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Hot Chocolate Waffles

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Food hacks are everywhere these days. On food shows and in my social media feeds with captions like “55 food hacks that will change your life”, or “39 food hacks that will change the way you cook”. I’ve never understood why I would need so many but captions sell right?!

Hot Chocolate WafflesI came up with a food hack by accident. One day while making Nanaimo bars, I ran out of cocoa, substituted hot chocolate powder instead. Hot chocolate powder! It worked. So well in fact I used it again in these delicious hot chocolate waffles.

The kids poured maple syrup, chocolate syrup, whipping cream and powdered sugar on these bad boys. Spring Break Food.

Super Cool Food Hack: Use hot chocolate in place of cocoa powder for all the things. Or at least two.

 

 

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Hot Chocolate Waffles
Author: 
Recipe type: breakfast, brunch
Serves: 10
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup hot chocolate powder
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • ⅓ cup oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 6 ounces of semi sweet chocolate, rough chopped
  • Nonstick spray oil
  • Equipment needed: waffle maker
Instructions
  1. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside.
  2. Turn waffler maker on to preheat.
  3. In a large bowl whisk together flour, hot chocolate powder, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar and salt.
  4. In a second bowl add buttermilk, egg yolks, oil and vanilla. Do not mix. Pour wet ingredients into into dry mixture along with chopped chocolate and mix until combined (do not over mix).
  5. Carefully fold egg whites into batter in two batches.
  6. When waffle maker is ready coat with spray oil. This is important otherwise your waffles will stick (talking from experience).
  7. Using a ½ cup measuring scoop add your batter to waffle maker and cook until ready. Transfer to a dish and keep warm in oven until all waffles made and ready to eat.
  8. Serve with maple syrup, icing sugar, chocolate syrup and fresh berries.

 

Broken Glass – Valentine’s Day

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A popular potluck item for decades, broken glass jello is an easy, pretty and show stopping dessert to make for your guests or with your kids. Fun for potluck gatherings, you can colour code it to your kids birthday party theme, bridal showers, picnics, or any kind of holiday celebration. Simple pick your favourite jello colours and away you go.

Plan in advance of your event as you will need two days to let the dessert set up. I have little cookie cutters that I like to use to cut smaller shapes. With the mini heart shaped cutter in hand, instead of cutting cubes I carefully cut out some jello hearts. When adding to the casserole dish they went in just before the milk and were selectively placed. To ensure I had an equal mix of red to white I used only 2 small boxes of jello. You could use more however I like the white to show through.

Broken Glass Jello
Broken Glass Jello

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Broken Glass - Valentine's Day
Author: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 small boxes of red jello (cherry, raspberry, strawberry)
  • 2 enveloped unflavoured gelatin
  • 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
  • Supplies: 9x11 casserole dish
Instructions
  1. Dissolve each box of jello into separate tupperware or Glad style plastic containers using only 1 cup of boiling water. Mix well to ensure . Chill overnight or at least 24 hours to set.
  2. The next day in a a bowl add your gelatin and pour two cups of boiling water over top to bloom the gelatin. Stir until combined. Let cool a little and add sweetened condensed milk cooling to touch.
  3. Cut the jello into small cubes (they do not need to be the same size but close) and add to 9x11 casserole dish. Pour cooled milk mixture over jello, cover with plastic wrap and chill over night.
  4. Using a flat thin small knife or spatula, carefully cut around the side of the casserole dish to loosen sides. Slide along bottom and remove pieces carefully.

 

Apple Sponge

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There are only so many days in a month and when you have over half a cookbook flagged with recipes to try, the struggle becomes real. Plus kids, activities, events to attend, life in general! But I’m determined and so I made my way through a good handful of recipes from Olia Hercule’s cookbook Mamushka.

The monthly cookbook club I belong to allows you to try any recipe you want and share it to Instagram. There are no other requirements besides check out what others in the club are making. I have found through this process this year there are several recipes I would make again. This being one of them.

This Apple Sponge contains no rising agent. You create height by beating air into the eggs. The cake was moist and using Fall apples harvested at their peak makes it the perfect Autumn dessert. I added salt to the recipe to enhance the flavour but that’s entirely your choice.

Olia’s mom would make this whenever they had a craving for something sweet, calling it biskvit (“a sponge”).

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Apple Sponge
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • Butter for greasing pan
  • 5 eggs
  • ¾ cup + 2 tbsp superfine sugar
  • 1⅓ cups flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 green apples, cored and thinly sliced
  • icing sugar for dusting
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x12 inch cake pan with butter.
  2. Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl with a handheld mixer for at least 5 minutes (use a timer if necessary) until very thick, pale, and foamy. The amount of air you beat in is essential.
  3. Gently fold the flour and a good pinch of salt into the egg mixture.
  4. Mix the cinnamon with the apples, then tip the apples into the prepared cake pan and pour the cake batter evenly over the apples. Bake until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 35 minutes.
  5. Let it cool in the pan. Dust with some icing sugar, cut into squares and serve.

 

 

Aiden’s Gouda Fruit Salad

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My kids love to get into the kitchen and create things. More often then not they announce what they want to make without checking on ingredients first. This salad was the exception as we just so happened to have all the fruit available. Aiden’s Fruit Salad is made by my son Aiden and on this night accompanied quick sandwiches before a busy activity evening.

A fruit salad can include any fruit you want. We never add a dressing or drizzle of honey to our fruit salads as we let the sweetness of the fruit speak for itself.

Aiden's Gouda Fruit Salad
Aiden’s Gouda Fruit Salad

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Aiden's Gouda Fruit Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: salad, side, lunch
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup strawberries, rough chop
  • 2 cups grapes
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup green apple, rough chop
  • 1 cup fresh pineapple, rough chop
  • 2 cups watermelon, rough chop
  • 1 tbsp fresh mint
  • ½ cup cubed Gouda, Monterery Jack or grilled Halloom cheese
Instructions
  1. Add all fruit to a bowl. Light stir to combine.
  2. Tear off pieces of mint. Pour cubed cheese on top and serve.

 

 

White Chocolate Lavender Brownies

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Every summer we visit Kelowna and the Okanagan Lavender & Herb Farm. We love to wander the gardens and stop in the cafe to enjoy a lavender infused treat before we leave. We also drop into the little store they have and I always pick up some cooking lavender (or food grade culinary lavender) to play with at home. This is how this recipe came to be. Rummaging through my baking box in the pantry for white chocolate, I discovered the lavender. Having never heard of lavender brownies before I thought dang this could be good. The flavour is very subtle, but 3 out of 4 of us can detect the lavender in the brownies however next time I might try adding a little more. If you can’t get your hands on lavender, just leave it out.

White Chocolate Lavender Brownies
White Chocolate Lavender Brownies

These brownies are simple to make and easy to eat.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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White Chocolate Lavender Brownies
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, picnic, dessert
Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup butter
  • 6 oz semisweet chocolate
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup white chocolate morsels (Bernard Callebaut)
  • 1 tbsp Culinary Lavender buds
  • 1 cup flour
  • ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. In a double boiler or bowl over pot with simmering water melt butter and semisweet chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool 5-10 minutes. With a mortar and pestle or spice grinder grind your lavender until fine.
  3. In a second bowl mix together your sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in the white chocolate and lavender. Add your flour and salt.
  4. Line an 8 inch greased baking pan with parchment or foil and ensure it extends over opposite edges. Add batter and bake for 25 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan.

 

White Chocolate Lavender Brownies
White Chocolate Lavender Brownies

Cinnamon Butter Cake

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Lately I’ve been going through old small town cookbooks where my mom inspired myself and so many of her family members to submit recipes to the annual cookbook collaboration. I have two of them dating back to the 90’s and as I go through these books carefully page by page, I can’t help but smile when I see an Aunt or a friend with a recipe I so fondly remember. I also have several recipes posted from my Vancouver days where I dabbled with cooking constantly.

Who also has these kinds of books? Please share in the comments!

I often wonder the history of some of these retro recipes. So many of them where taken from early early cookbooks and changed up a bit to become Grandma’s or Mom’s recipe. I recall being at a food blogger conference once where a representative from Random House Publishing said exactly the same thing. Every recipe starts from a book somewhere. While I don’t believe “every” recipe does starts from a book since I’ve whipped up my own from scratch, I’m sure there are many that had a helping hand.

This is one of those retro recipes I took from the book and changed up to suit my tastes. I’ve never heard of it before so I was excited to give it a go. It’s a butter cake but I added a ton of cinnamon into the glaze because why not? Cinnamon has health benefits so I needed something to make me feel better after all the, well, butter!

 

Cinnamon Butter Cake
Cinnamon Butter Cake

It’s moist and perfect with tea or coffee.

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Cinnamon Butter Cake
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1⅓ cup buttermilk
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tbsp water
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
  2. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla followed by buttermilk.
  3. Add in flour, salt, baking powder and soda mixing until well combined.
  4. Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside.
  5. Melt sugar, butter, vanilla, water, salt and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Do not boil. This is your sauce.
  6. With a large skewer, poke holes all over the cake while still warm. Pour syrup all over cake, waiting until it is absorbed before you add more. Use it all.
  7. Let cake cool completely in pan. Remove to wire rack. Serve or cover until ready to serve.

 

 

Cinnamon Butter Cake
Cinnamon Butter Cake

 

Watergate Salad Trifle

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Who remembers this popular green salad from the late 70’s and 80’s called Watergate Salad? It’s a salad known by names such as pistachio delight, shut the gate salad, green goop, green fluff and green stuff and these days can be found on the table during Thanksgiving or Easter celebrations.

According to research efforts, the origin of the name “Watergate salad” is obscure: Kraft Corporate Affairs (who makes the pistachio pudding) says “There are several urban myths regarding the name change, but we can’t substantiate any of them. We developed the recipe for Pistachio Pineapple Delight.” It was in 1975, the same year that pistachio pudding mix came out. According to Kraft Kitchens, when the recipe for Pistachio Pineapple Delight was sent out, an unnamed Chicago food editor renamed it Watergate Salad to promote interest in the recipe when she printed it in her column. Neither the article nor editor has been tracked down, however.

Further to this in in 1922 Helen Keller published a similar recipe, calling for canned diced pineapple, nuts, marshmallows, whipped cream and other ingredients. “I ate it first in California, so I call it Golden Gate Salad”. Similar “fruit salad” and “pineapple salad” recipes had been published in the 1910s, and “Golden Gate Salad” was served in some US hotels. The question still begs to be answered, who came up with this recipe or was it an accumulation of recipes as we see so often these days.

Watergate salad wasn’t something we ate regularly in our house, in fact more of an experience we had when we were at gatherings with friends or family. I never did understand (even though I grew up in the era of jelly salads), how a bowl of pudding with fruit, nuts and marshmallows could be a side to a dinner. Inspiration hit and I decided to make this retro recipe into a trifle with real whipping cream.

Cococo Chocolatiers Baking Chocolate
Cococo Chocolatiers Baking Chocolate

Recently we dropped into Cococo Chocolatiers to try their hot chocolate for YYC Hot Chocolate Fest and I noticed they carry baking chocolate. They asked if I would like to sample some and I graciously said yes. Chocolate shavings was one of the items I received  and was excited to use. While making the individual trifles, I added toasted pecan bits to the layers of the trifle along with the Cococo Chocolate Shavings.

If you are having a friends over make this in a trifle bowl and double it for a crowd. This was the perfect amount for four or you could easily stretch it into 6-8 individual servings.

 

Wategate Salad Trifle
Watergate Salad Trifle

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Watergate Salad Trifle
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pkg. 4 serving size Jello Pistachio Flavour Instant Pudding
  • 1 cup mini marshmallows
  • 1 398ml can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
  • 5-6 cups whipping cream, whipped
  • 1 Angel Food Cake, baked and cooled
  • ½ cup pecan pieces, toasted
  • Cococo Chocolatiers chocolate shavings
  • plastic wrap
Instructions
  1. Combine pistachio pudding, pineapple, marshmallows. Mix in 3 cups whipped cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
  2. Cut your Angel Food Cake into 1 inch cubes.
  3. Place a layer of cake cubes on the bottom of your bowl or glassware.
  4. Add a layer of the pistachio pudding mixture.
  5. Spread on a dollop of whipping cream.
  6. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate shavings.
  7. Add another layer of cake cubs and continue to layer 2 - 3 times depending on your glassware.
  8. Top with whipping cream, pecans and chocolate shavings.

 

 

Wategate Salad Trifle
Watergate Salad Trifle

 

Berry Orange Smoothie Bowl

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Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and this year it falls on a Sunday. We created this Berry Orange Smoothie Bowl a couple months ago and thought it would be perfect for Valentine’s Day! It’s loaded with healthy goodness and has some extra zing with added orange zest and fresh mint. The kids love this combination.

We tend to celebrate Valentine’s Day with food and as a family. I’ve never been caught up in the day, and the need for romantic things, but I enjoy more the time spent together (with all electronics off), watching the kids delight in making up cards for their friends and baking some delicious treats. After all food is love or is that love is food?

Our favourite thing to do on Valentine’s Day is to fondue. Some people think fondue went away and make a big deal about it coming back. Actually it never left the building. Back in the 90’s I would swap ideas with friends out East who put on big fondue parties. I picked up lots of great tips and tricks for dips and still have the email print out of her recipes!

The next decade I started blogging and hearing about different ways to fondue. Back in the day it was more oil fondues but we’ve been doing broth for the past 14 years. So from what I’ve seen, it’s never stopped or slowed down. We love it and make it a tradition to fondue on Valentine’s Day. Now the kids are older and we don’t have to worry so much about  them burning themselves or getting tangled in all the cords. This year we have invited over my single mom friend and her two kids. Our International Student from China will also get to experience fondue for the first time. We do broth, cheese and chocolate. I’m getting quite excited thinking about it.

Valentines Blog Hop
Valentines Blog Hop

This year I’m participating in a Valentine’s Day Blog Hop Recipe round up with local food bloggers. Be sure to check out their blogs to see what’s cooking in their kitchen this Valentine’s Day and Family Day Long Weekend here in Alberta. They are Merry About Town, Food Mamma, Dish N The Kitchen, and Edible Life in YYC.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, however you choose to celebrate!

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Berry Orange Smoothie Bowl.
Author: 
Recipe type: breakfast, lunch, snack
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup frozen berries
  • ½ avocado
  • 1 cup fresh spinach
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • Zest & juice of 1 medium sized orange
  • ¼ cup mint leaves, fresh
  • 1 tbsp frozen raspberries
  • Chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp toasted, slivered almonds
Instructions
  1. In a blender add frozen berries, avocado, spinach, coconut milk, orange juice and mint. Cover and blend until smooth.
  2. Pour into bowl and sprinkle on your chia seeds, orange zest, frozen raspberries and toasted almonds. Serve immediately.

 

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

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One of my favourite desserts for as long as I can remember is creme brulee. This year I have been experimenting with creme brulee quite a bit. I tried a delicious summer peach brulee this past August but didn’t get the measurements right, or used to much peach – which added to much liquid and my custard didn’t set. Great flavour though!

It’s important to note when you freely add things to the custard it can easily change the consistency and not set up. And you can over cook the custard (trust me). I tried this pumpkin recipe 3-4 times before I got the measurements right. It’s a delicious option for your holiday meal and feels light when you are eating it after finishing a big meal.

The canning jars are the perfect vessel for brulees, but please be careful when torching your sugar…getting to close to the edge of the glass can cause it to break! While I have admittedly never broke a custard dish from torching, my husband, a former and non practicing fire fighter has broken one of the glasses. It happens and it gets tossed.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee
Pumpkin Creme Brulee

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Pumpkin Creme Brulee
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2¾ cups heavy cream
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ginger
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • ⅛ tsp cloves
  • pinch of salt
  • 8 egg yolks
  • ¾ cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • ½ cup white sugar
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine the cream, sugar, spices and salt. Stir to dissolve the sugar and heat cream to just under boiling (watch for bubbles to form around outside edge of cream). Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. While cream is heating whisk egg yolks together in a large bowl. Mix in your pumpkin and maple syrup.
  3. Gradually add about ¼ cup of the hot cream to the yolks, whisking constantly, then slowly add the remaining hot cream and stir to fully combine.
  4. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of four hours or over night. This will allow the spices to intensify the flavour of the custard.
  5. When ready to cook, strain the custard through a sieve into a clean bowl and preheat oven to 300.
  6. Turn your kettle on and boil some water.
  7. Arrange your jars or ramekins in a large baking pan.
  8. Carefully ladle or pour the custard into the jars/ramekins, filling them about ⅔rds full.
  9. Place the baking pan on oven rack and carefully pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the jars/ramekins.
  10. Bake until the edges have set but the center still jiggles when the ramekin is gently shaken, about 40 to 45 minutes.
  11. Remove from the water bath and let cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Put lids on jars or cover ramekins with wrap/foil and place in fridge until ready to serve.
  12. When ready to eat sprinkle 1-2 tbsp of sugar evenly on each custard jar.
  13. Use a kitchen blowtorch or the broiler to evenly melt and caramelize the sugar.
  14. Serve immediately.

 

 

Pumpkin Creme Brulee
Pumpkin Creme Brulee

 

Halloween Bark

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A great way to use up that extra Halloween Candy, and chocolate is to make bark. You can use dark or milk chocolate in place of the white, and the variations of bark are endless. This year I hit the bulk bins early to pick up some candy for my sons Birthday Monster Cupcakes. I always tend to overshoot the moon and buy more than what I need giving me….leftover candy!

I always find if I don’t get rid of the candy/chocolate, I will eat it. Just a piece here there…but eventually it disappears. So to avoid this temptation, I decided to toss it all into some bark. The kids love it and it goes pretty fast.

Make sure you have chocolate wafers or melting chocolate. Mix everything right in reserving a few pieces to dot on top just to pretty it up. It all tastes the same whether you mix the candy all in, or perfectly drop the pieces on top.

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Halloween Bark
Author: 
Recipe type: Halloween candy, snacks
 
Ingredients
  • 4 cups white chocolate melting wafers
  • 2 cups candy and chopped chocolate bars
Instructions
  1. Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler or on low heat in microwave. Let cool and set aside.
  2. Toss in mixed candy and chocolate stirring well.
  3. Pour onto parchment or foil lined cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan, the larger the better). Refrigerate for 30 minutes, remove and break into pieces.
  4. Store in a ziplock freezer bag and try not to eat it all at once.

 

Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Nanaimo Bars

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Right now in my world there is nothing better than recipe testing with Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread. I’m beyond excited and fully wearing my fat pants. Why you ask? Well since the product arrived, truth be known, I’ve been diligently taste testing it every day, with a spoon, to ensure it hasn’t gone bad. I do what I have to for the people.

I’ve always adored Reese Peanut Butter Cups. In fact I secretly remove a few from my kids Halloween candy bags every year making up some excuse like whoops the cats got in and licked them if they discover some missing. As a mom you do what you gotta do. I’ll let you in on a little secret to – Reese Peanut Butter Cups taste amazing squished into a S’more.

When the call came out for Canadian Bloggers to support the product in Canada, I couldn’t resist throwing my name in the hat. What better way to challenge yourself by creating something extraordinary. I was fortunate to get picked along with several other fabulous food bloggers across Canada. We be having a Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread Party. Seriously though what an idea to go all twitter crazy sharing our recipes.

With several ideas floating around my brain, there was one idea that stood out. A dessert served mainly around the holidays and one recipe I know like the back of my hand since I helped my mom make it growing up a very long time ago. The good old Canadian Nanaimo Bar [The Good Old Hockey Game song just came to mind by Stompin Tom). See I made this treat last month (July) for our International German Student who after 11 months was leaving us to go home. I wanted to send her off with one final Canadian treat. It was then I discovered since Nanaimo Bars are not baked, they really can be made any time of the year and are the perfect summer bite. So I made them with the Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread changing up some of my quantities from the Nanaimo Bar Recipe I have posted. It worked!

My kids are going crazy for this dessert today as I’ve let the guinea pigs have a taste. So I had to photograph the squares quickly and get the post up. The biggest challenge has been trying not to eat the whole jar. #DoYouSpoon

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Nanaimo Bars
Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Nanaimo Bars

This post is sponsored by Hershey’s Canada and I’ve been compensated monetarily and with product to create a new recipe.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Reese Peanut Butter Chocolate Nanaimo Bars
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert, holiday, treat
Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • Base:
  • ¾ cup butter
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup cocoa
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 2 cups graham wafer crumbs crushed
  • Middle
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1½ cup Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread
  • 2¼ cup icing sugar
  • 2-3 tbsp milk
  • Top:
  • 8 ounces (1 box) semi sweet chocolate squares
  • 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
  1. Assemble Base:
  2. In a double boiler (over medium high heat) add ¾ cup butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla & egg, whisking until well combined. Stir until mixture reaches a custard like consistency (thickens slightly).
  3. Mix in graham wafer crumbs and coconut. Stir until combined and press into ungreased 8x8 or 9x9 square baking pan.
  4. Assemble middle:
  5. In a large microwave safe bowl add 4 tbsp butter and Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread. Microwave on medium - low in 30 second increments until completely melted. Add icing sugar one cup at a time and alternate mixing with 1 tbsp of milk until all icing sugar is used. Your mixture consistency should be creamy & delicious. Spread evenly over your base and refrigerate until firmed up.
  6. Assemble top:
  7. In a microwaveable bowl add butter and semi sweet chocolate. Melt chocolate/butter on low in 30-40 second increments stirring in between. Continue until chocolate almost melted. Remove and stir until remaining chocolate is completely smooth. Pour chocolate over squares and give a little shake to evenly distribute. Refrigerate to harden top layer of chocolate before cutting and serving.

 

Blueberry Lavender Creme Brulee

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I have a weakness for creme brulee. I make it quite regularly but stick to my usual recipe. This time I have been both inspired by a new Creme Brulee vendor in the Crossroads Farmers Market and wanting to change things up a bit.

Recently I attended the Duchess Bake Shop’s Calgary Cookbook Launch Party. We were able to meet the creators of the Edmonton Bakery, sample some of their amazing baked yummies (is that a word?), purchase their cookbook, and we all left with a goodie bag. In my bag was a jar of French Lavender.

Inspiration comes from everywhere where food is concerned. With an abundance of BC Blueberries in the store (and my fridge) I knew the berries and the French Lavender were the two ingredients I wanted in my creme brulee. Had company coming into town so I had the perfect excuse to recipe test this combination. According to my brother in law, I nailed it.

Creme Brulee is not so hard to make, you can do this! Here’s how.

5.0 from 2 reviews
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Blueberry Lavender Creme Brulee
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 3½ cups of heavy cream (whipping cream)
  • 1½ cup of white sugar
  • 1 tsp lavender (heaping tsp)
  • ⅛ tsp of vanilla
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 300 and arrange your jars or ramekins in a large baking pan.
  2. Add approximately 10-15 blueberries to each jar/ramekin.
  3. Fill your kettle with water & turn it on.
  4. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine the cream, ¾ cup of sugar, lavender, and vanilla. Stir to dissolve the sugar and heat cream to just under boiling (bubbles form around outside edge of cream). Remove from heat and set aside.
  5. While cream is heating whisk egg yolks together in a large bowl.
  6. Gradually add about ¼ cup of the hot cream to the yolks, whisking constantly, then slowly add the remaining hot cream and stir to fully combine.
  7. Strain the custard through a sieve into a clean bowl.
  8. Carefully ladle or pour the custard into the jars/ramekins, filling them about ⅔rds full.
  9. Place the baking pan on oven rack and carefully pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the jars/ramekins.
  10. Bake until the edges have set but the center still jiggles when the ramekin is gently shaken, about 40 to 45 minutes.
  11. Remove from the water bath and let cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Put lids on jars or cover ramekins with wrap/foil and place in fridge until ready to serve.
  12. When ready to eat sprinkle 1-2 tbsp of sugar evenly on each custard jar.
  13. Use a kitchen blowtorch or the broiler to evenly melt and caramelize the sugar.
  14. Serve immediately.

 

 

Blueberry Lavender Creme Brulee
Blueberry Lavender Creme Brulee

 

Date Energy Bites

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We are road trippers and campers. With me being from BC, my family living in SK, my husbands family living in MB and us residing in AB, we’ve toured up and down the 4 Western Provinces extensively over the past 15 years. Definitely time to discover and journey to the East and South into America!

I’ve always tried to pack a small cooler for road trips. Fill them with good stuff like cheese sticks, yogurt tubes, and cut up veggies for the road. I wash & cut up a bunch of fruit, put it into larger portable containers and this helps with any hunger that might set in on a trip alleviating the need to stop at a gas station and buy junk food. The kids just pass the container around until they are satisfied, or it is empty. If your kids love hummus, bring it along as a dip for the veggies.

Depending on how long the trip is I will bring along some home made granola or trail mix, and even prepare some Sammy’s On A Stick for the road, or for when we arrive at our destination. Popping some popcorn the night before and separating it into individual ziplock bags, with some pretzels or m&m’s thrown in is one idea the kids love.

These energy bites were created as another road trip option as they are another quick, tasty & healthy bite that can be made a variety of ways. Bites made with dates are naturally sweetened. Also nut free so the kids can take them to school.  So many ways to eat relatively healthy while on the road1

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Date Energy Bites
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, road trip, healthy,
Serves: 10-12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup dates
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 cup oats
  • ¼ cup chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp agave
Instructions
  1. In a blender, food processor or immersion blender, puree dates with water until smooth.
  2. In bowl mix dates with remaining ingredients.
  3. Put in refrigerator to allow to firm up or roll as is.
  4. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

 

Berry Lentil Smoothie

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Smoothies and lentils are not two words you would normally find together. I’d never heard of a smoothie being made with lentils before so when a Canadian Lentils Contest came round for Canadian Food Bloggers, I decided to make smoothie made with lentils and enter the contest.

I didn’t win the contest but I won my kids over as they had no clue their smoothies were made with lentils!

It’s important to use cooked lentils in this recipe as they are soft and puree easily. I add everything into my blender or container at once. We enjoy our smoothies thick like milkshakes as they tend to melt quick. Adding smoothies is a great way to get an added protein boost.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Berry Lentil Smoothie
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, breakfast, lunch
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • ½ avocado
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled & sliced into coins
  • ½ cup apple, peeled & diced
  • ½ banana
  • ½ cup cooked green lentils
  • 1 cup frozen berries
  • ½ cup fresh spinach
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup coconut milk
Instructions
  1. Add everything into your blender or mixer container and blend until smooth.
  2. Serve immediately.

 

Festive Mars Bars Squares

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I am apparently a Mars Bars Squares Virgin. Who knew these delicious treats existed. I learned about them last summer on our way out of town on a camping trip. It always seems to take us soooo long to pack up no matter how many lists, and how efficient I am at getting things ready in advance. We can’t win. So by the time we get out of town we are exhausted by over excited kids and packing up…hence ready for a drink. But we are driving and have to wait for a beverage. So on this particular outing, we opted for coffee instead.

I checked out the GPS and there was surprisingly one on the way to our camping destination. So we stopped at at little place called Latte Da for our cuppa joe and were thrilled to find sweet treats available to. The folks in this little cafe were very friendly and when we walked in, they just so happen to be bringing out this huge platter of, well Mars Bars Squares. Intrigued, we bought a couple and devoured them before we left the cafe. Spectacular. A delicious tasting bite. I asked how they were made and Laurie, the  owner, graciously shared her recipe with me.

I went on to make these a couple times over the summer and then while thinking about my Christmas Holiday Baking Round up, the thought came to me to make them again…but with a little candy cane twist.

 

Festive Mars Bars Squares
Festive Mars Bars Squares

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Candy Cane Mars Bars Squares
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert, treat, snack,
 
Ingredients
  • 4-5 regular sized mars bars (I used 4 little mars bars to replace one big)
  • ⅓ cup butter + ¼ cup for top
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips for top
  • 3.5 cups rice krispy cereal holiday edition
  • ¼ cup crushed red & green smarties
  • ¼ cup crushed candy canes
Instructions
  1. Melt mars bars and ⅓ cup butter in large pot over low heat. This will take a few minutes of stirring and watching as you don't want the mixture to burn.
  2. Once melted pour in your cereal. Mix well until all combined.
  3. Pour into a 9 x 9 square baking dish.
  4. In a microwaveable bowl add remaining butter and milk chocolate chips. Melt on low stirring every 10 seconds until melted.
  5. Pour melted chocolate over top of rice krispy mixture.
  6. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes and smarties. Let chocolate harden in refrigerator before serving.

 

Eggnog Sugar Cookies with Candy Cane Sprinkles

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What a crazy past couple of weeks. I remember Halloween..then my son’s birthday and wham here we are just weeks away from Christmas. From frantic bake sale baking, long distance cookie swap baking to mom’s wine night & cookie exchange baking….I feel like I barely came out alive. Maybe I just take on too much every holiday season and need to rethink my strategy next year. To add to all the craziness was the onset of the sick in November. From colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, tonsillitis to ear infections..4 in our party of 5 got hit pretty hard and I was one of them. Seems the older you get the harder you fall and while I don’t usually get sick, I fell pretty hard this time. Which meant no wine for weeks. On the bright side we are all done with being sick and I refuse to let it back in the house any time soon. Bring on Christmas.

One of the cookie swaps I am involved with again this year is the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014. It’s a world wide affair but you have to be a Food Blogger to participate. For a small submission fee (goes to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer), you get matched up with other Food Bloggers in your Country. You always hope you end up with delicious cookies but that is the chance you take when you participate in something like this. It annoys me to no end to hear people complain that their cookies were not that good. Then honestly don’t participate it’s that simple since it’s for charity and it’s fun. The only thing I wish more bloggers would do is get acquainted with the more popular social media channels!! This year I sent my cookie swap cookies to BC and Saskatchewan. A little closer for me and I was happy about that (less travel time).

I had wanted to do a shortbread cookie this year. And after testing out one recipe I totally changed my game plan as I had also been wanting to create an eggnog cookie. For like years. So with just days to spare I came up with I guess a cross between a blossom cookie and a sugar cookie. I say sugar as the ingredients closely resemble a sugar cookie recipe. Took me two tries to get the ingredients right, but I did and it’s pretty darn good. I ran out of chocolate kisses so improvised with chocolate balls. I like this idea so much, my next batch of blossom style cookies will have balls and not kisses.

The cookies I received from Bloggers are: World Peace Cookies from The Blenderist, Coffee Sugar Cookies from Oven Mitt Adventures, and just received is my prettiest package yet, Sour Cherry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies by Wanna Come With. A fun way to get to know other bloggers!

This recipe makes close to 30 cookies so I had lots leftover. So much so I made these Eggnog Sugar Cookies with Candy Cane Sprinkles for another cookie swap!

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Eggnogg Sugar Cookie with Candy Cane Sprinkles
Author: 
Recipe type: cookies, desserts, snacks
Serves: 30
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tbsp eggnog
  • 2 cups flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ cup sugar & 1 tbsp nutmeg (for rolling)
  • 3 ;Lrge candy canes crushed up fine.
  • 30 chocolate kisses or chocolate candy balls
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Beat your butter. Add in both sugars and mix until sugars mixed in and smooth. Add egg, vanilla and eggnog. Beat until combined.
  3. Sift in flour, pinch of salt, baking soda and grate your nutmeg in over a sifter.
  4. Your batter consistency should not be to sticky or to dry.
  5. Take pieces of the dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Set aside.
  6. Mix ½ cup sugar with 1 tbsp freshly grated nutmeg. Roll balls in nutmeg sugar.
  7. Place on parchment lined baking sheet leaving space between cookies.
  8. Bake for 6 minutes then rotate pans.
  9. Remove wrappers from all the chocolate kisses/balls.
  10. Bake for 4 minutes then pull pan out and sprinkle a little candy cane dust in the center of each cookie. It's ok if some of it falls to the side.
  11. Put pan back in oven for an addition 2 minutes and remove from oven.
  12. Press chocolate kisses or balls into centre of each cookie. You need to work quickly as the chocolate starts to melt a little.
  13. Remove to cooling rack. I put the cookies outside in the cold (on a table) or in the fridge to help the chocolate solidify again.
  14. This batch makes about 30 cookies.

 

Shareba’s Chocolate Almond Butter Crescent Rolls

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In October I was fortunate enough to attend the Food Bloggers of Canada 2014 Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Having lived in Vancouver for several years before migrating East, I was very excited to be returning for a visit, but also looking forward to meeting so many of my Food Blogger friends from across Canada.

Having arrived a day early to just hang out and find some good eats, Friday arrived and I anxiously started to make my way to the hotel as conference registration was officially open. At the registration desk, there were 3 lovely ladies waving everyone in and handing us these ginormous swag bags. Shareba, from In Search of Yummy-ness, was one of them, and I was so excited to finally put a face to all the social media chatter we’d been doing for quite some time.

With a very busy conference ahead of us and Shareba one of the volunteers, we didn’t get to visit to much, but I know the chatter will continue and perhaps at the next conference we will get to visit a little more. Even before we met in person, Shareba had agreed to be a guest poster on my blog and I’m thrilled to introduce her to you and share her recipe for Chocolate Almond Butter Crescent Rolls! Welcome Shareba!

 

Thanks for asking me to share a recipe here at Bakersbeans!

As a Media Studies graduate who has worked on two cooking shows, food blogging seemed like a no-brainer to me.

My blog has changed a lot since I started it back in 2010. I think I only posted 8 times that year! Honestly, I really didn’t start to understand how to “blog” until the end of 2012, and even then my photos weren’t great.

I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort into my blog lately, and I think it’s starting to show. Hopefully, it’s easier for people to navigate my website now and get an idea of what I write about.

My content has been changing over the years, but in general I blog about my experiences with food. That includes things like meals at restaurants, recaps of food events, and highlighting products that I like.

Of course, I write about cooking in my kitchen too. I enjoy sharing recipes that are fairly easy to make at home – basically the food that I like to eat. There’s a mix of healthy dishes and indulgent treats.

Food has been such a big part of my life, and I’m thrilled to be a full time food blogger now. It’s been a struggle to get to this point, but right now I’m happy and I think that’s what matters the most.

Speaking of food… here’s a recipe for something I’d like to eat right now. It’s almost 1AM and all I want is comfort food!

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Chocolate Almond Butter Crescent Rolls from In Search of Yummyness
Author: 
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 227g tube of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
  • 8 tsp Nutella (or other chocolate spread)
  • 8 tsp Roasted Almond Butter
  • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon, for sprinkling
  • Powdered Sugar (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. Unroll dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, separate into 8 triangles.
  3. Spread each triangle with 1 tsp. Nutella and 1 tsp. almond butter.
  4. Sprinkle each triangle with a pinch of cinnamon.
  5. Roll up the triangles, from the wide end to the pointy end.
  6. Bend the rolls into crescent shapes
  7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool a bit.
  8. Serve warm, with powdered sugar (optional).
Notes
The directions are adapted from the label on the Canadian 227g tube of Pillsbury Crescents. This recipe originally appeared on the In Search Of Yummy-ness blog.

 

For more information, or to contact Shareba, go here:
Twitter: @InSearchOfYummy
Facebook: In Search Of Yummy-ness
Instagram: @InSearchOfYummyness
Pinterest: @InSearchOfYummy
Blog: InSearchOfYummyness.com

Brownie Cake

1 · · 5 Comments

Recently I received some samples (cooking sauces and marinade) from Pulo Philippine Cuisine. I started browsing their pamphlets to see how they have used the products themselves. While everything looked tasty, I wasn’t getting inspired and couldn’t get past the basics. So they sat a for a few days. And then like Snow in Calgary in September, it hit me….forget savory…go for sweet.

The Tinaga Island Coconut Adobo Cooking Sauce is so far one of my favourites (ok only got through 2 of 6 so far). It’s both tasty and the great thing about coconut is you can take it to savory or sweet. Plus it had vinegar in it and my mom used to make a chocolate cake recipe with vinegar. I knew I was onto something, so I decided to make Brownies. With the Pulo Coconut Adobo Cooking Sauce you say? Why the heck not. Nobody puts Baby in a Corner….(little Dirty Dancing reference there). Besides isn’t this how all the great recipes are born…trial & error?!

Brownie Cake
Brownie Cake

This recipe started off as a Brownie recipe. As I was making it I went looking for my 9 x 11 baking dish to pour the brownies into. Discovered it was in use and so I substituted the 9×9 instead. And without further ado, this recipe went from Brownies, to Brownie Cake. A substitution gone right.

One minion advised she could taste a hint of coconut in the brownie. Husband mentioned a tiny hint of heat. The flavours were there and I have to say these Brownie Cakes tasted equally delicious with freshly whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.

Tinaga Island is part of the Bicol region of the Phillipines, an area renowned for hot chili and coconut milk dishes. And it’s now on my list of places I want to visit.

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Brownie Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, dessert
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • ¾ cup cocoa
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1½ cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¾ cup Pulo Coconut Adobo Cooking Sauce
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. In a pot on medium heat add butter and melt. Turn heat down and pour in brown sugar and white sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Do not boil. Whisk in cocoa and remove from heat.
  3. To the pot add a pinch of salt, vanilla, and 1 egg at a time, whisking quickly after each addition to avoid cooking the eggs.
  4. Stir in flour and baking powder.
  5. Add a piece of parchment to a 9x9 baking dish. Give a quick spray with cooking spray to ensure all sides have been coated in case like me, your parchment doesn't cover all the way up the sides.
  6. Pour in your batter spreading it around. Give a little shake shake to ensure even distribution.
  7. Place in oven for 30-40 minutes. Test with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.
  8. Let rest in pan for about 10 minutes and remove to rack. Let cool off completely before serving.

 

Orange Waffles

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Recently these orange waffles have become one of our favourites for breakie. We go through stages. We’re crazy like that. We’ve been on a waffle kick for a couple months now. The waffle maker has been taking up permanent residence on the counter. Might need to move and dust under it soon.

A while back I attempted for the first time ever, chicken & waffles. Surprised everyone, as it was a huge hit. I’ve had requests to make it again. Now that I can cook on the BBQ and not smoke up the house with the chicken, I’m excited to cook up another batch of chicken and waffles. Mmmmm.

The orange flavour in these waffles is light but memorable. We almost always have to have them with maple syrup, whipping cream and a little orange zest for good measure. Important to note this recipe only makes 6 individual waffles and if you end up loving them as much as we do, you will need to double the recipe. Just sayin.

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Orange Waffles
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast, Lunch, Brunch, Dinner
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ cup flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • ½ cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 tbsp orange zest
  • 2 tbsp orange juice
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • maple syrup
  • whipping cream, whipped
Instructions
  1. Preheat waffle maker.
  2. In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, sour cream, butter, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pinch of salt and brown sugar. Add wet ingredients and stir to combine.
  4. Turn waffle maker to your desired setting (we use medium) and pour in about 1 cup of the batter per batch spreading evenly all over the waffle maker. Cook until done.
  5. Using a spatula remove waffles and serve immediately. Or keep in oven on low temp until ready to serve.

 

Coconut Banana Bread

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With so many varieties of banana bread out there, it’s nice to shake things up once in awhile. This Coconut Banana Bread never lasts longer than a day in our family. The addition of coconut and orange zest is not over powering, yet adds a nice subtle flavour boost.

My kids are always asking for banana bread or muffins, but we never seem to have leftover, “ripe” bananas. I finally started buying two stacks of bananas at the grocery stores allowing some of the bananas to become ripe. And baking to be done!

Serve this Coconut Banana Bread with butter, cream cheese or a drizzle of honey. A perfect anytime snack.

Makes 1 loaf.

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Coconut Banana Bread
Author: 
Recipe type: snack
 
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ cup + 2 tbsp butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 4 ripe bananas, mashed
  • ½ tsp orange zest
  • ¾ cup + 2 tbsp coconut
  • pinch of salt
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda and a pinch of salt.
  3. In a second bowl whip the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add orange zest. Drop in eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.
  4. Mix in bananas.
  5. Add flour mixture and coconut, stirring to combine.
  6. Pour batter into loaf pan and sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp of coconut.
  7. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

 

Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies

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This recipe is the combination of a Carrot Cupcake and a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie recipe. Yes it is possible to put pureed lentils into cookies which is how we got to these Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies. And the kids don’t have a clue.

Batch one came about last week. Just before I got hit with a wicked head cold and the sick. Needless to say I couldn’t taste them, so I didn’t bother to ice them. Just sent the cookies out as is to friends, teachers at the school and of course my husband’s work mates. The feedback I got was incredible. Words like “exotic flavours” and the perfect amount of spice. Others advised there wasn’t enough spice. All good feedback since I cut back on sugar and oil in this recipe. The other surprise for everyone was they contained pureed green lentils. In fact you can put pureed lentils into most baking for that extra protein kick. Loved the feedback, which helped immensely.

Lentil cookie round two came about today. My sniffer was back, taste buds in check, a few modifications I needed to make were made and I think batch two was way better than the first batch from last week. Will have to wait to hear from the testers again but this time they have been iced.

One thing I decided to change with batch two was only using baking soda. In batch one I used baking soda and powder. The cookies were pretty big. This time, without using baking powder, they still turned out puffy. So the kids are enjoying eating them as singles with a dollop of icing on top. I say whatever works.

This will be my second entry into the Canadian Lentils Contest and my baked goods entry. I further created a Lentil Balls recipe a couple weeks ago, well according to the photo dates, it was March 5th. But the sick and all kinds of other stuff has kept me from getting that recipe posted. Soon I hope.

These cookies are moist, not too sweet, yet flavourful and I’m told delicious as is or with a dollop of icing in the middle.

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Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, cookie, whoopie pie
Serves: 20
 
Ingredients
  • 3½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp cloves
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup canola oil
  • 2 jars pureed baby carrot food
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup pureed green lentils
  • ½ cup shredded coconut
  • 1 cup carrots, shredded
  • additional cooked lentils for top, optional
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
  3. In a second bowl whisk together your eggs, sugars, canola oil, baby carrot food, vanilla and green lentils. Stir in coconut and carrots.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well to combine.
  5. Use a small cookie scoop or a large rounded tablespoon to drop the dough onto the baking sheets. It is important they are uniform in size and shape. Space 1 inch apart.
  6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cookie comes out clean and it lightly springs back when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
  7. Once cooled, ice with cream cheese icing.
Notes
To making cream cheese icing, beat together ¼ cup softened butter, 1 8 oz block of softened cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt and 2½ cups icing sugar.

 

Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding

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This Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding, made in the slow cooker, was part of The Great Cream Challenge 2014. In this challenge I went against two other food bloggers from across Canada, and their recipes. The one with the most votes won the challenge.

While I didn’t win the challenge, I am sure grateful for all the votes and support I received for this recipe. It was a fun challenge to compete in!

This recipe has an Eggnog Sauce that is more seasonal. You could do a vanilla sauce or spiced rum sauce if you want to make this dish any time Eggnog is not available. Or, as my mom used to do, you could make your own Eggnog! Before making this recipe test your casserole/baking dish to ensure it fits inside your slow cooker. I have an oval slow cooker so the baking dish I chose worked well.

My husband devoured this pudding and hopefully you will to. Here’s how we did it.

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Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding
 
Ingredients
  • 1 can Dulce de Leche sweetened condensed milk
  • 1½ cups 35% cream
  • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg, grated
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 4 cups 1-inch bread cubes, day old French bread
  • ½ cup raisins, seedless
  • Aluminum Foil
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 cup eggnog
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
Instructions
  1. Lightly butter a 1.5 quart (1.4 L) baking dish, and set aside. Then, place a small metal rack or trivet in bottom of slow cooker. Add ½ - ¾ cup water.
  2. In a large bowl mix together sweetened condensed milk, cream, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon until combined. Add bread cubes and raisins, and stir. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
  3. Spoon into baking dish and cover with tin foil, then place it on rack in slow cooker.
  4. Then, put lid on slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours. Remove and let stand 10 - 15 minutes before serving. Serve with warmed Eggnog Sauce.
Notes
To make eggnog sauce: In a bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch, eggnog, vanilla and nutmeg. Pour into sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat on stove. Stir until slightly thickened and remove from heat. Drizzle over bread pudding and serve warm.

 

Waffle Cone Fruit Salad

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A fun treat for the kids any time of the year. During Winter you may be limited to using whatever fruit is available in your grocery store. I know we definitely are here as certain out of season fruit that has been shipped in from afar, tends to taste bland and not good. In Summer fresh fruit can be found everywhere.

I’ve been making this waffle cone treat for the kids for years. When I make my fruit salad, the only thing I add in sometimes is fresh, thinly sliced mint. I enjoy the full, sweet flavours of the fruit and don’t feel it needs a dressing. I’ve taught my kids to enjoy these simple flavours as well. If you need to have a dressing with your fruit salad, by all means use your favourite. Or even mix in a little yogurt. You can also buy the mini cones and make small versions of this treat for those “mini” hands.

This recipe is incredibly simple and can be used in many ways: great for birthday parties, an alternative to the constant request of “can I have an ice cream cone”, good camping treats, a quick breakfast with a side of yogurt, make it for lunch with some cheese & crackers on the side, add a small dollop of whipping cream on top, make it for game day or bring to a potluck.

But the best part is the kids can be involved in making this enjoyable treat.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Waffle Cone Fruit SAlad
Author: 
Recipe type: treat, summer, fruit salad, ice cream cone, waffle cone
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 4 cups of your favourite fruit, cleaned, peeled and chopped into smaller pieces where needed
  • 4-5 waffle ice cream cones, regular size
  • 1 tbsp fresh mint, chiffonade (thin chop)
Instructions
  1. Mix your fruit together in a bowl and add chopped mint.
  2. Scoop fruit into each waffle cone and enjoy.

 

Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies

0 · · 4 Comments

I seemed to be a on a gingerbread kick this past Fall. Since finding a flavour combination we all love in these Five Spice Ginger Cookies, I have had so many food ideas in my head that I want to start testing. But as it goes we are at the end of the year, well, we were yesterday when I started this post, and with the craziness of getting our seafood feast ready for last evening, it didn’t get posted.

Today is a new day, and a new year full of hope and happiness. The recipe is up and I wish all of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Monday night some friends and I gathered later in the evening to celebrate a birthday with a few glasses of wine. Most of the ladies there as far as I know are transplants, meaning we all come from other Provinces in Canada and have no immediate family here in Calgary. I am grateful for these friends to share life’s ups and downs with when needed. A couple hours out with the girls to just chat, enjoy some bits n bites, some wine and good company always soothes the soul.

And true to form I can’t just show up at a gathering, as simple as it is, without some form of food (and wine) in hand. Last night was the perfect night to test out a few recipes on said friends, who admit they are willing guinea pigs who love to try my food. Rave reviews on these brownies and here is the recipe.

Made a couple days prior and dusted with icing sugar upon serving, these brownies are a moist, flavourful and sinfully delicious bite. I could have iced these brownies, but I felt they had enough flavour to stand alone and nobody noticed the lack of icing.

Omit the cocoa powder and you have an equally delicious Gingerbread Brownie, minus the chocolate.

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Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, treats, dessert,
Serves: 10
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ginger
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp cloves
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup butter, melted
  • ¾ cup molasses
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • ½ cup candied ginger, chopped
  • icing sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Combine flour through nutmeg in a large bowl.
  3. In a smaller bowl whisk together eggs, butter, molasses, milk, vanilla and water.
  4. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir until combined.
  5. Fold in chocolate chips and candied ginger.
  6. Pour batter into parchment paper lined 9x11 or 9x13 baking pan and spread evenly.
  7. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Cool in pan on rack.
  9. Remove brownies from parchment paper, slice and sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar just before serving.
Notes
For a thicker brownie use a 9 x 11 pan. Use a 9 x 13 pan to get a thinner brownie.