Delicious Homemade French Brioche

I am never making this recipe again.  Like ever.  

This is what a loaf looks like when it comes out of the oven:

And here's a picture taken maybe just 2 hours after that:

This is too tasty for its own good. Or really, for my own good.

And when I say that I'm never making this again, this translates to: I will most probably make this again next weekend.  If I don't end up making it again sometime before that.  

Perhaps obsessively making brioche will speed up the count down to our upcoming trip to Paris??

Logan absolutely loved this, and gobbled down two slices on his own.  In fact, we were playing outside when it came out of the oven, and Jérôme ended up going back into the house three times to get him more.

Rockin' a piece of brioche in each hand,
in true Logan style

Have I convinced you to make this yet?

Brioche is a super tasty, slightly sweet French bread.  Well, it's actually more of a pastry than a bread, in line with croissants and all those other delicious French treats.  I have fond memories of eating this at my exchange student's house in France, upon our return from school, when I did a 3 month exchange to Crolles when I was 15.  Always with jam.  And Jerome tells me likely butter, as that's the way it's eaten in France.  

It had never crossed my mind that it would actually be possible to make brioche.  Well, obviously possible.  Just didn't think it was possible for me.  I certainly can't see myself trying to make croissants any day soon.  But Maryam, who also dragged a French man home with her from her time in France, sent me this recipe, convincing me that it was a relatively easy undertaking.  And that it was.  Could life be any better now that I know I can make my own French brioche at home in a jiffy??

Never been to France?  No plans to go in the near future?  Make this and you will feel like you're strolling down the Champs Élysées or sipping a coffee in Montmartre.

500g of white flour (approximately 3 1/4 C)
5 eggs
5 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
20g of dry active yeast (2 1/2 of the packages)
3 tbsp. of lukewarm water for the yeast
250g butter (just slightly over 1/2 of a one-pound block of butter)
turbinado sugar to decorate (I bought this at the Bulk Barn)

1.  Mix the yeast with the 3 tbsp. of lukewarm water in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.  Stir to mix.

2.  Mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl.  Create a well in the centre and place the eggs, cooled melted butter and the yeast/water mixture in the middle.  Mix well.  The dough should not stick to fingers or to the edges of the bowl.  Cover with a dish towel and leave one night in the bottom of the fridge.

This is what the dough looked like the next morning

3.  The next day, roll the dough into one long piece.  Fold it in four and roll it again (the dough is fairly elastic - you can flatten it with your hand or with a rolling pin.  This works best if the dough is nice and cold).  Repeat three times.

4.  Roll the dough onto itself into a long sausage.  Divide it into 6 pieces.  

5.  Place the pieces into two well greased bread pans.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. (If you are having a hard time getting the sugar to stick, you can lightly brush the tops of the breads with water and then sprinkle with sugar - I forgot to put the sugar on until after it had risen and had to use some water).

6. Place a dish towel over each bread pan and let rise at room temperature for a few hours (the dough needs to at least double in volume).

7.  Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for approximately 30 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves.

Difficulty level: moderate 

And here is one that we cooked in a bundt pan (all 6 balls of dough in the same pan):

Applesauce Snacking Cake

So much to post, so little time.  My blog files are getting backed up with recipes that I have made, but have yet to find the time to type up and post... I keep trying to clear out the backlog and just find myself getting further and further behind.  Maybe we should just order pizza for a month so that I don't have any more new recipes to post???

I decided early December to join a cake decorating club here in the West Island.  I was looking for some sort of new activity for myself, to help save me from my never-ending schedule of kid-related activities.  My sister mentioned that a friend of hers was taking cake decorating lessons and that seemed to be a great fit for me.  After doing a bit of searching, I came across this club that is cheaper than taking lessons, so I figured I would join. It'll get me out of the house once a month without the kids and will (hopefully!!) lead to me being able to decorate beautiful cakes for my kids' birthdays.  I had attempted my first cake decorating for Logan's 1st birthday and it turned out pretty well.  But I'm excited to learn all sorts of new stuff about cake decorating.

So today I rushed to get together all of the required supplies and then to get Logan fed before I was out the door with Chloé for my first meeting.  All to find that it had been cancelled because of the weather.  Boo!  Such disappointment... so any blogging of beautiful cake-related news will have to wait awhile still.

But at least it leaves me some time to put up another post.  And as a special bonus, I managed to already get Chloé down into bed on her own at 9pm, which is a new record.  So I actually have a bit of hands-free time before bed. Yay!!!

I made this recipe a few weeks back. I had made some Christmas cookies (that I still haven't posted!) and ended up with leftover icing.  And I really don't make much of anything that needs icing.  So I dug through some recipes and decided to make this applesauce snacking cake to use up the leftover icing I had.  So I didn't use the icing I'm including here with this recipe, but the one I used was similar.  

This recipe comes from Canadian Living's Best Muffins & More. I added a bit of ground flax seed to this, just replacing a bit of the all-purpose flour with flax (maybe 1/4-1/3 of the total amount of the all-purpose flour).  I also chose to make this in a bundt pan instead of the recommended pan, just 'cause I thought it'd make it look prettier.  I would probably normally just omit the icing if making this just for us, but it adds a nice touch for special occasions (and certainly makes it look nicer too!).

3/4 C all-purpose flour
2/3 C whole-wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
pinch each ground cloves and salt
1 C applesauce
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C fancy molasses
1/4 C vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 C raisins

Icing:

2/3 C icing sugar
1 tbsp. apple juice

1.  In bowl, stir together all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.  Whisk together applesauce, sugar, molasses, oil and eggs; pour over flour mixture along with raisins.  Stir together just until combined.

2.  Pour into greased 9-inch square cake pan, smoothing top.  Bake in 350 degree Farenheit oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean.  Let cool in pan on rack.

Icing:  Whisk together icing sugar and juice; drizzle over cooled cake.  

Makes 16 servings.

Difficulty level: easy

Zucchini Nut Loaf

Still on a hunt for new muffin recipes, as Logan is still plowing through muffins as if there is no tomorrow.  He ate 1 1/2 of these muffins today.  I forgot that he couldn't have raisins when I made the raisin breakfast bars, so it's been about a week that he has been muffinless.  And not a day has gone by that I haven't heard him beg "uffi, uffi".  So this morning, as he was eating his breakfast, I whipped up a batch of this zucchini nut loaf.  I figured that it was a good way to sneak a bit more vegetables into him.

I used to often throw a mixture of flax, chia and hemp seed into my muffins, just to make them a little bit healthier.  But as Logan started eating them, I often omitted these ingredients, just in case he was allergic to them.  But I've finally given him each of them and he's not.  And further to an e-mail from my dad reminding me of these ingredients, I've gone back to throwing them in.  I put maybe a tablespoon or two of each of them into the batter, but I really just play it by ear with each recipe.

The minute Logan saw the hemp and flax seed bags, he started yelling "cookie, cookie".  I guess the bags look like the bag of baby cookies that I give him.  And there's no telling a 19 month old that it's not cookies.  So finally, I just sprinkled a bit on his cereal.  But then he wanted some in his spoon.  And proceeded to eat spoonfuls of flax and hemp dry, directly from his spoon (yuck!) saying "mmm... cookie".  I'm glad my kid things hemp and flax seed are cookies, lol.

Logan sat in his high chair, screaming "see, see" as the mixer whirred and realized the minute I got out the muffin tins that muffins were soon to be had.  Poor thing is still too little to understand that they need to be cooked and he just lost it when they disappeared into the oven. 

I can't wait until the kids are old enough to actually participate in some of the baking projects (aka tear apart my kitchen).  In the meantime, I'll keep whipping up muffins with him in his high chair, providing commentary the entire time.

I omitted the nuts from these again, since I'm not eating nuts.  The recipe says you can substitute with raisins or chopped fruit if you want to lower the fat content of the muffins, though I didn't bother.  This recipe comes from the Dietitians of Canada's cookbook Cook Great Food.

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. each salt and ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 egg 
3/4 C granulated sugar
1/3 C vegetable oil
2 tbsp. 2% milk
1 C shredded zucchini (unpeeled)
1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest (optional)

1.  In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and baking powder.

2.  In a medium bowl, beat egg; whisk in sugar, oil and milk.  Stir in zucchini, nuts and lemon zest, if desired; stir zucchini mixture into dry ingredients.

3.  Pour batter into greased 8- by 4-inch loaf pan. Bake in 350 degree Farenheit oven for 50 minutes or until tester inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes in pan.  Turn out onto rack to cook completely.

Makes 10 servings.

Nut-free if walnuts/pecans are omitted.

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread

I've been trying over the past week or so to make a meal every couple of days to stuff in the freezer for when the baby comes. I'm on a bit of a cooking/baking roll, as you can tell if you check out the What I made this week section of my blog.  So far I've managed to quickly whip up:

mom's spaghetti sauce:

mom's chili:

and chickpeas in curried coconut broth: 

plus, some hot coconut ginger shrimp with jumbo shrimp for dinner one night:

The doctor had originally recommended that I be induced for this baby, at around 38 weeks (aka next week!). Logan was born only 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital and since second babies tend to be even quicker, she was concerned that I might end up giving birth on the side of the highway. And though I'm not thrilled at the idea of being induced, having a roadside baby doesn't excite me much either (nor does the idea particularly appeal to Jerome!). So we'd decided to go for induction. And I'd been busy thinking I had no time left to get my freezer full so that I wouldn't have to cook for the next 6 months.

And then yesterday, I found out that this baby is apparently more than content to keep hanging out in my belly (with my increasingly sore back), despite what the doctor had planned for her. So it seems that we're not going ahead with an induction next week as planned, unless the baby changes her mind between now and early next week. So we'll see... in the meantime, it just leaves more time for me to cook and spend time alone enjoying Logan before the chaos of two hits!

Because of my recent cooking/baking binge, never mind our birthdays and Thanksgiving, we now officially have way more dessert in this house than any 3 people could possibly eat before it goes bad... I whipped up this pumpkin bread with the pumpkin left over from making pumpkin pie. Luckily, this can be frozen, so we all had a slice and I'm sticking the rest in the freezer. I believe that I got this recipe from someone at the Health Unit, once upon a time... Lyne...?? Monique??? I vaguely remember someone bringing it to a potluck. It's yummy and quick to whip up. I reduced the sugar and find there is no difference in taste.

2 C flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1 C mashed cooked fresh pumpkin
1 C sugar (I used 1/2 C)
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar (I used 1/3 C)
1/2 C milk
1/4 C vegetable oil
6 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 
1 C of dark chocolate chips)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices until well blended; set aside.  Beat eggs, pumpkin, sugars, milk and oil in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended.  Add dry ingredients; stir just until moistened.  Stir in chopped chocolate.

2.  Pour into greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

3.  Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour.

Makes 18 servings.

Brown Butter Banana Strawberry Bread

We were served this wonderfully tasty bread during our weekend in Maine last month, by one of Eliza's friends, Madeleine.  Madeleine has her own food blog, Kitchen in the Yard, which I intend to visit often over the next little while, as everything she made for us in Maine was more than tasty (including her latest post of grilled honey peaches with honey marscapone). Madeleine had gotten this recipe off of the Joy the Baker blog. I didn't hunt back far enough to see if Joy the Baker had taken it from some other blog. But apparently, there is no need for cookbooks anymore...

I've been meaning to make this bread for awhile, but haven't managed to get the combination of having both overripe bananas and strawberries in the house all at the same time, until this week. Somehow the strawberries just seem to disappear before the bananas get anywhere near ripe... In any case, I finally got a chance to quickly whip this together this morning. And Jerome informed me as I woke up that Logan had scarfed some down for breakfast... not my first choice for his breakfast, but I guess it won't kill him... and I suggested that Jerome perhaps not give him the sugary crumble topping (which is really the best part! No wonder why he liked it so much).
 
Bread:
6 oz (1/2 lb.) butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 C of butter
2 C all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat)
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 C plain yogurt (any fat content) or buttermilk
1 1/4 C mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas)
1/2 C diced strawberries, plus a couple of strawberries very thinly sliced, for topping

Crumb topping:
3 tbsp. cold butter
1/4 C flour (again, I used whole-wheat)
1/3 C brown sugar

Madeleine suggested that she would make extra crumble topping the next time she made it.  Which sounded delicious to me, as the topping was excellent.  But with Jerome's diabetes, I didn't want to push it, so I stuck to her original amounts.

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

2.  Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts.  When the crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown.  Swirl the pan as the butter cooks.  When the butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove the pan from the flame and transfer to a small bowl.  Taking the butter out of the hot saucepan will stop the butter from overcooking and burning.  Set aside to cool. (Place it in the refrigerator to cool it more quickly).

3.  Whisk together eggs, vanilla extract and yogurt or buttermilk.  Whisk in the mashed bananas.  When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.

4.  Mix in the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Fold in the diced strawberries, being careful not to overstir.  Spoon batter into prepared pan.

5.  Mix together the butter, flour and brown sugar for the crumb topping.  Place on top of the bread batter, slightly pushing down with fingers.  Top with thinly sliced strawberries.

6.  Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.  Remove from oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Bread will last 4 days, well wrapped at room temperature.  This loaf also freezes well.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Logan has weaned himself over the past week :( And although I had wanted him to breastfeed a bit longer and tried my best to keep doing so, he just wasn't interested. And when he got himself down to barely eating anything on his only feed of the day, it dawned on me that if I just accepted that he was weaning himself anyhow, I COULD EAT PEANUT BUTTER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! Yes, this is actually how exciting this was to me.

Our doctor had advised me to avoid nuts while breastfeeding (though apparently ok while pregnant) because of lots of family allergies. The research isn't clear as to whether or not this really helps, but I figured I'd follow his advice nonetheless. So I haven't had nuts, except on a few occasions by accident, since Logan was born. And Jerome has been eating a lot more nuts than he did before since he was diagnosed with diabetes. Sometimes, I would just stand over the jars and smell them. Yes, that's how much I love them :) Well, particularly peanut butter, though I do like most nuts. Which is kind of funny, because up until maybe 10 years ago, I don't think that I liked any nuts, outside of peanuts. But that's besides the point.

So my mind has been whirring with all of the wonderfully delicious things I can now eat. Logan wails and throws a complete fit every morning as I eat my peanut butter and toast. He's in a stage where he just wants to have everything that we're having and... well... he just can't have peanut butter yet. So I listen to him scream his little head off as I try to quickly finish my breakfast. And sometimes I hide behind his highchair to eat it :)

He's also like this with yogurt. I have to hide anytime I want to have a yogurt. We give him plain yogurt with fruit stirred in and I like Activia. And I don't really want him having Activia just yet (well at least, not regularly) because of the sugar in it. So I hide like a thief everytime I want a yogurt because if I eat one in front of him he throws a complete fit. In fact, he threw one at the grocery store this week as I stood in front of the yogurt aisle, deciding what to buy. I guess he was upset that he wasn't getting any.

Today, we went to Baskin Robbins to enjoy some of their peanut butter 'n chocolate ice cream. I think that this is probably one of the best inventions known to men. Huge (I mean HUGE!) chunks of delicious peanut butter. We got Logan his own little vanilla, since he couldn't have any of ours. He started freaking out the minute we walked in there and saw the ice cream the kid beside him had. He nearly screamed with impatience the whole time the lady was serving us and then gobbled down a good portion faster than you could imagine. Jerome and I had to take turns feeding him so that we could actually eat our own before it melted. I guess he thinks it's just yogurt, but way better. Note to self: keep ice cream out of his sight!

Ok, so that was so completely off-topic... back to wonderful peanut butter :) One of my favourites is peanut butter on an All-Bran bar with a little bit of low-sugar jam. Mmmm... I've had this as a snack every afternoon since weaning him. The mixture of the slight sweetness of the All-Bran bar is delicious with the saltiness of the peanut butter.

Another one of my favourites is to spread peanut butter on Pita Break's museli breakfast pita. Mmmm.... With a bit of jam or banana, of course. You can get these at Costco, or in most regular grocery stores. I love this for breakfast, lunch... both??? Ok, I don't go that far, but I could :) The pitas are full of all sorts of healthy things such as flax and sunflower seeds and have a decent amount of protein and fiber in them. My only complaint is that although they have whole-wheat flour in them, they're not completely made with whole-wheat flour (and whole-wheat flour isn't even the first ingredient). But they're so good that I choose overlook that...

Ok, now I know what you're all thinking. How can one person have so much to say about peanut butter?????????? Trust me, it's been a full year. I'm actually restraining myself here.

I haven't eat regular old Kraft peanut butter in years. Ever since I went bought some of the fresh-pressed pb at the health food store, I haven't been able to turn back. It's a bit drier, but so much more authentic tasting. And if you add jam or bananas on top, you don't even notice that it's a bit more dry. Awhile back, I spotted a natural, organic peanut butter at Costco. It's Kirkland Signature Organic Creamy Peanut Butter. And this has been my new favourite ever since.

The only thing is that the oil separates from the peanut butter, so you have to stir it in and then keep in in the fridge. A word of warning: do not let your husband stir the peanut butter!!!! This is vital. A few years back, I was having a hard time mixing the peanut butter together in the jar, so I asked my husband to do it for me. And was dumb enough to leave the kitchen. He got out the electric mixer and stuck it in the peanut butter to mix. And the next thing I knew, my entire kitchen was covered in peanut butter. I guess the beaters somehow came out while it was still running and sprayed peanut butter all over everything. I could only laugh. And spend hours scrubbing my kitchen ;) So now, I transfer all of it to a huge bowl and then mix it with beaters. Myself.

So my first "peanut butter project" was to make peanut butter banana bread. I got this recipe awhile back off of About.com. I had intended on reducing the sugar to 1/2 C, but was on auto-pilot while making it, so I didn't remember that until I was pouring in the full 2/3 C. So next time. I also learned in the making of this recipe that if your friend calls you to go to the park once the loaf has been in the oven for 7 minutes, you can just pull it in and cook it when you get home ;)

1 3/4 C flour (I substituted 1 1/2 C whole-wheat flour and 1/4 C of ground flax seeds)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C shortening (I used light Becel)
3/4 C peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
2/3 C granulated sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten (I used the equivalent of egg whites)
1 C mashed bananas



1. Cream shortening and peanut butter, then beat in sugar and eggs.

2. Alternately add dry ingredients and bananas, stirring with a wooden spoon.

3. Pour batter into a well-greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 1 hour.

My next project is going to be to make this wonderful peanut butter bread that I remember making in my bread-machine awhile back. If I remember correctly, it has peanut butter spread down the middle, with peanuts sprinkled in it. Mmm... on the to-do list for the long weekend :)

Apple Cake/Muffins

Wow... I wrote this back before we left for France months ago and just came across it now, realizing that I didn't ever post it. So the comments are no longer timely (nor is the tank top that I am wearing in the photo as I stare out the window at the snow on our front lawn), but here's the recipe all the same.

This recipe comes from the cookbook Simply Great Food by the Dietitians of Canada. I was looking for a healthier recipe to use some of the apples we got while apple-picking this weekend and knew this cookbook would have something good. I used all whole-wheat flour instead of the recommended mix of white and whole-wheat. The recipe is actually for carrot cake, but they recommend using either a mixture of carrots and apples or just apples as a variation, so I made it with only apples this time. I also threw in a handful of raisins and opted to make it in muffin tins instead.



3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole-wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C lightly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 C grated carrots (or apples, or a mixture of both)



1. In a small bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

2. In a large bowl, bean eggs, oil, brown sugar and vanilla until well combined. Fold in dry ingredients. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared 13 x 9 inch pan.

3. Bake in a 350 degree Farenheit oven for 30 to 35 minutes.

Makes 20 servings.

Blueberry Pound Cake

Wow... I see that it's been almost a month since I've been on here. Life's been crazy lately with non-stop visitors to see Logan, on top of renovations to our bathroom and basement. Hence my lack of time to blog. Though I did manage to make a few things over the past month that I'll add here when I have a chance.

I'm not sure where I got this recipe, but I try to make it once each year during blueberry season. The recipe says that it makes 16 portions, but it makes way more than that. 4 of us had it for dessert at least 3-4 nights, plus I brought it on a picnic with family and stuffed the remainder in the freezer. So only plan to make it when you have a crowd (or a huge appetite!).

I also find that I always have a hard time getting this to cook properly. I've tried it in a bread pan before and it's way too big and the outside burns before the inside is cooked (and it takes way longer than the recipe indicates). I don't have a tube pan, though perhaps I need to buy one so the inside of the cake will bake. I made it in a flower shaped deep round pan and had to lower the temperature towards the end so that it all cooked. And I think it took about 2 hours in all to cook. Another option might be to split the recipe in half or, if making the whole recipe, splitting it between two different bread pans.

I didn't make the sugar/lemon drizzle that goes on top - mainly because I forgot. But it sounds like it'd be good...

3 C sugar (I used 2 C)
1/2 C light butter
1/2 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
3 C flour, divided
2 C fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 (8-ounce) carton lemon low-fat yogurt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 C powdered sugar
4 tsp. lemon juice



1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

2. Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Combine 2 tbsp. flour and blueberries in a small bowl, and toss well.

4. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

5. Fold in blueberry mixture and vanilla.

6. Pour cake batter into a 10-inch tube pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean.

7. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; drizzle over warm cake.

Serves 16.

Update June 2011: I made this with 2 C of sugar instead of 3 C and separated the cakes into two loaf pans.

Pound Cake

This recipe comes from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook that my dad gave to me when I was first in university and just learning to cook. My guess is that he probably doesn't even remember giving it to me!

I made this in a square pan instead of a loaf pan, since it was to be crumbled to put in trifle and I figured that it would cook more quickly in a square pan. I'll post the recipe for the trifle shortly.

1/2 lb. butter (do not use margarine)
1 2/3 C sugar
5 eggs
2 C cake flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla



1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Butter and lightly flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

2. Cream the butter, slowly add the sugar, and beat until light.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each in well.

4. Stir in the flour, salt and vanilla and combine well. Spoon into the pan and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

Serve with fresh fruit, ice cream or a sauce.

Rhubarb Cake

Fresh rhubarb is now out in the grocery stores. I love rhubarb and try to make a couple of the good rhubarb recipes that I've come across over the years during rhubarb season. I got this one from Diane in the Alexandria office a few years back. It tastes like a coffee cake. I didn't want to reduce the sugar too much the first time, since rhubarb is quite bitter, so I tried 1 1/4 C and that was fine. You may be able to cut out a bit more than that, which I'll try next time I make it.

1/2 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar (I used 1 1/4 C)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C flour (I used whole-wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 C milk
3 C raw cubed rhubarb
1 tbsp. flour (sprinkle amongst the rhubarb)



1. Mix the above ingredients together. Spread out in a 9 x 13 inch lightly greased pan.

1/2 C (or less) soft butter
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C brown sugar (I used 1/4 C brown sugar Splenda)

2. Mix these 3 ingredients together and spread over the first mixture.

3. Cook at 350 degrees Farenheit for 30 to 50 minutes.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf and Lemon Curd

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

This recipe originally comes from Andrea Baynton. Mom made it at my shower and a few people asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd stick it up on my blog. Though mom's bread seemed to have many more blueberries in it than mine did, so I suspect that she put in more than the recipe called for (as I should have!).

1/3 C melted margarine
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C milk
1 C sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
3 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C fresh or frozen blueberries
2 eggs



1. Beat the margarine, sugar, lemon juice and eggs until smooth.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into egg mixture alternately with the milk. Fold in lemon peel and blueberries.

3. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees Farenheit for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool on rack.

4. Optional: squeeze the lemon juice from lemons used after getting the lemon peel over the top of the loaf (yum!).

I also took out a jar of some lemon curd that I had made and canned about a year ago, as I thought it would go well with this bread. The stuff is absolutely delicious, but because my husband doesn't really like lemons, I find that it goes to waste whenever I open a jar, as I usually have it once or twice and then it goes bad before I get back into it again. I've started freezing some of the leftovers in smaller portions, but probably won't make it again since it doesn't get eaten enough. But if you love lemons, this is a great recipe for a special treat (and makes a nice gift).

Lemon Curd

1/2 C unsalted light butter
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C fresh lemon juice (definitely use fresh for this recipe)
3 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks



1. Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Whisk in the yolks until smooth.

3. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens and leaves a path on the back of a wooden spoon when a finger is drawn across it; do not allow the mixture to boil.

4. Let cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve (will keep for a month in the refrigerator and about 3 months in the freezer).

Makes about 1 1/2 C.

I can't quite remember how I processed this for canning, but if you search on the internet how to process acidic spreads, I'm sure you can find directions.

Maple-Banana Bread with Flax

Wow... I was just going through the posts that I had saved but never actually sent out. This one dates back to March of 2010. So I figure that it's probably about time to get it on my blog. At this point, I don't have a picture of it, but really, all banana bread just looks the same anyhow!

I don't quite recall where I got this recipe from... seems to me that it's from Women's Health or Shape magazine. It's one of the varieties of banana breads that I'll make from time to time.

1 3/4 C whole-wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 C ground flaxseed, ground or toasted and crushed
1/4 C toasted chopped walnuts or pecans
2 eggs
1 C very ripe bananas, mashed (about 2)
1/2 C maple syrup
3 tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

I threw in a handful of chocolate chips instead of the nuts.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. In a large bowl, stir flour with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and ginger until well blended. Stir in ground flaxseed (if using whole flaxseeds, toast in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, shaking often, from 3 to 4 minutes. Crush, then stir into flour mixture with nuts). Make a well in the centre.

2. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs, then stir in mashed bananas, syrup, oil and vanilla until blended. Pour into well in flour mixture. Stir just until evenly mixed. Immediately pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in centre of oven for about 50 minutes.

Makes 18 slices.

Chocolate Banana Bread

This is a decadent twist on a regular banana bread. I made the mistake of giving some to a client when I made this a few weeks ago, because I was starving and wanted some myself. Now he asks for some every time he comes. But it's not something that I keep on-stock regularly, so he's disappointed every week now.

1/2 C margarine, softened
1/2 C white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 C)
2 eggs
3 bananas, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C flour (I used 1 C whole-wheat flour and 1/2 C kamut flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 C cocoa powder
1/2 C fat-free sour cream (I used plain yogurt b/c I had no sour cream)
1/2 C chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Lightly grease a loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and cocoa; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake for 60 minutes.

Serves 12

Date and Maple Scones

I printed this recipe off of the internet quite awhile back but have only gotten around to making it over the past few weeks. I had been craving scones, oddly enough, as I probably haven't had a scone in the past 5 years. But I wanted one badly enough that I stopped at a grocery store to get one on my way to a client's house, knowing that it'd make me late for my appointment... So I figured that maybe I should make my own. This recipe is originally from the November 1996 copy of Cooking Light.

2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 C chilled stick margarine, cut into small pieces (I used butter)
1/2 C chopped pitted dates
1/2 C 1% low-fat milk (I used soy milk)
3 tbsp. maple syrup



1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl; cut in margarine with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add dates; toss well. Come milk and syrup. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead 4 or 5 times. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut into 12 wedges, cutting into, but not through, dough.

4. Bake at 400 degrees Farenheit for 15 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Makes 1 dozen scones.

176 calories
5.5g of fat

Banana Bread

I made this recipe many moons ago, but am just getting around to posting it now. It comes from the cookbook Cook Great Food, which, as I've already mentioned, is a fantastic cookbook. I have a bunch of different banana bread recipes (some with peanut butter, flax, etc.) and vary between them all, depending what I'm in the mood for (and what ingredients I have on hand).

1 1/4 C flour (I use whole-wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 C lower-fat plain yogurt
1/4 C vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C mashed ripe bananas (about 2 to 3 medium)



1. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, blend sugar, egg, egg white, yogurt, oil and vanilla. Blend in bananas. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees Farenheit.

Makes 12 portions.

Curried Lentils and Mom's Lemon Bread

At my sister's request for more lentil recipes, I decided to make this for dinner tonight. It makes a big batch, freezes well and is probably one of the cheapest meals you can find. This recipe is taken from HeartSmart Flavours of India by Krishna Jamal.

Curried Chickpea Lentils

2 C lentils, preferably chickpea lentils (channa daal) (I used dried green lentils)
6 C water
3/4 tsp. crushed ginger
1/2 tsp. crushed garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil

2 1/2 tsp. vegetable oil
2 cloves
2-inch cinnamon stick
1 cardamom pod (I left this out because I didn't have it)
1 tsp. cumin seeds (I used ground cumin instead)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 green chilies (or to taste), halved
2 medium tomatoes, cut in big chunks
1 tbsp. canned crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. mild curry powder
1/4 C fresh cilantro
lemon juice to taste

1. Rinse lentils, and soak in warm water for 30 to 50 minutes. Drain.

2. In large pot, over high heat, combine 6 C water, ginger, garlic, salt, ground turmeric and 1 1/2 tsp. of the oil. Bring to a boil and add lentils. When water returns to boil, reduce heat to medium and boil for 20 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Heat remaining oil in small pan over high heat. Add cloves, cinnamon and cardamom pod. When spices start to pop, add cumin seeds and onion. Cook until onion is tender. Add chiles, fresh and crushed tomatoes and curry powder. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add to lentils.

5. Bring lentil mixture to boil and add cilantro and lemon juice. Serve with rice, or thin it down to a soup with approximately 3 C of water. Blend to smooth consistency and serve.

Serves 4 with rice, 8 to 12 as soup.

I also treated ourselves this weekend and made mom's lemon bread. I generally try to only pick fairly healthy foods to bake, but once in awhile will make recipes that are just plain good. And this is one of them. It's super quick and easy to make.

Lemon Bread

6 tbsp. shortening (I used margarine instead)
1 C sugar
1 1/2 C flour
2 eggs
1/2 C milk
1 tsp. baking powder



1. Mix in the order given and let stand for 20 minutes. Bake at 300^oF for one hour.

I just realized why mine came out a little crispy after only 50 minutes... I accidentally set the oven for 350^oF. Oh well... at least I didn't forget the sugar or baking powder, as I've been known to do on more than one occasion when baking while talking on the phone.

2. When the bread comes out of the oven, pour bottled or fresh lemon juice over the top, to your liking. I love lemon juice, so I douse it... yum!

Date and Apple Sweet Bread, Chickpea Salad and Camping Apple Crisp

We spent the weekend at Oka Provincial Park with Heather, Bap, Liz, Darren and the boys this weekend. I brought along some muffins for breakfast. I got this recipe from the Vergers Lafrance a few years ago while apple picking there and it has been a favourite ever since.

Date and Apple Sweet Bread

· 1 tbsp. instant coffee granules
· 1 C boiling water
· 1 8-oz. pkg. of dates, chopped
· 2 ¼ C flour (I use kamut flour)
· 2 tsp. baking powder
· ½ tsp. baking soda
· ½ tsp. salt
· ¾ C lightly packed brown sugar (I reduce it to 2/3 C)
· 1 egg
· 1 C apples, peeled and grated
· ½ C chopped nuts
· ½ C raisins (optional)
· 2 tbsp. melted low-fat margarine



1. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water. Pour over the dates and let sit.

2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the brown sugar and mix well.

3. Beat together the egg, apples, nuts, raisins, margarine and the date and coffee mixture. Stir until well mixed. Pour into a 9 x 5 x 3 inch greased bread pan.

4. Cook at 350 degrees Farenheit for 60 to 70 minutes.

Freezer-friendly.

I usually make this as a bread, as the recipe indicates, but made it as muffins for the weekend, as I figured it would be less messy. I baked them for 25-30 minutes.

I also made the following salad for the weekend, which I got from my Aunt Liz a few years back. I often make this for a quick lunch. I typically make it with tomatoes and green onions, though both versions are good. I also put loads of garlic into it.

Chickpea Salad

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
120 g feta cheese, crumbled
1 sweet red pepper or 1 tomato, chopped
2 green onions or 1 red onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
¼ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. each salt and pepper



1. Whisk dressing together and pour over lentils, feta, vegetables and garlic. You can optionally sprinkle fresh coriander over the salad.

The following recipe is one that I used to make in Girl Guides years ago and is still a camping favourite.

For a vegan version, omit the feta cheese.
 
Camping Apple Crisp

2 Dad’s oatmeal cookies
applesauce

1. Put a Dad’s cookie on a piece of foil, shiny side facing in. Place a few spoonfuls of applesauce on top of the cookie, and then top with a second cookie.

2. Place near the campfire, without being directly in the flames and cook for 10-20 minutes, depending on the intensity of the fire, flipping over to cook both sides evenly. It is ready to eat when the cookies have become soft. Eat warm with a spoon.

Mom's Cinnamon Bread

Another one of my favourite childhood recipes was mom's cinnamon bread. I have vivid recollections from my youth of inviting friends over to make this recipe when my mom wasn't home... she couldn't stand the mess we would make!!

I decided to post this today as we are just back from Amman and Noorin's beautiful wedding and this was one of Amman's favourites. When I lived with Amman in undergrad, I would frequently make this recipe, only to come home 5 hours later to crumbs and vivid insistence that I hadn't baked anything earlier in the day!

Bread batter:

1/4 C butter
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C sour milk
2 C flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Cinnamon sugar:

3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1. Mix together the wet ingredients and then mix in the dry ingredients of the bread batter.

2. Alternate layers of bread batter and cinnamon sugar in a bread pan, finishing with bread batter. Cut a knife through the batter a few times, which will create swirls of cinnamon sugar in the baked bread. Bake at 350°F for one hour.

Note: You can make sour milk by stirring a bit of sour milk (approx. 1 tsp.) of lemon juice into a cup of milk and letting it stand for approximately 5 minutes.

that's some lemon bread lurking in the background -
we had company coming over :)