My New Boyfriend ... True, true, love

Meet Maxx ...

 Maxx (with the double "x" 'cause he's soooooo extream) is a KitchenAid Professional HD standing mixer.  Our match maker was a little place called Cayne's, they're a lovely group of people who knew that Maxx and I were meant to be together and so offered him at a price I could not refuse.  If you're in Canada ... CHECK THEM OUT ... I can't stress this enough.

I was off work today so Maxx and I had a play date ... we made Salted Caramel Tarts with Chocolate Sugar Cookie Shells.

 It's really a recipe in 3 chapters, you're going to want to scroll down to start the mousse and then do the shells and then come back to the mousse.

For the Shells ~ Chocolate Sugar Cookie Dough:

2 ¾ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ¾ cups granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350^oF and place rack in the center of the oven.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.

I used a mini muffing pan and a tart tamper … if you don’t have one, get one, they are a great tool for stuff like this!  Mine looks like this:

and is a perfect fit for regular and mini muffin pans.

Roll dough into two inch balls and drop them into the muffin wells and then squish them into shape with the tamper.  Bake for 7 – 9 minutes, until firm. When I pulled them from the oven I pressed them with the tamper again just to put the shape back into them and then let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before pulling them out.

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For the Salted Caramel Mousse:

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tbsp. water

1/3 cup heavy (whipping) cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. sea salt (or more, to taste)

4 oz. PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Briefly stir together granulated sugar in a small saucepan and let it melt in the pan, stirring constantly.  Watch it carefully as sugar will burn quickly.  When it becomes a nice caramel colour, add the water slowly; being careful, as the mixture will definitely bubble up and possibly splatter a bit.  Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat.

Remove from heat and slowly add in cream (just start with a tablespoon or two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. Stir in vanilla and salt.  Set aside until it reaches room temperature, or refrigerate to speed up the process.

(Now’s a good time to go back and do the tart shells)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese on medium-high speed for 1 minute until very smooth.  Add in the room-temperature caramel and powdered sugar, and beat on medium-low speed until combined.  If the mousse is too thick, add in a tablespoon or two of heavy cream.  Then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  

Use the mousse to fill the tart shells and dust with Cinnamon.

Keep tarts in the fridge to chill until you serve them up.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

I made these a while back but never got to posting the recipe.  I baked them for a co-workers birthday and they were exceedingly popular!

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 30

• Ingredients:
• 30 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, left whole, and a large bag of Oreo Minis (if you can’t get the minis then just chop up some of the large ones)
• 4  8oz. packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed; then beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in about 1 ½ cups of the Oreo minis by hand  (save at least 30 to decorate the top)

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, for about 15 minutes then add one mini to the top of each cupcake and rotate the pan.  Bake another 10 minutes, until filling is set. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

 Happy Feasting!

Banana Crumble Muffins

Ingredients

Muffins Batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil/canola oil

1/2 c chopped walnuts (if you like)

Crumble Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375^o F

In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; lightly whisk together to mix dry ingredients.

In large bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and the oil. Slowly add the dry mixture in and beat on low.

In yet another bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Lightly grease, or line, muffin pan with muffin papers.

½ fill with batter and then sprinkle with crumble mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 Good Sized Muffins 

Happy Feasting!

Two for one ...

I haven’t done anything for a while so I'll treat it up with double cookies.

The first, Ginger Creams, the softest cookies you will ever taste.

 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup water

2 cups All-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 2 pinches of Cayenne Pepper (you can leave this out if you want, I just think it gives them a nice snap)

Cream the butter, sugar, egg, molasses together then add water and mix well.

Mix in the flour a little at a time then add in the salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and the cayenne.

Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8 minutes; until no indentation remains when touched.

You can frost with a cream-cheese frosting or, as I did, dip them in melted white chocolate.

Super Easy ~ super yummie …

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Cookie number 2 ....

Oatmeal Shortbread

 

Ingredients

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

3/4 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour, oats and salt.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Roll and cut as you like; obviously, I chose hearts.

Bake at 325oF for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Once the cookies cooled, I melted a bag of milk chocolate chips with 2 squares of bakers semi-sweet chocolate and a Tbl of cinnamon in a double boiler for dipping and rolled them in crushed Almond slices – a very simple way to make them extraordinary.

Happy Feasting!

Tomato and Green Bean Salad

BBQ season has officially begun … for me anyway … and for my inaugural flame cooked piece of happiness, I made my favourite summer salad.

The secret for this recipe is a fantastic find from The Garlic Box, their Ultimate Garlicky Italian Seasoning, you can buy it on line directly from them here …

For the Salad you will need:

8 vine tomatoes

A Lg handful of green beans (about 50 or so)

½ cup dried couscous

1 cup boiling water

1 Tbls Ultimate Garlicky Italian Seasoning

3 Tbls Salad oil (I like Pumpkin or Sesame Seed oils best for the nutty flavour)

3 Tbls White Balsamic Vinegar   

2 small bowls and 1 large bowl.

In one of the small bowls combine the Garlicky Italian Seasoning, oil, and vinegar.  Mix together and cover with plastic wrap.  Set aside and let it all soak together.

In the other small bowl, combine the couscous with the boiling water and set aside to let the couscous soften.

Wash and coarsely dice the Tomatoes.  Wash the beans and clip the ends; then cut to 1” pieces.  Once the couscous has absorbed all the water, toss it with the tomato and beans.  Add the dressing mix and toss all together well so that the dressing is mixed well.

Happy Feasting!

Cream of Earl Grey Trifel

Cream of Earl Grey Trifle

This is a fantastic dessert from the old country with the help of a favourite from David's Tea.

For the trifle you will need:

A 13 x 9 yellow or white cake, cooled (recipe to follow)

Raspberry Jam

About 6 Bananas

Cream of Earl Grey Custard (recipe also to follow)

Whipped Cream for topping.

For the Cake (straight from Betty Crocker)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter or stick margarine, softened

1 1/4 cups milk

3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 large eggs  

Pre-heat oven to 350^o    Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan, 13 x 9

Beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.

Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally; pour into pan

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center.

Cool rectangle in pan on wire rack; cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack.

Once the Cake has cooled, slice in half so the top and bottom are like slices of bread.  Slather Jam in the middle and then cube the cake and put the to side.

For the Custard:

5 cups Vanilla Soy Milk

6 Tbls Custard Powder

6 Tbls Sugar

3 Tbls Cream of Earl Grey

Divide the Tea into t-sac tea filters – 1 ½ Tbls each

Put 4 cups of the soy mild in a pot and warm on medium, add tea bags and heat to near boiling, stirring frequently.

In a measuring cup combine the remaining 1 cup of milk, custard powder, and sugar.  Whisk together powder and sugar to dissolve.  Once the heating milk has reached slow boil, add the custard mixture and let simmer/boil for a few minutes.

In a serving bowl,  layer of cubed cake, then sliced bananas, then ladle the warm custard; repeat until the bowl is full.

Chill and serve with whipped cream. 

Happy Feasting!

Mac & Cheese with Style

Ingredients:

3 c       Macaroni

1 tin     Cream of Mushroom condensed soup

1 tin     Milk

2 tsp    Garlic Powder

70g      Asiago (diced or grated)

80g      Smoked Jarlsberg (diced or grated)

100g    Brie or Camembert dices up as best you can

½ c     Old (Sharp) Cheddar grated (if you’re feeling particularly schmancy, Applewood            

           smoked Cheddar is excellent!)

Pre-heat Oven to 400^o F

Boil up the macaroni.  While that’s cooking, mix the condensed soup, milk, sour cream, and garlic together and dice/grate the cheeses.

Drain the macaroni, once cooked, and put it in an oven-safe dish.  Pour in the mushroom sauce, Asiago, Jarlsberg, and Brie and stir.  Sprinkle the Cheddar on top and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.  Before taking it out of the oven, turn on the broiler and let it crunch up the cheese on top a little, just 5 minutes on the middle rack.

To be “grown-up” it’s a nice side for grilled chicken and goes well with a chilled chardonnay.

Happy Feasting!

Cream of Lime

This is perfect for a summer dessert but I'm inspired by the warm weather and the promise of Spring ...

Ingredients for Crust:

400g Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 c melted butter or margerine
1/4 sugar
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Ingredients for Filling:

1 pkg Lime Jello
1/4 c sugar
1 c boiling water
1 can evaporated milk (must be 2% ~ skim won't whip up as well)
3 Tbl Lemon Juice


Directions:

First things first - put the tin of milk in the freezer so that it gets ice cold.  It's hard to time as it all depends on what your refrigerator's setting is at.  Keep shaking it until it sounds pretty thick

While the milk is chillin', , ix all crust ingredients together and press into a 9 x 12 pan saving about 1/2 c of the crumb mix for later:

When you milk seems chilled it's time to prep the Jello, mix the powder, sugar, and boiling water in a bowl and set aside for later.  Get the milk and pour it into a bowl and beat on high until the milk is frothy and forms slight peaks.  Add the Jello mix and beat, then add the lemon juice while still beating.  Once everything is whipped up, pour mixture over the graham crust.  Sprinkle the graham crumbs that you set aside over the top and then put into the fridge to chill at least 3 to four hours.

Happy Feasting!

DangerGirl's Red Paella

Paella is kind of like potato salad - there are few set rules (potato salad must have potatoes, paella must have rice) but then it's really any man's game and you can totally morph it to fit the way you like it. 

Traditional Paella features saffron, which is AMAZING, but pricey.  I alternate by using dried Ancho pepper, commonly found in Mexican cooking.  Don't worry, though very favourable, they don't actually provide heat.

 

Ingredients:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts

6 Strips of thick cut bacon

2 Hot Italian Sausages

1 Tin of baby clams

1 bag (about 40) of Raw Shrimps Shelled and de-veined

2 yellow onions - chopped

1 Tin of Stewed Tomatoes

1 Lg. Carrot

1 Handful of green beans

2 Dried Ancho Chilies

3 Cups of Chicken Broth

1 Cup of Red Wine

2 cups of Arborio Rice(this really is a must - to deviate will completely alter your texture and flavour)

4-6 Bay Leaves

1 ½ tsp of crushed Rosemary

1 heaping tsp. of garlic powder

Olive oil

Some tools you should have ready:

Two small mixing bowls

A 4 Cup Measuring cup

A fry pan

A wok (in place of an actual Paella pan)

Measuring cups and spoons, cutting boards, knives, yadda-yadda

First things first – Prep:

Thaw and clean the shrimp.  When you get de-veined shrimp it’s been sliced along the top, there is another vein along the bottom that I always clean out as well.  As this will be the most tedious task, it’s best to get it over with first.  Once that task is done, rinse the shrimp and put them off to the side in a covered bowl.

Slice the tops off the dried anchos and rinse out the seeds.  Put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water to soften them up a bit.

Next, slice up the bacon and the sausage and put them off to the side, then cube up the chicken.

Put the bacon and sausage in a fry in a pan with onions.  While their frying, drain the baby clams over the 4 c measuring cup to save the liquid and put them in with the shrimp.

Add to the measuring cup 1 cup of red wine and then fill to 4C total with Chicken broth.  Pour the liquid into a blender and add the soften anchos, liquefy and put to the side.

Combine the liquid, stewed tomatoes, rice, rosemary, and bay leaves in the wok on high until boiling; then turn heat down to low and let it simmer.

Once the sausage, bacon and onions are cooked through, add them to the wok and start frying up the chicken and toss that in once fully cooked.  Follow it up by frying up the Shrimp and clams and add them to the wok.  Stir everything together and let simmer as the rice is cooking.

Chop up the beans to about ½” pieces and grate the carrot.  Add to the wok once the rice is cooked and let simmer, uncovered, while the excess liquid steams off. 

Remember to stir occasionally so that the rice doesn’t burn.

This recipe will serve 4 - 6 people.

Happy feasting!

French Onion Soup

French onion soup can be a little tedious in the beginning but it's one of the most satisfying do-it-yourself comfort foods.

 

Ingredients:

1 lrg White Onion

1 lrg Spanish Onions

1/2 of a Purple Onion (mostly because I had it in the fridge

2 cloves of Garlic - minced

1 Tbl dried Rosemary     } I like my french onion really herby.  If you don't 

1/2 Tbl  dried Tarragon  } you can cut these down to 1 tsp or Rosemary,

3 Bay Leaves                 } 1/2 tsp Tarragon, and 2 Bay Leaves

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 c Red Wine

3 c Beef broth (easily substituted with Vegetable broth for a Vegetarian soup)

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Olive Oil

grated Swiss and Asiago

a baguette

Kitchen mandolins are a great little invention and make this soooo much easier!  Another good tool are tea filters, they're these empty, sort of do it your self tea-bags for loose leaf tea - you'll see why in a bit.

First thing is to slice up the onions and put them in a soup pot with a little olive oil and the minced garlic.  This is be the most arduous tasks in making the soup ... you need to caramelize the onions.  This can take 45 minutes or so as you'll need to saute all of the water out of the onions before they start to really brown.

While the onions are cooking, start to set up the next few things.  Put the Rosemary, Tarragon, and Bay leaves in the tea bag ...

Also measure out the wine and beef broth (splash in the tsp of Worcestershire sauce) and grate the cheeses (I like using both for a little variety).  I cut the bread into cubes (not the whole loaf, just enough for the two bowls) and put them on a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for a bit. When they've toasted, pull them out of the oven and add them into your onion soup bowls and set aside.

Once the onions are done things really start to roll.  Add the broth liquid and bring to a boil.  Toss in your herb bag and simmer for 20 minutes.  When that is done, fish out the herb bag and ladle soup into the bowls.  Top with a nice heap of the grated cheese and broil until the cheese is gooey and starts to brown.

Serve right away with slices of the remaining baguette.

Happy Feasting.

Cream cheese filled Carrot muffins

I found this recipe on line ages ago and wrote it down.  I've since lost the link so I can't give credit where credit is fully due but here it is none-the-less.

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together 1½ c. all-purpose flour, 1½ tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp.baking powder, ½ tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cardamom, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. nutmeg, and 1 c. sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs and 2/3 cup vegetable oil until lightened. Stir in 1½ c. shredded carrots, ½ c. chopped walnuts, and ½ c. raisins that have been soaked for 10 minutes in hot water (or warmed rum, if you’d like).

In another bowl, cream 4 oz. softened cream cheese with 1 egg yolk (add the egg white to the carrot cake batter to make it really moist) , ½ c. sugar, and ½ tsp. vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg/oil mixture. Stir until just combined.

Fill mini-muffin cups about 1/2 full, add a spoon of the cream cheese, and then another spoon of the carrot cake batter.


Bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake part comes out clean.

Happy Feasting!

Kitchen Basics

Do you ever get a thought in your head that there's something you need to get, you pick it up, and then when you get home you realize you actually do have it?

I obviously need to make a mental note that I do not need to buy muffin cups FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR.

I'm getting ready to make some muffins to take to work tomorrow (recipe to follow) but not 300 (insert Gerard Butler joke here ... "Tonight we dine on MUFFINS")

Happy Feasting!

Chai Spice No-bake Cheesecake

I had a friend pack me a lunch one day and in it they included some Graham Crackers.  When lunchtime came I dipped the crackers in my Chai tea and munched away ... the flavour was so yummie and I thought, "This NEEDS to be a cheesecake!!!"  ... voilà ... behold the fruits of that Ah-ha moment


Ingredients:

For the Chai spice mixture you will need:

1 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
2 tsp of ground cardamom
3/4 tsp of ground cloves
1/2 tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp of ground corriander
1/4 tsp of black pepper
dash of salt.

mix all of these together and set aside.
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For the crust you will need:

2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. melted butter/margerine
1/2 a bag of Skor bits.

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees F.  Mix all the ingredients together and press into a 9" spring form pan.  Bake for 10 - 15 minutes (until the crust seems set and the Skor bits have melted a little)

Once that is done, remove from your oven and cool in pan.  You can put it in the fridge, uncovered, to speed up the process if you like.
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For the filling you will need:

1 pkg. (8 oz) of Cream-cheese
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 pkg of Knox Gelatin
the Chai spice mix from earlier.

Beat softened cream-cheese, condensed milk, sour cream, and spice mix until smooth.  In a separate dish mix the Knox with 1/4 c boiling water (as per the instructions on the pack) until dissolved.  Add that to your cream-cheese mix and beat some more.

Pour that mixture over the cooled crust in the form pan, cover, and chill 'til firm.

I like to garnish/decorate this with shaved white chocolate and the remaining Skor bits.

I've taken this to a few pot-lucks over the holidays and it's been a huge success

Happy Feasting!!!