Andrea's Grad

Gingerbread House recipe

This house will be displayed until Dec. 26th at the Hyatt Hotel.
House by two Grade 12 students: Kelsey and Kathleen.

This is the recipe I have my students use every year.

Gingerbread Houses:

125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable shortening
125 ml (1/2 cup) white sugar

1 egg

150 ml (3/4 cup ) molasses

685 ml (2 and 3/4 cups) flour

5 ml (1 t) ground ginger

3 ml (1/2 t.) each of baking soda, salt, ground cloves, and ground cinnamon

In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat the shortening with sugar.

Beat in egg and molasses.

In another bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, cloves and cinnamon.

Using a wooden spoon stir gradually into molasses mixture. Mix well.

Divide dough into two portions.

Roll dough in between two pieces of wax paper until about 5 mm or 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 160 C or 325 F.

Remove top sheet of wax paper. Cut out your house pieces.
Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper if you have it.

Bake one sheet at a time in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely!

To put the house together, make a royal icing with egg white powder that has been pasteurized!

I put my house together let it set and then ice and decorate with lots of candy.

I like to use frosted mini wheats for the snow-capped roof.

Good luck all!

Pecan Balls

Great with coffee!

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 cup soft butter

2 t. salt

2 cups flour

2 cups pecan, finely chopped

instant coffee or expresso powder

Add sugar to butter slowly, cream thoroughly. Add vanilla, flour, salt and pecans and blend well. Chill several hours.

Shape chilled dough into balls about the size of large marbles. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 F about 15 minutes or until light light brown.

Remove from cookie sheets.

Roll carefully in a small amount of sifted icing sugar at once until well coated.

Cool. Roll second time in a mixture of icing sugar and coffee powder using a ratio of 1 T coffee powder to 1 cup icing sugar.

Cherry Flip

One of my favourites from my childhood is Cherry Flips.

My mom first made them and then my sister but she stopped as the dough always gave her grief.

I recently started making them and have had varying results. Even not so perfect ones are so tasty! It's all in the shortbread-like dough.

1/2 cup butter

2 egg yolks

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 cups sifted flour

1 t. almond flavouring

1 bottle of maraschino cherries (save juice for icing)

coconut

Drain the cherries but keep the juice for later.

Cream butter until light and fluffy.

Add sugar gradually and blend. Mix in egg yolk. Work in flour and salt until all flour is absorbed. Pinch off a walnut-sized piece. Press into the palm of your hand. Insert a cherry in the middle and roll the dough around the cherry to form a ball.

Place on lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake at 325 F until lightly browned 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool on a cooling rack. When cool dip in a syrup made from cherry juice and icing sugar.

Roll in coconut. Let dry before storing.

Gingerbread

Everyone I know has a different take on gingerbread. There is the puffy German gingerbread men, then the flatter versions as well as how dark the gingerbread man should be.

This recipe makes lots and you can do them in any size. They hold up to decorating with Foodsafe royal icing.

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

2 T. vinegar

5 cups sifted flour

1 1/2 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

1 T ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

Cream shortening with sugar. Add egg, molasses and vinegar; beat well. Sift dry ingredients; stir in. Chill 1 hour.

Roll in between two pieces of wax paper.

Cut into shapes and re-roll until all dough is used up.

Preheat over to 375F.

Bake for 6 minutes.

Cool on rack.

Decorate with Royal Icing:

4 cups (440 g) icing sugar

3 T (30 g) meringue powder

1 t. cream of tartar

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 c. to 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water

Beat the water with the meringue powder until peaks form.

Add the cream of tartar, vanilla and then slowly add the icing sugar.

Cranberry Shortbread Chews

This was originally in Chatelaine magazine.

I don't have a picture as they are never around very long.

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 cup dried cranberries

2 T orange flavoured liqueur

3/4 c. butter

1 cup sugar

1 t. lime peel

1 t. vanilla

1 egg

1 cup coconut

1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat over 325F (160 C). Soak the cranberries in the liqueur.

Place butter in mixer bowl and beat butter and sugar.

Add egg.

Mix in the dry ingredients.

Stir in cranberries, coconut and pecans.

Roll dough into 1" or 2.5 cm balls and place them on a cookie sheet about 2" apart.

Bake until edges and undersides of cookies are golden brown about 12 minutes.

Let them cool on the cookie sheet 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Lemon Poppyseed Igloos

This one is simple and can be done without a mixer.

1 cup (250ml) butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup icing sugar

3/4 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

1 T lemon rind

2 T poppy seeds

2 cups (500ml) flour

Preheat oven to 325F.

Cream butter with icing sugar.

Stir in vanilla, lemon rind, salt, poppy seeds and finally the flour.

Roll into 1" or 2.5 cm balls.

Bake 20 minutes.

Cool completely on a cooling rack.

Dip each igloo in a glaze made up of:

1 cup (250 ml) icing sugar, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1 T lemon juice.

Let dry completely and store in an airtight container and in the fridge.

My newest recipe last year

A friend of mine decided it would be a good idea to give me some local BC Hazelnuts.
So I search and found this recipe from Canadian Living.

1/2 cup butter
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
1 1/4 flour
Ganache Filling:
4 oz. chocolate
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 t. liqueur
12 hazelnuts

Grease a muffin tin (mini-sized)
Beat together butter and cream cheese add in hazelnuts.
Refrigerate dough after you have put 1 T into each cup and press into the bottom and sides or freeze for 1 hour.

Bake 325F for 30 minutes until golden. Let cool.
In a bowl place chocolate and put over water in a saucepan. When chocolate melts, add cream and liqueur. Stir until smooth. Pour into shells. Add half a hazelnut on top.
These must be kept refrigerated.

1/4 Cresent Moon Cookies

I am the fourth in my family and having the last name Moon I naturally was drawn to this recipe in highschool! It is often the first recipe I make for the holiday season.

1 cup butter or marg.
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 t. salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup almond finely chopped
extra icing sugar

Heat over to 325F
Beat butter, sugar, almond extract until blended.
Add flour and salt.
Mix until well blended.
Stir in oats and almonds.
Using level measuring Tablespoonfuls shape dough into cresents.
Bake on ungreased sheet for 14 to 17 minutes until bottoms are light golden brown.
Remove to cooling rack. Sift additional icing sugar generously over the warm cookies. Cool completely.
Makes approx. 3 dozen.

Black Forest Cookies

This was a recipe I got from Martha Stewart. Yes I do get her magazine.
The above photo is from a blog called our life in food.
I use chocolate chunks from Superstore in the recipe as I find it gives it a more sophisticated look to the finished product but I have used chocolate chips in a pinch.

1 cup flour 2 T cocoa powder
1 t baking powder 1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsalted butter 1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar 2 large eggs
1 package chocolate chunks 1 1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped

Preheat 350F. Melt chocolate chips and butter until liquid. Remove from heat and beat in the eggs and both sugars. Stir in dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chunks and cherries.
Press plastic wrap onto the surface and refrigerate about 1 hour.

Use a small cookie scoop and drop onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or with a silpat. Bake 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes.
Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Recipe #2 Scottish Shortbread

Probably the easiest recipe ever!
It is Scottish because of the shape (in wedges) but also because the ingredients are weighed.

6 oz or 150 g (325 ml) flour
pinch of salt
4 oz or 100 g (165 ml) butter at room temperature
2 oz or 50 g (65 ml) Castor (or berry) sugar

Preheat oven to 300 F or 150 C.
Add salt to flour. Cream butter and sugar well. Gradually work in the flour into creamed mixture and knead well. Form mixture into a round oblong shape about 1 cm thick.
Place on baking sheet. Using the edge of a large metal spatula divide the dough into half and then each segment into 8 for a total of 16 pieces, do not press all the way through. Using a fork, prick the edges to form a pattern.

Bake until golden brown just on the edges only about 10 minutes.
Use a knife or metal spatula to cut each cookie and then cool on a cookie rack.

Christmas Baking

Recently, more than one person has asked me about my favourite cookie recipes.
I thought I would post them so people can see my favourites and have the recipes to make them too.

Recipe Number #1

Paradise Macaroons - by Alton Brown

2 (7 to 8 oz.) packages sweetened shredded coconut
2 oz. sweetened condensed milk
pinch of salt
1 t. vanilla

4 large egg whites at room temperature
5 oz. granulated sugar
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 oz. vegetable shortening
2 oz. finely chopped dry-roasted macadamia nuts

Directions
Preheat over to 325F
Combine the coconut and condensed milk, salt and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.
In a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip the shites until medium peaks form, 6 to 7 minutes.
Gently fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds onto a parchment-lined half sheet pan and bake for 20 mintues or until golden brown. Immediately transfer the parchment with the macaroons to a cooling rack. Cool completely before topping.
Fill a 4-qt. pot with enough water to come up 2 inches up the side, set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a small metal or glass mixing and set over the simmering pot. Stir occasionally until melted, then remove from the heat.
Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate mixture, sprinkle with the chopped macadamia nuts and place on parchment paper to set, about 30 minutes.

Halloween 2010

A wolf, a crow and a minion and a baby pumpkin vampire. These were our inspired pumpkins fro 2010.

Cupcakes

I was given the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

(http://hummingbirdbakery.com/) for my birthday.

When I was in London I visited the original bakery in Nottinghill.

All the cupcakes I tried were yummy!

This picture is my version of the "lemon" cupcake recipe.

Christmas has come again

Pasta with garden fresh vegetables and grilled chicken

Marinate two chicken breasts in 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 T. freshly chopped rosemary, 2 t. fresh basil finely chopped, salt and pepper.

Put in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Turn the grill on to high and heat for 10 mintues. Grill the chicken on both sides (don't forget to do the 10/2 grill lines!) turn the grill down to medium. It takes a lot of time to cook through a thick chicken breast so check for the internal temperature to make sure it is done.

I am using my garden vegetables up to I chopped up two fresh large tomatoes, a small zucchini and a Japanese eggplant.

Finely chop half an onion and mince two garlic cloves.

Heat a skillet and gently saute the onion and garlic. Add the tomatoes and other vegetables until all the vegetables are soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook until done some bow tie pasta. Drain and toss in the vegetables.

When chicken is done slice into bit-sized pieces and add to the sauce.

Louise (made the pastry) and I (made the filling) for an apricot pie today. I think it is my favourite of all fruit pies. Yum.

Grilled Japanese Eggplant

Today after some much needed rain the sun came out and I started thinking about dinner. The menu- grilled trout with dill and lemon, mushroom and green pepper fried rice ( I was using up leftover rice and needed to use another of my fresh green peppers) and coconut cake for dessert.
My first Japanese egg plant was ready to be eaten so I had to find a recipe to use with it.

Oddly enough I was in the Tom Douglas' restaurant last week and ate one of his famous crab cakes. This recipe is from his cookbook.

Grilled Japanese Egg Plant with Honey Soy Glaze
Honey Soy GlazeMix together:¼c. honey + ¼c. vegetable + ¼ c. fresh lemon juice + ¼ c. soy sauce + ½ t. minced garlic or garlic powder.

Add a few shakes of red pepper flakes if you want it a bit spicy.

4 Japanese eggplants and sesame seeds, toasted

Whisk together the glaze ingredients and put in a flat casserole dish.
Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise, leaving the stem on. Then partially cut each half several times lengthwise, like a fan.

If you'd like to use a globe eggplant (or if you have an abundance of home grown zucchinis) slice it into ½-inch-thick rounds.
Pour half the glaze over the eggplants in a medium bowl and let them marinate for at least 10 minutes.

Fire up the grill. Remove the eggplants from the marinade.

Allow any excess marinade to drip off, to prevent a flare-up when you place them on the grill.
Grill the eggplants, turning as necessary, until tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
Place 2 eggplant halves or 2 slices of eggplant on each plate and drizzle with a bit of the remaining glaze. Garnish with the sesame seeds.

Vegetables

I am so proud of the new things I grew this year green peppers and Japanese eggplant.

Now to figure out what to do with them.

Sizzling Hot Fahitas

Today is still hot in YVR and to ensure no extra heat was added to the house everything was cooked on the sideburner of the BBQ.
Today I picked my first ever green pepper from my garden!
I sliced it along with a yellow pepper (from the store).
I brushed clean and then sliced about 5 large mushrooms.
Mince two garlic cloves and 1/2 an onion.

In a skillet heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Saute the garlic and onion about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and spice it up with 1/4 teaspoon both chili powder and cumin and freshly ground salt and pepper. Saute until mushrooms are cooked.
Add the bell peppers and then add pre-cooked chicken breast that has been roasted and then sliced.
Wrap in a soft tortilla shell add cheese and sour cream!

HOT chicken caesar salad

If you live in BC you know it is really HOT.
So in my attempt to stay cool I decided it was the day to make a hot chicken caesar salad and a scalloped zucchini side dish.

To start - I walked out to the garden and picked my first zucchini of the season. I washed and then sliced the zucchini into coins. Put the slices on a sheet of tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil and then season with salt and pepper. I also used about 1 teaspoon of fresh minced thyme. Mince one garlic clove and one eighth of an onion (finely chopped) and then sprinkle them on top of the zucchini. Spread evenly 1 Tablespoon of flour over all the ingredients so far. Lastly grate about 1/4 cup cheddar cheese over the top. Seal the tin foil up and place on a BBW grill on low heat for about 10 minutes.

To make the salad-tear into bite sized pieces about 15 washed romaine lettuce. Grate 2 Tablespoon fresh parmesan cheese over the lettuce. Add the caesar salad dressing of your choice (I use only enough to lightly coat the leaves about 2-3 Tablespoons). Toss!

Set your BBQ to high until grill is hot and then to medium to cook.

Lightly coat a chicken breast per person with olive oil. Salt and Pepper and then sprinkle paprika on top. I like that grill pattern on top of meats so again do the 10 and 2 technique. Cook on each side for about 4-5 minutes until the correct temperature is reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 Celsius).

Place on a clean plate and let the juices soak back into the chicken breast for about 3 minutes.

Slice chicken breast and put on top of the salad. Toss once more and then add croutons.

I made a few extra chicken breasts, sliced them and I will use them for fahitas tomorrow. Because I have the side burner our BBQ I can cook it all outside!