Full of Secrets Chocolate Chip Cookies #SundaySupper

Since the majority of my waking hours are spent in the company of elementary school children, I'm surrounded by fans of sweets - particularly packaged junk food. I do my best to bring the benefits of homemade treats to my home economics classes, incorporating fresh fruit, less refined sugars, etc., but when holidays like Hallowe'en roll around, all bets are off. We had our annual bake sale fundraiser at our Hallowe'en party again, and in light of the junk food overload we had in the classroom I decided I would do my best to plow through a bunch of it at once, thus reducing the total sugar swings we had to cope with.

I started with chopping up all the chocolate I could readily get my hands on - Kit Kats, Aeros and Twix for the most part - and tempered their extra sweetness (since I usually use bitter or semisweet) with a few bags of crushed potato chips. Realizing I was low on the requisite margarine (the recipe came from Becel), I tossed in the rest of the amount's worth in cream cheese, followed by a scoop of mayonnaise for the eggs (a trick I picked up from Cupcake Project). Scooped and baked off (without the need to chill, although this worked fine as well with subsequent batches), I was rewarded with the perfect amount of soft, chewy, two-bite cookies laden with pops of sweet, salty and crispy treats. Even better, they were the perfect generation-bridging food thanks to the slight tang of the mayo and cream cheese as well as the dark muscovado sugar, and they disappeared before I got a chance to buy one!

This week, our #SundaySupper tastemakers have the answer to those who find themselves with too much candy after Halloween. We've got a ton of creative, decadent and (slightly less) spooky Leftover Halloween Candy Recipes waiting for you!

Bars

• Candy Bar Blondies by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Gluten Free Seven Layer Candy Bar by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Halloween Hangover Blondies by Cricket’s Confections
• Leftover Candy Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Bars by Books n’ Cooks

Brownies

• Gooey Candy Bar Brownie Cups by Desserts Required
• Leftover Candy Stuffed Brownies by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Cakes

• Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes by Sunday Supper Movement
• Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Cake by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Pumpkin Chocolate Cake by NinjaBaker

Confections

• Candy Bar Truffles by The Crumby Cupcake
• Candy Toffee by Family Foodie
• Candy Filled Lollipops by The Freshman Cook
• Nutty Candy Bar Fudge by And She Cooks

Cookies

• Butterfinger Biscotti by The Redhead Baker
• Candy Bar Oatmeal Cookies by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Full of Secrets Chocolate Chip Cookies by What Smells So Good?

Snacks

• Candy Popcorn Balls by Palatable Pastime
• Inside Out Caramel Apple Muffins by Caroline’s Cooking
• Under the Sea Snack Mix by Pies and Plots

Supper

• Lemon Drop Chicken Chow Mein by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Snickapplebutterway Salad by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board. Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Rhubarb Ginger Sauce

Rhubarb is the one vegetable I look forward to the most all winter. Even though we haven't even touched the cusp of the freezing, icy season yet, it's been cold enough that we've called the growing season over and done with. After harvesting the last bits and pieces of my backyard project this year, we pulled out all the plants, leaving me nothing outside to look at but a bare, desolate plot of land. Luckily, some of that final harvest was prime for the cooking and eating, not the least my rhubarb and homegrown hot peppers!

Rather than make yet another jam or pepper jelly, I decided to go closer to the BBQ sauce route with my produce. Along with balsamic vinegar and two types of unrefined sugar, this rich, sticky-sweet-tart-spicy condiment cooked up fairly quickly for a "sleeper hit" canned gift for the holidays. We enjoyed (multiple) "quality control" taste tests throughout the short cooking process, as well as for a week or so afterwards with the leftovers. Once we started using it, we kept finding ways to mix it into meals - it made its way into homemade burgers, onto roasted broccoli and spooned onto plain boiled rice for a bit of a kick. It may not be the beauty queen of the pantry, but it's definitely one of the workhorses!

Shared with Gluten Free Fridays

Home Canned Pizza Sauce #SundaySupper

If you had asked me a few weeks ago, I'd never have been able to tell you there was a whole month dedicated to pizza. Then, thanks to #SundaySupper, I discovered that National Pizza Month was actually established in 1984. As a result, Americans have been using the month of October to celebrate their love of pizza, and what a love it is! Over 3 billion of these cheesy treats are sold yearly in the USA alone, and if I know anything from my experience teaching, a school's pizza day is one of the highlights of the term.

I love a good pie as much as the next person (albeit my tastes lean more towards the more sauce / no mozz and tons of veggies side), but as a family we reserved pizza take out for birthday parties and maybe one or two times a year when we had a late night for a school function. After going to cooking school (and living on my own for the first time), I came to appreciate the power that a well-made sauce had to elevate everything from slow-risen, whole grain flatbreads to even the simplest pizza dough. I started off by sauce-making experiences with the most basic, single-serving and - gasp - ketchup based mixture, which is still perfectly delicious in it's own right. With my home ec classes, I step up the sauce creation a little bit, using a tomato paste-fortified mixture laden with a few key spices and herbs, which gives our pies a perfect kid-friendly flavour with just enough authenticity to show them there's something beyond the jar or the 27-cheese monstrosities they can order for delivery.

This year in my canning melee, I decided that I would try my hand at making pizza sauce 100% from scratch, with real tomatoes and garden-fresh garlic and herbs. I had Jami's recipe as a guide, which gave me the tip of freezing and thawing the tomatoes first to remove excess liquid (one of the reasons I have gallon bags of tomatoes hanging in the freezer as we speak) and the whole thing came together easily once everything was in the pot. I won't say it was quick, because as with most homemade tomato sauces the slower and lower they cook, the better, but I will say that the time was more than worth it. Not only does the sauce can and freeze well, but I can vouch for the fact that the sauce that didn't make it into jars turned into a divine dipper for garlic pita and everything bagel chips.

This week, the #SundaySupper team is pulling out our best pizza recipes to fill your belly with deliciousness. We’ve got everything from traditional pizzas to dessert pies, and some pizza inspired sandwiches and salads.  Join us on Twitter tonight at 7pm where we’ll be talking all things pizza and sharing our best pizza recipes.
 

Appetizers

• Cauliflower Crust Pizza by Monica’s Table
• Cool Veggie and Ranch Pizza Appetizer by Positively Stacey
• Pepperoni Cheese Pizza Sliders by Family Around the Table
• Pizza Beef Wontons by Asian in America
• Pizza Potato Skins by Casa de Crews

 

Breakfast

• Cinnamon Roll Pizza by Recipes Food and Cooking

 

Condiments

• Home Canned Pizza Sauce by What Smells So Good?

 

Mains

• Bacon Jam, Pear and Butternut Squash Pizza by Caroline’s Cooking
• Bagel Pizzas by And She Cooks
• BBQ Bacon Mango Pizza by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Candy Corn Pizza by Palatable Pastime
• Chicago Deep Dish Pizza by Bottom Left of the Mitten
• Chicken Pesto Calzone by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chicken Pot Pie French Bread Pizza by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Chicken Vegetable Pizza (Low-Carb) by My Life Cookbook
• Copycat UNO’s Pizza by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Deep Dish Fondue Pizza by Momma’s Meals
• Deluxe Imo’s Pizza Lasagna Rolls by Crazed Mom
• Easy French Bread Pizza by Confessions of a Cooking Diva
• Everything Pizza Tartin by Sunday Supper Movement
• Fall Veggie Pizza by The Culinary Compass
• Gluten Free Curried Pumpkin Chicken Pizza by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Grilled Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza Wraps by Food Lust People Love
• Hawaiian Pizza Salad by Cricket’s Confections
• Homemade Pan Pizza by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza) by Curious Cuisiniere
• Lunchtime Pizza Muffins by Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
• Meatball Sub Pizza by Life Tastes Good
• Mexican Pizza by Moore or Less Cooking
• Mexican-Style Corn Tortilla Pizzas by Home Sweet Homestead
• Mom’s Family Style Cavatini by Powered by BLING
• Onion Tart by Wholistic Woman
• Philly Cheesesteak Flatbread Pizza by Family Foodie
• Pizza Grilled Cheese by Eat, Drink and Be Tracy
• Pizza Pot Pies by Brunch-n-Bites
• Pizza Steak Hoagie by The Freshman Cook
• Pizza Toscana by Cooking with Carlee
• Roasted Garlic and Spinach Pizza with Balsamic Onions by Helpful Homemade
• Rustic Bacon & Citrus Pizza by Gourmet Everyday
• Sausage and Peppers Pizza by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Sausage Arugula Pizza by The Bitter Side of Sweet
• Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Grilled Pizza by Our Good Life
• Spinach and Feta Stuffed Pizza Bread by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Supreme Breakfast Pizza by The Crumby Cupcake
• Taco Dip Pizza by Hardly a Goddess
• Tandoori Chicken Pizza with Fresh Basil and Mozzarella by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• The Mac Pizza by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Vegan Margherita Pizza by Simple and Savory

 

Desserts

• Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza by The Foodie Affair
• Cheesecake Pizza by The Redhead Baker
• Coconut Macaroon Pizza by Pies and Plots
• Fresh Fruit Pizza by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Pumpkin Date Bars #creativecookieexchange

It's Fall, so it must be pumpkin season!

Unlike most of my family, I am not a devoted fan of pumpkin pie, cake, cookies or muffins. The flavour of the squash, as well as its scent while baking, are rather off-putting to me on their own, and the flavour, to quote some adorable rodents, is "squishy nothing".

However, the merits of the squash are not all lost on me... when added to another flavourful ingredient - say, apple butter, maple syrup or dates - pumpkin puree becomes the perfect flavour vehicle, adding bulk and moisture without any untoward flavours of its own. In fact, over the years I've become well known in the family for churning out a mean apple butter-pumpkin pie, made with tofu instead of eggs for extra creaminess and far less risk of cracking with the heat of the oven (it's also my secret for cheesecake), and I've done similar combinations in my Home Ec classes where some of the kids are leery of the "traditional" custard filling.

This year, in addition to my (now) classic pie, I whipped up a bake-sale-worthy pan of these autumn-flavoured crumb bars. The base and topping is rich with butter and brown sugar, with a perfect texture from the oats and kinako, and reminds me 100% of my mom's apple squares. To temper the richness, I opted for a not-too-sweet filling of pureed dates, pure pumpkin ppuree, apple juice and a touch of stevia. Even without the stevia, the mixture was plenty sweet enough - and depending on your dates you might not need any added sweetness at all (I used Chinese red dates, which aren't super-sweet, but if you used Medjool you would definitely want to taste the filling pre-stevia).

It's time for this month's Creative Cookie Exchange! One of the best things about fall--in addition to sweaters and football--is all of the delightful seasonal themes that come to mind for baking. Pumpkin, apples, late summer and early fall harvest, Halloween, Thanksgiving…. They are all fun and delicious to play around with, so check out what we have for you this month!

You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Apple Cranberry Crumble Bars from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
• Pecan Pie Thumbprints from Oven Delights
• Pumpkin Date Bars from What Smells So Good?
• Momofuku Corn Cookies from Food Lust People Love
• Apple Cider Cookies with Maple Frosting from 2 Cookin Mamas
• Maple Cookies from A Baker’s House
• Caramel Apple Shortbread Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Pecan Butter Cookies from Basic N Delicious
• Caramelized Apple Oatmeal Cookies from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Apple and oat cookies from Flours and frostings
• Spiked Oatmeal Apple Cookies from The Spiced Life

Cranberry Blueberry Bran Bagels #wbd2016

It's been ages since I've put on the bagel-baking apron, but with the impending craziness that the holidays bring, breakfasts and lunches on the go are starting to become more the "norm" than the exception. There's nothing that can truly beat a chewy, boiled bagel freshly made at home - except perhaps a chewy, boiled bagel freshly made in Montreal! Making bagels also allows a little more room to "play" with ingredients, since you can make a big batch of basic bagel dough and knead in additions as desired.

That said, I totally knew what direction I was heading in when I pulled out the flour, vital wheat gluten and yeast, and it was 100% driven by my mom's passion for a certain muffin as well as the timely prevalence of cranberry everything in my local store. With a decent helping of vegan blueberry yogurt, the fact that the bagels contained a hefty amount of bran (both added and in the form of whole wheat flour) didn't translate into sawdusty toast screaming for a mountain of butter (or another  Toast Topper - although a smear of Blueberry Beet Butter or Roasted Peach Jam is a great addition). Given that I was going for the "bigger is better" dough approach, I was really glad I had a strong standing mixer - there is no way to get adequate kneading without one, and my 7-quart KA Proline took the dough to perfectly smooth and supple with no problem. Next step is to get grinding my own flours, now that I have a Mockmill at my disposal!

It's once again time for World Bread Day, an international celebration of the fact that we have the luxury to not only have enough food to survive, but to be able to enjoy the food on our tables. This event has been hosted by Zorra at Kochtopf for ten years now, and the round-ups are always worth a perusal! Here are some of the World Bread Roundups from the past.

Cherry-Chocolate Wine Spritzer Cake

Those of you who have had beer bread know just how delicious - and dead simple - it is. Possibly the most basic quickbread in existence, the original recipe is nothing more than self-rising flour, sugar, butter and beer. Thanks to the carbonation and "yeasty" flavours of the brew, the bread is lofty and similar in flavour to a yeasted dough, but it needs the hit of butter for moisture lest it turn to sawdust after cooling. As a result, the loaves don't store overly well, and are best (IMHO) dunked into soup or stew.

All of the recipes with the carbonated liquid / self rising flour combination I've found to date are on the savoury side - I've seen ones with herbs, garlic, cheese, chiles, olives... but never taking on dessert or the sweet side of quickbread. I suspect most of this has to do with the fact that the recipes are subject to drying out rapidly, making them less appealing as a stand-alone treat. That said, when I found myself with a few bottles of wine spritzer left over from a birthday party, a bottle of Cheribundi Tart Cherry Juice and a handful of dark chocolate chunks, I thought I'd try it out anyways. The combination was inspired by a recipe found on Nosh My Way, and by adding just a smidge of honey to the batter along with the basic ingredients I was rewarded with a sweet, tender loaf cake with just enough outer crust to slice cleanly. Inside, the melt-in-your-moth crumb held chunks of melting bittersweet chocolate and dried cherry "jewels" that held onto enough moisture that the loaf never dried out. The best part? This drop-dead simple, decadent and rich-tasting loaf cake only has 3 tbsp of butter and is laced with whole grains to boot!

Beet Horseradish

The holidays have never held huge amounts of wonder, excitement and longing for me. Unlike most kids I knew growing up, we saw my grandparents (our only relatives in the province) quite regularly - and aside from Christmas gifts once a year, our gatherings were more or less the same. Turkey dinner for Thanksgiving was special not for the meal itself, but for the rituals surrounding it - I learned early on in life to "give the turkey a bath" (i.e. thaw it in the laundry tub full of water) and to both pat it dry and "dance with it" (how my mom used to wrestle it out of the packaging and prepare it for trussing). While Mom did the bird, glazed carrots and infamous cheesy broccoli and cauliflower, what I clamoured for the most was my paternal grandma's mashed potatoes - a recipe that I have (at least according to her current recollection) but have never been able to recreate.

Christmas dinners, though, were my maternal grandparents' domain. While we occasionally had a turkey on the table, more often it was roast beef - my grandpa's favourite and (for him and I) the best excuse ever to down a jar of pickled onions and heaping scoops of pickled horseradish. I've loved horseradish for as long as I can remember, and over the holidays it migrated from on top of roasted meat to inside mashed potatoes, mixed with boiled Brussels sprouts and asparagus and carefully scooped onto sliced Havarti over Triscuits.

Most of the time, our horseradish enjoyment was in the form of the plain, white jarred stuff (but not the creamy kind - blech). However, once every few years, Grandpa would find beet-tinted, freshly made and hotter than heck fresh horseradish at the deli and bring it home. He and I were the only two people at the table that truly loved the stuff, and while I never liked beets on their own growing up, the fresh zip of the radish made the earthy sweetness just work on my tongue.

Today would have been my grandpa's birthday (shame on me, I wouldn't know what year), and while he's not with us in person he's definitely partaking in spirit. In his honour, I dug out my jar of  fresh, homemade, pink-hued horseradish  and scooped out a helping over my roasted sprouts tonight. The garden-harvested produce really brought their A-game to the table, and don't mellow as fast as the storebought stuff, meaning wallops of flavour in every mouthful!

Shared with Gluten Free Fridays

Pickled Red Onions for #SundaySupper Oktoberfest

Someone want to tell me how September is over already? It seems like only yesterday that the kids were hauling their backpacks of brand new binders, books and pencils to school, and now the classrooms (at least mine) are well-broken in and the talk is of Halloween parties and even - gasp - Christmas lists. A summer-worshipper myself, the thought of fully immersing myself in the brisk season of fall is somewhat daunting... in fact, while I love the ideas of fall themed events (apple picking, changing leaves and pumpkin carving), I'm staunchly anti-fall climate and have already piled on the sweaters.

That said, October is quite the month of celebration - obviously, we have Halloween to look forward to (although according to the stores, the holiday has been around the corner since August), but there's also Thanksgiving for us Canadians and for the Bavarian community, the glory of Oktoberfest is here too.

Oktoberfest is the longest running beer festival and traveling fair held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Cities all over the world celebrate Oktoberfest with German-inspired food, fun, and, of course, beer. It is a 16-18 day folk festival running from mid-September to the first weekend in October. Having been held every year, for 206 years, since its start in 1810, Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture.

The #SundaySupper team, hosted this week by Cricket of Cricket’s Confections, have banded together to create German-inspired recipes in honour of Oktoberfest. My contribution are these sweet-tangy pickled red onions, which are perfect on spicy brats or in slaws as well as on their own. Gloriously pink, just sweet enough and getting better with age, they're ridiculously easy to make too. I used dried papaya seeds for a boost of bitter-spicy pep. I had read somewhere that they're a good substitute for peppercorns and, while they're a little more on the "sharp" side of the spectrum, I'd have to agree. Obviously, regular peppercorns would work too - and if you can get your hands on pink peppercorns, all the better. While you're supposed to chill these before digging in, I'd be lying if I said I didn't eat forkfuls of these pickled red onions from the jar while still warm. They're that good.

Appetizers (die Vorspeisen)

• German Pancake Soup (Flädlesuppe) by Caroline’s Cooking
• German Potato Pancakes by The Crumby Cupcake
• Homemade Pretzels with Kids by Hardly A Goddess
• Kräuterbutter (German Herb Butter) by Tara’s Multicultural Table
• Latke and Sauerbraten Poutine by Monica’s Table
• Obatzda – Bavarian Cheese Spread by Sunday Supper Movement
• Warsteiner Fondue by A Day in the Life on the Farm

 

Breakfast (das Frühstück)

• German Apple Pancake by The Chef Next Door
• Peach Fritters by Pies and Plots

 

Condiments (die Gewürze)

• Pickled Red Onions by What Smells So Good?
• Spicy Beer Mustard by Food Lust People Love

 

Main Dish (die Hauptgerichte)

• Bavarian Sausage & Cabbage Soup by Food Done Light
• Beef Goulash Recipe by Positively Stacey
• Beer Mac and Cheese by Moore or Less Cooking
• Berlin Potato Soup by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Bierocks by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Bratwurst Sheet Pan Dinner by A Mind Full Mom
• Burgers with Bacon-Sauerkraut Jam by Palatable Pastime
• How to Make Traditional German Sauerbraten by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Oktoberfest Beer Brats by Wholistic Woman
• Oktoberfest Chicken Chili by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Oktoberfest Fondue 3 Ways by Momma’s Meals
• Pork chops with Sauerkraut and Apples by Brunch-n-Bites
• Roasted Apple & Beer Chili For Oktoberfest by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• Sausage, Pepper, and Onion Kebobs w/ a Boiled Cider Drizzle by The Freshman Cook
• Schwenkbraten (Grilled German Pork Chops) by Curious Cuisiniere

 

Side Dish (die Beilagen)

• Fried Potatoes German Style by My Life as a Cookbook
• German Potato Salad by Tramplingrose
• Ginger Beer Sauerkraut by Cricket’s Confections
• Herbed Spaetzle by The Hungry Goddess
• Krautsalat (German Coleslaw) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Oktoberfest Potatoes by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Dessert (der Nachtisch)

• Apple Tart by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Kaiserschmarrn Recipe by Plated Cravings
• Nana’s Gluten Free German Chocolate Cake by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Rote Grütze (Fruit Pudding) by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

 
Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.