I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to hold on to the last bits of summer. This summer wasn’t any better or worse than any other summer. Sure, I had a wonderful vacation to London and Berlin. I even took another week off to do a yoga retreat at Kripalu [...]]]>

I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to hold on to the last bits of summer. This summer wasn’t any better or worse than any other summer. Sure, I had a wonderful vacation to London and Berlin. I even took another week off to do a yoga retreat at Kripalu in Massachusetts. I didn’t hit any cottages and didn’t really have many backwoods adventures.

What has really been a bright spot for summer are the peaches. Yes, the peaches! I can’t get enough of them. A small part of me is actually a bit sick of peaches but the other part of me knows to enjoy it while it lasts. If the peaches look great next week I may preserve some in a light syrup but this week it was all about baking. I spied this recipe for a peach crumble on my girl Bonita’s blog and just had to make it. I’m a fan of a good apple or pear crisp or crumble in the fall so this peach crumble felt like the perfect gateway to fall desserts.

I ended up using two different varieties of peaches, each with a very distinctive flavour.  It’s funny, I’ve never really thought about flavour differences between peaches but just like apples different varieties of peaches have very distinct flavours.  I can’t quite describe the differences but one just tasted almost floral.  Pretty rad!

These peach bars are my current obsession.  They were beyond delish.  Imagine the goodness that you’re used to in an apple crumble, combine that with peach pie and you have these bars.  I liked that these weren’t too sweet and there was a good balance between fruit and crusty goodness.  It’s like a crumb pie without all the work.  I’m telling you, these bars are genius.

If you still have access to fresh peaches, make these bars… NOW!

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Growing up in Toronto you get used to the changing seasons.  Part of me always thinks I want to live in a hot climate but I know I would miss the transitions.  As much as I like to whine, the first snow of the year is magical.  And who doesn’t love [...]]]>

Growing up in Toronto you get used to the changing seasons.  Part of me always thinks I want to live in a hot climate but I know I would miss the transitions.  As much as I like to whine, the first snow of the year is magical.  And who doesn’t love that first warm-ish day as winter rolls to a close?

While I love the shifts in the weather, what I really look forward to are the shifts in produce.  I’m totally thrilled when fall sets in and I can enjoy local apples and squash.  Winter is a bit desolate but that is all forgotten when summer hits. I wait all year for three things; local strawberries, corn and peaches. Ontario does all three so well that I honestly can’t even think of buying imported anymore.

This year’s crop of peaches is particularly delightful.  I’m not sure what the deal was with the weather this year but whatever the deal was it created the most perfect peaches.  Every peach that I’ve had so far from Niagara has been so sweet and almost “too” peachy.  We’re talking the peaches of dreams.  After eating a ton as-is  knew that I had to whip up some peachy desserts and treats.

The first thing I did was make a batch of one of my favourite jams, Peach Jam with Pinot Noir. It turned out a bit runnier than I’d like so it’s more like a peach syrup than a jam, but it’s still great.

Next on my list was some pie-making. Now, I rarely eat peach pie.  My pie of choice is generally apple.  I’ve certainly never made a peach pie before.  But this year seemed like the year to make a peach pie.  I didn’t want to half-ass it either.  I wanted to go all out and do the lattice crust. I wanted to make a 1950′s housewife kind of pie (minus lack of civil rights for black folks, inequality for women and no colour tv). But you know what I mean…

Making a peach pie isn’t too complicated.  The most annoying part is peeling the peaches.  I quickly blanched them and then peeled to make things easier.  Also the freestone peaches aren’t around yet so taking out the seed also proved a bit tricky. The recipe isn’t too fancy at all but it is kicked up a notch by the honey caramel. Doesn’t that just sound great?  I used a local honey that I picked up from Culinarium a few months ago.

For my first go at peach pie I was impressed.  Unfortunately the batteries in my kitchen scale died so I was flying a bit blind.  My crust didn’t quite work out the way I expected but it tasted fine.  Also, making a lattice crust is pretty tricky!  The whole rolling out the thin strips and then doing the basket weave thing is pretty tough.  I also made this kind of late in the evening so perhaps my patience wasn’t quite what it should’ve been.

The pie tastes great. Trust me.  The caramel flavour isn’t too intense.  You get the sweetness with a bit of depth to it but it wasn’t screaming caramel.  Not a big deal. I would totally make this again and consider adding in some blueberries or raspberries to the mix.  Doesn’t that sound lovely?

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With my recent strawberry picking exploits I ended up with a lot of berries. I didn’t want to make jam so I needed some ideas. I thought about doing some sort of strawberry rhubarb combo but that didn’t happen. As per usual I took to the interwebs to see what [...]]]>

With my recent strawberry picking exploits I ended up with a lot of berries. I didn’t want to make jam so I needed some ideas. I thought about doing some sort of strawberry rhubarb combo but that didn’t happen. As per usual I took to the interwebs to see what my options could be.

I settled on this Martha Stewart recipe for a Strawberry Cake.  The ingredient list is beyond simple and there is nothing special about the technique at all.  Right up my alley!

One thing to note about this recipe is that the 1lb of berries isn’t a hard and fast rule.  My berries were on the smaller side so 1lb ended up being WAY too many berries for this cake.

The cake ended up being OK but nothing to write home about.  It was almost too simple and didn’t have any degree of indulgence to it.  It’s the kind of cake that you’d serve with tea after a nice lunch or when you have company over and need a simple bite.  Don’t get me wrong, the cake was technically good in terms of moistness, flavour etc. It just didn’t deliver on hitting the spot that I needed it to hit.  I think if I were making this again I would consider adding in some poppy seeds or something for a little extra kick.

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Last year I was pretty obsessed with Rhubarb.  I think it was because I was at the farmers market every weekend and was so on top of what was local and in season.  I made a great Rhubarb Strawberry Pudding Cake and a Country Rhubarb Cake and was pretty [...]]]>

Last year I was pretty obsessed with Rhubarb.  I think it was because I was at the farmers market every weekend and was so on top of what was local and in season.  I made a great Rhubarb Strawberry Pudding Cake and a Country Rhubarb Cake and was pretty much in heaven.  This year I haven’t been going to the market as much so I almost missed rhubarb season!  Since rhubarb season is so short (and delicious) I immediately started plotting out what my next move would be.  I headed to the farmer’s market but there was not a stalk of rhubarb in site.  I then went over to my beloved Fiesta Farms and they had a ton of the stuff. I was golden.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make with the rhubarb at first. I thought maybe I’d do a repeat from last year but then I got the idea of doing a pie. Then the idea of a pie turned into a tart. I considered doing some sort of apple/rhubarb tart but then while at the market got swayed by the scent of strawberries. I must admit, in the last few years I’ve become a bit of a snob about only eating in-season, Ontario strawberries… they are so good compared to the imported stuff and they actually taste like berries. But the berries I saw over the weekend from California smelled pretty darn impressive and tasted that way too. So now I was back on the strawberry/rhubarb train…

I tried my usual outlets for recipe finding but didn’t quite find what I was looking for the.  Most appealing recipe was this one from Epicurious. Sure, there were no strawberries, but that could be easily adjusted.  After reading through the comments I made a bunch of changes including reducing the amount of sugar and making some adjustments to the streusel topping.  Incidentally, I didn’t have any lemon for the filling so I used lime and it added a nice brightness to it.

Holy moly was this good!  The more and more I bake I still get impressed when I take something out of the oven that looks like it came from a bakeshop.  And is it just me or are tarts so much more impressive than pies?  This smelled amazing while baking and looked great out of the oven.  The results were great.  I loved the rhubarb/strawberry filling and the crunchy streusel added a nice contrast in texture.

If you’re able to score some rhubarb I would catapult this to the top of you “to make” list.

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Every once in awhile in the food blogger world there’s that recipe it feels like everyone is making. A few years ago it was all about No-Knead Bread and since then there have been many other recipes that have become popular among food bloggers. Within the past year or so, [...]]]>

Every once in awhile in the food blogger world there’s that recipe it feels like everyone is making. A few years ago it was all about No-Knead Bread and since then there have been many other recipes that have become popular among food bloggers. Within the past year or so, I’ve come across many blogs writing about Momofuku’s Crack Pie.

Ahhhh, Momofuku’s Crack Pie, the stuff dreams are made of. The pie is the brainchild of Christina Tosi, the pastry chef at one of my fave NYC spots, Momofuku Milk Bar. According to this LA Times article, Crack Pie is actually a take on a Joy of Cooking recipe for Chess Pie, which I’d also never had. Apparently the pie sells for $44, but you can buy a slice for $5.25. But come on, who doesn’t want to bring a pie to a dinner party with the word “crack” in the name?

I’ve had the recipe for Crack Pie bookmarked for months but never got around to making it. Literally, for no good reason. The ingredients are super simple. You pretty much just need a ton of butter and sugar. The other day I wanted to make a new dessert and I wanted it to be kind of fancy and I thought the time was upon me to make the Crack Pie. These days I’ve had such a hankering for “fancy” desserts, although my definition of “fancy” is constantly evolving. Macarons are no longer fancy enough for me. I usually want to try something in a tart form or even a cake since I rarely (if ever) make cakes.

When it comes to making the Crack Pie there a lot of steps but they don’t require much skill and are well worth it. Take the crust for example. This is no ordinary crust. Instead of just mixing together a bunch of ingredients and patting them into the pan, you make a giant oatmeal cookie, bake it, crumble it and throw it into the food processor with more butter and sugar. This is so much more fun than a regular crust. It’s like a graham cracker crust on… well, crack!

The filling is really just more butter and sugar. You know how recipes often tell you to salt each layer of ingredients as you add them? I feel like Tosi wants us to “season” every layer with more butter and sugar. It’s insane, but awesome. Oh! And the recipe involved milk powder which I ended up finding at Bulk Barn.

The Crack Pie kind of reminds me of a giant butter tart. But different. You have this crazy cookie crust filled with essentially just butter, sugar and eggs. Interestingly enough the pie is sweet but not shockingly sweet and there is actually some nice depth of flavour. It would be fun to add in some maple syrup if you want to take it in a different direction. The texture is not at all gooey and is more firm and “dry”. You can definitely cut the pie and the filling won’t lose its shape.

So, is the Crack Pie as addictive as everyone claims? Maybe not addictive, but it’s pretty darned good. I served this with some Mapleton’s Ginger ice cream and it was a great combination. The ginger really cut through some of the sweetness of the pie.

Here’s a link to the recipe from the LA Times. Do note that the recipe makes 2 pies, which I found excessive. Just halve everything for one pie, obvi.

One of the downsides to making a lot of macarons is the load of egg yolks that you inevitably end up with.  I usually put the yolks in a container and freeze them for later use.  The other day I made a pact with myself that I wouldn’t make any more [...]]]>

One of the downsides to making a lot of macarons is the load of egg yolks that you inevitably end up with.  I usually put the yolks in a container and freeze them for later use.  The other day I made a pact with myself that I wouldn’t make any more egg white only desserts until I used up my egg yolks.

My first thought was to make ice cream.  I love ice cream! But my freezer was too full to accommodate the ice cream making bowl.  So then I started to Google alternate usages.  Of course custard-based desserts ranked high so I decided to make an old favourite, crème brûlée.

Years ago, I think I was in high school, I had the foresight to order a kitchen torch to make crème brûlée.  I’m not kidding.  Some high school kids experiment with drinking and drugs while others order torches to make crème brûlée. I probably made it a few times and barely used the torch since.  Part of me always wants to use it on grapefruit or something but it never really happened.  With that said all I had to do was go out and get some butane for my torch and I would be ready to go!

Sadly I used up my stash of vanilla beans (which reminds me, I should head over to eBay to order some) so I was on the hunt for other ideas.  I stumbled upon a version for coconut crème brûlée and immediately knew that it would be love.  As I’ve likely mentioned before I love coconut errythang AND this brulée included rum so it was destined to be a winner.

This crème brûlée deviates from a traditional by including flaked coconut (which is later strained from the custard), coconut milk and rum.  As a result, I found the final texure wasn’t as smooth as I’m accustomed to.  It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t smooth as silk.

The flavours were great!  It was pure coconut all the way.  I didn’t have Malibu rum so I just used some regular Appleton’s for the alcoholic kick and it worked well.  I made half the recipe which was enough for 4 portions.  Leftovers were great the following day although I’d reserve the torching for 15 minutes prior to serving.

This is definitely a new favourite in my household.

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So as part of the last round of Charcutepalooza I had the brilliant idea to go all out and make my own English muffins. I mean, I was making Canadian bacon and naturally I would use this as part of Eggs Benedict. I’ve already mastered an easy Hollandaise sauce, [...]]]>

So as part of the last round of Charcutepalooza I had the brilliant idea to go all out and make my own English muffins. I mean, I was making Canadian bacon and naturally I would use this as part of Eggs Benedict. I’ve already mastered an easy Hollandaise sauce, and my eggs were farm fresh, so why would I slum it and BUY English muffins? Exactly, I wouldn’t.

Truth be told, English muffins are not something I had ever really thought of making from scratch. I grew up eating supermarket English muffins (shout out to Dempsters!) and when I went off to university in New York I discovered the joys of Thomas’ English Muffins. Plus, I don’t think I’ve EVER had a homemade English muffin from a restaurant. I kind of just assumed that it wasn’t something people made from scratch and that they solely existed in a factory. Alas, this was my bad. The more I cook and learn about food the more I realize that few things (that I would eat anyway) are solely made in a factory.

I was on the site Closet Cooking a few weeks back and Kevin did a post on Homemade English Muffins and I was totally impressed.  I made a mental note to try these out sometimes.  A few weeks later when I decided to tackle making my own, I started looking at recipes.  I mainly wanted recipes that used things I already had in my cupboard which is why I eliminated the recipe on Kevin’s site because it had powdered milk on the ingredient list.  I didn’t feel like going to the store and truth be told I have no idea how common powdered milk is.  I ended up using this recipe from Wilde in the Kitchen. I liked it because the ingredients were simple and I didn’t need English muffin molds.

Making English muffins was as easy as making any simple bread-type things. You mix some ingredients together, knead them, let them rest, shape and let rise again. No big deal. My dough didn’t rise properly and needed a bit of extra loving to make that happen. I think this impacted the final product because these did not turn out well at all!

The English muffins were dense and pretty rock hard. They were not at all fluffy like the English muffins that I love. Le sigh. There were no nooks. There were no crannies. It was a sad, sad day.  I kind of blame my yeast.

I haven’t lost faith though, I know many people who have had success with the English muffin-making (even with this recipe) so I’ll have to give a few other recipes a shot and buy some new yeast.

Here’s a link to the recipe that I used: click here.

One of my favourite things about my neighbourhood is the number of bakeries within a 10 minute walk.  I can think of about 6 off the top of my head and another 4-5 if you extend the boundaries to a 15 minute walk.  One of my favourite spots is a French [...]]]>

One of my favourite things about my neighbourhood is the number of bakeries within a 10 minute walk.  I can think of about 6 off the top of my head and another 4-5 if you extend the boundaries to a 15 minute walk.  One of my favourite spots is a French bakery called Thobors. They have great croissants and wonderful beignets, among other things. One of my absolute favourite treats from there are the Financiers. A financiers is a small French cake usually made with almond flour or ground almonds. The version at Thobors is really heavy on the almonds and is really moist. I was craving them the other day and of course the shop was closed so I set out to make my own!

Surprisingly there are a lot of recipes out there for financiers. For the most part they are pretty similar. A bit of flour, ground almonds, brown butter and confectioners or regular sugar and egg whites. The proportions may vary a bit but they are generally pretty much in line. Interestingly enough I also stumbled upon many recipes for the Australian “Friand” which is like a financier but often includes fruits, chocolates or nuts.

The recipe that I ended up using from Patricia Wells because I figured she knows her stuff living in France and all. I’ve also coveted one of her cookbooks for a while now.

The financiers turned out well BUT they weren’t like my beloved financiers from Thobors.  The financiers from Thobors are REALLY almondy and moist.  They almost remind me of the inside of an almond croissant.  These financiers, on the other hand were more cake-like with a bit of almond flavour.  I think next time I’d add a bit of almond extract and maybe grind my own almonds.    Trust me, these were delicious but just not quite what I was looking for.

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