Lemon, Poppy Seed, and Olive Oil Loaf

Lemon, Poppy Seed, and Olive Oil Loaf

Ingredients:

Two Lemons

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter

4 Tablespoons + 4 Teaspoons Lemon Juice 

3 Eggs

2/3 Cup Olive Oil

1 3/4 Cup Flour

1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda 

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

2 Tablespoons Poppy Seeds

1/2 Cup Icing Sugar 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a standard Loaf tin. 
2. Zest and juice both lemons
3. In a large bowl cream together the sugar, butter and lemon zest. 
4. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each egg. 
5. Cream in the olive oil and 4 Tablespoons lemon juice.
6. In a medium bowl soft together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
7. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. 
8. Fold in poppy seeds.
9. Pour batter into prepared Loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 55-70 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean from the centre. Let cool in pan ten minutes before turning out into a wire rack to cool completely.
10. In a small bowl stir together icing sugar and remaining lemon juice to create a glaze. Drizzle glaze over Loaf just before serving.

Enjoy!! 

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 265g Gluten Free Flour Blend (I am still using Our Compliments by Sobeys)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Xantham Gum
• 50g Coco Powder
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 300g Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 250ml Milk
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 250ml Boiling Hot Water

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line one 10 inch round cake pans with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the gluten free flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder.
3. Add the  sugar and salt, and whisk well.
4. Add the eggs, milk and vegetable/sunflower oil. 
5. Whisk well, until you get a smooth cake batter.
6. Add the boiling hot water, and whisk until you get a runny cake batter with no lumps.
7. Evenly distribute the cake batter between the two lined cake pans, and bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for about 40 minutes or until spongy to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
8. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Cupcakes

Gluten Free Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 280g Gluten Free Flour (i'm still using Our Compliments by Sobeys)
• 1 Teaspoon Xantham Gum
• 54g Cornstarch
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 140g Butter, room temperature
• 300g Sugar
• 2 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 3 Eggs
• 1 1/3 Cup Milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line or grease about 18 muffin cups.
3. In a large bowl sift together GF flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, xantham gum, and salt. Or if you do not have a sifter, whisk thoroughly for several minutes to ensure complete blending.
4. In a medium bowl, using electric beaters, or with a standmixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This takes at least 5 minutes, sometimes more.
5. Mix in vanilla.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
7. Add creamed butter/sugar/egg mixture to dry along with all of the mix and beat with electric beaters until just combined.
8. Do not over mix. The moment most of the flour is incorporated stop beating. If needed stir batter by hand to finish mixing in flour.
9. I personally use my icecream scoop to portion out cupcake batter and find one just heaping scoop makes a perfect cupcake.
10. Bake in heated oven for 18-21 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
11. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Made these for my sons daycare for his birthday, they are just as good as standard cupcakes, not grainy and good crumb texture.

Apple Crisp Cheesecake

Apple Crisp Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Graham Cracker or vanilla cookie crumbs
• 3/4 Cup Rolled Oats
• 1/2 Cup Melted Butter

Cheesecake Layer

• 3 Bricks Cream Cheese(8 ounces each)
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

Topping

• 2-3 Peeled and thinly sliced apples
• 1/4 Cup Rolled Oats
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Instructions:

1. Thoroughly grease a 9X13 inch baking dish. If desired, also coat in a thin layer of white sugar to ensure finished dessert comes out easily.
2. Allow eggs and cream cheese to stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Crust

1. To prepare crust, mix together sugar, oats, and crumbs in a large bowl. Melt the butter and drizzle over top. Mix together into a very crumbly blend. Press crumbly mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Press the crust up the sides of the baking dish slightly, and try to get the bottom thin and even.
2. Bake crust in preheated oven for 5 minutes.
3. Keep the oven on!

Cheesecake Layer

1. In a large bowl cream the cream cheese with electric beaters for about 3 minutes. 
2. Add in the egg, flour, sugar and spices. 
3. Cream until everything is blended smooth. 
4. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust and carefully spread in an even layer.

Topping

1. Arrange the thinly sliced apples over top of the cheesecake layer.
2. In a small bowl mix together the flour, oats, sugar and cinnamon. Melt the butter and drizzle over top. Blend into a crumble. Spread the crumble over top of the apple slices.
3. Bake the entire dessert uncovered for 40-50 minutes. The center of the cheesecake shouldn't feel wiggly anymore when it is cooked through.
4. Let cool for 30 minutes- an hour on a rack, then cover and chill for at least one hour to fully set the cheesecake. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Home-made Apple Pie Filling

Apple Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 4-6 Good sized Apples
• 1/4 Cup Honey or Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Allspice
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1-2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

Instructions:

1. Peel and roughly dice the apples, I like small cubes but some people prefer slices or larger chunks. The cut is up to you
2. Add the chopped and peeled apples to a large pot and gently splash the lemon juice over the top to prevent excess browning. Turn the heat up to medium and add the honey or brown sugar and the spices.  Cover the pot and allow the apples to gently cook, stirring occasionally for 20-40 minutes. Depending on how large you cut the apples, less time for small bits, more for larger obviously.
3. Once the apples are just becoming tender, turn off the heat.  Set up a strainer with a large bowl under neath it. Strain the cooked apples into the strainer and reserve the pot drippings that collect in the bowl.
4. The apples are now ready to be used as pie filling.
5. For an extra kick of flavor, you can pour the pan drippings back into a pot and reduce until it becomes a syrup. This syrup can then be poured over the apples before placing on the top layer of the pie, or if you are doing a lattice crust you can pour the syrup over the lattice right before baking to infuse the lattice crust with more flavor.

Enjoy!

Notes:

You might be needing a recipe for a Pie Crust as well.

Other Places:

What was cooking one year ago?

Spicy Taco Mac n' Cheese

Apple Upside Down Cake

Apple Upside Down Cake with Brown Sugar and Spice

Ingredients:

• 2 Apples, I like to use Granny Smith
• Cooking Spray
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1-2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cardamom
• 2/3 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Butter, cubed, at room temperature
• 2 Eggs, at room temperature
• 1-2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1/2 Cup Milk

Special Tools:

Tube or Bunt pan, Very well sprayed with cooking spray.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray the bunt or tube pan very well with cooking spray. Or butter and flour the entire pan.
3. In a small bowl combine the brown sugar with the ground cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Sift together well and set aside.
4. In a stand mixer with a paddle or with electric hand mixers beat the white sugar with the cubed butter until light, fluffy an pale yellow. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Beat in vanilla. Set aside.
5. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
6. Peel both apples. Quarter and remove the core from one apple, and slice into very thin slices. Shred the other apple using a cheese grater into small bits, leaving out the core.
7. Sprinkle 1/4 of the brown sugar and spice mixture into the bottom of the well greased tube or bunt pan. Arrange the thinly sliced apples over the entire bottom of the pan into one thin even layer. Sprinkle another 1/4 of the brown sugar mixture over the top of the apples.
8. Mix the shredded apple into the egg, sugar, and butter mixture along with the flour mixture and milk. Blend well until combined.
9. Pour 1/2 the prepared cake batter over top of the apples. sprinkle the remaining brown sugar mixture over the top of the cake layer. Pour the remaining batter over top and spread out evenly.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
11. Allow to stand in pan 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving platter.
12. Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream for best results.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Best if eaten while still warm. This cake is nice but only lasts about two days. Goes great with ice cream or whipped cream.

Other Places:

What was Cooking one year ago?

Festive Maple and Cloves Ham

S'mores Cheesecake

Original Recipe from Yummly, from a blog called Cookies and Cups. It's pretty adorable.

However this recipe was not so adorable.

Followed it perfectly and had several problems. First the instructions say to prepare the crust and press it into the pan and arrange some marshmallows and chocolate sauce in the bottom. Then to prepare the filling/cheese cake base and fold in some more marshmallows. Not sure why but all my marshmallows floated to the top of the cheesecake batter. . . None were folded into the batter they all floated. Plus when I went to pour the cheesecake into the springform pan all the marshmallows and chocolate sauce I arranged nicely also floated to the top of everything! ARRG!

To top it off I followed all the baking instructions and had a lot of butter melt out of the bottom of the dessert while it melted. Bad enough to make a mess in my oven but to also waste butter? Dear goodness that is a travesty in my books.

Finally the damn thing never baked all the way through, never set even after chilling for two days.

Complete failure on ability to replicate this recipe, and to make me feel even worse, I re-read the whole blog post and turns out the bloggers husband made the perfect cake. . . I think he might have kept a few things secret because I sure as heck did not succeed with this one.

At least I have delightful friends who were kind enough to quickly eat the evidence of my failure and hide it forever. It tasted good, and the slightly under-set cheesecake filling did kind of enhance the melty-gooey-ness of a s'mores.


So let us play Bob the Builder, can we fix this? YES WE CAN.

S'mores Cheese Cake

Ingredients:

• Roughly 2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 3-5 Tablespoons Melted Butter
• 2 (8 Ounce) Packs of cream cheese
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
• 2 Cups Mini Marshmallows (divided into 1/3 and 2/3 portions)
• 1/4 Cup Warm Chocolate Sauce
• 1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips
• More Chocolate Sauce as Garnish
• Optional Garnish:
• Chocolate Shavings 
• Caramel Sauce
• Cookie Crumbs
• Whipped Cream

Special Tools:

10 inch Spring Form Pan

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Allow cheesecake, sour cream, and eggs to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes on the counter should do it.
2. Combine Graham crumbs and about 3 Tablespoons of butter together, mix until fine and evenly blended. If mixture is too dry add more melted butter 1 tablespoon at a time
3. Grease the spring form pan. 
4. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pan create a nice smooth even crust for the cheese cake.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
6. While the crusts are lightly baking, Prepare the cheese cake filling.
7. Cream the cream cheese with an electric mixer or stand mixer, until smooth. Add the sugar and cream well. Add the eggs one at a time and mix after each one. Add the flour and vanilla and blend. Slowly add the sour cream and blend together until smooth.
8. Once crusts have finished baking, raise oven temperature to 450°F.
9. Allow the crusts to cool for a few minutes before adding the filling. This also gives our oven a chance to preheat for round two.
10. Pour about 1/3 Cup of mini marshmallows into the bottom of the baked crust. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over top, and then drizzle about 1/4 Cup of chocolate sauce over everything on the bottom.
11. Fold about 2/3 cup mini marshmallows into the cheese cake filling.
12. Pour the filling into the crust slowly and carefully.
13. Bake the cheese cakes at 450°F for about 10 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 250°F, do not open the oven and continue to bake for about 1 hour or until the filling has set. Which means it doesn't jiggle when you touch the middle. Be gentle, you don't want to leave a mark in the top.
14. If your cheese cake is slightly under after an hour heat oven to 200°F, and bake in 10 minute intervals until done.
15. If top gets too dark during extra cooking time, cover with foil to protect it from excess heat.
16. Allow cake to chill in fridge over night.
17. Garnish top of cake with chocolate sauce and other toppings as desired.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Cheese cakes are my mother's specialty. . . It is really depressing when one doesn't turn out for me but I think the blogger just forgot a few ingredients in her cheese cake filling, I think it needed a little more starch to set properly.

Other Places:

Cookie Cheese Cake

Banana Split Cake

Banana Split Cake

Banana cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting, Skor chips and sprinkles!

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 Eggs, Separated
• 1-2 Tablespoons White Sugar
• Pinch Salt
• 4 Bananas
• 3/4 Cups White Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable or Coconut Oil

Frosting and Decorating

• 1/4 Cup Cream Cheese
• 1 1/2-2 Cups Icing Sugar
• 1/3-1/2 Cup sifted Cocoa Powder, unsweetened
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• Some Skor Chips
• Some Sprinkles

Special Tools:

• A stand mixer, a power mixer some sort of electric mixer will make this a lot easier, also a food processor with a blade attachment can help make a lighter smoother cake.
• Bunt cake pan, the kind with a tube in the center of it.

Instructions:

1. I hope you have a stand mixer. . .  if not prepare the meringue first before you start everything else. Whipping egg whites to fluffy greatness takes time and I just set it up in the stand mixer turn it on and start on the rest of the prep work. Usually by the time I get everything else together and the oven is preheated I still need to wait a few more minutes for the meringue to be ready.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Liberally spray cake pan with cooking oil, and then lightly dust with flour, shake out excess.
4. To make the meringue carefully separate the eggs into the yolks and the whites.
5. Add the egg whites, 1-2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt to the stand mixer bowl or to a medium mixing bowl.
6. With the whisk attachment, or electric mixers, or by hand (please don't try this by hand it will take a lifetime) whisk/mix the egg white mixture until stiff peaks form while mixing. At least 10-15 minutes. Just keep mixing! Set aside.
7. In a medium bowl or in a large bowl food processor fitted with a blade attachment, whisk/pulse the egg yolks with 3/4 cups of white sugar until light yellow and sort of fluffy looking. Add the bananas and vegetable or coconut oil and mash/pulse until it is reasonably smooth. Set aside.
8. In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sift until evenly blended.
9. Using a wooden spoon or in the food processor bowl, combine the egg yolk/sugar/banana and oil bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix until combined evenly.
10. Once the egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks, fold the meringue into the cake batter, just gently mixing until blended in.
11. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
12. Bake for 55-70 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. If the top gets too dark cover with foil or brush with a bit of milk.
13. Once cake is caked, remove from oven and allow cake to rest in pan for additional 10 minutes outside of oven.
14. Invert to cooling rack to finish cooling. Serve warm or wait until cool to frost.

To make frosting 

1. Add the cream cheese and vanilla to a large bowl.
2. Sift the cocoa powder into the bowl and mix together.
3. Add the icing sugar about 1/2 cup at a time and mix well after each addition.
4. Continue to add icing sugar until the frosting is as stiff as you desire.
5. Frost the cake once it has cooled.
6. Decorate top with sprinkles and Skor Chips.

And you have a Banana Cake, with Cream cheese Chocolate frosting and Butterscotch Skor chips.

Enjoy!

Notes:

I feel pretty good about this cake, and to be honest I had tried to make an orange chocolate cake last week but things went terribly wrong. I also messed up making aioli from scratch last week. Not a good kitchen time. But that is the past and this cake now! This is one to be proud of, would be good for a little ones birthday party or something for a different spin on birthday cake.

Other Places:

What was cooking one year ago?

Pan Fried Fish Fillet

Caramel Apple Pie

Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 Recipe Pie Crust, or your favorite recipe for a top and bottom pie crust
• 4  Apples, peeled, cored and cubed
• 2-3 Teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1-2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 Teaspoon Allspice
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger, ground
• Lemon Juice
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Caramel or Dulce de Leche or Butterscotch Sauce

Special Tools:

• 8 or 9 inch Pie Pan
• Fine Sieve or strainer
• Rolling Pin
• Crimp Cutter if you have one, if not don't worry about it

Instructions:

1. Prepare the pie dough according to the recipe you plan to use. Divide dough in half and chill at least one hour.
2. If you are making your own style of caramel sauce, get on to making that.
3. While the dough chills, prepare pie filling.
4. Peel, core, and cube the apples. Transfer the apples to a large pot and toss with a bit of lemon juice to prevent browning. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and brown sugar and cook over medium heat until apples are just soft, but not falling apart into apple sauce. About 20 minutes.
5. Strain the apples through a fine sieve and reserve the liquid and solid apple bits. Set aside the apple bits for a moment.
6. Return the liquid to the pot and continue to cook and reduce over medium heat and until about half the liquid has evaporated away. Set aside for now.
7. Preheat oven to 425°F.
8. Lightly grease the pie pan.
9. Roll out one of the pie crust dough halves to about 1/8 inch thick and large enough to fill the pie plate. Do not trim edges yet.
10. Pour the solid apple bits into the pie shell.
11. Roll out the second dough half and slice into 2/3-1 inch wide strips (here is when you use the crinkle cutter if you have it). Cover the apples with a lattice pattern. Google how to videos if you have no idea what that is.
12. Roll the edges of the pie crust underneath each other so you have a tube of crust going around the entire circumference of the pie. Pinch and seal the edges into a pretty pattern.
13. Bake pie in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Do not open that oven door during this time!
14. Remove pie from oven, reduce oven heat to 350°F.  Remember that liquid we separated from the apples and reduced earlier? Grab that and pour it over the entire top of the pie, trying to cover all the lattice evenly.
15. Return pie to oven and continue to bake for 30-40 minutes until crust is golden and bottom crust is cooked through. There should be some bubbling from inside the pie when it is cooked through.
16. Remove pie from oven. Pour caramel sauce of choice over the entire pie over the lattice, and in the gaps between the lattice. Allow pie to cool slightly. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Notes:

This is apple pie done right!

Other places:

How about some Ice Cream or Whipped Cream with this pie?

Chiffon Sponge Cake

Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (I used coconut oil)
• 4 Eggs, separated into yolks and whites. We need both, just separately
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 7 Ounces Flour
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 7 Ounces White Sugar, Divided into two 3.5 ounce portions

Instructions:

1. If using coconut oil it needs to be liquid, gently heat if it is solid. But don't allow it to get hot enough to cook the eggs.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. 
3. Grease a 10 inch spring form pan completely. Then dust the inside with flour. Shake out any excess flour. 
4. Whip the vegetable oil with the egg yolks until bright yellow and foamy/frothy looking. 
5. Whisk in the water and vanilla until blended. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and one of the 3.5 ounce measures of sugar. Create a well in the center of the bowl Set aside.
7. In a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer whip the egg whites until white and opaque, gradually add in the second measure of 3.5 ounces of sugar while continuing to whip until stiff peaks form in the mixture. This step takes a bit of time.
8. Pour the oil, egg yolk, water and vanilla mixture into the well of the flour bowl, blend and mix until a smooth batter forms. Whip with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds to incorporate air into the batter.
9. Fold the stiff egg white mixture into the cake batter. To fold while baking is to gently stir by lifting batter from the bottom to the top, you don't want to over mix and push the air out of the batter.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared 10 inch spring form pan. 
11. Bake for 30-50 minutes until cake has risen, and is golden brown and baked all the way through.
12. Serve with Whipped cream, Ice Cream, Berry Sauces, or just a dusting of icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Notes:

If your cake looks delightful when you take it out of the oven and then falls a lot as it cools then that means you were too eager and took it from the oven too soon. The cake is still mostly fine though, it will just be slightly more dense than intended, will still be yummy though.

Other Places:

What was cooking one year ago?

Bandera Pizza Bread, my post popular recipe by far.

Victoria Sponge Cake with Rhubarb Jelly and Lemon Cream

As in Queen Victoria, and this was supposedly one of her favorite cakes.

I made mine with a rhubarb jelly filling and lemon cream, it was amazing.

Victoria Sponge Cake

Pretty enough for a Queen

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 Cup Butter, at room temperature, cut into small cubes
• 2 Eggs, at room temperature about 30 minutes
• 1/2 Cup Milk, at room temperature about 30 minutes
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• Cooking spray

Rhubarb Jelly:

• 3-4 Stalks Fresh Rhubarb
• (Or about 1 1/2 Cup Berries/Fruit of your choice)
• 1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1-2 Teaspoons water
• 2-4 Tablespoons Sugar

Lemon Cream:

• 250ml Whipping Cream
• 2-3 Tablespoons Lemon Instant Pudding Mix

Special Tools:

• 8 inch Spring Form Pan
• Electric mixers

Instructions:

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Line the bottom on the spring form pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment and sides of the pan well with cooking spray.
3. In a small bowl sift the flour with the baking powder. Set aside.
4. In a stand mixer or large bowl with electric hand mixers cream the cubed room temperature butter with the sugar until well blended and smooth. The butter shouldn't look grainy with sugar. This takes at least 5 minutes of mixing, often even longer.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Continue to mix the batter on a low speed for about 3 minutes to ensure everything incorporates.
6. Still on a low mixing speed, slowly  and gradually add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Mixing until just combined.
7. Slowly pour the milk in while continuing to mix on low speed. Add the vanilla last and mix in just long enough to incorporate.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading into an even layer. 
9. Bake in preheated oven until set and a cake tester inserted comes out clean, between 20 and 35 minutes.
10. Allow cake to cool in pan 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to separate the cake from the pan and loosen the spring form. Allow to finish cooling on a rack.
11. You can now enjoy the cake as is, frost it, dust with icing sugar or continue reading to fill the cake with jelly, and make lemon cream.

Rhubarb Jelly:

Special Tools:

• Immersion Blender

1. Wash the rhubarb and cut off about an inch from leaf end and root end of each. Roughly chop into small pieces.
2. In a medium sauce pan add all of the ingredients listed (Start with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, add more at the end if needed) and slowly simmer over a low heat. Stir occasionally.
3. When Rhubarb begins to soften, gently mash it with a spoon or fork and continue to cook down until everything feels pretty soft when you stir.
4. If your immersion blender is heat safe you can blend it right away, just pulse through the jelly until smooth. OR you can leave the jelly to cool for a while, or if you don't care if the jelly is really smooth you can use as is.
5. Jelly is now ready to go. You can use it as a sauce for dessert or just like normal store-bought jelly on toast in the morning.

To Fill a Cake with Jelly:

1. Place cooled cake on a flat level surface, like a cutting board or plate.
2. Using a large cake knife, carefully but with confidence cut the cake horizontally, right across the middle as best you can. Separating the cake into a top layer and bottom layer.
3. Leave the bottom layer where it is.
4. Ok now life gets a little tricky because we have to move cake around without breaking it. I used a spare spring form pan bottom as a giant cake lifter this time. 
5. Gently working with both hands to lift and slide the top layer of the cake onto the pan/lifter implement of choice.
6. Transfer the one layer of cake CUT SIDE UP on to your cake platter (Plate) that you plan to serve/present the cake on. It will now be the bottom layer of your finished cake.
7. Next take the jelly you plan to fill the cake and using only a tablespoon at a time, smooth a thin layer of jelly across the entire surface of the bottom layer of plated cake. 
8. Being careful to not allow the jelly to seep over the edges of the cake.
9. Transfer the remaining layer of cake onto the jelly covered layer, CUT SIDE DOWN.  Some jelly may come out the sides during this process, that's alright.
10. You can now enjoy the cake! Or dust with confectioners sugar, or frost it, or continue on to make Lemon Cream

Lemon Cream:

Special Tools:

• Piping bag and Star Tip

1. In a Stand Mixer on low speed, or electric mixers on medium, whip the cream with the instant pudding mix. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Being careful not to overmix and split the cream.
2. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe stars across the entire top surface of the cake, or leave a "doughnut hole" like I did to fill with cream.
3. Lemon Cream is an excellent addition to almost anything you want to eat in summer. Promise.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Best dessert I have made. Or at least my favorite. I am just not big on most desserts but this one was a delight in every bite.

Also I know I have hated on things that come in boxes or that are premade and such before, so seeing instant lemon pudding mix in recipe is a little strange for me. But instant pudding isn't the worst thing on the shelves in a grocery store, and making pudding from scratch is way more work than I want to do for just pudding. . . So I justify this one as being an acceptable compromise, Plus making things taste like lemon only using lemons takes an absurd number of lemons so this is also cost effective. WIN WIN!

PS: Pretty sure the Queen never had her cake quite like this. She missed out.

Other Places:

In case you wanted something savory instead of sweet:

Cheese Puffs

Raspberry- Rhubarb Pie

Oh goodness, I was walking past my local grocers and saw fresh local rhubarb on the lovely little display they had out front. Literally stopped in my tracks, looked at it, and bought it. I am a girl who loves her rhubarb.

Raspberry-Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups frozen or fresh Raspberries (or strawberries)
• 2 Cups diced Rhubarb
• 2//3 Cups sugar, divided in two parts (1/3 each)
• 1 Lime
• 3-4 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 Recipe Pie Dough

Instructions:

Filling:

1. In  a small sauce pan combine 1/3 cup of sugar, with the diced rhubarb.
2.  Zest the lime and squeeze the juice into the pot as well. 
3. Stir well and heat over medium heat just until the rhubarb is starting to soften. Overcooking will lead to rhubarb jelly and a soggy bottomed pie.
4. In a large bowl measure the raspberries and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Stir well. 
5. Add the rhubarb mixture to the bowl and stir to mix evenly Add the flour and stir well again. Cover and let stand in the fridge for at least an hour. 

Pie:

1. Prepare the pie crust if making one from scratch (Fresh pie dough needs to chill for about 1 hour before use so time accordingly), or a 9 inch prepared pie crust will also work.
2. Lightly spray a 9 inch pie pan with cooking spray. 
3. Prepare the pie by dividing dough in half and rolling one half out into a large circle, rolling the dough circle onto your rolling pin and transferring to the pie pan. Allowing for some overhang of dough around the edges of the pie pan.
4. Remove filling from fridge and stir again. 
5. Pour filling into pie crust. 
6. Roll out remaining pie dough half into a large circle and roll it up onto the rolling pin to transfer to the top.
7. To seal the pie together; carefully roll the upper crust, around and under the bottom crust all the way around the circumference of the pie pan, trimming away excess. Using the first finger and thumb of both hands, gently pinch this rolled rim into the fluted shape pie crusts usually have. 
8. Google it if you have no idea, it is really hard to explain in words how to do it, I had grandmothers teach me these things. . .
9. To add pie decorations like I did (the hearts in a clover pattern on top), gather up any dough scraps you have, knead a few times and roll out thinly. Cut out desired shapes. To affix decorations to pie crust, fill a small dip bowl with milk, and using a pastry or silicone brush, gently brush some milk over the crust where the decoration is going to go, place the decoration on and brush the top and sides of the cut out with more milk.
10. Brush the entire top of the pie with a very thin brushing of milk to prevent excess browning. Cut a few vent slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape while it bakes.
11. Bake pie at 425°F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for about another 60 minutes. The pie filling will puff the crust a bit from below when it is baked through. Or when the filling has thickened and the crust is golden brown.
12. If the edges of your pie are getting too dark before it is finished baking you can make a cheap pie shield from tin foil by cutting a small circle out of the center of a large sheet. Thus letting the middle continue to bake without burning the edge.
13. To freeze the pie and bake later, add an extra tablespoon of flour to the filling mixture before adding it to the crust. finish preparing the pie as described. Then wrap completed, unbaked pie in plastic wrap very well, and freeze for up to three months. To bake, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge over night. Follow rest of baking instructions, frozen pie may take longer to finish baking.

Enjoy!

Other Places:

Something to improve the recipe even more?

Whipped Cream.

Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake

Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup Butter
• 1 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1/2 Coco powder (unsweetened)
• 1 Teaspoon Salt (Optional)
• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking powder
• 1/2 Cup Coconut oil
• 1 Cups Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 2/3 Cups Buttermilk
• 1/4-1/2 Cup Flaked unsweetened coconut

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Lightly mist either a bunt pan, or large loaf or brownie pan with cooking spray.
3. If the coconut oil is cold/refrigerated let it sit on counter for at least an hour to warm up. 
4. Allow the eggs and buttermilk to sit on the counter for about 30 minutes to warm up. 
5. Melt the butter in microwave until just melted and allow to cool for a minute before moving on.
6. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, coco powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside
7. In a stand mixer or electric hand mixer beat melted butter with sugar and coconut oil until light, fluffy and pale yellow. About 6 minutes.
8. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla last and mix well.
9. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and 1/3 cup of butter milk, mix until just combined. Add another third of flour mix and 1/3 of butter milk mix well. Add last third of flour and mix to just incorporate evenly. A small amount of extra buttermilk may be needed. Try carefully to not over mix as that will cause the cake middle to crack and buckle. Fold in flaked coconut and transfer batter to prepared pan.
10. Bake for about 60-70 minutes. Until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
11. Let stand in pan for about 10-20 minutes before transferring to platter or cooling rack.
12. Cake can be saved for up to 5-6 days if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

Enjoy!

Notes:

I made this cake on a Saturday afternoon after literally being out at a party until the sun came back up. So I can confirm that this is a stupid easy recipe as I was able to make it with pretty much no sleep or active brain cells that day. Plus it's chocolate and coconut, two of my favorite dessert things ever placed upon this great Earth. I truly enjoyed it and hope you will too. It is also slightly healthier than a traditional pound cake since coconut oil replaced more than half the butter, and buttermilk is fat free.

Now I feel like I ought to warn you about coconut oil because it really wasn't much like any other oil I've ever come across. For one, it's not a liquid at room temperature or at least not at the temperatures my rooms are at, it's more like a stiff shortening in a jar. Really it's almost like a wax. But whatever, it made for a delicious moist cake that I thought could only be created with the use of copious amounts of butter in the recipe. Now the jar of coconut oil is also telling me it is perfect as a cooking or saute oil. . . Next food experiment maybe?

Other Places:

Something for dinner:

Ginger-Soy Stir Fry

A Ladies Lemon Cake

Maybe a lovely lady like Sansa Stark. . .

Gentle note, I googled lemon cakes so I could celebrate the return of Game of Thrones on HBO. Found what I thought was going to be an excellent recipe but some other less careful blogger left out several instructions. Sad times when you are already halfway through a recipe.

So this is my fixed Lemon Cake recipe. Light, delicate and lemony!

Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

Lemon syrup and Candied Lemon Slices

Cake

• 4 Eggs, separated
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1/2 + 2 Tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 Cup Butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 3/4 Cup flour
• 1 1/2 Cup Milk
• 2 Teaspoons vanilla
• Juice of two Lemons (1/2 Cup)
• Zest of one Lemon
• 1/2 Cup Lemon Syrup

Lemon Cream

• 1 Cup Whipping/ Heavy Cream
• 1/4 Cup Confectioners sugar
• 3 Tablespoons lemon pudding mix (Bulk Barn should have it, and you only need a little bit)

Instructions:

1. Leave the milk and separated eggs at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Cold eggs and milk will ruin everything.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Spray an 8 inch round cake pan with cooking spray and if desired line the bottom with parchment paper. I suggest using an 8 inch spring-form pan to make life easiest.
4. Using an electric or stand mixer whip the egg whites until stiff and fluffy. 
5. Careful to not over mix. When you pull the beaters out stiff upright peaks should be clear and evident.
6. Beat egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and the tablespoon of water until light, frothy and yellow. 
7. Slowly pour and whip in the melted butter until well combined.
8. Whisk in milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon syrup until combined. 
9. Gently mix in flour until combined.
10. Gently fold the whipped egg whites, or mix in stand mixer on level one. 
11. Batter might look a bit lumpy, that is totally ok. As long as it an even consistency of small lumpy parts all over.
12. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and on a flat surface give the pan a little wiggle to evenly distribute in the pan.
13. Bake for 60 minutes. 
14. Remove cake from oven and let stand in pan for about one hour. 
15. The cake might sink a bit from it's fresh baked height. Don't worry too much about it.
16. Turn cake out onto a pretty serving dish, pretty side up.
17. Prepare the whipping cream by adding everything to a stand mixer and whipping on a medium setting until the cream has become whipped cream and holds it shape. 
18. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe small stars all over the cake. 
19. Garnish with the candied lemons.

Enjoy!

Other Places:

Learn to make a gravy without any pan drippings or a pre-made package:

Gravy

Mini Cheese Cakes! (With Cookie Crust and Blueberry Sauce)

Cheese Cake

Ingredients:

• About 40-50 Mr. Christie Nilla Cookies
• 3+ Tablespoons melted Butter
• 2 (8 Ounce) Packs of cream cheese
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract

Blueberry Sauce:

• 1 Pint Box of Blueberries
• 1/4-1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Almond extract
• 3+ Tablespoons water

Butter or butter flavored cooking spray to grease the ramekins or spring form pan.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. 
2. Allow cheesecake, sour cream, and eggs to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes on the counter should do it.
3. In a food processor ideally, crush the Nilla Cookies to smithereens until they are an even fine crumb. 
4. Pour the melted butter into the food processor and pulse a few times quickly to mix the butter in. 
5. If you don't have a food processor smash the cookies as best you can, and pour the melted butter over the crumbs and mix quickly.
6. Grease or butter the ramekins or spring form pan. 
7. Divide the crumb mixture between the ramekins, or pour it all into the spring form pan. Press the crumbs into the bottom and create a nice smooth crust for the cheese cake.
8. Bake crusts in preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
9. While the crusts are lightly baking, Prepare the cheese cake filling.
10. Cream the cream cheese with an electric mixer or stand mixer, until smooth. 
11. Add the sugar and cream well. 
12. Add the eggs one at a time and mix after each one. 
13. Add the flour and vanilla and blend. Slowly add the sour cream and blend together until smooth.
14. Once crusts have finished baking, raise oven temperature to 450°F.
15. Allow the crusts to cool for a few minutes before adding the filling. This also gives our oven a chance to preheat for round two.
16. Divide the filling mixture between the ramekins or just pour it into the spring form pan.
17. Bake the cheese cakes at 450°F for about 10 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 250°F, do not open the oven and continue to bake for about 1 hour or until the filling has set. Which means it doesn't jiggle when you touch the middle. Be gentle, you don't want to leave a mark in the top.
18. While the cheese cakes are baking Let's start that berry sauce.
19. In a small sauce pan over medium-lowish heat, add all the blueberries and mash until they are all at least mashed a little bit. 
20. Add the water and sugar and continue to stir and mash until the blueberries are nearly all broken down. 
21. Add the almond extract and reduce heat. 
22. Continue to simmer until the sauce is starting to thicken and become syrupy. 
23. If you like you can use an immersion blender to really make the sauce smooth and even. 
24. By now t he cheese cakes should be almost done. Pour the Blueberry sauce into a bowl and set aside for now.
25. Once the cheese cakes have finished baking remove from oven and chill on wire racks for at least 15 minutes.
26. Once they aren't scalding hot anymore chill the cheese cakes in the fridge for at least two hours before serving them.
27. To prepare, quickly heat the sauce up in the microwave for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Pour over the top of the cheese cake and serve.

Enjoy! 

Notes:

There are few things more disappointing for a chef than to spend the day making something lovely and layered like a cheese cake, and then not having your guests eat it, or only having tiny little tastes of it. If I've made it, then I want it to be eaten! Which meant I had to rethink of I serve some things to fool my guests into doing what I want. The trick with cheesecake is to make it in 3 inch ramekins, and then serve one to each person! Tried it during my fancy Monday night dinner party and everyone finally ate a portion of cheese cake! Best part being that I didn't have to change my recipe at all.

Which means you can either be cool and make 6, three inch ramekin cheese cakes, or be traditional and use a 6-8 inch spring form pan. Either way the instructions are the same and easy!

1. Also this is a New York style cheese cake, but I make the bottom the same way as my mother so its a special surprise. No graham cracker crumbs in this recipe. Served with fresh prepared blueberry sauce, because fresh blueberries were scandalously cheap this week at the grocery store. You can use whatever topping you want, or make you own alternative fruit/berry sauce.

Goodbye Breaking Bad!

I'll miss you, my Monday night dinner and a show wont be the same anymore after you leave.

Blue Buttercream cake, with cream cheese frosting and white sugar crystals.

Cape Breaton Nan's Pie Crust

Cape Breaton Nan's Pie Crust

Makes enough dough for a top and bottom crust

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening
• 2 Cup Flour
• 3 Tablespoons ice cold Water
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
• 1 Egg

Instructions:

1. In a food processor Pulse the butter, vegetable shortening and flour together just until a smooth sandy consistency is reached. 
2. The key to a light a flaky pie crust is to never ever over mix. 
3. Transfer to a large bowl and create a well in the center of the bowl. 
4. In a small bowl lightly whisk the egg, and add the water and lemon juice, add all at once to the flour mixture and quickly combine with your hands. 
5. Trying to not over mix as we still need to knead! 
6. Turn the just combined dough onto a floured surface and lightly knead till smooth and workable. 
7. Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least an hour. 
8. After chilling dough, roll it out onto a floured surface and lift onto pie by rolling the rolled out dough onto the rolling pin, and rolling off into the pie plate. 
9.  Fill and finish the pie according to the recipe. 
10. This dough usually bakes well at 350°F for 10-15 minutes for an empty shell, or upwards of 35 minutes for a filled pie.

Enjoy!

Notes:

So Nearly a month ago I posted a recipe for Snow White's Poison Apple Pie but failed to include my recipe for home made pie crust.  The thing is I couldn't quite find where I had written down my favorite pie crust recipe.  Which makes it extra unfortunate that I was just having a laugh at my mother in my last post about her bad recipe organizing system.  But oh well, I am a scatter brain in a different way than my mother; but we still very alike no matter what.  But let's return to the task at hand, making a perfect pie crust by hand!  It really isn't that hard to pull off, but a lot of people just don't feel they can make a good pie crust, or at least maybe they just feel it's too much work, or the store made ones are good enough.  But pie making should be a prerequisite for marriage in my books, so it's a good thing I already got this pie making thing down.

I must also confess that I am not the one who was lucky enough to have a Cape Breaton Nan growing up, I had a hard line Scots woman as Grammie who was quite bored by children by the time I came around and a lovely Nanny from Nova Scotia. My best friend was the lucky one in the baking Nan department.  My friend was kind enough to share her family recipe for pie crust and I tweaked it a bit to better serve my needs, and because there isn't a recipe on the planet that I don't try and change up.

Snow White's Poison Apple Pie

Snow White's Poison Apple Pie:

Ingredients/Components:

1 pie crust - 1/2 of this pie crust recipe will work, or a store bought crust

1 batch of Blackberry Sauce

Fresh Whipped Cream

• About 4-5 Apples, peeled, and diced into about 1cmX1cm cubes (or larger if you like).
• 3 Tablespoons Honey
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Allspice
• 2 tablespoons corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water, mixed smooth

Instructions:

1. Start by making the berry sauce, pie crust (if doing from scratch) and the whipped cream and setting them in the fridge until they are needed. You can also wait until the pie is almost done baking to start the whipped cream. Depends on if you want to have everything done ahead of time or serve it all up on the fly.
2. In a medium sized sauce pan, add roughly 3 tablespoons of water and the chopped apples, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.  
3. Heat over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes or until the apples are just starting to get a softer consistency. 
4. Try not to overcook the apples, they will cook more while the pie crust bakes and overcooking will make them very runny. 
5. Remove from heat and add the berry sauce and stir to turn the apples an awesome purple color. 
6. Add the corn starch slurry to the apples and stir so its evenly distributed. 
7. Pour the purple apples into the pie crust you either prepared or bought. 
8. Bake according to your recipe or the crust's instructions. 
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting so the apples don't run too much. 
10. Serve with the whipped cream dolloped on top
11. If you are finding that the edge of your pie crust is getting too dark you can cover the edges with the ring of tinfoil, or even brushing some milk on the edges will help keep them from getting over done. Be gentle and have a light touch with the milk if you go that route because you can over do it.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Have you seen the movie Waitress with Keri Russel? I enjoyed it, you may not but if you hate spoilers look away now, Keri Russel plays a woman named Jenna who works as a waitress at a low grade dinner, she is pretty unhappy with her life and the only thing that brings her joy is baking different delicious fantasy pies. Basically where I am going with this is that sometimes when you have the flu for a week and watch far too many Disney movies and day time cable tv movies (like Waitress has become) then odd things can happen in  a brain.  Which is basically where this recipe came from.

For this recipe I'll be using a few other recipes on here including the Berry Sauce recipe (I used blackberries), and the recipe for fresh whipped cream. The blackberry sauce will be used to turn the apples a delightful rich purple color to make them "poison apples" and I served this pie as more of a tart so the bright purple color was really shown off. Top off each serving with a dollop of fresh whipped cream (I know it's a stretch but that's the Snow White part in my head).  I wish I had a picture of this one but when I made it for my friends it didn't last long enough to find the camera, but that is always a good sign.

Chocolate Cake

I remember sometime around when I was about eight coming to a startling conclusion. . . . Cakes did not always come from a store or from a box, there had to be a way to make a cake "way back in the day".  While this might not seem like a genius conclusion, it was eye opening for me and likely the start of me trying to work backwards and learn to make things for myself instead of having someone or something else do for me.  So here we have an easy and pretty much no-fail chocolate cake recipe. Seriously no one can ever go to far wrong with chocolate cake.

Tips and Tricks:
A cake with frosting lasts longer and will stay more moist. If your not into frosting a cake then I suggest you make short work of eating it.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder, unsweetened 
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 3/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 Teaspoon Almond Extract
• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 1/3 Cup Chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Lightly grease a bunt pan, dust with cocoa powder or flour. Knock excess cocoa powder out.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4. In a large bowl cream together the oil, vanilla, almond extract, sour cream, and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Add the flour mix to the large bowl of wet ingredients and mix to combine. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes till a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool in pan for about 10 minutes before inverting on to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!