CHRISTMAS SCONES

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the recipe

Taken from The Complete America's Test Kitchen Tv Show Cookbook.

Yields 8

"It is important to work the dough as little as possible - work quickly and knead and fold the dough only number of times called for. The butter should be frozen sold before grating ... If fresh berries are unavailable, an equal amount of frozen berries, unthawed, can be substituted. An equal amount of raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries can also be used in place of the blueberries ... Refrigerate or freeze leftover scones, wrapped in foil, in an airtight container."

the ingredients

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen whole
11/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lemon

one) Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Score and remove half of the wrapper from each stick of frozen butter. Grate the unwrapped ends on the large holes of a grater (you should grate a total of 8 tablespoons). Place the grated butter in the freezer until needed. Melt 2 tablespoons of the remaining ungrated butter and set aside. Save the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter for another use.

two) Whisk the milk and sour cream together in a medium bowl; refrigerate until needed. Whisk the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, salt, baking soda, and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Add frozen butter to the flour mixture and toss with your finger until the butter is thoroughly coated.

three) Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture; fold with a rubber spatula, transfer the dough to a liberally floured work surface. Dust the surface of the dough with flour; with floured hands knead the dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together in a ragged ball, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking.

four) Roll the dough into an approximate 12-inch square. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter, using a spatula to release the dough if it sticks to the work surface. Lift the short ends of the dough and fold into thirds again to form an approximate 4-inch square. Transfer the dough to a plate lightly dusted with flour an chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.

five) Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and roll into an approximate 12 inch square again. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the surface of the dough, then press down so they are slightly embedded in the dough. Roll the dough, pressing to form a tight log. Lay the log seam side down and press it into a 12 by 4 inch rectangle. Using a sharp, floured knife, cut the rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.

six) Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

ENJOY! 

and Merry Christmas from my heart to yours,

emily

sweet: BANANA CRANBERRY BREAD

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Posting this a little while after baking this glorious wonder, I still find myself daydreaming of how incredibly delicious it was. I didn't think any other recipe would beat the one my mom uses and has used for years and years. But my accusations were FALSE. And my family accepted this after one oversized bite. Another loud applause goes out to Joy the Baker for this one. The smooth and rich taste of the banana with the tartness of cranberries joined together with a fragrant aroma of the nutmeg and cinnamon is just... I don't know... Maybe, pretty darn amazing and heavenly?!  The only ingredient omitted from this recipe were the cloves only because my family and I are just not fans of cloves. I feel like this bread is the epitome of a make-again-and-again-and-again recipe. So obviously it's good, so go make it why don't you! 

enjoy!

emily
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two of my favourite things all baked together in one little humble loaf of joy.

recipe taken from Lady and Pups: an angry food blog who derived it from a Martha Stewart recipe. she's so very witty and sarcastic oh my gosh I love it!

the recipe:

yield: one loaf 
3 tablespoons (10 grams) black tea/Irish breakfast/English breakfast [I used Irish breakfast.]
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 stick (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup honey + 2-3 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour, or all-purpose
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Preheat the oven on 350ºF/175ºC.

Grind black tea-leaves in a spice-grinder until coarsely ground (like the consistency of ground coffee for French-press), then add to the milk in a small sauce pot.  If you don’t have a spice-grinder, combine tea-leaves with milk in a blender, and blend to the same consistency.  Bring to a simmer on medium-heat then turn the heat off.  Leave the ground tea-leaves in the milk and let steep while cooling down to room-temperature.

Cream the butter and sugar together with a stand-mixer/hand-held mixer until light and fluffy, approx 3 min.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat it into the creamed butter until the mixture is light and fluffy again, 2 min for each egg.  Then add 1/3 cup of honey and vanilla extract, beat until smoothly combined.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Beat the flour-mixture and the black tea-milk (that’s cooled down to room-temp) alternatively into the creamed butter-mixture, starting and ending with the flour-mixture.  Basically: 1/3 of flour-mixture + 1/2 of black tea-milk + 1/3 of flour-mix + 1/2 of black tea-milk + the last 1/3 of flour-mix.  Mix each step until just smooth and don’t over-work the batter.

Butter the inside of a loaf-pan and dust with flour.  Make sure to tap the pan to release excess flour.  Pour the batter into the pan, and swirl 3 tbsp of honey into the batter with a spoon.  Bake in the oven until golden-brown on top and a wooden skewer comes out clean from the center of the loaf, 50-60 min.

Let the cake cool off slightly.  

Serve the sliced cake with honey whipped cream (optional - see her blog for the recipe!)  

                     And you know what goes well with this?  A cup of strong black tea with milk :)

enjoy!

emily
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sweet: DUTCH BABIES!

ahhhhh. they're perfect combination of a pancake and a crepe. first time making dutch babies (with Beth) and I can tell you, it won't be my last.
Beth and I used A Beautiful Mess's recipe. go check it out! we chose to use mangos, cinnamon + sugar. next time we wan't to try blueberries and lemon zest. also, I feel like Joy's roasted plums with olive oil, thyme + yogurt would be PRIME. maybe even something savoury! in other words, anything you put on top of this baby will make your taste buds incredibly happy!

annnnd we shamelessly ate it straight out of the cast iron pan.

enjoy! enjoy enjoy enjoy.

much love,

emily
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sweet: ICED VIETNAMESE COFFEE

I originally sipped this deliciousness at a downtown Calgary coffee shop in January + when the recent rising temperatures had me thirsting for somethin' ice cold + sweet, I was like duhhhh, I need to attempt at recreating the Vietnamese coffee [which is just simply, coffee + sweetened condensed milk] that I had fallen in love with a couple months back! it turned out PERF-ect. super yummy, super refreshing. took way too much of my self control not to make another one.  

the recipe

makes one large glass

[this is a recipe that can be simply altered to meet your little sweet tooth and coffee preferences.]

1-2 tablespoon(s) sweetened condensed
1 1/3 cups strongly brewed coffee, cold [i used a dark roast from Starbucks. alwayyyys]
ice

spoon 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed into the glass. fill glass 2/3rd's of the way with cooled black coffee, leaving room for ice.

top off with a couple of ice cubes, stir, swirl, sip, ahhhhhh.

ENJOY!

much love,
emily
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savory: TOMATO GOAT CHEESE TART

me and my good pal, Beth, have an everlasting love for goat cheese. any recipe including or evolving around goat cheese captures our attention and we immediately feel the urge to make it. so yesterday on a windy spring afternoon, we came across David Levobitz' recipe for a French Tomato Tart. we made some minor alternations to make it our own but the finished product was pretty dang close. 

the recipe 

preheat oven to 425F

tart filling

small amount of dijon mustard

4-5 roma tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

a handful of chopped fresh herbs (such as thyme, chives, rosemary, basil)

8 ounces (250g) fresh goat cheese

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

tart dough

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cups unsalted butter, chilled

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

2-3 tablespoons cold water 

1. make the dough by mixing the flour and salt in a bowl. add the butter and use your hands, or a pastry blender, to break in the butter until the mixture has a crumbly texture.

2. in a small bowl, mix the egg with 2 tablespoons of the water. make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg mixture, stirring the mixture until the dough hold together. if it's not coming together easily, add the additional tablespoon of cold water.

3. gather the dough into a ball and roll it on a lightly floured surface, adding additional flour only as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the counter. 

4. if you're using a tart pan: roll the dough out large enough so that it will cover the bottom of the pan and go up the sides.

   [if you're going free form, like we did: roll dough out to about 14 inches across, transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. note: when adding the filling, leave about a 2 inch border to allow for a rolled up edge.]

5. spread an even layer of mustard over the tart dough and let sit for a few minutes to dry out.

6. slice tomatoes, arranging them over the mustard in a single layer. drizzle olive oil over tomatoes.

7. sprinkle chopped fresh herbs [we just used basil, another favourite of ours], arrange goat cheese slices/crumbles on top, and drizzle desired amount of honey to finish off. [we used 1 tablespoon and talked about using a bit less the next time. it all depends on how much sweetness you would like!]

8. bake the tart for 30 minutes or so, until the dough is cooked, the tomatoes are tender, and the cheese is nicely browned. [we had the oven on convection and took our masterpiece out just over 20 minutes.]

9. take out of oven and let sit for 5 minutes, allowing ingredients to set and cool down. 

VOILA! 

lets be honest here, Beth and I have made many things together... and we've definitely have had failed experiences. but this tart is one of success and heavenly flavour! Beth has to be given credit for the buttery yet flakey crust; the foundation of an any thing but mediocre tart. it's amazing how raw, fresh ingredients can be so compatible. whether its when the tart tomato hits the back of your tongue or when the sweetness of the drizzled over honey is tasted or when those are offset by richness of the savoured goat cheese, this warm and savoury tart is going to hit the spot at one point in time and you're going to want to make it again and again and again.

hope you get a chance to make this soon and devour it in a short amount of time like beth and I did!

much love (and a happy stomach),

emily

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sweet: CHOCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES WITH SALTED CARAMEL + CREAM

bite into one of these bad boys and the semi sweet chocolate hits first the tongue followed by the salty sweet of the salted caramel and topped off with the creamy richness of the whipped cream. a sandwich made with only the best possible flavours. i wouldn’t laugh if you stopped at the caramel and just polished off the jar and never followed through with the whoopie part. unmistakably my favourite layer. and i give props to pinterest for allowing me to stumble upon this recipe. and thanks to kate gibbs [the kitchen inc.] for publishing this beauty on her wonderful website! my deepest apologies for this being the reason why you fail your [once existent] diet. [insert snickering here]. note: kate gibbs writes from across the globe in australia and therefore some ingredients are measured in grams. but it’s simple math and i believe in you to convert! 

the recipe [otherwise known as your gateway to happiness]

yield: about 20 pies.

preheat oven to 375F

salted caramel

melt 200g sugar in a large, heavy saucepan, over a medium heat, stirring gently until completely melted. warm 200g cream and add a little at a time, being careful of splatters. turn to low heat. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or good quality salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla. add 140g unsalted butter, which has been cut into small cubes, a couple cubes at a time. stir well between each addition. mix well until the caramel is smooth and glossy [ummm, yummy!] pour into two small jars with lids and chill. use to fill whoopie pies. or to spoon over ice cream. or just to eat all by itself. 

chocolate whoopie pies

1 3/4 c plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract 

line baking tray with parchment paper. in a bowl, sieve together flour, baking powder and cocoa, set aside. in an electric mixer, beat butter, then add sugars, beat until light and fluffy. add the egg, mix well, then add buttermilk and vanilla. add flour, baking soda, and cocoa mixture and beat to form a smooth dough. roll just short of 1 tablespoon balls of dough and place onto pan about 4cm apart, press down with two fingers to form slightly rounded mounds. bake until slightly firm to the touch, 10-12 minutes. repeat with remaining mixture. cool on a wire rack. when cool, fill with salted caramel and whipped cream. 

hoping these make you as happy as they make me! and if you do decide to venture out and make these, let me know how yours went and/or what you’d alter! 

i’m going to go eat one right now. hehe. 

emily

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