Caramel Popcorn for Halloween

Happy Halloween!! For my annual Halloween bake sale at work I decided to make something that did not contain pumpkin. As much as I love pumpkin this sweet and salty candy popcorn was a nice change. However, it is very addictive and should not be left out on the counter, as it will quickly disappear. I placed about 1 1/2 cups in individual halloween bags and sold them for the United Way/Halloween Bake Sale. Next time I think I would double the recipe for a bake sale, but 1 batch is plenty if you are making it for friends or family.  

Caramel Popcorn

16 cups popped popcorn

1 cup peanuts

2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the overn to 250 degrees F. Place popcorn and peanuts in a large bowl.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Boil without stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla.

Pour over popcorn and mix to coat.

Place popcorn on a baking sheet and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to move the caramel around and coat the popcorn.

Remove from oven and let cool. Break into pieces and store in air tight container.

Almond and Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

I had never ate or made thumbprint cookies, but again I had to make cookies for a kids christmas party....and after using so much chocolate (m&m oatmeal cookies, cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies, sweet marie bars, chocolate bark) I decided that perhaps jam might be a nice change and a hit with kids....turns out they like chocolate much more! But they did brighten up the plate with a deep red raspberry jam. The toasted almonds on the outside added a nice crunch and complimented the raspberry flavor really well.

Thumbprint Cookies

2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 large egg whites

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts of choice (I used almonds)

1/3 cup jam (any flavor - I used raspberry)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla extract and salt. Gradually stir in flour.

Form dough into 1-inch diameter balls. Dip in lightly beaten egg whites, then roll in nuts. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Press down center of each with thumb.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Just before serving, fill centers of cookies with jam. Or, fill centers with 1/2 teaspoon of jam before baking.

Pecan Rolo Pretzels

Yeah there are finally snowflakes in the air making it feel more like Christmas time and that I am not just baking millions of cookies for no reason. I pre-made dozens of cookies and happy that I did because it seems like there is an event every other night to attend which involve festive drinks and food. With so many cookies I decided to wrap some up as a hostess gift. These mini rolo pretzels were simple and make a great gift. You can place them in a jar or festive bag or take out food box. My sister in law made these treats with the help of her 6 and 4 year old boy, making it an easy and fun recipe to do together. They have since named them 'Paws' on the account that when you flip them over they look like dog paws!! Very creative!!

Pecan Rolo Pretzels

1 bag of mini pretzels

12 oz bag of Rolo chocolates

1 bag of pecan halves or almonds

Preheat oven to 250. On a cookie sheet, neatly lay out pretzels, single layer. On top of each pretzel place an unwrapped rolo on top.

Carefully place in the oven for 4 minutes. Remove. Immediately take pecan halves and squish them into the rolo, squishing the caramel out and making the pecan stick.

Cool for 15 minutes, and then place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, until the caramel hardens.Pack up and give these away before you eat them all.

Drinking hot chocolate at the tree farm.

-14C.......brrrrr

Sweet Marie Bars

Every year for the holiday season, as most of us do, I spend hours in the kitchen making festive appetizers and decadent baked goods. In order to help out for my nephews Christmas party this coming weekend I spent a good three days baking dozens of cookies. Good thing there were lots because when I asked my 2 and half year nephew said he wanted for Christmas from Santa he stated he wanted lots of cookies.

I tried making thumbprint cookies, which did not make very many, and for the effort they require, were not worth it to me. Next I made oatmeal cookies with cherry flavoured craisins and white chocolate chunks, oatmeal cookies with holiday M&Ms and these mouth-watering and easy no bake Sweet Marie Bars. Seriously if you have no time to bake and want to whip up something delicious these are the bars to make as they only take 10-15 minutes.



A traditional Sweet Marie Candy bar is Canadian in origin and made by Cadbury. It has a nougat, caramel, roasted peanuts and covered in chocolate. This homemade version will not disappoint anyone who loves the combination of peanut butter, caramel and chocolate.

Sweet Marie Bars

½ cup corn syrup
½ cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 cups rice crispy cereal
1/2 cup chopped unsalted peanuts
1 ½ cups chocolate chip

Grease an 8x8 baking pan with butter. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the corn syrup, peanut butter and brown sugar. As soon as melted remove from heat and stir in cereal and peanuts.

Press the mixture into the 8x8 pan. I use the bottom of a glass the press it down.

Place in the fridge to cool. You can melt the chocolate and spread it on immediately, but I prefer to let the mixture cool a bit first.

In a glass microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate chips and melt on medium heat for 40 seconds. Take out and stir and then continue to melt in the microwave at 20 second intervals until melted. Then spread evenly over the chilled mixture. Return to fridge and let cool completely. Once cooled can cut into bars.

You can also melt the chocolate using a double boiler.

Amazingly Good Trail Mix Cookies

My mother is an amazing baker and that is no understatement. Every birthday from whenever I can remember until 18 my mother made my sister, my brother and I a homemade birthday cake so beautifully decorated in whatever theme we desired. Her talent when it came to icing cakes was impressive to say the least. From barbies, clowns, sports, halloween, roses (my sisters favorite) my mother had a cake to celebrate the event.

For Christmas she'd bake so much food from literally dozens of dozens of different types of cookies, tarts, bars, along with pies - apple, pumpkin, blueberry, chocolate, lemon meringue. She seriously had a pie to cater to each guest/family member. My friends use to hide in the cold storage and devour her christmas cookies by the handful.

I vividly remember being the kitchen as kid and watching her in her flour covered apron using her old wooden green handled rolling pin rolling out her incredibly flaky pie dough. I have always held my mothers baking (and cooking) in the highest regard and when I am baking or cooking I often reminise about being a kid in the kitchen with my mom watching her make homemade jam, pickles, loaves, stuffing a turkey...you name it... to me my mom was Julia Childs. I can't imagine not doing the same for my children someday or at least for myself and husband (okay in-laws if you are reading this - that is not to say there are any bambinos on the way anytime soon!)

As impressed as I am with her baking and cooking, what I found incredibly interesting is something I came across the other day. The other weekend I was perusing some old photo albums when I came across photos of all of her decorated birthday and holiday cakes. I certainly new I got my love of cooking and any 'talent' if you call it that from my mother, but I had no idea that the food photography also ran in my family. I was super impressed! I will have to post some of her creations.

My mom certainly enjoyed baking, I on the other hand enjoy more savoury meals and do more cooking than baking. However, I've had the urge to bake lately. Being health conscious I decided on healthy trail mix cookies. There is no need to hit the trails to enjoy these amazing trail mix cookies; although they are so packed full of healthy energy you might just get the urge to anyways. These cookies did not last very long in my house, between my husband, myself and visiting friends, they were devoured in a couple of days.

Trail Mix Cookies

½ cup butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups dried cran-raisins (sour cherry flavoured ones)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 T flax seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup wheat bran or germ (or use bran cereal)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats or use cooking spray.

Spoon batter onto pans about 2" apart and flatten them slightly with a fork/spoon. Bake for 11min or until browned. Let cool on rack.

Valentine's Day Menu

Many people go out to fancy dinners for Valentine's Day. To me there is nothing better than staying at home and cooking a delicious meal together. Here is a sample menu for Valentine's Day including a starter, main course, dessert and cocktail. Happy Valentine's Day.

Starter

Pan Seared Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Main Course

Moroccan Scallops with Eggplant Confit

Dessert

Chocolate Coconut Tart

Cocktail

Pomegranate Champagne

White Chocolate and Cranberry Shortbread

We had our annual christmas baking party this year where I tried an adapted recipe for shortbread cookies from the LCBO Food & Drink. I found the recipe made the dough way too dry, in fact it would not combine at all. Therefore I added more butter and some milk (did not measure, just added a bit at a time until the dough would combine) and hoped for the best. It turned out really well. Rather than roll the dough out and cut out shapes as originally planned, I rolled the dough into a log and sliced the cookies. The end result was a nice crunchy shortbread with

sweetness from the white chocolate and sourness from the cranberries.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Shortbread

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 cups cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 cup dried craisins (cherry flavoured)

1 cup white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Add sugar into food processor. Turn on and off twice to grind sugar a little finer. Add flour and salt to food processor. Add cold butter and process until combined. Combine 1 cup (250 mL) dried craisins with 1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate. Stir into cookie batter before combining into a ball. Do not form into a ball in food processor.

Scrape mixture into a bowl and knead together gently to form dough. This is where I added a bit of milk to combine and make a dough. Divide dough into thirds and roll into a log using wax or parchement paper and put in the fridge for a couple hours.

Take out and slice the log into 1/2 inch cookies.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and prick each round with a fork.

Bake in centre of oven for 20 minutes or until a creamy colour. The shortbread will not be firm. It hardens as it cools.6. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheets.

Makes about 40 cookies

Canada Day Vanilla Buttermmilk Cupcakes

Canada Day turned out to be a beautiful day without any T-storms. Many of my friends contributed to the BBQ with salads, cheese platter, and some very impressively decorated cupcakes (very creative M&D), making the BBQ a success.

In keeping with the theme of Canada Day we played a Canadian Trivia game – the winner received a nice ceramic bottle of a local Canadian beer (Beau’s) and the loser was given ½ a six pack of cheap American beer. The rest of the night was spent chatting, sipping margaritas and indulging in copious amounts of food.

The vanilla cupcakes, made by my friend Michelle were topped with strawberries and cut to look like maple leafs (well done Damien). A great idea - the were just as delicious as they looked.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt1 cup sugar

¼ cup butter, room temperature

1 large egg1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ tsp almond extract

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla and almond extracts until mixture is smooth.

Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.

Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.Let cupcakes cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the muffin pan.

Cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup margarine of butter, softened

1.5 tsp vanilla1-2 tbsp milk

1. Mix powdered sugar and maragarine/butter in medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and milk.

2. Beat until smooth and spreadable.

Frosts one 13X9" cake, about 24 cupcakes, or one 8 or 9" two layer cake.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette

As there was not a lot left of my rhubarb plant, I decided to use the remainder of it up by making a strawberry-rhubarb galette. Having made a galette before, I found it easy to make, and always enjoy the rustic look of the free form dough shape. Or maybe I was just too lazy to make a proper pie.

Considering my mom is the queen of pies, and I was serving her this easy to make free form pastry, I was nervous that it would not turn out. Overall it turned out good. I found the juice of the fruit did make the bottom of the crust a bit wet… so I put it in the oven without a pan to crisp on the bottom a bit, as well as let it cool on a cooling rack, both seemed to help.

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart’s Rhubarb Galette. I added strawberries, and used the dough recipe from the LCBO’s Food & Drink magazine.

Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut in 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup cream cheese, cut in 1-inch pieces

1 tsp grated lemon rind

2 tbsp lemon juicewater as needed

Combine all ingredients except water in a food processor. Remove ingredients from food processor into a large bowl. Knead dough together with hands. Add a bit of water as needed (not too much or will be sticky) until ball of dough forms. Let sit covered for 30 mins.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough in to make approximately a 14" imperfect circle. Then lightly trace a circle in the middle of the dough where the fruit will be pilled. Depending if you want the fruit to be exposed or completely covered will depend on how big your fruit circle will be. For details photos of making the dough, see my apple-rosemary galette recipe.

Filling

1 lb rhubarb, sliced into 1/2” chunks
2 cups sliced strawberries
Juice of ½ lemon
1/2 cup granulated sugar (or less)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg (ground or freshly grated)
1 egg white beaten

Place rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice in a large bowl; toss to combine.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add sugar mixture to the rhubarb mixture and toss until well coated.

Arrange the fruit mixture on top of the dough, leaving a 2” border all the way around. Fold border over the fruit mixture, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds.

Brush the edges of the dough with egg white.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 450F.

Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Also try my Rosemary Apple Galette.

and my delicious Rhubarb Loaf.

Carrot Cake & 1st Birthdays

Carrot Cake Decorated with Truck, Cookies for Dirt, Cookies for Logs, and a Pond which later became a watering hole for a Mini Chefs Alligator.





Happy Birthday Sam! My youngest nephew turned ONE on the weekend. To celebrate he had some of his friends over to play. I was pleased as an Aunt to help mom out and make his first birthday cake, a yummy carrot cake, at the request of mom. Carrot cake is one of my favorite cakes and I would take it over chocolate or vanilla any day. I like mine packed with ingredients so I added raisins, coconut and crushed pineapple, but omitted the nuts for the little tykes that were not yet allowed to eat them. My sister had a great idea to make it a "dirt" cake. She iced the cake with vanilla icing and crumbled oreo cookies on top for dirt then placed a bulldozer on the cake to look like they were picking up the dirt. She also had cookies for logs and a small pond. It was very cute and fitting for a boy.

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk (1%)
2 cups shredded carrots
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 x 8oz can well drained crushed pineapple
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup raisins (plump up by pouring boiling water over them and let sit for 15 min, drain)

In a large mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and beat until blended. Add in pineapple, coconut, and raisins.

Pour into greased 13x9x2 inche baking pan. Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes. Place cake on a cooling rack to cool. Frost when completely cool. Decorate as desired.

Rustic Apple-Cranberry & Rosemary Galette

Galette is a rustic french form pastry filled with fruits and baked. I usually see an abundance of these in magazines around summer and fall, and am always captivated by the sophisticated yet simplicity of these rustic tarts. As I prefer savoury over sweet most of the time, I have desired to make a rustic tomato and goat cheese or an onion and mushroom galette. But when asked to make a dessert for dinner I was more than happy to be able to try a sweet galette.

As it is winter I went with a classic apple and cranberry filling. I used simple cinnamon and sugar for spices. Next time I think I will add more flavor by adding ginger, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon into the fruit filling. Although I did try to incorporate a bit of my love of savoury flavor into the dessert by adding fresh rosemary. Using herbs with fruit in desserts when paired correctly can provide a well balanced flavor.

The pastry crust recipe is adapted from LCBO Food & Drink magazine. I used this recipe because it added cream cheese to the pastry mix. I find cream cheese dough has a nice flavor, is easy to work with and usually produces a nice moist, yet firm crust.

Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut in 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup cream cheese, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tbsp lemon juice
water as needed

Combine all ingredients except water in a food processor. Remove ingredients from food processor into a large bowl. Knead dough together with hands. Add a bit of water as needed (not too much or will be sticky) until ball of dough forms. Let sit covered for 30 mins.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough in to make approximately a 14" imperfect circle. Then lightly trace a circle in the middle of the dough where the fruit will be pilled. Depending if you want the fruit to be exposed or completely covered will depend on how big your fruit circle will be.

Filling

4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup or more of fresh cranberries
1 T fresh minced rosemary
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar

Place apples in bowl, spinkle with cinnamon, sugar and rosemary. Toss until well coated. Now arrange apples around inner circle of dough. Add in cranberries where desired.

Fold pastry up over fruit and press down lightly. Brush pastry with egg wash (egg white slightly beaten) and sprinkly lighting with sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 450F. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and garnish with rosemary.

If you do not want the pastry to cover all the fruit you could make the inner circle of fruit larger and would likely need more apples and cranberries. Can also add pears or any seasonal fruit.

Herbs and Fruit Pairings:
Rosemary with apples or roasted peaches and honey
Lavender with berries (strawberries, blackberries), lemon
Thyme with lemon, figs, strawberries, plums, apples