Coming Full Circle

My brain is a funny thing these days... Even though it shouldn't come as a surprise to me, I still find myself shocked at the fact that tomorrow will mark two years of blogging for me! I don't know what posessed me to start writing a food blog on a day where the rest of the country was out celebrating, and some days I don't know what kept me going this long! All I can say is that I am honestly humbled, and extremely grateful, for all the readers that I have (who comment or not!), and for the friends I feel I have made along the way across the globe. You have no idea how much your input and words mean to me, and I thank you all for giving me a purpose and enough ideas to continue cooking for another year (or 12!).

I may not be as regular at updating my blog these days as in the beginning, but this year marked some significant changes... namely my return to full time schooling. As I've teetered my way towards a balance of work and play, I've been able to return back to this blog and my beginnings, and remember what I really love to do. I may graduate with an official Nutrition Management diploma next year, but in my heart, and to you all out there, I am still the baker.

The next couple days will be full of fairly decadent creations for me - a Kahlua Fudge Cake that I made for my friend and old professor Stan's anniversary, an equally rich and sinful Quintuple Hazelnut Cake for Andrew's birthday as well as a couple other sweet treats that make the most of the unseasonal heat we've had in Ontario the past few weeks - but before I dive headlong into the butter and sugar fray, I'll pass along these hearty, slightly sweet bagels that I made as part of my "feeding mom" series (I really should make a tag category for all of these!). I stumbled across a new hot cereal mixture at the Bulk Barn a few weeks ago called "Sunrise Blend", which was full of superfood goodness: bulgur, buckwheat groats, quinoa flakes, red rice and flaxseed. I snatched up a small bag of it and it soon found its way, along with some homegrown Red Fife flour and local buckwheat honey, into the latest mid morning snack option on my mom's menu.

I'm sending these circles of sunshine off to Susan's YeastSpotting event this week! Happy Canada Day and (early) Independence Day to all those celebrating!

Super Sunrise Bagels
Makes 8
3/4 cup refreshed sourdough starter, room temperature
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup Red Fife (or whole wheat) flour
3 tbsp buckwheat honey
2 tbsp whole-grain hot cereal (like Scotch oats or another long cooking grain, not instant)
1/4 cup boiling water
2 1/2 cups Red Fife flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rye flakes (or large-flake oats)
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp buckwheat honey (for boiling)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, combine the sourdough starter, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup Red Fife flour and honey.
2. Let stand for 2-3 hours.
3. In a small bowl, combine cereal and boiling water, allow to stand 2-3 hours.
4. Separately, whisk together 2 1/2 cups Red Fife flour, all purpose flour, rye flakes, gluten, salt and cinnamon.
5. Stir the soaked cereal, warm water and vanilla into the starter mixture.
6. On slow speed, add the flour mixture gradually to the mixing bowl.
7. Knead dough for 10-12 minutes, until elastic and smooth.
8. Place into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until almost doubled, 5-7 hours.
9. Deflate the dough and shape into 8 balls. Allow to rest 20 minutes.
10. Preheat oven to 400F, line two baking sheets with parchment and bring a large pot of water to a boil, adding 1 tbsp honey.
11. Shape the dough balls into rings and, two at a time, drop into the boiling water.
12. Cook rings 1 minute on each side, then drain well and place on the prepared sheets.
13. Bake for 30 minutes, cool completely on a rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 292.3
Total Fat: 1.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 4.1 mg
Total Carbs: 61.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 8.5 g
Protein: 11.6 g

For Simplicity's Sake

There isn't much I can possibly say about this compote, other than it's absolutely delicious. Devilishly tart (though you can add more sugar or even honey if it's too sour for you), the tang of the rhubarb melts smoothly into the Summery sweet strawberries and creamy apples, turning the three ingredients into a chunky, rich mixture that you could add to pretty much anything. I stuffed some into a Pop-Tart like pastry that I made with leftover pie dough scraps (I promise the pie is coming soon!), but I have to admit my favourite method of enjoyment is off a rather large spoon.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Apple Compote
24 two-tablespoon servings
1 lb rhubarb, chopped roughly
2 large apples, diced (peel if desired)
6 large strawberries, quartered
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

1. Combine rhubarb, apples, and water in a sauce pan, bring to a boil.
2. Add sugar, and simmer until pulpy and thickened.
3. Do not overcook as the fruits will turn to mush!

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 23.8
Total Fat: 0.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.8 mg
Total Carbs: 6.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
Protein: 0.2 g

A Cup of Meh

Ever had an idea for a recipe that, in your mind and on paper, looked brilliant - patent making, gazillions of books publishing perfect - but in practice all you manage to garner is a barely satisfactory "meh"? It's bound to happen at least once every once in a while, especially when you're like me and can't bear to be tied down to the oh-so-constricting black and white recipe text! With luck, the results are those that are still edible. That was the case with these very ugly, yet fairly tasty blobs you see before you.

I'm hesitant to call these a total all-in-all failure, since Andrew attested to their good taste, but they looked nothing like how I had intended. There's no way you could possibly tell my intent from the photos, but I wrote the recipe to be a type of marble cupcake. Instead of the typical chocolate/vanilla swirl, though, I had the (at the time) ingenious idea to try a double-chocolate marble effect with milk and dark chocolate batters instead. The white chips were a hasty afterthought, and the fact that they sunk right to the very bottoms of the cakes is evidence of the fact that the initial cake recipe was (unbeknownst to me) flawed. In retrospect, I could have added more flour or cocoa powder to try and thicken the batter (that was about as thick as skim milk when I went to pour it) but I forged ahead, quickly trading in the marbled look to try for a Zebra Cake appearance. In two separate bowls, the batters looked different enough in colour to make separate layers, but the thinness of the batter just meant that it all kind of mushed together.

Ah well. You can't win 'em all, right? I have a little bit of a pet project to do now, and I must be owed a success or two down the line somewhere!

Here's what I did this time, if you have any suggestions give a holler in the comments!

Double Chocolate Marble Cupcakes (Version 1)
Makes 26
Milk Chocolate Batter
190 g granulated sugar
87 g flour
35 g unsweetened cocoa
25 g powdered skim milk powder
3 g baking powder
3 g baking soda
pinch salt
1 egg
250 mL whole milk
60 mL canola oil
10 mL vanilla

Dark Chocolate Batter
87g flour
45g unsweetened cocoa (dark if you can get it)
3 g baking powder
3 g baking soda
pinch salt
1 egg
250 mL brewed, cooled coffee
60 mL canola oil
5 mL vanilla
150 g dark brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F, grease or line muffin cups.
2. In a bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, flour, cocoa, milk powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat together egg, milk, oil and vanilla, set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine the second amounts of flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
5. Separately, beat together the second egg, coffee, oil, vanilla and brown sugar.
6. Add the milk mixture to the first bowl of dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes.
7. Add the coffee mixture to the second bowl of dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes.
8. Dollop amounts of milk and dark chocolate batters into the prepared cups, filling no more than 2/3 of the way full.
9. Use a chopstick or skewer to lightly swirl the batters.
10. Bake 23-25 minutes, until the toothpick test comes clean. Cool in tins 10 minutes before turning out onto rack and cooling completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 132.1
Total Fat: 5.4 g
Cholesterol: 17.5 mg
Sodium: 28.8 mg
Total Carbs: 20.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.2 g
Protein: 2.4 g

Going Around in Circles

Summer always translates into insanity for our family - between birthdays (6 of them!), varying work shifts, vacations and the work we put into keeping the garden at bay, it's not unusual for us to be in 5 places at once, and usually without a decent meal on hand! My mom's been settling into a new routine in a new office building (without the awesome co-workers that so willingly eat my goodies :-( though) and the levels of stress are definitely reaching peaks as high as the temperatures are! In Toronto at least, the heat has swung a full 180 degrees from last week's rainy and cold dreariness to a hot, humid, skin melting climate. Luckily for us, we have air conditioning that (theoretically) works, though it is definitely not coping these days! Thank God I made two batches of bagels for mom in advance, because running a hot oven and keeping a huge pot of water boiling on the stove these days? Um, no... I'll pass.

Poppyseed - Egg Bagels
Makes 8
2 cups flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp salt
1 packet instant yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp honey
1 egg
1 egg yolk (reserve white for brushing)
1 tbsp honey (for boiling)
Poppy seeds for topping

1. In a large bowl or stand mixer basin, whisk together flours, gluten, salt and yeast.
2. Combine warm water and honey, then pour into the flour mixture.
3. Mix to begin combining, then add the egg and yolk and mix to form a smooth, satiny dough.
4. Knead for 7-10 minutes, until very elastic and springy.
5. Place into an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 400F, line 2 cookie sheets with parchment and bring a large pot of water to a boil, adding the honey.
7. Deflate dough and divide into 8 balls.
8. Shape balls into rings, and 2 at a time, drop into the boiling honey-water.
9. Cook for 1 minute each side, then drain well and place on sheets.
10. Brush boiled bagels with remaining egg white and dip in poppy seeds (or sprinkle for a less dense coating.
11. Bake for 30 minutes, cool completely on a wire rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 253.6
Total Fat: 2.4 g
Cholesterol: 53.1 mg
Sodium: 18.5 mg
Total Carbs: 47.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.5 g
Protein: 11.2 g

Tearing Up the Recipe Card

I have an awesome dad. For as long as I can remember, he's always been challenging me to strike out my own paths while growing up and never letting a challenge scare me away. Step back, take a breather, then re-assess and dive on in, he'd say. What's the worst that can happen? I'm given to entertaining pessimistic thoughts on more than the rare occasion, so I'd always have some smart-alecky remark for him when he'd ask me, but we'd always take it in stride and laugh it off, and lo and behold I would almost always be pleasantly surprised. Nobody has shown me more how to laugh at myself even when I feel like jumping off a cliff, how to slow down when everything moves at breakneck speed, and - perhaps most importantly for a blogger like me - how to fix a laptop when your little sister empties a full glass of milk into the keyboard! I haven't been the perfect daughter, or even necessarily a good one most of the time, but I try to do right by my dad and make him as proud of me as I am of him. We've had our battles and our tribulations over the years, but as I've grown up I've come to realize that our relative time on this earth with those we love is all too short, and not worth wasting with emotions of anger and guilt.

It is in the spirit of my dad's adventurous nature and love of new experiences that I made this cake to cap off this Father's Day, after a round of golf at our local club. I had started off looking at the now infamous Gourmet Raspberry Buttermilk Cake, a simple, single layer confection studded with juicy berries and tangy from rich buttermilk, but I began formulating so many changes to the recipe that I could hardly make any comment as to how the original fares within my kitchen! I will say that my recipe (which I can proudly call mine!) is nothing short of fantastic, and as long as there is some form of fruit hanging around our house it's as variable as the selection allows.

So thanks, Dad, for all you've given to me and all you've put up with over the years. Give me another 31 or so and I'll try to return the favour! And if I can't, at least I'll try to have kids to blame it on :-).

Pear - Crowned Ginger Cake
Serves 10
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 oz cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large, ripe pear, peeled and sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 9-inch pan (I like a springform for unmoulding's sake).
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside.
3. Beat cream cheese and brown sugar until fluffy.
4. Add anilla, ginger and egg, beating well.
5. Mix flour mixture alternating with buttermilk into the creamed blend.
6. Pour into cake pan.
7. Arrange pear slices on top.
8. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the sringform and move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 145.5
Total Fat: 2.8 g
Cholesterol: 28.0 mg
Sodium: 42.0 mg
Total Carbs: 27.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
Protein: 2.8 g