the sweet smell of vanilla

Guess what?! I have orders!!!! In the last week I've baked dozens of scones; jalapeño-extra old cheddar, double cheddar-parmesan, cranberry-corn, lemon, white chocolate and raspberry, and finally vanilla bean.

As one request would come in (thank you Zarah for getting the ball rolling) other flavour inspirations would come up... until finally I was baking late into the night (and very early morning).

As part of my brainstorming for flavour ideas, I mentioned vanilla bean scones to Tonya and her face positively lit up; she placed her order immediately. I googled several recipes in an attempt to find the perfect one... with that much excitement I didn't want to disappoint my friend.

From these recipes, I ended up tweaking a couple and merging them together. I was so excited to try this recipe: I couldn't wait to cut into that vanilla pod and scrape out all those seeds. Add to that some pure vanilla extract and I ended up with a sweet smelling treat in my kitchen.

I've learnt the real secret to baking scones. Place the shaped, uncooked batter in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking them. This allows the butter to get really cold and then the scone puffs up as it bakes. It made all the difference, taking my scones to a whole new level.

Vanilla Bean Scones
ingredients:
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. white sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 vanilla pod, cut length-wise and seeds scraped out
1/2 c. (1 stick) COLD butter, cut into small cubes
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c. buttermilk
1 egg with 1 tsp water, beaten
extra sugar, to sprinkle on top of unbaked scones

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand-mixer combine the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and vanilla seeds together. Mix to combine with your paddle attachment.

Add the cold butter and start working the butter into the flour at the STIR speed on your mixer (low speed). You just want it to incorporate - so this should take about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the 2 eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Whisk everything up (so that the eggs are beaten).

Stop the mixer and make a well in the middle of the batter. Pour the wet mixture into the hole and combine (low speed) until everything just comes together... there will be a bit of flour on the bottom of the bowl, that's ok.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Carefully knead it until it comes together (see photo above of the dough before I cut and shaped it). You want to roll out the dough into a large square (don't roll it too thin). From there you can cut out triangles. I was able to get 12 scones out of my batter - but next time I make them I'm going to make mini-ones. So I imagine I would be able to get at least 24 - if not more...I'll let you know how those turn out.

Place on your cookie sheets and set in your freezer for 30 minutes. Trust me - this makes a difference (see how flat my pre-baked scones are compared to the final product in the pictures above).

Remove from the freezer, brush with the egg wash and then sprinkle some sugar on top of these babies.

Bake for 20 minutes - increasing the time if you need to (mine took 20 minutes, but my oven is totally unpredictable).
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. These will store in an airtight container well... but they are too good to keep too long!

This recipe was a winner... and if anyone says "plain vanilla" you can offer them one of these... there is nothing plain about these babies!

just some pictures...

Oh Cannon G10, how I love thee (insert sigh). I love that you can make even my pictures look good. I love that you were made to take pictures of the baked goods I so enjoy making. And I love that I got you on sale.

Here are some pictures from the latest batch of jalapeño-extra old cheddar scones I made (3 dozen in the last week... all sold too!).

Perhaps these pictures will make you want to get out your ingredients and start baking. If not, give me a call. I deliver :0)

bread that really schmecks!

Deb lent me Food that Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler last February. She promised that not only did it have the best bread recipe (in her own words "no fail each and every time") but it would read like a novel; or I'd feel like I was chatting with Edna while enjoying one of the delightful goodies she writes about.

Deb isn't a liar. She was right; the bread recipe hasn't failed me. The book reads like I'm visiting my grandmother and we're sharing a pot of tea and devouring cookies, pies, cakes or warm loaves of bread (or all of the above).

Why schmecks? Well, Edna compiled recipes from the Kitchener/Waterloo (Ontario) Mennonite community. Everything that's in it is tried, tested and no fail; after all, (as I learnt reading this) Mennonites love their food and don't have time to waste. I have re-read it several times; bookmarking pages along the way.

I like to think that this blog is really an Edna entry - since it's thanks to her book that I am able to pass it along :0) (thank you Deb for introducing me to her and her recipes)

This batch makes 3 loaves: I turned one into a raisin bread with a cinnamon, allspice, and brown sugar topping. The second one into a plain white loaf (my father and step-mother have been enjoying that one with me) and the last one into a cornmeal crusted loaf.

I hope you enjoy eating this as much as I enjoyed baking it and eating it... after all, it's bread that really schmecks!

Neil's Harbour White Bread
ingredients:
1 c. lukewarm water
1 tsp white sugar
2 tbsp yeast granules (or 2 packets)
2 c. lukewarm water
1/2 c. white sugar (I used brown sugar instead)
1 heaping tbsp salt
1/2 c. vegetable oil (I only used 7 tbsp)
about 9 c. of all-purpose flour (I only needed 8 1/2 c.)

Warm up your stand-mixer bowl (warm water in it, then dump out the warm water) and pour the 1 c. lukewarm water, the tsp of sugar and sprinkle the yeast in order for it to dissolve.

Let stand for 10 minutes. I cleaned out my fridge while I waited :0)

Once your yeast has risen to the surface of the water, stir it all until it's well blended (and ensuring that the yeast is all dissolved).

Into the mixture you will stir in:(use your dough hook attachment and the STIR speed) the remaining water, the brown sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of flour.

Increase the speed to level 2 and add more flour, by the 1/2 cup. The dough will start to gather on the hook and you'll know it's ready when it gets that elastic texture - super glossy as well (the flour will pull away from the sides and all gather together).

I got to about 8 1/2 cups of flour and got the texture that I needed. Turn the dough over onto a floured surface and knead it with your hands for a minute. Put about 1 tbsp of vegetable oil into a glass bowl, greasing the bottom and sides and then placing the ball of dough into the bowl. Make sure that you coat the dough with the oil (move it around). Cover with a damp dish towel and set in a draft-free place for at least an hour (I always put mine in the oven) so that it can double in size.

Once it's doubled in size, punch out the air, take it out of the bowl and divide it into 3 equal sizes. This is when I added about a cup of raisins to my raisin loaf - kneading the raisins into the dough before shaping it.

Shape your bread into your shape of choice - loaf or round, or like me - keep them pretty rustic looking.

Place on a cookie sheet (2 loaves on 1 pan and 1 on the other) and cover with a damp cloth again. Allow to rest another 40 minutes in a warm spot - or cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest overnight in the fridge.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400 F. Take out the dough, remove the dish towels and make an egg wash; beaten egg with a bit of water. I made my brown sugar mix - 2 tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp allspice mixed together.

Brush the egg wash on all 3 loaves. Cover the raisin loaf with the sugar/spice mixture. I covered another loaf with finely ground yellow cornmeal and left the 3rd loaf plain.

With a sharp knife, cut some "steam vents" into the tops of the bread.

Bake for about 20 - 30 minutes. You'll know that they are ready when the tops are golden brown and if the bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

Allow to cool. Or be like me, and cut right into it. I heart this bread. I heart food that really schmecks.

don't call me cheesey...but you sure can call my scones that!

I have become obsessed (yet again, and with yet another thing). This time, the object of my obsession is scones. Last week alone I made 4 dozen scones - and sold almost all of them! It all started with a simple request from Zarah. She wanted to know if I could make her some jalapeño-cheddar scones... I had never made them, but figured I could try. As you can tell from the picture, the end result was pretty awesome... they smelt great and tasted even better. I think I've found my calling - I'm going to become a scone queen :0)

I used my stand-mixer since I have one, but obviously scones can be made even if you don't have one. The secret to them is not to over work the batter (just like your pastry dough) and to use COLD butter. And cream. If you want a flakey, moist and delicious scone - pull out the heavy cream and just enjoy!

Oh, and be careful when handling those jalapeño - don't de-seed them, so don't touch anything you don't want burning ;0)

jalapeño-extra old cheddar scones
ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely ground yellow cornmeal
3 jalapeño peppers, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) COLD butter, cut into cubes
1/2 lb (300 g) of COLD extra-old cheddar (I prefer using white), cut into cubes
1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
1 c. buttermilk
1 egg beaten (with 1 tsp of water)
extra cornmeal

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Dust your cookie sheets with some of the cornmeal (spread it all around) and set aside.

In a small pan over medium-high heat, melt the 1 tbsp of room temperature butter and sauté the chopped jalapeño peppers. You want them to soften, so cook them for about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your stand-mixer, sift the flour, b. soda and powder, salt and cornmeal together. Use your paddle attachment to stir the ingredients together (level STIR on your machine). Once combined, slowly cut in the cubes of butter (low speed); until they resemble the size of small peas, about 4 minutes. With the mixer still running add the cheddar cheese and the jalapeño peppers and mix them in.

Make a well in the centre of the dry batter and add the cream and buttermilk. Slowly mix until everything just comes together (I would say less than a minute at the STIR speed). You want everything to have pretty much gathered on the paddle but still have a bit of flour sitting at the bottom of the bowl. Your cheese will still be in chunks and your batter will be pretty wet.

Turn your dough out onto a floured counter top. Gently work the dough - I personally worked it into a log and cut out my scones from that shape. Place the scones onto the cookie sheets (on top of the cornmeal)- about 2 inches apart (allow room for them to spread) and lightly brush both the top and bottom with the egg wash.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 - 35 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to your wire racks to cool. Store in a well-sealed Tupperware in order to keep them as fresh as possible - if they even last that long. I promise you, just the smell of these scones will have you counting down to when you can devour them!

You should get at least a dozen scones... perhaps even 13.

*If you only need half the recipe; just freeze half the batter - follow all the steps until you get to the point were you will brush them with egg wash. Place them (already cut) on a clean cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer and allow the batter to completely freeze. Then remove from the freezer, put all the frozen scones into either a Ziploc bag or a Tupperware and return to the freezer. Bake as desired (thaw the batter and then put cornmeal on the cookie sheet and brush the scones with egg wash).

Enjoy!

another daring challenege... mais en français!

I have something to confess... whenever I used to hear the word macaroons I always thought of those stiff meringue nests that people seem to really enjoy eating (I'm not one of those people). So when I saw that I was being asked to bake several dozen macaroons for the October DB Challenge my heart sorta sank... and then I realized how erroneous I had been.

These cookies aren't hard and ridiculously sweet... they resemble more of a cookie sandwich - two light cookies bound together with a buttery filling. The best part of this challenge was that we were all encouraged to use whatever flavour profile we wanted.

I was divided... lemon cookies with a lemon cream cheese filling OR chocolate with a peanut butter filling. Oh what to do! Such a dilemma...

Since I had baked my 3 layered lemon cake over the weekend I decided to opt for the peanut butter. I don't regret that choice at all. I ended up with some beautiful cookies and the creamest, buttery filling. Delish!

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.


Chocolate Macaroons
ingredients:
2 1/4 c. icing sugar
2 c. almond flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp white sugar
5 egg whites, they must be at room temperature

Preheat your oven to 200 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you don't have any, do not grease your pan... the cookies need to be quite dry.

In a large bowl, combine the icing sugar, cocoa powder and the almond flour. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand-mixer start whisking the egg whites (with the whisk attachment). Start at a lower speed, increasing until about speed 8. At that point your egg whites should have formed soft peaks. Add the 2 tbsp of sugar and increase the speed to level 10. Continue whisking until you get to the stiff peak stage.

Take the mixer bowl off the stand-mixer and gently fold in 1/3 of the almond-icing sugar combo. Sift in the remaining almond flour in 2 batches. Be gentle and don't overfold - just fully incorporate the ingrendients.

Place the batter into an icing bag (or ziplock bag). Use either a large tip or cut off the corner of the bag in order to pipe the batter onto the cookie sheet. You want to pipe them into one-inch mounds so that they form little circles.

Bake the macaroons for 5 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and raise the temperature to 375 F.

Once the oven has reached that temperature, return the pans to the oven and continue to bake for another 7 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack before filling them with the icing.

*I was able to get about 3 dozen cookies out of this batch - but I also didn't have a proper piping bag (or ziplock bag) - so I ended up with some bigger macaroons that I would have otherwise.

A Sweet & Salty Peanut Butter Filling
ingredients:
125 g natural peanut butter
70 g icing sugar
25 g softened butter
25 g milk
5 g vanilla extract
3 g fine sea salt

In your mixing bowl (use a paddle attachment for the kitchenaid) cream together the butter and peanut putter at a medium speed. Add the icing sugar and salt and incorporate into the batter. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla; finishing with the milk being incorporated, about a tbsp at a time.

Pipe the peanut butter onto the base of one of the macaroons and top with another. Store in an airtight container... if they even last that long!

live yeast...oh what a difference it makes!

Bread attempt number 1 has come and gone. Although it was tasty when it first came out of the oven (what isn't ?), it just didn't survive well the following day. Was I discouraged? No way! It just made me even more determined to bake a really good loaf of bread. Not just a decent one, but a loaf that was tasty, moist in the middle and with a nice crust. I started googling bread recipes: especially ones that included molasses in them.

When I think of good bread I think of the brown molasses bread at Stone Faced Dolly's on Preston Street. Not only is it my favourite part of going there for brunch; but accompany it with some really good strawberry jam and you are good to go (I also personally enjoy to add some hot sauce to that combo, but that's just me...)

With that in mind I came upon a bread recipe that fit the bill...a New England classic, Anadama bread. Dark and moist, with a hint of cornmeal - this loaf turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Another reason I'm so pleased with myself is that I used LIVE YEAST!!! None of that powdered stuff... no sir, not for me! I will admit that I was nervous though; it always makes me laugh that I can get myself so worked up about a recipe... I mean, the worst that can happen is that I bake something inedible (which does happen - case in point, my first loaf of bread) and I get to try again... all that to say, you should give this recipe a try. Seriously. Try.

Anadama Bread
ingredients:
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. cornmeal
1 tbsp butter
1/2 c. molasses (next time I'm going to add 3/4 c. molasses)
1 ounce live yeast OR 1(.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water (110 degrees F)
all-purpose flour, divided in half cups - as much as you'll need
1 teaspoon salt

Mix 1/2 c. of water and the cornmeal in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook until the mixture thickens; about 5 minutes - at this point you should be stirring continuously so that the cornmeal doesn't stick to your pan.

Remove from heat and stir in the molasses and butter. Let cool to lukewarm.

Meanwhile, in your stand-mixer bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 c. of warm water - don't use HOT water since it will kill the yeast. Stir it well and then allow it to sit for 10 minutes; it'll get really creamy.

Combine the cooled cornmeal molasses mixture with the yeast mixture; stir until well blended.

Add about 2 c. of flour and and the salt. Grab your bread hook paddle and start to mix your dough. With the mixer running, continue to add flour, a half cup at a time until the dough starts to pull together (it'll form a nice ball: smooth and elastic - about 8 minutes of kneading in the machine).

Place the dough in a lightly oiled mixing bowl and turn it to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and put it in a warm place to rise; it should double in volume (about 1 hour).

*I take a 1/2 c. of water in a small bowl heat it in the microwave for 2 minutes; then move the bowl to the back of the microwave and place my covered dough into the microwave. It speeds up the rising period - and I find that the bread rises even more than if I leave it in my oven.

After you've waited that hour; take the dough out of the bowl, punch it to deflate it and turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Divide it in half. Shape it (or put it in a loaf pan), cover it again with the damp cloth and let it sit another 40 minutes.

Then glaze it with some milk or an egg wash. It'll add a nice crust to the top of the bread.

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Bake the loafs @ 400 F for about 30 minutes - careful, the bottoms can burn easily... so keep watch. You know that it is ready if the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

You can now do like me... cut off a piece and enjoy immediately; or if you have patience, allow it to cool a bit before you take a nice big bite!

the trio of pies

See that picture? Those are the 3 pies I served at Thanksgiving dinner... lemon meringue (which you've all read about numerous time before), apple cheddar (last night's post) and finally the classic pumpkin pie.

I've made this version of pumpkin pie several times now - it's Julie's mom's favourite dessert (as she says, "it's always pumpkin pie season") and my recipe is S-I-M-P-L-E. Really and truly simple.

You don't need to worry about spending your evening in the kitchen slaving over your oven. All you need is 5 minutes with either your blender or stand-mixer and a working oven. That's it. I promise.

I had doubled up the recipe since I wanted to make 2 pies... I actually ended up with: 3 x 9-inch pies and 1 x 8-inch pie - just by doubling it. You could also use the leftover filling to bake some custards... or just make lots of pie and spread the love in the office the next day :0)

Pumpkin Pie
ingredients:
2 eggs
1 1/3 c (400 ml) pumpkin puree
3/4 c. honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice mix
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 c (250 ml) evaporated milk
1/2 c. regular milk
1 unbaked pastry shell

You'll need to preheat your oven to 425F.

Now, place all the ingredients in a blender or in your stand-mixer and blend until smooth.

Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes @ 425F, then lower temp to 350F and continue baking another 45 min (your knife will come out clean).

Remove from heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.

That was it. I promised you a simple recipe - and I am confident this delivers.

*I know that thanksgiving has come and gone for us in Canada - BUT pumpkin puree and evaporated milk are still on sale in your grocery stores... just a suggestion...*