Graham Crackers

I really hate Graham Crackers. Which is really sad because I love the idea of S'mores. So when I started seeing make your own Graham Cracker recipes popping up I figured I would give them a try. And now, I can clarify that I really hate Graham Crackers, from a box. These are still fairly similar but have a lot more flavour and you can definitely manipulate them slightly if you would prefer more of a certain flavour. I would make them a bit thinner next time and the flavour of them still overwhelms the S'more a little bit.

Graham Crackers
(Adapted slightly from Baking and Boys)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 cup water (may need a little more)

In bowl of food processor, combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.  Pulse a few times. Add the cold butter and pulse until texture is dry and crumbly.

In a separate bowl, mix together the honey, molasses and water.  Add to food processor and blend together until it forms a ball, or close to a ball. I needed to dump it on to my plastic wrap and hand form it.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll the dough out on a well floured surface.  Roll the dough out as thin as you would like and cut with cookie cutters, I used a glass, for circles  Make fork marks in the dough.  Transfer to baking sheets.  You could sprinkle these with sugar or cinnamon/sugar before baking, I had a Maple Sugar Epicure Grinder that I used.  

Bake for 11-14 minutes until golden and crisp.  This recipe made about 20-26 Circles. I think I rolled some out thinner than others.

I also decided to take this one step further and melt some chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to pipe onto half the crackers. Eliminating the need to remember chocolate for the S'mores! I used about 1/4 cup of each for 24 crackers, as I had made a double recipe.

English Muffins

Yes, this happened. I don't honestly know why I never thought of making these myself before. We now have a ton in our freezer and I'm sooo happy for that. They turned out amazing and they were super easy to make. Sean even helped. He was a little unsure at first, never making bread before but he had fun shaping them and manning the griddle. Yes! You griddle them! I really never pictured that either. Silly now that I think of it.

Anyways, it's bread so we followed the recipe exactly. We will definitely make them again. The recipe says 16, we got 22. It may be because they were smaller or because we REALLY let our dough rise. If you need them to be the exact same size, not judging I do it too, you should probably weigh the balls.

English Muffins
(Adapted from Homemade English Muffins)

1 3/4 cups lukewarm milk (I heated my milk in the microwave, 30 sec on med, stir, repeat till 100º)
2 1/4 tsp (1 pkg) yeast
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 large egg
4 1/2 cups flour
Pam for bowl and hands
Cornmeal for griddle

Place milk in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and sprinkle yeast over top.

Let sit for 10 minutes and then add the butter, salt, sugar, egg, and flour.

Mix on low until the flour is incorporated and then switch to medium and beat for 5 minutes - dough will be very soft and sticky.

Scrape dough out into an oiled bowl and cover, letting rise for ~2 hours.

Keeping your hands well oiled to prevent the dough from sticking, pinch golf ball sized pieces of dough off (2 oz, if you have a kitchen scale), form a ball, and place on a griddle pan that is generously dusted with cornmeal.
Lightly press down on the balls once on the pan (I could fit 8 on my large pancake griddle and then I put the remainder on a baking sheet to cook in three batches).

Let rest for 20 minutes to rise again. This is what mine looked like in the cornmeal, risen, before cooking.

Turn burner or grill to medium low and cook until golden brown, about 14 minutes on each side. (If they brown too quickly, reduce the heat.)

Carefully transfer the second batch to the griddle so as not to deflate them and cook until done.

Let cool completely on a rack before splitting open with a fork.
Muffins will keep fresh on the counter a few days and freeze well.

Here's a finished picture!

Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream

I knew I wanted to make some type of ice cream with the hot temperatures over the past few weeks. I really didn't know what type I wanted to make though, so I skimmed Pinterest until one jumped out at me! I did find a few but I knew my boyfriend would love this and I had all of the (modified) ingredients. It might be a bit heavy on the coffee flavour for some people and I used strong coffee. So adjust accordingly!

This is super creamy and doesn't get too hard considering it isn't a cooked ice cream. I know, until I figured out what that meant, it sounded really strange to me. But I won't confuse you with the details. My next one will probably be a cooked one, so you will see then!

Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream
(Adapted Slighty from here)

1 Cup 1% Milk (Any is ok)
2 Tbsp Instant Coffee (2-4 individual packs)
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1 Pinch Salt
2 Cups 18% Cream (You probably could use 10% too)
3/4 Cup Dulche de Leche (I used Eagle Brand in a tin)

Whisk together milk, instant coffee granules, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream, then cover and refrigerate until chilled. If your ingredients all went in cold, this won't take long. It will help to dissolve the coffee a bit more. 

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency. It took me about 35 minutes. The heavier cream you use, the more likely it will be for the ice cream to sort of "over flow" out of the top of the machine. 

Transfer a couple scoops of the ice cream to a one- or two-quart lidded plastic container. Pour some of the caramel sauce over the top, then repeat the layers with the remaining ice cream and caramel. Swirl the caramel into the ice cream using a chopstick or knife if desired but mine sort of absorbed into the ice cream and swirled it self.. Cover surface with plastic wrap and seal. For best results, ice cream should set in the freezer for at least 2 hours. 

Steak & Goat Cheese Salad

Don't let the title fool you, there's a lot more to this salad than Steak and Goat Cheese. We've been on a bit of a salad kick lately and I've found the key is really to add in things you like to make it less boring.

Here's what we add to basic romaine!

Steamed Asparagus - Blanch in cold Water to maintain Crispness
Diced Red Pepper
Cubed Avocado
Cabra al Vino Goat Cheese - Or any goat cheese you like, this one is mild and creamy.
Salt and Pepper
Sunflower Oil
Rice Vinegar

Toss is all together and top with some thin sliced medium rare Steak. By far my favourite salad recipe!

Picture to follow.

Black Forest Graduation Cupcakes

My boyfriend graduated University after 6 long years this past June and his family threw him a party to celebrate. I had seen these on my (new favourite site) Pinterest and was pretty much determined to make them. They went over really well and were by far the coolest cupcakes I have ever made. I of course had to change them a bit, making them black forest for Sean, since its his favourite.

I really tend to keep it simple when I'm making a large amount of cupcakes and stick to a box cake mix. I used a Swiss Chocolate Duncan Hines cake mix for this one. Bake them according to the box, they usually make 24-30. I got 30 out of mine. I let these sit and cool over night, but a few hours will be fine.

You can buy a cupcake corer at Williams Sonoma or just use a paring knife to cut out a cylinder of the middle of the cupcake about half way deep. You can throw out the scraps.

Before moving on, pour a jar of pitted "sour" cherries through a strainer. Pour 1 cup of the juice into a small saucepan and add 1/2 cup of white sugar. Boil until reduced into a slight syrup, not too thick. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops and the hole in the cupcake with the drained juice from the cherries. Let this absorb completely and do it one or two more times depending how cherry flavoured you want them.

Place a cherry into each cupcake center.

I made a double recipe of stabilized Whipped Cream with this recipe. I needed the whipped cream to hold its shape for a little while so I decided to use this.

Put a bit of whipped cream on top of the cherry in the centers, and top with another cherry. Continue to ice the whole cupcake.

Taa-Daa! Black Forest Cupcakes!

Now for the Graduation Part of these Cupcakes, which was actually what I saw on Pinterest. I couldn't actually find much on them, a few people recommended Ghirardelli Chocolates for the tops, but those are fairly expensive for people that probably wouldn't notice either way.

I bought a bag of individually wrapped Reese's Mini Cups for the base. I melted 14 oz of chocolate and butterscotch chips (half and half) separately over a double boiler. I poured down the bittersweet Chocolate and swirled the butterscotch on top in a parchment lined baking sheet. I smoothed this out and put it in the fridge for about an hour. This is basically a chocolate bark. After it has cooled, cut it into about 2" squares. I put it back in the fridge after this.

I made a half recipe of this Icing Glue to attach the bottom of the Reese's Cups to the Bark Squares. You can definitely stop after this, they will look like little Grad Caps. I chose to add a licorice rope tassel with an edible Candy Pearl on the top.

Press the caps onto the Cupcakes and you're ready to go!

Here's A Picture:

Italian Mussels and Pasta

About a week ago we decided to go to the Farmers Market for something to do on a Sunday. You never really know what you'll find or what you'll be inspired to make. We had recently had some pretty amazing Mussels at the new pub by our place and figured we could attempt our own. I had never made them or even really looked at them when we've been at the fish shop so this was all around new for me.

Mussels are probably one of the cheaper shell fish varieties at around $6/lb. Considering we're no where near an ocean, that is fine with me. We also picked up some nice scallops - those ring in at closer to $25/lb. Worth every cent, as long as you take the time to cook them right. But back to the mussels. I knew I had a few different recipes hidden away, in favourites folders, cookbooks and so on. At first we were really feeling a beer steamed mussel feast. But we kind of decided that was better for more of an appetizer situation and we were cooking for dinner. So this is the recipe I picked and changed in traditional fashion. It comes highly recommended, even the basic tomato sauce was really good.

Italian Mussels and Pasta
Adapted slightly from Here

8 ounces  buccatini

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, grated

1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes

Basil, about 2 tbsp packed. 

1 pound  mussels, cleaned

3/4 cup dry white wine

Big pinch of crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

 

If you've never made mussels or just want a refresher, I found this page (with a video even!) to help you figure out how to prep them. It is a bit of a pain, also I would highly recommend that you buy an extra half pound of mussels in case some die. All of ours were very much alive but after the scrubbing they had died (So Sad..)

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl. Cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until it just begins to colour, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully add crushed tomatoes (the mixture may splatter) and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring mussels and wine to a boil in a Dutch oven (or other large pot) over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook until the mussels open, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer the mussels with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. (Discard any unopened mussels.)
Strain the mussel broth through a fine-mesh sieve into the tomato sauce. Stir in crushed red pepper and simmer over medium heat for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle about half the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat. Divide the pasta, top with mussels and spoon the remaining sauce over the mussels.

We served ours up with a tosted bun with garlic butter.

A Pinterest St Patricks Day - Recipes and Fun

I know I may be a little late with this post. St Patricks Day is sort of the reason that I ended up pretty much addicted to Pinterest. I basically google imaged St Patricks day food and everything that I liked linked back to Pinterest. And that was it. Hooked. So here is my random collection of recipes I made for our St Patricks day party.

It was also my man friends housewarming aka my housewarming do over, since he moved in here! It was by far a better experience than my first one. No broken bones and we had a keg and way more people. It was great. The best themed party I've had, ok, except for maybe our Mad Men/NYC party. That was pretty spectacular. I don't know how many of my friends read this, but really, thanks for always going out of your way to dress up and be a part of my theme parties. They are pretty awesome.


Key Lime Jello Shots

So because this was 2 very awesome occasions mixed into one, jello shots were called for. They were the fastest thing to go on our counter for sure.

2 packs Lime Jello
2 Cups Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka
2 Cups Boiling water

Mix the boiling water and the lime jello mix until dissolved, add the vodka.
Pour into 1 oz (ish) cups and let sit in the fridge for 4 hours or up to overnight

I got little 1oz plastic cups at the wholesale store. For less than $5 for 200. Because you'll never know when you'll want to whip some up!

Green Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet is most of my friends favourite cupcake. So I figured I'd do that... except green. These are your every day red velvet, chocolate cupcake with cream cheese icing. I just used green dye! Pretty much epic. Just saying.

Recipe adapted slightly from here

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk*
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 oz. green food colouring (Yes, that is a whole little bottle)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  
• Prepare 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners, makes about 24 cupcakes. And yes! I did get little white, black, gold and green shamrock liners at Michael's!
  
• Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside. (You can also use your stand mixer for this, I did)

• Place all the dry ingredients in your stand mixing bowl and stir together until well mixed.
  
• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
• Pour into prepared cupcake liners/tins, let settle to avoid bubbles.
• Cupcakes take about 18 minutes in my oven. Instead of 30 for a cake. Just in case, start checking (for a toothpick to come out clean) at about 12 Minutes for a convection oven and 14 for a regular oven.
• Let cool before frosting, otherwise frosting will melt.

*If you don't have buttermilk, you can make one cup of "soured milk" with 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice and 1 cup (less 1 Tbsp) Milk. Let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes and you'll get pretty much the same flavour. I never have buttermilk so this is what I do, unless I know I need a lot.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Everyones favourite part of a red velvet cupcake...

This is my favourite recipe I've found for cream cheese frosting. Its actually less sweet than many others I've tried, but definitely still has the sugar. With "icing sugar" adding more of it will NOT thicken the icing. Only more cream cheese with thicken the icing, and sometimes not even then. Its a bit of a different texture to deal with. A few tries though and you'll figure it out in no time.

Recipe from Here

2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened (I used light)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners (icing) sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. I like to use a hand mixer or stand mixer for this, depending on the amount. 
Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.

I piped the frosting using a large, round, tip. You can do whatever you like! I like to pipe.

Store in the refrigerator if you aren't ready to use it right away, or have some left over.

Margarita Lime Cupcakes

I've made these cupcakes before, last year for St Patricks day actually! Since we were expecting close to 30 people (or more) I figured I'd be safe and have 2 kinds of cupcakes. These are lighter and less sweet than a standard cupcake I found. The lime helps balance them out and swiss meringue buttercream is pretty much amazing.

I DID have some major issues with it this time. Which is the first time that has ever happened to me. I think I was just trying to do too many things at once. Here is a link on how to fix it if something goes wrong.

Here is the link back to these cupcakes. I would write it out myself, but I think she does a really good job of it and I didn't change anything!

Margarita Cupcakes

Spinach Dip with Shamrock Chips

I don't think you can go wrong with Spinach dip, pretty much ever. I like to think of it as the sort of healthy dip on the counter. I mean, look at all that green right? Ok, probably not the best thing. But that's ok, its a party.

First things first, buy an awesome loaf of bread. We used sour dough, shaped into a big circular loaf. Cut into the top of the loaf at about a 45º angle to make an inverted cone in the loaf that you can take out. Here is your bread bowl lid. I cut most of the bread off the cone so that it really is just a lid. You can scoop out more of the loaves insides if you need to make room for the spinach dip. Hopefully you can tell by the photo what I mean.

I pretty much always use this Spinach Dip Recipe, with a few changes. Here's mine below.

1 cup miracle whip
1 (16 ounce) container non fat greek yogurt
1 package dry leek soup mix, I used Knorr
1 (4 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 Full, 10 ounce package fresh chopped spinach
1 (1 pound) loaf round sourdough bread

	In a bowl, mix together miracle whip, greek yogurt, dry leek soup mix, water chestnuts and chopped spinach. Chill in the refrigerator 6 hours, or overnight.If you don't have time for this, its not a big deal. But a few hours is ideal.
	Remove top and interior of sourdough bread as I mentioned above. Fill with spinach mixture. Tear removed bread chunks into pieces for dipping. Unless you make the awesome Shamrock chips below!

 

 

Shamrock Chips

Adapted from here

 

 

These were super easy, and like a craft inside cooking. Which is kind of my favourite thing ever.

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I used a pack of spinach tortilla wraps (10) and a pack of whole wheat wraps (10. Each wrap yielded 5 shamrocks with my cookies cutter.

 

Push a shaped cookie cutter firmly through the wrap and wiggle while pressing until a clean cut is made. Place the cut-outs on a cooling rack placed in a cookie sheet and sprinkle salt and pepper across the chips. I also added some garlic powder for extra flavour.

 

Cook the chips for approx 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them though, as ovens are different and they could burn easily. Burnt spinach wraps don't taste as good.

 

Vegetable Rainbow

 

I saw a few pictures of this on Pinterest and knew it had to be done. Most of the ones I saw were fruit though and being a night party I figured vegetables were a better choice. I bought some chocolate gold coins at the dollar store and put them in a little dish at the end of the rainbow. All in all it was just a fun way to arrange the veggies.

 

I used, in order from top to bottom: Red Peppers, Carrots, Yellow Peppers, Celery, Green Peppers and some Blueberries at the bottom.