I must admit, I have not been baking as much as I used to. I used to bake every single day, and now I bake about two or three times per week. Not out of laziness or because I don't want to, but because I have lost about 20lbs. since December and I plan on continuing the weight loss! I am dieting but I still eat something sweet or chocolatey every single day. If I deprived myself of sweets and chocolate, I don't think I'd be able to lose weight successfully because I'd constantly be craving things.

This won't become a diet blog. Because I wouldn't read a diet blog. It might be a food blog that also includes photos and stories from my life. So much has changed since I last posted here, it's been just less than a year! I'm almost a completely different person and so much happier now. Hopefully some people out there are still interested in reading about it :)

To kick things off, my mom showed me this oatmeal cookie recipe from Cooking Light recently - only 78 calories per cookie! I left the walnuts out, thinking my sister would eat them but I was wrong, so on the second batch, I studded each cookie with a walnut piece before baking. Feel free to add or subtract anything you'd like.

Oatmeal Cookies with A-Peel (their title, not mine)
Makes about 4 dozen cookies. A lot of dough. I refrigerated mine in plastic wrap and I bake in dozens when I feel like it :)
1 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
(I added 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Because I like my oatmeal cookies with cinnamon.)
3 cups oats (I used quick-cooking, they call for regular, it doesn't matter)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine cranberries or raisins in a small bowl and cover with the orange juice, set aside for about 10 minutes.

Beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the corn syrup and egg and beat well. Add in the orange juice mixture.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt (and cinnamon) in a medium bowl. Add the oats, walnuts and orange zest. Add to sugar mixture and stir well.

Using about a tablespoon for each cookie, form small balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. I like my oatmeal cookies (and all cookies, really) chewy, but if you like crispier cookies, bake until the entire cookie is golden brown.

Happy Valentine's Day <3

Been a while, I realize.

I used to be so bitter about Valentine's Day. Why celebrate if you don't have a significant other? But then I thought... Valentine's Day isn't just about having a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Not to me, at least. It's about celebrating the people you love. When I was in grade school, I remember waking up on Valentine's Day and finding a box of conversation hearts or a bag of chocolates by my spot at the kitchen table from my mom and dad. Obviously you should show the people you love that you appreciate them every day of the year, but I like to use Valentine's Day as an extra excuse to do so.

Anyway, this Valentine's Day I had planned on making some regular cupcakes with heart sprinkles, red and pink frosting, etc. But instead I decided to make these - they weren't just to celebrate one of my favourite bands, but also my best friend who makes the music. Music, baking and photography - my three loves - all combined for these cupcakes.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, whether or not you spent it with a boyfriend or girlfriend.



Yellow Cupcakes recipe adapted from Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
8 ounces sour cream
(You could add anything to these... the recipe in the book adds lemon zest. I'm thinking almond extract, any kind of zest, vanilla seeds. Have fun with it.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 18 cupcake cups with papers.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until lightened in colour, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg yolks one at a time, then scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the sour cream to combine and then add the flour mixture in two additions. After the second, mix the batter on medium speed for 3 minutes.

Portion the batter into the cups and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on top.



Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioner's sugar
A few tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Cream the butter until smooth, then slowly add the sugar and milk and beat until creamy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat on medium speed for about 2 to 3 minutes.

I used this as the base frosting for the cupcakes, divided into three bowls - one pink, one green, and one stayed white. Then I also took the rest of the frosting and added about two tablespoons of cocoa powder and a bit more milk to get the chocolate frosting.

Decorate as desired and enjoy! Preferably with people you love.



Check out Heartdrive here!

Oh hey. So it's almost mid-December, and absolutely holiday baking time. I was asked to make a dessert for my sister's boyfriend's mother's (yeaaahh) dessert party. It didn't take me long to look through my books and find this cake to know it was the one I would make.

White chocolate eggnog mousse cake. Peerrrfect. So festive and the eggnog intrigued me. I can't say I've ever been a fan of eggnog or rum or alcohol in general, but people at holiday parties do, right? I told my sister this was the recipe I had chosen and she said everyone would love it.

So I work 40 hours a week, and this recipe was dissected for convenience as all recipes should be. I made the cake a week ahead of time and froze it. Two days ahead of time I made the mousse and assembled the cake, then froze it. The day of the party I topped it with the whipped cream.

This recipe is from Tish Boyle's "The Cake Book" and what a great book it is. She has a system for rating how difficult a recipe is using little cake slices. 1 equals an easy cake, and 4 equals a rather difficult cake to make. This one has 4 slices, but it's easy if you take apart the pieces and don't try to do everything on the same day, okay?



Therefore,
White Chocolate Eggnog Mousse Cake adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Spiced Chiffon Cake
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment, and then spray the parchment paper with baking spray.

Sift the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the spices, baking powder and salt together.

In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks, water, oil, and vanilla extract until combined and then add the flour mixture one-third at a time.

Using an electric mixer or whatever you find easier, whisk the four egg whites and cream of tartar at medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until the whites are stiff but not dry. Using a large spatula, fold in the whites to the yolk mixture a little at a time. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake 28 to 35 minutes (mine took a little longer), until a toothpick comes out clean. Run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake and let it cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Take the cake out and if you're making it in advance, wrap it well in plastic wrap and freeze it after it's cooled completely.

Rum Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons dark rum

Bring the sugar and water to a boil, dissolving the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the rum. Set aside to cool.

White Chocolate Eggnog Mousse
3.5 ounces white chocolate, chopped (I just used a 4 ounce bar... figured why not? Haha.)
1/4 cup dark rum, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
6 large egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

First melt the white chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside.

Pour 3 tablespoons of the rum into a small heatproof bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top and set aside for about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl whisk together the yolks, sugar and remaining tablespoon of rum. Set the bowl over a pot filled about 1/3 of the way with simmering water and heat, and whisk until it reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the water and whisk in the vanilla and nutmeg.

Now take the cup with the rum and gelatin in it and put it in the pot of water, heat turned off, and stir it to dissolve the gelatin. Whisk the rum mixture into the yolk mixture, and then the yolk mixture into the white chocolate.

Whisk the heavy cream until firm peaks just begin to form and fold this, about one-third at a time, into the yolk mixture.

To assemble the cake, slice it in half using a serrated knife and place it in the bottom of the same springform pan you used to bake it in. Use half the rum syrup and brush it all over the cake, letting it soak in. Then pour 2 cups of the mousse over the cake, letting it go down the sides of the pan. Then place the other half of the cake on top of this, brush it again with the rum, and finish the rest of the mousse and use it all on top and the sides of the cake. You should refrigerate this now for at least 4 hours or freeze it.

To finish the cake, whip 1 cup of heavy cream, 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla together until firm peaks form. You could just spoon this on top, I used a large start tip to pipe it around the edges. Then garnish with some ground nutmeg and voila. You have yourself a perfect holiday cake.

Vote vote vote.

Tomorrow is election day. I'm extremely nervous and excited at the same time. I would love for Barack Obama to win, but no one actually knows what will happen do we?

Anyway to try and get rid of some of my nerves, I made cookies last night.



My sister Laura and I are voting together tomorrow and I urge you to go with family members and friends if you can. I think it makes it more fun, more like an event. It'll be the first presidential election she votes in so yay!



No special recipes used here, just this dough from Epicurious and instead of a normal liquidy frosting for these I made a buttercream with extra milk so it would be easier to pipe the decorations.

But the point of this post isn't about cookies, it's about voting. You all know who I'm voting for. :D

Pumpkin x 2.

So listen, for as much as I say I hate fall, and I really do, I really love pumpkin. I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cake. I think it's a fantastic ingredient that's easy to work with coming out of a can and it makes everything so lovely to eat. Especially since it's associated with the holidays, it gets combined with my favourite spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves very often.

This past Sunday for brunch I made the pumpkin scones here on seven spoons. They were fantastic. I didn't change a thing about the recipe and neither should you. (I did however top them with half and half and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Why not?)



Today I decided to use up the rest of the pumpkin from that recipe (it freezes great, just thaw it overnight) and make a pumpkin cake. This cake is so easy peasy you won't believe it. It's from Elinor Klivan's The Essential Chocolate Chip Book and the only thing I did differently was increase the amount of spices used. (PS if you haven't heard of her yet, get everything she's written - ASAP.)



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Start off by preheating the oven to 325 degrees F. and greasing a 9x9 inch baking dish.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and the spices. I like to use a piece of wax paper so I don't have another bowl to wash.

Then in a mixing bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar and oil. Then mix in the eggs one at a time until everything is combined. Stir in the dry ingredients thoroughly and then the chocolate chips until they're just mixed through.

Pour into the baking dish and pop it in the oven for 40 minutes. Mine literally took just 40 minutes until a toothpick came out clean.

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese with the salt and vanilla until everything is creamy. Then add the sugar and beat slowly until incorporated, and then at a higher speed to lighten the frosting.

When the cake is cool, you can either take it out of the pan or leave it in and ice it with the frosting. I like lots of swirls on my cakes. This is supposed to make 12 squares or probably more like 8.

More apples, apples, apples.

Sometimes after a week of many hours at work, you just feel like doing some cozy things in the kitchen. Obviously one of my favourite things to do is read cookbooks so as I was going through one of the best - Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax. I first came across a picture for Polish Apple Tart, which was lovely and gorgeous. So I flipped to the recipe to find that it seemed rather feasible for 9 PM on a Saturday night. So here it is. This pastry is not flaky, but it's delicious and supports the chunky apple puree very nicely.



Szarlotka (Polish Apple Tart), recipe adapted from Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts

Dough:
1 2/3 cup AP flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 tablespoons butter melted or oil
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, and then make a well in the middle of them. Combine the egg, butter or oil, milk and vanilla into a small bowl and then pour this into the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until a soft dough comes together. Refrigerate this for at least an hour.

Filling:
6 large apples - I used all McIntosh and it turned out just lovely. I think you could use any nice cooking apple here or as the author suggests, 3 McIntosh and 3 Granny Smiths. So balance tart and sweet apples.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (not called for originally but I figured what could it hurt? ;)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon mixed spices - I used 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ginger

Place the apples and butter in a large saute pan over medium heat, and cover until the apples start to sizzle. Then increase the heat slightly and stirring frequently, cook the apples until they are very tender, about 20 minutes. Add the sugar and spices and then smoosh the apples with the back of the spoon. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch tart pan and pat about 2/3 of the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Spread the filling over the dough.

Using either parchment or wax paper, place the dough on a floured surface and pat it out until about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut 3/4 inch wide strips and carefully lift the strips of dough with a spatula and arrange them in a lattice pattern on top of the filling.

If you want, you can sprinkle the tart with some granulated sugar and then pop it into the oven to bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until the dough is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Fantastic with coffeeeee.

Baking cravings.

As much as I hate on fall, I think most of my fondest baking memories occur around this time. On my days off from work in the fall, I always have the strongest desire to bake. I don't know if it's because I need comfort from the fact that it's not summer or because in the summer I don't necessarily crave to eat as much. Anyway, sometimes it's the most difficult thing in the world for me to decide on what to bake. I can look at cookbooks and websites all day long but still nothing will appeal to me. So today I was going through my favourite blogs, some I haven't been to in a while and I came across this recipe on Orangette. It was perfect. I had all the ingredients already, and even some of the additions Molly suggests.



Therefore, I followed her recipe pretty much as is, but I added about 1/4 cup toasted walnuts and 1/4 cup dried cherries to the batter along with the chocolate chips, and I made them perhaps just a bit smaller because I came out with 24 cookies instead of 20.

My adaptation:
1 cup AP flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (yes I upped this)
1/2 stick of butter (4 tablespoons)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
7 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup sour cream (I don't really have yogurt ever, so sour cream it is)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup dried cherries

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. These are snappy so you want to make sure this is the first thing you do.

Then sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. Put the butter in a large microwaveable bowl and zap until it's just about melted. Add the sugars and cocoa powder, then the sour cream or yogurt and extract. Then I dumped the dry ingredients and the additions (chips, nuts etc.) in all at once and stir until everything is incorporated evenly. Scoop by tablespoons-full onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. Mine didn't take more than 8, probably because they were a bit smaller.

Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. I ate three while still warm though. Perfect with milk or coffee or tea.