Damn you salty herby bread stick. The dough was just too much for my poor little hand mixer. One of the dough hooks twisted right in half. I tried to continue mixing/kneading the dough by hand, but it was just too tough and I didn't make it very long.

The final result was fine. I can't say much other than it tasted like a breadstick. I love dipping bread in oil and balsamic vinegar, so in the end it was a nice treat.

Since this dough was the base of focaccia, and I had images of an airy bread product. I decided not to shape the second ball of dough, I didn't want to create more surface space. Instead I left the mound to rise as a complete oval.

The final result didn't have that baking soda fizz texture I was dreaming of. I need to figure out what kind of bread I am thinking of. This bread was soft and dense. It could have been from a lack of mixing, or not leaving it to rise long enough. It was really tasty and both Andrew and I preferred the oval to the leaf shaped. I definitely will try it again next time I need to serve a bread before dinner. It will be nice to see if it turns out differently, and I will be happy to serve breadsticks and wedges.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Wow these cookies are insanely good. I was going to cut the recipe in half, but at the last minute decided to make the entire recipe. I am so glad I did because we enjoyed every last crumb, but I am also very happy I didn't sit and eat them all, which I could very well have done.

The batter was fantastic. I started out with a bowl that was too small and the creamy vanilla coffee flavoured batter was really yummy. I was almost sad to mix it with the chocolate. But then I did, and wow a whole new tasty treat.

Andrew's description of the cookies is right on. He calls them the chocolate chip cookies that got taken over by the chocolate chips. The whole thing is a melty chocolate chip with chocolate chucks throughout. I would love to make more of these cookies, but I am afraid that I will have to spend every other waking hour at the gym.

I never counted how many cookies were finally produced, I stopped at 40. These were not bite sized, but regular full out. I took most of them on a camping trip. I brought them out on the first night when people started making smores. Everyone was very fond of them and requested them in the evenings and throughout the days. I also found they made great cookie sandwiches with roasted marshmallow filling. That is how we finished off the last couple. Andrew introduced me to roasted marshmallows via a stovetop element.

Busy Little Baker

I am not sure what I have been doing, but I have been super busy. Maybe just life... or maybe my husband, the new graduate, is actually at home during daylight hours, and awake!

I have been keeping up with the Baking Beauties, I have just been a bad blogger. I will post all the entries next, because there have been some wonderful creations. But first here are some random things I have been whipping up.

I made a no bake, raw food diet friendly - Key Lime tart. I thought I had a picture but now can't find one. They had a chocolate, coconut, pecan, and raisin crust. The filling was an insanely sweet lime and avocado puree. It was pretty intense. But really tasty. I have also been trying my hand at some Indian dishes which have been great successes.

I am super proud of my beef and onion pies. I can't believe how well the little pies turned out. I used the crust recipe from the Blueberry-Nectarine Pie. The filling was courtesy of a Jamie Oliver recipe. These were a thumbs up from my picky Andrew.

I am starting to feel like a baker. Which is crazy to say, and I am really proud. People even started calling me a baker and expecting treats. I will let you know these are people who has been fed Double Chocolate Cookies (I think that is really all I need to say). My cupboards were getting full of odds and ends. I always chuckle and think of Tina's Chocolate Salami, so I whipped up a Chocolate Pizza. Shortbread crust, with a chocolate whipping cream and butter sauce. The topping was an assortment of random nuts and shaved coconut. It was mmmmm tasty!

Blueberry-Nectarine Pie

All I can say is wow! This is a fantastic pie! All plates were licked clean. I still can't believe I shared.

I love blueberry pie. I tried once to make it from canned filling and frozen pie crust, and it tasted exactly like cans and freezer. So for this time around everything was going to be different. I took the opportunity to buy all fresh ingredients. It was so hard not to eat those sweet smelling nectarines.

I was a little concerned about making the crust. I have a problem where the first time I make a recipe it turns out great, and then the second time around, even when I measure and pay close attention, it bombs terribly. But thankfully the crust worked out really well. I didn't realize the egg wash would brown as it did - this was my first solid crust top and it looked like a messy paint job - I definitely will pay closer attention next time.

The pie filling is the perfect balance of sweetness, not too much added sugar and a nice cut of lemon.

I was really happy I presented the pie before cutting it. Once the knife broke through the crust the filling came rushing out. Everyone was served wonderful intact wedges of crust with slopped filling all over the plate. It looked like a complete mess, but tasted like a little piece of heaven.

Rustic Potato Loaves

I really enjoyed making this bread. I had never had Potato bread and was really interested to see if you could taste the potatoes. I couldn't.

Generally everything went well. The recipe instructed to spray the oven walls with water and trap in the steam. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I added some water to a jelly roll sheet and let it boil off once before I put the bread in and a second time when the bread was baking. I am excited at my knowledge to call the baking sheet I used a jelly roll sheet, that my second issue is a bit annoying.

Part of the shaping instructions was to pull the free end toward you and to dust with flour. I completely understood this would give the loaf a great looking seam. However, when I unwrapped the risen bread from the towel the finished end of both loaves stuck to the towel and ripped off. The bread looked all torn up, and for some reason I thought in the baking process it would smooth itself out. It didn't, and instead it looked like the top of my loaves had been attacked by rodents. You can even kinda see the waffle pattern from the towel.

Regardless, the final result was fantastic. I would definitely make this loaf again. It was so easy and I just love the light taste.

I actually made this loaf on July 19th for our family picnic. Andrew really wanted us to serve "Avery's Best Ever Birthday Sandwiches." Tina kindly gave us the recipe for her tarted up BLT (I should probably call them BMS - Bacon, Mache, & Sun Dried Tomatoes). I loved the Mache, it doesn't just taste great, but looks super cute. The sandwiches were great. The only legit complaint was that they were dry. I think it may have been the Potato Loaf, but I think everyone was just not use to homemade whole wheat bread. My Father-In-law had just purchased his first Potato Loaf and had really enjoyed it. He said mine tasted completely comparable.

Now Andrew's complaint was it just wasn't as delicious as Tina made it. But come on... I am no Tina! And I just couldn't bring myself to slather on the mayo, it is already just a bacon sandwich.

Ka'kat

We were having a family picnic and I thought it would be nice to bring along fresh out of the oven Ka'kat. I really wasn't sure what to expect other than a soft pretzel that looked like a bagel. I tried googling Ka'kat to get some ideas... was I to serve it with mustard or cream cheese? but I really couldn't find anything other than it is a common street food.

I had tried to find mahleb but had no luck, and since it was an optional ingredient I figured it would be okay. Putting together the recipe was really easy and the wait time for rises was manageable enough for me to accomplish the recipe start to finish in the morning getting ready for the picnic. I started as soon as I woke up.

I love to dip all and any food items so I brought along an arugula dip. The fresh Ka'kat was a hit. But I think it was the dip rather than the bread people liked. The bread was pleasant enough, but just like a soft bread stick. It made a wonderful bread for dipping. The plain Ka'kat was so unmemorable that I just had another when I started writing this, but it was just bread - and it is starting to get a little tough.

Persian Naan

I have been cooking my way through Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. It is simple, delicious meals that can be made relatively quickly. This week we really enjoyed the Salmon Tikka with Cucumber Yogurt. I hadn't bought enough naan breads for the amount of salmon I purchased, so I decided to give the Persian Naan recipe in Baking with Julia a try.

The recipe and instructions were fairly easy and I baked it in time to finish at noon. That way I could enjoy it fresh out of the oven for lunch and send Andrew to work with it on the night shift.

When I first pulled the naan out of the oven it was wonderfully toasted, and still had a soft texture. It wasn't "candy" like the President's Choice version, but it was good. Andrew had a small taste and agreed.

However, that evening when Andrew got to work the naan had turned into a plank of wood. He tried softening it in the microwave and that made it worse in any of the thin areas and soft only in the ticker areas. The naan was totally useless. He tried eating it only to have a huge mess from the juices from the salmon and cucumber. He could barely enjoy the taste as his jaw hurt so much from chewing. But he had enough left in him to curse Julia's name.

I had tried making naan in the past that was a horrible disaster. It had made a huge hollow football. This recipe did have initial great results, but I can only recommend this recipe it you are going to eat it immediately.

Skate, Traditional Flavours Powdered - with changes

I have been merrily working away at the Baking Beauties challenges, having great success and really enjoying learning how to bake.

I noticed Tina joined the Daring Cooks and I just had to get in on it. July was my first challenge and I threw caution to the wind. Apparently I threw the recipe into the wind too, because I went crazy with the substituting. When I started the Baking Beauties I made a pact with myself to keep substitutions to the bare minimum. I knew it was what got me into trouble in the past and if I wanted to improve I had to start following the rules. And so far it has worked out really well. I am not sure what happened with the Daring Cook's challenge, but it started as soon as I saw the title. I wasn't going on a hunt to find Skate, and looking at pictures of the animal on the internet, I was okay with finding something else. I figured the challenge was to create a molecular cuisine dish and as long as I stayed true to the challenge that was all that mattered.

So Skate became Tilapia, green beans became peas (cut in half so that you wouldn't get the familiar pop and technically the eating experience would be different), and no bananas, banana chips, parsley, cilantro or powdered creamed. I kept the red onions, lemons and capers.

Dehydrating sucked. It took a lot of time and a lot of burned lemon rinds to figure out what power level the microwave should be set at. The onions just wouldn't dry out and it was very frustrating. In the end I did get all three ingredients dried and ground into a fine powder.

I thought the challenge was interesting and I did like the idea. Without the bananas I missed the tropical feel. Andrew thought the dish tasted "fine". Buttery fish and peas are good anytime with me. The thing that bothered me is that the dehydrating took away all the freshness. I get that is the point, but even with the concentrated flavours I felt like I was eating remnants from a dusty old spice rack not bright fresh food.

The final plated dish sure did look pretty.

French Strawberry Cake

I love strawberries, and all week I was very excited to make this cake. I went to the market to buy some fresh local strawberries, as I had already devoured the ones I picked myself.

The Génoise cake was a little more difficult than I had anticipated. I whipped the eggs just right and was folding in the flour and butter no problem. I ran the spatula through one more time, and that is when I noticed there were larger clumps of flour that had not been mixed through. I was so disappointed at my folding skills. I mixed the batter a little more and that is when my airy

whipped cream texture turned into sticky pancake batter.

The final result was very dense and only 3/4 of an inch thick. This sponge cake was missing the sponge. It was way too thin to try to cut in half for laying. The great thing is that with a cake so dense the mushed strawberries didn't soak into the cake making it soggy and all three layers - Cream Cheese/Whipped Cream, Sugared Strawberries, and Génoise - stayed distinct.

The cake was a huge hit and the flavours are amazing.

Hazelnut Baby Loaves

I don't have too much to say about the Hazelnut Baby Loaves. Overall they are tasty. I like the light flavour and the crumminess. I like them even more with the mascarpone cream whipped topping.

Few things to note... my insisting use of whole wheat flour. Peeling hazelnuts is annoying. I had no interest in purchasing mini loaf pans; I thought it was funny the book even points out you may not own these and gives you some purchasing locations, so I used my oversized muffin pan. I had no interest in purchasing Grappa (for the whipped topping) so I used my very favourite Frangelica instead - sooooo yummy!

Fruit Focaccia

Mmmmm.... Tastes like Christmas!

The Fruit Focaccia got great reviews all around. Everyone I fed a piece to loved it, and offered up comparisons it to other Christmas treats (such as homemade fruit cake and Kringle). The final result was a fantastic bready focaccia, jam packed with raison and cranberry goodness.

I am really excited about the final result, as getting there was a bit strange. I started the recipe on Thursday evening with the overnight macerating of the fruit. Friday I was too busy to continue with the recipe. Saturday I opened the container of fruit and was completely turned off by the sight and smell. I figured I would continue on.

I don't have a stand mixer and I am extra gentle with my hand mixer after a stint of making marshmallows and listening to the poor thing chug. The next steps talked about consulting the manual of your mixer to see if it could handle the heat of mixing the dough. So I decided the best tool available was my hands and decided to mix the dough old school. Mixing the dough seemed to go well, it was messy, but I have no idea if it "pooled" in the bottom of the bowl or would have made "slapping" sounds.

There was a huge issue of smell. The mix of the macerated fruit and yeast was disgusting... Andrew had to leave the room.

Due to bad timing, not reading through the entire recipe, and busyness, chilling the dough for 24 hours spilled over into Monday morning. So in the wee hours of the morning (before work) I I completed the remaining steps. A total of four days it took me to get through the entire recipe, and the entire time I was worried the completed product would smell like ass.

I gave Andrew the first piece (I wasn't going to be the guinea pig) I couldn't believe by the time I turned around it had been devoured. The final product didn't taste like any of the smells along the way. I was thrilled. I was especially thrilled that it wasn't just good, but really delicious.

Cantuccini

Cantuccini is just a fancy word for biscotti I think. Those who like biscotti thought the cookies were tasty. Those who don't (Andrew and I) didn't.

I made two different kinds. One is the recipe exactly from the book which was almond, except whole wheat flour instead of white. The second variety was chocolate and toffee.

We didn't mind the almond ones. Andrew said the chocolate ones tasted like burnt chocolate chip cookies.

I was sulking I didn't have anything interesting to write about the cookies, so I decided to try dipping them in my tea. Wow, what a difference. The tea immediately got soaked in and the taste and texture of the cookies instantly changed. I will definitely be polishing off the rest with cups of tea.

The sludge left in the tea is pretty gross though.

Chorizo & Spinach Quiche

I had made the French Apple Tart last week and had a left over pie crust. We love quiche so much I thought it would be fun to recreate one of my favourite restaurant treats. I can't resist Chorizo sausage quiche at Auberge du Petit Prince (I even asked them to serve it at my wedding). Since there would be only two of us eating an entire quiche, I added the spinach for the illusion of healthy.

Wow was it good.

The reason for the post is to comment on the crust. As part of the French Apple Tart the crust was fine. Nothing special. However it is the perfect crust for a savory quiche. The crust held up well through reheating, and both Andrew and I commented on just how much better it tasted all around. The quiche was loaded with cheese and salty goodness, so I think a more buttery crust would have just been too much.

French Apple Tart

I love having someone else decide what I will bake each week. Normally if I had crust and apples I would have pie. So I was really excited to make my first tart.


I love food, not just for eating, but the wonderful memories that are associated with food.

Just the thought of a tart brought me back... When I was in Paris I was excited to see beautiful tarts in bakery display cases. Other than just cheap little processed prepackaged cherry tarts, before Paris I really hadn't been exposed to tarts. In Paris tarts were everywhere, even the "fast" food outlets (my favourite Pomme de Pain... Funny, I just checked the website to ensure I spelled the name correct and this week's feature is Peach Tarts!) would have irresistible varieties available. For my own enjoyment I added a picture from breakfast in the park Buttes - Chaumont, enjoying a fresh baked grapefruit and pistachio tart from a local bakery.

So on to my own French Apple Tart...

I didn't have a tart pan, so instead I made it in a pie plate. Other than that, I followed the instructions word for word.

I was very happy with the crust recipe, and it was just the right amount of flaky.

I just wish I had read through it before so that I could have made and chilled it ahead of time. I am not patient enough for waiting times when I am ready to dig in and bake!

The filling is simple mashed roasted apple with just the right amount of sweet and subtle lemon.

The finished tart was a hit. And it was a nice treat as we ate the first pieces for breakfast.

Gingersnaps

These are a nice little treat. I can't wait to have one for breakfast tomorrow with a cup of tea. I really like soft gingerbread and that is exactly what I got. I added a little lemon frosting for some extra zing. Delicious.

However, these cookies were not the easy, quick treat I thought they would be. I started making them and realized that they needed to set in the fridge. Too bad I was on my way out of the house. So I packed everything up and took them with me. Baking in someone else’s kitchen is a fun adventure. You don't just know the oven and if there are hot spots like at home. Baking sheets were thicker than I am use to, and no parchment paper... eek! The cookies were always stuck to the counter, and then stuck to the baking sheet (I am lucky not to have blobs). They are called Gingersnaps so I assume they are supposed to be crispy. Mine are not. But I love them anyway.

Pizza Rustica

I am not sure why this recipe isn't just called quiche. There is nothing that resembles anything pizza like, and everything that resembles quiche.

I was excited to make a pie crust that I didn't have to be too delicate with, and the filling was definitely favourites of this household... various cheeses and prosciutto. Yum!

Overall it was really good. The flavours were really clear. The salty filling was great with the sweet/cookie crust.

I had a ton of excess dough and didn't want to waste the goodness, so I made strawberry/lemon pockets, a raspberry jelly roll, and a Nutella roll. They were all very good.

May 24, 2009 - 1st Wedding Anniversary Picnic

For the first time I didn't make this week's recipe, which was Lemon Loaf. I had the opportunity to taste Tina's, and my tiny bite was delicious. The cake was loaded with lemon flavour, it almost tasted like artificial flavour since it was so strong and lemony. Really good.

I couldn't handle having more treats in the house since we were thawing a huge top tier from our wedding, cake. I was really surprised how well the cake froze and thawed out. The cake was only a tiny bit dry, but the flavour was all there.

Boca Negra

I don't even know what to say. I am really surprised it tastes as good as it does, as it looks a little crazy. What a nightmare this cake was to make. Everything seemed so easy. The recipe was simple enough and easy to follow. I used the food processor and it took 2 minutes to assemble. I originally baked the cake as directed in a water bath, and was really excited after the 30 mins because it looked just like the instructions said it would, there was a nice crust on top and a fudge centre. Only after inverting on a plate, the entire bottom came rushing out and all over. I didn't want to waste all that chocolate so I did my best to put it back together. I submerged the crust in the raw batter and put it back in the oven, this time without the water bath. The cake started to rise and and crack. When I pulled the cake out of the oven the entire cake caved in on itself and away from the crusty edge.

The cake tasted good on its own. A fudgy decadent chocolate cake. I also enjoyed it with the white chocolate cream. Andrew enjoyed the cake, but thought the cream was horrible. I took some pieces (heaps of chocolate mess) over to a friends. When I woke up this morning at my friend's place I was happy to see most had been polished off. It doesn't look pretty, but it sure is tasty.
 

Best Ever Brownies

It really is all in the name.

I am not a huge brownie fan. I like cake and I like fudge, but I don't normally like the hard little squares called brownies. Andrew loves brownies and I have attempted to make them for him in the past. I have used box mixes and recipes from scratch, and they have never been something I particularly enjoyed. My past experiences were so bad, I thought it was a joke that the baking dish didn't have to be greased, it was hard to trust the instructions.

But I am a convert. We are even fighting over the last piece. Wow these delicious gooey fudge treats are sooooo good.

I cooked the brownies for the full time and they were still pretty gooey in the centre. I was concerned that they were undercooked, but I didn't want to over cook them. I am very happy to see that Michele's look exactly the same.

Croissants

Behold my delicious flaky croissants!
I love croissants and it was very exciting to make them. I had no idea all the steps involved. It is not very hard or time consuming, just a lot of waiting... and waiting... and waiting.

I keep wondering with this many steps involved who figures this all out in the first place. It took me four days of following instructions; how did someone make the instructions in the first place? And I have modern conveniences, I assume the first croissants were made in a rustic place and in a very different time.

I am very happy I read through all the instructions first and watched the PBS segment. They would say assuring things during the segment such as not panicking if you see the butter coming through the dough. That was the best piece of advice since my dough looked like rolled out butter mixed with a little flour here and there.

I thought since there was so much effort involved and my love for croissants, I would use a combination of whole wheat flour and bleached... so that I wouldn't feel as guilty as I ate them all. No sharing this time!

I made the almond filling and filled all the croissants I made. I froze half the dough just in case the first batch didn't taste great and I could try again. I think the final result is absolutely wonderful, and turned out perfect (if I do say so myself). 

Andrew says delicious on the outside, but that the sweetness on the inside ruins it. Just means more for me!

Crispy Cocoa Cookies

I don't have too much to say about these little crispy thin cookies. They are like potato chips; you go to eat one and the next thing you know you have eaten a dozen. A coworker suggested adding a little amaretto next time. I gave it a try and he was right, mmmmm there goes another dozen.

Vanilla Chiffon Roll

I don't even know where to start. The Vanilla Chiffon Roll was a crazy baking adventure. I went from excited and full of anticipation, to confused and very concerned, there was fear and panic, but ultimately relief and a bit of pride.

I didn't really think to sit down and read through the instructions first. All those tests they gave me when I was young to teach me how important it is to read through all the instructions before I start, and here I was just diving in.

I volunteered to bring dessert to a dinner party and I thought the roll would be a good treat. I think the pressure of wanting to take something really great to serve and the dread of having to pick something up on the way added to my insanity.

Making the cake wasn't too bad, everything went pretty smoothly. Later when it was sitting on the counter I noticed that it was still stuck to the parchment paper, so I had to put it back in the oven for a little while. During the inverting the cake got stuck to some parchment and lost a golden layer on one side. That is when I discovered that when I was trying to delicately fold the whisked whites into the rest of the batter I didn't throughly mix and my cake had ribbons of meringue throughout.

Next I started in on the mousse. After starting I realized that I had run out of mixing bowls, whisks and beaters. So I had to stop and wash some dishes. That is when everything just started happening so fast. I was washing and drying, processing, boiling, whisking like a maniac and trying for the life of me to decipher what ribbons of whipped yolks would look like. I couldn't even believe after all that, I would now have to successfully execute whipped cream for the first time. 

I was just exhausted and so happy to be assembling when the tail end of the roll just kind of flopped and all the mousse shot out the sides. I panicked, and just started wrapping parchment and saran all over the mess and shoved it in the fridge. I reread the instructions and realized I had rolled from the short edge instead of the long.

Later in the evening (maybe I should mention I started the roll at 8pm, so now it was probably midnight) after I had assembled some fruit skewers to take to the dinner. I was feeling much calmer and thought I would give the candy walnut garnish a go. I put the sugar in a saucepan and stirred, and stirred, and stirred. Nothing was happening. I started to doubt that anything would happen and thought maybe I could help the process along. I added a little corn syrup to the hot sugar and immediately the mixture started to boil. I didn't want to burn the mixture so I took it off the heat and dumped in all the walnuts. Wow do I have bad ideas. I had no idea that the sugar would turn solid immediately and I wouldn't be getting the walnuts apart.

The next day I thought it best to consult my talented baker coworker and ended up literally begged for advice. I really had no idea what was inside my "dirty diaper" and was scared that it would be an oozy mess. I was really happy that the roll firmed up and that the mousse hadn't soaked into the cake.

Since the roll was so wide, I cut the slices pretty thin. I was so excited that the cut edges stayed pretty clean and actually looked like a roll. Andrew was the first taste taster and I couldn't believe how quickly he gobbled it up. I so excited about how great it tasted and that Andrew (a pretty tough critic) agreed. He keeps telling me it is the best thing I have ever made.

Everyone at the dinner party thought the roll was really good. The mousse was defiantly the favourite part and there was lots of compliments on the overall moistness. My friend Kathy is another tough critic and she loved the roll. She had issues with the Mint Nightcap Cookies saying they were too rich, but thought the Vanilla Chiffon Roll suited her taste in dessert perfectly.

Overall this was a great challenge. I loved loved loved the results (the next day with mint, the day after for breakfast with strawberries), but wow was it a lot of work. 

I am still in awe that I made such a great dessert, and that something that starts out like this...

...ends up like this.

Johnnycake Cobbler

I wanted to make something easy and generally pleasing to all for Easter dessert. I looked through Baking with Julia and decided a fruit cobbler would be just the right thing. I really liked the idea of having the cobbler cook while we ate and able to serve dessert right out of the oven.

The filling was peach slices and a frozen field berry mix. In the topping I used whole wheat flour.

The timing worked out and it was great to serve a piping hot dessert. Everyone really liked it. We found that since the topping was like a biscuit it was better when you mixed it in the berry sauce to soak up some of the juices, it wasn't the greatest on its own.

Buttermilk Scones

Mmmmm.... I love scones. I decided to make and serve the scones on Easter Sunday for brunch. A nice treat to hold us over while the house filled with the delicious scent of ham.

I was happy how the scones turned out. However, I am too accustomed to eating Starbuck's scones so I was sensitive to how homemade these tasted.

I really wanted to make pumpkin scones. I asked my coworker Krista to place an order for a second flavour and she picked lemon.

I did some research on the internet to make my flavours happen, and it was pretty easy.

I followed all the instruction in the recipe, using whole wheat all purpose flour. After adding half the buttermilk, I split the batter into two. One bowl I added half the remaining buttermilk and the zest of one lemon. In the other bowl I added pumpkin puree instead of the rest of the buttermilk and pinches of various spices.

Andrew and his dad were not sure what scones were, but they both enjoyed them. They both picked the pumpkin as their favourite. The lemon was really good spread with blueberry jam.

I have a lot of buttermilk and pumpkin puree left, so I will probably whip up another batch this week. Yummy.

Meringue Cookies (Egg Whites & Yolks)

This week was Meringue Cookies. I was a little sad because I don't really like them, but excited to learn to make meringue. Maybe one day I will be able to make my own Macaroons.

Meringue is so scary with all the rules - use the correct bowl that is super clean and dry; separate eggs when cold but whip egg whites when room temperature; whip just enough but not too much; and the worst - only make on a dry day and didn't it ran every day this week.

There was a 12 hour window in the forecast where it wouldn't actually be raining, so I took my opportunity. Maybe beginners luck, but it was a piece of cake to make the meringue. I followed all the timing outlined in the book and my stiff shiny peaks looked fantastic. I tried to take a picture like the example shown in the book, but it doesn't look as impressive when you don't have a clean beater. 

The only issues were my own silliness.  I decided my microwave should be the timer, only the outlet and timer button are a little further than arms reach. Lucky the meringue stayed in the bowl and off the floor. I also started out using a smaller bowl, I read the words double in size but I didn't actually think about it. Transferring the sticky foamy substance from one bowl to the other was a bit messy. I really need some piping lessons. I would be going along so proud of myself, and then notice a giant blob about to shoot out the back. Refilling the piping bag was a nightmare on its own.

The end result was success! Shiny, crispy, perfectly white little cookies. I knew I wouldn't eat many as they were, and I didn't know how many we could feed to our coworkers, so I made them all into sandwich cookies with a little chocolate ganache centre. Really I just want an opportunity to say I made Petits Fours. I am not sure why, but all the pictures were blurry, but you can use your imagination (yes they looked that fantastic). 

Andrew's coworkers sent their cookies back. I knew they would be sticky, as more rain was coming but I figured if they didn't know they were not suppose to be chewy they might be eaten up, and they had chocolate. Apparently the stickiness turned them off. 

But not at my work, amazingly they were devoured. Everyone said they were great and didn't mind the marshmallow quality. I got a nice compliment on the shine too.

Before I tackled this weeks recipe, I mentioned to a coworker I thought it was a waste to throw out all those egg yolks. So she showed up with a bunch of bananas and a cook book, and placed her order for Custard Pie. This I was excited for. 

I love graham crust so I was pretty excited to make my first one. The filling was alternating layers of vanilla custard and sliced bananas. And I used my remaining meringue to finish it off.

Andrew wasn't a fan of the pie. He said it was for people who love bananas. I am one of those people. There were about five of us at work that just dug right in. This pie was a little piece of heaven. 

Blueberry Muffins

I really liked these Blueberry muffins, however they taste nothing like a muffin. Andrew's coworkers were convinced I had made a mistake, but I am pretty sure I didn't. Andrew just said it was like eating butter. The batter was light and fluffy (I loved touching it). They were great little puffs when they first came out of the oven. But within minutes they had settled and a little concave dimple appeared on the top of each (really just a little pocket to hold some jam). These muffins are not pretty and the two I took to work were a crumbly mess. I am glad I went with paper cups. But I just loved them, and they got a good review from the people I split them with. I love butter biscuits and I think it was the fresh melted blueberries in a biscuit was the appeal to me.

By the way, I am so excited I have learned how to keep the mess in the kitchen down to a minimum. When beating butter, it stays in the bowl and off the walls. Only we found a weird spot on the living room carpet, it took some time, but it was identified as chocolate ganache, so apparently off the floor is the next hurdle.