Matcha Canelés

How has your week been? May has become this crazy busy month for me at work. It used to be that summer was a bit quieter for us in publishing, but now that we work with a three season span, there's just no break. There's more books to read and promote than ever. What have been your favourite reads this year? I've started sharing some of the ones I really love on Instagram, so it's become more of a mix of baked goods, books, and food.

Like I said in my last post, I am on my matcha binge to use up all the deliciousness that we brought back from Taiwan. The next thing I really craved was canelés. I missed this delightful treat with its crispy outer shell and custard center. Really good canelés are difficult to find in Toronto, and the places that make them usually stick with the vanilla flavour. So a girl's got to make her own matcha canelés!

I used the original recipe I followed from the Redpath canelés project here and included 3 teaspoons of matcha powder. The only thing I wish I had was a better mold for the batter, these silicon ones make it really difficult for the canelés to pop out. Not quite non-stick and if you try to invert it out, the canelés get little benty sides.

This time, I rested the batter in a pitcher. I simply cover the top with plastic wrap and sat it in the fridge and gave it a few stirs from time to time.

It looks like some freshly squeezed green juice on my counter. But trust me, I am not one to make leafy green drinks.

The recipe yield enough for me to make about 20 canelés in the mold I have. I was able to fill it once fully and then half the next round.

They're a bit wonky shaped due to the silicone mold, but the taste makes up for it. You just pop these into your mouth and revel in the matcha flavour.

It's hard to resist them when you take them out of the oven. Sometimes you just want to ignore the cooling time and be a rebel with a burnt tongue.

Wedding Menu

Finally, we're getting to the FOOD portion of our wedding! One of the main reasons we picked Auberge du Pommier as our venue was for the food. Yes, you can call me a baker, a foodie, or someone who takes photos of her food, and this meant that I wanted our guests to be given various choices and to be well fed at our wedding. We decided on a French restaurant because most of our fond dining experiences happened in French restaurants.

The restaurant doesn't offer a complimentary tasting, but you are able to schedule one for an additional cost. We felt pretty confident that the food would be good, so we skipped the option and picked the dishes based on the menu descriptions.

Of course, the first edible treat they received was part of the program. After the ceremony, the drinks were generously circulated to our guests. Lots of wine and cocktails to start the party with.

We also ordered three types of canapés to be circulated at this time. A vegetarian pick - savoury scallion madeleines with lemon crème fraîche - as you may know, I love madeleines! Next up, a seafood option - grilled octopus brochettes with strawberry gastrique. Then, because most people love meatballs, grilled Moroccan lamb on a stick.

Auberge du Pommier printed the menus for every guest, but the children's menu wasn't included in it. But our flower girl and ring bearer had some great choices for dinner as well! Caesar salad, crudités and dips, or greens with house vinaigrette for an appetizer. Fish goujonettes with chips and tartar sauce, petit filet of beef with vegetables and potatoes, or roasted chicken with vegetables and potatoes for their entrée choice. Then for dessert, they could pick a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, a banana split, or fruit salad with cookies. The children's portion were actually really large so the parents happily helped finish all the food.

For the adult guests, they could order the soup of the day which was fennel and leek vichyssoise with fennel front mascarpone and mint pesto or the chou frisé consisting of kale, radish, pickled granny apple, and horseradish kefir vinaigrette.

One of the popular mains that guests ordered was the canard: roasted duck breast with apricot, coriander tabbouleh, fennel salad, pickled red onion, and grilled lemon jus.

Next, the boeuf: a beef tenderloin with braised broccolini, pommes purée, shallot confit, a scallion compte, and bordelaise sauce.

And since no one RSVPed with food restrictions, we offered a saumon choice instead of a vegetarian one: B.C. salmon with charred romaine, braised radish, spicy pea purée, and goat cheese cream.

Even though there would be cake, we still wanted a dessert course (who doesn't want more dessert?) The mousse au chocolat was served with a mixed berry compote, nut clusters, and salted caramel.

And the rhubarbe consisted of chilled rhubarb coulis, yoghurt gâteau, toasted almonds, and crème fraîche ice cream. Howard's and my plate were personalized from the chef with a note of congratulations (the only photo I took that day).

Cheers! More about those cakes next time . . .

Wedding Photography: Ikonica | Venue: Auberge du Pommier | Food and Drink: Auberge du Pommier | Printed Menus: Auberge du Pommier

Awesome Brownies

With a name like Awesome Brownies, the recipe has to deliver. And I think they do based on two accounts. 

1. I made these and tweeted about it - my coworkers expected brownies in the office the next day. 

2. I made these and packed them up for Howard to bring to work - his coworkers devoured them.

So now there's been a lot of grumbling on both sides. My colleagues are upset that I didn't bring them in and that they went to Howard's colleagues. Howard is now telling me that people are pestering him about when I'll be making more. 

I'm surprised, I thought they would be too rich and that the squares I cut were too big. This is moist, melty, gooey chocolate we're talking about. But the verdict was that the pecans helped lessen the sweetness and added a nice crunchy texture to each bite. 

Awesome Brownies

Recipe adapted from Good Food, Good Life

(Doesn't make enough brownies. Just kidding, makes about 20-24 brownies)

9 ounces of semisweet chocolate (or bittersweet, 61% cocoa or less)

1 stick and 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup of sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil. Leave extra foil on the sides to provide as a handle to lift the brownies out when they're finished baking. 

Combine the chocolate a butter over a double boiler to melt. You're only supposed to use 6 ounces of the chocolate and save the rest to mix in after, but I dumped it all in! Let the mixture cool when the butter and chocolate are combined and smooth.

Whisk the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Whisk in the melted chocolate and butter mixture.

Fold in the flour and then half of the pecans (or 1 cup of pecans if you're following the recipe to a T).

Pour the batter into the lined baking pan (you should spray it with non-stick oil, I forgot) and sprinkle the remaining pecans (and 3 ounces of chocolate if you reserved some instead of melting all of it) on top. Bake the brownies for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let the brownies cool in the pan.

Using the foil, carefully lift the brownie out from the pan. Use a sharp knife to divide it into squares. Store in an airtight container.

Yummm, just look at that top crust. I think that all brownies should have that shiny crinkle on top. Everything is awesome!

An update: I made them a second time. This time I brought them into my office. =)

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living August 2014

Cobblers are awesome. Seriously. You get all of the deliciousness of a pie but it takes less time to prepare! They don't have to look perfect, be blind baked, or agonized in search of that perfect crust. And just like pie, they're good with a scoop (or more) of ice cream.

What should you do with all that time? Make more fruit cobblers to eat!

This blueberry dessert can be easily whipped up, but don't skip on the "something extras." The ground ginger adds a surprising punch of flavour and the cornmeal gives it a nice crunch. However, I do think that the almond extract could go. Maybe it was the extract I used, but I found it too overpowering.

Blueberry Cornmeal Cobbler
Shopping List: fresh blueberries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, almond extract, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, salt, butter, and buttermilk.

Preheat your oven to 400F (200C). Gently toss the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract together. Divide the covered blueberries evenly among individual ramekins or into an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, 1/4 cup of the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Add in the butter and cut it in until the mixture resembles crumbs. Drizzle in buttermilk, stirring with a fork to form soft, sticky dough. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, drop 1 scoop (if using individual ramekins) or 9 evenly spaced mounds (if using baking dish) over the blueberry mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cornmeal.

Place the ramekins or baking dish on a sheet pan - these bad boys will overflow. And they should, you want that homemade rustic look with cobblers. Bake until the crumble is golden, about 35 minutes.

Serve warm with cold ice cream. Then, dig in!

Things to keep in mind when you're making cobblers:

The fruit does shrink when it's being baked! So don't worry about filling up the ramekins a bit more. The height will eventually sink in.

The crumble can be mixed by hand! No need for a stand mixer here. The crumble is also designed to spread, so don't worry about flattening it over the fruit mixture. The mounds will level itself out when it's in the hot oven.

As I said before, bake these with a sheet pan underneath to catch any bubbling goodness that spills over!

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living April 2014

We're back! This time with a fresh trifle from the Canadian Living Test Kitchen.

Even though it doesn't feel like spring yet, this bright dessert will give you a little kick to your step. Plan ahead for this showstopper and make the orange vanilla bean custard and rhubarb sauce the night before. After the custard and sauce are chilled overnight, you can assemble the dessert in the morning and it'll be ready for dinner time!

You might already have some of these dessert staples in your kitchen - sugar, eggs, vanilla bean, milk, cornstarch - and would only have to pick up the fresh fruits, juice, and pound cake. And, if you don't have a trifle bowl (like me), I'll show you a different presentation approach! So needless to say, I was pretty excited to tackle this recipe because I've never made a trifle before and never worked with rhubarb either.

Layered Strawberry Rhubarb Trifle
Shopping List: strawberries, vanilla pound cake, oranges, whipping cream, sugar, vanilla bean, eggs, milk, cornstarch, rhubarb, and orange juice.

I love making vanilla bean custard, it always feels like magic when you can see something transform right before your eyes. Keep whisking and the custard will turn thick.

This is what ". . . thick enough to mound on spoon . . ." looks like. And do you see the glorious vanilla bean specks?

Rhubarb! I have never bought or cooked rhubarb before. I hear it is quite tasty and it took me two grocery store visits before finding it (Loblaws had a bunch). They weren't labeled on the shelf so I took the precaution to ask store workers and shoppers to confirm that I was holding rhubarb. It looks like red celery with lettuce-like leaves. I also had to look up how to clean and prepare it. Just give it a good scrub in cold water and cut off the leaves and the bottom of the stalk. Whatever you do, don't eat the leaves!

Cut them up into 1 cm pieces.

Voilà! Rhubarb sauce! The middle melts away when you're cooking it, leaving only the bright red and stringy outer layer.

So, no trifle bowl? Make individual sized trifles with mason jars or glass cups! I used a round cookie cutter on the pound cake.

Drop it in your jar.

Drizzle with rhubarb sauce.

Top with strawberries.

Cover with orange vanilla bean custard and start again with the pound cake slice.

I was able to get three slices of pound cake in there. Try to leave the top garnished with strawberries. With this method, I was able to make six jars of trifle.

When ready to serve, dig in! Would I recommend sharing this delicious trifle? Yes. Two can enjoy one mason jar of trifle. But . . . one can also polish it off too. I've tried it both ways, a dessert all for myself and I shared it with Howard too. Depends how hungry you are!

I think it was a successful first run with rhubarb. I'll have to try it by itself next time since I wasn't sure if it really shined with the orange juice mixed into it.

The orange vanilla bean custard is a winner and if you want to go the extra mile and earn a gold star, make your own pound cake! Oh and if you want a prettier presentation? Make sure each layer touches the edge of your jar/glass/bowl so that the sauce and custard doesn't run down the sides. I was using chopsticks to help lay out the strawberry layers. It takes patience and practice to prevent the whole thing from looking like a jar of custard.

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Winterlicious: Parts & Labour

Parts and Labour

1566 Queen Street West

Toronto, ON M6R 1A6

Tel: (416) 588-7750

It's 'licious time again in Toronto, a time when restaurants offer prix fixe menus at low prices to entice us to try their restaurant. We tried a few during the summer and we've lined up some more this winter. One of my favourite part is learning about which restaurants will be participating and what the menus will be. I spend a couple of happy hours going through the listing and then choosing my top picks. Next, I e-mail a bunch of friends to see if any are interested in joining us for a meal (or more). Then, I sit back and wait for the responses. It's quite easy because after that, Howard does the difficult part. Booking. It's the quick morning calls to the restaurants once reservations are open - fingers crossed that there are availabilities.

Our first Winterlicious restaurant was Parts and Labour. A really neat restaurant that we've been meaning to try and had heard great things about. We had two friends joining us for our 6:30 pm dinner. We walked in and hovered near the entrance. There was a hostess there, but she had her back to us and was on the phone. So we walked in to wait by the fireplace (which is a very neat idea - especially during a chilly night in Toronto). She later came in to greet us, asked for us to confirm our reservation, and took us to our table.

We walked by the long bar with the spring-looking seats, we walked by the rows and rows of large tables in the main dining room ... and that's when I saw them.

They have three tables beside the kitchen! I did a very discreet skip/hop as I didn't even know about this. What a treat! I love sitting by the kitchen and watching the chefs and staff go about their work.

We were given the menus and our glasses were topped with water. We also learned that they were only serving the Winterlicious menu at this time, but we asked to see the regular menu, too. We were already deciding on a return trip!

First up, Howard and our friend tried the seared mackerel with yuzu, cured cucumber, chili, and hoisin mayo. Thumbs up all around. The guys aren't ones to express many words, but I did hear, "wow," "delicious," "like the little bit of spice," and "love the citrus flavours."

I tried the pork belly with pickled shallot, tarragon cream, and oats. The pork belly was soft and tender. They give you a good portion and it worked well with the accompaniments. Might have been a little bit too sweet, but overall, very satisfying.

Most of us ordered the hanger steak and frites, served with a demi glace. The meat was cooked to the rarer side, but that was fine for us. The demi glace was quite good, I started mopping it up with the fries, but then it got a bit too salty. Stick to the ketchup my friends!

Howard, being the adventurous one, ordered the seared scallops with roasted squash, and corn polenta, served with salsa verde. I can't even remember if he gave me a bite, I think he did, but it wasn't a very big bite! From what I remembered, this was also very delicious.

Where we were seated, we got to see the deep-fryer in action and the dessert plating! See the shelf above? Those are beignet doughs in the plastic containers. All poofed and ready to be fried. And in the ramekins? Chocolate mousse!

Here we are, watching our desserts being prepared.

A swipe of caramel sauce. A dollop of fresh whipped cream. A spot of strawberry jam!

Hello! Here was my chocolate mousse with peanut butter and marshmallow "snow." The mousse was very smooth. Mixing in the peanuts and marshmallow gave it a nice crunch and texture. I would eat it again!

Our friend tried the panna cotta with roasted grapes and graham cracker. We didn't quite taste a difference in the grapes - roasted or not - but the panna cotta was a nice light way to end the meal.

The guys got the cinnamon-sugar beignet with strawberries, cream, and caramel. This was by far the best dessert of the night! We enjoyed it so much that we asked for another ... two more please. And then watched the beignets get fried and plated again. We ended up getting charged $8 for each additional doughnut if you're wondering how they add that on.

So far, this was our favourite 'licious meal to date! We had a great time, aside from the frosty hostess (she ignored us on the way out), the kitchen and wait staff were all friendly and attentive. And the food was well worth it!