freshly grated nutmeg | smilingfrog.ca

Before Christmas, I bought the December issue of Bon Appetite and wanted the try the recipe for Chocolate Almond Tassies. Baked goods with Amaretto? Yes please! So, I finally got around to trying out this recipe. 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Almond-Tassies-350833

And here are some pics!

Pictured on the plates that I painted at Fire Escape in Calgary

Carrot Cake is probably my most fave dessert ever. I also like mini things.

Here is my mini carrot cupcake pictured with one of my many frogs.

I’m not actually vegan, but you’ll notice that I do use a lot of vegan recipes, only because of Josh’s egg allergy and because I can’t have dairy. Oh well, it forces me to be creative and try new things. I got the recipe from this site.

http://happyherbivore.com/2008/05/the-famous-carrot-cake-cupcakes/

They were fabulous! Of course carrot cake requires cream cheese icing. I actually wasn’t too happy with how the icing turned out. It was super tasty, but lacking in texture, so I won’t post the recipe. New mission=finding a good cream cheese icing!

I’m always on the lookout for recipes for cookies that feel more like a healthy snack than a dessert. My other criteria for a good cookie involve chewiness with lots of texture. I found this recipe http://havecakewilltravel.com/2007/03/10/chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/ and modifed it a bit to make these!    Soooooooo goooooooood!! 

Here is the recipe!

Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup dark chopped dried apricots
• 1/4 cup chopped dates
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 3 Tbsp natural almond butter
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp soymilk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Whisk together flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon. Add dried fruit and chocolate

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together almond butter, oil, vanilla, brown sugar and milk.

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Mix well. Scoop by spoonfulls onto prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork as these don’t spread much during baking. Bake for 7 minutes or until golden brown on top.

My inspiration for baking this weekend came from a trip to the St. Lawrence Market on Saturday. I picked up some fresh veggies, fresh organic spelt flour pasta, fresh chicken sausage, a HUGE pomegranate, AND fruit for baking; BLACKBERRIES and BLUEBERRIES! (They were on sale and looked uber fresh and tasty!) I also gawked at all of the baked goods

When I got home I decided to make Blackberry Turnovers.  New challenge=cream cheese pastry! I also learned that things turn out better on the fancy Williams-Sonoma pizza baking sheet compared to other cheap cookie sheet I have. Next weekend a trip to Williams-Sonoma to purchase a proper baking sheet like the one I miss oh so much from when I lived in Calgary, will be required!

Anyways, here is the recipe!

Blackberry Turnovers Adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

For the cream cheese pie dough…

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 package cream cheese, cut into small pieces

For the blackberry filling…

• 1 pint (6 ounces) blackberries
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Make the blackberry filling. Scatter the blackberries on a cookie sheet and pick out moldy, unwanted berries. Do not wash them or they will get MUSHY!! Transfer to a bowl and combine with sugar, flour and lemon juice. Set aside. 

2. Make the cream cheese pie dough. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add butter pieces and crumble into dry ingredients until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add the cream cheese and mix until rough clumps of dough form.

3. Turn the rough dough onto a work surface and knead gentry a few times so that it sticks together. Form and flatten dough into a 7 inch square (about 3/4 inch thick) and wrap in plastic. Chill for 30 minutes.

4. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out the square of dough until it is an 1/8 inch thick, 15 inch square. Cut the square into 9 equal 5-inch squares.

5. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheet with parchment

6. Make the turnovers! Lay all of the squares out and divide berry filling evenly in the middle of each. For each turnover, brush a border of milk onto the edges of the dough. This will “glue” them together. Fold the dough in half diagonally and press the edges with a fork to seal them. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for 20 minutes before baking.

7. Sprinkle the tops with sugar, then use the tip of a knife to cut a few slits in the top of each turnover to allow steam to escape during baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

My blackberry turnover with Josh’s Blackberry

I also made blueberry banana muffins with the blueberries! Sorry no picture this time

I make muffins a lot. Mostly because they seem to disappear so fast. After I got home from yoga this evening I decided to make these pumpkin muffins. EEP! I realized I was out of cinnamon! So…..instead of using just cinnamon I created a  new spice mix to use in my recipe. These turned out really well and I would definitely make them again!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup margarine or butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Beat butter and sugar for a minute, then add egg, pumpkin and vanilla and beat until well blended. 

2. In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture, beating until just combined. Add half the buttermilk, then add another one third flour, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour along with the dried fruit. Pour batter into 12 lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

I’m really excited about this new banana bread recipe! I have a few favorite banana bread recipes, but this one adds a very unique element….a chocolate swirl! Who doesn’t like banana and chocolate!?

I love how it went from this checkerboard pattern…

To this!

Here is my version of the recipe

Chocolate-Banana Marble Bread

Ingredients

• 3 large very ripe bananas (1 cup)
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp boiling water
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten (I used 1 egg and 1 egg substitute….Loblaws was out of eggs!!!!!!!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly grease the pan and line with a piece of parchment, leaving some at the side to lift the baked loaf out. Mash or puree bananas. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and mix.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda,  and baking powder. Set aside

3. Mix together the cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth and clumps disappear. 

4. Beat butter/margarine and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes). Scrape down the bowl. With the mixer at medium speed, add the eggs, 1 Tbsp at a time until well blended.

5. With the mixer at the lowest speed, add one third of the flour mixture, lightly mix, then add half of the banana mixture. Continue alternating adding the two mixtures, and finish mixing by hand. 

6. Transfer half of the batter to another bowl and add the chocolate mixture until completely mixed in. 

7. Drop alternating spoonfuls of chocolate and banana into the pan (See the checkerboard pattern picture above). Then marble by using a spoon to gently turn the batter over in 3 places down the length of the pan. 

8. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly before removing from pan to finish cooling on the rack.

Enjoy!

I was really happy with how moist and fluffy this turned out! 

Recipe adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.

Why freshly grated nutmeg? I think freshly grated nutmeg is the most amazing smell ever. One day while shopping on Queen Street West in Toronto, I stumbled upon a store called The Spice Trader. Spices galore! I came home with my fave, nutmeg! It quickly became an addition to practically everything that I bake.

On New Year’s Day I hosted a breakfast/brunch thing for a few friends at my parents’ house in Calgary. Along with the waffles, coffee and fruit that we enjoyed, I also tried out a new scone recipe….

Buttermilk Scones with Dried Cranberries and Orange

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar plus one Tbsp for sprinkling
• Finely grated zest of one orange
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut up into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F and position an oven rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, orange zest, baking powder,baking soda, and salt. Add the cold butter pieces and mix into the flour mixture by hand, or using a food processor, until all of the butter is cut into medium pieces. Add the dried cranberries, then the buttermilk, gently kneading until a cohesive dough forms.

2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into 2 circles, approximately 3 inches in diameter each. Cut each round into 8 wedges and transfer to the baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.

3. Bake 14-16 minutes until golden brown. 

Adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

For Christmas this year I received three things that contributed to the birth of my food blog…..a camera, a new cookbook, and my Kitchen Aid mixer! I love to bake. I get so excited (I mean literally clapping and jumping up and down) when I try new recipes and they turn out just right. Two weeks of Christmas vacation meant lots of time for making some pretty wonderful smelling and tasty stuff.  Why keep all the excitement to myself when I can share it!!

Today marked the arrival of my new best friend, the stand mixer! Having survived with only a hand mixer since May, saying that I was excited would be quite the understatement. SO, I decided to celebrate by making Raisin, Rosemary and Cinnamon Focaccia!!! 

Ingredients

• 2 cups (1o ounces) raisins or dried cranberries (I used a cup of each)
• 2 1/4 cups (18 onces) warm milk
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 5 cups (25 ounces) bread flour or unbleached all purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp (1 1/2 ounces) olive oil
• 2 Tbsp dried rosemary, or about 1/3 cup fresh  (leaves removed and finely chopped)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt

1. Combine the warm milk and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Let stand 10 minutes or until the yeast is activated and bubbly. Whisk in 2 1/4 cups flour and with the paddle attachment, mix for 4 minutes on low. 

2. Add the raisins, craisins, olive oil, cinnamon, and salt, attach the dough hook and knead on low until blended. Add the remainder of the flour and knead for 4 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. 

3. Lightly oil the bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size ( about 1-1.5 hours) 

4. Once the dough has risen, punch it down, then shape the dough into a well greased 17 by 12 inch baking sheet with 1/2 inch sides. Stretch the dough to reach all four corners. 

5. Cover the pan losely with plastic wrap and let rise until it almost doubles in size (approx. 1 hour) 

6. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake 30 minutes until the bread is golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 200 F using an instant read thermometer.

7. Flip upside down to remove from pan (pictured). This was really tasty straight out of the oven! Didn’t even need to cool before I cut into it! 

Adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet