Cheese Danish with Cottage Cheese Dough

You probably recall that I blogged about my lovely friend Zsuzsa’s cottage cheese dough here, and I knew I wanted to try it in the shape of a Danish. It makes a wonderfully flaky pastry and paired with the sweetened creamed leftover cottage cheese I thought I had another winner, but I will admit defeat when I have to; the dough, although very flaky is not a ‘light’ as I had hoped and even though these little pinwheel Danishes are not huge (about 10 cm or 4 inches in diametre) they were very filling, too filling. I loved the creamed cottage cheese filling but I think I’ll try the traditional flaky butter pastry next time. I made only two of these beauties making the remaining dough into the small rugelach the dough was intended for.

Not as light and flaky as I thought.

Please see Zsusza’s recipe here.

Makes 18 small Rugelach, and 2 cottage cheese Danishes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup small-curd cottage cheese (I used fat free)
• 1 cup unsifted flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions:

1. Spoon the cottage cheese into a sieve over a bowl lined with a unbleached coffee filter; drain for at least 2 hours, or overnight
2. Remove 1/2 cup of the cheese for the dough; reserve the rest for the creamed cottage cheese filling.
3. Pulse the flour and salt just to combine in a food processor (this is why you need not sift it). Add the butter to the flour pulsing on and off until the butter seems to disappear into the mixture.
4. Add the cottage cheese in bits to the mixture pulsing to combine until it becomes a relatively loose dough ball.
5. Divide the dough into four equal portions and shape each into a flat disc and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Rugelach Ingredients:

• 1 batch of cottage cheese dough
• 1/4 cup strained apricot jam
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 egg yolk for glazing

Rugelach Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
2. Once the dough is refrigerated and cooled, lightly flour your rolling area. Roll each portion into a circle about 25 cm or 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 6ths like a pie.
3. Combine the chopped almonds with 2 tbsp sugar.
4. Brush the dough with 1/4 of the apricot jam, sprinkle 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture on top. Starting with the wide end, roll each 6th into a little crescent, pinch the ends a bit and turn into each other. Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper (you will thank me because the jam will melt out and make a darn mess on your baking sheet). Bake 20-25 minutes until golden. store in an air tight container. These freeze particularly well. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

Creamed Cottage Cheese Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of the reserved cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
• 1 egg yolk

Danish Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
2. In the container for the immersion blender, add the cottage cheese, vanilla and sugar and blend until smooth. Add the egg yolk and blend well. Fold in the lemon zest. Refrigerate.
3. Once the dough is refrigerated and cooled, lightly flour your rolling area. Roll two small portions into a circle about 10 cm or 4 inches in diameter. Cut as per the illustration. Add half the creamed cottage cheese to the centre and fold up one corner from each cut to the centre and pinch to seal.
   
   

   You could do squares instead, I find it easier to roll a circle and there is no waste.

4. Brush the dough with 1/4 of the apricot jam, sprinkle 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture on top. Starting with the wide end, roll each 6th into a little crescent, pinch the ends a bit and turn into each other. Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden. Store in an air tight container. These freeze particularly well. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

They were very pretty though

The creamed cottage cheese was delicately sweet.

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My Easter Menu

I just noticed that WordPress is adding advertising into my content in links which are not mine. How to tell the difference is that my links have a dotted underline and the ad links are solid and dotted together. Not cool at all.

Last week I was blown-away flattered by my Hungarian friend Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the kitchen) when she invited me to participate in a blogging event to post your Easter Menu! You can read about Zsuzsa’s Easter here; she grew up very close to where my Mom grew up in Budapest. It’s really just a round up of past post recipes and a little bit about your Easter memories. How could I say no?  Thank you Zsuzsa, I would be honoured. Zsuzsa is taking part with the following Hungarian ladies: The author of this event, Éva from Takarekos Konyha (this blog is in Hungarian) and Elizabeth from Food and Thrift.

Growing up, Easter was always about bunnies for me. Yes, we went to church and all that but let’s be honest, it was about the bunnies! At eight years old, my very first pet bunny was an albino Dutch whom we called Boom Boom (he was called Boom Boom because he stomped his hind feet loudly). Sadly good old Boom Boom only lasted 3 years, but he made such an impression on me that I’ve only ever had bunnies as pets! I cried so much when he died that my Dad swore he would never let me have another pet because losing them made me too sad and he just couldn’t bear it. I was sixteen before I was permitted to have Boon, another albino Dutch but smaller than Boom Boom (no, we weren’t very imaginative with the names!). But I digress, back to Easter.

Mom and Dad in Edmonton with the Chrysler Tour in 1960

You already know that my Dad was a Puppeteer (and if you don’t, you can read about it here) and we had a family business with the puppet shows. Easter was a big time for us, these holidays meant that the malls, schools (note that this link is NOT mine) and some companies needed entertainment for their events and what’s not to like about a puppet show? So many of our Easters were on the road with the show. In fact, Boom Boom was first adopted because my Dad needed a live bunny for the show (he was the star, don’t worry, it was all very humane).

Believe it or not, the Show was about Bunnies.

And there were singing Eggs too

But Easter also had a serious side: FOOD! Chocolates, coloured eggs and of course, ham. I don’t have many of the recipes that we had at Easter but I’ve gathered a bunch I am going to have this weekend when we have JTs family for Easter Sunday lunch. I hope you enjoy them.

My Mom only used Canada Grade A Large size eggs

Hors D’œuvres were usually Deviled Eggs (here and here) and French Salad (Francia Saláta). I don’t have a post about Francia Saláta, but you can see Zsuzsa’s recipe here (my Mom never put potatoes in her version). I may do a new hors d’œuvres recipe I saw on my friend Lorraine’s blog of her recent trip to Amman, Jordan. It involves cheese and phyllo pastry, that’s all I can give you!

A wonderful addition to any Easter table

We usually had an Easter kalács (Zsuzsa made a gorgeous one here) but I’m making John’s Easter Cheese Bread instead.

The most succulent tenderloin ever

We’ve decided to go nontraditional and have a beef tenderloin for lunch. This recipe is my favourite way to serve this special cut of meat.

The only place you’ll miss the potatoes is on your waist-line!

I’m going to serve it with my traditional Celeriac Cauliflower Mash. And a wonderful lemony Asparagus from my friend Greg’s Rufus’ Guide.

It’s a symphony of colours

And a little tangy German Purple Cabbage Slaw.

Now if you had any room for dessert, I’m going to make Charle’s Sweedish Apple Cake (from Five Euro Food), which totally looks like the perfect ending to a rich and heavy meal. It’s really just all apples and then there’s more apples. The only flour in this is the use of the breadcrumbs as the base, thickener and likely adds a little texture. I love that I can make it sugar free too, since I have a diabetic and a hypo-glycemic in the house — I like to make only one dessert that everyone can enjoy and not make the person feel odd that they have something else.

I may not be able to comment on your blogs for the next few days but I’ll definitely read up when I get back into civilization with internet. Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments, you really, really make my day. Thank you to every one of the blogs I read, you provide me with the inspiration for my blog and it really wouldn’t be the same without you!

Happy Easter to All!

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Another Savoury Ebelskiver: Salmon with Spinach and Dill with a Dijon Dill Béchamel Sauce

Earth Hour, did you do your part? We were the appetizer course for our third progressive dinner on our street and our course fell right on Earth Hour! We were ready, candle light, a wood fire in the fireplace, and gas cooking! It was lovely. We made Sopa Azteca (tortilla soup) but I didn’t write the recipe down (great excuse to make it again). But I did snap a cool photo of it, by candle light of course. Photo with Camera Amazing by Smug Mug and a little digital correction by Art Studio, all on my iPhone!
I used a hybrid of Rick Bayless’s Sopa Azteca and the one I previously posted.

Now you must be thinking that I’m obsessed with Ebelskivers. No, please don’t think THAT — it’s pretty harsh, don’t you think? Well, I have been making a lot of these wonderful Danish treats (see this recipe and this recipe), but I just can’t help myself. Allow me to explain: Way, way back in time, it was Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. Of course, that cold February day, I sleepily stood in front of the freezer wondering what we should have for dinner. Completely forgetting about Pancake Tuesday and I took out two 100 g servings of Salmon.

Fast forward to dinner time, and AHHHHHK! It finally hits home that it’s pancake Tuesday and we NEED to eat pancakes. But what about the salmon? We had plans on Wednesday so I couldn’t put it off; I had to create the savoury Ebelskiver Salmon with Spinach and Dill! Quite clever, don’t you think? Without tooting my own horn too much, I really MUST tell you this is one of the BEST versions of this Danish pancake I have made so far. It’s the BEST JERRY, THE BEST!

And now for something completely different: A precariously perched squirrel.

Savoury Ebelskiver: Salmon with Spinach and Dill with a Dijon Dill Béchamel Sauce

Makes 8-10 round Ebekskivers

The Salmon was perfectly paired with the subtle spinach and earthy dill.

Filling Ingredients:

• 40 g onions (few tablespoons)
• 20 g spinach (a good handful)
• 2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• 200 g Fresh or canned Salmon without skin, roughly chopped into 1-2 cm bits)
• 1 tsp EVOO
• Ebelskiver batter (below)
• Dijon dill béchamel sauce (below)

Filling Directions:

1. Heat the EVOO and cook the onions until soft and translucent, add the spinach and wilt. Set aside to cool completely. In the meantime make the batter.

Basic Ebelskiver Batter Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, set aside.
2. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolk, then whisk in the milk and melted butter. Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. The batter will be lumpy.
3. In a clean bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Using a spatula, fold about one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white streaks remain.
4. Fold the cooled wilted spinach, onions, dill and chunks of salmon, and mix thoroughly.

Ebelskiver cooking directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Spray the ebelskiver pan with a good squirt of non-stick spray and place over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup batter to each round as soon as the pan is quite hot. Maintain the heat at medium, you don’t want to burn the ebelskiver edges before the insides get a chance to cook.
3. Cook until the bottoms of the pancakes are lightly browned and crisp, 3-5 minutes. Using a fork, gently push the ebelskiver until it entirely turns around in the pan and the uncooked portion is now facing the bottom.
4. Transfer the finished spheres to a platter and finish baking in the oven while you repeat to finish the batter (about 10-12 minutes).
   Serve hot with a Dijon Béchamel.

The Dijon Dill Béchamel was a sophisticated change to Maple Syrup.

Dijon Dill Béchamel

makes 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a small sauce pan. Add the flour and stir until well combined. Cook this flour paste but don’t allow it to brown. Add the Salt and pepper.
2. Slowly add the milk whisking to combine and cook this mixture until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more milk and stir until hot.
3. Remove from heat. Add the mustard and the dill and whisk until smooth.
4. Serve warm over Salmon Spinach and Dill Ebelskivers.
5. Enjoy.

They are rather filling, so you only need two, but believe me you’ll want FOUR!

We purchased this salmon well before the hoopla about Canadian Salmon having a fish influenza virus.

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Rugelach — the best cottage cheese dough EVER

My lovely friend Zsuzsa blogged about this cottage cheese dough and I knew I had to try it. It truly makes a wonderfully flaky pastry and I encourage you to try it. I made these with almonds as a friend’s daughter is allergic to walnuts and it was incredible. I have another tub of cottage cheese in the fridge waiting to be made into another batch. By the way, I used fat free cottage cheese and it worked out remarkably. I also made half of the dough.

Rugelach

Please see Zsusza’s recipe here.

Better than Croissant dough, because it’s not that bad for you

Makes 24 small Rugelach

Ingredients:

• 1 cup small-curd cottage cheese (I used fat free)
• 1 cup unsifted flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions:

1. Spoon the cottage cheese into a sieve over a bowl lined with a unbleached coffee filter; drain for at least 2 hours, or overnight
2. Remove 1/2 cup of the cheese for the dough; reserve the rest for another use.
3. Pulse the flour and salt just to combine in a food processor (this is why you need not sift it). Add the butter to the flour pulsing on and off until the butter seems to disappear into the mixture.
4. Add the cottage cheese in bits to the mixture pulsing to combine until it becomes a relatively loose dough ball.
5. Divide the dough into four equal portions and shape each into a flat disc and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Rugelach Ingredients:

• 1 batch of cottage cheese dough
• 1/4 cup strained apricot jam
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 egg yolk for glazing

Rugelach Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
2. Once the dough is refrigerated and cooled, lightly flour your rolling area. Roll each portion into a circle about 25 cm or 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 6ths like a pie.
3. Combine the chopped almonds with 2 tbsp sugar.
4. Brush the dough with 1/4 of the apricot jam, sprinkle 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture on top. Starting with the wide end, roll each 6th into a little crescent, pinch the ends a bit and turn into each other. Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper (you will thank me because the jam will melt out and make a darn mess on your baking sheet). Bake 20-25 minutes until golded. store in an air tight container. These freeze particularly well. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

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Quinoa Energy Bars

With JTs job, he sometimes misses lunch or dinner, so I went to our local health food stores to pick up some healthy energy bars. I was shocked! The high protein versions could run as high as $5 EACH! That’s absolutely crazy, and they are not even that “good” for you. So instead I bought some quinoa (sorry indigenous people of Peru), sunflower seeds, flax seeds, dark chocolate, dried cherries and agave and came home to search for a tasty recipe. My inspiration came from this recipe in Epicurious but it was purely Barb (from Profiteroles and Ponytails) that inspired the Quinoa addition to this treat, thank you Barb!

I toasted the quinoa so that it popped like pop corn; toasting brings out the nuttiness (hmmm, that’s a coincidence, when I’m toasted I become nuttier too !) and makes them nicely crunchy and not too jaw breaking.

A delicious healthy snack or meal replacement

Makes one pan 10″ x 13″ (25cm x 33cm), cut into 20 bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups toasted quinoa (or you could buy the commercially puffed quinoa, which is like puffed rice)
• 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds, slightly roasted in a frying pan
• 2 cups uncooked oatmeal, old-fashioned or instant
• 1/4 cup partly ground flax seeds
• 1/2 cup dried cherries or other dried fruit
• 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, organic, just peanuts
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup agave syrup or honey
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 121° C or 250° F.
2. Prepare a 10″ x 13″ pan by lining it with parchment paper, enough to have the sides come up as ‘handles’.
3. Add the quinoa to a hot dutch oven (you will need the high sides) and stir as the quinoa pops. Keep stirring so it doesn’t scorch. This volume will take about 10-12 minutes. The quinoa pops like corn, but not nearly as aggressively, but you do need the high sides of the pan, otherwise you’ll be chasing the quinoa all over the place!
4. In the same pan, slightly roast the sunflower seeds. Combine with the puffed quinoa, oatmeal, flax and cherries. Set aside.
5. In a micro-wave proof bowl, add the peanut butter, brown sugar, agave syrup and chocolate chips and microwave on a low setting until chocolate and sugar have melted . Add the water and stir well.
6. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well (I used a very large bowl with a wooden spoon). You want to make sure that everything is coated with the wet ingredients.
7. Pour the combines ingredients into the prepared pan and press evenly into all corners (I used a glass as a rolling pin). Bake for about 20 minutes.
8. Allow to cool about 10 minutes, carefully remove from the pan with the parchment handles onto a cutting board and cut into 20 slices. Allow to cool completely before storing in an air tight container in the freezer.

Notes: depending on how dry your house is, you may need to adjust the wet ingredients as the final product can be a bit crumbly (so say the comments on Epicurious). That’s why I added the water and baked it out. Mine came out nice and tight and even after freezing wasn’t crumbly.

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Ebelskivers! Now that I have your attention, please read on

It’s not a swear word. I swear. It just sounds like one. “What the Ebelskiver were you thinking?” or “Where in the ebelskiver were you for two and half hours?” You see? But I can assure you, it’s much more delicious than a swear word. It’s actually a little spherical pancake! I know you’ve seen this over at my friend Barb’s when she posted about it last May but I just had to write about my experience because this pan was her wonderful, thoughtful Christmas present to me!

My first attempt was half of Barb’s recipe for the ebelskivers was Christmas day, a few hours after I brought it home and I kept them simple. But as you can see by my deformed little ‘balls’, it takes some skill to be able to prepare them as perfect little balls of joy. I had some practicing to do.

First attempt Christmas Morning

Still no where near perfect, my second attempt I added blue berries to the batter. Still some practicing to do before I could serve them to guests.

Second attempt when we returned from NOTL. Poor JT had to be the guinea pig for the second batch too. A very sunny day indeed!

After practice, I was able to make more perfect little balls of joy.

Batch numbers 3, 4 and 5 were much better. In fact, most of them turned out very well. And I had the opportunity to experiment with some additional flavours. I did cruise the net to see other recipes and they varied quite a bit, but since I had some experience with Barb’s lovely recipe, I decided to stick to it, with minor modifications. I found this recipe on squidoo and the batter was much thicker (if you scroll down, there is a video of a young lady successfully making ebelskivers one Christmas Eve), so I decided to add a bit more flour to Barb’s version to thicken it up. They were much easier to flip or turn without the batter running out from the centre of the ebelskiver.

Brown sugar, cinnamon and butter are swirled into the batter

If you pile them while they are hot, you will cause indentations. Mind you, I doubt your tummy will care either way.

A little twist Ham, Cheese and Dijon but still breakfast food

Ebelskivers

Original recipe from Barb at Profiteroles and Ponytails

Each batch makes about 24 ebelskivers, I divided the batter into two portions for the ham, cheese and cinnamon bun versions. If you wish to make the entire batch for one flavour, double the flavour ingredients but not the basic batter.

Basic Batter Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-½ teaspoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract (omit for savory ebelskivers)

Directions:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, set aside.
• In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk, melted butter and vanilla extract (if using). Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. The batter will be lumpy.
• In a clean bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Using a spatula, fold about one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white streaks remain.
• Use the batter right away.

Ham, Cheese and Dijon Ebelskiver Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 finely diced ham
• 1/2 cup old cheddar, shredded

Directions:

• For the savoury Ebelskiver, whisk in the Dijon and then gently fold in the diced Ham and cheddar cheese, cook using your lovely ebelskiver pan.

Cinnamon Bun Ebelskiver Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 40 g chopped walnuts

Directions:

• Mix the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon well. Fold in the walnuts into the basic ebelskiver batter, then drizzle in the brown sugar mix into the batter and fold gently. Since the batter is quite cold, it will seize the butter/sugar mixture allowing you to fold in the swirls. You don’t want to entirely incorporate the butter/sugar mixture, you want swirls throughout the batter. Continue until you have used up all of the mixture.

Ebelskiver cooking directions:

1. Spray the ebelskiver pan with a good squirt of non-stick spray and place over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup batter to each round as soon as the pan is quite hot. Maintain the heat at medium, you don’t want to burn the ebelskiver edges before the insides get a chance to cook.
2. Cook until the bottoms of the pancakes are lightly browned and crisp, 3-5 minutes. Using a fork, lightly push the ebelskiver until it entirely turns around in the pan and the uncooked portion is now facing the bottom.
3. Transfer the finished pancakes to a platter and keep warm in the oven while you repeat to finish the batter.
4. Serving suggestions: dust the warm pancakes with the confectioners’ sugar and serve right away. Or serve with warmed maple syrup and fruit.

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Gingerbread Pancakes

What did you do? We celebrated at our favourite French restaurant and then stopped in at a party at Kim’s (neighbour, boss, friend) place. I had had the 24 hour stomach bug the day before, so I was a little tentative to party, but it all worked out in the end.

Did you make any resolutions? I evaluated my resolution from last year and by George I did OK. I resolved to use fewer zip lock baggies and I DID! I am using reusable containers instead, mostly glass but for the freezer I still use plastic. So what’s my resolution this year? I’m going to work out more regularly even though I tend to be good about it, I will resolve to go to the gym even when I don’t feel like it. Did you know it takes 21 days of repetition to become a habit? So all I have to do is work out for 21 days and I won’t have a choice. Hmmm.

As most of you have seen by my comments, Christmas was a bit of a wash for my side of the family; my brother’s kids came down with the stomach flu and Christmas Eve dinner was cancelled. That was a real bummer and the kids felt so terrible, so I told them we would recreate Christmas dinner when they all felt better in January. JT stepped out in the morning and bought us a Seafood feast we were going to enjoy instead of a traditional Christmas turkey dinner. Late afternoon we popped over to Barb‘s for some Christmas cheer and they had a gorgeous Charcuterie spread that was so moreish, we couldn’t stop eating. And then of course, we weren’t hungry for our seafood feast. It went back into the freezer and we’ll enjoy it another time!

Santa was very good to me this year and it was extra special because I participated in Charles’ Secret Santa. My not-so-secret Santa was Charlie over at Hotly Spiced. She sent along the greatest kitchen gadgets made by a 100 year old English company Tala which is very cool because it’s Taylor and Law! There was a great retro looking sifter and a really cool measuring cup and Charlie also added a beautiful Christmas ornament and the cutest festive napkins! Little did she know I’m a bit of a cocktail napkin collector! All much appreciated and already put to excellent use. Thank you Charlie.

We’re still in holiday mode over at Kitcheninspirations and we made gingerbread pancakes that were just so yummy I had to sneak in one more holiday recipe. Remember the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes I made on Thanksgiving weekend at my brother’s cottage? Well, I reinvented them into gingerbread pancakes.

Festive Gingerbread Pancakes

Makes 5 pancakes 10cm (4.5in) in diametre

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 nonstick cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon all spice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a large bowl or Tupperware container for travel, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, spices and salt. Set aside.
2. Separate egg yolk from egg white and beat egg white and cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form but not dry.
3. Beat the egg yolk until light yellow in colour and thick, add milk, vanilla and melted butter and beat until smooth on a slow speed. (For this small quantity, I find my immersion blender with whisk attachment a perfect size for both egg white and egg yolk).
4. Fold in flour mixture, but don’t over mix as we don’t want the glutens activated.
5. Add 1/3 of the egg white to the batter and mix together gently then fold in the remaining egg white carefully, do not over mix!
6. Spray your skillet with non-stick spray set to medium temperature (or 350°F).
7. Drop about 1/3 cup of batter on pan for each pancake and spread out to about 4-5″ and cook until you see a few bubbles on the surface of the batter. Flip your pancakes and cook for about another 1-2 minutes.
8. Keep warm until you have made all the pancakes and serve warm with butter, maple syrup!

The coolest retro cooking tools

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Super Fluffy Buttermilk Cakes of Pan (aka pancakes)

We were at my brother’s family cottage for Canadian Thanksgiving and I usually look after one main meal, but this year we were not able to come up on Saturday for dinner, so I looked after breakfast on Sunday morning. But that’s not all I contribute, my brother’s family does the full-blown turkey dinner, so I like to bring ‘treats’ for the kids (and adults alike). This year’s treats included the Cheez-itz from my friend Ann (who no longer blogs), Hungarian Donkey Ear Cookies and a more recent addition Hungarian Cherry Squares. After having her first bite of the Cherry Squares, my 8-year old niece announced the following “Auntie Éva, from now on, these cherry squares need to be put on ‘the list’ of things you bake for Thanksgiving Weekend.” Now that made everything all worth-while!

I found this recipe on-line back in the city but I had forgotten to bookmark it and I couldn’t find it up north, so I had to improvise the final assembly. Fortunately, I brought the dry ingredients in a container and the wet in another. Experience counts for something and to be honest, these are THE BEST fluffy pancakes I have made in a very long time. And the recipe was plentiful, making 12 generously-sized pancakes. They are a bit more work than the average pancake, but well worth the effort. Hope you try them, this is my new go-to pancake recipe.

They are really fluffy and not stuffy

Super Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

Makes 12 pancakes about 13 cm wide and 2cm thick! (5″ wide, 3/4″ thick)

Original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1. In a large bowl or Tupperware container for travel, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. Set aside.
2. On the day you wish to make the cakes of pan: separate egg yolks from egg whites and beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form but not dry.
3. Beat the egg yolks until light yellow in colour and thick, add buttermilk, vanilla and melted butter and beat until smooth on a slow speed.
4. Fold in flour mixture, but don’t over mix as we don’t want the glutens activated.
5. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter and mix together gently then fold in the remaining egg whites carefully, do not over mix!
6. Spray your skillet with non-stick spray set to medium temperature (or 350°F).
7. Drop about 1/3 cup of batter on pan for each pancake and spread out to about 4-5″ and cook until you see a few bubbles on the surface of the batter. Flip your pancakes and cook for about another 1-2 minutes.
8. Keep warm until you have made all the pancakes and serve warm with butter, maple syrup, fruit and whipped cream!

Pass the cakes of pan, as they are known in our house

It’s always a food frenzy…way too much food

We went for a good long walk after the Buttermilk Pancake Breakfast

Gorgeous fall colours

Thanksgiving Dinner with the family

Now who invited her?

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English Crumpets

This recipe has been in the making for about 30 years; my Mom and I bought the crumpet rings that long ago, and although we tried making crumpets in those days, we were not successful. Without the internet and YouTube to show us how, we simply gave up. But I kept the rings, and every time I see them I am reminded of my failure.

Warm, crispy and chewy, just like a crumpet should be

I spent the weekend at my friends Carmen and Roland who after a re-evaluation of their lives after 9-11 up-rooted and moved themselves and 3 kids from the bustling city of Toronto to the Muskoka‘s. To their credit it’s a wonderful, relaxing life-style with a grand view of the lake. We had an incredible, social weekend catching up, eating, drinking and just having fun. My other friend Pam who runs the blog Downton Abbey Cooks (you know, that enormously popular British drama Downton Abbey) was also there. Pam is a bit of a Tea aficionado and she posts every Tuesday about Tea Tuesday where she talks about the traditions of tea, how the Downton’s handled their tea, and modern day snack to serve with her tea. You’re probably wondering what the heck all this has to do with crumpets, but I’ll get to it.

Roland collects old cookbooks; he loves the particularly wordy one’s and most of his cookbooks don’t even have pictures (or if they do, they are terrible). We were paging through a first edition Fanny Farmer cookbook chatting about food trends when I recalled my crumpet dilemma and decided then and there to try my hand at it again. Plus, with Tea Tuesdays, I really had no choice. So there, you see, I did get around to it!

This was the second crumpet recipe I tried, and even it was not perfect, but I did get two very crumpet-like specimens that I had to blog about. The first recipe cooked blind which means we didn’t get the holes. The trick is to get the right consistency so that the yeast can do its job and bubble up and cook with those wonderful holes. The texture turned out exactly as I had remembered, a little crispy on the outside but nice and chewy in the centre. The taste was perfect too, I’ll just have to perfect the consistency so that all the crumpets cook up with the famous holes. Please click here for the original recipe.

Makes 6 crumpets

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/4 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
• additional warm water to adjust the consistency of the batter.

Directions:

1. Proof the yeast in the water with the sugar for 5-10 minutes until its bubbled up. Add the warm milk, butter, and salt.
2. Beat the liquid into the flour and stir until the batter becomes smooth. Let stand for 30 minutes. It will bubble up and increase in volume somewhat.
3. Stir the baking soda into the water until it’s disolved; add it to the batter and mix well.  Allow to rise in a warm place 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Prepare griddle and crumpet rings with a little grease. Heat over medium heat.
5. Drop batter into crumpets rings so that the batter is about half way up the ring side. Reduce heat to low, cover griddle and cook crumpets until tops look dry, about 10 minutes. During this time, the holes should form, from the outside in.
6. Flip them over and cook for a couple of minutes or you can put them under the broiler for a minute or so.
7. Serve toasted with butter and jam.

The holes turned out perfectly in two. The others still tasted good, but didn’t look the part so they didn’t get a call back for the photo shoot (but they made the breakfast table).

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Happy Birthday Julia Child! Savoury Oven Roasted Tomatoes, Caramelized Onion and Goats Cheese Galette

Tomorrow would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday and this is my post to celebrate this amazing woman. Julia is an American food icon who literally taught American’s how to cook. She was one of the early “foodies” before Food Network was even a thought; even before most of the chefs on Food Network were born! She was the first celebrity chef!

My friend Betsy over at Bits and Breadcrumbs suggested that we post a recipe from a Julia Child cook book to commemorate and celebrate her life and I was all over it! Betsy posted a gorgeous Clafouti recipe that’s been her dear Mother’s favourite. I also wanted to post an authentic Julia Child recipe, but unlike Betsy, I don’t have one of her actual cookbooks. Last Christmas JT gave me Dorie Greenspans Baking with Julia, a wonderful cookbook of mainly sweets, breads and such. But I didn’t want to bake something sweet, so I searched and searched until I came across a gorgeous luncheon dish, a savoury galette. I was sold. Thanks Betsy, this was a lot of fun.

For the galette pastry, you can click here for a very similar recipe, or you can check page 371 in Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. I changed up the filling to suit our tastes and what I had in my pantry. It is an incredible crust, crispy and slightly sweet that can withstand even the wettest filling but it’s also not dry and crumbly. The cornmeal in the pastry recipe adds enough crunch to make it a little more interesting that a standard pasty. It’s really just perfect. In fact, so much so, I’ve had a special request to bake it again, believe it or not.

I divided the pastry into two portions so that I could keep one galette and give the other away. Both were resounding successes. You can keep this very simple or make it a bit more complex as I did. You can serve this room temperature or right out of the oven or even reheated, it is amazing every-which way.

Savoury Oven Roasted Tomatoes, Caramelized Onion and Goats Cheese Galette

Serves 4-6, makes 2, 15 cm galettes

The oven roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions really went well with the goats cheese. The pesto was icing on the cake, I mean galette.

Ingredients:

• 4 Roma tomatoes (oven roasted in 1 cm slices) click here for the recipe
• 1/2 cup sweet onion confit
• 100g goats cheese
• 1 galette pastry

Directions:

1. Prepare the pastry as indicated in the recipe. It needs to be refrigerated for a couple of hours, so you’ll want to plan ahead.
2. Roll the galette on a piece of parchment into a circle about 10 cm larger than the size you want it to be. Spread the sweet onion confit on the bottom leaving the last 5 cm all the way around clear. Add a layer of tomatoes and dot with 1/2 of the total goats cheese.
3. Fold up the edges and pleat or do some other fancy design. I wanted my galette rustic looking.
4. Bake as the recipe indicate (I did our’s for 30 minutes at 176°C or 350°F) just until the crust was starting to get golden.
5. Serve hot, warm or even at room temperature garnished with fresh basil and a little basil pesto drizzle.

The basil pesto was a nice touch.

That was one tasty galette. Photo by my friend, neighbour and boss, Kim with her iPhone 4Gs.

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