lemon poppyseed bread

OK, in all honesty, there are still Christmas treats at the homestead. Roasted nuts, tarts, lamingtons, shortbread cookies, assorted squares, etc. However, I woke up and realized I was looking at a pile of lemons that are soon going to be seeing the crappier side of life. I needed to put them in action.

I thought about making lemon squares, but that seemed too close to the Christmas treats we are already swimming in. So I ended up heading in the lemon quick bread/muffin recipe direction. Browsing around, I settled on yet another recipe from Joy of Baking. Seriously, go bookmark this site if you haven't already. You'll love it.

I wasn't going to add a lemon-sugar glaze to this loaf, so I opted to chop (not grate) the zest of one entire large lemon. This as you can see, adds quite obvious pockets of lemon goodness to the slices. The result was a success. Without the glaze it's not nearly as sweet, and almost feels healthy compared to those Christmas treats we've all been eating. Give it a go if you like this sort of thing.

Lemon Poppyseed Bread
*adapted from Joy of Baking

3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of one lemon, chopped
3 tablespoons (30 grams) poppy seeds
13 tablespoons (184 grams) unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Spray with a non stick vegetable oil, the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (8 x 4 x 2 1/2 inch). Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray again.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and poppy seeds until combined. Add the softened butter and half the egg mixture and mix on low speed until moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for about one minute. This aerates and develops the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating about 30 seconds after each addition. This will strengthen the structure of the batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You may have to cover the bread with buttered foil after about 30 minutes if you find the bread over browning.

Cool the loaf in the pan for about 10 minutes then invert onto a greased wire rack. Dig in!

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chocolate peanut butter pie

Another staff potluck party at Sarah's work, meant another dish to make this week. Seriously, they always seem to be having a potluck! What gives? But hey, let's get back on track, because it doesn't matter how many potlucks they have, I love 'em. Even if I'm not getting to eat, it means I get to unleash a cooking adventure on the world. I told you eating was the hard part!

Twice we've made Alton Browns Mac N' Cheese (conquering the 'main' side of things) to rave reviews, so I wondered about a dessert or appetizer. Dessert won out, and I set my brain to work. A few ideas were starting to float around, when I remembered a chocolate peanut butter pie concoction over at The Pioneer Woman. With Sarah hip to the plan, we headed over to Superstore to retrieve our goods; butter, Oreos, cream cheese, cool whip, peanut butter, and icing sugar. I bet you're salivating already. In honor of Ree and her shot by shot blog method. I'm going to attempt a reenactment.

First the Oreo's get crushed up, yes, even the white parts. Use a food processor if you can.

Then mix in the melted butter; because chocolate, butter, and Oreo cream is heavenly.

Press the mixture into a pie plate, while trying not to eat any of course.

See, it looks good enough to eat.

Letting the crust bake for 7 minutes in a 350 oven, gives you enough time to put together the filling.

A cup of delicious peanut butter.

And 8 ounces of cream cheese.

Get blended together.

Once combined, start mixing in the icing sugar (1 1/2 cups). Be careful of the icing powder spray.

Then start on the 8 ounces of cool whip.

Continue mixing until everything comes together into creamy goodness.

Now go get your pie crust from the oven and don't burn yourself.

Pour everything into the Oreo crust.

Now smooth your pie-top with a knife (or a rice paddle) and cool.

Oh why not add a few more of those delicious, thigh bulging Oreo's. I mean we've gone this far already.

Seriously. Make this recipe.

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pretzel and nut mix

If, like me, you enjoy food and twitter, you are always looking for interesting people to follow. One such person in my opinion is David Lebovitz. Pastry chef extraordinaire; he spends his time in Paris, tweeting the intricacies of food and culture in France.

I've checked out the recipe a few times for his "best holiday snack" idea and with a fresh supply of nuts from Bulk Barn, it was on. Very easy, and very quick. Turn on your oven. Roast the nuts. Combine with sugars and spices, before stirring in the pretzels and warming through. Highly addictive, visitors to the homestead this week found themselves going back for more and more, making me wonder if this actually is the best holiday snack around. I know I'll be making it next Christmas as well...if not sooner.

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gingerbread house '09

This is a first. What you see is the first gingerbread house I've ever erected that actually looks like a a house. So many horror stories and crack houses in the past, that I cheated this year and picked up a gingerbread house from Michaels.

With everything in the package, all you need to do is whip the icing and decorate how you choose. Of course, even with the candy included you can make a jump to the store and buy a few extras. For me, it was the cedar shake roofs (aka Shreddies).

The experience was pretty fun. I have no problem baking as you probably know, but this is quick and painless, and I can totally see the benefit. It only lasted a few days before being consumed, which brings me to another thought. Ever notice, how the gingerbread house starts to deteriorate just one candy at a time (like no one will notice). Then, when it's obvious that 20% of the candy is missing, it becomes fair game. That my friends, is the gingerbread eating game!

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gingerbread men

With the shortbread cookies done, Sarah and I moved on to gingerbread men. Not a classic in my house, Sarah has strong memories attached to these and it seemed to go without question this was going to be included in the Christmas baking. Wait. Can you believe it's almost Christmas!

While we worked on the shortbread, we chilled the gingerbread dough, allowing it too be shaped when we were done. We did however, take a quick break for supper (and some cookie eating). Back to the cookies. Not having any extra cutters, we kept the lady, man, and horse cutters in play and included a wine glass for rounds. Once out of the oven, we decorated with little chocolate nuggets from Bulk Barn.

The cookies kind of surprised me. Starting very mellow, they took a good 5 seconds in your mouth before the true flavour started to shine. I also started playing with the baking times, which allowed some cookies to be soft n' chewy while others were crispy. I'm sure at this point, Sarah's coworkers are going to be full of goodness this week.

Recipe from Joy of Baking.

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shortbread cookies

More Christmas baking today brings you shortbread cookies and gingerbread men (coming next). First the shortbread. A wonderful, and ever-present Christmas cookie made of just four simple ingredients. Butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and flour.

Shortbread dough is very easy to work with and allows for countless variations. You can sub out a bit of the flour for cornstarch or rice flour, changing the texture of the cookie slightly from buttery smooth to slightly crunchy. Then there is the flavour, w.here you can add some citrus or chocolate, or even instant espresso.

On this occasion there was no messing with ingredients, choosing instead, to sprinkle on coloured sugar. I had planned to use my cookie press, but the dough seemed a bit too cool and wasn't playing nice with the press. Switching gears, it was back to cookie cutters. Calling Sarah into action, we conquered the shaping in no time and had pan after pan coming out of the oven. Delicious indeed and a good way to start the day.

Recipe from Joy of Baking.

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nanaimo bars

I've been meaning to take a crack at nanaimo bars for some time now. A staple in the world of all things Canadian; in fact, voted Canada's Favorite Confection. It does seem to have a few stories about it's origin, but regardless of who, or when it was created, I think they are fantastic. I'm not talking mint, cheesecake or peanut butter nanaimo bars, but the OG. The only thing that stopped me in the past from making these was a need. Around these parts it seems every one already has a stack. Be it from M&M's, Superstore, Safeway, or wherever, these easily frozen treats are always waiting to be devoured and never needing to be made.

Trying to get a jump on Christmas season indulgences, I decided to attempt a batch before the homestead was stocked up. Now, there seems to be some trouble making nanaimo bars around the interwebs. Bars with disproportionate sections and a custard center that never sets properly are two of the most common problems. With a bit of research, I narrowed my choice of recipes to this. Did it work. YES!! Perfect I think in every way. A great base, and an amazingly sweet center all covered up by a mixture of milk and semi-sweet chocolate. Delicious. Your tummy and ass will love you.

Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:

Base
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)

Filling
1/3 cup butter (room temperature)
3 tbls custard powder
1/4 cup milk
3 cups powdered sugar

Topping
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 ounces milk chocolate
2 tbls butter

The Plan:

For the Base
1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan.
2. Stir in the sugar and cocoa powder until smooth.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs, coconut and walnuts.
5. Press into a lubed 8 inch square pan and chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

For the Filling
1. Cream the butter.
2. Beat in the custard powder and milk.
3. Beat in the sugar.
4. Spread over the the base layer and chill in the fridge until it sets.

For the Top
1. Melt the chocolate and butter and stir until smooth.
2. Spread over the filling layer and chill in a fridge for 10 minutes.
3. Draw lines in the chocolate, so you can easily cut later.
4. With a warm knife, cut into pieces and store in the fridge or freezer

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interfaith baking contest - round two

So just for kicks, I've submitted a second cake (see first)to John Mayer's baking celebration. I love the premise behind the contest, and I love what sweet treats do for the soul. It also didn't hurt to have two complete different cake pans in the pantry.

With the cake one, I knew right away what I wanted to do. But this, a football helmet, was a little tougher. Do I try and match a colour to something...John's high school team? Or better yet, how do I applying the icing to this very shaped cake? What about the base? I'd just eaten one style, so I knew it required something more.

The cake did stick, and doesn't look good at all here. That's what icing is for!

The icing I decided would again be green and red for the season, with 'peach' for the skin. The icing, was created from the Wilton site and whipped together amazingly. Seriously, it piped like money. The cake, well, I owe that to the Fresh Loaf, where I first discovered this Guinness chocolate cake. The most amazing chocolate cake ever.

This cake, as long as you make it as Qahtan says, is always a hit. Rich and full of cocoa, feel free to add some extra chocolate (I grated in a few ounces of high quality chocolate) and the cake didn't disappoint. The icing, while a little sweeter than I like, tasted smooth. The worst part of this experience was the piping. I'd never attempted the individual rosettes (or whatever you call them), and it took forever. My thumb, and the area around it, ached after a few hours. Yes hours. From the initial mixing of ingredients to a complete finished product took 5 hours. After which I dropped it off at Sarah's work and it was devoured in 5 minutes. Funny how things like that work.

*Seriously don't even bother covering the cake with icing if you make it. Just slice a piece, and either top with a scoop of cream (or ice cream). Fantastic.

**the second photo is care of Sean at Statusfirm, who used the picture on his 365 day photo blog.

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interfaith baking contest

John Mayer, who happens to be a heavy musical influence of mine, has started accepting submissions for his Interfaith Baking Contest. Last year, he asked people to submit cakes and in honour of the festive seasoning and return the most moving submission would win a guitar. Unfortunately for yours truly, last year around this time I was in Central America and did not have the means to create a cake. Not this time, this time I was determined to bake a cake.

From John's blog.

I've always had a problem allowing the full brunt of Holiday Cheer into my heart. It's not that I didn't want to - in fact, I tried harder than anyone I knew - but I think I was going for the wrong points of reference; TV commercial holiday cheer can be nearly offensive if you didn't happen to have the kind of year that saw you making friends with an omni-ethnic fully gorgeous group of friends who like to dance in unison.

Then about this time last year I started getting e-mails from my brother with pictures of cakes he'd been baking. I laughed at first but when he appealed to me without sarcasm that it was undeniably fun and uplifting, I had to try it. Sure enough, baking a cake or two while listening to Christmas (okay, Holiday) music was like a giant dose of premium cheer. I had the happiest holidays in years.

I decided to start a contest on my blog wherein I challenged readers to submit their own baked goods, and the cheer just kept spreading. What I had originally thought was a clever little contest actually turned into a mainline of good feelings for everyone involved.

Here is my cake. Baked in a heart pan and iced in the colours of Christmas. The cake was moist and delicious, and the icing, even though it stated to separate was perfect (not overly sweet and very smooth). I have to send my shout out to Something Shiny, where I first discovered both the cake and icing recipe. Thank you indeed for suggesting this path!

What's even crazier, is that my cake has made round one on John's blog out of thousands of submissions. I couldn't be happier.

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lamington's

My mother was known for many a recipe in her life, but I think if there was one treat in particular I always looked forward to, it was this. The lamington. With her Australian roots, it was no wonder we were privy to this delicious treat so many people are unaware of. How popular are they, how about having their own day - Friday 21 July 2006 was designated as National Lamington Day in Australia.

What makes this so delicious who knows. The chocolate, the coconut, the memories, the cake. Probably all of it really. It's something I've continued to make after my mother's passing, to keep the my tummy full and the memories alive. Very simple to make, a lamington is prepared by baking a sponge or butter cake. Slicing the cake into squares, covering in chocolate icing and then rolling it around in coconut. Who wouldn't love that right! Plus think of all the fun you can have making them with kids. I know I love it.

If you ever do create a lamington, or come over to the homestead for one, let me know what you think. I dare say, I bet it will be delicious. And don't forget; if you have any leftover chocolate, roll a banana around and cover in coconut. A trick I learned in Guatemala and it's also delicious!

*typically a lamington is done with chocolate icing (cocoa powder, icing sugar, milk) but for a change of pace, I picked up some Belgium milk chocolate melting wafers at Bulk Barn and gave that a go. Quite a different result, with this chocolate giving more of a protective layer, and adding a bit of richness that isn't normally found in cocoa powder.

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oatmeal raisin cookies

I was filling up the oatmeal container earlier in the week, and discovered an old school cookie recipe on the side. Mulling it over in my head, I though it was worth a crack.

I included raisins here, but you could probably add chocolate chips or nuts as well, and they turned out quite tasty. The outside edges had a bit of crunch, while they were still a little bit chewy in the center. Almost the perfect combination. I did find that the cookies spread quite a bit when I baked them, so if I make these again I'll put the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool the batter down.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients
6 tbls white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup oats (quick, instant etc)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls water
1/2 - 3/4 cup raisins

The Plan
Preheat the oven to 325.
Stir together the flour, baking soda, oats, and salt.
Separate bowl - cream sugars and butter
Add egg and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until smooth.
Stir in dry mixture, adding the water.
Mix in raisins.
Drop chunks of dough onto cookie sheets and bake 10-15 minute.

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kerstin’s chocolates - edmonton, ab

kerstin’s chocolates
10139 112 Street
780.990.0011

After Sharon's valiant attempt to successfully conquer the 'name that origin' contest currently running at Kerstin's Chocolates, I decided to pull up the britches and test my palate today.

It was relatively easy to persuade Sarah in joining me, so this way we could support or celebrate depending on the result. A couple of regulars were in the tiny store when we arrived, so it gave us a few minutes to look around. The store isn't a lot bigger than some bedrooms, but then again chocolate doesn't take up a lot of space. With varieties from all over the world, different flavours, and even drinking chocolate, I'm sure you will find something for the chocolate lover.

Finally stepping up to the chocolate plate, we signed our consent form and looked at the goods. 4 piles of chocolate, with 5 possible origins. Hmm. After a brief description of how to eat and develop the taste (this is like fine wine it seems), we were off. I was able to pick out the distinct characteristic in each chocolate, something that surprised me for sure. Two out of the four were straight forward and I was correct with my placement. The final two were close enough (similar profiles), so I flip flopped a bit before deciding. Unfortunately I had it backwards. If only I had gone with the 'she loves me not' choice, I would be right there with 4 out of 4.

Sarah picked out 2 correctly as well, the two I flipped, and we settled into a sample of warm and spicy drinking chocolate. While I like the aspects of chili in chocolate, it's definitely something I couldn't drink on a regular basis. Sarah finished our visit by picking up some Christmas gifts and we were off. What a great little spot to warm the heart and sweet tooth.

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