St Patrick's Spinach Soup

Erin Go Bragh! In honour of St Patrick's Day, I made this green soup with plenty of spinach! It was delicious, very easy to make and a definite must try! YUM.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of cooked spinach (I used frozen spinach) / This is basically half of a frozen spinach bag. 
• 1/3 cup of half and half
• 1/4 cup of milk (I used 1%)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1tsp salt
• 2tsp cayenne pepper

1. Cook your spinach and drain the water. 
2. Add the half and half, and milk. 
3. In your blender, put the mix and add the pepper, salt, and the garlic clove. Blend until smooth. 
4. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Finally! I am all settled in in our beautiful apartment and have gotten reacquainted with a kitchen! Feels good to be baking and cooking again - should I add eating homemade food again too? YUM! Anyhow I made this last night and it was really fun to make. The concept of the pull-apart bread is pretty cool! Charles really liked the bread. Mom and Dad not so much. You win some you lose some. I thought it was good but tasted exactly like a cinnamon bun which is something I was not entirely expecting. So if you want a yummy cinnamon bun with a twist, this should work! I took the recipe from Joy The Baker. Her blog has plenty of cool recipes. 

Ingredients for the dough:

• 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp of flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 envelope)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup whole milk (I used 2% and it did the trick)
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Set aside. 
2. Whisk together the eggs and set aside. 
3. In a saucepan, melt together milk and butter, until butter has just melted. Remove from the heat and add the water and vanilla extract. Let it cool down a bit - needs to be warm. 
4. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. Ass in the eggs and stir the mixture until everything is well incorporated. 
5. Add in the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and stir well. The recipe says you should get a sticky dough. I got a dry dough and it worked fine too. 
6. Place the dough in a large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Place in a warm space and allow to double for an hour. 

Ingredients for the filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted until browned

1. Whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling and set aside.
2. Melt the butter until browned and set aside.
3. Grease your pan. Set aside. 
4. Once your dough has risen, deflate it and knead about 2tbsp of flour into the dough. Cover with with a kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes. 
5. On a floured surface, roll out your dough as much as you can. Joy says the dough should be 12 inches tall and about 20 inches long. 
6. Using a brush, spread the melted butter across all of the dough. 
7. Sprinkle all of your sugar and cinnamon mixture. Be generous. 
8. Slice the dough vertically, into six equal sized strips.
9. Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again. You will have six stacks of six squares. 
10. Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan. Place a kitchen towel on top and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. 
11. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place the loaf in the oven and bake 30 minutes or until the top is very golden brown. 
12. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto a clean plate. 
13. You can invert it back to its right side up.
14. Enjoy!

* I served this with ice cream. 

Will be back shortly

I will upload new recipes in the next two weeks. Currently dealing with a move to NYC! In the mean time, I urge you to try the Ladurée macarons if you have not yet! YUM.

Pineapple Cake

I have been super busy with grad school applications but I did have time to make this cake the other day. Super yummy! You can find the recipe here. Enjoy!

Mango Mousse Cake

I made this cake this summer. It was very light and summer-y. The mango mousse is yuuummmy!! I would definitely do this cake again, and would try a raspberry mousse as well or a combination of both. The recipe is from the new Enfants du Mekong UK cookbook. If you have a chance check them out on google, they're doing extraordinary things and Enfants du Mekong is a GREAT NGO!!  Website 

 Ingredients for the sponge cake:

• 2 eggs
• 60g sugar
• 60g flour

1. Make this cake the day before you intend on serving the mango mousse cake. 
2. Preheat to 180 degrees C. 
3. Separate your eggs. 
4. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then add the sugar. Mix well. 
5. Add the egg yolks and mix well. 
6. Fold in the flour. 
7. Bake for 15 minutes in a non-stick baking pan. 

Ingredients for the mango mousse:

• 3 large ripe mangoes
• 5 sheets of gelatin

1. Peel the mangoes
2. Puree the mangoes in a mixer. 
3. Soak the gelatin sheets in water until soft. 
4. Take your gelatin sheets and put them in boiling water. Mix until dissolved. 
5. Add the puree. Mix well. 
6. Pour on top of the sponge cake.
7. Refrigerate overnight
8. Flip the cake pan on a nice plate
9. Enjoy!

Homemade Croissants

Lack of post attack. I will try and catch up and finish all the unfinished posts I have! Anyhow, I made these babies a while back and they were pretty good, although definitely not as good as the real thing. I had an issue with the dry yeast. I did not have what the recipe called for so I substituted with some active yeast. Anyhow, you should try them out if you have the right ingredients! The recipe is from the French Women Don't Get Fat  book. The croissants are created in stages and it takes time to make them. Mireille recommends starting them on a Friday to enjoy these babies on the Sunday morning.

Ingredients: 

• 260ml milk + 2 tbsp to brush over the croissants
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 250g sifted plain or strong white flour + 3 tbsp
• 2tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 180g unsalted butter
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp milk for the glaze

1. On the friday evening, heat 65ml milk to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm milk, stir in about 6 tbsp flour from the 250g, and whisk until no lumps left. 
2. Cover with cling-film and let stand at room temperature until doubled in volume (about 20 minutes). 
3. Mix sugar and salt in the remaining flour. 
4. Heat the remaining 195ml milk to lukewarm. Transfer the raised dough to the bowl of an electric mixer fitter with the dough hook, add lukewarm milk, and with mixer at high speed start adding the sugar, salt, and flour a little at a time, lowering the speed to low-medium until the dough is sticky soft. 
5. Cover bowl with cling-film and refrigerate overnight. 
6. On the saturday morning, bring butter to room temperature and work with the heel of your hand to incorporate the 3 tbsp of flour until smooth and shaped into a square. 
7. Sprinkle the working surface with flour, shape the cold dough into a rectangle and spread the softened butter square on the upper 2/3 of the rectangle, leaving 1cm border around the sides and top. Fold the dough like a letter in thirds, folding the bottom third first. Turn the dough anticlockwise, then again roll out the dough in a rectangle and fold as before. 
8. Transfer the dough into a baking pan, cover with cling-film and refrigerate for 6 hours. 
9. Roll out the dough two more times, wrap and refrigerate overnight. 
10. On the sunday morning, about 1 1/2 hours before baking time, remove dough from the fridge and sprinkle flour on working surface. Roll dough into a 40 cm circle, working as quickly as possible. Using a knife, cut into quarters and then each quarter into 3 triangles. 
11. With both hands, roll the base of each triangle towards the remaining corner. Do not curl the ends in a croissant shape. Transfer to a silpat and brush with 2 tbsp milk. Let stand at room temperature for about 45 minutes or until the croissants have doubled in volume. 
12. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Brush the croissants with the glaze and bake for 15-20 minutes. 
13. Let cool 20 minutes before serving. 
14. Enjoy!

Brown Butter and Brown Sugar Blondies

I found this recipe on Chocolate Suze who has amazing recipes and fun stories to tell. I always enjoy reading her blog so naturally, when she put up this recipe I had to try it out! It was gooooooooood! Very buttery and full of yummy deliciousness! The batter comes together super easily, and is so much fun to eat! A definite must try!

Ingredients:

• 200g salted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 11g of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• A pinch of salt
• 1 cup flour
• A pinch of cinnamon powder

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. 
2. Cut the butter in small pieces and melt it in a saucepan. You want the butter to turn to a brown colour, it should smell a bit nutty. You should keep on swirling the butter in the pan with a wooden spoon.
3. In a bowl mix the brown butter and the brown sugar together. Mix well. Add the egg and the vanilla sugar. Mix well. 
4. Add the baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon powder and the flour to the mix. Mix thoroughly. You should get a non sticky consistency. 
5. Pour in your baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. 
6. Enjoy!

*You can add choc chips in the batter. 

Orange Cake with Chocolate Icing

The other day I needed to bake. I had been studying for hours and just needed to relax a little. So I checked out my recipe book and found this orange cake recipe I had never tried. I switched the proportions a little and made it a bundt cake. I thought the cake was good albeit a bit dry. If you do decide to make it do not leave it too long in the oven (my mistake,  I was busy not paying attention!).

Ingredients for the cake:

• 3 eggs
• 200g flour
• 300g sugar
• 15g of vanilla sugar
• 15g of baking powder
• 100g melted butter
• 1 glass of fresh orange juice
• A pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 210 degrees C. 
2. In a bowl mix all of the ingredients together. Mix well. 
3. Grease your baking pan. Pour your batter. 
4. Bake for 35 minutes. 
5. Let cool

Ingredients for the icing:

• 100g dark chocolate
• 50g butter
• 2 tbsp of orange juice

1. Melt the ingredients together. Mix well. 
2. Pour over the cake unevenly. 
3. Enjoy!

Raspberry Scones

I just made my way back to Montreal, finally moved into my new studio and sorted out paperwork etc! Its good to be back especially since this term is my last ever term so there is a lot to do and a lot to see! I would love to go visit Toronto and the Niagara falls in the next two weeks. In the mean time, here is a delicious recipe for raspberry scones. Everyone who knows me knows that I am not a big scones fan, but these were moist, and very yummy. They tasted a bit like brioche. A definite must try for a delicious simple snack.

Ingredients:

• 250g flour
• 25g sugar
• 1tsp baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 55g butter (cut in small pieces)
• 15cl buttermilk (lait ribot)
• 75g raspberries
• Egg wash

1. Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celsius.
2. In a bowl, mix the butter with the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. You should obtain a grainy consistency. 
3. Add the milk. Mix. 
4. Add the raspberries. 
5. Make a ball shaped dough, don't hesitate to add a bit of flour if the dough is too sticky. 
6. Spread the dough in between two baking sheets. It should be about 3cm thick. 
7. Cut out scones shapes. I used a glass. 
8. Put the scones on a silpat or parchment paper. Egg wash them. 
9. Bake for 15 minutes until golden. 
10. Enjoy!

*Alternatively you could put cranberries or strawberries. 

* If you do not have any buttermilk, just put 1tbsp of vinegar in your milk and let sit for 5 minutes. 

Summer Holidays

Well as you know school is out, and I have decided to enjoy my last two months of freedom before heading back to North America therefore I will not be updating much, if not at all until September! Feel free to check out my older recipes! 

Obviously this picture is by Anne-Claire, feel free to check her blog out! 

Have a great summer!

Madeleines

The other day, I found madeleine moulds in the kitchen and thought it would be a good idea to make some. I have never made madeleines prior to this try and found it extremely easy. They were yummy and beautiful. Arthur's girlfriend Clare told me they were the best madeleines she had ever had in her entire life!  Dad also kept on eating them. They were a huge hit! I found the recipe here.

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 160ml milk
• 350g sugar
• 390g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder (17g)
• 320g melted cold butter
• 1 lemon zest
• 1tsp almond extract
• 1 vanilla bean

1. In a mixer, mix the eggs and the sugar together until the mix becomes whiter. 
2. Add in the sifted flour and baking powder alternating with the milk. Mix well. 
3. Add in the melted butter, lemon zest, the almond extract and the vanilla bean grains. Mix thoroughly. 
4. Cover with cling film and let rest in the fridge for 4 to 10 hours. 
5. Butter and flour your madeleine moulds. 
6. Preheat oven to 215 degrees C. 
7. With a piping bag, pipe the butter in the moulds. 
8. Bake for 11 minutes. 
9. Enjoy!

* You could include chocolate chips, green tea powder, fruits... etc. 

Victoria Cake

The other day, I saw a gorgeous and yummy looking victoria cake and thus decided to make one myself. It was relatively easy and did not require too many ingredients. It was light, sweet and just wonderful! You should definitely try it. :)

Ingredients for sponge cake:

• 4 eggs
• 125g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 125g flour
• 60g butter +20g to grease the baking pan

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. 
2. In a pan, mix the eggs, salt and sugar. Put the pan over a bigger pan of hot water and never boiling (bain-marie method) and maintain at medium heat. 
3. Mix well until the batter triples in volume and becomes light yellow. It takes roughly ten minutes and strong arms! The mix has to be kept warm but never hot. 
4. Once you have reached the proper consistency, add the flour, little by little and mix very delicately with a wooden spoon. Once you have added half of the flour, add in the melted butter. Add the rest of the flour and continue mixing.
5. You do not want to over-mix. The batter should be light and airy. 
6. Put the batter in a buttered and floured baking pan. It should fill 2/3 of the baking pan, not more. 
7. Bake for 30 minutes, check regularly if the centre is cooked by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, then your cake is done!
8. Remove from pan and put on a plate. Let cool and then cut the sponge cake in half horizontally. 

Ingredients whipped cream:

• 250g cream
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 ice cube

1. In your electric mixer, put all the ingredients together and beat until you get soft peaks. You should start slowly and increase speed gradually. 

1. On the bottom part of your cake, put strawberry jam, whipped cream and raspberries. Cover with the top part. 
2. Decorate with icing sugar and raspberries. 
3. Enjoy!

*You could make the strawberry jam yourself!

Marshmallows

Yesterday, I decided to make marshmallows. I had tried making them previously, but had not used the proper gelatin. The recipe originally calls for powdered gelatin, and well let me tell you that is HARD to find in London town! So I used sheet gelatin but only used one so the result was disastrous. Anyhow, after googling, I found out that one envelope of powdered gelatin is roughly equal to 4 sheets of gelatin. So I tried again, using 5 sheets of gelatin just to be on the safe side and the result was a success! These are extremely easy to make and were delicious! Dad ate them all in under 24 hours! I used the recipe from the Better than Store-Bought: A Cookbook by Helen Witty and Elizabeth Colchie that Charles gave me for my birthday. I must say, this book truly is a gem. These ladies have all the recipes for all things you never would have thought yourself capable of making!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/3 cup icing sugar
• 5 sheets of gelatin or 1 envelope of gelatin
• 1/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of Salt

1. Sift the cornstarch and icing sugar together in a bowl. Set aside. 
2. Grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan and sprinkle 1 tbsp of the cornstarch/icing sugar mixture onto it. Tilt the pan in all directions to coat the sides as well as the bottom. Leave any excess in the pan. 
3. Put your gelatin sheets in a small saucepan with the water and let soak for about 5 minutes. They will feel jelly like and look a bit 'bloated'. Add the caster sugar and stir over moderately low heat until the gelatin and sugar dissolve. It should become slightly foamy/white. 
4. In the bowl of your electric mixer, combine your gelatin mixture, corn syrup, salt and vanilla extract. Beat for 15 minutes on high speed, until peaks form. 
5. Spread your mixture in your prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Set aside for 2 hours, or until set. 
6. With a wet knife, cut the marshmallow mixture into squares and loosen it around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the remaining cornstarch and sugar mixture on a baking sheet and invert the marshmallow blocks onto it. Coat your marshmallows with the mixture. 
7. Place the marshmallows somewhere safe (away from any greedy hands) and cover with paper towels and let them stand overnight to dry the surface slightly. 
8. Store airtight. The marshmallows can be kept for a month, though probably won't last that long!
9. Enjoy!

*Use food colouring to make your marshmallows pop!

*You could dip them in chocolate or coconut instead of the starch/icing sugar mix.

*Feel free to use mint extract or any other flavourings! 

Reine de Saba Cake - Julia Child

The other night, we had family movie night and decided to watch Julie and Julia. How fitting! During the movie, dad spotted one delicious looking cakes with almonds all around. He mentioned how much he would love a cake like that. Thus, after the movie, I embarked on a google search for all things Julia Child and chocolate cake with almonds around related... and finally stumbled upon the Reine de Saba cake recipes. All of the recipes were different, although some of them were quite similar apart from a few ingredient differences. I was quite mad, considering I own a copy of the book but left it in Montreal - what a shame. Anyhow I tried one recipe today after going all over London to find the ingredients! I even got carded when we went to get rum!!! How funny! Dad was astounded!(For those of you who don't know I turned 22 a few weeks ago, and the legal age in the UK is 18) The cake was delicious and fairly easy to do, everyone enjoyed it and we already ate half of it. It is a fairly small cake that serves about 6 to 8 people. 

Ingredients for the cake:

• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate (I used Nestle Dessert 52%)
• 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate (I used Nestle Dessert 64%)
• 2 tbsp rum
• 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar + 2 tbsp of sugar
• 3 eggs separated
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (Optional)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup blanched almonds (I used store-bought almond powder)
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup flour

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees and place your oven rack on the lower middle level. 
2. Use the bain-marie method (a saucepan in a big pot of boiling water) to melt the chocolate and the rum together. 
3. Cut the butter into pieces (small ones preferably) and cream it with an electric mixer. Once it is fluffy, add the 1/2 cup of sugar and mix well. 
4. Beat in the egg yolks until well blended. 
5. In another bowl, beat your egg whites. When foamy, add in the cream of tartar and the salt. Once small peaks form, add in the 2 tbsp of sugar and continue beating until shiny and stiff. 
6. In the yolk/butter/sugar mixture, blend in the melted chocolate. Add the almond powder and the almond extract. Mix well. 
7. Stir in a third of the egg whites and mix well using a wooden spoon. Add in the flour and mix well. 
8. Add the rest of the egg whites and delicately fold them into the batter. 
9. Pour the batter into a round buttered and floured cake pan. Bake for 25 minutes. 
10. Set aside to cool for ten minutes and then unmold onto a plate and let cool two hours before icing the cake. 

Ingredients Icing:

• 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp of rum
• 6 tbsp of unsalted butter
• Flaked Almonds (can be roasted) 

1. Again, using the bain-marie method, melt the chocolate and the rum together. 
2. Remove from the heat and add in the butter, one tablespoon at a time and mix well until melted. 
3. Over ice and water, beat the mix until you reach a nice icing consistency. It has to be a bit thick so as to be easy to spread onto the cake. 
4. Ice your cake. 
5. Decorate your cake with the flaked almonds. 
6. Enjoy!

* I roasted my almonds but found the almond taste a bit too strong because of this. However, everyone else enjoyed. Maybe if you are not a fan of roasted almonds, you could do half-half.