Tag Archives: baking

Strawberry-lime vanilla jam

19 Apr

We’re heading into strawberry season here in Italy.  You can find big, ripe strawberries in all the supermarkets, outdoor markets and from produce trucks on the side of the roads.  Yesterday I bought a big boxful from the local Sicilian produce truck and was excited to get home and try them out.  They smelled so sweet and delicious.

There’s only one slight little problem.  I’m allergic to fresh strawberries.  But somehow every year when strawberry season comes around I convince myself that it’s a possibility that my strawberry allergy has miraculously been cured.  And every year I pop one lovlingly in my mouth, taste that divine sweet berry flavour then proceed to swell up.  My eyes get red and swollen, my lips puff up (think Angelina Jolie here) and my throat starts to itch so terribily I’ve been known to contemplate shoving a fork down to scratch it .  In other words I look frightening.  Scare-the-neighbourhood-kids sort of frightening.  But let me tell you…those 10 seconds of tasting fresh strawberries is almost worth the discomfort I feel from the allergic reaction.

So in order to use up some of the strawberries that I purchased I decided to give jam making a try again (I’m not allergic to cooked strawberries).  Last time it was actually a success (Blood Orange Marmalade).   And I’m proud to tell you this time was as well.

Today we gave this new batch of jam a try with fresh out of the oven homemade biscuits.  Delicious.  The sweetness of the berries with the addition of the tart lime juice and rind is really perfection.  And to round off all the flavours the vanilla gives it such a deep sweet richness.

Unfortunately only one of my three children likes jam (the other two run away in horror at the mere mention of spreading it on their bread).  So a nice thing about this recipe is the fact it makes quite a small batch.  I managed to get 3 normal sized jars of jam out of this recipe.

Recipe: Strawberry Lime Vanilla Jam

4 cups chopped strawberries
2 cups of sugar (divided in two)
1-2 vanilla bean (split and pulp scraped from the inside)
1 lime (zest and juice)

1. Place chopped strawberries in large bowl with 1 cup of the sugar and the vanilla bean and let marinate (some prefer the term macerate…not me) for 2-3 hours.

2.  Add marinated strawberries into large pot with the remaining cup of sugar and bring to a boil and simmer until it reaches 220 degrees (I use a candy thermometre).

3.  Add the lime juice and zest and boil for additional 5-8 minutes or until the jam is at the correct consistency.

4.  Remove vanilla bean and pour jam into prepared and sterilized jars.

Enjoy! (I found this recipe here)

This jam brings back warm and fuzzy memories of one of my favourite childhood books “Bread and Jam for Frances” by Russel Hoban.  I so related to Francis and her love of bread and jam.  Still do.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

17 Apr

After two weeks of various Japanese desserts which included lots of white and red bean paste, flavoured fruit jellies and matcha tea cookies and ice cream the kids were craving some home baked cookies from La Mama.

So in between all the unpacking and cleaning I managed to whip up some chewy oatmeal cookies.  The perfect afternoon snack for a cold and  rainy spring day.I always slightly underbake oatmeal cookies to give them that soft and chewy texture.  These are great just out of the oven or several days later.  Not that they’ll last that long…

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs (preferably organic)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (good quality makes a huge difference).
1 1/2 cup flour
Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (essential for that sweet/salty taste we all love)
3 cups quick cooking oats

1.  Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

2.  Add in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

3.  Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon (if using) together.  Slowly add to butter mixture.

4.  Mix in the oats (and any nuts or chocolate chips if desired).

5.   Drop onto baking sheet (do not flatten).  Bake for 12 minutes at 350 C (180F).

6.  Let cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Tags: , , , ,

Orange blossom cake with mandarine glaze

11 Mar

Today was a beautiful sunny day.  A bit on the chilly side but the smell of spring is definitely in the air.  And with that smell of spring comes the irresistable urge to clean and organise my house.

In between all this cleaning and organising I made some mini Orange Blossom Water Cakes with Mandarine Glaze.  A friend brought me the Orange Blossom Water a while ago and I’ve been really looking forward to baking with it.  I’ve never used it but have seen many Middle Eastern and Mediterrenean recipes which call for it.  It has such a pungent perfumy smell that becomes so mild when baked in these cakes.

Orange Blossom Water Cakes with Mandarine Glaze

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
small pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp orange blossom water
1/2 cup melted butter (unsalted)

1.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.

2. Beat eggs, lemon zest, brown sugar and white sugar until light and frothy.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until just combined.  Add buttermilk mixed with orange blossom water and melted butter.  Mix until combined.

4. Pour into buttered cake pan (or mini cake pans).  Bake in 350 degree oven (35-45 minutes for one large cake or 20-25 minutes for small cakes.

5. For glaze mix 1/4 orange juice with 1 cup powdered sugar.  You can also add a little splash of the orange blossom water and some grated mandarine peel.  Pour over cakes.

Enjoy!

Tags: , , , ,

Coffee Cake (senza caffe)

23 Feb

It’s a little overcast today.  The kids are home on vacation for the settimana bianca.  My mom is visiting.  My friend brought me buttermilk from France. I had a craving for chocolate.  All of these are perfect excuses to make a good cake.  I found this recipe on the joy of baking website and I tweaked it ever so slightly (adding half sour cream and half buttermilk).  As always it’s really simple and the result so yummy.  I made the mistake of asking the kids if they want a piece of coffee cake and they all bolted while making gagging noises.  I guess they don’t understand that there’s no coffee in it.  Oh well.  All the more for us.

 And can I just talk for a second about the combination of cinnamon with chocolate?  It’s just so…harmonious together.  The cinnamon really deepens the richness of the dark chocolate I used.  It gives it a little umph if you know what I mean.  I had to google the spelling of umph. Get recipe here.

Tags: , , , , ,

Petit Fours

10 Feb

I don’t have a bucket list but if I did I think attempting to make petit fours would be on it…at about number 87.  And yesterday I did just that.  I attempted to make petit fours.  Key word being attempted.  The result wasn’t the image I had in my head when I started yesterday morning (blush pink miniature cakes with smooth perfect icing and a sweet embellishment on top).  But they are really tasty.  And if I were to ever attempt to make them again (doubtful) I have lots of things I would do differently to make the whole process MUCH easier and less time consuming.  One of the most important aspects of making Petit Fours is making the glaze the perfect consistency.  At first mine was too liquidy.  Then too thick (hence the lumpy result).

The recipe is from on old Martha Stewart magazine from 2006.   I always keep MS magazines and re-read them from time to time (yeah that’s right…I’m a geek).  It’s a marzipan cake which is absolutely delicious.  Very dense and moist.  I spread some raspberry jam in between the cakes and the almond and raspberry tastes really compliment each other.  The glaze is a simple icing sugar/milk mixture.Get Spring Shower Almond Petit Fours recipe here.

Tags: , , , ,

Cold weather baked goods

1 Feb

I am in absolute shock at the weather the last few days.  Living in Italy you don’t expect to get lots of snow and below zero temperatures.  But we have and apparently it’s going to continue for a while.  Which means I will be holed up in my house with the fire on and the oven ready at all times to bake various goodies.  Something about cold weather just makes me want to bake and make stews.  Here are a few things I’ve made over the last few days…I used my grandmother’s recipe for the lemon curd.  It’s just so good.  You could eat it by the spoonful.  I do actually. I used some of this batch of curd to fill a coconut cake with boiled icing.  It was good.  But very lopsided.  I have some issues with my oven and it’s hotspots.I made these yesterday evening and didn’t notice my son eating them by the handful.  Let’s just say bedtime was very wild last night.  He kept saying “Mama, these look like REAL cookies!”.  And all the other thousands of cookies I’ve made him?  What did they look like? Get shortbread recipe here.

Recipe for Lemon Curd:

3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Melt butter in double boiler.  Add sugar and well beaten eggs.  Combine and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  Add lemon juice and cook another 3 minutes or until smooth and thick.  CHILL and store in glass jar.  Enjoy!

Tags: , , , , ,

Bran Muffins

15 Jan

This morning I made some bran muffins for the family.  For some reason bran muffins have been a favorite of my kids since they were wee little ones.  They started calling them” chocolate muffins” ages ago and I always “forgot” to correct them and tell them that they’re actually made from a very healthy whole grain that keeps you regular.  This morning I did indeed tell them that I had made their “favorite bran muffins” and they all looked at me quite strangely and asked me what bran was exactly.  I told them, they shrugged like it wasn’t very interesting and continued to eat.

Recipe for Bran Muffins:

1 cup flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup All Bran

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1/4 cup shortening (or butter)

1/2 cup raisins or dates (we skip this ingredient)

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt

2. Mix milk and molasses together and add all bran.  Let sit for a few minutes.

3. Add egg and shortening (or butter) to milk mixture and stir.

4.  Pour wet mixture into dry mixture.  Stir together but don’t overmix.

5. Bake in muffin tins at 400 f/200 c for 15-20 minutes.

Tags: , , ,

Fred’s Mini Cupcakes

11 Jan

My mother catered my grandmother’s 90th birthday party last week and there were these mini cupcakes that were divine (baked by Fred’s Salon Cafe & Gallery in Halifax).  There was Chocolate Pomegranate and Salted Caramel (or Apple butterscotch…dang I forget).  So delicious.

I think I’ll be giving these recipes a try very soon.

Tags: , , ,

Consolation Bagels

30 Dec

Tomorrow I am leaving my whole family and going alone to Canada.  Just the thought of an 8 hour flight alone is something that’s hard to get my head around.  I will miss them all terribly.  But I’m sure I’ll be able to enjoy myself as well.  A least a little bit.  Or maybe a lot.

There was a lot of protest from various family members for various reasons.  One being the fact I will be able to eat bagels every single day.  So to make them all feel slightly less slighted by the whole ordeal I made a huge batch of fresh bagels for them all this morning.

I made my usual recipe from Nigella Lawson’s book How to be a Domestic Goddess.  So easy.  And so delicious.

Recipe: Bagels

1 kilo strong flour

1 Tbsp salt

7g (1 satchet) dry yeast

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

500 ml warm water

2 Tbsp sugar or malt for poaching bagels

1.  Combine flour, salt and yeast.  Add sugar and oil to the warm water.  Make well in dry ingredients and add liquid.

2.  Knead dough for 10 minutes.

3. Put kneaded dough in oiled boil and cover with saran wrap.  Let sit for an hour.

4.  How punch down dough and divide into 16 pieces and form into bagels shapes.

5. Boil a big pot of water and add the sugar or malt.  Add batches of 3 or 4 bagels and boil for 1 minutes turning over half way through,

6.  Now is the time to dip bagels in any sesame seeds or poppy seeds or anything else you can think of.

7.  Bake in a 240 degree  (celcius) oven for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tags: , , , ,

The Perfect Vanilla Cupcake

22 Dec

I have been searching for the perfect vanilla cupcake for decades!  Seriously.   I have tried out hundreds of different recipes trying to find a light and fluffy cupcake that isn’t too greasy or heavy or sweet or dry.  And today I have finally found it.  It’s from glorioustreats.blogspot.com.  They are still cooling on the rack as I write this so I haven’t frosted or decorated them yet.  But I can tell already that they will be delicious. 

{update}…I frosted them and tasted them and they are perfect.  Absolutely light and airy and tasty and not too sweet and not too dry and not too greasy. This is the cupcake and the frosting recipe from GloriousTreats.com.

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →