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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 20:14
One massive, gooey cinnamon roll? Yes, please! I know this is called monkey ‘bread’ but I’m having a hard time deciding if it should be classified as bread or a cake. Or a pastry. Breakfast pastry? Oooh maybe that’s it! However you categorize it, this is all kinds of delicious. Sweetened dough is cut into small pieces, rolled into balls, dipped in melted butter, rolled in cinnamon and
brown sugar, and layered int a Bundt pan. The butter and brown sugar create a caramel sauce that coats the bread once it is turned out of the pan. Drizzle the top with a powdered sugar glaze, and you have the most decadent breakfast, snack or dessert (I just love baked goods that can be eaten for a variety of meals or occasions). This is meant to be served warm so you can pull the bread apart with your fingers, but it’s also fabulous at room temperature or rewarmed in a microwave. No matter when you eat it, you’ll be licking your fingers clean!
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 20:07
I love, love, love to eat it. But I hate trying to find recipes that I like. I never seem to find anything that knocks my socks off, and after doing another round of searching I finally decided to go with my gut and created my own recipe based on what I know I like and don’t like. I suppose that technically this would be considered Chilli con Carne with beans (although chilli powder is used in
place of actual chilli peppers). I love beans in my chilli, so that’s a staple, and I really like the texture to be thick and hearty. If a spoonful can sit on top of a piece of bread without running off, then it’s a winner.
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 20:02
Buttery, flaky croissants. Wow. These are every bit as incredible as I hoped they would be. These are definitely not something that you can just whip up without some substantial planning ahead. There are a few places in the recipe where the dough can be refrigerated for a long period of time and I took advantage of this so as not to overload myself while I prepped the rest of the food for our
lunch. I started the preferment on Thursday evening and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight, then worked on mixing and laminating the dough on Friday, and after another rest in the freezer/refrigerator, I shaped, proofed, and baked the croissants on Saturday morning. Even though it is such a long process..IT IS SOOOO WORTH IT!
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:51
One of my favorite store-bought (or, I suppose, bakery-bought) splurges is focaccia bread. The crusty outside, chewy interior, and all of the flavors from herbs and garlic. When there’s a loaf in the house I’m guilty of cutting off a piece (just a little piece!), and then another piece, and then another, and then of course I have to even the row and eat another one. I just can’t stop
myself; focaccia might the worst of my savoury vices. Next to pizza, of course Who can stop at just one piece?! So needless to say, it was high-time that I made focaccia myself and kick the store-bought loaves to the curb.
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:49
This is a really simple apple crisp that’s absolutely delicious. Peeled, chopped apples are tossed with sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and some spice. Then they’re placed into a baking dish and topped with a quick and easy crisp mixture that’s accented with almonds. The almonds add just a little bit of extra crunch and pop of flavour. Warm from the oven with a big scoop of vanilla ice
cream, this is the epitome of what fall dessert is meant to be!
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:44
I did a quick search online and found that the Monte Cristo sandwich is basically a savory stuffed French toast. A ham and cheese (most traditionally, Gruyère) sandwich with Dijon mustard is dipped into a custard mixture and then fried in a skillet. The kicker? It’s most commonly served with either sweet fruit preserves or maple syrup. While I'm always a fan of sweet and salty combinations,
I'm less adventurous when it comes to sweet and savoury. Maple syrup with cheese? I definitely went in sceptical. I may have even made some faces. Let me tell you, you just need to trust it. It totally works!
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:34
One of my favourite things about summer is all of the fresh fruit that’s readily available.Aside from fruit salads, snacks on sweltering summer days and mixed into cottage cheese for breakfast, I love using fresh fruit in desserts whenever I can once summer hits. They add an enormous punch of flavor to any baked good and usually leave them feeling just light enough to satisfy but not weigh you
down. This tart is a fabulous way to use up your favourite fruit of the season. A sweet pastry dough is baked in a tart pan, filled with pastry cream and then topped with kiwi, raspberries, and blueberries.
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:32
These hamburger buns are light yet sturdy, very tender and moist. The dough is enriched with milk and butter, which gives the buns all of their amazing flavour. I love that these can be made in an afternoon and with very little hands-on time. Between the mixing, shaping and baking, you’re only looking at maybe one hour total, if that. The rest of the time is inactive, letting the dough rise and
do its thing, while you do your thing. Like laundry...:)
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:26
I thought that Bakerella’s adorable cake pops were a fitting beginning to a post about festive Halloween treats. You can check out Bakerella’s story about how these cake pops landed on the cover of the Betty Crocker magazine; you’ve probably seen the issue while waiting in line at the grocery store! There are tons of fun ways to doctor up sweets around Halloween to make them creepy and
crawly and just plain spooky looking. I’ve been running across a few here and there and had some saved, and decided with only a couple of more weeks until Halloween, it would be a great time to lend you some inspiration. Whether you’re throwing a Halloween party, need to send in treats for your kids’ school party or just want to have some festive fun in the kitchen, I think you’ll find these recipes to be fun, easy and perfect for October 31st! Enjoy!
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Food on Dec 6, 2012 - 19:22
When I was a kid, I only ate hot dogs one of two ways: nearly burnt to a crisp on the grill, or wrapped in crescent rolls and baked in the oven. The former typically happened during the summer, while the latter was almost always a fall and winter treat. My mom would kick the crescent-wrapped dogs up a notch by slicing the hot dogs down the middle and stuffing a half-slice of American cheese in
the middle. As far as my 8-year-old palate was concerned, that was just about as gourmet as you could get. That was my favorite way to eat hot dogs for years and years… until I discovered pretzel dogs. I have been a soft pretzel junkie for what seems like forever, so imagine the shock and awe when I discovered hot dogs wrapped in soft pretzel dough. I don’t eat hot dogs very often, but a few times a year, I’ll have one either straight from the grill, black and charred, or wrapped in a buttery soft pretzel, which is usually accompanied by copious amounts of outlet shopping. For some reason, it never occurred to me to make them at home. Until now. Which is definitely cause for celebration.
