Cinnamon Apple Scone Recipe

Cinnamon Apple SconesIt was a grey, drippy afternoon, so the Wee Lass and I decided to bake something tasty for our afternoon snack. She really wanted cinnamon buns, but we didn't have time to wait for rising, so we made scones instead. We modified our recipe to make them a bit cinnamon-bun-inspired.


Cinnamon Apple Scones
Makes 6-8 scones

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup butter (cold)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 small apple (peeled and grated)

Pre-heat your oven to 190°C.

Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then cut in the butter until you have fine crumbs. Don't worry if there's the odd larger bit as this will just make your scones flakier. Mix in the grated apple (we used a Royal Gala). Add the egg and milk, and mix to make a dough. Don't overmix it or the scones will not be as tender.

Flour your counter top or a large cutting board and pat your dough out into a circle about 2 cm thick. Cut it into 6-8 wedges and put on a parchement paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with a bit more cinnamon. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until just slightly browned on top.

Best eaten warm with a generous slather of butter!

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

The Most Delicious Panzanella

Panzanella
One of our favourite easy dinner dishes this summer has been panzanella. It's quick to make, refreshingly cool on a hot day, and it gets gobbled up by the Wee Lass.

Here's how I make it for 2 adults and 1 toddler ...

Most Delicious Panzanella
stale bread (good quality crusty French or Italian style bread, approximately 1 cup per person when cubed)
3 fresh tomatoes (approximately 1 per person your salad will serve)
1/2 fresh cucumber (optional)
1/2 to 1 can of diced tomatoes (optional -- desirable if your bread is rock solid stale)
4 Tbsp olive oil (really just a generous glug ... I don't actually measure it)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar or cider vinegar)
garlic (1 clove)
shallot (optional)
capers
Taggia olives
assorted fresh herbs (basil, thyme, oregano)
salt and pepper

Saw the stale bread into small bite-size cubes and place in a shallow salad bowl or deep pie dish. I used the end of a loaf of rosemary foccaccia. If your bread is really stale, you'll want to make sure it all gets thoroughly soaked, so that's why a shallow dish works better. Now you're going to make a juicy concoction to dump on top. You could mix it in a separate bowl first, but I always just add it to the bread as I go.

Finely chop your tomatoes (and cucumber if you're using it) into small cubes. If your bread is super stale, then add a can of diced tomatoes for extra liquid and tomatoe-y goodness (I didn't need it in this case). Drizzle on a generous amount of olive oil (use a bit more if your bread is really hard) and add the balsamic vinegar. Mix this sauce around to combine. You can add finely chopped garlic and shallot directly, but I prefer to soften the flavour of it with a quick saute. I actually forgot to add it in the pictured salad and the whole thing was still tasty.

Add a bit more olive oil if it seems like a good idea. Toss in a big spoonful of capers and enough olives for everyone to get at least 3 or 4. Finely chop a generous bunch of fresh basil, thyme, and oregano and add to your bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix it and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.


Panzanella
Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Raspbery variation

Raspberry Nanaimo BarI love homemade Nanaimo Bar and every now and then I get a serious craving. A while back, I decided to experiment with making a raspberry version. I just added some (thawed) frozen raspberries to the icing layer. It made it pretty and pink and it was so yummy.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Egg dyeing

Science!
A while ago, I experimented with dyeing eggs with natural dyes. I tried it at Easter with the brown eggs we had on hand, but it's much more fun with white eggs. These are my results ...


Eggs after initial dye
I used turmeric, purple cabbage with and without vinegar, and strained puree of greens. The vinegar mix resulted in the darker blue, but as you'll see below, it isn't very durable... it rubs off quite easily.


Eggs after rubbing and wash
I thought they were quite pretty, but I decided to experiment with some double-dyeing, so back into the jars they went.


Eggs after second dyeing
These were over-dyed with purple cabbage, nothing, purple cabbage, and turmeric. I re-dyed the non-vinegar egg to see how much darker it would get and left the rubbed vinegar egg as it was for comparison. You can see from the stripe that it did get noticeably darker, but nothing like the original vinegar egg. I prefer the more permanent dye and leaving it longer to get a darker result.

My favourite is absolutely the turmeric and purple cabbage egg. I love the speckled green with yellow stripe.


Striped double-dyed egg

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Nanaimo Bar

Nanaimo Bar isn't exactly a traditional Christmas treat, but it is a traditional Canadian treat, and as an expat, I have a perfect excuse to indulge such cravings. It's also made in easy stages, which is a plus with a small one around. I'm not sure I'll have time to make rolled and cut cookies this year as they're pretty time consuming.


Nanaimo Bar

I had to substitute "volkoren" biscuits (wholewheat digestive biscuits) for the graham crackers, but they're nearly the same. If you wanted to make it more Christmas-y, add some crushed up peppermint candy canes to the bottom layer in place of part of the nuts/crumbs and add a couple drops of peppermint essence to the icing layer.

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Melt the butter, sugar, and chocolate in a double-boiler. Then stir in the egg and vanilla and remove from the heat.

Add:
2-1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (or whole-wheat digestives)
1 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (replace with more crumbs if you have a nut allergy)
optional: replace some of the nuts/crumbs with smashed up hard peppermint candy.

I use the blender to make the crumbs and chopped nuts. You don't want it completely powder, but avoid big pieces or the bottom layer will not have structural integrity when you cut it into squares.

Pack this mixture into a 9x9" pan (I used a 20x30cm pan, which was a little large and required extra for the middle and top layers). Refrigerate for 2 or more hours, until it's solid.


Nanaimo Bar

Middle Layer
1/4 c butter (absolutely NOT margarine)
2 cups icing (powdered) sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp milk
optional: a few drops peppermint essence

Beat these together until smooth. Spread on the crumb layer and refrigerate another 30-60 minutes until the icing is firm.

Top Layer
4 oz chocolate (bitter plus semi-sweet to taste)
1 Tbsp butter

Spread the melted chocolate on the chilled icing layer (try to do it pretty quickly or the icing will go all melty). I make this layer more bitter than I would like on its own in order to balance out the sweet icing layer.

Refrigerate it over night, then cut into squares the next day. If you wipe down the edges of the pan and use a knife run under hot water you will get a tidier result than I did. These are dangerously addictive, but very rich. Best served with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

For a twist on this, see my Raspberry Variation.

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.


Nanaimo Bar

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Sunday Scones

Scone

I made scones for breakfast today. Inspired by watching a Julia Child Crêpes Suzette recipe recently, I also made an orange-citrus butter for a special topping.


Orange Citrus Butter

I didn't follow a recipe at all for the butter, so most of this is just an approximation after the fact. I tasted it as I went, which is always the best way to make something yummy. Here's how I made it:

Orange-Citrus Butter

• 1 blob of softened butter (I probably had about 1/4 c)
• zest of 2 oranges (I used a microplane, so it's really fine)
• few tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• about a Tbsp of granulated sugar, plus same or a bit more of icing sugar

Mix all together until it forms a uniform paste. Mine was quite soft, but since it was going on warm scones, I figured it would go all melty anyhow. I'd probably use all icing sugar another time to try to make it a bit less soupy.


Scones on Sunday

You can make the butter while the scones bake, so it's really not that much of an extra effort. It was oh-so-yummy and felt very indulgent.

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Weekend baking

buns

I made some fluffy white buns this weekend. Aside from rising time, I'm always surprised how quick this recipe is. I think it's partly that it's a relatively small amount of dough to work with -- just enough for one tray of buns.


Bread Dough

I use the "Milk Bread" recipe from the Joy of Cooking. It's quite rich with butter and egg and milk, but these buns are so completely worth it!


buns
Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Spice Cakes with Lemon Icing

When you move overseas, to a country where you don't speak the language, you often rely on the kindness of new friends. I've been baking lots of treats recently as thankyou's to people who have helped us get bulky baby items home (and up steep flights of stairs) and translated various important papers for us. The currency of homemade cupcakes seems to be just as appreciated here in Amsterdam as it was in Montreal. So wherever you are, if you want a sweet treat or to say thank you to a kind friend, these cupcakes are a nice alternative to my Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes and just as delicious.


Lemon Spice Cupcake

This spice cake recipe was often made as a birthday cake when I was growing up and was always accompanied by lemon icing. The two are inextricably linked for me. This is a no-fuss one-bowl type of cake.

Spice Cake
Makes two round 9" layer cakes or about 16 cupcakes.

In a large bowl, mix all at once:

• 2 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 c soft butter
• 1/2 tsp each: cloves, nutmeg (grate fresh!) and salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 each: tsp allspice, baking soda
• 1/4 c molasses (fancy-grade)
• 1/2 c milk

Grating the nutmeg fresh makes a big difference and it only takes half a minute on a microplane. (Seriously, we thought this step was going to be fiddly and annoying, but it grates up so fluffy that you don't need to do much to get your 1/2 tsp!) If you're using electric beaters, beat for just 2 minutes until it comes together. If you overmix, the cake will turn out dry.

Stir in:

• 2 tsp baking powder

Beat in:

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c milk

Beat batter for another 2 minutes or less, until just combined, then pour into your pans. If you're making it as a cake, be sure to grease and flour the cake tins. For cupcakes, you can do the same, use paper liners, or bake in silicone muffin cups.

The original cake baking instructions are to bake at 375°F (190°C) for 25-30 minutes. For these cupcakes, I baked at 180°C (355°F) in a convection oven for 20-25 minutes. Check on them early and test with a toothpick to determine when they're done.

For the icing, I blend about 1/4 cup butter with 1 1/2 - 2 cups icing sugar, the juice of half a lemon and the zest of 2 lemons.


Lemon Spice Cupcake

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

A visit to Paris: Food & Fashion

I thought it fitting to start my Paris holiday retrospective with two of the things Paris is best known for: food and fashion.

Thoughts on food: We had a lovely time eating our way around Paris. We tried little cafes and bistros, had picnics in various parks, and had a fantastic meal at a Michelin-starred bistro on our anniversary.

Thoughts on fashion: There really is something to the way Parisians dress. They seem very good at the effortless, comfortable look that is also chic.

On to some pictures ....


window of tartes

There were tempting patisserie windows everywhere. One thing I particularly noticed was the variety of treats. Montreal has tasty patisseries, but they all mostly carry similar items. In Paris, each shop clearly had its own specialties.


At Café Angelina in Paris

On rue de Rivoli, you will always see a big line-up outside this cafe. It's worth the wait. These little tartes citron were amazing (and the hot chocolate that they're famous for is pretty yummy too).


veggies at the market

We enjoyed wandering around a farmer's market on our last morning in Paris. We tried some yummy items that we could eat on the go (a huge apple, some scrumptious raspberries, and a delicious hot za'atar bread). Next time, I definitely want to stay somewhere with a kitchen so we could shop at the markets properly.


Old Parisian couple

I thought this elderly Parisian couple with their shopping basket presented a sweet image.


Parisian Fashion Model

We even saw a real model in Paris, getting set up for a shoot along the Seine. I felt my most embarrassedly touristy getting pictures of her, but it was such a classic Paris moment, that I'm glad we did.


the ubiquitous striped shirt

I always thought the striped shirt thing must be exaggerated, but we saw people wearing them everywhere. Clearly it truly is a fashion staple.

You can see all the photos from our holiday in my trip to Paris set.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Macaroni and Cheese

Homemade macaroni and cheese definitely qualifies as one of my top comfort foods. This recipe is based on how my Dad taught me to make it.


Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

• extra-old cheddar cheese
• macaroni
• milk, butter, flour
• bread crumbs
• green peas, bacon, shallot, mushrooms (optional)

Grate a big hunk of extra-old cheddar cheese (the white stuff preferably and the older/sharper the better) and set aside. While your macaroni is cooking, make a white sauce (aka Béchamel). The basic ratio is 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp flour to 1 cup of milk (or 2-2-1 for a thicker sauce, but since you'll be adding cheese, stick with the 1-1-1 ratio for this recipe!). How much sauce you make depends on how much macaroni you are making. I usually do a 2 cups of milk batch for a 9x13" dish of macaroni and cheese.

Make your roux (melt the butter, mix in the flour, and cook a bit), then slowly whisk in the milk. Bring it up to simmering and then turn down, stirring until it thickens. If you get lumps, whisk it vigorously to remove them. You can avoid lumps by pre-warming the milk and adding it slowly, so it blends evenly. Once the sauce is thickened, slowly add 2/3 of your grated cheese, stirring it in as it melts.

You can also optionally cook some delicious add-ins like green peas, chunks of bacon, chopped shallots, sliced mushrooms, or anything else you fancy in your macaroni.

Mix your cooked macaroni and cheesy white sauce and put it all in a baking dish. Stir in any add-ins. Top with the remaining 1/3 of your cheese, and add lots of bread crumbs to the top as well. Bake at 350°F or 180°C for about 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling up and the top is nicely browned.


Macaroni and Cheese

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Fresh Pasta

Making fresh pasta is actually remarkably easy if you have a pasta roller. It really only takes me about 20 minutes from start to finish and some of that is time to let the dough rest. (A word to the wise: The first time I remember it taking us something like an hour, so don't despair it if takes you some time to get the hang of the rolling and flouring process.) If you've never had fresh, homemade pasta, it's completely different from dried or store-bought fresh pasta. The texture is much more delicate.


Fresh Pasta

Step 1: Make the Dough

Essentially, you use 1 egg for every 2 people who will be eating it, and 100g (about 1 cup) of flour per egg. You can use up to half semolina. (If you want to dry the pasta to store you can use warm water and some olive oil instead of the egg.)


Egg and Flour

In a large bowl, make a well in the flour, crack in the eggs, and beat eggs with fork, slowly working in the flour from around the edges.


Mixing Egg into Flour

When it forms a dough, knead a bit more flour in on the counter until it's not so sticky.


Mixing Dough

You'll definitely have leftover flour that didn't work into the dough, but that will get used in the next step. If this is your first time making pasta, you might want to leave the dough to rest for 20 minutes (covered), and it will be easier to roll out. I never bother with this resting period anymore.


Finished Dough

Step 2: Roll out the Dough

Press your dough into a flat shape and pat with flour on both sides until it's not sticky.
Set up your pasta roller and, starting on the widest setting, roll your pasta through. (You might end up with it being sticky and tearing if you didn't let it rest or didn't flour it enough. Don't worry, it will come together).


First Roll Through

Flour it, fold it in half, and repeat until it no longer gets sticky. This stage is basically just kneading in more flour. Eventually, it will start to feel smooth and a bit leathery.


Smooth Dough

Now you can start rolling it thinner. Go to the next setting, roll it through and lightly flour it if there's any trace of stickiness. Keep repeating this until you're down to the next to last or last setting. For angel hair, you need to go to the thinnest setting, but everything else is fine on the next-to-last setting.


Dough Rolled Thinly

Step 3: Cut into Noodles

Cut your sheet of pasta into the lengths you want your noodles.


Cut Pasta into Noodle Length

At this point, you should leave your dough to rest for at least 10-15 minutes. If you try to cut it now it will be too sticky and gum up the cutter and the noodles will stick to themselves. Make sure to flour it well if you stack the pasta sheets.


Resting Pasta

When your dough is ready, run it through the cutter (or cut by hand). Catch the noodles on your hand as they come out... this is a lot easier if you're not trying to take a picture of it while you do it!


Cutting Noodles

Toss each batch of noodles with flour to prevent sticking. If you're not cooking your noodles immediately, mound them loosely and cover with cling film so they don't dry out.


Fresh Pasta

Step 4: Cook and Eat your Pasta


Homemade Pasta

When you're ready to cook your pasta, drop it into salted boiling water for just a few minutes. These noodles took 4 minutes to cook. We served them with a mushroom-leek cream sauce.

You can find more of my recipes in the Food section, in the tabs along the top.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy February 15! If Valentine's Day didn't go quite as you hoped and you need to console yourself (or plead forgiveness) with chocolate, then follow along for some super easy chocolate cupcakes! They're also good if you just want to shower someone with extra chocolatey affection and have something yummy to nibble on with your coffee, tea, or a glass of milk!


Breakfast Cupcakes

We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in February, so this recipe often appears about now for that reason. Of course, this year, we're mostly occupied thinking of the expected new birth day, which will probably be sometime in March! In any case, I made these last night and I must say, cupcakes for breakfast are delightful!

Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes a batch of 24, so you'll have plenty to share (or freeze for later).
Preheat oven to 375°F or 180°C.

Combine in a medium sized pot (about 1 quart size):

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup margarine, Crisco, or butter
• 1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder (the bittersweet stuff for baking, not the drink mix!)

Bring to a boil and remove from heat; stir until shortening is melted (put on heat again if necessary).

Whisk in:

• 2 cups white sugar and 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking soda

Whisk well to get out the lumps.

Stir in:

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cups sour cream (or plain yogourt)

In a pinch, you can replace the sour cream or yogourt with milk or soy milk, but use a scant 2/3 cup or it will be too runny.

Ladle the batter into greased or lined muffins tins (or silicone muffin cups) and bake for 15-20 mins. You can also make this as a cake in a 9x13" pan or two round 8" pans and bake it for about 35-40 mins.


Scrumptious Chocolate Cupcakes

I like to decorate my cupcakes with lemon or mocha icing and sprinkles. I use about 2 c of icing sugar to something like 1/4 or 1/2 c of butter. Do not even think of using anything other than butter! I don't really measure it, but just adjust as I go until it tastes "right" and is a good consistency. If you're making the lemon icing, then thin it out with lemon juice and add the zest of 1 lemon. If you're making the mocha icing, then replace some of the icing sugar with bittersweet cocoa powder and thin it out with strong coffee.

Spread the icing on your cupcakes, add some fancy sprinkles, and then gobble with glee!

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Treats

Happy Valentine's Day! I saw some pretty cookies over at Yvestown, and decided to make some of my own! Here's the recipe. I went with Yvonne's suggestion of sprinkles and glaze. I made my glaze with icing sugar and just enough milk to make a thick paste. Sprinkling sprinkles is lots of fun. Mine are not nearly so professional looking as the iced ones in the recipe, but I've never noticed anyone resisting a homemade cookie! These ones are awaiting my darling, cookie-loving sweetie. I hope you have a lovely day and get to share some heart-shaped goodies with loved ones and dear friends!



Valentine's Day Cookies


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Recipe: Cheesies

My Dad's Cheesies are the last of my three classic Christmas cookies (see also Gingerbread Cookies and Shortbread Cookies). They are quite possibly my most-requested recipe ever. I think perhaps because everyone has their own shortbread and gingerbread recipes, but few people have a cheesie recipe. In any case, one taste seems to be enough to induce desperate recipe requests for most people. The cheesies make a nice contrast to all the sweet cookies because they are a savoury cookie that goes well with other appetizers.


Cheesies

Dad's Cheesies

Cream together until fluffy:
1/4 to 1/2 lb of Imperial Sharp Cheddar, softened
1/2 lb butter, room temperature


Cheesies Step 1

Work in:
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup white, all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp Tabasco Sauce


Cheesies Step 2

Stir in 4 to 4 1/2 cups Rice Krispies. This makes a very dry mix that you have to squash together and it will still make lots of crumbly bits.

Put tablespoon blobs on a lined cookie sheet and flatten with a fork. I usually just do this part by hand because it's so sticky and crumbly that it's just easier. Bake everything immediately rather than let the dough sit around so that the cereal stays crisp.


Cheesies Step 3

Bake at 350°F for 12-15 mins (or at 180°C for about 10 mins in a convection oven) until slightly browned.


Cheesies Step 4

These cookies are pretty fast and easy to make. They disappear quickly too. The one finicky thing is that they really do require the Imperial Cheddar Cheese. It's extra sharp and it's been processed into a form that blends properly with the butter. You could try microplaning (not just grating) extra-old cheddar, but it would probably take forever to get the required amount and I'm not sure it would work that well. I specially brought a container back from our visit to Montreal and saved it to make these cookies.


Imperial Sharp Cheddar Cheese

There is also some debate in my family whether to use a half container or a whole container of the cheese. I usually opt for the half container because I think they're just as yummy and that way, I have enough for two batches!


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.