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Saturday 29 December 2012

Herb Flatbread Crackers

Do you like crackers? I love eating crackers, so I decided to make a batch today, from scratch. These crackers are flavoured with fresh parsley and garlic. Some wheat bran gives these crackers a delicious hearty flavour and healthy fibre. A drizzle of olive oil makes these crispy. I know you can easily buy a box of crackers in stores, but they probably don't have fresh herbs or fresh garlic. Besides, you won't get the satisfaction of making them nor would you get to eat them while they're still warm from the oven.

The Recipe:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup chapati flour
  • 1/2 cup soy flour
  • 1/4 cup wheat bran
  • 1/4 cup pea fibre
  • 1 tsp dry instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup water (add enough to make a pliable dough)
  • salt (optional, to sprinkle over the top before baking)
Stir together flours, bran, fibre, and yeast. Add parsley and garlic to flour mixture and stir to evenly distribute. Add 1/2 cup water and the olive oil and knead as you would a bread dough. Add more water as needed to make a pliable dough. The dough should not be runny or crumbly, and you should be able to form shapes with it easily. Allow dough to rest for an hour or so. 

Roll out to get a 1/16 inch (about 1.5 mm) layer, cut out into your little crackers, place on a lined baking sheet, and sprinkle some salt over the top if you want. Bake for about 12 minutes at 325 °F (about 165 °C). Allow crackers to cool on a rack and enjoy! 

The flours

Fresh parsley

Soft dough 

Rolled out crackers – look at all that parsley!

Baked



Friday 28 December 2012

Oatmeal Citron Macaroons

I don't know what to say about these cookies; they speak for themselves. You just have to try one. It's a simple recipe, easy and quick to make, and delicious to eat. They are crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, thanks to the citron preserve.

The Recipe:
Dry ingredients:
  • 1 cup desiccated unsweetened flaked coconut
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 2 tbsp pea fibre (optional, to increase fibre content)
  • 1 tsp five spice powder (you can also use pumpkin pie spice)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup citron preserve (you can substitute with any marmalade)
Stir dry ingredients together in one bowl. Beat egg whites and sugar to a stiff peak. Add dry ingredients at once to egg whites and fold until all dry ingredients are completely coated with egg white. Add citron preserve and fold in until thin streaks of preserve remain. 

Scoop spoonfuls (~1tbsp) of cookie batter onto a lined cookie sheet. Press to flatten cookie a little. Bake at 350 °F (~175 °C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until sides are golden brown and crispy. Allow to cool on a rack. Hope you like these as much as I do. 

Dry ingredients without salt and five spice

Just before baking

Just out of oven

They look so beautiful, so I thought I'd put a close-up here too

Monday 24 December 2012

Holiday Baking

It's Christmas Eve! The weather's cold, there's a speckle of snow on the ground outside, and the forecast says more is on its way. It looks like it's going to be a festive, white Christmas this year. As such, I have more holiday recipes to share with you. Wishing you all a lovely happy holidays!

Green Roulade | Cornbread Muffins | Fruitcake Mini-muffins | Gingerbread snaps



Gingerbread Snaps

This is one of my holiday recipes this year. Find the other ones here: 

Gingerbread Snaps
Honestly, I hadn't planned for these to be snap cookies. I was aiming for more of a chewy soft cookie, but I guess I rolled them too thin, and they came out from the oven snappier than I thought they would. After they cooled, they became tender crisp, almost like a shortbread texture. So I guess I really made some sort of ginger-short-bread. 

The Recipe
Dry ingredients: 
  • 1 cup barley flour
  • 1/4 cup oat bran
  • 1/4 cup teff flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup milk (any fat content is OK, I used skim)
  • 1 egg white (or about 2.5 tbsp liquid eggs)
  • 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp very light margarine (not meant for baking, but I think it contributed to my lucky accident)
  • 2 tbsp light cream cheese
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1–2 tsp fresh, ground ginger
  • 1/8 tsp ground cardamom (optional)
Sift and stir together dry ingredients. Heat butter, margarine, and cream cheese to melt. Stir in sugar, ginger, and cardamom. Whisk in milk. Add egg white and whisk to mix. Pour over flour mixture and stir to form dough. Roll out into a thin layer, between 1/8 and 1/16 inch (or about 2 mm) thick. Cut out into gingerbread man shapes (or whatever shapes you desire), and bake in a 325 °F (~160 °C) oven for 6 - 8 minutes until top surface is matte and colour is slightly paler than dough. Allow to cool on a rack and decorate to make your gingerbread men come alive!

Note: for larger cookies, make sure to dock them with a fork or a docking wheel, before baking to prevent odd air pockets from forming. 
Measured out flour mixture - teff flour on top

Gingerbread men and women cut-outs

Baked cookies. Wish I could convey smells via Blogger. 

A cheerful looking plate, wouldn't you say?

Thought I'd show you some more of my icing fun. I just used a royal icing recipe. For the green icing, I added a bit of matcha green tea powder, and for the pink icing, I replaced the water with blackberry juice. 

Fruitcake Mini-muffins

This is one of my holiday recipes this year. Find the other ones here: 

Cornbread Muffins | Green Roulade | Gingerbread Snaps

Fruitcake Mini-muffins
These aren't exactly like the fruitcake you see in supermarkets, with the green and red cherries. They're more like a clafoutis scooped into mini-muffin tins, or a loaded, muffin-shaped fruit and nut pancake. Anyway, it got my family's thumbs-up, so I thought maybe you would like it too. I don't add a lot of sugar because the dried fruits have tons anyway. 

The Recipe
Dry ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup barley flour
  • 1/4 cup teff flour
  • 1 tbsp coconut flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp white sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tbsp melted butter
Fruits and nuts (feel free to make your own substitutes):
  • 1 medium apple
  • 1 tbsp butter 
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped 
  • 1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped
  • 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
Peel and dice apple. Sauté in 1 tbsp butter and cinnamon until apples are cooked and some of the water content has evaporated. Set aside to cool. Sift and stir together dry ingredients. Add fruits and nuts and stir to make sure everything is coated in flour. Mix all wet ingredients together and add to flour and fruit mixture in one go. Stir to combine. Spoon into lined mini-muffin tins and bake at 350 ºF (175 ºC) for 10 to 12 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean. 
Dried fruits and sautéed apple.

Chopped walnuts and almonds.

Before baking.

After baking. I couldn't get a better picture of them – they were devoured before I could get a better shot.

Cornbread Muffins

This is one of my holiday recipes this year. Find the other ones here: 

Cornbread Muffins
The Recipe (makes 1 dozen)
Dry ingredients: 
  • 1/2 cup coarse grind cornmeal (#120 grind)
  • 1/2 cup wheat bran
  • 1/2 cup barley flour
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp tumeric powder
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Wet ingredients:
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 1 tbsp white sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup milk
Fillings (feel free to use substitutes of your choice):
  • 3/4 cup diced mozzarella cheese
  • 3/4 cup small diced orange bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup canned cream corn
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 2 thin turkey pepperettes, diced
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, minced
Sift and stir dry ingredients together. Add fillings and stir so that everything is coated in flour. Add milk and stir to get even mixture. Beat egg whites, sugar, and salt until medium peaks form. Fold whites into flour & fillings mixture, scoop into lined muffin tins and bake at 350 ºF (175 ºC) for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Now sit back and enjoy!
Egg whites

Cornbread batter

Freshly baked cornbread

Still good the following day

I melted some mozzarella in a small bowl and dipped my muffin into it. Mozzarella "frosted" cornbread muffin. 




Green Roulade

This is one of my holiday recipes this year. Find the other ones here: 

Cornbread Muffins | Fruitcake Mini-muffins | Gingerbread Snaps

Green Roulade (pictures below)
The idea for this recipe came from a recipe for a ham and spinach roulade in one of my favourite cookbooks: The Viennese Kitchen

The Recipe: 
Ingredients for cake: 
  • 1 1/2 cup chopped kale
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup cold milk (any fat content is OK)
  • 1/3 cup barley flour
  • 2 tbsp butter (don't need to pre-melt)
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 3 egg whites
  • 2 tbsp white sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Wash kale and drop into boiling water to cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and put into food processor or blender. Quickly add cold milk and butter to kale, and process or blend. Add chopped parsley and black pepper, and process or blend again. Transfer to another bowl and stir in flour. Set aside. 

In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites with the sugar and salt until you get medium peaks. Whisk about 1/3 of the egg whites into the green mixture first. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Spread in an even layer into a lined 9 by 13 inch jelly roll tin and bake for 325 °F (165 °C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 1 minute (and admire the beautiful pale light green surface and dark green speckles :-) Roll into a log shape along the short side with the parchment paper to let the shape set in. Parchment paper should face the outside. I followed this rolling technique. Allow to cool completely and make the filling in the meantime. 

Ingredients for filling:
  • 1 large avocado (dark skin ones)
  • 2 tbsp softened cream cheese
  • 1 tbsp Miracle Whip or mayo
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 small can (57 mL) tomato paste
Heat tomato paste thoroughly on stovetop and allow to cool. This step is purely precautionary because food processors may not expect canned tomato paste to be eaten without cooking. Peel and chop avocado. Mix with sour cream, Miracle Whip, and lemon juice, making sure avocado is completely coated in dressing. 

Gently unroll cooled roulade and remove the parchment paper. Spread tomato paste in one layer over top surface, leaving just over 1 inch (or about 3 cm) of border on all sides. Add avocados in one layer over the tomato paste. Gently roll up cake again, but without the parchment paper this time. Allow cake to set in the fridge for a few hours before slicing. 

Beautiful, vibrant, magical-looking pureed greens.

Rolled up and cooling.

Probably should have let it set for a while longer, but this is tasty nonetheless. 

Sunday 23 December 2012

Checkerboard Tea Wafers

If you've been doing any shopping lately, you must have seen how packed all the malls, department stores, and superstores are. I don't just mean packed with people in the line-ups. I mean, the parking lots are full; drivers are hastily dropping off passengers to get a head start in the store; and the aisles and shelves are stacked to the ceiling with products. Not to mention those huge, brightly coloured "sale" signs everywhere. Although I consider holiday shopping more fun than stressful, I look forward to a hot cup of tea after. What better to go with the tea than these tea cookies? They are thin and crispy like a wafer, and flavoured with two of my favourite kinds of tea: earl grey and green tea. I didn't want to mix the flavours, so I decided to do a checkerboard design. 

The Recipe
Sift and stir dry ingredients: 
  • 1/2 cup wheat bran
  • 1/3 cup chapati flour 
  • 1/4 cup defatted soy flour
  • 3 tbsp white sugar (if you prefer sweeter, you can add more, or dust with icing sugar after baking, or add a glaze)
  • 1 tsp instant dry yeast 
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp crushed earl grey tea leaves (or 1 tsp matcha green tea powder)
Wet ingredients: 
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 whole egg
  • 2 tbsp butter
Melt butter and add to milk. Crack in the egg and whisk to get a fairly even mixture. Stir into flour mixture until a dough ball forms. Dough should be soft, almost like a bread dough. Wrap or cover and place in a warm place to let rise. In another bowl, repeat the recipe, but add 1 tsp matcha green tea powder. Allow both doughs to rest and rise for about 30 minutes. Roll out both pieces of dough in one layer to 1/8" (just less than 0.5 cm) thickness. Dough will be soft (this helps with rise and wafer texture) so dust with flour as needed. Cut out into a grid of squares. Go for any size you like here. Arrange squares in a checkerboard pattern on a lined baking sheet with edges just touching each other. Cut out large rounds with a cookie cutter. At this point, you can remove the scraps to just get the perfect circles, but I couldn't bring myself to waste the effort of lining them up, so I just left them there. They snap off easily after baking anyway. 

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 15 – 20 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack and enjoy!

Note: You can cut into strips or make the two cookies separately (and have a bite of each at a time) if you wish. Green tea powder can also be found in Chinese supermarkets or tea shops

Dry ingredients for green tea cookies

Checker arrangement. I didn't figure to do this on the baking tray and had to flip this over. 

Fresh baked checkerboard tea cookies. 

Checkerboard tea cookies

Thursday 20 December 2012

Coconut Angel Cake

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Are you just about to begin the annual marathon of rich, decadent holiday feasts? Or perhaps you've already begun, like I have? Here, I have a recipe for a light interlude to keep our spirits (and perhaps body) light: a coconut angel food cake. Let's not wait for the summer to enjoy coconut and angel food cake. A dash of cinnamon gives this cake a welcoming warmth.

The Recipe:
Sift together dry ingredients:
Wet ingredients:
  • 6 egg whites (separated from fresh raw eggs, best if left at room temperature)
  • 4 tbsp white sugar
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar (for flavour and moisture)
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (stabilizes egg white structure)
Measure out white sugar and stir in cream of tartar so that it is evenly distributed. In a large, clean bowl, beat egg whites until it comes to a soft peak. Add white sugar, a tablespoon at a time, while beating. Continue to add brown sugar, again, a tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until you get a medium peak. Carefully fold in sifted dry ingredients with a large spatula, stopping when you don't see clumps of flour anymore. You can fold it all in at once or separate into two batches. Scoop into an un-greased, 8 by 4 inch (or 20 cm by 10 cm) loaf tin, even out the top, and bake at a 325 °F (~165 °C) oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Flip loaf tin upside down to cool for 15-20 minutes before removing from pan and slicing. If your tin does not have "feet", you can let it rest in a round bowl that's slightly wider than 8 inch diameter so that the cake surface is not touching anything but air can circulate. Slice and enjoy when cooled. 

Measured out dry ingredients before sifting

Egg whites beat to medium peak with sugars and cream of tartar

Cooled loaf cake

Here's how the structure and texture looks inside 
It's not exactly fat free because there is some fat in the coconut flour and soy flour (and in the flaxseed if you are using it), but it's much lower than that in pound cakes but no less flavourful. You can add a sugar glaze or sprinkle with icing sugar if you like. Happy holidays!

Monday 17 December 2012

Snowy day squares

One of the reasons why I like winter is the snow that accompanies it. While others groan and complain about the snow, and avoid mentioning the word with a taboo-like compliance, I absolutely enjoy every glittering moment of snowy Canadian winters. This winter, however, although the first snow arrived weeks earlier than usual in early November, it disappeared almost the moment it hit the ground. This was followed by a week of atypical warm, rainy weather. It was as if winter was trying to tease me.

So now it's mid-December and the weather is 7°C, cloudy and rainy (the wrong type of precipitation!). With no snow to brighten up these long hours of darkness, I think I might just fall into a winter blue. Luckily, there are these snowy squares, with their fluffy, bright, white top layer and their intense, dark, chocolatey bottom layer to tie me through these snowless days.

The Recipe: 
Brownie layer ingredients:
Sifted dry ingredients:
  • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup de-fatted soy flour (supposed to enhance flavour, can use wheat flour if that's more convenient for you)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 crushed wheat bran
  • 1/4 tsp salt
Wet ingredients: 
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar 
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup hot water
With electric beaters, beat eggs and sugar until mixture is a thick, creamy yellow mixture. In a separate bowl, melt unsalted butter and stir in milk (any fat content is OK) so that the mixture is just warm. Add and blend sifted flour to egg mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk & butter mixture, starting and ending with flour (ie. flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). Beat in the 1/3 cup recently boiled water just before pouring into a lined 8-inch square pan and placing in a preheated 325°F oven for 20 minutes. 

Marshmallow cheesecake layer: 
  • 3 egg whites
  • 2 tbsp white sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup light cream cheese
  • 2 tbsp yuzu preserve (purchased at Korean, Chinese, or large mainstream supermarkets, price ~ CAN$4 – 6/L)
  • 1/2 tsp ground fresh ginger
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
In the meantime, we prepare the snowy layer. Very simply, make a meringue by beating egg whites to soft peaks, add granulated sugar and lemon juice, and beat until you get stiff peaks. Set aside. Beat together cream cheese, orange marmalade, ginger, milk, and cornstarch until mixture is smooth. Add egg whites by quickly and vigorously beating a third of egg whites in first, then gently folding in the rest. Take the brownie-bottom layer out from the oven, pour snowy layer on brownie layer and spread with a spatula or spoon to make an even layer. Return pan to oven, lower temperature to 300°F and bake for 25 minutes or until top looks like lightly toasted marshmallow. Allow squares to cool to room temperature, and place in an airtight container to refrigerate until square is completely chilled. Slice into squares of desired size and enjoy. 

Note: if you really like the top layer (like I do), you can just make the marshmallow cheesecake layer, cut into individual pieces and freeze it. When eaten frozen, it melts in your mouth like ice cream and is a summertime delight. 

Light and fluffy toasted marshmallow cheesecake layer

Out of the pan, a little scraggly on the sides, but who cares? Just slice off the four edges (for your taste-testing:-)

Chilled and cut into squares. Yum!


Sunday 4 November 2012

Excuse my absence

It's been a long, long, long time since my last post. The entire summer just seemed to have flew by without me leaving a mark on my blog, so let me fill you in on what I've been doing. Over the summer, I've been relearning how to play a piano, revisiting my sketchbook, remaking some recipes...but the one activity I'd most like to share here is travelling. I went to Italy. Although most people say that the peak of summer isn't the best time to be in Italy, I had an amazing time there, experiencing the food, fashion, and culture. The weather was constantly hot and sunny and I felt like a sponge soaking in as much Italian warmth as I could. That meant acquiring a nice, healthy-looking tan, which, although probably wasn't healthy at all for me skin, ensured me I had no shortage of Vitamin D. Since pictures convey more than words, I will stop my descriptions here to leave room for...

Sunday 17 June 2012

Potato and mung bean biscuits

Toasted peeled mung beans
I recently watched a video clip of someone rubbing mashed potatoes into a bowl of flour as if rubbing butter into flour to make a pastry dough. I'd tried combining potatoes and flour into a dough before (as if making gnocchi) and rolling it out and baking it, but inevitably, the finished product always puffs up and becomes chewy. This time, I kept the recipe simple and added ground, toasted mung beans. The crackers are crispy but tender, and taste a little like baked potatoes.

The recipe: I boil 3 small baking potatoes with skin on, and peel them when they are cooked to fork tender and cooled. I grate the potatoes into a large bowl, crack in an egg, add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp salt and mix until combined. I toast 3/4 cup peeled mung beans in a 300 F oven for about 8 minutes or until the beans at the very side begin to turn golden brown. I grind the toasted mung beans using a coffee grinder to make mung bean flour, add to the potatoes and mix to combine to create a soft potato dough. Finally, I stir 1 tsp baking powder into 1/4 cup whole wheat flour and add the flour to the potato  dough. I knead the dough until the flour is incorporated. I roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thick, cut into desired shapes using a pastry wheel, and place on a lined baking sheet. I sprinkle some sugar on top of the biscuits for a glittery look and bake in a 325 F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are crisp. Place on a cooling rack until cooled before enjoying.

I also used part of the dough into a pie tin for my cranberry cheesecake tart but I'll tell you about that one in a later post!