WE'VE MOVED

Hello!

Thank you for the amazing 8 years here at A Baked Creation, we can't thank you enough for the memories! But we've decided to move over to a new site - Sincerely, Syl. Please join us there for future posts on all the things you loved here!

Sincerely,
Syl

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Chase Fish and Oyster

10 Temperance Street
Toronto, ON M5H 1Y4
647-348-7000

Birthday weekends are the best! We haven't eaten out and tried a new restaurant in a long time, so Howard did a little research and picked a restaurant for my birthday dinner last week. The only stipulation I gave him was that I wanted oysters. I think it's been more than a year since I've had a good oyster platter!
Oyster platter delivered. Each table is given a card and pencil to mark the amount of raw seafood they would like to order. So I penciled in three Foxley Bay oysters and three Salt Grass oysters after our knowledgeable waiter went through the description. All oyster platters come with fish and oyster hot sauce, cocktail sauce, and migonette. Just so perfect that I could try each sauce per oyster. Maybe eight next time so I can really load up the lemon and horseradish on one.
We tried a bunch of sharing plates and this was by far our favourite. The big eye tuna "nachos" - in quotation marks because it was made with crispy taro root chips, hot mustard saffron emulsion, and sweet onion and shoyu dressing. Delicious and refreshing, it was so good during this chilly winter, imagine how much better it would be eaten on the patio during the summer!
Next up, the hot smoked white fish on toast with caviar and pickles. Great flavours and I don't even like pickles! But everything worked together to form that perfect bite.
Couldn't resist a side of shoestring fries. I love fries.
Octopus with harissa, spiced merguez sausage, mustard greens, and sauteed red onions. We made merguez sausages last summer and I thought they were pretty awesome. But this one was a hundred percent stronger and punchier in flavour. There were only a few slices on the plate, which is a good idea because it can easily overpower the octopus.
We decided to share a main, but thought that the portion was similar to the sharing plates. Regardless, the scallops with pumpkin ravioli, foie gras butter, and arugula was rich and creamy.
I always look forward to dessert, but felt this was too much chocolate and sugar for one person. Did I just say that? Darn, I am getting old! But thank goodness we shared it because it could not be finished as a single serving. The hazelnut bombe with hazelnut whipped ganache, dark chocolate cream, chocolate cake, and candied hazelnuts was like a giant Ferrero Roche minus the thin wafer shell. I can't believe I'm going to say this as well, but dessert was our least favourite dish of the meal!

But that doesn't matter, we are definitely going back and looking forward to trying the other restaurants from this hospitality group: The Chase (which is upstairs), Little Fin (right beside), and Colette Grand CafĂ©.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Caramel Stuffed Snickerdoodles

Happy new year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that the start of 2015 has been a joy as well. Our new year's eve plans consisted of being around great friends, Chinese food takeout, board games, and a cookie exchange. There were delicious caramel and chocolate chip cookies as well as an oatmeal, chocolate, and Skor cookie. We contributed a caramel stuffed snickerdoodles - the name having many confused. Where are the Snickers? What makes them doodles? I had no idea, but a chewy cookie is my favourite kind of cookie.
Caramel Stuffed Snickerdoodles
(Makes about 4 dozen cookies)

2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
48 caramels
  1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes)
  3. Add the eggs and beat to combine. Carefully pour in the dry ingredients and beat until mixture is well combined
  4. Take out plastic wrap and wrap the dough. Chill overnight (or one to two hours if you're in a hurry).
  5. Preheat the oven to 400°. Line your baking trays with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  6. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar with the ground cinnamon.
  7. Use a tablespoon to scoop the dough. Roll into a ball and then flatten to form a disc. Take another scoop of dough and roll into a disc shape. Place a caramel in between the two discs of dough, like a sandwich! Gently fold the edges over so that that top and bottom dough meet. Roll to seal, make sure none of the caramel is sticking out. It should be encased in the middle.
  8. Roll the ball of dough in cinnamon sugar. Place on parchment paper (or silicone mat) on a baking tray. Cookies should be placed two inches apart because they will spread!
  9. Bake for 10 minutes, there might be some minimal cracking on the top of the cookies, but that's' okay!
  10. Immediately transfer to a wire rack to cool, you don't want the cookies to over bake.
Find caramel squares if possible, they're the perfect size!
Leftover cinnamon sugar is great on peanut butter toast with slices of banana.
Don't forget to give the cookies space to spread in the oven!
I love how these turned out. Little soft puffs. Like cinnamon sugar clouds.
And then there was the gooey, melting caramel in the center . . . good luck just eating one!
Snickerdoodles all packed up and ready for the cookie exchange!