~ Two Great Recipes ~

This weekend was a great one in the kitchen for me.  This is a huge deal, because I’ve been sick.  Before I was sick, my kids took turns being sick.  And on top of all of this, I am 27 weeks pregnant.  My belly is huge, and it’s getting harder to reach the stove.  Nevermind combatting the exhaustion of the 3rd trimester…  Needless to state: things have been light and easy in the kitchen these past 4 weeks.

Yesterday I felt ready to take on the kitchen and get to a few projects that I’ve been wanting to do for a while.  Neither of the recipes I made yesterday are my own; although I do consider the empire cookies my signature cookie.  Even though these recipes are not mine, I want to share them with you.  Because MAN.  They are so good.

1) Empire Cookies Dear Reader, have you ever had an empire cookie?  They are simply delicious.  Found very commonly at English high tea tables, these are 2 buttery sugar cookies with seedless raspberry jam sandwiched between them.  They are then iced and topped with a piece of candied cherry.  I started making them years ago, when I was doing this fundraiser project I called “Baking for the Cure” to raise money for The Weekend to End Breast Cancer.  Every week I would bake up a different treat, bring them to my office and sell them to my colleagues.  It was a lot of fun, and these cookies always sold out almost immediately.  Without further adieu, here is the recipe that I use:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/empire-cookies/detail.aspx

2) Baked French Toast Casserole a few years ago I decided that it would be a lot smarter to find an overnight casserole that would be a decadent treat for Christmas morning, not requiring too much attention in the morning to make.  The idea was that it would allow me to relax and enjoy the excitement of Santa with my kids.  I did some searching and eventually found this recipe for baked French toast.  And oh, mother of God it is good.  And easy!  I have made it following the recipe to the letter.  I myself am a BIG fan of cinnamon, and for me, there just wasn’t enough.  The next time I made it I upped the cinnamon to 2 tsp’s, but made no other changes.  When I prepared it for this morning’s breakfast, I did not use Italian bread but rather cinnamon bread that we had in the fridge.  It was PERFECT.  I think this is the bread that I will use all the time from here on out.  Because the bread was cinnamon, I left my addition of spice to 1tsp this time.  And, I used 2 empire apples, 1 granny smith apple and 1 d’anjou pear.  It was so good.  My point?  You can play around with this recipe a bit and it will still be divine.  If you are using pre-sliced bread, make certain you do 2 layers of bread at least.  The texture comes out like that of bread pudding, and it does not need any syrup.  And so here is the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/apple-french-toast-casserole-31167

So there you go.  I hope you too have had a weekend full of delicious food and relaxing times with the people you love.

Enjoy!

~ Monster Cookies ~

Today friends, I woke up with a hankering.  A craving really.  A craving for something else from my youth, that my parents never baked themselves.  I’m talking about Monster Cookies.  The first time I had these delectable treats, I was at my cousins’ house in Port Hope.  This was a great recipe for their house, since there were 4 boys living there and it makes 6dozen really big cookies.  My aunt Ginny thought that it was a good way to bake once and have treats for a while.  She would leave some out for eating, and freeze a whole whack of them.

Did you note that I said, “my aunt Ginny thought…”?  Yes, she thought they would last.  Let me tell you just how wrong she was: one of the boys (the eldest) had his bedroom in the basement.  The kids TV, games, and general playroom were also in the basement.  You know what else was in the basement?  A freezer.  Full of these highly-addictive treats.

Can you guess what happened?

In one afternoon the 7 of us (there were 4 of them, and 3 of us) cruised through pretty much every cookie in that freezer.  They are so good even when they’re frozen!  And no, none of the adults knew what we were up to, although I think they got pretty suspicious when we couldn’t eat any of our dinner.  ;)

Can you halve the recipe?  Sure you can – the measurements are easily divided.  But why would you?  Once taste of these bad boys and you’ll be so happy you have a bunch of them on stand-by in your freezer.

Before you ask – rest assured.  My freezer has a lock on it.

Ingredients

1 cup margarine, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 cups packed brown sugar
3 cups peanut butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking soda
9 cups rolled oats
1/2 pound M&M’s
1/2 pound semisweet chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, white sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until smooth.
3. Beat in the eggs*, two at a time, then stir in the corn syrup and vanilla.
4. In a separate container, mix together baking soda and oats until well blended. Once complete, add them a bit at a time to the sugar mixture.  I used a hand mixer until we got about 6 cups into the dough.  Then I was worrying about the motor, so I mixed in the last 3 cups or so by hand.  Do whatever feels most comfortable to you.
5. Stir in the M&M’s and chocolate chips. Again, I did this by hand.
6. Using an ice cream scoop (mine is 1/4 cup scoop, but a 1/2 cup scoop would yield the proper size.  Although, 1/4c cookies were plenty big enough for us!), scoop out dough onto your cookie sheet, placed 3 inches apart.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes, before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

The verdict?  A super-yummy cookie that’s so big the kids have a hard time eating the whole thing.  The adults though?  Not a problem for us.  I hope you love these as much as I do, and as my family does as well.

*Note: if you like to bake with your kids, like I do, but are nervous about letting them crack the eggs, here’s what I do.  First: I let them.  They have to learn how to do this sometime, don’t they?  Second: give them a separate bowl.  A glass or pyrex one so that they get the hang of the cracking on the side of the dish, and then show them how to gently force the egg apart.  By breaking the eggs into a separate bowl, it’s so much easier to get the egg shell out before it goes into your recipe.

A Peanut Butter Cookie filled with Jam…

Friends,

I have had a revelation.  And it is in the form of a cookie.

Okay but here’s the back story: a very dear friend recently gave me a new cookbook called, “Milk & Cookies”.  It’s all cookies, all the time!  Love that!!  And one of the recipes is for peanut butter & jam cookies.  Basically you make the peanut butter cookie and stick 2 of them together with jam.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Right!  And everso tasty…  Problem was, I didn’t love the cookie recipe.  There was too much other stuff in it.  Keep it simple, is my motto when it comes to peanut butter cookies…  And so, I used my favourite recipe and sandwiched 2 together with grape jelly.

Mother. Of. GOD.

So good!  And I’m sure it was the breakfast of champions too!  :)  ’k, so here’s what I did:

Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Your favourite jam or jelly — I used grape jelly

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.  Using a teaspoon, scoop out a small amount of dough and roll into a ball.  Place on cookie sheet and press down with a fork.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
4. Allow to cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks.
5. Once completely cooled, spoon a small amount of jam or jelly onto one cookie, and place another cookie on top.  Squeeze together and enjoy!

This recipe makes about 48 individual cookies, and 24 sandwiches.  I used smooth peanut butter, but I think crunchy might be great too!

Banana Cake with Banana Icing

Dear Readers, it has been so long since we shared.  There are many reasons for this, but really, none of them particularly matter, do they?  The fact of it is, I miss you.  I miss writing, I miss sharing what’s happening in my kitchen, I miss your feedback.  And so, I’m back.

This will not be the same as it once was; I will not be posting regularly, certainly not daily.  I will post as the mood strikes me, and hope that you are willing to visit me from time to time.

I was reading through my blog yesterday, and that was when I was really struck by how much I’ve missed this.  I was funny!  I was witty!  You liked my recipes!  And while I was reading it, I rediscovered my post on Chicken & Dumplings.  I had forgotten about that recipe!  Well I got really excited and decided to make that for dinner tonight.  And I am.  Then I remembered I had all of these bananas in the fridge that had gone over into “good-for-baking-country” and wanted the banana layer cake recipe I made once, a long, long time ago.

I couldn’t find it!

Was it possible that I did not share this with you??  It seems that this indeed is what happened.  And so now, I am remedying that.  Enjoy, dear Reader!

Ingredients

for the cake:
1/2 c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2-1/4 c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c milk
1 c mashed bananas

for the icing
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp soft butter
4 cups icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. Cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, one at a time and mix until blended.
4. Sifted dry ingredients together, and add half to the wet ingredients.  Once blended, add the milk and blend again.  Add the last of the dry ingredients and blend again.
5. Mix in the mashed bananas and pour into your greased pans (2 round pans or 1 bundt)
6. Bake in two 8-inch layers in oven for 30 minutes, or in a bundt pan for 40 minutes
7. For the icing, combine the butter, lemon juice & bananas until well blended. Add in icing sugar and beat until combined, about 2-3 minutes.

 

Apricot Loaf

This is an absolute favourite of mine.  I only make it at Christmas time because I eat it.  All of it.  Without hesitating.  I admit, I am slowed down by the fact that it freezes really well, and so it’s harder to chew when it’s frozen.  But I love it that much that I have been known to eat it frozen.

This is one of my Mother-in-law’s, Pauline, recipes.  I had it for the first time, Christmas 2006 when we were on the Island to celebrate the season.  Just as an aside, Pauline makes an outstanding sweet tray.  And I am happy to say that her son learned very well from her, and wow.  If you ever need a sweet tray come holiday time, ask one of them!  But I digress.  When I asked for the recipe she happily gave it to me.  I was surprised to learn that it’s actually a cheese cake!  Not like you’d expect though.  It is an incredibly moist, flavourful loaf bursting with fresh, rich flavours.  And really, it’s pretty simple to make too.  Here’s what you do:

Ingredients
2 cups of water
½ cup light coloured raisins
1 cup dried apricots, dried
1 cup butter
8 oz cream cheese
1¼ cup white sugar
1½ tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2½ cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder

Method

1. Put the water, raisins, apricots (I often make this just with apricots.  If you are going to do this, just double the apricot measurement and omit the raisins) and ¼ cup sugar into a saucepan. With the cover on, bring to a boil and cook for 15 – 20 minutes, until fruit is soft and water has mostly evaporated. Remove from heat and allow to cool.  I usually dump the fruit out into a colander to help it cool faster.
2. While the fruit is cooking, preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a bunt pan.
3. In a large bowl cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla and eggs.
4. In a small bowl, stir the flour and baking powder with a whisk.
5. Add the fruit mixture to the cream cheese mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon.
6. Add the flour to the fruit and cheese mixture, stirring until combined.
7. Pour batter into the bunt pan and bake for 60-65 minutes.

Like I mentioned above, this freezes really well.  I generally cool it completely and then cut the cake into 3 pieces, immediately freezing two of them.  To do this, I wrap the cake in plastic wrap and then wrap it again in tin foil.  Then I just toss them in the freezer, and we have fresh cake on hand for any of the many sweet trays we make over the holiday season.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once upon a time, in a decade gone by, I was craving a chocolate chip cookie. And not just any cookie, but a really good one with a rich buttery flavour. So I found a new recipe and I LOVE it. For Christmas, and other special occaisions, I have tweaked this outstanding cookie to include another favourite of many people: cashews. If you, dear Reader, like nuts in your chocolate cookie, then please do make the following modification: reduce the milk & semi-sweet chips to 1/2 cup each and add in 1/2 cup cahsews. You still wind up with a jam-packed cookie (just like I love ‘em) but you get the added decadence of the butteriest of all nuts.

Ingredients

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c milk chocolate chips
3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Place all ingredients except the chocolate chips into a bowl and mix on medium speed until blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix again.
3. Add the chocolate chips and stir.
4. Drop from a teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned.
5. Allow to cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use lifter to transfer to cooling racks.

These were very soft, incredibly delicious and very satisfying.  I am not a lover of nuts in my cookies, but those who are have raved about the small tweak noted above.

Enjoy!

Bark

It’s worse that my bite.  HAHA!!  Okay, bad joke.  And really, I have to say that I make pretty delicious bark.  And the best part?  It’s so freakin’ easy.

Seriously!

You need a double boiler to make this stuff.  Do you know what a double boiler is?  It’s that pot you got in your set that has another sort-a pot that nests inside.  Some pot sets come with one that has holes in to too, for steaming stuff.  Use the one without the holes and you’re using your double boiler.  My other trick is to use the chocolate melting wafers you can get in the bulk barn.  That way you don’t have to worry about tempering them and all that; they are ready for just straight melting in a double boiler.

Today I am making 4 kinds of bark.  And really, not much of any of the four kinds.  Just a little to flesh out the last sweet tray of the season.  Here’s what I’ve got going on:

Ingredients

Wax paper or parchment paper
8 cups chocolate wafers (either milk or dark.  I prefer dark, but everyone else loves milk.  So I’m using milk.)
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1 cup Rice Krispies
1 cup peanuts, divided into 2 1/2 cup piles
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup craisins

Method

1. Put some water in the bottom of your double boiler.  Not a lot, maybe about 1 cup.  Put the top on the double boiler and turn the heat to med-low.  The idea is to get the water hot, but not a hard boil.  When the water starts to boil, reduce your heat to minimum.  If it’s too hot the chocolate will burn and not be smooth and spreadable.
2. While the pan is heating, line a cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.  Set aside.
3. Once the double boiler is hot, pour 2 cups of chocolate wafers into the pan.  Allow them to heat for a minute or two and stir.   It will take maybe 5 minutes for the wafers to be completely melted.
4. Once they are almost entirely melted, add in either the coconut, or Rice Crispies, or 1/2 nuts with 1/2 cup raisins or craisins.  Stir it all up and then dump it onto your prepared cookie sheet.
5. Spread it thinly (so that it’s breakable) on the wax paper and then put the cookie sheet in the freezer.  Allow it to harden for about 20-30 minutes.
6. Break it into pieces and store in an air-tight container, in a cool place.

Repeat these steps until you have used all of your ingredients.  Now, of course you don’t have to make 8 cups worth of bark.  That just happens to be what I had on hand, you see.  The ratio you need to be concerned with when making bark is 2:1.  Two parts chocolate, one part filler.  So, 2 cups of chocolate and 1 cup of coconut.  And by the way, if you love those willocrisp packs of macaroons, Mother of GOD you have got to try this.  So good!!!  My husband was practically reduced to tears over this one.

Traditionally bark is loaded up with almonds.  And let me tell you: I *love* almond bark.  The problem is that I don’t have any almonds on hand.  So I improvised with peanuts.  Salted peanuts.  And may I just say?  YUM.

My show-stopper bark is made with white chocolate and then filled with pistachios and craisins.  The best part about that combination for me is that I hate white chocolate, so I am never tempted to eat it!  Means that there is always some for guests and hostess presents.    It looks really festive, and it is a welcome gift.  But do yourself a favour and pay for the shelled pistachios in the bulk barn.  Your hands will thank you!

Okay.  I’m going to stop talking now.  I have missed you Readers, can you tell? And so I am reluctant to leave you.  But I’ll be back!  And soon, I promise.

My New Favourite Cookie

Oh, Reader.  Yesterday Connor asked me if we could bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  And I said yes without even thinking about it.  You see, my family (the Keenans) have a cookie recipe that is amazing.  Chocolate chips, oatmeal and coconut team up for a taste sensation that is truly, unrivaled in my opinion.  So I came home to pull out the ingredients for this recipe, only to realize that I didn’t have everything I needed.

ack!

Instead of heading off to the grocery store though I decided to turn to my friend, the internet, to find a new recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Oh, dear God in heaven, I found a recipe that is simply put: outstanding.  The cookies are a little chewy, but there’s a crispness to them as well.  The flavour is simple but intense and…  wow.  I mean it: this is my new favourite cookie recipe.

The only change I made is that instead of using butter, I used golden crisco.  Sam has developed a love of sweet treats, and as he is lactose intolerant, I try to make accomodations when possible for him.  I will post the recipe below, but I do encourage you to visit the original poster’s site: there are a LOT of great recipes there too!!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, at room temperature (remember, I used golden crisco)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 3/4 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until well mixed.  Add in the eggs and vanilla, and mix again until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk.  Add to the wet ingredients, mixing well.
4. Add the oatmeal and chocolate chips, stirring one more time until combined.
5. Drop spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.  Cookies are done when they have a slight brown colour to them; they will look a litte bit wet.  Let stand on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, and then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I think these would be fabulous with raisins too…  my boys though don’t think I should mess with the perfection of this recipe.    It makes about 4 dozen.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake

I know that I have previously identified myself as a lover of Chocolate (yes, I mean capital “C” Chocolate).  I don’t think though I have – as yet – given you my favourite, all-time, chocolate cake recipe.  Well, tonight I will.  And you have my mother-in-law to thank for this, dear Reader.  You see, yesterday was her birthday.  And today she arrived at Pearson International for a short visit with us.  Connor, Sam & I met her at the gate bearing flowers and “Happy Birthday” balloons.  It was so sweet.    And tonight, we had make-your-own-pizzas for dinner, and Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing for dessert.  The cake?  Oh.  Oh sweet God in heaven.  The cake was sheer decadence.  Don’t believe me?  Here, try it for yourself:

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup olive oil (only oil that does not become trans-fat during the cooking process)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Method

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Spray two 9-inch round baking pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Using a whisk, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
4. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin) with a spoon or spatula. Pour batter into prepared pans.
5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

This cake is amazingly delicious…  Especially iced with my buttercream icing (see step 8 for directions)…  Now, if you’re one to say that Chocolate cake needs Chocolate icing, just add 3 heaping tablespoons of cocoa to the ingredients for the buttercream icing and you’re golden.

Enjoy!

Irish Bananas

So one time, a friend had a crazy idea to throw a Mad Hatters Tea Party to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.  The concept was that we started with the last course first (I think that was the cheese plate, then the dessert, ect) and you end with the first course last (the salad).  It seems like a fun idea, right?  Well, I confess: it was.  Until, that is, someone decided the tea should be tequila, and that it should be served from a freakin’ tea pot….  it was a great night, from what I remember.  But the next day?  Decidedly less so, for most of us actually!

Another element to this dinner was that there were 6 couples, and each couple was responsible for one course and a piece of entertainment (piece of poetry to read, a song to sing, a dance…).   Hubby and I got tagged with dessert (the second course, remember) and we decided to sing a song.  Some of you will feel conflicted about this; here’s what we did:  Of course, I sang Lollipop.  And hubby made the “POP” and the da-dum, dum, dum at the end of the chorus.    It was actually a lot of fun…

But anyway: here’s what we brought for our dessert.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Irish whiskey
4 large bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise

Method

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and whiskey. Bring to a boil and cook until sugar has dissolved.
2. Add bananas to the skillet and simmer gently until bananas are tender and glazed with the syrup.  The bananas look caramelized when they’re done.

Serve immediately over vanilla ice cream.  YUMMY!!!