Name: How-To-Make Ghee
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 1 cup
Ingredients: 250 grams butter (or use more, if you want to make a big batch)

Cooking

How to Make Homemade Ghee

Ghee is melted butter that has a golden hue and a nutty aroma. You can serve ghee drizzled on popcorn, melted and spread on cinnamon raisin bread or stirred into cooked vegetables. You can buy ghee at the supermarket these days, but it is super easy to make at home. Ghee is more flavourful than butter and can be substituted in any recipe that calls for melted butter. This post will show you step-by-step how to make Homemade Ghee.

This easy step-by-step guide on How to Make Ghee is so easy. If you have never made ghee before, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s so heavenly. If you love butter, you’re going to love ghee.

Clarified Butter vs Ghee vsBrowned Butter

Clarified butter made by melting butter and then removing the whey proteins and the milk solids. The whey proteins appear as white foam that rises to the top of the melted butter. These are removed with a spoon very carefully from the surface. The milk solids will sink to the bottom. The milk solids are filtered out or left in the pan after carefully pouring out the clarified butter.

To make ghee, continue cooking the clarified butter a little longer. The extra cooking removes the moisture and toasts the milk solids on the bottom of the pan which increases the flavour. The milk solids on the bottom will toast slightly, but not as much as browned butter. It is more golden in colour than clarified butter and has a slightly nutty aroma.

Browned butter takes ghee one step further by browning those wonderful milk solids even more. Browned butter is darker in colour than ghee and can be used in sauces, cookies etc. You can leave the browned milk solids in the butter for a richer flavour, or you can filter them out. These cookies as well as these madeleine cookies are made with browned butter. The browned butter increases their flavour. They’re really delicious.

I always refrigerate clarified butter, ghee and browned butter. It’s better to be safe. They will keep for at least a few weeks in your refrigerator.

Ways to Use Ghee

Ghee can be used in many different ways. Here are a few ways that I like to use it:

grease bread and cake pans
use with filo pastry
any cookiie recipe made with melted butter
drizzled over popcorn
served with vegetables, if you want to add some extra flavour

To start making your ghee, add the cubed butter to a large skillet.

Melt the butter on medium heat.

Remove the white foam, with a spoon, very carefully from the surface. Remember the skillet, especially the edges, will be hot. And then put the skillet back on a low burner.

Continue to cook on very low until the milk solids on the bottom of the pan turn golden and the butter smells nutty and aromatic. Don’t stir it, but watch it like a hawk, and as soon as the milk solids are golden brown like in this photo, remove your pan from the heat.

Once the butter has cooled down, pour the golden melted butter into a warm preserving jar, but leave the browned bits in the pan. You can also strain the melted butter through triple layered cheesecloth or a coffee filter. I just pour it very very carefully into a jar.

Ghee is wonderful for cooking with. I also use it to grease bread pans when I’m baking bread.

Ghee is so beautiful and so delicious.

Print Recipe

How-To-Make Ghee

Serves: 1 cup

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

250 grams butter (or use more, if you want to make a big batch)

Instructions

Melt the butter in a skillet on medium heat.

Once the white foam rises to the surface, remove the skillet from the heat and very carefully remove the white foam with a spoon. Discard the white foam.

Return the pan to a very low heat.

Keep the heat on low and watch your pan like a hawk.

As soon as the bits on the bottom of the pan start to turn golden brown, remove your pan from the heat.

Your ghee is now done.

Let it cool down.

Then pour it into a warm preserving jar.

I like to keep mine in the refrigerator. It will solidify and be more coarse when it's cold.

Use the ghee within 30 days.

1:01 am

Baking

Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark

This Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark is one of my favourite ways to enjoy chocolate. I love the mix of dark and milk chocolate swirled together with dried cranberries, raisins and toasted almonds. It’s so good.

One reason why I like to keep a container of this Fruit and Nut chocolate Bark in the fridge, is because I can just break off a small piece whenever I feel like I need a hit of chocolate. And sometimes a small piece of chocolate is all I need.

I make this bark with loads of fruit and nuts, but with enough chocolate so that I get my chocolate fix. This recipe makes enough so you can share it with the whole family. In this recipe, I used a combination of dark and milk chocolate, because I like the flavour of the two mixed together. But, if you only have milk or you only have dark, that’s fine too. That’s the beauty of a sweet treat like this, you can make it to suit your tastes. If you want it nuttier, or you want to leave out the marshmallows: that’s perfectly fine.

Tips on melting chocolate

Melting chocolate is super simple. However, you can burn it while melting, if you’re not careful. I always melt mine in the microwave. But, you have to be super careful when melting chocolate this way.

Before you put your chocolate in the microwave, break it up into pieces. It doesn’t really matter what size, but not too small. It’s easier to work with if the chocolate is a decent size. I break my chocolate up into pieces that are about say 8-10 cm. When I melt chocolate in the microwave, I often use 80% power and I start with 30 second intervals. And I stir it in between. Reduce the intervals to 20 seconds once the chocolate is 2/3 melted. And as soon as most of it is melted, but there are a few solid pieces of chocolate in your bowl, you can take it out of the microwave. At this stage, just stir it around until all of the chocolate is melted.

If you don’t have a microwave, or would like to do it on the stove, you will need a medium pot and a heat proof bowl that can sit on top of the pot. Add some water to the pot, and sit the bowl on top of the pot. You don’t want the water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Bring the water to a simmer. Add your chocolate pieces (they can be smaller pieces using this technique) and as the chocolate begins to melt, stir the chocolate continuously until only a few solid pieces remain. Remove bowl (carefully, it will be hot) from the pot and continue to stir until everything is melted.

Pour the chocolate while it is still warm onto parchment paper on a baking tray. Sprinkle with nuts, dried fruit and marshmallows. And drizzle with extra melted chocolate for decoration.

melted chocolate and dried fruit and nuts

Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark Add-Ins

There are so many different combinations of ingredients that you can add to chocolate bark. Here are some of my favourites:

try to use an equal mix of dried fruit to nuts, so that its not too sweet. And if you like it really nutty, put in more nuts than dried fruit
any of the following fruits go very well with chocolate: raisins, candied ginger, dried mango, dried cranberries, blueberries and cherries,
other ingredients that are nice are: pretzels, broken up cookie pieces (not too sweet, something like digestive biscuits, nilla, graham crackers)
I used a mix of dark and milk chocolate, because that’s what I had, but you can use just dark chocolate or milk chocolate, whatever you prefer
you can use a mix of nuts, like I did, or just one type; it’s up to you. Pistachios are a favourite, as they’re so colourful
also, if you like sweet and salty, try adding a sprinkle of flaked sea salt on top. It goes so good with chocolate.

Try making some Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark for your next family get together or movie night at home. Wherever you serve it, your guests will be glad you did.

Print Recipe

Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark

Serves: 10-16

Ingredients

450 grams chocolate (can be a mix of dark and milk or all dark or all milk); leave 50 grams out to drizzle on at the end, but that's optional
150 grams chopped almonds and cashews, toasted
150 grams dried fruit (I used raisins, sultanas, dried currants, dried cranberries, citron peel)
a handful of marshmallows

Instructions

Toast the almonds.

Toast the cashews separately if using, I find the cashews toast quicker than the almonds, so I do them separately

Melt the chocolate. If you do this in the microwave, start at 30 second internals on 80%, stirring in between. As it gets more melted, reduce the time to 20 seconds. When there are still a few solid pieces in the bowl, remove it from the microwave and stir.

Line a tray with parchment paper. The tray should be able to fit in your fridge. I used a tray that was about 30 cm X 40 cm.

Pour the melted chocolate on the parchment paper.

Sprinkle the nuts on the chocolate.

Sprinkle the dried fruit on the chocolate. Make sure you go all the way to the edge.

Sprinkle a handful of marshmallows on top.

Take another sheet of parchment paper, or you could use your hands, if you like. Press everything gently into the melted chocolate. Lift the paper straight up, so as not to make a smeary chocolate mess.

Take the remaining 50 grams of chocolate and melt this.

Drizzle this chocolate over the entire bark.

Place in the refrigerator for about four hours.

Once the bark is solid, break it into pieces and serve.

If it's warm in your house, store in the refrigerator.

5:41 am

Baking

Delicious Homemade Lebanese Cheese Pies

Lebanese Cheese pies are one our favourite take out meals: soft freshly baked flat bread wrapped around 3 types of gooey melted cheese. Heavenly.

Lebanese Cheese Pies are a real treat in our family. We have a favourite Lebanese pie shop a few blocks away, that we love to pop into from time to time. Such a treat to pick up a half dozen pies for lunch or to snack on.

If you don’t have a cheese pie shop near you, these pies are super easy to make at home. And so good! Who doesn’t love a warm melting, gooey cheese sandwich made with fresh dough. I’m telling you, after you try these, grilled cheese sandwiches will never be enough.

In Lebanon, these are eaten regularly for breakfast. I also think they would be great first thing in the morning, but we usually have them for lunch or even for dinner.

Lebanese cheese pies are made from a mixture of three different cheeses: mozzarella, halloumi, and akawi. You can find halloumi and akiwe cheeses at any middle eastern shop. Akiwe cheese is quite salty, so whenever I use it, I cut it into cubes and soak it in water for 60-90 minutes.

I love the combination of freshly baked soft flat bread with this amazing mixture of cheeses: salty akawi, gooey, melted mozzarella and halloumi which gives this sandwich substance. You could make your own mix if you wanted, but I really like this combination.

What makes Lebanese Cheese Pies so delicious is that they’re made with freshly baked flat bread. To make the dough, you mix together all the dough ingredients and let it rise in a large bowl until double in bulk.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces and rolled slightly into balls. Let these rest for about 30 minutes.

Once the balls have rested for 10-15 minutes, you can roll them out. They should be about 30-35 cm long. You don’t have to be too accurate. Place them on a baking sheet. Bake the rolled out dough for about five minutes. It will start to form small bubbles on top. Sprinkle with a handful of a mixture of the cheeses, about 50 grams. Don’t let the cheese get too close to the edges. Continue baking the cheese pies at 425 F for another 10-15 minutes. The cheese will be bubbly on top and the flat bread dough will be golden underneath. Remove the cheese pies from the oven and fold over immediately.

They will be really hot when they come out of the oven. You may need to wait a couple of minutes before they cool down. But then, dig in. You’re going to love them.

Print Recipe

Delicious Lebanese Cheese Pies

Serves: 8-10

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

500 grams flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp warm water
3/4 cup warm water
80 mL yogurt (I used full-fat yogurt)
2 Tbsp olive oil
Cheese filling:
150 grams mozzarella
150 grams akawi cheese
150 grams halloumi cheese

Instructions

Dissolve the yeast in the 2 Tbsp warm water with the sugar.

Mix together the 3/4 cup of water, yogurt and olive oil in a medium bowl.

Add the salt to the flour and stir.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry.

Mix together using the dough hook with your mixer.

Do this until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in bulk. This will take between 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Punch the dough down and then cut into 8-10 balls. Depending on how big you want your cheese pies.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Let the balls of dough sit (covered with a tea towel) for 10-15 minutes.

Roll out 2 balls of dough.

Place these on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake in the oven until they start to bubble up; about 5 minutes or so.

Remove the tray from the oven.

Sprinkle on a handful of cheese; somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 cup depending on how big your cheese pies are.

Fold over and continue to bake until the cheese melts; about 5 minutes.

Let cool before eating, as they will be very hot.

1:30 am

Cooking

Quick and Easy Mumbo Sauce

What is Mumbo Sauce?

Mumbo Sauce is a fantastic condiment to have on hand for the summer BBQ season. And with the Victoria Day weekend coming up, this is the time to have lots of special condiments on hand.

Mumbo Sauce is made from white vinegar, sugar, pineapple juice, tomato paste, spices and soy sauce. It is one of the most flavourful BBQ sauces I’ve ever had: not too sweet and with a tiny hit of spice from the hot sauce and powdered ginger. You can adjust the hotness to your liking.

Where does this sauce originate?

Mumbo Sauce originated at Argia B’s Bar-B-Q in 1957 in Chicago. It eventually found it’s way to Washington, D.C. where it has become the No. 1 condiment of that city. No one is really sure how it got to Washington, DC. But that’s where it is a real treat. Many people who live in and around Washington or have visited the area love this sauce.

What do I serve it with?

If you ask someone in Washington what to eat with Mumbo Sauce – they will say, “everything”. I’m not actually a big BBQ Sauce fan, but I love this sauce. The pineapple and ginger flavours really shine in this sauce. It tastes fantastic on BBQ chicken, pork chop or pork roast, as well as hamburgers. And would be equally delicious on tofu or veggie burgers too. You could even use it in a stir-fry. We made a batch recently and used it as a dipping sauce with roast pork. It was so good.

Of course, the best thing about this sauce is that it you can make a jar of it in about 30 minutes. The ingredients are mostly pantry ingredients, except pineapple juice. But that’s not hard to find.

I really hope you are able to make a batch of this for this summer. I know you’re going to love it.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Quick and Easy Mumbo Sauce

Serves: 2 cups

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup tomato paste
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup pineapple juice
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp hot sauce

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a medium size pot.

Bring to a boil.

Turn down heat and let it gently simmer for about 10 minutes.

You can cook it longer if you prefer a thicker denser sauce.

Let it cool in the pot for about 20 minutes.

Pour into a clean preserving jar or any glass container you have on hand. I always warm the jar with hot water first, so the glass won’t crack.

Place it on the counter until it is room temperature.

Store in the refrigerator.

This will keep for about 2 weeks. If it lasts that long.

1:25 am

Preserves

So Simple Apple and Blueberry Crumble Pie Ice Cream

Apple and Blueberry Crumble Pie Ice Cream is the fastest dessert I have ever made. I made it by blitzing leftover pie with ice cream in my food processor. It’s the perfect dessert to make when you have some leftover pie and ice cream, but not enough to serve up nicely. It’s perfect, because it evenly distributes both ice cream and pie into one delicous treat.

What Flavour of Pie and Ice Cream works best

You can make this ice cream with any leftover pie that you have on hand as there are many flavours of pie and ice cream that go so well together. I happened to have a very small slice of Apple and Blueberry Crumble Pie leftover from Mother’s Day. I also had a bit of Dulce de Leche Ice Cream as well as Vanilla Bean Ice Cream left in the freezer. So, this combination was divine!

A few suggestions of Pie and Ice Cream Flavour Combinations

apple pie and vanilla or caramel ice cream
pumpkin pie and cinnamon or caramel ice cream
cherry pie and chocolate ice cream or green tea ice cream
cheesecake and lemon ice cream
strawberry and rhubarb and french vanilla ice cream

What is the best Ratio of Pie to Ice Cream?

Italians have a great expression that I love; ‘ad occhio‘, which means ‘by eye’. And that’s the way this dessert is made: by eye. I made this pie ice cream combination with one small piece of pie and about 2/3 cup of Haagen Dazs ice cream. It made enough for two of us to have one small scoop of ice cream each. I loved that ratio with a piece of pie in every bite.

This is what I had on hand to make my pie ice cream. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it made a perfect dessert.

Add the pie to your food processor and blitz until crumbled. Pulsing it 2-3 times should be enough. Because you don’t want to turn your pie into a paste.

Next, add your ice cream. I used 1 small piece of pie and about 2/3 cup of ice cream. You could increase the amount of ice cream if you wanted a higher ratio of ice cream to pie.

pie and ice cream blitzed in a food processor

Pulse the pie and ice cream together about 5-6 times, so there aren’t any large pieces of pie in the bowl. Scoop this into a freezer-safe container. It will be ready in a couple of hours.

The pie that I used had a crumble top crust which gave the ice cream a nice crunch. If your pie has a regular crust, but would like some crunch in your ice cream, try adding some granola.

Blitzing pie and ice cream together created something even better than having them separate. It’s so good, that my family and I had a hard time deciding which was better: warm pie with ice cream on the side, or pie and ice cream blitzed together. Which do you prefer?

a bowl of ice cream with a glass of liqueur

This Apple and Blueberry Crumble Pie Ice Cream was really really good.

Which combination will you make?

Print Recipe

Apple and Blueberry Crumble Pie Ice Cream

Serves: 4

Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Ingredients

1-2 pieces of any type of pie
2/3 to 2 cups ice cream (a flavour of ice cream to go with the pie)

Instructions

Place pie in the food processor.

Blitz a couple of times until it is chopped in large pieces.

Add ice cream. The quantity depends on you, but about 1/3 to 1 cup of ice cream per slice of pie should be good, depending on what ratio of pie to ice cream you would like.

Blitz 5-6 times, until pieces of pie are quite small.

Using a spoon and spatula, remove ice cream from food processor and place in a freezer-safe container.

Place in the freezer for a few hours, until firm.

1:23 pm

Baking

Spiced Apple Cider Pain au Raisin

There is something special about making a fancy pastry that you normally buy in a coffee shop or bakery. It’s very satisfying to produce a baked good that looks like it came from a shop but tastes homemade. I felt this way when I baked some Apple Cider Pain au Raisin last week.

I love love love Pain au Raisin. They are not overly sweet and the combination of pastry + raisins + spiced sugar – so good! In this recipe for Apple Cider Pain au Raisin, I substituted apple cider for water. It’s not completely necessary, and if you don’t have any apple cider, you can just use water. But I liked the extra apple flavour.

I made this pastry last week, as a reminder of my birthday trip to London England in February 2020. While we did see many scones and tea cakes, seeing this pastry in so many coffee shops was a surprise.

What is Pain au Raisin?

Pain au Raisin is made with danish pastry. It is rolled up with sugar and raisins and then sliced into individual pices, like cinnamon rolls. And it is glazed after baking with either a sugar syrup or strained apricot jam. It’s delicious warm or room temperature.

two apple cider pain au raisin on a plate

What is Danish Pastry?

Danish pastry is a rich sweet pastry made by layering cold butter throughout your pastry dough. It is not difficult to make, but it does take several hours.

Is Danish Pastry difficult to make?

Danish Pastry is not difficult at all. I actually find pie pastry much more difficult to make. Danish pastry is very soft and pliable and dotted with butter. While making danish pastry is not difficult, it does take a very long time to make. So, you should set aside an entire day at home to make it. You won’t be in the kitchen for the whole day, but you’ll be popping in and out every 1-2 hours.

To get started, you first mix together the yeast, warm apple cider and 1 cup of flour. After that, add everything into your mixer bowl. Then, the cubed cold butter is added a few cubes at a time. But, even at the end of the mixing, you will still have large pieces of butter. That’s normal.

Wrap the dough and leave on the counter for 30 minutes. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

After two hours in the fridge, roll your dough out on a floured surface. It is ok if there are still large pieces of butter in the dough.That’s normal. If they are super large, you can cut them in half, and place them in the dough where there isn’t much butter.

Then fold the dough using the book fold method. Fold the ends into the middle, and then one side goes on top of the other. This dough is so nice to work with. It’s very soft and will not break apart like pastry dough does sometimes. I took this photo, because I want beginners to see that it’s perfectly ok if the dough looks all lumpy at this stage. It will still turn out ok.

This is a book fold. Still large pieces of butter in the dough. Don’t worry, that’s normal. Wrap the dough up, and place it in the fridge for one hour.

After one hour in the fridge, roll the dough into a rectangle and then fold it into thirds. iThe above photo is thirds. Fold one side into the center and the other side on top. And then back in the fridge for 1 hour. Repeat this one more time.: roll out, fold into thirds and then back into the fridge for one hour.

In the meantime, mix together your spice mix. Or use a store bought one, if you have one in the cupboard.

danish pastry dough rolled into a rectangle

When the dough comes out of the fridge, cut the dough in half. Roll one half of the dough into a square. This will make 12 Apple Cider Pain au Raisin. You can freeze the remainder of the dough for later, or you can make 24 pastries.

danish pastry dough rolled out and covered with raisins

Brush melted butter on the dough, just enough to help the spiced sugar and raisins stick. Sprinkle with the sugar and then the raisins.

Roll the dough lengthwise, rolling it tightly as you go. You don’t want any air pockets inside.

Cut the rolled dough into twelve pieces. To help you do this evenly, cut the log in half, then into quarters, then each quarter into thirds. That way each of the 12 pieces will be the same size.

All ready for the oven.

After they come out of the oven, brush on a sugar syrup glaze or strained apricot jam jam. It really gives them a finishing touch.

Enjoy your Apple Cider Pain au Raisin!

Suzanne

Print Recipe

Apple Cider Pain au Raisin

Serves: 24

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 Tbsp yeast
1 cup flour
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
melted butter to brush on the pastry (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)
spiced sugar (1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves)
raisins (1/2 to 1 cup)
sugar syrup (1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water heated in a pot on the stove until the sugar dissolves. or strained apricot jam: heat the jam on the stove and then strain).

Instructions

Dissolve yeast in warm apple cider.

Add 1 cup of flour.

Stir.

Add the above into a mixing bowl, add the rest of the flour, salt, sugar and 1/4 cup of the cold butter.

Mix with your mixer using the dough hook.

It is done when the dough is elastic and there are hunks of butter incorporated into the dough.

Let this sit on the counter for 30 minutes.

Cover the dough with saran wrap and place dough in the fridge for 2 hours.

Roll the dough on your floured table into a rectangle.

Do a book fold. Fold the two sides into the middle and then one side on top of the other.

Wrap in plastic. And place in the fridge for one hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into thirds; one side is folded into the middle, and the other side goes on top.

Place in the fridge for one hour.

Repeat rolling and folding it into thirds one last time.

Rest in the fridge for an hour or overnight.

Remove from the fridge.

Cut the rolled up dough in half.

Roll out one half into a square.

Brush melted butter over the surface. You just need enough to make the cinnamon sugar stick.

Sprinkle with about 1/2 cup raisins.

Roll the dough up tightly.

Cut the rolled up dough in half.

Cut each half in half.

And cut each remaining piece into thirds. So you will have a total of 12 evenly sized pieces.

While placing each pastry on the baking tray, place the end of the spiral underneath so that it doesn't unravel.

Let the dough warm up on your counter for about 90 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Brush with an egg wash (one whole egg + 1 Tbsp of water).

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Spread with a glaze of sugar syrup or strained apricot jam.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Enjoy,

Notes

This recipe makes 24 pastries. If you don't want to make 24, you can freeze the dough just before the pastries are shaped.

2:05 am

Baking

Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie

If you love chocolate and you love brownies, you’re going to love this Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie. Chocolatey, chewy, dense So darn good!

I love love love this technique for making cookies. It’s so crazy easy. And fun! The cookie dough is placed into an (oven-safe) skillet. And the cookie dough bakes in the skillet to make one big gigantic cookie. There are many people who like to mix up all the ingredients in the skillet to save on dishes. But, I can easily envision myself making a huge mess doing that, so I don’t mind using an extra bowl or two for the mixing. I mean, you still have to wash measuring cups and spoons and stirring spoons, so in my view, what’s another 2 bowls.

This Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie is one of the easiest cookie recipes that I know. And that’s saying something.

dry ingredients for Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie

First you measure out all your dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Stir everything around so that all of the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder are well mixed.

raw ingredients for Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie cookie

Mix the egg, oil, and brown sugar together.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir to fully incorporate. Add the chocolate chips at the end.

Pat all of the ingredients into the skillet. No need to oil it, as there is plenty of oil in the cookie dough.

The cookie dough will rise up slightly and have a dull appearance on the surface when it’s ready to come out of the oven. You don’t want to over bake the dough. It should be a bit fudgy when it’s warm.

You can eat it warm right out of the skillet if you like. Although if there are young children at the table, it might be better to slice it up and serve it on plates. As the skillet will stay hot for quite a while.

Irresistibley good.

Print Recipe

Double Chocolate Skillet Brownie Cookie

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 25

Ingredients

160 grams butter, melted
160 grams brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp instant espresso powder
225 g AP flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
170 grams chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate, but semi sweet would also be nice)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Melt the butter either on top of the stove, or in the microwave.

Pour the melted butter into a medium size bowl.

Add the brown sugar and stir.

While this mixture cools for a few minutes, dissolve the instant espresso powder in the 1 tsp vanilla. Stir the espesso together with the vanilla. The espresso may not all dissolve, but that's ok.

Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture once it has cooled a bit. You just don't want it piping hot, or it will cook the egg, when you crack it into the bowl.

In a slightly larger bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir until it all comes together.

Add the chocolate chips. Stir to incorporate.

Press the cookie batter into a 9-10 inch skillet.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes.

How to tell when it's done: It will smell aromatic, it will have puffed up a bit, and the top will dry out a bit and look slightly dull.

I'm always terrified of forgetting to use my oven mitts to take the skillet out of the oven. SO, if you also have this fear, keep the oven mitts very handy, close to the stove: do what you need to do to remember to put the oven mitts on.

When its done, take it out of the oven with your oven mitts and place on a rack.

This cookie is delicious when still warm. But you will want it to cool down for at least 10 minutes, otherwise, it will just fall apart when you try to take it out.

Of course, if you like, you could put it in the middle of the table, after dinner, and have every one grab a spoon and just gobble it up straight out of the pan. A couple scoops of vanilla ice cream wouldn't hurt either! (but remember the skillet will stay very hot for 20-30 minutes, so do be very careful).

If there are any leftovers, store them in a container on the kitchen counter for a couple days.

If its very warm where you live, or you think it's going to take more than a couple of days to finish it off, then you can keep it in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before serving.

2:00 am

Baking

Egyptian Basbousa Cake Recipe

I love this Egyptian Basbousa Cake. From the texture of the semolina, to the sugar syrup and the nutty almonds on top. It is for sure, one of my favourite cakes to make and serve to my family.

I bake this cake when I’m feeling nostalgic about my travels in Egypt. Many years ago, my best friend Bonnie and I took off from Canada for a year long travel adventure. We had planned and saved for our trip for many years; we cut out travel stories from the newspaper and collected travel tips from friends. Bonnie and I were only 19 years old but we were ready for a big adventure.

It was a beautiful spring day when we landed in London, England. We spent a few weeks in that lovely old city before continuing our travels through the United Kingdom, Europe and into northern Africa as well.

Europe is a fascinating place to travel at any age, but when you’re 19, it’s magical. We enjoyed all the art museums, comfortable, punctual trains, and the beautiful old buildings, but my favourite part was the food: Austrian coffee, italian pizza and gelato in little cups, french croissants, greek baklava and egyptian falafels: all were breathtaking.

Over the course of twelve months, we sampled many delicious dishes and sweets. And my cooking at home is still influenced by that trip so many years ago. This year, while happily remembering our travels, I made one of our favourites sweets from our trip: Egyptian Basbousa Cake. We sampled many slices of Basbousa Cake while we travelled from Cairo to Luxor and to Hurghada on the Red Sea.

Basbousa Cake is a very popular dessert in the middle east. Many countries in this region make their own variation: Revani from Northern Greece, Ravani from Southern Greece and Hareesa from Jordan, the Maghreb and Alexandria. The names may be different, but the cakes are very similar.

egyptian basbousa cake with a bowl of semolina, a lemon and a jar of honey on a wooden table

Egyptian Basbousa Cake is super easy to make as it only requires a few basic pantry ingredients. Traditionally made with semolina, it has a surprising wheaty aroma and taste. I have also made it with cream of wheat cereal, and while it has a coarser texture, I still really like it.

Basbousa is luxuriously sweet, with a cold lemon-scented sugar/honey syrup poured over the hot-from-the-oven cake. This technique also makes the cake super moist. Because it is a very moist cake, it doesn’t slice as neatly as other cakes, but is so so delicious. A traditional finishing touch to the cake is to place whole almonds in the centre of each slice.

This cake will keep for serveral days. It is excellent with tea or coffee. It would also be an excellent addition to an afternoon picnic on the beach. If you want to ramp this cake up a notch, served it with a dollop thick whipped cream.

Print Recipe

Egyptian Basboussa Cake

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups semolina (you can also use cream of wheat cereal)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup of yogurt
syrup
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9 x 9 baking pan.

Whip the butter and sugar until well blended and a pale yellow colour.

Add the eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl, mix the semolina and baking powder and soda.

Add dry mixture and yogurt to butter/sugar mix, alternating between the dry mix and the yogurt.

Pour into greased pan.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean and the cake is slightly golden on top.

While the cake is baking, you can make the syrup. Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot. Bring to a boil, stirring lots to help dissolve the sugar. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Then pour the syrup into a heat resistant bowl or very large measuring cup. Place the bowl in cold water to cool down the syrup. You could also place the container with the syrup in the freezer until the cake comes out of the oven.

Once the cake has come out of the oven, pour the syrup over the hot cake, until it is all soaked up. You may not need all of it, but you will be surprised how much it soaks up. Let the cake cool in the pan until cold.

recipe is slightly adapted from Tess Mallos The Complete Middle East Cookbook

2:35 am

Baking

Energy Balls with Chocolate and Peanut Butter

separate piles of ingredients for chocolate peanut butter energy balls

One of my favourite times of the day is when I sit down and have a cup of tea and a snack, flipping through a new food magazine with the sun shining through the windows. Just heaven to me. For me, a snack could be anything from fruit salad to a bowl of yogurt or a muffin or a cookie, as long as it’s healthy. I love a good cup of tea, but to me, it’s not the same without something to nibble on. That’s why I like these Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Balls so much. Made with nut butter, dried berries, coconut flakes and just enough chocolate chips to make you want more – they are very very good.

Energy Balls became popular a couple of years ago. They are jam-packed with dried fruit, nuts, raw honey or maple syrup and nut butters. They are easy to make partly because you don’t even have to turn the oven on. So, you can make them any day of the year and not worry about heating up your kitchen. They are excellent power foods. So easy to take on a long hike, a bike ride or even to the beach. And who doesn’t need a snack with any of those activities.

In this recipe, you can use smooth peanut butter or chunky peanut butter. I still add chopped peanuts even when I use chunky peanut butter. Or you could use natural peanut butter as well. You could also use almond butter with chopped almonds if you wanted to change it up a bit.

ingredients for chocolate peanut butter energy balls

Put all the chopped and measured ingredients into a big bowl and give it a stir. Make a wish too if you like, too.

ingredients for peanut butter energy balls in a bowl

Stir everything together with a big wooden spoon until everything is fully mixed together.

Then roll them into balls. Easy peasy. I store mine in the fridge, so the chocolate doesn’t melt on me. They keep for ages, but will undoubtedly get eaten up before you know it.

I love energy balls for all sorts of reasons: they’re portable, the combination of dried fruits and nuts is so divine, and because they’re small. You can have one or you can have two and you don’t feel like you’ve broken the bank of your daily calories.

I’m not going to pretend that they are are superfoods and will improve your health in anyway. Although I do believe that they are better than snacking on chips or a chocolate bar. They’re also quick to make, taste delicious and they hit the spot when I need an energy boost.

Can’t wait to put the kettle on, pull out my latest food magazine and have a snack.

Try making some today. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them. Let me know how they turn out.

Print Recipe

Energy Balls with Chocolate and Peanut Butter

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate will do)
1/2 cup dates (or mixed dried berries or chopped raisins).
1/2 cup coconut flakes
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

Chop the peanuts and the dates or dried fruit. Energy balls form better when the individual ingredients are rather small.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Stir very well, so that everything is well incorporated.

Divide dough into 30 gram pieces. You should be able to make about 16 balls.

Roll each 30 gram piece into a nice round ball.

Place in a container.

Store in the fridge.

Enjoy!

2:00 am

Cooking

Greek Lemon Chicken with Oregano

chicken and salad on a blue plate with a glass of water

I have marinated and cooked a lot of chicken throughout the years, but this Greek Lemon Chicken with Oregano is one of my favourite recipes. The chicken comes out very tender and so full of flavour. If you love lemon, you are going to love this! This dish would be perfect for a special occasion with my Greek Horiatiki Salad, Greek Lemon Potatoes with Oregano, or Persian Barberry Rice. It would also be fine alongside a bowl of plain rice and steamed vegetables.

Marinate the chicken for about 2 hours in lemon juice, olive oil and oregano. Marinades always have an acidic component in them such as citrus juice, wine or vinegar. It’s the acid in the marinade that helps to tenderize the meat. The lemon juice in this recipe not only adds loads of lemony flavours, but also makes the chicken very tender and moist. After marinating, cook the chicken in a pan with a fresh batch of marinade ingredients plus garlic.

This dish only has five ingredients but they really pack a punch. I love the combination of lemon, onions and garlic. And the oregano just takes it to a whole new level. Try to find the best oregano that you can. I personally love buying my spices from Penzey’s if you live the States (the shipping is astronomical for Canada. I’m still looking for an amazing spice shop in Canada. If you know of one, please let me know.) (PS – This is my personal opinion, I do not get paid for writing that.)

If you wanted to, you could barbeque the chicken and cook the onion etc. in a pan in the house. I think that would be delicious. Then you could serve it up with a delicious potato salad, and a fresh salad with vegetables from your local farmer’s market and you would have a very nice summery meal.

Let me know how you enjoy this dish?

What’s your favourite way to serve chicken?

Print Recipe

Greek Lemon Chicken with Oregano

Serves: 2

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

marinade
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 chicken breasts (season with salt and pepper)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh or from a good quality bottled lemon juice)
2 tsp oregano
salt (to taste)
freshly ground pepper (to taste)
1 medium onion, diced

Instructions

Mix marinade ingredients together.

Add chicken breasts.

Marinate for 1-2 hours.

Dice the onion.

Add olive oil to the pan.

Heat until shimmery on a medium heat.

Add the onions.

Saute until the onions are semi-soft (they are going to cook lots more with the chicken, so they don't need to be fully soft).

Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds until aromatic, then add the seasoned chicken.

Nestle the chicken into the pan in amongst the onion. The onion will continue to cook around the chicken. You can push the onion to a cooler part of the pan, if its cooking too quickly.

Sear the chicken on both sides, until lightly golden.

Add the lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, and oregano. Put a lid on the pan and let the chicken continue to cook.

Cook until the chicken registers 165 F or 74 C, or until it is cooked through to the center.

Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired. I don't use much salt in cooking, but do enjoy a good amount of pepper. So, it's personal preference with salt and pepper.

Serve hot with the sauce poured over top.

2:00 am

Baking

Better than Tim’s Glazed Mocha Donuts

I made a batch of these Glazed Mocha Donuts a few days ago when it was grey and drizzling. Even though I’m not a super-crazed donut lover, there is nothing quite like fresh warm home-made donuts on a cold grey day. Donuts were one thing that my Mum never made when we were small. Even still, I have some very special memories of sharing a brown paper bag filled with mini-donuts with my sister when our parents took us to the St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market . I also enjoyed watching mini donuts being made at various Farmer’s Markets with my sons when they were small. The hardest question wasn’t whether we should stand in line to buy some fresh, warm, fragrant mini-donuts but whether we should have them coated in icing sugar or cinnamon and sugar. Hmmm. Still a toss up.

If you have been following along some of my other posts such as Madeleines, or Anzac Cookies, you will know that I have a love of food history. So, naturally, I started to wonder where do donuts come from? How did they become so popular?

People have been eating fried dough for centuries. Ancient Greeks and Romans coated their dough with honey or fish sauce while Arabs drizzled their fried dough with sugary syrup. By the 1400s the concept of fried dough eventually made it to Germany, England and the Netherlands. The Germans even made savoury fried treats filled with mushrooms or meat in the 1500s when sugar was scarce.

Dutch settlers brought the the first donuts (olykoeks – oily cakes) to America. They became so popular that during WWI two women who were volunteers with the Salvation Army came up with the brilliant idea of baking things for the American soldiers that would remind them of home, including donuts. These women were eventually called The Donut Lassies . They made donuts, cupcakes, pies and hot cocoa and sometimes had to dodge bullets to serve them to the men on the front lines. How’s that for service?

Speaking of service, I saw on the news the other day that people were lined up in their cars at Tim Horton’s for 2-3 hours for donuts. And I thought to myself, really, how hard can they be to make at home.

As it turns out, they are quite easy.

I decided to make Glazed Mocha Donuts, because well, chocolate and coffee. These Glazed Mocha Donuts have an intense chocolate coffee flavour and are covered in a thin crispy sugary coating of icing. So good. And they hit the spot when you need a wee pick me up. And who doesn’t need that these days.

Glazed Mocha Donuts are easy and made from pantry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and espresso powder. If you don’t have espresso powder, you can leave it out, or add in some coffee that is leftover from your morning pot and just use less milk.

Mix together milk, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla (I was out of vanilla, but they still tasted fine).

The batter for the donuts is like a thick cake batter. It mixes together in a bowl with a wooden spoon very easily.

My son took one bite and told me they tasted exactly like a Tim Bit. But better!

The flavour and texture of homemade donuts is so much better than store bought. These Mocha Glazed Donuts are dense and cake-like with a lovely crumb. And the size is perfect – I could eat just one with a tea or coffee and feel completely satisfied. These days, homemade is the best service around.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Glazed Donuts

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 30

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp espresso coffee powder * or strong regular liquid coffee (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp butter (melted)
Glaze
1 3/4 cups icing sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp salt
about 1 litre of a mild oil for cooking (such as rapeseed, canola or sunflower or a mix of the last 2)

Instructions

In a medium size bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and espresso powder.

In a different medium size bowl, combine egg, buttermilk, brown sugar, melted butter and salt.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir together with a wooden spoon, until dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Measure out the donuts with teaspoons. My donut batter weighed 30 grams and I made 18 donuts. (consistency is key so they all cook the same length of time. You can make these donuts smaller. You will obviously make more, but they will cook faster)

Roll the donuts in your hand to make a round shape. They will be quite sticky. But don't fret. After they sit for a few minutes, they will dry out a bit and you can fix their shape. They will puff up about 2X their size while cooking. (Do Not wet your hands, as the extra moisture on the donut batter may cause splattering when cooking in the hot oil).

Pour about 3-4 inches of a mild flavoured oil into a medium size pot. You don't want the oil to come up the side of the pan more than half way, as hot oil can sometimes bubble up.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees fahrenheit (measured with a candy thermometer). This may take 5-10 minutes.

While it's heating up, put a plate or shallow bowl nearby and line it with paper towels.

Once the oil is heated, add one donut to start.

Cook the donut for 2-3 minutes, turning it over with a spoon every 30 seconds or so.

Remove it with a slotted spoon and place it on the paper towel. Cut the it open to check if it's done. If they're all the same size, you will only have to test the first one.

Add 4-6 donuts into the pan and cook until done (2-3 minutes).

Use a slotted spoon to remove the donuts from the oil when finished cooking.

Continue to cook 4-6 donuts at a time until they are all cooked.

After draining on the paper towels, remove to a wire rack with a baking pan underneath to cool.

While they are cooling, mix together the icing sugar and milk. You can make the glaze as thick or as thin as you like. My glaze was quite thin.

After approximately 30 minutes or more, when the donuts are cold, dip in the glaze, until all the sides are coated.

Leave on the wire rack until the glaze is dried (if you can wait that long).

Notes

* if you don't have espresso powder, you can use 1 Tbsp leftover coffee from your morning coffee, and just use 1 Tbsp less buttermilk. * cook only one donut first, to check the timing. I cooked mine for 3 minutes exactly. After the first one is cooked, scoop it out, and cut it in half to check for doneness. * you can make these donuts smaller, but you will have to adjust the cooking time. * donuts are best eaten on the day you make them. I stored mine in a plastic container for 2 days before they were all eaten up.

5:30 am

Cooking

Easy Paneer Cheese

Paneer Cheese is an unripened soft cheese that is popular in Indian dishes. It is soft, creamy with a mild milky flavour. You can find it in many grocery stores now. But it is super easy to make at home.

It is delicious in Indian dishes such as Paneer Makhti or Saag Paneer. You can also sauté paneer cheese, as it doesn’t melt or break apart.

Paneer is made by heating up whole milk in a pot on the stove. As it starts to boil, add 1/3 cup lemon juice and shut off the burner. As you stir this mixture, the milk will curdle and break apart into small curds. It will smell quite acidic at first, but then start to smell very creamy as the milk continues to curdle.

After stirring for about 3-5 minutes, drain the curds and whey through a cheesecloth lined sieve. After it has drained, pick up the corners of the cheesecloth and and tie them together. Gently press more liquid out of the cheesecloth.

Place this bundle on a plate. If you like, you can shape the curds into a roundish or square shape. I didn’t bother with this, and it formed into a nice strong shape on its own.

After you have placed the paneer, still wrapped in cheesecloth on the plate, cover it with another plate. On top of that plate, add something from your pantry that weighs about 1-2 lbs to put on top. Let this sit for about 2 hours. If it’s very warm in your kitchen, do this in the fridge. This is my block of paneer cheese after sitting for 2 hours with a weight on top of it. (I used a large can of tomatoes, but you can use anything that will balance on top. Don’t use any glass jars, as they will make a big mess if they fall).

After the paneer has been pressed for 1-2 hours, place it in a container, still wrapped in the cheese cloth, for 2-3 hours, until very firm and cold. Just before cooking with it, take it out of the fridge, and cut into cubes of your desired size.

Try to cook with it the same day or the next, as it doesn’t keep for long.

What’s your favourite paneer dish?

Bon Appetit!

Suzanne

5:33 am

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