Anna Olson's Blueberry Buckle

I'm a lousy baker, I mean really. As one says, you can either be a great baker or a great cook. I fall into the later category. Baking requires science and precision, on the other hand, you can cook delicious dishes with adding a dash of this and that.

My blog partner, Sonia, and I will be going out to lunch at my favourite restaurant, Seoul House, located in Mississauga. My husband and I have been frequent customers to that restaurant since 2010, the time when we were newlyweds with no children. Fast forward, the restaurant owner and staff know us by heart and love our children to the bits. Besides serving great food, they are very attentive to our needs. Whenever we dine in that restaurant, they will try their best to give us a private booth so that I can nurse my baby.When my son, A, was a few months old, the waitress offered to take care of him so that my husband and I could eat in peace. Really, where can you find such a service? The last time we went there after baby E's doctor appointment, the kitchen staff and waitress packed us kimchi and Korean fish cake side dish to take home so that I would not have to worry feeding my husband and my son. They know that my husband loves their kimchi while my son is addicted to their fish cake banchan (side dish).

While baby E is sleeping, I had a chance to browse Anna Olson's recipes and decided to make this delicious blueberry buckle for the staff at Seoul House. I had all ingredients available right here at home. I substituted the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour as I did not have it. No credits to me...it's all to Anna Olson :) 

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

• 1/2cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups blueberries (I use frozen)

Streussel Topping: 

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter

METHOD: 

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Cream together butter and sugar until pale yellow and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat in
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add alternately with milk until incorporated. Scrape batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle blueberries on top of batter.

Streussel Topping:

1. In a small bowl, blend sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter with your fingers until crumbly and no large bits of butter are visible. Sprinkle on top of berries
2. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. 
   

BIG BROTHER CAKE

This morning I baked a Big Brother cake (aka Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting). Why a Big Brother Cake ? Well, Ju my blog partner and her husband recently welcomed baby number two - an adorable little girl. As per the Chinese culture, a one month celebration was held this afternoon and yes, the new mum was up at 8:00 am making traditional foods served for this special occasion. My favourite dish was the turmeric sticky rice with chicken curry (which I hope will make it to the blog sometime. No pressure Ju). Big boy A got to celebrate his new role with a candle on his Big Brother cake.

I have to confess that this is a first for me, mostly because I've eaten some terrific carrot cakes and had long decided to leave it to the experts. But this was a special day that called for the little man's favourite cake so I decided to give it a shot. In the course of searching for a good recipe I found variations with crushed pineapple and with nuts and then, to my surprise, my father mentioned that his 'go to' recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook! For those of you who know my father, baking is the last thing you would associate him with, but ma confirmed that he had indeed made it a few times. 
So here is my adaptation of that recipe but with two changes. I used 1/2 a cup of canola oil and 1/2 a cup of apple sauce instead of the 1 cup of oil as suggested. As always, I reduced the sugar, using 1 3/4 cup instead of 2 cups. 

Congratulations to the new parents and big brother. Welcome to our world baby E.

SKILL : EASY
SERVES : 10-12

INGREDIENTS
CAKE

• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup apple sauce

FROSTING

• 6 oz. cream cheese (3/4 cup) softened at room tempera
• 1/2 cup butter softened at room temperature
• 3 cups finely powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 3 inch round baking pan
2. Preheat oven to 350 degree F
3. In a mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients and stir together
4. Add eggs, carrots, oil, apple sauce to the dry ingredients and using an electric beater mix until combined
5. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the baking pan
7. To make the frosting beat the butter and cream cheese until it has no lumps 
8. Add vanilla extract and sugar one cup at a time and beat well
9. Cool the cake completely before frosting

CRAZY ABOUT CRANBERRY CAKE

Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten is one of the many shows I enjoy watching on the Food Network. Her recipes, both sweet and savoury are a no fail and as I found out recently, quite good even if you forget an ingredient! This is a personal favourite because it has a lovely balance of sweet and tart. It's easy to make, lovely to look at and really an ideal hostess gift especially if you pick up a pretty pie plate that can be used to make this and other sweet treats. 

I always buy bags of cranberries when I see them on sale, use what I need and toss the rest in the freezer. They are such a great addition to cakes and muffins. The recipe as Ina Garten makes it  can be found on foodnetwork.com - Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake. This is my version because, I ran out of green apples and oranges and substituted with Fuji apple and grapefruit and completely forgot about the sour cream until after the cake was in the oven!

Here in Canada, schools had March break last week and our friend N came over with her two kids. We had a lovely Indian lunch at Tandoori Flame and then came home to bake. Nothing makes one realize how fast time flies as when looking at kids you knew as newborns who are now delightful youngsters. 8 year old D was my efficient sous chef while her 11 year old brother kept us chuckling in the kitchen as he periodically burst into laughter while watching something on his iPad with head phones on.

This one is for D with love and thanks : >

Skill Level : Easy

Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 bag (12 oz.) fresh cranberries   
• 1 Fuji apple peeled, and diced 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar lightly packed 
• 1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
• juice of half a grapefruit (1/4 cup)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (plus 1 tsp reserved for topping)
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar (plus 1 Tbsp sugar reserved for topping) 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 113 g (1 stick) butter melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup all purpose flour

METHOD: 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F
2. Rinse and pick out stems from cranberries and keep aside in a colander
3. In a deep pie plate or round/oval oven proof dish combine apples, cranberries, brown sugar, lemon zest, grapefruit juice and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Set aside
4. Beat eggs on medium - high for 2 minutes, reduce speed and add 1 cup of sugar, slightly cooled butter, salt and vanilla. Mix until combined
5. Pat down the fruit to ensure the base of the dish is evenly covered
6. Pour the (thick) mixture over the apple cranberry mix and cover fruit completely 
7. Sprinkle the top with the reserved sugar and cinnamon
8. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into the centre comes out clean
9. Serve warm or at room temperature

Baklava

Those of you who follow us know that I recently tried my luck with phyllo dough and found it to be a lot less daunting than I had imagined. On the heels of my apple strudel success, I ventured into baklava making. Making it for the sixth time to get it blog worthy, I suggest you make this when you are expecting company, otherwise, it is easy to devour the entire lot before you know it and really, who wants all that guilt .....  
I say again, do not be afraid of using phyllo; it dries out very quickly so be sure to cover it with a damp tea towel. Some sheets tear but it all works out once it is rolled. The reason I made it as many times as I did was to get the knack of rolling and squishing it to get the creased look. If you want to skip the rolled variety, then you can layer three sheets, spread nuts on top and layer with another three sheets and then cut them into diamond shapes. I have not tried this so cannot give any clear directions. 
I also lined up the logs in a pie plate and made a coil which was rather pretty but we ate that before we thought of taking any pictures. I spooned the syrup over the top but that created a soggy finished product and also ended up topping the baklava with walnuts that had oozed out of the baklava. (See the picture of the cut baklava below; tasted good but did not look great). 
After the first couple of times you make it, you realize how easy it is and I guarantee you will never buy baklava again, it really is that simple. I have made it using walnuts and almonds. I liked the almonds, my husband preferred walnuts. Experiment and have fun with pistachios, cashews or pecans. 

Skill Level: Patience required. 

Serves: 10 - 12

INGREDIENTS:

 For the baklava filling

• 4 cups of almonds finely chopped 
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 Tbsp rose water 
• 12 phyllo sheets (thawed out - room temperature for about 2 hours)
• 1 1/4 cups melted unsalted butter

For the syrup

• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 cup water
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp rose water

METHOD: 

1. Take your store bought phyllo dough out of the freezer and let it thaw out at room temperature for an hour and a half to two hours

2. In a food processor, pulse almonds until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Transfer to a bowl and add sugar, rose water and cardamom powder; mix together and set aside

3. Remove the phyllo shhets from the box and unroll it. Make sure you cover the sheets with a damp kitchen towel 

4. Melt butter and put it in a bowl

5. Take one sheet of phyllo and brush melted butter on the entire surface. Place a second sheet of phyllo over the first and brush with butter. Make sure to cover the phyllo sheets each time, it dries out very quickly. Do not worry if the corners of the sheet tear

6. When the two overlapping sheets have been buttered, spoon the nut mixture on to 2/3 of the sheet - covering the area farthest from you. Keep the side close to you empty because this is where you will start to roll to make the log

7. Carefully roll from the area closest to you going towards the part with the nut mixture, until you have a log. Gently, squeeze the roll from the two ends towards the middle, so you get creases in the log. Brush with melted butter and place seam side down into the baking dish

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

9. Proceed with the next phyllo sheet,  repeat until nut mixture is all used up*

10. Once all the baklava logs are in the baking dish, bake for 45 - 50 minutes till golden brown

11. While the baklava is baking, make the sugar syrup. Add sugar and water to a pot and stir until the sugar dissolves, add lemon juice and rose water and allow it to thicken about 5 - 7 minutes. You can use less lemon juice if you want a sweeter tasting baklava, I like the tartness you get with the lemon juice and it cuts the cloying sweetness  

12. Remove from the oven, pour the syrup over the baked baklava and allow it to cool for about 3 - 4 hours. Cut when completely cooled. 
The syrup will pool on the base. Resist the urge to do what I did - which was to tilt the dish and spoon the syrup on top -as it will make the baklava soft. If you let it rest for the required time, you will have a crisp, flaky baklava

*I made five logs, the sixth did not have as much of the nut mixture as the others

Cranberry Almond Cake

HAPPY 2014

A brand new year and what a bitterly cold one it has been for us here in Eastern Canada. We've shovelled more snow in a week than we did in the last two years. Frigid temperatures with windchill causing it to feel like - 30 to 40 degrees C. Brrrrrr......
I continue to bake despite the holiday season having ended and am using cranberries which are abundant right now. I can't explain my love for these tart little red pearls. I was thinking of making cranberry ketchup or a chutney over the holidays; that has yet to materialize, but this cake did and was so easy to make. I wish I could say this was my creation but the credit goes to www.budgetbytes.com 

I realize that it is the end of the week and my promised baklava recipe has not been posted yet. It's Ju's fault, she and Jason gave us this amazing new gadget called The Instant Pot. (please go to www.instantpot.com to see what this wonder pot can do). For those following us on this blog, my love for my pressure cooker is no secret, well I now have an electric pressure cooker and made a really flavourful chicken soup in half an hour. I am exploring different dishes that I can make in record time. So, while I am grateful for my new toy, it has distracted me (in the nicest way possible) from sitting in front of my computer.  Hmmm, so maybe that was the plan after all, cook really fast so I can actually post more recipes on our blog!  Seriously though - Thank you J & J : )

I baked this yesterday for my buddy's birthday and heard it tasted good so had to make one again today to taste, photograph and post. While I usually reduce sugar in all baking recipes, I followed the recipe and am glad I did because it balanced the tartness of the cranberries. Enjoy!

Skill Level: Easy 

Makes: 10 - 12

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs 
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of milk (I used 2%)
• 1 1/4 cup fresh cranberies (6 oz)
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds

METHOD: 

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9" round cake tin 
2. Mix together flour and baking powder and set aside
3. In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar on low speed, gradually increase speed until the butter and sugar are pale in colour 
4. Add eggs, vanilla and orange extracts. Start at low and then increase to high speed. Mix well for about a minute
5. Add half of the milk and half the amount of flour to the butter. Mix well until combined
6. Add in the rest of the milk and flour. Mix until you have a light and fluffy cake batter
7. Rinse and cut cranberries in half. I leave the small sized ones intact so they can pop in the oven
8. Fold in the cranberries and then press the almonds on top of the cake 
9. Bake for 35 minutes until the edges are a rich brown and a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean
10. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing

Flourless Snow Drops

In my pursuit of gluten free cookies, I have been reading a lot of recipes and happened to come across this recipe card from CHATELAINE magazine. Not only is it easy to make, but tastes great and with all the chocolate and cocoa involved, you really do not notice the lack of flour. Like the flourless chocolate cake that I posted earlier, these are quite dense and heavy, which is great because you cannot eat too many of them. I used unsweetened Baker's Chocolate because I wanted something not overly sweet. I am notorious for reducing sugar in my baking recipes (I figure it will ease the guilt and be kinder on the waistline). Not having made anything flourless before, I did not want to mess with the sugar in case its functionality impacted the cookie texture. I made small "toonie" sized cookies that were soft and chewy. I powdered whole unblanched almonds in a food processor, although it was not very fine, I think leaving it a coarse like breadcrumbs would enhance the texture.
I hope to post more gluten free offerings in the coming weeks. I can hear my friend G asking for egg free recipes so look out for that as well.
Stay warm and bake lots, nothing quite like holiday baking and eating.

Skill Level: Easy 

Serves: 8-10

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1  egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 112 g unsweetened dark chocolate, (4 squares) chopped, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup  icing sugar

METHOD: 

1. Whisk almonds with cocoa, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

2.  Beat butter with brown sugar in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, until light and fluffy, about 3 min.

3.  Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in cooled chocolate. Fold in almond mixture until combined. 

4. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to roll, about 10 min.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper

6. Put the icing sugar and granulated sugar in two separate bowls

7. Make small balls with the dough, roll first in the granulated sugar and then in the icing sugar

8. Bake in the middle and bottom racks for 12 -14 minutes in total

9. Rotate and switch sheets halfway through until cookies crack

10.Remove and allow to cool

11. Cookies will look undercoked but will continue to bake as they sit

12. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container for a week

13. Can be frozen for up to a month

• 
  

Fabulous Flourless Chocolate Cake

This past weekend, Ju had a few friends over at their place for a holiday get together and I was in charge of dessert. It proved to be the perfect opportunity to try out some gluten free/no flour recipes. I made a cake and some cookies, the cake made it to the party, the cookies were consumed too quickly (but not before I took pictures, so I will be posting the recipe). Both used no flour, lots of chocolate and cocoa and were delicious. The Flourless cake is thanks to the recipe on www.epicurious.com; it is heavy, dense, almost fudge like in texture and is a real treat for chocoholics. I am sure it will be an equal success among those who are avoiding gluten and for those with no gluten issues. This cake is easy to make with only 5 ingredients; it is rather heavy so a 9" cake serves 12 people. You can get creative with the topping - I macerated very ripe raspberries with some sugar and lime juice, then used a potato masher to make a thick pulp which I poured on top of the cake. I wanted to strain it and make a coulis but only had a half pint of berries on hand so that is an option for you folks reading this. 
One change I made from their recipe, was using a 9" springform pan as I do not have an 8". I doubled the recipe and it made 4 ramekins in addition to the 9" pan. Perfect if you want to serve individual cakes for a small group.
This one is for Mitra, who had the best reaction to my foray into flourlessness :) Enjoy.

Skill Level: Medium

Serves: 12 - 14

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate (do not use unsweetened)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

Raspberry topping:

• 1/2 pint (one clam shell) raspberries
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• juice of 1/2 a lime

METHOD: 

1. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Butter the sides of a 9" round baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside
3. Break chocolate into small pieces. Place a glass bowl (or use a double boiler) over a pot of simmering water on the stove. Reduce heat to medium and add chocolate and butter. Stir until most of it has melted, then remove from heat and continue to stir until all of it is melted 
4. Add sugar and whisk. Then add eggs and mix well
5. Sift the cocoa powder over the chocolate mixture and mix until well combined
6. Pour the batter (it is quite thick) into the cake tin and give it a good thump on the counter so as to have a batter without any air pockets
7. Bake for 25 minutes, this does not rise because there is no baking powder, it will form a thin crust on top
8. Macerate the fruit with sugar and lime juice, allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Mash the fruit with a fork and pour it on top of the cake; it will not soak through even if you top the cake  up to 4 hours before serving
9. Cake keeps well for 1 week in an airtight container
   

Easy Apple Strudel

 

This is my second recipe for the day; I had to post this as today is the day I overcame my fear of phyllo. While the result is not picture perfect, it is a first attempt working with phyllo and I wanted to share how easy it is to make a strudel within an hour. 

I have always associated phyllo with pastry chefs and baking experts and stayed away from using the box of phyllo dough I had in the freezer. This morning I moved it from the freezer to the fridge so I could try it out. The box had a recipe on it but I looked up some recipes online to see if there were any particular watch outs, the filling varied between pears and apples with the addition of dried fruits like figs or apricots. But once I read a few recipes, it was not so daunting.

One recipe called for brushing the phyllo with walnut oil instead of butter. I recently bought avocado oil which is what I used since I did not have any walnut oil. It was not too greasy, nor did it have any particular flavour, in fact, the cinnamon was the perfume in the house as this was baking. My next try will be a sweet ricotta with lemon rind and raisins.

Skill Level: Medium 

Serves: 8-10

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 packet frozen phyllo dough (1lb/454 g)
• 1/2 cup avocado oil
• 5 apples  (I used macintosh and crispin)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar + 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (the only kind of breadcrumbs I had on hand)
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

METHOD: 

1. Allow the phyllo to thaw in the refrigerator and work when it is room temperature
2. Once phyllo has thawed, brush oil on one sheet, then move it on to a sheet of wax paper
3. Place the next sheet on top of the first and then brush oil on that sheet
4. Repeat until you have a stack of 6 sheets
5. In a bowl, cut apples into thin slices, add lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon
6. Add breadcrumbs to the apples
7. Spoon the apple mixture on to the long side of the phyllo sheets (horizontally)
8. Gently roll the sheets until the end and tuck in the short end
9. Place the seam side down put put on to a baking sheet
10. Using a pair of scissors make small cuts on the surface to allow steam to escape
11. Brush oil on the surface and sprinkle with reserved sugar
12. 1 box of phyllo dough makes three strudels with 6 sheets each
13. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes before cutting

Truffles

Around this time of the year, I am always on the lookout for recipes for my annual Christmas bake exchange. If the recipe has no added sugar, no egg or flour, then it covers most dietary restrictions in my circle of friends. This recipe I found on a blog called 
"An edible mosaic" is a winner. I used a combination of sunflower and pumpkin seeds simply because I did not have enough of the latter, otherwise made no substitutions It is moist and delicious and can be rolled in cocoa, nuts or seeds to have a variety of different looks with one recipe. Thank you to Faith Gorsky Safarini for this one.This recipe is a keeper; in fact, my blog partner's little guy loved it too, so it's thumb's up from a little person in addition to all the adults who tried it. Enjoy!

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 6 - 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 pitted chopped Medjool dates (approx 4 oz)
• 4 Tbsp roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
• 2 T pumpkin puree ( canned is fine, do not use pumpkin pie filling) 
• 1 T cocoa powder
• 1 T ground flax seeds
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t coconut oil melted
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg
• 1/8 t ground ginger
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch ground cloves

TOPPING IDEAS: 

Desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, sesame seeds, crushed nuts

METHOD: 

1. Pulse together all ingredients (except toppings) in a food processor until it comes together to form a ball.
2. Scoop the dough into 1 tablespoon-sized truffles, roll into balls, and then coat in any topping(s) you like.
3. Store the truffles in an airtight container up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Mango dessert with pomegranate

This is probably the easiest dessert I have ever made, the only thing easier than this would be to open a can of mango puree pour into bowls and hand out spoons ! I even bought a few extra cans to have in store for when I am short on time and have to produce something sweet. Alphonso mangoes are considered to be the best in terms of flavour and sweetness. They have a relatively short growing season and are known to be one of the most expensive varieties of mangoes. Fortunately, they can be found at Indian supermarkets and this year, even large grocery chains in Ontario carried them. The growing season is March to May which means they are not available now, but you can find Alphonso mango puree in cans at Indian grocery stores. 

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups mango puree
• 11/2  cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1 Tbsp rose water (found in Indian grocery stores) 
• 3 Tbsp pomegranate 
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder  

METHOD

1. Put all ingredients except pomegranate and cardamom powder in a bowl
2. Using an immersion blender, mix until it is a smooth puree 
3. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours
4. It will not be cuttable in texture, more like a creamy soup
5. Before serving garnish with pomegranate and cardamom powder