People are always surprised when I tell them that I don’t like or collect cookbooks. I much prefer to use the internet because I always research a dish and compare several different recipes before I try making it. My issues with cookbooks are: they can be costly, they take up space, I’m unlikely to want to try every single recipe, and I don’t trust that all of the recipes will be great. I’d love to hear from you if you don’t like or collect cookbooks either! 🙂 I do have one exception though. For my birthday in 2009, a very good friend of mine gave me Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking Volumes 1 and 2. I Love these books because Julia Child is the only chef that I trust completely. I can’t wait to make my way through it. The first recipe that I tried was Julia Child’s classic onion soup.
Posts Tagged ‘recipes’
Favourite Cheesecake Recipe
In Cakes on January 22, 2010 at pm
Ed and his family love cheesecake so I made him one for his birthday in January 2010. I like cheesecake too, but only in small amounts because I find it always sits heavily in my stomach. So you can imagine how happy I was when I found a cheesecake recipe that’s light and rich without the heaviness. I went through 3 other recipes before I fell in love with this one. I especially like that you can get a smooth top on the cheesecake without using a waterbath. If you prefer New York style cheesecake (ie. a dense cheesecake, like Ed does, simply omit the sour cream). Also, note that this recipe uses a shortbread crust as opposed to the more commonly used graham cracker crust. I prefer the shortbread where Ed prefers the graham. I tried both and found that the graham cracker crust burnt more easily and was more likely to get soggy.
Cinnamon Buns
In Other Desserts on January 22, 2010 at pm
My new (as of October 2009), and first ever, kitchenaid stand mixer came with a recipe for cinnamon buns. I tried it and they were pretty good. I especially like the icing. But, like all cinnamon buns, they were only good for the first day.
Caramel Popcorn Recipe
In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Other Desserts on January 21, 2010 at pmI love good caramel popcorn. My favourite caramel popcorn comes from Kernels (from Canada) and Garrett’s (from Chicago), but their popcorn is ridiculously overpriced, especially considering how easy and cost efficient it is to make at home. I eat this stuff until my mouth hurts. 🙂 My recipe always gets great reviews.
Krystal’s company holds an annual baking contest to raise money for charity (United Way). The winner is determined by the employees’ votes. But since employees have to pay for the baked goods that they want to sample, not everything gets tasted. This is the most challenging aspect of this competition, because your entries need to be unique and visually appealing in order to get picked over the other, 30 or more, entries. The best tasting brownies or cookies wouldn’t stand a chance in this bake-off, because no one would even try them. In November, 2009, I competed for the first time with my caramel popcorn. Only 3 people sampled it, haha 🙂 However, 2 of the 3 people that sampled it, voted for it. So I consider that a success. 🙂 Update: In November, 2010, I competed for the second time and won 1st place with my Chocolate Bar Cheesecake Bites (recipe here). In November, 2011, I placed 3rd with my Butter Tarts (recipe here).
Peanut Butter Hershey’s Kiss Cookies
In Cookies on January 21, 2010 at pmMost people call these Peanut Butter Blossoms and they are Very Very good. These are my favourite peanut butter cookies and I’ve tried 13 different peanut butter cookie recipes. There are many different kinds of Hershey’s kisses, so use your favourite. I imagine these would taste great with the caramel kisses (available in the USA) or Rolo’s. I made these for a baby shower and even though there were several other desserts, not a single one of these cookies made it home with me. I’ve tried this recipe using shortening, butter, and a mixture of both. All of these options work well, but I prefer using half shortening for the texture and half butter for the flavour.
Apple Tart
In Pies & Tarts on January 21, 2010 at amThanksgiving 2008, Ed’s parents came to visit me so I made them a big lunch. For dessert, I made them a French Apple Tart and they couldn’t stop complimenting me on my dessert. At that time, my desserts RARELY received compliments, haha, so I knew this recipe was a keeper. I like it because it’s light, not too sweet, and beautiful. It’s very easy to make, but there are several steps with waiting times so it’s not a quick recipe.
Favourite Pecan Pie Recipe
In Pies & Tarts on January 21, 2010 at amMy family really likes pecan pie so I went in search of my favourite pecan pie recipe. I only had to try 2 because John Thorne’s Pecan Pie from the book Outlaw Cook was such a huge success. For the pie crust, I used the recipe that I like from JoyofBAKING.com. Also, I love making miniature or individual sized foods so I used small tart pans with this recipe. I served it for dessert when my family was visiting and they couldn’t get enough. Ed liked it so much he refused to let his co-workers try some, haha, my little piggy 😉 I love my pecan pie warm with vanilla ice cream.
Favourite Carrot Cake Recipe
In Cakes, Cupcakes on January 21, 2010 at amMy mother really likes carrot cake so I tried a few different recipes. Most of them were too dense or not moist enough or worse, too moist. I was beginning to lose my appeal for carrot cake until I tried the Silver Palate Cookbook carrot cake recipe. In my opinion, it’s a really good balance of sweet, dense, moist and depth of flavour. The frosting is good too. Time saving tip: Make a large batch of pureed carrots and freeze 1 1/3 cup portions for future batches of carrot cake or muffins.
No Bake Strawberry Torte (or Trifle)
In Cakes on January 20, 2010 at pmI always found baking much more difficult than cooking. So I eased my way into baking by first making no-bake desserts like this strawberry torte. Perfect in the summer, this dessert tastes wonderful and contrary to what my first attempt may have you believe, it can look beautiful too. I had trouble finding the proper lady fingers so I settled on these large, cakey, irregularly shaped ones. Although they made for an ugly cake (photo below), they tasted very very good and lended the perfect texture. I also used too much strawberry sauce, as you can tell from the leakage 😉 But like I said, it was delicious. I’ve made this several times now and people always love it.
I used the leftovers for a strawberry trifle. If you adjust the amounts accordingly, this recipe makes the best trifle. Photo below.
Fruit Bouquets (make your own)
In Other Desserts on January 20, 2010 at amI googled the price of fruit bouquets once and I couldn’t believe how much they were charging for a few slices of pineapple, grapes, wedges of melon and a handful of strawberries. So I decided to see if I could make my own fruit bouquet. I convinced Ed to make one too for our mothers’ day gifts. In the beginning, Ed was grumbling about doing “arts & crafts” but then he really got into it and had a lot of fun with it. It was really cute to watch him try very hard to be delicate with the fruits and thoughtful of the placement of them 🙂 Both of our moms Loved it. It was so easy that I made one for my friend’s bridal shower too.
Favourite Chewy and Dense Brownies
In Other Desserts on January 19, 2010 at pmAt a recent dinner party, a friend of mine brought brownies that had been made from the Ghirardelli brownie mix (she bought it at Costco). They were good and chocolatey but they were closer to cake than I prefer my brownies to be. So I was inspired (more like obsessed) to search for the best chewy and dense brownie recipe that is halfway between cakey and fudgy. I focused on recipes for plain brownies only, because I believe that it’s important to find the best base recipe first. Then you can make it even better by experimenting with all sorts of variations (ie. icing, nuts, cream cheese, etc.).
I tried more than 15 different brownie recipes and my favourite is adapted from http://www.instructables.com/. I especially like this recipe because with just a tiny change in the number of eggs, you can choose between a texture that’s in the middle of cakey and fudgy or a texture that’s closer to cakey between the two extremes. Personally, I prefer the denser version. Also, I discovered that brownies freeze really really well. I cut my brownies before freezing them.
One of the brownie recipes that I tried was that of Julia Child’s. Even though I don’t consider it to be a true brownie (too cakey for me), I absolutely Love her recipe. I serve it warm as a gooey, slightly chewy chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream. I will forever be grateful for discovering her recipe (link here).
Below Right: Variation of this brownie recipe with cheesecake.
Cooking with Alison 