Remain Calm & Have a Coconut Bar

Originally this week's post was going to be about turning on your oven in the summer. (ie. Who wants to do that?) But the day I made these gooey bars, Toronto experienced an "earthquake." It originated about a five hours drive from here so what we felt was less intense, but for those who never experienced one before, it sends you off kilter abit.

To comfort myself, I decided to calm my nerves by trying out a dessert I had on my "to do" list.

The inspiration for this recipe came from my Martha Stewart Cookie of the Day email. It was called Gooey Coconut Dream Bars. Wow. How can you resist that? It had me at gooey. I read the recipe and thought it was similar to alot of the bar cookie recipes I like. Pretty quick and easy. It's also a bit of a kitchen sink recipe. Have a small handful of dried cranberries? Throw them in. How about these nuts? Get them in, too!

It occurred to me that the cookie recipe turned out more squares than I wanted. Besides, I didn't have 2 cans of sugary, thick condensed milk, only the one. With some changes here and there, I present to you a bar that is reminiscent of some of my favourite desserts: butter tarts, caramel and macaroons.

Oh yes, all three flavours in one bite. Think creamy, chewy, sticky and certainly, gooey. You don't need an earthquake to make these bars, any old reason will do.

Coconut Bars

Crust:
1 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4c melted butter, unsalted
1/8 tsp salt

Filling:
1 c sweetened coconut flakes
1/2c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2c Thompson raisins
300ml sweetened condensed milk (1 can)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 8 x 8 square pan by lining it with parchment paper. Leave at least a 2 inch overhang on two adjacent sides to ease of removal.
2. Mix crumbs, butter & salt together. Press evenly into the square pan, bringing at least 1/2" up the sides.
3. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Meanwhile, mix together condensed milk, coconut shreds, raisins and chocolate chips.
5. Pour mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth out filling ensure that corners are filled.
6. Bake for 20-26 minutes. When the filling starts to caramelize and bubble along the edges, remove from oven. Cool.
7. With a sharp knife, cut squares. (Clean off the knife after each cut for a neat look.)

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Drowned: Ice Cream Floats Italian-Style

There is a certain chain of coffee shops where people stand in long lines for a medium double-double. In this country, people are utterly devoted to this brand and you can practically find a location on every corner. While I understand the appeal, personally, I prefer a stronger brew.

Years ago, I bought myself a little espresso machine so I could get the good stuff at home. Oh, the joy it brought me! Lattes in the morning with the paper before work, and espressos in the evening after dinner. It was civilized. But over the years, our espresso machine gave way to our programmable coffee maker. It was a simple pleasure, to hear it buzz the beans in the morning and by the time we walked into the kitchen, coffee was brewing. It was nice but not the same.

We recently discovered some of the best coffee in Toronto but it didn't come from a coffee shop. Just a guy with a roaster (so his website says) who roasts some pretty delicious stuff. We bought 2 pounds of coffee: 1 pound of a fair trade espresso roast and another pound of a fair trade dark roast. Like children, we love both our coffee machines and we spoil them rotten!

Aside from drinking it, I made a simple but luxurious dessert with our espresso: Affogato. Literally, hot espresso poured over cold vanilla ice cream. Think of it as Italy's answer to the ice C\cream float.

Affogato means drowned in Italian. It's vanilla ice cream doused in a bath of hot, freshly brewed espresso. Pure heaven. (Even if you find espresso "too strong.") The creaminess of the vanilla ice cream tempers the assertiveness of espresso and the result is a rich, velvety, creamy and bold dessert. So simple, and so divine. The only challenge with this dessert is to try to savour it before all the ice cream melts away.

When you make such a simple dessert, splurge on good quality ice cream and espresso. If you don't have espresso, brew some good quality strong coffee.


Affogato
per person

Allow your guests to pour espresso on top of their desserts.

1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 shot freshly brewed espresso (or strongly brewed coffee)

1. Scoop ice cream into dessert glass. Return the freezer while you make espresso.
2. Brew espresso.
3. Remove ice cream from the freezer and serve espresso alongside.
4. Pour espresso over ice cream and devour!

I have found the perfect proportion is one scoop of ice cream to 3/4 espresso shot.
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Cookbooks and Custard

If there is one habit that vexes my husband, it's my passion and love for cookbooks. I love them because not only do they inspire "what's for dinner" but they bring the world out there into my kitchen at home. As I turn the pages of my favourite cookbooks, I am transported to hot, bustling kitchens of New York, the rustic kitchens of the French countryside or the outdoor markets where Chinese cooks seek out the freshest ingredients for dinner that night. A good cookbook is like a good travelogue, returning me to a beloved place and time with just a taste or evoking an image of a faraway and exotic place I have yet to visit.

In an effort to maintain the size of my collection at a manageable level, I have taken to borrowing cookbooks from our library system. I am currently making my way through a fabulous cookbook, “The Gift of Southern Cooking” by Edna Lewis & Scott Peacock. I had heard great things about this cookbook and Southern cooking is something that I am not greatly familiar with here in Canada.

The book is not just a cookbook but a record of a great friendship between Edna and Scott. She, the grandchild of former slaves from Virgina & he, the younger white chef from Alabama, who through their shared passion for the cuisine of their heritage, share this inspired & thoughtful collection of recipes of this region in the way grandmothers pass on recipes to the future generations.

With so many recipes to choose from, I am still experimenting and trying out new things but I thought I would share with you this wonderful and very simple custard recipe plucked from the pages of this cookbook. (While I have changed some of the recipe's instructions, the ingredients remain the same....)

Egg Custard
(adapted from The Gift of Southern Cooking)



Serves 8 (according to the cookbook, though I used 6 large ramekins which warranted a longer cooking time.)

6 eggs
3/4c granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 1/2 c milk
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crack the eggs into a large mixing dish and stir until the yolks are broken. Add sugar, milk and salt and mix until well blended.

Strain the egg mixture through a fine-meshed sieve into a large bowl or pitcher. Stir in nutmeg & vanilla. (The nutmeg floated to the top when I made my custard because I used a rasp to grate my nutmeg. If you have a proper nutmeg grater you probably won't have the same problem I had but if you use a rasp and prefer a more refined appearance, I would add the nutmeg, allow it to infuse the custard for at least ten minutes (if not more) and strain. The flavour is not as pronounced but the custard won't have the same flecks and speckles mine did.)

Place ramekins into a large deep dish baking pan (like a lasagna dish) and carefully pour approximately 1 cup of the egg mixture into each ramekin.

For safety's sake, carefully pull out your oven's baking rack and place the baking dish on top. With a heatproof pitcher, pour enough hot water into the baking dish to reach approximately half way up the ramekin dish. Very carefully, push the baking rack back into the oven. (This technique is called bain marie. It allows the custard to cook very gently through indirect heat.) Bake for approximately 3 - 40 minutes. (The cookbook calls for 20-30 minutes... I checked the custard every 10 minutes starting at 20 minutes, but my cooking time was considerably longer because my ingredients came straight from the refrigerator, and I made 6 servings instead of eight, the custard needed more time to set.)



To remove, carefully pull out the oven rack and lift the baking dish off the rack. Place a clean towel on your kitchen counter and carefully remove the ramekins from the baking dish onto the towel and allow to cool.

This is delicious warm but also quite delicious chilled with a dollop of whipped cream.
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Strawberries In Full Swing

Another week gone by... and what a week it was. We spent the Canada Day "extra" long weekend in Montreal visiting friend and my in-laws. (It's extra long because Canada Day fell on a Wednesday this year and we took Thursday and Friday off to give us five wonderful days away from work.) As usual, it was a non-stop buffet of food. Quebec seems to bring out both the gluttons and connoisseurs in us. My mother-in-law is a great cook and of course, this is a province that prides itself on wonderful outdoor markets offering up great local fruits and vegetables and time honoured artisan breads, cheeses and meats.

We stocked up on our favourite cheeses, chocolates, Montreal-style bagels, smoked meat, and kosher pickles. Of course, we also must take advantage of seasonal produce when possible and right now, the local strawberries have arrived. Oh happy days.

If you're about my age, maybe you grew up only savouring fresh strawberries in early summer. However, times have changed and cheap strawberries now are available all year around in the supermarket. However, these supermarket citizens are not known to be all that tasty. (And that is being kind!) No, in fact, they tend to be watery, sour and mealy. But around late June to early July, a small window opens and local strawberries make an appearance. These little rubies seem a world away from their year-around siblings; they are delicate, smaller in size but lusciously red and intensely juicy!

We bought half a flat and picked them off one by one all the way to the car! I wondered for a moment if they would even make it home...

The stars must have aligned for this week's posting... The inspiration came to me as we drove through picturesque Quebec countryside and in the first place we stopped in, an Trappist monk gift shop, meringues appeared. Divine intervention, perhaps?

(While meringues are so easy to make, it is nice to run across light and crisp meringues you can pick up and take home.)




Eton Mess is hardly a recipe - because if I told you to macerate strawberries, add some whipped cream, crumble in some meringue cookies, and throw it all together, you'd have an Eton Mess, too. It's that simple.

Eton Mess


1 pint fresh strawberries, cleaned & sliced
1 tbsp brown sugar

1 c whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

meringue cookies (use as many as you see fit) (I used 180 grams for this recipe)

Directions:
1. Slightly mash strawberries and brown sugar. Set aside for at least ten minutes or longer.
2. Whip cream and vanilla until soft stiff peaks.
3. Crumble meringues coarsely. Gently stir into whipped cream. Add about half of strawberries and liquid. Fold gently.
4. Spoon large spoonfuls of strawberries into a serving dish. Dollop with generous amounts of whipped cream mixture. Top with strawberries and drizzle with remaining juice. Serve immediately.

*I didn't sweeten the whipped cream because I wanted the natural flavours of the strawberries to come through.
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In Search of a Manly Man's Cupcake: The Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

It's my younger brother's birthday this weekend and we needed a birthday cake to celebrate... and I was in the mood to make cupcakes. Unfortunately, my brother is a manly man & the strawberry cupcakes with pink icing I wanted to make (yay for Ontario strawberries!) are way too girly for him.

Then I remembered one of my favourite movies from the 90s, Steel Magnolias. (It has a great cast & goes down as the ultimate chick flick in the best possible way.)

Now, the girl relationships in this movie aren't the real inspiration for this cake. But in the movie, Julia Robert's character, Shelby, makes a mention of an armadillo-shaped red velvet groom's cake. Now, that sounds manly, non?

Maybe in your neck of the woods, red velvet cakes were always popular... but it seems to me red velvet cupcakes seem to be quite fashionable these days... making the requisite rounds on the food blogs, and in the boutique bakeries. Although it's a dramatic looking thing, the red velvet cake is a simple cake with a hint of cocoa and bold dash of red food colouring. Certainly good enough to celebrate a manly man's birthday.

Martha Stewart has a beautiful recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes on her website which is what I have used here.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
From Martha Stewart

Makes 24
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1.5 oz red food color (about a small bottle)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.
Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Spread cupcakes with frosting. Eat at room temperature. (Store in the fridge if not eating immediately.)

Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
250 grams cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; before using, bring to room temperature, and beat until smooth.
(This recipe is adjusted from Martha's - the original recipe calls for 1/2lb butter & 4 c of confectioners' sugar.)

Note: Food colouring isn't my favourite thing - you could potentially get the colour for grated beets.
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Ten Minute Dulce de Leche Pudding

Daydreaming leads to distractions...



We invited friends over for dinner this weekend and I had planned to make these lovely dulce de leche pots de crème. The recipe involved heating, whisking, straining a custard then delivering it to a gentle bath in a warm oven followed by some cool down time in the fridge. Alas, weekends are too short and the first day of our weekend was warm. We found ourselves lingering over brunch with good friends we hadn’t seen in a while and strolled along our merry way, popping into local shops for a little bit of this and little bit of that for our dinner. By the time we got home, I realized my carefree strolling had cost us several hours… So instead of making this slightly laborious little custard which is absolutely worth it on any other given day, I decided to present the same flavour in its simplified, ten-minute version.

While my husband loves gooey chocolately things, I’ve always held a preference for wobbly delicate custards and puddings. If time permitted, calories weren’t a consideration and desserts were left entirely up to me, we would slip into crème brulees, pots de crèmes, panna cottas and my absolute favourite, Iles Flottantes (a heavenly convergence of custard and poached meringue) nightly. The combination of cream, milk, sugar, eggs whisked over gentle heat transform into a quivering, velvety smooth, creamy sweet ending to a meal. Bliss.

I had thought about making a butterscotch pudding but we had some lovely dulce de leche in our fridge and I will take any excuse to eat it. Dulce de Leche is Argentina’s gift to the culinary world: a slowly simmered mixture of milk and sugar stirred lovingly until it develops into thick golden, caramel spread. While it is great on toast, it is even better here.

Although this pudding takes no more than ten minutes of cooking time, it is so flavourful and light that you’re hardly miss that pot de crème.

Dulce de Leche Pudding

1c heavy cream
2c whole milk
6 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp dulce de leche
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter

icing sugar
toasted almond slivers/flakes

1. Add cream, 1 1/2c of milk, and brown sugar to a heavy saucepan. Whisk over medium-heat.
2. Bring to a slight boil, turn down to low. Whisk in the dulce de leche.
3. Mix cornstarch with remaining milk until smooth. Pour cornstarch slurry into the pudding.
4. Turn up the heat slightly. Continue to whisk well.
5. Once it thickens, remove off heat immediately and pour in vanilla and butter and whisk until fully incorporated.
6. Working quickly, ladle pudding into ramekins or cups and cover loosely with cling film so the heat can still escape. Once cool, fit the cling film tightly over the ramekins and refrigerate until ready to serve.
7. To serve, top with whipped cream slightly sweetened with vanilla and icing sugar and toasted almonds.

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Good Dinner Guests Bring Dessert – Part Two: Lemon Squares

There is something inherently comforting about old school desserts like brownies, chocolate chip cookies and lemon squares. For me, they evoke a time when our sweet cravings were satisfied by something simple, and more Betty Crocker like before we ate molten chocolate cakes, brules, and other seemingly fancier desserts.

Truth be told, I don’t really have a sweet tooth. I prefer a crusty baguette with a really nice butter to something sweet or chocolatey. But when I crave something sweet, this is what I crave. We have a bakery down the street that sells these humble little bars drizzled with white chocolate. Unfortunately, these bars rarely scratch the itch for me. There is not enough lemon curd and not nearly enough lemon flavour. While this bakery makes a mean mincemeat pie at Christmas, I have to turn to my own kitchen for a proper lemon square.

This is also one of my stand-by desserts to bring to a casual dinner party.

They are homey and unfussy but well plated, they look fancy enough for the occasion. I bring my shaker of icing sugar for plating and some fruit (I like blackberries) and you have dessert.

(This is also a great way to get rid of the three egg yolks if you made this.)

Lemon Squares

1 cup flour less 2 tbsp
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cornmeal or crushed pistachios
4 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 whole egg
3 egg yolk
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 tbsp 35% cream
juice of 1 large lemon*
Zest from 1 large lemon
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F and butter and line the bottom of a 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper
Combine flour, salt, cornmeal (crushed pistachios) and icing sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the dough is crumbly
Press dough into pan, trying to ensure the crust is even throughout. Bake crust for about 18 minutes until the edges look golden. Set crust aside to cool
Whisk the together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cream, juice, zest and baking powder until smooth. Carefully pour the filling into the cooled crust
Bake for approximately 25 minutes until set (the top will be slightly golden - do not overcook)
Cool at room temperature then chill in the fridge
Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar

*I have also made this recipe using limes (needs about 3 limes)

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Grateful Dinner Guests Bring Dessert: Raspberry & Asian Pear Crumble

One of the nicest gestures of friendship is the invitation to dinner. Friends who invite to their home for a meal are the friends I happen to like the most. I love having a home-cooked meal prepared for me. As much as I love cooking, eating at someone else’s home offers an introduction to foods I have never had before or a new preparation on a tried and true classic.

However, having a mild obsession with food has its drawbacks. My husband thinks I am a difficult dinner guest to please. But I don’t think so. I do like great food and I have a high standard that I set for myself, but I am always pleased to be invited for a meal and I appreciate any and all efforts our hosts put forward in creating our meal.

Maybe this comes across as showy or “a one upmanship” type thing, but I usually like to bring a little something. Not to display my prowess in the kitchen but as a thank you for the invitation. My lovely neighbour, Jules, invited me over for a girl’s night three weeks ago and after learning that some of the girls were going to show up with bubbly, I thought that I might bring some rose syrup for our drinks. Well, it turned out that all the girls ended up bring beer, and I was the only one with bubbles and rose syrup in hand. Jules laughed and quickly poured me a flute joking that I was being a show off. I realized that maybe she would have appreciated it more if I had brought this dessert instead. It’s my no fail, dead-simple dinner invitation crumble.

The fruits are inter-changeable to reflect your own tastes and what is in season. I like this with apples (or course), strawberries and rhubarb, apricots and almonds, and peaches and raspberries.

3 half-pints raspberries
1 large Asian pear
¼ c light brown sugar
1 tbsp corn starch

4 tbsp butter
½ c flour
1c quick cook oatmeal
¼ c sugar (dememerra)

1. Peel and chop asian pear into small bite size pieces, about the same size as your raspberries.
2. Tumble washed raspberries and asian pear and into a 8 x 8 baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar and cornstarch. (I have added a little bit of sugar here because I find raspberries are slightly tart and the sugar mellows it out abit. This is not a super sweet dish)
3. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Mix flour, oatmeal and sugar. Blend in butter until it resembles coarse meal. Don’t fully incorporate the butter, you still want to see the the little flecks and bits of butter embedded within the mixture.
5. Spoon topping over the prepared fruit. Cover most of the fruit with the crumble mixture, but I always leave alittle around the edges to allow the fruit to bubble up.
6. Place the baking dish on top of a baking sheet (in case of spills) and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Check to see if the crumble has a golden crown and if the fruit has bubbled up a bit. If so, remove from the oven and cool slightly. If not, leave in for another five minutes, check.
7. Cool slightly and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.