Baking

Lemon-Elderflower Savarin Cake

With the big Royal Wedding coming up, it’s hard to ignore the ongoings of the Royal Family. Especially when you have a British Mum.

My Mum always had something to say about the Royal Family when we were growing up. I can remember her commenting on many big royal events: the death of the Queen Mum, the retirement of the Royal Britannia, anything to do with Wallis Simpson or King Edward VIII (My Mum told she she cried and cried when King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936) or trips around the world by Queen Elizabeth. My Mum was the expert on all things royal in our house!

So, it’s no surprise that I have inherited my mum’s interest in this fascinating family. I will be watching the ceremony this Saturday and wishing my Mum was around to watch it with me. I will certainly enjoy the music, admire the Bride’s dress and try and spot the most unusual fascinator, but, like most foodies, it’s the cake that I’m particularly interested in. I’ve seen some photos of Royal Wedding Cakes in the past and they are utterly stunning.

I read in the news a few weeks ago, that the bride had chosen a lemon elderflower cake as their wedding cake. So, to celebrate this auspicious occasion, I wanted to bake a cake with those same flavours. But I didn’t want an after dinner cake, per se: layered and smothered in buttercream frosting. I wanted a cake that Canadians could nibble on alongside tea or coffee while they watch the wedding. There will be much to ooh and aah over such as, the bride’s gown, Queen Elizabeth’s outfit as well as the gorgeous music,

I chose a Savarin cake, because cakes soaked in a sweet syrup after baking are some of my favorites. This cake pairs exceptionally well with fresh fruit and a dairy topping which is so perfect for mid-morning noshing.

Savarin Cake is interesting because it is made with yeast and not with baking powder or baking soda.

The batter is left to rise first in the mixing bowl and then transferred into the cake pan where it is left to rise 3/4 of the way up the pan.

The batter is baked in a greased bundt or savarin cake pan in a medium hot oven for about 30 minutes, until a light golden brown.

When the pan has cooled down a little, turn the cake out onto a cake rack, with a plate underneath. Pour the sugar syrup over the cake.

I filled my Lemon-Elderflower Savarin Cake with whipped yogurt and cream topped with fresh blueberries and strawberries. It’s delicious anytime of day!

While Savarin cake is not British, it does have an interesting history behind it. FOllow the links at the end of this post for more informatiin about this delicious cake.

The Royal Wedding will take place on May 19th at t St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Click on the link below to read up on this very interesting relic.

Enjoy the event! I’m sure it’s going to be fun!

If you enjoy reading about food history, here is some interesting information on Savarin Cakes.

history of savarin cakes

Lemon Elderflower Savarin Cake with Fresh Fruit and Maple Whipped Yogurt and Cream Topping

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 35

Ingredients

For the cake:
350 grams white flour
50 grams sugar
10 grams active yeast
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice
6 eggs
180 grams butter, very soft, in large cubes
zest of one lemon
for the syrup
300 grams sugar
150 ml water
juice of 1/2 lemon
100 ml St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
for the topping
1 cup greek yogurt
3/4 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons of maple syrup (can also use honey, agave syrup or treacle)
fresh fruit

Instructions

Proof the yeast in 2 tbsp water.

Mix the flour and sugar together.

Mix the eggs, then add the lemon juice. Add in the yeast.

Add this egg mixture into the flour and sugar and mix until combined.

Add in the softened cubes of butter, one piece at a time, until the butter is fully incorporated.

Add the lemon zest and stir until incorporated.

Cover bowl with cling wrap and let sit for one hour to rise.

Grease bundt or savarin pan.

Spoon batter into pan. Let sit for 45-60 minutes until risen 3/4 of the way up the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place pan in oven and bake for 25-35 minutes until a light golden brown.

When pan has cooled slightly, turn cake upside down. Pour 3/4 of the sugar syrup into the empty cake pan, then place baked cake back into syrup filled pan. Leave for 3-4 minutes.

Carefully, turn cake out of cake pan onto wire rack and place on top of a plate. Leave cake to cool completely, letting syrup drip through onto the plate.

When the cake has cooled completely, place it on the plate to soak up any remaining syrup.

For the Topping: In a mixer bowl, add 1 cup of greek yogurt, 3/4 cup of whipping cream, 3 tablespoons of maple syrup. Turn mixer to medium high and whip until desired consistency is formed.

Fill centre of cake with topping and pile fresh fruit on top.

Enjoy!

recipe adapted slightly from Paul Hollywood’s Savarin Cake

dairy topping adapted slightly from Serious Eats

4:35 pm

Baking

Bakewell Tart

I found a recipe card for Bakewell Tart in my Mum’s recipe box the other day: short crust pastry, raspberry jam, frangipane, icing!!! ‘Yum’, I thought. I just had to bake one!

Bakewell Tart is not very popular outside of Britain. Bakewell Tarts originate from the small village of Bakewell, Derbyshire. It is made from short crust pastry covered with a layer of jam (usually raspberry) and filled with frangipane and then iced on top. The tart can be spread with a layer of icing or just a drizzle, depending on how sweet you would like your tart.

Roll the short crust pastry to a thickness of 4 mm. This is the thickness of a British one pound coin or two Canadian $2 coins.

Place the pastry in a fluted pan and then place in the refrigerator to keep it cold before baking.

Bake the pastry in the oven with pie weights or beans. Remove the weights and then bake for about five minutes by itself.

But wait! I thought. This recipe box contained all of our family’s favourite recipes that Mum baked over and over again. I don’t remember my Mum ever making Bakewell Tart.

I’m sure my Mum must have had a Bakewell Tart at some point during her youth. Perhaps during a summer outing with her family? And she probably made it once or twice for my Dad in Canada.

Where ever my Mum got the recipe and why will forever remain a secret. I’m sure that when she was writing out the recipe, it brought back many happy memories. But that will always remain a mystery.

Spread the cooled short crust pastry with raspberry jam, fill with frangipane and then bake in the oven until set and golden.

Decorate with icing when the tart is cold.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Love you!

Print Recipe

Bakewell Tart

Serves: 10

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

for the jam
250 grams raspberries (frozen or fresh)
22 g sugar
juice from 1/2 a lemon
for the sweet shortcrust pastry
225 g plain flour
finely grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
150 g butter, diced and cold
25 g icing sugar
1 large egg, beaten
For the filling
150 g butter, soft
150 g sugar
150 g ground almonds
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp almond extract
for the icing
300 grams icing sugar
3 tbsps water
1 tsp almond extract
food colouring gel

Instructions

Jam: Add raspberries, sugar and lemon juice to a pot. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about 12 minutes until thickened.

Place in refrigerator to firm up.

Pastry: Add the flour to a medium sized bowl, add the diced cold butter and rub together with your fingertips until it resembles find breadcrumbs. Add in the icing sugar. Mix the egg and ice cold water together and add to bowl. Mix until a soft dough is formed.

Lightly sprinkle your table with a bit of flour. Roll out the dough to a thickness of just under 4 mm (one pound coin or 2 Canadian $2 coins). Place the rolled dough into a fluted tin. Trim dough, but let it still overhang a bit as it will shrink somewhat.

Chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 390 degrees F.

Before you put the pastry in the oven, place some non-stick parchment paper over top of the pastry, fill tin with pie weights and bake for 15 minutes. Then, remove the beans and cook by itself for 5 minutes to dry out the bottom.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Once the pastry has cooled, spread it with four tablespoons of the jam.

reduce the oven temperature to 355 degrees F.

To make the frangipane, cream the butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy and pale. Add the egg, ground almonds and almond extract. Mix together until everything is incorporated. Spoon or pipe the mixture on top of the jam smoothing the top.

Place the tin back in the oven on a tray and bake for 25-35 minutes. The frangipane should be a golden brown. Also, a cake skewer when inserted into the middle of the cake, should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.

To remove the cake tin, place the tin on top of something tall and narrow, like a tupperware container. Remove the sides of the tin and then place the Bakewell Tart on a cake platter.

To decorate: Mix together the icing sugar, water and almond extract. Place about 3 tbsp of this icing in a separate bowl and add a few drops of food colouring. Spoon the white icing all over the top of the tart. Pipe several lines of coloured icing across the tart. Drag a toothpick or cocktail stick through the lines to create a feathered look.

slightly adapted from Mary Berry’s Bakewell Tart from The Great British Bake-Off.

2:16 pm

Baking

My Mum’s Sensational Tomato Soup Cake

A favourite snacking cake in our family when I was growing up was Tomato Soup Cake. My Mum would make it for lunches or for an after-school snack. After my parents were married, my Mum asked for the recipe from her mother-in-law, just so she could bake it for my Dad. Tomato Soup Cake has been around a long time and was a family favourite back when my Dad was growing up on the farm, in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

We always loved this cake and never once questioned the name of it. It didn’t taste or smell like tomatoes but was a beautiful rose colour with a spicy aroma. Once, while having lunch at school (which I seldom did), my friends asked what kind of cake I was eating. “Tomato Soup Cake”, I answered. Ooooh! was their negative response. I was in grade 7 and had never imagined that as a response to this delicious cake. But that never deterred me from loving this cake. My friends didn’t know what they were missing. My Mum’s cake was rose-hued, warm with spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and dotted with sweet plump raisins. With four always-hungry children in the family and a husband who grew up snacking on this cake on the family farm, my Mum’s baking never lasted long.

This cake is perfect for a ‘Retro Party” but also modern in flavour, colour and scent. It checks all the boxes for something easy, quick and yummy to bake up either for afternoon tea with friends, to pop into someone’s lunch kit, or an after dinner dessert. You can serve it with cream cheese icing, but my Mum just served it up plain, or sprinkled with icing sugar. It’s so moist, sweet and heavenly-scented with spices that you really don’t need extra icing. But you could add it if you prefer the extra creamy sweetness.

When I got married, a friend of my Mum’s gave me a cake pan, a wooden spoon and her recipe for Tomato Soup Cake. I thought that was the sweetest gift! Now I bake this cake for my own kids. Everyone in our family loves it.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Tomato Soup Cake

Serves: 16

Cooking Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
3/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 10-ounce can condensed tomato soup
3/4 cup water
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and spices.

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy.

Mix soup, water and baking soda.

Let this mixture sit for a few minutes, then stir into butter/egg/sugar mixture.

Stir in dry ingredients and raisins.

Spoon batter into a greased 13 X 9 inch pan.

Bake 55 minutes or until golden brown.

More reading about this scrumptious cake

The History behind Campbell’s Tomato Soup Cake

A Good Little Read from The Kitchn about Tomato Soup Cake

3:54 pm

Baking

Easter Simnel Mini Cakes Recipe

Easter Sunday dinner is fun to plan because it’s easy to try something new without upsetting anyone. Unlike Christmas when so many traditional favourites are necessary, Easter doesn’t have the same expectations, especially when it comes to dessert. I can’t think of any dessert that our family has at Easter every year.

While our family doesn’t have a traditional dessert at Easter, I love searching through my cookbooks for a recipe that is customary somewhere else. British cookbooks are a great place to start in finding a recipe full of history and tradition.

One cake that is beautiful to look at, delicious to eat and fascinating to read up on is Simnel Cake. The word simnel comes from the latin word, “simila” which means fine wheaten flour. Simnel cakes were traditionally made for Mothering Sunday, which has been celebrated in England, on the 4^th Sunday of Lent, for atleast 400 years. Traditionally it was a day when families who lived in small villages would go to their “Mother Church”, a larger church in a neighbouring town, instead of going to their local church. Servant girls who worked far away would travel home on this day to visit their families, and would always bring a gift to their mothers.

Simnel cakes were popular gifts as they were excellent traveling cakes: dense with dried fruit and sturdy with a marzipan filling and top they were not as delicate as today’s frosted layer cakes. Simnel cakes also tested a daughter’s cooking skills. If the cake was well made it would still be delicious a few weeks later at Easter when Lent was finished. Simnel cakes are recognizable by the 11 marzipan balls on the top to symbolize the 11 apostles (Judas was excluded).

Eventually, Mothering Sunday became less religious and more of a day to give thanks to one’s mother. The 4^th Sunday of Lent is now celebrated in England as Mother’s Day and Simnel Cakes have become a popular dessert at Easter.

I decided to make Simnel Mini Cakes instead of one large cake. They bake up super fast, are easy to serve and if you have any leftovers are fantastic for a lunch box treat. These cakes are dense with ground almonds and studded with dried fruit. The centre of each mini cake has a disc of marzipan that adds to the elegance of these cakes.

Simnel cakes are traditionally decorated with marzipan on top, but I found that a dusting of icing sugar was the perfect as these cakes are sweet, dense and rich just on their own. If you find them too plain for easter, you could put a drizzle of icing on the top with sprinkles or candied flowers. Or you could tie some coloured ribbon around the middle. However you serve them, your dinner guests will love them.

Happy Easter everyone!

Print Recipe

Simnel Mini Cakes

Serves: 14-16

Cooking Time: 30-40

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups flour
½ cup ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
¼ pound dried cranberries
¼ pound candied ginger, chopped fine
¼ pound dried apricots, chopped fine
1/3 cup of light flavoured liqueur, such as elderflower, amaretto, grand marnier etc.
2 ounces mixed peel
zest from one lemon
1 pack marzipan, 227 grams
decorations: candied flowers, thin icing, sprinkles, or ribbon

Instructions

Soak dried fruit and lemon peel for 1 hour in liqueur.

Line muffin tin with parchment paper or paper cups.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.

In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and ground almonds.

Add flour mixture to butter and sugar mixture. Stir until well mixed. Add dried fruit and stir until all the fruit is incorporated.

Slice marzipan into discs.

Pour half of cake batter into prepared spring form pan. Place marzipan disc in the centre, leaving a ½ inch border around the edges.

Spoon the rest of the cake mixture into tins. Only fill about 3/4 full.

Place pan in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until done. Knife will still be slightly sticky after it is inserted. The top of the mini cakes will be a nice golden brown.

Let the mini cakes cool for ten minutes in pan. Then place cake on a rack and let it cool completely.

You can decorate the mini cakes with candied flowers, a drizzle of thin lemon icing (icing sugar + lemon juice) and/or some coloured ribbon.

Enjoy!

5:15 am

Baking

Traditional Currant Welsh Cakes

Traditionally, Welsh Cakes are chock full of currants and sprinkled with white cane sugar. I recently posted a recipe for Chocolate and Ginger Welsh Cakes. But I wanted to post this recipe for the Traditional version, in case anyone wants to try it the way they have always been made in Wales.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Traditional Welsh Cakes with Currants

Serves: 12-18

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

250 grams unbleached white flour
120 grams butter, cold and diced
1 tsp baking powder
70 grams currants
55 grams sugar
1 egg
1-2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Stir together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, spices

Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs

Stir in sugar and currants.

Mix in the egg.

Add milk until a nice soft dough is formed.

Roll out on a tabletop sprinkled with flour.

Cut out welsh cakes with any round shape approximately 7.5 to 8 cm in diameter. I used a drinking glass.

Heat a skillet on the stovetop on medium heat. Add a very tiny amount of butter.

Place a few welsh cakes in pan, with some space surrounding each one. Do not overfill skillet. You need room to flip them over.

When the underside is a nice golden colour, flip over and cook the other side.

Remove from skillet when both sides are done.

Let cool on a baking rack.

Sprinkle with sugar. You can do this either in the pan while the second side is cooking, or while they are on the baking rack. Either will work fine

Serve warm or room temperature.

Notes

If you want to freeze some welsh cakes for later, you can either freeze some cooked welsh cakes in a ziplock bag. Or you can cut them out and freeze the uncooked cakes. To do this, cut out the welsh cakes, place them on parchment paper on a tray and freeze until firm. Then place them in a ziplock bag or plastic container, layered with parchment paper in between. To cook, simply defrost the cakes and then cook following the instructions above.

5:37 pm

Baking

Chocolate and Ginger Welsh Cakes

I absolutely love Welsh Cakes, such a delicate taste and subtle sweetness. They are the perfect treat to have with tea or coffee. And these Chocolate and Ginger Welsh Cakes are truly divine.

Welsh cakes are a cross between a scone and a cookie but cooked like a pancake in a hot skillet on top of the stove. They are slightly crisp on the outside but tender and crumbly inside. I love making welsh cakes because I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

I first had Welsh Cakes in Wales, years ago, during my year long adventure with my friend, Bonnie. We stayed with Bonnie’s Aunts (Aunt Betty and Aunt Betty) for a whole month in the small town of . They lived in a small village near Swansea on a hilly street lined with row houses – each one a different colour. Each day, Bonnie’s Aunts set out a proper tea for us. By 4 pm, their wood kitchen table was completely laden with a variety of utterly delicious tea items: cheese and crackers, cakes, bread and butter, fruit and devonshire cream, tea and of course, welsh cakes.

Welsh cakes (or pice ar y maen – cakes on the stone, in Welsh) are so fast to whip up, you won’t believe it. They take, at the most, an hour from start to finish. They are fantastic for the beginner baker as they are so simple to make. And they have ‘homemade’ written all over them, as I can’t imagine too many bakeshops spending time cooking these up individually on a stovetop.

Try to make these cakes on the day that you want to serve them. As they only keep for 1-2 days before tasting a bit stale. You can also cut some out and freeze them uncooked until you are ready to cook some more.

I love Traditional Welsh Cakes, but I was eager to try some a flavour. So, I added some dark chocolate and chopped crystallized ginger. I love eating these Chocolate and Ginger Welsh Cakes warm from the skillet. The chocolate inside is slightly molten and the ginger is soft and lightly scented.

The origin of Welsh Cakes is very interesting. Years ago, miners would carry freshly made cakes down into the mines. A hearty snack and a taste of home while they were working in the cold, dark mines down below. Try popping one into a loved ones’ lunch kit to brighten their day.

Below are a few variations of Welsh Cakes that you can find around the country.

Jam Split: Popular in South Wales, the cakes are split open and spread with jam inside:

2. Apple Dragon: Add some grated apple to the mixture to make your cakes more moist.

3. Newport Lovely Welsh Cakes made by men in the City of Newport for their girlfriends as a wedding gift or engagement gift.

4. The Welsh Mountain (Mynydd Cymreig) has two times the amount of baking powder in them, for loftier cakes.

If you try a different variation, let me know. Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Chocolate and Ginger Welsh Cakes

Serves: 15-18

Cooking Time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients

250 grams white unbleached flour
120 grams butter, cold, diced
1 tsp baking powder
55 grams white sugar
45 grams cyrstallized ginger, chopped fine
25 grams dark chocolate chips
1 egg
1-2 tbsp strong coffee
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom

Instructions

Stir together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, spices

Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs

Stir in sugar and ginger and chocolate chips.

Mix in the egg.

Add coffee until a nice soft dough is formed.

Roll out on a tabletop sprinkled with flour.

Cut out welsh cakes with any round shape approximately 7.5 to 8 cm in diameter. I used a drinking glass.

Heat a skillet on the stovetop on medium heat. Add a very tiny amount of butter.

Place a few welsh cakes in pan, with some space surrounding each one. Do not overfill skillet. You need room to flip them over.

When the underside is a nice golden colour, flip over and cook the other side.

Remove from skillet when both sides are done.

Let cool on a baking rack.

Sprinkle with demerara sugar. You can do this either in the pan while the second side is cooking, or while they are on the baking rack. Either will work fine

Serve warm or room temperature.

Notes

3:00 am

Cooking

Mango and Coconut Porridge Recipe

I love oats. They are probably my favourite grain. I love them in bread, muffins, cookies as well as cooked for breakfast. If you browse through my blog, you’re going to find a lot of recipes using oats.

I especially love oats for breakfast. I think they make the most healthiest and filling breakfasts whether they are in granola or this recipe for porridge. When I make porridge, I don’t add any sweeteners. Instead I love to pile in loads of fruit. I use fresh fruit and berries in the summer, but in the winter when it’s hard to find fresh fruit or they are super expensive, I use frozen fruit.

My usual mix of fruit is mango, blueberry and sweet cherries, but one day I only had mango. So, I just used what I had and couldn’t believe how perfectly mango goes with oats. Who would have guessed? Traditional porridge is usually cooked with raisins and brown sugar and served with an extra splash of maple syrup. But the smooth sweet flavour of tropical mango balances so well with nutty tasting oats, it’s like they were meant to go together. And forget the added sweetener: mangoes are so naturally sweet, you won’t need any.

Different Types of Oats

Steel-Cut: These are also known as Irish or Scottish Oats and are the closest to their original grain form. The oat kernel is cut one or two times to help it cook. Cooking steel-cut oats can take between 15-60 minutes. They are nutty, chewy and very nutritious.

Rolled Oats: Whole Oats are toasted, hulled, steamed and then flattened with giant rollers. Rolled oats take about 15-20 minutes to cook.

Quick Cooking Oats: These are similar to rolled oats, but have been cut before being steamed and flattened so they cook quicker. Try sprinkling some in muffins or pancake batter to add an extra texture.

Instant: These oats cook very quick. They are cut, pre-cooked, dried, steamed and flattened. They cook super fast, but because they’re been processed so much a lot of their nutrition has been lost.

Oat Flour: You can make oat flour by putting rolled oats in a blender or food processor. They add a nutty flavour to baked goods, as well as making them more moist and crumbly. You can substitute up to 30% of flour in a recipe with oat flour. Try it the next time you bake some muffins and see how you like it.

Oat Bran: This comes from the outer layer of the oat kernel. Whole Oats always contain oat bran, quick cooking or instant oats do not contain oat bran as it has been removed. Oat bran is high in fibre and is often eaten as a hot cereal, sprinkled on cold cereal or added to bread, cookies and muffins for extra fibre.

Not only are oats delicious they are also super healthy. If you are also an oat lover, here are some cool nutrition facts about oats:

oats are low in calories and they slow digestion which helps you feel full longer.
1/2 cup of oats has 150 calories, 5 g of protein, 27 g of carbs, 2 grams of fat and 4 grams of fibre.
oats help prevent constipation as they contain both soluble and insoluble fibre.
dietary fibres in oats decrease bad cholesterol (LDL) without affecting good cholesterol (HDL)
oats contain enterolactone and other plant lignans which protect against heart disease.
according to the American Cancer Society, lignan in oats also helps reduce the chances of hormone related cancers such as breast, prostate and ovarian cancer.

Enjoy cooking and baking with oats!

If you enjoy oats as much as I do, here is some additional reading:

A BBC Podcast on Oats

Stoats: A company focused on Oats

Baking with Oats

Print Recipe

Mango and Coconut Porridge

Serves: 1

Cooking Time: 5-8 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup Whole Oats
1 cup Water
Milk (or milk alternative)
Mangoes
Unsweeneted Shredded Coconut (toasted)

Instructions

Toast coconut in a dry pan for a few minutes until golden.

Add whole oats to pot and add the water.

Bring to a boil, and cook on a low simmer for about 5-8 minutes until oats are soft. If it starts to look too thick, add a bit more water until you have the consistency you prefer.

Add about 1/4 cup of milk or milk alternative. (optional).

Pour into a serving bowl.

Add sliced mangoes and toasted coconut on top.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

4:48 pm

Baking

Irish Oat Soda Bread Recipe

Irish Oat Soda bread is an amazing bread to make. You can make it so fast. It’s great for beginners or even experienced bakers who want some fresh baked bread on the table in under an hour. The first time I made soda bread I couldn’t believe how quick it was ready.

Irish Oat Soda bread can be made quickly because it is leavened with baking soda, not with yeast like most breads. When mixed with an acidic ingredient, in this case the buttermilk, the combination of the baking soda and acid produces carbon dioxide after it is exposed to heat.

When baking with baking soda, it is important to measure accurately. Too much baking soda and your batter will rise too much and then collapse. Also, using too much baking soda, or baking without an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk, yogurt, brown sugar, molasses, chocolate and cocoa will make your baked goods taste soapy. This happens because the baking soda doesn’t have anything to react with and will break down to produce sodium carbonate which is very alkaline and makes your baking taste soapy. Too little baking soda will produce a flat and dense product. So, measure accurately and always double check that there is an acidic ingredient in the recipe to react with the baking soda.

Cutting an X or cross across the top of the bread allows the center of the loaf to cook properly as it’s such a thick loaf and rises and bakes ratherly quickly.

I love the dense earthy aroma of the wheat and oats and the smooth and tangy flavour of the buttermilk. Since soda bread is made from very basic ingredients: flour, baking soda, soured milk (or buttermilk) it’s easy to whip up on the spur of the moment. In this recipe I’ve added butter, but some recipes leave that out. You can also add raisins or caraway seed, but traditionally, it is just those three basic ingredients.

Originally, soda bread was made regularly in Irish farming households. Unlike families in England, who would buy their bread from local bakeries, many Irish families lived in isolated farmhouses, far from any shops, so everyone had to do their own baking. The introduction of baking soda around 1840 provided poor Irish families with a means to make delicious bread as often as they wanted and for a very low cost. Homes in Ireland did not have ovens, only open hearths. So the bread was cooked on griddles over aromatic turf fires. The bread would be tender and dense with a nice thick crust and was eaten every night for dinner.

Soda bread is made all over Ireland but each region makes it differently. In the north, it is flattened into a disk, cut into 4 equal sized wedges and then cooked on a griddle. These are also called Soda Farls. The word, farl, comes from the scottish word, fardell, meaning a fourth. In the south, it is shaped into a thick round disk and the top is scored deeply with a large X or a cross.

Here are some Soda Bread Secrets as recommended by Colman Andrews in The Country Cooking of Ireland.

Use irish flour if possible as it’s a soft flour. if you don’t have access to any, (like me), use pastry flour that is stone ground, organic and fresh.
Sift your flour, or atleast make sure there are not any lumps.
Use cold buttermilk, not warm as you would with yeasted breads. Warm milk will activate the baking soda too early and prevent it from rising in the oven.
Use a very light kneading if you must – but not kneading at all is the best.
It is better to overbake your Irish Soda Bread than underbake it. Just don’t burn your bread!
Soda bread is best eaten within 24 hours or so.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Print Recipe

Irish Soda Bread with Oats

Serves: 8

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups unbleached white pastry flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup whole oats
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 stick cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 1/3 cup buttermilk, cold and cut into small cubes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Stir to combine thoroughly.

Add the butter and cut it into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. You can also use your hands to quickly mix the butter into the flour, until the butter is pea sized and coated with flour.

Add the cold buttermilk. Mix quickly.

Sprinkle your table with some flour. Place the soft sticky dough on the flour and quickly shape into a loaf about 6 inches across.

Cut an X on the surface of the dough. No more than 1/2 an inch.

Bake on parchment paper on a baking tray for 20-25 minutes.

Let cool slightly on a baking rack.

adapted slightly from The Gourmet Cookbook

2:01 pm

Baking

Oatmeal Molasses Brown Bread Recipe

This recipe for Oatmeal Molasses Bread is from my friend, Angie, from New Brunswick. She made this delicious bread for a Christmas get-together years ago when we both lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She lived in a lovely flat on the second and third floor of an old house near downtown Halifax with her husband and four children.

On that particular day, food, of course, was the theme of the party. Small tables overflowing with homemade cookies, cheese and crackers, and veggies and dip were scattered throughout the flat, so that you didn’t have to walk more than a few feet to grab something to nibble. And in the dining room was a huge oak table absolutely covered with plates, bowls and platters of traditional Christmas fare.

There was one table that really won me over. It was a small wooden table, at the top of the stairs by a window, with a cutting board, a bread knife, a bowl of butter and this lovely Oatmeal Molasses Brown Bread laid out on top, all ready for slicing. It was so good. I don’t meet too many people that make homemade bread. Angie was a medical intern and mom to four young children, so I thought hosting a Christmas party was enough work. I was deeply impressed that she would also go the extra mile to make sure there was homemade bread at this event. I’m so glad she did!

This bread is very popular on the East Coast. As I’m from Toronto, it was very different to what I was used to: a sweeter, richer, earthier bread. I was super excited to sample some local cuisine – and even better that it was homemade. The sweet molasses flavour pairs well with cold creamy butter. I phoned Angie up a few days later and she gave me the recipe over the phone. This recipe was her grandmother’s and was the only bread she ever made. I can see why.

I made this bread with some locally ground flour from Watson’s Mill that I bought at the Manotick Farmer’s Market and boy was it good.

This bread smells amazing when it is baking: the aroma of whole wheat flour, oats, molasses and butter is so delicious you will want to eat it right out of the pan. But, let this bread cool awhile before slicing, as it’s so dense.

This bread is a dense and moist brown bread sweetened with molasses. The whole oats add some texture to each slice. The combination of molasses and oats is so perfect!

What I also love about this bread is that it’s so easy to whip up on a wintry afternoon. The taste is sublime spread with butter and served with cubes of cheese. It is also an amazing accompaniment to soup.

Print Recipe

Oatmeal Molasses Brown Bread

Serves: 2 loaves

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

7 grams or 2 1/4 tsp of yeast (or one packet)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp sugar
2 T butter
1 cup molasses
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water
2 cups oats
approximately 3.5 cups of white flour and 2.5 cups of whole wheat flour.

Instructions

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water with 1/2 tsp of sugar.

Pour boiling water over the oatmeal and add the molasses and the butter.

Mix together the flours and salt.

When oatmeal and boiled water has cooled to a tepid temperature, add yeast mixture and stir together.

Stir in flour until a smooth, thick dough is formed. Knead the dough on a table sprinkled with flour until smooth and elastic. Only put a tiny amount of flour on the table, otherwise the bread will be too dry.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a tea towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Punch down and knead for a few seconds to form an oblong shape. Cut the dough in half lengthwise. Place each half into a greased bread pan with the smooth side up. Cover the pans with a clean tea towel.

Let the dough proof in pans for about 1 hour until the dough as risen to the top of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake in oven for 1 hour, until golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Let the bread cool before slicing.

Thanks Angie! We’ll always remember the fun times we had with you and your family!

1:00 am

Baking

Healthy Blueberry Honey Muffins Recipe

1:00 am

Journal

Mont Tremblant

My husband and I were lucky to visit Mont Tremblant twice this winter. Our first trip was in December, one week before Christmas. It was super cold but the village was white with snow and very pretty. All the shops and restaurants were dressed up with colourful Christmas lights, garlands of scotch pine and wide sparkly ribbons.

Our second visit was in February during the Olympics. Not as snowy, but still a lot of fun.

Of course it’s a fantastic place to ski, snowboard, cross-country ski and snow-shoe, but it’s also nice to go for dinner at one of the many amazing restaurants and then just wander around the village. Here are a few snapshots of our two trips highlighting some of our favourite eateries as well as the village.

Lots of snow!

The decorations, snow and lights always look so pretty at nighttime.

The Cabane Sucre had the prettiest display of lights. The aroma of maple syrup warming on the stove all ready to make Maple Taffy, enticed us into the shop. Inside were shelves of maple syrup in beautiful shaped bottles, bags of homemade maple candies, maple sugar pie in the fridge, made by the shopkeeper’s mother, as well as other maple treats.

This tree looked so sparkly at night time.

Cabane Sucre! Nothing compares to the aroma of maple syrup warming on the stove on a cold winter evening.

In DEcember, we had an amazing Fondue dinner at La Savoie: a nice sized bowl of fondue with a wooden board overflowing with cubes of baguette, pickles, potatoes, sausage. It was so good!

We stayed at The Westin Hotel which was right in the village. They had a beautiful super heated pool and hot tub outside. The air temperature was about -34 °, so super chilly, but the pool was very warm and the hot tub super hot. Surrounded by snow-covered trees, it was very pretty.

You can ride up to the base of the mountain in a stand-up free gondola ride. It’s fun.

There are always a lot of skiers and snowboarders of all ages. It had rained all morning, but the slopes were still busy!

This was during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. There was a huge screen showing the Olympics in the main square. There were bean bag cushions and chairs to sit on and watch your favourite spot. It was pretty cool!

Even without the snow, the village is still picturesque and colourful.

Pizzeteria makes wonderful pizza. My husband ordered a pizza with barbeque sauce, chicken, and red onions, it’s his favorite combination and he said it was amazing. French Onion soup was written on the blackboard – so I had to have it. It’s hard to find good French Onion Soup, and their’s was superb. I also had an amazing salad with artichoke hearts, arugula, black olives, grated carrots and more greens. It was very tasty.

There aren’t a lot of shops in Mont Tremblant, but they’re so pretty and quaint, you’re bound to find a little something to take home.

The Diablo Pub and Pizzeteria were my husband’s favourites, but this crepe restaurant was mine. It’s a cozy restaurant that seats about 30 -40 patrons and only serves crepes – savoury or sweet as well as really good hot chocolate with loads of whipped cream.

All the restaurants are small and quaint and cute in the pedestrian village of Mont Tremblant. This one was no exception. And the best crepes ever!

My husband ordered a plain crepe with maple syrup. I ordered a crepe filled with poached apples and cinnamon with a delicious maple cream sauce poured over top. It was divine.

This wee spot is an ice cream shop and a bakery all in one – a perfect combination! Unfortunately, because of the rain, their power was out and they had no ice cream.

But with the help of a generator, they were able to bake muffins – Chocolate, caramel and blueberry – all in one bite!

The decorations are starting to look a bit pail, but no one seemed to mind. We’re definitely coming back to this place for ice cream on our next visit.

It’s so beautiful everywhere you go in Mont Tremblant.

If you decide to visit, here is more information on this beautiful town:

A bit of history of the pedestrian village

A list of restaurants in Mont Tremblant

Things to do in Mont Tremblant in the Winter

9:00 am

Journal

Chartreuse – The Elixir of Long Life

Happy March!

There are many good reasons to be happy that it’s March: March break, the first day of spring and our long Easter weekend starts at the end of the month. I decided to celebrate the beginning of March, with a post on my favourite green liqueur – Chartreuse.

Chartreuse is a sweet and herbal flavored liqueur. Because it’s made with 130 herbs, plants and flowers, it has a mysterious flavour profile. It’s taste is more a medley of flavours than any one ingredient. I love so many things about this liqueur: the gorgeous green colour, the sweet and herbal flavour but most of all I think I love the mysterious history behind this notable drink.

The name of this liqueur comes from the Grande Chartreuse Monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains near Grenoble, France. It has been made by the Carthusian monks for almost 400 years. And only two monks, Dom Benoit and Brother Jean Jacques, are the only ones that know the secret recipe.

The recipe originated back in 1605, when the Chartreuse Monastery received a manuscript for an elixir as a gift from a diplomat of France. This elixir eventually got nicknamed The Elixir of Long Life. The manuscript was so complex that most people couldn’t interpret it. Over one hundred years later, it was eventually sent to the head monastery in the Chartreuse Mountains. After studying this manuscript for almost four decades, it’s mystery was finally unravelled by the Monastery’s Apoethecary, Frère Jerome Maubec and the elixir could finally be prepared.

It was originally 69% alcohol and considered a medicine. But everyone loved the taste so much, they drank it as a beverage instead. A few decades later, around 1784, another monk altered the recipe to make it sweeter and lower in alcohol. At 55% alcohol, it’s still high, but less than it was originally. If you prefer a liqueur that is less alcoholic, there is a yellow Chartreuse which is sweeter and lower in alcohol at only 40%.

Each year, 24 tons of herbs and plants and flowers are delivered to the Monastery to make this noteworthy drink. The herbs and plants are dried, crushed and mixed in the Herb Room. The next step takes place in the distillery in Voiron. Only the two monks and two assistants are allowed to enter this room. In the distillery, the various series of herbs macerate in alcohol and then are distilled for 8 hours. The lovely natural green colour is from the last maceration of plants and herbs.

The distillation is done in stainless-steel stills. They have been specially designed for Chartreuse, so that the monks can monitor the distillation process from the Monastery, 15 miles away. After the distillation, Chartreuse liqueur ages in oak casks that are from Russia, Hungary or France. After the liquor has aged for a few years, the Chartreuse Monks will test the liquer and decide if it’s ready to be bottled. They are the only two that can decide.

Chartreuse is meant to be enjoyed neat, not even any ice. It’s a super strong liqueur: measure one shot of Chatreuse into your favourite glass, and sip slowly. It makes a lovely after dinner drink. If you prefer mixed drinks, I’ve included a link for some cocktails below.

Enjoy! Happy March!

Here is some more information on Chartreuse

Want to make your own herbal liqueur?

Interested in visiting the distillery?

Cocktails Made with Chartreuse

10:15 pm

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