discovery

A good friend had a birthday on the weekend and she is gluten free. Gluten free baking is hard. You don't always get the right texture and flavour. I have had a few successes and some failures. But I was determined to make it work. I returned to my cookbooks and came across a beautiful book that J. bought me last year called Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache written by Harry Eastwood. I wanted the book because it looked amazing but never really thought about the actual recipes. What I didn't realize at the time was that it was a gluten free book that is also vegan.  I am a firm believer in eggs and butter but I had all the ingredients so I thought it was worth the try. I decide on the Cherry Brandy Chocolate Cupcakes. Harry (I love a boy's name for a girl) has cheeky write ups to go with each recipe and this recipe matched my friend. Sassy and bold it had a deep sweet richness brought on by quality cocoa powder. Instead of butter I swapped in butternut squash and I used almond flour and rice flour. The cupcake itself had a rich cocoa taste without being too sweet. I made the frosting which is comprised of 90% icing sugar....delicious. I wasn't sure at first but in the end it was the most moist gluten free item I've baked. At the end of the night there were on 2 out of the 12 left. So I guess it was a hit, although I still love eggs and butter in a cake this is definitely an option for the vegan friends.

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I haven't posted in a while but I have been cooking. I had a brief fling with braising and and a couple of forays into soups but in these cold winter months I long for a familiar comfort....baking. I've been making whole wheat cocoa nib cookies, hippo cheese crackers and a giant New York Cheesecake. To be honest I've been doing a lot of Smitten Kitchen's recipes. I have taken a break from cookbooks as they have become an expensive habit and I wasn't feeling inspired. I tried the local library and was surprised that the Barefoot Contessa, Nigella or Sophie Dahl were not able to break my cookbook doldrums. 

A couple weeks ago I came across a post about The Communal Table, it's playful design and accessible recipes spoke to me. A Casual Setting is the first in a series of cookbooks about eating and gathering, curated and illustrated by Caroline Hwang. The recipes are accessible and appetizing. The bonus is that any money made from the books will be donated to a food-related organization. I can't wait to make the man steak for eight!

With Spring comes a new crop of cookbooks and while I have no interest in Gwyneth's book there were plenty of good books coming out. One in particular is Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes From London's Ottolenghi, I'm still on the waiting list for that one but I ordered another one with it that just arrived it's called Chicken and Egg: A Memoir Of Suburban Homesteading with 125 Recipes. I don't know if it's  the fact that we're getting more daylight or these new crop of cookbooks but I feel ready to cook again.

bakernoon turns to baking weeks

I’m going to say it “I hate winter.” Yes I know I live in Canada, I have lived here my whole life and it has never made winter any easier. Of course I love the snow and the chill in the air when it first shows up in December but when the holidays fade away and we move into the January and February I begin to resent the cold. Usually at this time I start to hibernate.  Baking returns with zeal now that the detox is over. I have decided that cookies are the ultimate food of choice. Over the last 2 weeks I have whipped up Smitten Kitchen’s Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chips (a favourite and one of the few things I repeatedly make), Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Roll Out Cookies in rabbit shapes and now Orangette’s Whole Wheat Sablés with Cacao Nibs.

I’ll always give a thumb up to the choco chip cookies. The rollouts were an experiment. As many of you may already know I don’t enjoy rolling out things, but I found a super cute rabbit cookie cutter that I had to use for Chinese New Years. It’s worth freezing the cookies for asked for time, the flavours were better, the dough was easier to roll and cut and the cookies did not spread as much. These cookies had a deep rich chocolate flavour due to mixing cocoa powder and chocolate together. They are definitely worth it if you roll them a little thicker (1/4 of an inch) and undercook them slightly. When you do that you get a bit more of a bite to it and had a brownie type texture to them. Dust them off with a little icing sugar and you’re good to go.

I’m not entirely convinced whole-wheat flour belongs in cookies but Molly from Orangette was convinced that this is the way. Using my last 1/3 cup of delicious cocoa nibs from Soma I made these cookies. Again I did something different by rolling the dough into a log and putting it in the fridge. Slicing them and baking them was a breeze. While there is a bit of nuttiness from the whole-wheat flour and a nice deep smoky chocolate flavour from the nibs I’m still not a believer. Molly says to give it day and it will taste better. I’ll try it again tonight and see….

Chocolate Roll Out Rabbits, adapted from Bon Appetit

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a bowl together.  Melt the chocolate on a double broiler remove and let cool. Beat butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined. Make a ball with the finished dough and cut in half. Flatten the balls into discs and plastic wrap them for at least 4 hours.

Take the dough and roll it out on a floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the cookies and place about 1 inch apart from each other on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes. The cookies will be puffier and firmer and have slightly darker edges. Take out and let cool. Dust lightly with icing sugar.

Warning makes a lot of cookies but they won’t last long.

p.s.

I’m not going to lie to you and say I’ve been super strict these past few weeks. I definitely had some days when I went off the rails. Yesterday morning being one of them. Last week I managed to catch Delicious Miss Dahl on the Food Network and was inspired by her very selfish day. I woke up Saturday morning at 7 am and snuck down to the kitchen. Instead of opting for the usual eggs and toast I decided I would kick start it with the Rich Chocolate Pot recipe. I was not disappointed by my choice. I could barely even get the chocolate or stewed strawberries into the cup as I was eating about half of the recipe as I was making it. It had a rich chocolate taste that mixed with the sweet syrupy strawberries (I can only imagine what it would be like if I had cherries and cherry brandy). It wasn't too sugary and it felt like the right amount of indulgence without pushing you over the edge. Here's the recipe I made. I don't even have a complete photo because it was devoured that quickly.


Indulgent (Rich) Chocolate Pots, adapted from Delicious Miss Dahl
serves 6


About 1/2 cup of hulled and chopped strawberries
1 tablespoon of sugar
200 g of 65% Lindt Madagascar Chocolate (two bars)
1 1/3 cup of whipping cream
2 large egg yolks


In a pot over medium heat dissolve the sugar in a little bit of water.
Add strawberries and simmer for about 5 minutes until the strawberries soften and have a slight jam like consistency. Remove from heat.
Using a double broiler (I used a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water) Heat the chocolate (broken into chunks) and the cream together. When they are combined remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
Whisk in two egg yolks until the chocolate mixture becomes glossy and smooth.
Spoon strawberry mixture into 6 pots and then evenly distribute the chocolate mixture. It's impossible not eat as you are making it but it's also nice to share (which I did, come on you don't think I'd eat all 6 servings by myself do you?).

opening the floodgates

After a week of strict restrictions, week two seemed like a breeze because I slowly introduced wheat, eggs, soy and dairy back into the diet. Added sugar was still out but that was okay because I had Flying Apron’s book, which was gluten free, vegan and used barely any sugar.

I’ve been really enjoying her savoury section in particular her soup one. I made the Potato, Leek & Sorrel soup and it was delicious! It had subtle yet complex layered flavours it also had spinach blended in it with our 80’s immersion style blender called Robot Susan (that’s what the package called it).

By mid-week I was ready for something sweet so I made the Wondie Bars. GF oat, mixed with raspberries and blueberries, olive oil and some corn flour. It was a little crumbly but was sweet and crunchy all rolled into one.

When the week drew to a close I kicked it off in my usually weekend bake style and tried the Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes. I used no eggs, butter or processed sugar (the holy trinity of baking). Instead the substitutes were banana, olive oil and a maple syrup, agave nectar combo. I brought it to a friend’s house and didn’t say a word. It was big hit! The texture was crumbly (a common occurrence in Flying Apron’s book) but the cupcake had a nice chocolate depth and richness I didn’t expect from a vegan recipe. I’m not saying I’m converted because I love eggs, butter and sugar, I just thought it was a nice alternative for those with food restrictions. And of course it was gluten free.

Flying high from my past successes I tried to up the ante and make the Blueberry Cinnamon Scones. I used garbanzo bean flour, my first mistake. It smelled a little like peanut butter but had none of its texture and binding power. I was not impressed because they came out dry, crumbly and a little lack luster in flavour. Thumbs down for sure on this one. J said they were fine but every time I picked them up they would explode in a crumbly mess and left a sticky dry texture in my mouth upon eating them. Ho hum indeed.

Next up the Indian Pockets (Gluten free bread wrapped around a warm yummy filling, two recipes in one). I think I like the savoury more than the sweet. And even though I had a few successes I really think baked goods need a little egg and butter to hold it all together.