Cake (Very Creative Title, I Know)

Hi Haley,

Glad you liked the cake. I'm not really in a bloggy mood right now but I am trying to be good. My food thoughts are revolving around such:

meringue cookies--cooling on the rack
chicken--washed, rubbed down with coarse salt, herbs, and olive oil, waiting naked in the fridge
bread--always new possibilities (I made a banana French sourdough. Very nice)
Valentines Day--heart cookie (classic), pancakes, scones...hmmm, what else can be hearified?
chocolate pudding--slightly obsessed with this treat

I will post the cake recipe, in case any of our eager readers want to try it. I won't post icing and pastry cream recipes. When I made the cake, I split it and filled it with pastry cream and jam and iced it with a white chocolate frosting. It was good. The cake can also stand on its own two feet, so please try serving it unadorned. It is very tasty this way, just not as sweet, or as hello-world-look-at-meish.

Coconut Poppy Seed Cake
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
3/4 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt

Preheat to 350

Sift flour, poppy seeds, coconut and baking powder together.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs; add the sugar and whisk. Whisk in the oil and salt.

Fold half the dry into the wet. Fold in the yogurt. Fold in the remaining dry.

Pour into a sprayed 9 inch round pan.

Bake 30-40 min.

Let cook 5-10 min before unmolding on a rack. Cool completely before devouring.

Rach-
I know that the Reems table has never been a quiet one; when we were growing up there was much jockeying to get a word in edgewise at the chaotic dinner table. In order for one's story to be heard, it was not the contents that needed to be edited - no matter the excitement of the news, or the drama of the delivery- no, what was important was the sound volume. As our numbers increase with a new generation, the noise at our communal dinners is, if possible, getting louder. As excited two-year-olds wrestle in the family room, and Guy and Brent debate the merits of.. what I'm not sure, our voices raise in competition and companionship.

Now, with the dishes cleared away, the toys back in their boxes (waiting to be released come morrow), and the Reems' offspring back to their homes, a quiet has settled over Grandpa and Grandma's. Finn is in bed - complete with stories, hugs, and bungee cord to secure his door, and I am relishing the silence, but also the afterglow of time spent with family.

And, let's face it, I can't help but reflect on your cake. That glorious coconut poppy seed concoction of deliciousness. I need the recipe. I need to make that cake. I could write paragraphs about that cake but I am too tired to think coherently, let alone write so I am going to sign off.

Thanks for the cake.

Monster Mash

Hi Halzey,

Thanks so much for picking up the flour. What is the mill like? Is it on a farm? Did they say where they get their grain from? So very inquisitive, I am.

I looked up white whole wheat flour on the King Arthur's flour website because I wasn't sure exactly what it was. According to KA, the white whole wheat is "milled from hard white spring wheat, rather than traditional red wheat." Essentially, it will produce lighter baked goods than its red wheat (regular whole wheat flour) counterpart. I think for some cookies and muffins, a combo of white whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour might work well, as the pastry flour tends to really soften the texture of the baking and it sounds as if the white whole wheat will not. I'm thinking that the two might be combined to achieve a nice balance.

Anyhooo, I checked out a fun book from the library called "Baked." It's by two guys that opened a really successful bakery in New York.

I tried their recipe for monster cookies and made a couple of changes, naturally.

Here's my version of "Baked Monster Cookies"

2 and 3/4 plus 2 Tbsp oats (large, not quick)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
pinch salt
1/2 tbsp baking soda

1/4 plus 2Tbsp butter, softened (at room temperature, NOT melted)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp corn syrup (which they stress not to skip despite the small increment)
1 cup peanut butter (smooth, I used unnatural, which the recipe calls for, and I happened to have on hand due to a peanut butter mix up. Natural might be quite good, as well)

1-2 cups chocolate chips or chopped chocolate--dark and milk (I used chopped chocolate and in this recipe, more is better. You may also use a combo of chips and M 'n Ms, as monster cookies typically do, or Smarties if you love them best).

In one bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, beat the sugar and butter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, beating after the addition.

Add the peanut butter and beat yet again.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until almost combined. Add the chocolate and mix until evenly distributed.

Put in the fridge for 5 hours or in the freezer for two.

Drop by 1 and 1/2 TBsps onto a prepared pan. Make sure your cookies are nice high rounds as they will spread.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, or until just brown. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes on the pan before popping them onto a cooling rack.

Impress your friends.

Let the Baking Begin Continue!

R-

Looking forward to seeing you Thursday! I brought your grocery list to Anita's Organic for a flour-shopping frenzy. I have 30 kg of grainy goodness for you - Between your order and mine I came away with the following flours:
rye,
white whole wheat,
whole wheat pastry,
buckwheat,
stone ground whole wheat,
and all purpose.

So start flexing those kneading muscles!

I received a helpful tutorial on white whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flours - white ww is perfect for heartier cookies and quick breads due to its higher gluten content, while ww pastry is a really soft flour great for.. wait for it.. pastry.

I loved seeing your Grade 9 blondie recipe - as per usual our kitchens are in tandem - I have been blondie-obsessed lately. Of course, I had to whip yours up yesterday and they were superb. I took your advice and went with the 1/3 cup butter - actually 2/3 for a double batch. I am unable to bake a recipe without doubling it - a throwback to growing up in a family of six. This was a necessary doubling, however, as the cookie jar is - less than 48 hours later- almost empty again.

I have taken the liberty to changing the name to suit this household - 'Toddler Blondies.' In the last year or so, in the company of my spirited toddler, I am of the firm belief that chocolate at nap time is a necessity for the happiness of my family. Happy mommy = happy everyone. So thank you for the recipe!

See you soon!

Grade Nine Blondies

Hey Moochie, (Look at buckwheat post; issues have been resolved.)

I'm definitely making those crepes. For some time I have been intending to do a savory crepe dinner, so your post was perfect timing--same brain wave as usual. Now, the whole wheat cinnamon rolls went fairly well. The staff seemed to dig them. But the staff loves Tim Horton's doughnuts (which, for the record, are terrible). My cinnamon buns are in no-way Tim Hortonesque, but the comparison stands to show the nebulous nature of a thumbs up from Andy Bos. Basically, I think they call for an addition of part whole-wheat pastry flour to give the dough the softness I'm looking for. Nonetheless, my last day is going very well, thank you. I even have time to blog (shh, don't tell). But it is lunch time, so technically...

While I said I'd tell you about the dinner I made for Mom and Dad, I'm too lazy to do a full post on it. Probably a symptom of my newly unemployed nature. I've become a layabout, a vagabond, nearly.

(Suddenly, fifteen minutes early, Tom, my T.A., enters my room. I make a frantic dive for the mouse, minimize the window, and pretend to be looking over my marks. This is an odd and unnecessarily sneaky move as Tom would be unconcerned by my lapse in marking, would probably be interested in the blog, might even start reading the blog. Reems' are suspicious by nature. )

It is Sunday night and I have returned. I truly tried to complete the post earlier over the weekend. Believe me Moochie. But our internet connection is possessed (illegal in fact, the real problem). Anyhow, dinner with Mom and Dad...the topic is growing stale and a tad unappealing so I will write little in regards to it except to note that Dad was quite sure I had bought a 'special' chicken. I tried to tell him it was 'what I had done with it' (note reference to Australian movie, "The Castle"). He was unconvinced. So I guess I should return to the Quadra Street butcher for special chicken.

Sunday night and I'm feeling free as a bird with no possibility of work on the horizon. Ah, sweet unemployment. In tribute to my contract for teaching junior high at PCS, I will post my recipe for Grade Nine Blondies. These are Grade Nine Blondies because they are sweet and because they are a delicious. They are a cinch to prepare. On some days, grade nines are wonderful; other days, they leave you thin and wasted, barely able to hold you hand up to you face, and on those days, you make Grade Nine Blondies and eat a lot of them.

Grade Nine Blondies
1/3 cup butter (If you are virtuous, you can get away with 1/4 cup but you will be sorry and sad and you won't be eating Grade Nine Blondies)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or more chips)

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and cream some more.

In another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Add wet to dry, when almost combined, toss in the chips and nuts and mix until just combined.

Grease a square pan (9x9) and fill it with the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The edges should be pulling away from the pan but an inserted tester may still come with clingons.

Rach-

Hello! You must be on the home stretch of your teaching contract. I still have to make it to the store in search of buckwheat flour to make your new bread. I have left you some questions that also need to be addressed. Otherwise, I predict an emergency call in the middle of the bread-making process.

Which reminds me, I meant to tell you that my grape jelly actually does have some 'jell' to it. Do you remember last September when I called you frantically for jelly-making advice? Who knew that instruction reading and timing was so critical in the making of jelly? And who knew that 'interpretation' of a jelly recipe isn't a great idea? A few months in the freezer passed before I was able to bring myself to actually open a jar. Angels were singing the hallelujah chorus on my shoulder after I dipped a spoon in and actually met with something slightly jiggly.

Where was I? Oh yes, buckwheat- Going to the store these days is something that happens more infrequently then it used to. My little assistant chef is much better at food production and consumption than resisting the beautiful, shiny packaging at the supermarket. Despite a 'grocery shopping-with-Mommy-ban,' in the kitchen we are a team. Finn's culinary skills are becoming honed. He now asks me about finding recipes, pores over the pages of my cookbooks in search of the prettiest cookies, and has become a top-notch egg cracker. Any breakdown in this team concept he comes by honestly - like his mother he has a penchant for a sweet, buttery dough. Despite promises of bowl licking, delayed gratification is an elusive comment for a two and a half year old, and I frequently catch the little monkey with his finger in the batter.

Notice that while I have devoted a good paragraph to Finn and his foodie ways, I managed to restrain myself from actually posting pics of my children. This was difficult. It's just that they are so sweet. In 2-D photography anyway. In real life the sweetness-level is on a vastly sliding scale- Finn no longer has a light bulb in his room, and has a child-lock on the inside of his door. Coby, however, isn't old enough to be naughty yet - and now that she is starting to realize that sleep is good, it's all I can do not to nibble those cute little ears- she's so delish.

Last week I made your Six Minute Cake. It was fabulous - and while I didn't clock it I felt that the preparation time took pretty close to the promised 6. I also made the No Knead Bread. It was great, but I wasn't sure whether to take insult or pleasure when Mike's review came in- "This bread is awesome - it must be from the store."

My latest offering comes as a result of this store-avoidance and plays upon an effort to make do with my fridge and pantry offerings. A half tub of ricotta sat waiting for some loving. Combined with some neglected stalks of broccoli we had a great meal.

Broccoli-Cheese Crepes

First I took advantage of my sleeping beauties and made the crepes during nap time. You can use your favourite crepe recipe - I did half wheat flour and half white. It's odd, but in crepes I really don't notice the whole wheat- likely because I tend to eat them slathered with something sweet. I used a cup and a half of flour which made 10 crepes. I could only use 9 because for some inexplicable reason Finn put a not-so-fresh wash cloth on one of them.

Next came the filling. I sauteed over a low, long heat a finely chopped red onion and 1 clove of garlic. I chopped up, again fairly fine, the equivalent of about 2 cups of broccoli. I steamed this in the microwave, drained and let this cool before combining the broccoli with the onion/garlic combo and the half tub of ricotta (250 g).

Cheese sauce. I made a bechamel sauce (1 T butter, 1 T flour, 2 cups milk, salt & pepper) and added maybe half a cup of old cheddar. I spread just enough to cover the bottom of a 9 by 13 dish and then got to the business of filling my pretties.

I put a little blob of the ricotta-broccoli mixture on each crepe so that I knew that I would have even filling distribution, and then rolled them up, placing them all nice and snug in the dish. I ladled the remainder of the sauce on top, sprinkled with some more cheese and put them into a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Oh, they tasted fabulous. Combined with a salad this was a great meal. It sounds pretty fiddly, and I guess it was, but because I did it in a few steps it didn't feel like it took that long. Another nice thing is you can make this earlier in the day. I think spinach would be a great replacement for the broccoli.

I will call you soon - I feel like we haven't talked for an age - Mom and Dad gave rave reviews about Caleb's latest show. I'm hoping that it's still up in the first week of February? Can't wait to see his Cathedral Grove Pics!

H

Buckwheat Bread

H-

(Sorry, no picture. My computer hates me)

Classic on your last post, slipping in a picture of Coby beside the salad. Mutually related? Uncertain. Did she partake of the salad? Doubtful. Make the salad? Improbable. But she's dang cute.

This is a new bread recipe I wanted to share with you. Have you been baking bread? I'm quite excited about baking more bread in two weeks when I'm finished my job. I have all kinds of ideas floating around in my brain for different combination of ingredients. I want to make a yeast-risen banana bread, with coconut milk. Stay posted. Anyways, this is a buckwheat recipe I dreamed up. Don't try to up the amount of buckwheat (I well know your habit of jimmying with a recipe). The ratio is just right. Particularly as buckwheat is without gluten and actually inhibits your dough from rising. In this bread, it dominates the flavour, while the bread remains light. Anyhooo, please try it!

Buckwheat Bread a la Reems

1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup bran or wheat germ
1 package instant yeast (2 and 1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm water (110-120)

2 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in a little water
2 Tbsp melted butter
3 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup yogurt
1 egg

3 cups unbleached flour
2 Tbsp flax seed
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Combine: buckwheat, 1/2 cup flour, bran, yeast, and water

Add: wet ingredients and mix

Add: 1/2 cup flour, salt, flax, pumpkin seeds and mix

Add remaining flour 1/2 a cup at a time, beating smooth after each addition.

Knead 5-8 minutes. Dough will be tacky. Add flour by the tablespoon if necessary.

First Rise: 1 and a half to 2 hours (until doubled).

Shape into two rounds (I used clay bakeware but next best is rounds on a cookie sheet). Place on a greased cookie sheet and let rise, covered, for 1 hour (or until doubled).

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.