I'll Just Do It Myself

How many times have you caught yourself saying those words? I know that me, being the Type A (read: somewhat Anal) perfectionist that I am, it's usually one of the first things out of my mouth when I'm faced with a group or team project. Unfortunately, at least to me, it seems that it really is best if I did the assignments myself - even working with close friends of mine I find more things to nit-pick on than praise. It's not a conscious thing I do, and I hate doing it really - it makes me feel like such a meanie! - but by letting things slide that I know could be just that much better it betrays my whole quest for that Holy Grail of the A grade. And then I wonder why I'm so stressed out! Ah well, I guess admitting the problem is the first step to overcoming it, right?

The one thing that I can always remain confident that I do better than "the standard" is baking. I'm sure that everyone who's ever made their own bread - or at least eaten a slice of a rustic loaf made from scratch (that never spent a second on a grocery store shelf!) can attest to the fact that the lack of mass production, bleaches, softeners and preservatives really does make bread better!

It's not new, earth-shattering science, to be sure. But it's still a dying art - depressing, since a simple loaf of good bread right from your oven can be done start to finish in two hours tops with rapid-rise yeast. If you have a Sunday afternoon you can even use the regular old dry active kind and throw in extra things to jazz up your week. For me, a batch of something yeasted every week is my little sanity window. Though I use a machine to do the bulk of the kneading work (let's face it... my stringy arms + stiff dough for 20 minutes or so would just not work!) I always make a point to finish the work off by hand. You can't feel if a dough is silky smooth and supple with a mixer, nor can you really lay claim to "making" your bread if all you did was hit "start" on a machine. With bagels in particular, you can always tell the work from the heart that goes into them - the little extra work they take always shines through!

For the latest round of chewy, sweet bagels I made my mom for her work lunches, I not only used up not only the last of my homemade apple butter but I added an extra (and may I say unique) layer of apple-cinnamon flavour with some of my favourite apple tea in the dough. Then, when I was bringing the boiling liquid up to temperature, I was hit with a flash of ingenuity... why not add a teabag to the pot too? So I did. Did it make a difference? I don't know for sure, but it didn't hurt!

These bagels are my contribution to YeastSpotting at Wild Yeast. Thanks Susan!

Apple-Cinnamon Tea Bagels
Makes 8
3 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp vital wheat gluten
1 tbsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 pkg instant yeast

2/3 cups warm, strong-brewed apple cinnamon herbal tea

1/4 cup brown sugar

¾ cup apple butter

1 apple-cinnamon herbal tea bag

2 tbsp honey

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, gluten, cinnamon, salt and yeast.
2. In another bowl, stir together the tea, brown sugar and apple butter.
3. Add the tea mixture to the dry ingredients, mix with the dough hook for 12 minutes, until very elastic (it is a fairly stiff dough, though).
4. Cover and let rest for 40 minutes.
5. Cut the dough into eight 4-oz portions, shape each into a ring and place on a lined baking sheet.
6. Cover and let rest 1 1/2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 400F and bring a large pot of water to a boil, adding the tea bag and honey.
8. Boil bagels two at a time for two minutes per side. Drain well and place on a lined cookie sheet.
9. When all the bagels have been boiled, place into the oven and bake 20 minutes.
10. Cool on wire racks and enjoy!

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 233.4
Total Fat: 0.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 9.6 mg
Total Carbs: 51.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.9 g
Protein: 8.1 g

Maraschino Mania

Whenever I went to my grandparent's house as a kid, there would always be three jars in their fridge that I would raid without fail - the tiny dill pickles, the delicious sweet and sour cocktail onions and the ever -present jar of hot pink maraschino cherries. Though I would gorge myself on the fresh dark red ones during the summer months when our family splurged on things like peaches and cherries for our boating trips, I always associated the taste of "cherry" with the sugary, dye-injected fruit. Rather than top ice cream or garnish a drink (except for my ritual Shirley Temples at Swiss Chalet!), I would simply grab a spoon and dig in. Oh the life of a child!

Obviously, things have changed a wee bit since then - I now like all my fruit as fresh as possible, and the days of finding a jar of any fruit floating in sugar syrup in any of my relative's houses are long behind us (who'da thought it'd be on the no-no list for diabetics? *rolls eyes*). Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing a maraschino cherry on my swizzle stick the last time I had a Shirley Temple either!

But it was the incredibly pretty "Coconut-Cherry-White Chocolate Bars" that I spied on Baking Delights (Marye has a great contest going right now too!) that drew me back into the fold of the hot pink treats. They are definitely a "girly" kind of cookie, being filled with not only the cherries but super sweet white chocolate and delicious coconut too! These are nothing short of a sugar overload, though, so beware - or, you know, don't... because really they are just that awesome. I've made them twice so far, for bakesales, and as soon as people see the pink and white polka-dotted surface they grab them up (especially after they discover the bonus of white chocolate and coconut!). Since the whole V-Day thing is coming up (should you be so inclined to buy into all that) I bet a pan of these and some roses would go over well after a nice dinner - whether you do it for your mate or your single self!

White Chocolate Maraschino Bars

Adapted from Marye Audet (Baking Delights)

Makes 32

1 cup flour

1 tbsp sweet rice flour (optional, for tenderness)

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup diced, drained maraschino cherries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F, grease and line a 9x13" pan with parchment.
2. Combine flours and powdered sugar in a large bowl.
3. Cut in butter and shortening until the dough mealy. Stir in lemon extract.
4. Press into the bottom of the pan in a thin layer.
5. Bake 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, whisk 1/4 cup flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
7. In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended.
8. Stir in the flour mixture, followed by the coconut, cherries, and white chocolate chips.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. Chill before cutting and serving.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 95.8
Total Fat: 5.0 g
Cholesterol: 17.5 mg
Sodium: 17.3 mg
Total Carbs: 11.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.4 g
Protein: 1.2 g

A Day Full of Win

There are some days that can erase the rest of the week in the blink of an eye. It doesn't matter if it was the week from Hell, if your bus was late or you got stuck in traffic, if you forgot to feed the dog until 9PM or if you didn't manage to get to the gym three times a week like you promised yourself you'd start doing on New Years Eve. A single good day can make it seem a little smoother, though a complete vanishing act would require a bit more magic - and possibly a wand and stiff drink potion or two!

I like to call the good days around here "Days of Win" - it's a label I stole from my sister, I believe, who can pull off the "catchy" labels and phrases like that (since I have been misconstrued as being 40 years old since I was 15 - I'm not kidding - I lost my "cool factor" at about age 3!). This particular one (this past Saturday... can you tell I'm a bit behind?) got some bonus points with me though. For one, it combined one of the potential banes of my existence - college - with two of my life's joys: baking and chocolate. I don't think I've ever said anything against my Recipe Development course, but if I did... I take it all back. This assignment (and I can't believe I'm lauding homework!) is just way too much fun to be school!

If you remember the last school assignment I fell in love with - the one that gave birth to the ridiculously delicious Spinach And Black Bean Pasta - this one follows along the same sort of theme. Take a recipe, any recipe, and modify it to fit a specific (usually health-related) goal over a course of subsequent trials. Lowering fat, heightening fibre, de-glutening or the ever popular modified texture-friendly options were on the list, and though some were temptingly easy (a high fibre muffin? How about a vegan meal?) I had a pet project that began to percolate as I sifted through the list we were given. Thankfully, the catch all "other topic of your choice with teacher approval" note was at the bottom of the sheet, so I exploited it! I couldn't help myself, really, and once I let the cat out of the bag on Twitter I had to at least try my idea! My plan? Take the good ol' Fry's Cocoa Fudge Brownie recipe and not only veganize it and remove the nuts, but make it a high-protein, nutritionally dense product that kids recovering from surgery or chemotherapy that needed extra protein, vitamins and minerals would enjoy (moreso than the ever popular support shakes they supply). I started off with my usual modifications, eliminating egg and butter in favour of silken tofu and canola oil, then raided my pantry cache of ingredients for soy flour and ground flax. For an extra boost, I hit the health food store in search of some vegan protein powder, finding this one by North Coast Naturals, and added a dose of that to the batter before melting in a nice dose of baking chocolate for good measure. Everything got tossed into the food processor - one of the two workhorses in my kitchen (the other being my stand mixer) - and in about 5 minutes I had a black, gooey bowl o' batter! Only one small bowl (for the melting chocolate), no spoons or whisks to wash, and 10 minutes of total prep time? Win.

Like any good brownies, they stunk up the house something puurrrty while they were baking - and in a way I really regretted cutting the tester batch in half because I knew they would be irresistible, but then my rational self (and stomach) kicked in and reminded me that no matter how good they were, they wouldn't be mine to taste. It's not really a loss, on my end, since the whole reaction-avoidance thing outweighs hedonistic pleasure, but it wasn't a gloating victory! Luckily I was able to let them cool, wrap them in foil and stick them deep into the fridge to chill overnight before I went to cut them into the taste-test squares I was going to hand out. While I was biding my time, I went onto SparkRecipes - the tool I use for all the nutritional calculations in here if you want to know - and plugged in both the original recipe and my re-vamped one to compare.

Then I had to pick my eyeballs up off the ground - I did not expect the differences between the two bars to be as profound as they were! It wasn't so much a calorie / fat thing - though both were reduced in my recipe - but a nutrient difference that surprised me. I mean, I know that soy and flax are good sources of protein, but the veganized ones beat out tradition by 215%! Um, yeah. There's also less sodium and sugar, plus more fibre, potassium, calcium and iron. Nutritional win for me - big time.

Of course, all the nutrients in the world count for absolutely nada if what you're eating tastes like dirt... or worse, nothing at all. Thankfully, my faithful tasting panel (AKA my fellow group members, mom, health food store contact, counsellor and his receptionists) were able to come to my rescue and volunteered their palates for me! It turns out you really can taste with your nose, too - I was dead on with my initial verdict of these chewy concoctions as "adult fare". Rather than the Happy Mealish sugar cube in a cookie kind of treat, they're the Cadillac of brownies... grown up, dark, rich and just bitter enough to remind you that they're to be relished, rather than ravaged. You can't eat one of these in ten seconds flat - not that you'd want to anyways!

So, I've kept you in the dark long enough (and if you read through the drivel above, thanks!), so here's my secret recipe. For the version I'm bringing to the Kitchen Lab next week, and the one I've got for you today, I did up the brown sugar to appeal to the supposed "target market" of the assignment (i.e. sick, picky children), but if you want them like the "70%-dark" ones I first did, use only 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar instead of the 1 2/3.

High - Protein Vegan Brownies (AKA "Cadillac Brownies")

Makes 24

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2.2 oz (10 tbsp) flour

2 oz (7 tbsp) soy flour
6 tbsp unflavoured isolated soy protein powder
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
¼ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 oz (12 tbsp) cocoa powder
10 oz silken tofu
4.5 oz (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
7 oz (1 2/3 cup) brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plain soy milk
2 oz (5 tbsp) miniature chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease a 9 x 13” pan and line the bottom with parchment.
2. In a small microwave safe bowl (or in a pot over medium-low heat), gently melt the chocolate (use no higher than MEDIUM power so chocolate won’t scorch). Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, isolated soy protein powder, flaxseed, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
4. In a food processor puree tofu, granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
5. Add melted chocolate, vanilla, canola oil, and soy milk to the processor and blend in well.
6. Add the dry mixture to the ingredients in the processor. Pulse in until just incorporated, do not allow processor to run continuously.
7. Add miniature chocolate chips and pulse in briefly, just to mix in.
8. Scrape into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
9. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs (but not wet batter).
10. Cool completely in the pan before cutting and serving. Frost if desired.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 172.5
Total Fat: 6.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 50.4 mg
Total Carbs: 27.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.8 g
Protein: 5.8 g

These comforting bars of goodness are also my contribution to SHF: Sweet Comforts being hosted at A Merrier World.

Like Sunshine On A Cloudy Day...

I won't lie. I love the song "My Girl" by The Temptations - have ever since I first heard the tinny MIDI file in my grade 9 music class with Mr. Burford. It's been a tune that's always had a place in my "Music" folder on my desktop, and upon hearing the first bars of the song I can't help but start humming, tapping my toes, and eventually singing along to each happy go lucky lyric.

Keep Reading...

While Mum's Away...

No doubt if you've seen my moping on Twitter recently (not that I've been on all that much - that darn school thing keeps getting in the way!) you've noticed that I mentioned my mom going off on business for a couple weeks. Well, it's been five days now, and aside from the fact that I'm really missing her just being there as "mom" I also miss the semi-"foodie" connection I have with her. I've written before about our weekly grocery runs and market crawls, and even though we're only missing a week it really feels like a big chunk of lost time! I don't get a lot of time to spend with any of my family members... between my insane school schedule, my mom's commute into Toronto 4/5 days of the workweek and my sister's riding classes we feel the crunch - as I'm sure everyone else does.

Being the stress baker that I am, I've spent every spare scrap of time I've found this week concocting - therefore filling our freezer with bread upon muffin upon pie that we can't possibly imagine ourselves consuming all that soon! Thankfully I do have an answer to that dilemma once Mom returns - her co-workers are always eager to take food of any kind off our hands, regardless of what it is! They even inhaled this loaf of savoury quickbread that was a total crapshoot in my mind! Basically a thick batter-type of loaf, I used the dregs of a tub of herb and garlic cream cheese in place of the butter, nixed the eggs then added some non-fat yogurt for tang and moisture. Then, just because I had them sitting around with no future use in mind, I chucked in the last of my home-dried tomatoes and the remains of a bag of corn germ. Did it work? I guess so - I had a couple requests for a repeat performance!

Cream Cheese And Herbs Quickbread

Serves 14

5.3 oz "Lite" Herb & Garlic cream cheese

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp of salt

2 egg replacers (like Ener-G), prepared

12.75 oz flour

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
12 sun dried tomato halves (not in oil) soaked well in hot water and drained
1/2 cup toasted corn germ (optional, for flavour and nutrition)

1. Preheat oven to 350F, grease a loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, garlic, sugar and salt.
3. Add egg replacers and beat well.
4. Whisk together flour, black pepper, oregano and baking powder.
5. Combine yogurt and milk in another bowl.
6. Add dry and wet mixtures in stages, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
7. Stir in tomatoes and corn germ if using.
8. Bake 45 minutes.
9. Let cool completely before cutting.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 140.1
Total Fat: 2.6 g
Cholesterol: 7.0 mg
Sodium: 95.3 mg
Total Carbs: 24.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
Protein: 4.9 g