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Second Annual Cookie Baking Party
The Finished Product
This past weekend, we held our second annual Holiday Cookie Baking Party. Last year’s efforts were focused on quantity, but this year we shifted our focus to quality, and invested in pretty packaging so that we could easily use our baked treats as hostess gifts, Christmas presents, or stocking stuffers. We focused on 5 recipes: one loaf, one decorated cookie, truffles, one bar, and a freezer log.
Everyone arrived at the shop by noon. Yael brought her good china teacups, in keeping with our ‘Sunday Tea’ theme, and we started to bake. We tackled our recipes in pairs.
Chocolate ‘Freezer’ Cookies
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or shredded coconut
Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar then add eggs and stir in. Mix in dry ingredients. Form dough into a log, roll in crushed candy cane or coconut and freeze until ready to use. When ready to bake, thaw log slightly and cut into 1/4″ rounds. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 5-7 minutes, or until edges are set and centres are still a bit soft.
Justine thought these cookies would make the perfect base for an ice cream sandwich using Pascale’s Egg Nog ice cream!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Base
10 regular size chocolate chip cookies (Robin made hers from scratch)
1/3 cup butter, melted
Filling
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (according to Robin, it must be Kraft)
Topping
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup (you could substitute honey or maple syrup)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (we used cocoa camino chocolate chips)
Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper. In a food processor turn the chocolate chip cookies into crumbs then add melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are wet. Pat into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
Beat together the butter, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Beat in all the sugar. The mixture will be stiff. Pat this mixture on top of the base and place in the fridge.
Combine the chocolate, butter and syrup in a metal bowl over simmering water and stir until melted. Pour over the top of your pan and smooth. Refrigerate until firm and slice into bars.
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp orange zest
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
4 tsp milk
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar orange zest and vanilla until pale yellow. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the milk. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix until well combined.
Divide the dough in two. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Grease a cookie sheet. Remove one disk from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to approx 1/8 inch thick. Cut out desired shapes (I used trees that were around 4-inches.) Place cutouts on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges. Allow to cool, then decorate with Royal Icing (recipe below.)
Yield: 3 dozen 4-inch cookies
Royal Icing
1 egg white
2 cups icing sugar
juice of one lemon
1-2 tsp water
food colouring (optional)
In a small pot, bring an inch or so of water to a simmer. Place a small bowl over the pot and add egg white. Beat egg white until stiff but not dry. Remove from heat and add icing sugar and lemon juice, beating until well combined. The icing should be slightly runny so that when you drop a spoonful back into the bowl it melds with the rest easily with only a slight resistance. If your icing is too thick, add one teaspoon of water at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Add food colouring if desired, mixing well. Fill a pastry bag with icing and pipe on cookies to decorate, starting by outlining the cookie and then filling it in. The icing should run together to fill in the gaps. Use different coloured icings to make patterns.
Allow to dry for 2 hours before storing cookies.
Gingerbread Cake
Bring ¼ lb butter and 1 cup molasses to boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Whisk 1 cup sour cream and 2 teaspoons orange zest together in a small bowl.
Sift the following dry ingredients into a large bowl.
2 ½ cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons dry ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon salt
Whisk together the cooled molasses mixture with the sour cream mixture. Add this to the sifted dry ingredients along with 1/3 cups diced crystallized ginger and ½ cup diced dried figs. Stir only until all dry ingredients are moistened – do not overmix.
Pour into greased loaf pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Chocolate Truffles
450 grams of good quality dark chocolate, chopped (we used cocoa Camino)
300 ml of whipping cream
100 grams of butter
100 grams of chopped candied ginger
100 grams of grated fresh ginger
Coating
200 grams of the same chocolate, melted in a double boiler
Place chocolate ingredients in a metal bowl. Melt cream and butter and bring to a simmer and add fresh ginger. Allow to sit for 10 minutes to infuse. Re-heat and add to chopped chocolate. Stir with a spatula, being careful not to mix in any air. When the mixture is smooth, fold in the candied ginger. Cover with plastic wrap and let set in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Remove from fridge and roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter using your hands. Lay on baking sheet covered in parchment. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Dip truffles in melted chocolate to coat using a fork and place on clean parchment. Decorate with a piece of candied ginger.
We made three kinds of truffles – Ginger, Orange and Tia Maria. It’s pretty simple to change the flavour by replacing the ginger with grated orange peel and reduced orange juice, or some Kahlua.
Filed Under: Entertaining, Recipes, Uncategorized
Fall Recipes
October & November offer us our last opportunity to enjoy the local harvest. Late season wintergreens, squashes, cabbage, brussel sprouts, apples and root vegetables are all in abundance. October and November are great months to make stews, soups, and casseroles, and we wanted to share some of our favourite recipes – some of them specifically for the slow cooker.
Our retail store is overflowing with produce delivered daily by our farmers. Today’s haul includes Kobacha Squash from Songberry Farm (pictured above) and mountains of Kale from Juniper Farm.
Squash & Fennel Soup
Note: The basic recipe is very versatile, and you can easily adapt this recipe to accommodate different vegetables. Some examples are Potato & Leek, Carrot & Ginger, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Jerusalem Artichoke etc.. If you want to add some depth of flavour, the root vegetables can be roasted beforehand.
Ingredients:
Olive oil or canola oil
1 medium white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 pounds of winter squash (preferably organic)
3 heads of fennel
1 cup white wine
4 cups or vegetable chicken stock
1 pinch thyme
1 cup whipping cream
Salt and pepper
Directions:
1: Peel and chop squash into 1 inch pieces.
2: Wash and slice fennel. Sauté onion and garlic in oil until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add fennel and sauté until tender. Deglaze with white wine and cook until wine is almost evaporated. Add squash and stock. Simmer on low for 10 minutes, until squash is tender. Taste for seasoning.
3: Add cream and remove from heat and cool. Blend in batches in a blender until smooth. Add more water/stock if necessary to achieve the desired consistency. Re-heat until warmed through and serve.
Serving Tip – for an elegant starter to any special meal, soup can be served in shooter glasses, and garnished with things like bacon bits, ground nuts, fresh herbs, etc. This is how we served them recently at the Red Apron 5th anniversary celebration at the Urban Element in September.
Beef & Barley Soup – Slow Cooker Recipe
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound stewing beef, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
3/4 cup pearl barley
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
6 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
pepper, to taste
To Prepare:
Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion to hot oil; cook and stir until onion is tender, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and thyme, salt & pepper. Transfer to Slow Cooker. Brown beef in skillet and transfer to Slow Cooker. Add remaining ingredients to Slow Cooker and cook on LOW in Slow Cooker for 6 to 8 hours.
Curried Lentil Stew – Slow Cooker Recipe
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 cup of dried French lentils, soaked for 2 hours or overnight, and drained
1 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
1 cups water, OR stock
2 large carrots, diced
1 large sweet potato, peeled & cubed
½ cup raisins
1 ½ tsp curry powder
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger (or 1 tsp fresh grated ginger)
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 ½ tsp salt
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
To Prepare:
Sauté onions & garlic. Place all ingredients (except spinach), in the Slow Cooker and cook on the LOW setting for 7-8 hours, or until the lentils & sweet potatoes are tender. Fold in chopped spinach. You can garnish this dish with chopped fresh basil, cilantro or parsley, plain yogurt, diced avocados, chopped green onions or goat cheese.
Moroccan Chicken Stew
Serves 4
Ingredients:
½ cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained
4 carrots, peeled and diced
2 large onions, diced
8 pieces chicken thigh, bone in, skin on
½ cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricot, coarsely chopped
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbs tomato paste
2 tsp flour
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tbs fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
To Prepare:
Sauté onions & garlic in skillet on medium heat. Toss chicken pieces in flour, salt & pepper and add to skillet to brown on both sides. Place all ingredients in the Slow Cooker and cook on the LOW setting for 7-8 hours, or until the chickpeas are tender.
Serve in bowls with couscous and garnish with chopped nuts, cilantro and/or yogurt.
Filed Under: Recipes, Uncategorized, by Season
Lazy days of summer…
For the past 5 years my family has rented a perfect little plot of land on the shores of Golden Lake. We live in what we lovingly refer to as our “Cottage on Wheels”. This is actually quite a modern RV with all the basic amenities…electricity, beds, microwave, table, etc…however there is one basic amenity missing…NO WATER HOOKUP!! The most convenient toilet facility is the nearby outhouse! Some might refer to our accommodations as “Rustic” but this suits us just fine!
It’s a mere 30 paces from our deck to the beachfront, which is really what these weekends are really all about. Long lazy days are spent swimming, fishing and kayaking. Evenings are spent around a roaring fire, laughing, discussing and generally enjoying being together as a family .
What is most enjoyable to me about these weekends is that we choose to cook over an open firepit. Most Saturday mornings, after drinking a pot of campfire coffee, we drive to the Combermere Farmers Market and source out the ingredients for that nights dinner.
The market is not yet in full swing and the variety of vegetables is lean (growing season is slightly behind Ottawa’s). Nonetheless, we have been able to piece together some memorable meals.
Recently, our Saturday night ‘Farmer’s Market’ feast consisted of delicious ‘Schulist Family Farm’ grassfed beef T-Bone steaks. We also purchased a pound of organic shiitake mushrooms from Henry at the ‘Aldergrove Mushroom Farm’ booth. After adding local organic asparagus to our basket and some of the world’s best butter-tarts, we were ready to head back. A quick detour into Killaloe for a bottle of Bonneterra Organic Cabernet Sauvignon and we were set.
Escaping for the weekend always rejuvenates and prepares me for the busy work week that follows. This is truly our little piece of paradise!
Filed Under: Travel, Uncategorized, by Season
Lansdowne Farmer’s Market Pesto
This past weekend, Jacqueline treated the patrons of the Lansdowne Farmer’s Market to a demonstration on how to make the most of this summer’s bounty. All of these ingredients were sourced on site on Sunday morning.
It’s so easy and oh so delicious! Make sure to carefully wash and dry the herbs!
1 3/4 c. organic basil (from Roots and Shoots)
1/4 c. parsley
1/3 c. hemp seeds (Stone Farm)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed (from Jambican)
3/4 c. Sheep’s Milk Nettle Pecorino cheese (Canreg Station)
1/2 tsp. Salty Don’s smoked maple salt
1/2 c. hemp seed oil (Stone Farm)
Pulse everything EXCEPT THE OIL together in your food processor until they are finely minced but not a paste.
Put in a bowl and mix in the oil.
You can freeze it in ice cube trays if you have leftovers, serve it with a pasta salad, grill it on chicken or fish, make potato salad, eat it from the spoon or use your imagination.
Filed Under: Recipes, Uncategorized, by Season
Now that’s a cupcake!
Last Thursday’s meal contained the most spectacular dessert – a Decadent Chocolate Cupcake. We made these cupcakes using an old recipe that contains an unusual ingredient that became a popular baking ingredient about 30 years ago – mayonnaise. I am sure that it was Kraft or Hellmans that first thought this one up, but it make sense when you think about it. Real mayonnaise is essentially an emulsion of eggs, oil and a bit of vinegar. I am sure this recipe was born out of necessity, when some creative cook ran out of eggs for her chocolate cake.
Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we only use organic fair trade Cocoa Camino chocolate)
Whisk the wet ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well until combined. Add chocolate chips. Pour into 9″ round cake pan (well oiled) or in 24 lined muffin tins. Bake cake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 25 minutes. Test for doneness.
Filed Under: Recipes, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized
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We are Mothers, residents of our community, entrepreneurs as well as active participants in our local economy. We individually have a history of owning and operating successful local businesses.
Our commitment to getting people “back to the table” starts at home and extends to our community through a number of philanthropic endeavours.