Tag: Cooking Chronicles

The Cooking Chronicles: Coconut-Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Chips

Dickson gave me a cookbook as a part of my birthday present this year. Titled Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google, Charlie Ayers shares his secrets of harnessing fresh ingredients for healthy, delicious “brain food”.

I tried my first recipe from the book today: Coconut-Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Chips, meant by Ayers to be a breakfast option on the run. As usual, poor planning on my part meant I rushed the melting/cooling process of the butter to room temperature, and actually ended up warming and cooling the butter several times because I left it so long it solidified again. I’m sure this was the main reason why the mixture ended up with a foamy substance on top as it baked in the oven, but it didn’t seem to affect the final product too much.

I was a little too eager to slice into it, and should have waited longer, as the crumbly triangles attested. Taste-wise, the coconut and oatmeal were the strongest flavours, and though the bar itself appears to be healthy with the addition of the latter ingredient, I’d be more likely to snack on this than have it for breakfast. It’s definitely something I’ll make again though!

Coconut-Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Chips

The Cooking Chronicles: Cinnamon Sticky Biscuits

I originally saw Julie van Rosendaal’s recipe for Cinnamon Sticky Biscuits in a print magazine, but lucky enough, it was also available on her blog, Dinner with Julie (it was profiled in the Journal a few months ago). I felt like a sweet dessert on Friday, and it seemed like a good recipe to try on a cool summer evening.

Except for lining the pan with parchment, and attempting (and failing) to roll out the dough with a rolling pin instead of patting it into a rectangle, I followed all of the directions as listed. Twenty minutes later, the oven yielded a bubbling pan of golden cinnamon buns.

I was expecting a biscuit-like consistency from the buns, but it actually tasted more like a cross between a biscuit and a regular bread-dough cinnamon bun, meaning that it took some getting used to. I wasn’t a huge fan of the sticky brown sugar, honey, and butter topping – it hardened quite quickly into a crunchy, chewy candy-like confection that didn’t go well with the softer texture of the biscuits.

This would be a great go-to recipe to pull out for an afternoon tea, rainy-day activity with the kids (they can help mix the dough or help top the rolled-out dough), or when you’re looking for a quick after-dinner treat.

Cinnamon Sticky Biscuits

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate Fondue Night

Annie graciously hosted a chocolate fondue party on Sunday night, something she has been wanting to do for some time.

While Janice and Annie cut up fruit we had purchased that afternoon, I got to work on preparing the chocolate base in a double boiler. Using Rachael Ray’s recipe as a guide, I melted together milk chocolate melting wafers, squares of dark chocolate, some whipping cream, and a dash of Baileys. Having never tried chocolate fondue before, I wasn’t sure what consistency to aim for, but as we could add chocolate and/or cream to the mixture anytime, I wasn’t too concerned. I transferred the concoction to the ceramic fondue pot, and surrounded by bowls of fresh fruit, cookies and sweets, the dessert looked positively inviting.

Count me surprised that the tiny tealight was able to keep the mixture bubbling, even to the point where we were able to easily melt in more chocolate to top off what we had. Between the strawberries, cantaloupe, bananas, peaches, and apple slices, I liked the latter fruit the best – the crunchy texture suited the dipping exercise nicely. Chocolate-dipped Teddy Grahams weren’t bad as well, though the chocolate-chunk coated cookies were a bit too sweet, even for me. The fondue experience was not only fun, but I ended up feeling more full than I expected – it turns out one can eat quite a bit when everything is coated in chocolate.

Thanks Annie for hosting the party!

The spread

Annie posing with Black Cat Riesling (I bought it more for the novelty bottle than the wine itself)

Janice multitasks (again! and she was on call too!)

May and Janice

Me and Annie

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate and Banana Panino

I remember watching an episode of Giada’s Weekend Getaways where she feasted on a mean-looking chocolate and banana panino, and since then, have wanted to try one ever since. I picked up a baguette and some bananas on my way home from work on Friday, and after supper, intended on recreating Giada’s dessert for myself.

I spread Nutella on both slices of bread, placed three banana slices in between for the filling, and drizzled olive oil on the top and the bottom to help with the browning. Pressed down for two minutes in the George Foreman Grill, they were done, served along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I was hit with a deja vu moment of having possibly tried such a panino before, but I think it was just the classic combination of banana and chocolate that threw me off. While not fancy or particularly unique, these sandwiches would be an easy dessert for a weekday evening.

Chocolate and Banana Panino with Vanilla Ice Cream

The Cooking Chronicles: Birthday Pizza

My Mum offered to make me whatever I wanted for my birthday supper, and though I usually pick her sweet and sour pork when a special occasion arises, this year, I chose pizza on the grill. My sister and I tried making our own pizzas on the barbie last year, and though they were edible, the dough was a tad undercooked. We hoped to rectify that this time around.

Mack and I picked up some choice toppings before heading home (fresh basil, Hungarian salami, white mushrooms), and using the dough my Mum had made that afternoon, assembled our individual pizzas on par-baked rounds.

Assembling pizzas

My Dad was in charge of the barbecue portion of the recipe, and just a few minutes after the first three went on the grill, he knew they’d be burnt. We probably shouldn’t have par-baked the dough, but my Mum and I thought that’d be a way to avoid undercooking the dough.

On the grill

Luckily, my pizza turned out okay, and slightly less charred than the others. We learned our lesson though, and won’t be pre-baking the dough again.

My pizza (with lots of cracked black pepper!)

After dinner, Mack and I went for a walk in the nearby Mill Creek Ravine (or what I deemed, “the bush”), retracing the path my family and I used to take on warm summer evenings not unlike that one.

On a bridge

Mack

Mack and I

The Cooking Chronicles: Friendship Loaf

Janice asked me about two weeks ago whether or not I would accept a bag of Friendship Loaf batter. I inquired about what it was. She told me that I would be provided with a bag of batter and a set of instructions, required to “mush” the bag every day, supplement ingredients at some point, and then on the tenth day, add more ingredients to finish the batter and bake the loaf. Before baking, the batter would form enough to separate into four additional batches for me to pass along to four friends. Essentially, it was the food equivalent of a chain letter.

Friendship Loaf Batter on Day 10

I did some digging, and as Mack would say, Wikipedia always has the answer:

“Amish Friendship Bread is a type of sourdough starter that is often shared in a manner similar to a chain letter. The starter is a substitute for baking yeast and can be used to make many kinds of yeast-based breads, shared with friends, or frozen for future use. The sweet, cake-like Amish Cinnamon Bread is a common bread that is made from this starter; it is a simple, stirred quickbread that includes a substantial amount of sugar and vegetable oil, with a mild cinnamon flavor. It has characteristics of both pound cake and coffee cake.”

The best line of the entry was this one:

“There is no reason to think that the bread has any connection to the Amish people.”

Regardless of the source, this was the most interesting process of baking I have come across so far, so I was curious as to what the final product would taste like.

I confess I didn’t “mush” the bag every day (though my Mum seems to have done it covertly without my knowledge; like watering poor neglected plants that I would undoubtedly let shrivel and die), and as Janice had warned me, the contents did start to smell quite strongly after the first few days. Bubbles formed overnight in the batter, and air did have to be let out every few days, but other than that, it just seemed like any other liquid baking mix.

On the tenth day, I added enough ingredients to divide the batter into five equal parts, and used one part to form the two loaves. I thought the necessity of a box of instant vanilla pudding was quite amusing in light of the named “Amish connection”.

An hour later, my loaves were done. They did taste very much like a coffee cake, especially in terms of texture, though a slice did leave me with a slightly sour aftertaste better washed away with a cup of coffee.

It was an interesting experience (thanks, Janice!), though my Mum and I both agreed that the product really didn’t warrant waiting ten days.

Friendship Loaf

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

On Doug’s request (I’m always up for a “secret ingredient” challenge!), I looked for an interesting recipe that contained peanut butter. While a stew thickened with peanut butter qualified as the most intriguing, Miss Hilda’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie caught my immediate attention as something I actually wanted to eat (I’ve been wanting to give it a name worthy of Waitress, but nothing can beat her signature “Bad Baby Pie”, so I won’t even try).

I made the crust and toasted the peanuts on Sunday night to reduce the prep time on Monday, and to give it extra time to cool in the freezer. I resorted to using an aluminium cake pan instead of our only glass pie plate to lighten the load I would have to cart on public transportation, but with the help of the rounded side of a measuring cup, was able to form an edge fairly easily.

The filling was a cinch to whip up, and smelled irresistibly like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when I was done. I let it set overnight, and even after being beaten around a bus, it wasn’t too worse for wear.

As for the taste – the crust needed at least double the amount of melted butter to set correctly – as it stood, crumbly was its unfortunate state. The filling, after having more than enough (or too much?)time to harden, ended up a little too densely sweet for my liking; I would have preferred the mousse-like consistency it had just after being freshly beaten with the electric mixer.

The best thing about the pie, of course, wasn’t the pie itself, but being able to share it with friends. Thanks again for letting us crash at your place, Anna!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

The (what else) potluck spread

Violet and Judith help themselves

Violet and Doug

Anna and Judith

All smiles!

The Cooking Chronicles: Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

Needing a quick, one bowl supper idea, I remembered Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, so after work, Mack and I headed to the nearby Italian Centre to pick up a few ingredients, and met with absolutely no dinner rush line ups, were well on our way to a filling meal.

Mack complained about having to grate the parmesan, but then again, that was probably the most “labour intensive” task in the entire recipe. I thought we were going to set off the smoke alarm with our sizzling tray of olive oil and burst cherry tomatoes, but thankfully, the flat stayed quiet. A handful of fresh basil (or what Mack refers to as “weeds”) some roasted mushrooms, and the parmesan finished the dish.

For a pasta without a heavy dressing of cream or tomato sauce, it was surprisingly good. More vegetables (spinach, zucchini) or meat (shredded chicken) could be tossed in, but in all, this is a great top drawer emergency dinner recipe.

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

The Cooking Chronicles: Grilled Stuffed Pitas

Though for a brief moment we flirted with the idea of having a primary party to end all primary parties (building on our Chicken Enchilada experiment), we copped out and opted for a simple meal instead.

With CNN in the background, Mack and I put together stuffed pitas as inspired by a dish I had at Cafe Mosaics a few months ago. Sauteed onions, green peppers, mushrooms and spinach formed the first layer in our sliced pita, followed by shredded rotisserie chicken and mozzarella. We then grilled the halves in a pan, primarily to melt the cheese, and topped them with diced tomatoes for some sweetness.

While filling, neither Mack or I were too impressed with our version of the pitas. Both of us would have much preferred a quesadilla made with similar ingredients.

Grilled Stuffed Pitas

The Cooking Chronicles: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Many moons ago, Mack’s Grandma, upon finding out about our cooking experiments, gave us a copy of a recipe she thought we might like to try – Kelly Ripa’s Red Velvet Cupcakes. We never did get around to the recipe, but with the advent of her 75th birthday celebration, I thought it might be nice to make them for her as a gift.

After looking over Ripa’s instructions, I wasn’t sure about the strawberry juice addition (typical red velvet recipes ask for food coloring instead), so I looked up alternatives that didn’t give me a bad feeling. I came across Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and being the Food Network fan that I am, decided to use that recipe instead.

I made two modifications that may have influenced the final product negatively. First, I doubled the amount of cocoa powder asked for (to 2 teaspoons instead of just 1), as I wanted a stronger chocolate flavour. Having never made red velvet anything before, I wasn’t sure if this change was what prevented the batter from being red (it was a striking magenta color). Secondly, I used extra large cupcake liners instead of the recommended large ones, meaning that the cupcakes had to stay in the oven longer than the 20-22 minutes listed. As such, the tops and the sides of the ‘cakes turned an unsightly brown color – my immediate reaction after taking them out of the oven was a cry of “They’re so ugly!” I was hoping to cover up my mistakes with frosting.

The cream cheese frosting turned out well (I cut the icing recipe in half; I find I always end up with way too much), with the quantity being just enough for the 12 cupcakes. I dotted the tops with rainbow rounds (my original idea of dusting with a “75” stencil fell through), and hoped for the best.

Grandma Male really liked them, and remarked on how moist they were, with just a hint of cocoa taste. Though the sides of the cupcake were obviously brown, the insides were a shade of dark pink, and played off the colorful sprinkles and white icing nicely. I wasn’t a huge fan of the slightly-sour frosting (I prefer the cavity-sweet kind), but both Mack and his Grandma enjoyed it.

These are an interesting variety of cupcake that I would make again…without the impromptu recipe modifications.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting