HOW TO BAKE A CAT( or test a KITCHEN AID)

 Curious cat. Bad Bo......Not supposed to be up on the island. Easy to bake her into a loaf of bread. .....Well, actually, we were testing out the new Kitchen Aid Monster Mixer(first time). But it would have been posssible......just use  butter as bait.  Here, kitty,kitty....

WHITE BUTTER BREAD
1/2 cup milk, 3 tablesp sugar, pinch salt, 3 large tablesp butter.Heat this all together in microwave  and let cool to a fairly warm, not hot temperature. You don't want the next ingredient to go "boom".....

When cooled to warm add 4 1/2 tsps fast rising yeast  and  1 1/2 cups warm water, to the above mixture. Put into Kitchen Aid bowl,with dough hook attachment.

 Add 3 cups of flour and let dough beat to a doughy pulp. (Wheeeee). Then add 2- more cups flour, adding 1/2 cup at a time, til dough pulls away from hook. Dough should be soft and a little sticky.

                                                               Place in greased bowl.

                                                 Let rise till soft and spongy..........

 Divide dough into two, and place in two greased loaf pans, rise about 45 minutes (  I think I could have let it rise a little more), and bake at 400 about 30 minutes.

Made two smaller sized loaves. I was thinking afterwards that I would have made one LARGE loaf, instead of two smaller loaves, all depends on what you are craving, I suppose. Freezes great (if they make it to the freezer). Have to say that the test run of the Kitchen Aid was wonderful. Worked so fast and so easy.......now what else can I bake? Here kitty, kitty.......

CHRISTMAS DAY CAKE

I always think that something yummy for Christmas Day dinner should be easy, quick, and yet rather decadent. As you can see, one of my Nutcracker Sentries is faithfully guarding this easy cake. ( I collect Nutcrackers...I think they are so cool).
   It's nice not to  have to fuss too much on Christmas Day. This is too easy. A packaged devil's food chocolate mix ( yes, I said "mix"....not homemade), slathered with whipped cream ( not the Reddi Whip stuff, the real stuff), and shaved chocolate. You could add fresh berries, but I'm in a chocolate-only mode this year. You're not meant to slave over a hot stove all the time........and the Nutcracker can take care of anyone who dares  to venture too close.
                                            A Merry Christmas!

"The Christmas parties of long ago all blur and mix in memory.The real the unrreal become as one!" ( Clara in "The Nutcracker", the story)

CHRISTMAS EVE CHALLAH

CHRISTMAS EVE CHALLA ( 1997/2011)

( My FAVOURITE homemade bread. It is a Jewish braided egg bread, most commonly eaten during Friday night’s Sabbath meal.  It has deeper meaning at the Jewish New Year, when it is traditional to sweeten it with honey, in hopes that the next year will be sweet. Then it is made into a crown. But I make it all through the year. Nice fine crumb texture)

NOTE: I double this recipe to make 2 loaves.

2 tsp sugar                    2 eggs beaten

½ cup warm water               2 egg yolks
1  tbsp fast rising yeast      ¼ cup melted butter or oil
3 ½ cups flour          ¾ cup golden raisins(or dried cranberries)
Pinch of coarse salt            ¼ cup liquid honey

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes.

2.In large bowl stir flour with yeast mixture, honey, eggs, egg yolks, and butter, and raisins, till soft dough forms.

3.Knead in the bowl till it is smooth and elastic, not stiff.

4.Place dough in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise….about an hour, maybe.

5.Punch down dough, Let rest for 5 minutes.

6.Divide dough into three equal portions, make each into a rope and braid into a loaf that will fit on cookie sheet.

***To make a crown, roll dough into a long rope and curl around end of dough to make a spiral. In 2011 I popped the loaves into bundt  pans.

7. Brush with melted butter.

8.Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. It will be too brown if the oven is too hot, so watch.Brush finished brad with more melted butter for a tender crust. Lovely with Christmas Eve dinner.

CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES

The Gingerbread recipe comes from my friend, Kim, who lives in Edmonton, Alberta. I decided to add a chocolate covering over the cookies, after seeing German Gingerbread recipes.

MIX:

1/3 cup margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

SIFT TOGETHER:       
2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1 egg
2/3 cup dark molasses

CHILL dough, once all combined, for about 1 hour.

Roll out to ¼” to ½ “ thick. Cut with cutters into desired shapes, and place on baking sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees, for 7 ½ minutes ( for thinner cookies) to 8-10 minutes for thicker. If you touch cookie with finger, there should be no imprint.

NOTE: Cooled cookies can be dipped in chocolate along edges.

LIGHTER DOUGH: Substitute honey for molasses and white sugar for brown. Use 1 tsp vanilla in place of cinnamon and ginger. (This works well, but the darker version is so good.)

COOKIES FOR SANTA

Very important to leave fresh, yummy cookies for Santa.....Christmas eve is tomorrow night. When I was a kid, my theory was: the more cookies you left, the more presents you got. Of course, that theory never seemed to hold..........We used to sherry, but times are changing... After all, the old guy in the red suit can't go around  being sloshed. But he can go around being stuffed with these cookies......

CLASSIC CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES FOR SANTA

(Be sure to leave this tasty, wonderful morsels for Santa where he can see them….. )

1 cup soft butter
1 cup margarine
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 ½ cups flour and 2 tablespoons
5 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or nibs

Combine everything into  a lovely soft dough. Drop by nice sized teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Makes about 5 pans worth, a dozen per sheet. Bake at 375 for about 8-10 minutes. I bake for 7 and ½ minutes first and then add a minute as needed. This gets the cookies just browned around the edges, and soft and  chewy in the centre.

These freeze soooo well. But if you eat them all at once, there will be none for Santa……..

DO-EVERYTHING DOUGH

I found this great Rich Tea Biscuit Dough, that can be used to do almost everything, except repair bridges. The dough is soft and easy to work with.... can make foccacia, pizza, tea biscuits...etc.

RICH TEA BISCUIT DOUGH

(This can be sculpted a ton of different ways to make tea busuits, focaccia, Pizza flats, etc.)

2 cups flour ( can be 1 cup of whole wheat, 1 cup white)
2 tbsp sugar
Pinch salt
4 tsp baking powder
½ cream of tartar
½ cup margarine, cold
¾ cup milk, or water, ice cold

Combine all dry ingredients. But in butter till crumbly, add milk. Stir quickly to combine into a soft dough that can be kneaded into a round that is smooth and light.

  **From this point on, you can use this dough any way you wish.

BISCUITS: Pat out to ¾ inch thick and cut into  2 inch rounds. Bake at 450 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.

BISCUIT TOPPING: place on to of hot casserole. Bake at 425 degrees, for 20-25 mintues.

CINNAMON ROLLS: Roll out into rectangle, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake at 450 degrees for about 14 minutes.

PIZZA CRUST: Press dough into pizza pan. Add toppings. Bake at 450 for about 16 minutes.

CARAMEL SHORTBREAD (recipe from Nova Scotia)

Christmas party goodies.....

CARAMEL SHORTBREAD ( recipe from Cornwallis, Nova Scotia 1992)

BOTTOM LAYER: 2 cups flour, 1 cup margarine, 1 cup icing sugar

Press into 9x13 parchment paper lined pan. Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes and edges are brown.

MIDDLE LAYER: 2 cans sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup margarine, ½ cup corn syrup.

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Stir continuously, over medium heat, till it bubbles and burps into a caramel consistency. Watch closely, or it will burn. Can also be done in microwave, but takes far longer. Pour this mixture over baked Bottom Layer.

TOP LAYER: 1-2 cups chocolate chips, a dollop of margarine or butter ( about 2 tablespoons……never measure, just guess).

Melt in microwave, about 2 minutes. Slather plops of chocolate over top layer, and with a knife, gently smooth over caramel centre layer. Place in fridge, overnight, and in morning cut in squares or slices.

*Freezes very well, looks great on a  plate. On Dale’s first Christmas, in 1992,  we had this given to us on a  goodie plate. Now we have it every year…it is ooey gooey, chocolatey.

UNVEILING THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING

 I think I know how Mrs. Crachit felt when she took the pudding out from "the copper". It had been steaming away about 6 hours and was ready to burst at the seams, so to speak.  The scent, when I unwrapped this pudding, was absolutely exquisite. I was really quite unprepared for the rich apple-orange-lemony perfume bathed in brandy. Gorgeous colour. Good, moist texture, with apple bits and cranberries peekin out from the cake.

 This is what it looks like when first upended out of the pudding basin. Paper still stuck to it......

When you peel off the paper and cut into the pudding, it is fleshy, tender and the aroma is quite heavenly. Makes me wonder why I haven't made it before this....No wonder Tiny Tim said "God bless us Everyone!"

MRS. HERFORD's (1911) ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING (Part 1)

FRUIT SOAKING in NAPOLEON BRANDY

Mrs. Crachit , eat your heart out. This is Mrs. Herford's English Christmas Pudding, circa 1911, with a few changes to bring it into the 21st centuy. Mrs. Herford was a good friend of my mother's. They grew up together in Behthune, Saskatchewan, went to the same one room school house, ran the fields together, and their mother's made this every Christmas. I've made it once, a long time ago, but since we've been watching Charles Dickens "Christmas Carol" , in all possible versions, we've a got a hankering for the same pudding that the Crachits longed for, on Christmas day. I've split it into two segments, since the boiling process takes up to 6 hours........so here goes the first part.

MRS. HERFORD’S ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING (Powell River 1930. Original recipe circa 1911) (Mrs. Herford was a good friend of  mum’s, from Bethune Saskatchewan. One year, when Mrs. Herford was a child, she caught her hand in a grain auger, and lost a finger ……I thought she was pretty cool, when I met her. ) Updated recipe for 2011….

¼ lb flour, ½ lb brown sugar, ½ lb fine bread crumbs, pinch salt
½ cup crumbled margarine ( used to be beef suet)
3 eggs (eggs used to be preserved in straw, and doled out, as if they were gold)
12 oz dark raisins, 6 oz golden raisins, ½ lb cranberries
1/3 cup orange juice and peel from one orange
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup Napoleon brandy, or other good booze
1 apple chopped fine
¾ cup chopped almonds
1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp each nutmeg, cloves, allspice,
Enough MILK to make a moist batter……(You have to guess at this point)

Soak fruit and nuts in booze, orange juice, lemon juice and peel (see above pic)

Grease and line pudding bowl.

Use a scale to measure ingredients...

Beat rest of ingredients  together with enough milk to be a slippery batter.

Put into greased basins. Cover. Steam in large kettle on upturned, small metal bowl for about 6-8 hours. More is better. Do not let batter get wet. Add more boiling water as water evaporates.

Pudding basinon upturned metal bowl in large pot with boiling water half way up sides......

 Big pot, with pudding basin inside, as it bubbles and burps, for about 6 hours......................next installment will be the pudding "Oh the pudding, singing in the copper".

REBECCA'S MARITIME BROWNIES

I met Rebecca when we lived in Fredericton , New Brunswick...she is a singer, we did a CD together at one point. We played for a lot of gigs, had dinner with her family, laughed and ate strawberries with sugar, and a seven layer salad that was the best. Rebecca gave me this great recipe  for brownies. They are wonderful. I've tried a lot of different concoctions. This one is the best. I think friendship is a lot like that..........the best.

REBECCA’S MARITIME BROWNIES (2011)

(Got this amazing recipe from my friend, Rebecca, who lives in New Brunswick. The brownie cake is dense and moist, great flavour, with a topping that is not too sweet and compliments the cake perfectly)

 First Mixture:

1 cup margarine
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup water
    Put this in microwaveable bowl and melt.

 Second Mixture:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar ( do not skimp)
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 ½ tsp vanilla ( or brandy)
     Mix these ingredients all together, incorporate with margarine/cocoa/water ingredients.

Spread in greased 9 x 13” pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 16 minutes. Add time until a sharp knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Do not overbake. Top the the following.................

TOPPING:
¼ cup margarine, ½ tsp vanilla, 3 tablsp cocoa, 1 tablsp milk.
      Boil this in microwave till bubbly. Then Add 2 ¼ cups icing sugar. Beat well. Pour immediately over top of brownies, as soon as you take pan out of oven. This is an amazing frosting…..Cut brownies  and serve as is, and watch people drool……can also serve with ice cream. Freezes well.

Cupcakes and Cakes

 Thought you would like some eye candy....these are some of the concoctions that Morgan is making these days for several clients. She and Dale have started a cupcake business and the flour and sugar and butter have been slowly depleted over the past while. All for a worthy cause.......Everythingis made from scratch, with buttercream/ mallow frostings that are beaten to a pulp and piped with great enthusiasm onto each cake.

 Oreo cookies and Cream cake........4 layers....................

Eggnog Cupcakes.

MRS. O's SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

MRS. O’s SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD ( 2011)

( Greta Oswell’s recipe that she shared every Christmas. Margaret’s mum)

1 lb butter
3 cups flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup berry sugar
2 egg yolks

Mix together butter,flour and cornstarch. Add the berry sugar and egg yolks. Knead together by hand. I pat the entire amount  into a parchment lined cookie sheet, prick all over with fork, and bake at 350 for about 16 minutes. Add a minute or so, if needed. Sprinkle with berry sugar.

Cutting warm shortbread into rectangles.

    

When first taken out of oven, cut into rectangles.Let cool, then lift out of pan. Can be frozen like this. Tastes lovely. Reminds me of the Christmases we spent at Oswells, when we were teenagers. Reminds me of Mrs. O. I can still hear her lovely, musical voice welcoming us into the house, and always making sure we felt  at home. I remember caroling house to house, with  a ton of others, and always looking forwards to making it to the "O's", at one point, on those cold nights. Treats and shortbread and  roaring fire awaited. Always a grand Christmas.....