Testing Holiday Recipes - Maple Brûlée Pie

Well, it's officially a month to Christmas and boy, is it ever starting to feel like winter! No snow yet, but the days are getting cooler. Hats, mittens and scarves are becoming a must and so is testing holiday recipes! What better excuse to bake a pie than having to test it out?

Let me tell you, this was one successful test. The original recipe didn't call for caramelizing the top but after seeing the baked pie, it just screamed "brûlée"! And what a great dessert to serve for a special occasion. Something like, oh, I don't know, Christmas maybe? Or New Years? Or maybe, just because you wanted to bake something sweet for your sweetie!

Maple Brûlée Pie
adapted from the top of a can of maple syrup, really!

1 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Sugar to caramelize the top

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the syrup, eggs, milk and brown sugar. Mix well and pour into pie shell.

Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the custard is set.

This can be eaten at room temperature, as is. Another option is to put it in the refrigerator to cool completely, cut out portions, sprinkle some sugar onto the slices (the sugar you choose is up to you, works just as well with granulated sugar or coarse sugar) and fire up your brûlée torch! Caramelize the sugar until you get a nice crunchy layer on top of the creamy custard. Serve with fruit, ice cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream. Make sure you have some company, this is a sweet, sweet pie to be shared among friends. :)

Note: For the pie crust, I used a recipe from Karen Barker I found on Serious Eats. The dough came together beautifully and the crust turned out flaky and golden. I think this'll be my go to pie crust, for a little while anyways. Click here for the recipe!

Another Note: I'm thinking this could be spiced up with a grating of nutmeg or tonka bean. Mmmm, I'll let you know when I try.

TWD - Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies... How can someone say those words and not think that Christmas is just around the corner? How can someone smell the slightly spicy, molasses scented batter and not feel like taking the Christmas decorations out of storage right this minute? I tell ya, I almost did!

These cookies really do smell like Christmas and they are perfect in every way. Just the right amount of spices, just sweet enough and crunchy like a ginger snap. Per-fect. The only thing I did differently is make twice the cookies specified because I like the smaller, crunchier cookies.

Thank you Pamela of Cookies with Boys for choosing this as one of the November recipes for Tuesdays with Dorie. This will also be my last Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, for a while anyways. I have so many cookbooks and magazines I want to bake recipes from and with all the weekly recipes, it's just too many desserts. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is such a thing as too much dessert!!! It was so much fun being part of such a great group of baking enthusiasts, I most certainly will miss it. But I'll keep visiting the members' blogs and hope my Tuesdays with Dorie friends will keep visiting me too. I just need a little more time to be creative, and bake what I feel like, when I feel like it. The Holidays are just around the corner, I'll be baking up a storm pretty soon, so stay tuned!

Cheesecake Brownies for the Birthday Girl

Yesterday was my oldest daughter's birthday. She turned 9 years old and I know I've said this before but, man time sure flies! Since her birthday was in the middle of the week this year we decided to have a party with her friends this coming Saturday. I'll make cake then, most probably cupcakes, so I didn't want to make cake twice in the same week. But, I still wanted her to have a special birthday dessert.

I asked her what she would like and all she said was "Something chocolate!". That's my girl! Brownies came to mind, being an easy dessert and all, and when I searched my favorite sites these Cheesecake Brownies on David Lebovitz' blog caught my eye. Still an easy recipe but with a little something extra that really says "Birthday!".


These are deliciously chocolaty but not too sweet, just perfect for a small birthday dinner, or to perk up any ordinary weekday meal. The birthday girl was quite happy with her special dessert and so was everyone else who had a square, or two! Please visit David's blog for the recipe!

The Knead to Bake

I know, I know, corny title, but I just couldn't resist. I woke up one morning last week and I just needed to bake bread. I was literally obsessed with it. Am I the only one this happens to? Anyways, I started looking for a recipe that wouldn't be complicated but still good and to which I had all the ingredients.

I found this Buttermilk Honey Bread on Rosa's Yummy Yums, via Food Blog Search (I just love that site) and it was perfect! There is just something so satisfying about bread baking. You start with next to nothing and end up with a fragrant little miracle! The first time around, I made three small braided loaves; one went to a friend and the other two loaves didn't last very long, we devoured them!

The weather has gotten quite cold very quickly around here, we even had snow yesterday. So I decided to make the bread again, I certainly can't think of a better thing to do on a cold day than bake! This time I followed the original recipe and made two braided loaves. We'll have some fresh bread tonight with dinner, whatever that might be...

Visit Rosa for the recipe (she has it in English and in French!) and have a great weekend!

EDIT: I just noticed when I was uploading my pics to Flickr that in the post, the photos look dull compared to what they look like in Flickr. Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a way to remedy this? Thanks for your input!

TWD - Sweet Potato Biscuits

Alright, we're back! Man, let me tell you, these biscuits, scones, little bread-type-sweet-potato-thingies, whatever you want to call them, are well worth the wait! A little cinnamon, a little nutmeg, a grating of tonka bean just for fun, a cup-a sweet potatoes and a bit of buttermilk to help the process along, a sprinkling of coarse sugar for texture and about 25 minutes later these beauties come out of the oven fluffy, puffy and golden. Just a whiff of their sweet-savory aroma will make you want to put on a warm wool sweater, a comfy pair of boots and go walking in the crunchy fall leaves.

Thank you Erin, aka Prudence Pennywise, what a great choice of recipe! Please visit Erin's blog for the Sweet Potato Biscuits recipe (as a bonus, she also has a Sweet Potato Roll recipe in the same post. Score!). And have a look at the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll, you never know what tasty variations you'll find each week!

I'm Late! I'm Late!

It's Tuesday and yes, I will be posting today's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Sweet Potato Biscuits, just as soon as they're done baking and I've taken photos of them...


Can you say "procrastinating"? For now I leave you with a few photos I took recently in gorgeous Bois de Coulonge, in Quebec.

Be back soon!!!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles

As if I didn't have enough cookbooks and baking books and foodie magazines that I love to bits already, I keep discovering new magazines that are so fabulous I can't help but to buy them on the spot! One of those magazines is Delicious. I think the first one I bought was last January and I promised myself I would stop looking for it in news stands because, well, I just have enough magazines, you know. But it just jumps out at me! The articles, the recipes, the pictures, oh, the pictures!

I do make it a point to write a list of recipes I want to try as soon as I get the magazine, which isn't very hard as all the recipes are mouthwatering! In the most recent one I got there was this recipe for a Chocolate and Hazelnut Slice, which I also found on their website but under the name Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles. I think these are really more like truffles, considering the amount of chocolate and cream they contain! Perfect for the Holidays, which are just around the corner you know, better start baking!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles
Adapted from Delicious Magazine

50g butter, plus extra for greasing
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting the pan
150g skinned hazelnuts*
90g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
500g bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
2 large eggs
225ml heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease the base and sides of a 20cm square cake pan with a little butter. Dust all over with cocoa powder, knocking out the excess. Or use a springform pan and line the bottom with parchment before buttering and dusting with cocoa powder.

In a food processor, place 100g of hazelnuts, the flour, sugar and salt and process until coarsely ground. Roughly chop the rest of the nuts and stir in. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat, then add 150g of chocolate. Let it melt slightly, then whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well between each addition. Stir in the nut mixture until well combined. Spoon into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan.

To make the ganache, put the rest of the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Bring the cream just to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for a few minutes then gently stir until melted and thickened. Spoon over the cold hazelnut base and spread out. Tap the pan on the counter to smooth the ganache evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours. Cut into squares with a warmed knife, wiping the knife after each cut. If you used a round springform pan, cut the round parts off and then cut the rest into squares. The baker needs a treat too, right?

To assemble as a gift: put in a decorative box or cellophane bag and decorate as you wish. Keeps in the fridge for up to a week.

*To skin the hazelnuts: Put the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast in a 350F oven for about 10 minutes. Place the hazelnuts on a clean dish towel and rub them with the towel to remove skins.

TWD - Split Level Pudding

Pudding is a comforting dessert and with the cooling temperatures and rainy days we've been having lately, this was really a perfect choice for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie. Garett of Flavor of Vanilla chose this for us and what a great pick it was!

Quite a simple recipe (if you forgo the whole food processor thing and just use a good ol' whisk) it can be made in advance as it has to chill for a bit, unless you like warm pudding, whatever floats your boat. I wanted to see the layers of the pudding so I used clear glasses, warmed up some leftover ganache I had from the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart and let it chill before spooning the pudding on top. Then, after the pudding had a little R&R in the fridge, I whipped up a little cream, shaved a little chocolate and voilà! Perfect rainy day dessert.

My fave pudding is still the Real Butterscotch Pudding but this one is very good, especially with the chocolaty surprise at the bottom of the glass. Since the ganache sets, it gets almost truffle-like and it's a great contrast to the silky pudding. Thanks Garett for a fun pick! Visit the other Tuesdays with Dorie members for infinite variations on today's pudding!

TWD - Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart

I remember the day I got Baking from my Home to Yours in the mail. I was so excited to finally flip through its pages and look at all the drool-worthy photos and read the delightful descriptions Dorie writes of every recipe. They were all quite tempting but one caught my eye and it has been known around these parts as the "I-have-to-make-this-tart-now" tart. Since I was just starting Tuesdays with Dorie at the time, I didn't want to try any one recipe just to have it be chosen by someone soon after. I really wanted to make the recipes as they were chosen. So I waited. Why didn't I choose that recipe when my turn came up? Perhaps because of the tart crust (I've always been a wee bit scared of them), or perhaps I was just as intrigued by the Chocolate Armagnac Cake as I was tempted by the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart. In any case, here we are now and I finally had THE perfect excuse to make this tart!

You guys all know how much I loooooove caramel, right? And chocolate, well that goes without saying. But peanuts, eh, they're not my thing. Since the recipe calls for honey roasted peanuts I always thought I might use pecans, almonds or cashews in the tart, but then on one trip to the grocery store, I came across a bag of honey roasted cashews. Honey Roasted Cashews! I couldn't believe my luck! This was going to be one great tart.

I had really, really high expectations of this tart and it lived up to them and then some! The silky ganache, the perfectly sweet and salty caramel, the crunchy contrast of the honey roasted cashews and the crispy cookie-like crust, all come together into one perfect dessert! It couldn't even be wrecked by the fact that I forgot to buy some unsalted butter last weekend and had only half of what was needed for the ganache. Even if it really was worth the wait, I would recommend you not to wait as long as I did to make this tart. If you don't have THE book (and you should!) visit Carla over at Chocolate Moosey and get thee that recipe right now! You will not regret it! And be sure to pay a visit to the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers for a massive dose of baking inspiration!

Orange Almond Cream Whoopie Pies

Have you ever become so obsessed with getting something right that you just can't rest until you do? Well, that happened to me with Whoopie Pies. A few months back (yes, months) my cousin,LP ,invited me over to her place for an afternoon cooking/baking session. We decided to make a Chicken Tetrazzini for dinner and Whoopie Pies for dessert.

The Whoopie Pies were to be of the traditional chocolate with marshmallow filling variety. The cookies came out really well, but the filling, not so much. They were quite tasty but a little too sticky and gooey, so to speak. So, LP and I each set out to find the perfect filling recipe for Whoopie Pies. I went the homemade Fluff route, which was a great success, but sadly, since I have no photos as proof of that, you'll have to take my word for it until I decide to make some again. LP went the cream cheese frosting route and, I have to say, she won the Whoopie Pie filling challenge hands down. She came up with this Orange Almond Cream variation and I just had to steal it from her. I'm sure she won't mind, right LP?

Orange Almond Cream Whoopie Pies

For the cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Zest of 1 to 2 oranges (depending on their size and how orangey you want the cookies)

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk

For the Almond Cream filling:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

5 tbsp butter, room temperature

3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/2 to 3/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, mix the egg, oil, orange zest, and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, alternating with the buttermilk, until all the ingredients are well combined.

Drop the dough, a teaspoonful at a time, onto the prepared baking sheet, taking care to leave enough space between the cookies as they expand a little while baking, but not too much. Also try to keep the shape as round and even as possible, it makes it easier to match the cookies after they are baked. Bake the cookies about 8 minutes, until they are slightly golden around the edges, but do not over bake them, you want them to be tender, not hard. Once the cookies are done baking, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, prepare the filling. In the bowl of your mixer of choice, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese and the butter until light and well blended. Add the sifted powdered sugar, in batches, until the filling is perfectly smooth. Add the almond extract, mix well.

To fill the cookies, you can use a spoon or a pastry bag to spread some of the filling onto one of the cookies and then sandwich another cookie on top. Fill and sandwich cookies until all the cookies are matched. You might have some filling leftover, it makes a nice frosting on cupcakes or muffins.