'Twas the Week Before Christmas..

I've been hitting the flour. My kitchen is as white as the ground outside (mostly due to little white hand prints decorating my pantry). I've done it - I have attempted the Gevulde Speculaas - I use the work attempted, because while they taste amazing (judging purely from the rate they are flying out of the cookie container), this was a first attempt. I know that I have stressed and stressed some more about the importance of a slight under-bake if you want a really moist square- one with a bit of chewy "melting-in-you-mouth-ness." Well, I baked the speculaas perfectly, they taste super, but if I am being really critical, and let's face it - when it comes to food I have a high bar, I would say 2 minutes less baking time would have been the ultimate in perfection. However, this will have to wait until next year because my waistline can only handle so much.

I would like to brag, because I think I deserve to, that I made the almond paste filling from scratch. I won't say it's easy - it would be if you have a food processor, but alas I do not. Scraping the blades of my blender repeatedly, while making almond paste, was one of the first times I have really wanted a food processor. Please, if you own one please let me know which model you have and if it's worth owning it - because generally I like to stir; and I find chopping most vegetables, aside from onions, therapeutic; and I hate washing dishes; and up until renting a house with more cupboard space than I know what to do with, I have begrudged the space that unused appliances, and even used appliances, have occupied (Because of this Mike's rarely used quesadilla maker was a casualty of our move); and if you recall from my last post I am a one-bowl wonder. But I am derailing, suffice to say that almond paste can be made in a blender - just tack on a few extra minutes of pulsing and scraping to your efforts.

Yes, this is another "back-to-the-Dutch-roots" recipe. As I get older I get more nostalgic. These are one of Oma Reems' specialties. Soft and spicy, with gingerbready goodness, and an almond filling that marzipan lovers like myself go crazy over. When I go to Victoria I plan to get her authentic recipe - however, for those Reemses out there, you can empathize that attempting to get a recipe over the phone from Oma, with a hearing aid that may or may not be turned on- is a feat that would try even the most patient. I thought that I would stick to the internet this round and next year attempt the Reems method. I found a great Dutch food forum and combined two posts to come up with this recipe- Gevulde Speculaas

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
3 cups flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/s tsp baking soda

Combine the above ingredients. Divide dough in half - roll or pat one half into a 9 by 13 pan.

Spread with almond paste - Go ahead and use store bought. If you want to make your own here is what I did (the amounts of ingredients are approximate, sorry but I was in my "chuck ingredients in until it looks right" kind of mode -

Take about 3 cups of blanched almonds. Grind in a blender or food processor. Into your blender or processor add an egg, 1 tsp of almond extract, a few tablespoons of water, 1/2 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of sugar. Add more sugar to taste if you like. Voila.

Finally, roll out the second half of the dough and put on top of the filling. I had to patch mine up, but once I covered it with flaked almonds you couldn't tell. Next time I will make this I will brush with some egg and then put almonds on top - this time round at least a third of my almonds came off.

Bake at 350 for 30 min (although recalling my rant have a peek in your oven at 25 minutes to see if they are ready). Take out when the dough looks SLIGHTLY underbaked. It will harden up on it's own. Though if you like a drier crumb I would bake for 35 minutes.

Merry Christmas and stay warm!!!

It snowed! (What does ‘it’ determine? The sky, the clouds, the weather, mother nature, God, the world? I’ve never been sure.) About five centimeters of white clotted our driveways and roads. Yeah! For once Victoria felt Canadian. Caleb and I stepped out into the world first thing. We walked a couple kilometers to a palm tree that Caleb photographed in the snow. I photographed Caleb photographing. Also, I lured him into the grocery store on the return trip. After all, on a snow day, what is there to do besides play outside and bake sugar cookies? I toted home a knapsack full of veggies and fruits and Caleb carried a bag of flour slung over one shoulder. With only two weeks to Christmas, snow on the ground, and sugar cookies dancing in my head, I knew life was perfect. Or nearly perfect, the wind was bitingly cold and the skin on my hands and face was red and chapped. I spent most of the day singing along to Christmas songs (we’ve got a whole cache of new Christmas records), mixing, rolling, and cutting dough, and crafting Christmas cards. Two varieties of sugar cookies sprang forth from my laborious activity: one, a lime drop sugar cookie, the other, a rolled sugar cookie. The second, the rolled cookie, is a play on the original sugar cookies, which, while sweet and tasty, strikes me as a tad dull, the bland face of a too beautiful model. So I jazzed, spiced and changed to develop a not-so traditional sugar cookie that includes the likes of buckwheat flour, cardamom spice, and slivered almonds. I hope you tear into these as quickly as we did! (I just ate one for breakfast).

A Not-So Traditional Sugar Cookie

Beat together:
¼ cup butter
1 TBSP olive oil
¾ cup brown sugar

Beat in:
1 TBSP apple sauce
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

In another bowl, mix together:
1 and 1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp all spice
1 tsp cinnamon

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until almost combined.
Then, Add:
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup slivered or flaked almonds

Divide into dough in two and shape into disks. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least I hour. Roll dough between two pieces of wax paper. Do one disk as a time, leaving the other in the fridge. Make sure to roll the dough out evenly, about ¼” thick. Cut out shapes with your favourite cookie cutters. Place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Baking time depends on the size of your cookies. Larger cookies will take slightly longer. The cookies will firm up after they’ve cooled a bit. I like soft chewy cookies, and I think this recipe tastes better as such, so I prefer a shorter baking time.

Birthday Boterkoek

In Calgary Mike first began embracing the Dutch culture (well, I guess since I am somewhat Dutch I suppose it could be argued that this embracing began a little earlier..); he was excited to find a community of people who went to church, lived their faith, yet still enjoyed a pint on a Friday night. His Sottish Campbell ancestors rejoiced in their graves when he discovered John Calvin, to the extent that we now have the complete set of Calvin's commentaries gathering dust on our book shelf.

Since moving to Chilliwack, Mike's embracing of all things Dutch continues with his exploration of Dutch food. What's not to love? Cheese, bread, and baking loaded with butter. Mike has become a regular at the Dutch store, and is working his way through the long list of goudas.

So, to celebrate his birthday tomorrow I have baked his favourite Dutch delicacy -boterkoek. This is my first time attempting this feat and I am excited to report that it may be the easiest thing, albeit somewhat artery clogging, to bake. I did knock the sugar content down slightly, and found the recipe with the least amount of butter (courtesy of the Chilliwack YMCA cookbook, thanks Hanna).

So here it is-

Boterkoek

1) Cream 2/3 cup butter with 2/3 cup sugar
2) Add 1 beaten egg and 11/2 tsp almond extract
3) Mix in 11/2 cups flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder.
4) Press dough into a pie plate or cake pan. If desired brush with egg (1 tsp reserved from the beaten egg)
5) Decorate with almonds (if you are being festive)
6) Bake at 350 degrees for about 350, or until brown on top.

So, that's it - another addition to Mike's adopted heritage - now if he can just get into a Dutch passion for cleaning!

Simple Sweets

Desserts are truly one of my favourite things. I’ll leave the raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens to Julie Andrews. Pass me the lemon cheesecake. Dessert cookbooks are another one of my favourite things. You’ll notice in a previous post that Haley gloats upon obtaining a copy of Nigella Lawson’s new Christmas cookbook. She plans to curl up on a couch with a cup of hot chocolate and a book full of Nigella and do some serious reading, naturally, one of her favourite things. I would be ridiculously jealous, but I too have Nigella on hold at the library. Some of my favourite dessert cookbooks of late include the Moosewook Restaurant’s book of desserts (these people are wonderful), Perfect Light Desserts (this one is sooo good! Not full of boring, icky light desserts, but really tasty creations), and my ancient copy of The Joy of Cooking (this book feels a lot like a mother, or grandmother, laying all the kitchen tips and secrets bare).

Caleb’s birthday falls in the second week of December, giving me a big fat wonderful excuse to drool over dessert recipes. Perfect. After an exhaustive search I decided upon a Joy of Cooking special: lemon cheesecake made with cottage cheese. This appealed to my low fat sensibilities. I worked out a number of ways to further reduce the fat and I was off, flying high before I fell. Because I reduced the fat in the cake it needed a shorter baking time. I realized this after I pulled it from the oven. Boohoo. While the dessert was tasty, it was decidedly dry, as over-baked cheesecakes tend to be, particularly low-fat over baked cheese cake. Yet I’m still excited, and hopeful. With a little tinkering this could prove to be my work-horse of cheesecakes. Well I couldn’t serve a dried out cake at the birthday go time. What to do? I had no time during the day to prepare another dessert, as Caleb and I had a list of plans. A normal, less obsessive person would probably just pick up a cake from the store or bakery. But I am obsessive. I unearthed my recipe, or rather, the Moosewood Collective’s recipe, for Six Minute Cake. As Caleb’s family members arrived for the birthday dinner, and I sprinkled the coarse salt on the foccacia, dropped the meatballs in the sauce, panicked about a salad, I used my third free hand to whip up a six minute cake. I swear I did it in five. I served this simple chocolate cake warm from the oven with a dollop of mocha whipped cream. It was a hit.

What a reminder that food should be simple and fun. It should taste good. Tiered cakes and frothy egg whites have their place but most often a slice of something hot and chocolate and a little sweet beside it is all a girl needs.

Six Minute Chocolate Cake

Sift the following ingredients directly into a an 8 inch square or 9 inch round baking pan:

1 ½ cups white flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar

In a measuring cup, measure and mix together:
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water or coffee
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Pour the liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix with a fork or whisk.

When the batter is smooth add 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar.

Stir quickly. There will be pale swirls in the batter.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350. Let the cake cool in the pan on rack. You can cut the slices directly from the pan to serve.

The Moosewood Collective suggests that you let the cake cool and then refrigerate it for 30 minutes but I prefer the cake warm.

Mocha Whipped Cream

Combine and whip until stiff:
1 TBSP instant coffee
1 cup whipping cream
¼ cup icing sugar
1 TBSP cocoa powder

On a Veggie Note

Before I answer the bake-off call…

Haley, my co-blogger, wants cookie recipes. She berated me for slacking on the blog and hording food secrets. While I have not been writing I have been baking, and cooking, and, most importantly, eating. I have loads, mounds, bowlfuls, of cookie recipes. Cookies and all doughs sweet are my weakness, but before I web publish my Christmas treats, I will start the holidays on a veggie note. It is possible. Here is a gem I revised from the Rebar Cookbook: Mushroom Cashew Burgers. The Rebar recipe, Mushroom Pecan Burgers, provides the template for my recipe. I’ve adjusted the ingredients and the spices.

Mushroom Cashew Burgers

In some olive oils, saute:

1 red diced onion

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp chili pepper

Add:
4 cloves garlic, mined

1 1inch thumb ginger, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Saute until the mushrooms begin to release their juices and the pan begins to dry out.

Pour in:
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Continue to cook until the liquid evaporates. Take the mushrooms off the stove top and let them cool in a bowl.

Add:

1 ½ cups cooked brown rice

1 ½ cups grated carrot

Mulch the mixture in the food processor.

Return mixture to bowl and add:

1 cup cashews, roasted and mulched in the food processor (or however you wish to grind them)

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

½ tsp cracked pepper

½ tsp ginger (powdered)

1 tsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

Mix and season to taste (you may add salt, pepper, cayenne, ginger, etc). Shape into patties and saute in your favourite skillet.

Cookbooks and Bake-offs

This is what I just picked up from my holds at the library. A beautiful crisp new copy. I am pumped to cozy up on my couch, book on lap, steaming hot chocolate in hand. Ahhhh.

I have a confession - I love to read about food. Read about it and look at pretty pictures. Does all this cookbook and blog reading translate into actual cooking? Sometimes..

On another note I am pumped to report that Reems is being pitted against Reems in the chocolate chip square challenge- here is R1's comment from yesterday-

Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is crazy. I just logged on to see your squares. Would you believe I am planning to attempt the chocolate chip squares??? The bake off was set for tonight! Yikes. We're so alike.

This may get messy. Stay tuned.

Attempting the Chocolate Chip Square

Growing up chocolate chip squares were a Reems' household staple. R1 and I were recently reminiscing about the "original square." In the late 80s, before Joan discovered such terms as "low fat" and "fiber," these squares were everything you could want in a recess snack - butter and sugar, combined with chocolate? Almost good as everyone else's oreos (kids with moms or dads who bake never know how good they have it - who wants homemade cookies when you could be eating a fruit rollup?)

As the years progressed the squares became slightly more, well, healthy, as the amount of butter decreased and the amount of oatmeal inversely increased. Before you accuse me of being overly critical of a working mother of four who still managed to produce a never ceasing flow of baked goods and nutritious meals, I do want to express some gratitude for having been instilled with the value of healthy eating and active living. That said, I set out to replicate the pre-oatmeal-low-fat-square of my memory while making it slightly healthier than the original.

Now according to my R2 I haven't quite nailed the original square. However, judging by the amount of these that I have been baking lately I have come up with a formula that is working. The beauty of squares, as opposed to cookies is that they are quick and easy. You can mix up a batch while you are making dinner. No fiddily little balls, no endless batches. The key to this square is your baking time. Please use the baking time as a guideline and watch these like a hawk the first time you bake them. All ovens are different and what these babies need is to be under-baked. Take them out when the middle of your pan is still doughy. They will firm up while cooling. If you leave them in too long don't blame me.

Chocolate Chip Squares

Cream together:

1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup brown sugar

Add and mix:

2 eggs
generous teaspoon vanilla

Next Add:
Note: I am a one bowl baker. My method? Measure all of the dry ingredients on top of the wet ones, and then give the dry ingredients on top a good stir and then stir the whole mixture together.
21/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

You may need to use your hands to combine the dough. If it is really dry you can add a scant tablespoon of water but be careful not to overdo it.

Press the mixture into a small cookie sheet or a 9 by 13 inch pan (the cookie sheet will produce a skinnier square and therefore requires a slightly shorter baking time).

Bake at 350 degrees for aproximately 15 minutes for a 9 by 13, 12 minutes for a cookie sheet. Start peeking into the oven at 10 minutes. UNDERBAKE!!!

Let cool for about 15 minutes and then cut into squares. Try not to eat all of them while you do this.