A Taste of Summer in the Midst of Spring

Well, it may be 40°C outside (and heck no I'm not complaining - bring on the heat!), but believe it or not it’s still the month of May. Spring is still technically still here, though the gardens, lawns and weeds would rather think otherwise! When I think sunny, warmer weather, I think of bright colours, fresh berries, BBQ’s and corn on the cob. And I always tend to crave things that incorporate those bits of Summer once it warms up, like lemons, cherry pie, and even though it’s been years since I’ve eaten any sort of grilled or barbequed food (both my mom and stepdad prefer the “char first, ask questions later” method of cooking outside, and I prefer not to eat charcoal), we host enough grill-outs in our backyard that I’m always tuned into good dessert-like things I can bring to the party.

Being that it is warm outside, lighter, fresher fare is usually preferred (and fruit is always a plus!) and portability just makes things easier all around. Adding one more plate and fork to the equation equals more dishes, and while the family doesn’t necessarily care that much about carting around the dishware I don’t know how mom feels about washing it all. Besides, buttercream, mousses and airy whipped cream toppings (or fillings) don’t play well in the heat, nor do puddings or meringue. Pretty much anything I’ve made for the cook-outs has been an easily sliceable, easy-to-pick up and eat cake or muffin of some kind.

So, it should come as no surprise that I latched onto my recent roasted corn craving (if you haven’t tried roasted corn, do the next time you BBQ – you will never go back to boiled!) and general Summery feeling by packing in as much of the grain as I could along with a few hits of warm-weather berries when I made these treats. While admittedly, I had to use the blueberries I froze last year (after the pie trials!), which turned the previously lemon-yellow batter a kind of interesting green, their sweet/tart flavour came through full force and played off the roasted corn, cornflour and cornmeal beautifully. Unlike a lot of cornmeal-based items, these are supremely moist and tender – a result of the tenderizing, thick buttermilk and yogurt as well as the high ratio of gluten-free dry ingredients. Though we had them on the dessert tray, I’d wager they’d be fine for breakfast or an after-school snack.

I Had Extra

After another Costco haul that overlapped our usual shopping day, we found ourselves with an inexplicable amount of apples. It was quite ridiculous, really – they couldn’t fit between the already bulging crispers in our two fridges, so we stashed a bag in the wine cellar and somewhat put it to the back of our minds.

Of course, the day came when those were no longer crispy and delicious for out of hand eating, and some of them were threatening to start growing appendages. So I broke out the casserole dish and made apple butter with the saddest looking ones. Problem solved, right?

Well, not quite. See, I’m the only one that really eats apple butter, and even I don’t use it that much. So the giant jar I made would have to get put to good use in short order. Being, well, me, the most logical thing that came to mind was bake it into something. Or more accurately, several somethings. The rest of the apples made their way into baked goods too, not only the ones with the apple butter base, but in another cake that I have yet to post (which also helped clean my freezer out of excess cranberries and some candied pineapple). But that is another day. For now, I’ll direct you to the two fruitiest concoctions of the apple butter batch – which disappeared a whole lot faster than those apples would have!

A Flying Fig

*Note: sorry about the crappy photo - it's an old one!*

I got the yen to get back into the kitchen again after the long weekend, which I spent in a whirlwind of activity between schoolwork, a bbq, seeing Pirates of the Caribbean and starting up this year’s garden. I figured something simple, something that would go over well at school, and something that only used stuff I had around – I was not about to take a shopping trip!

I rummaged through my baking stash, and raided the separate shelf I keep stocked for when I make my mom’s all time favourite “snacky mix” (to be featured in one of my New-trition booklets!). A quick blitz in my food processor later, a sweet, moist and slightly chocolatey cake was in the oven. It took on just a little hint of “tang” from the rye flour that nipped the sweetness from the sweeteners and fruit. I added some soy nuts to the batter just for a little more dimension, and because they fell on me when I was getting out the figs!

Figgy Chocolate Teacake
Makes 1 loaf cake, 10 slices
Egg replacer for 1 egg, prepared (I used Ener-G)
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey (or agave for vegan)
½ cup canola oil
6 oz dried figs, soaked in boiling water and drained, chopped
2 oz prunes, chopped
1 cup chocolate soy milk
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp orange extract
2 cups flour
1 cup rye flour
1 ½ tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup soy nuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a large loaf pan (or a 9" springform).
2. In a food processor, blend together egg replacer, brown sugar, honey, oil, figs, prunes, chocolate soy milk, vanilla and orange extract until smooth.
3. Pulse in the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then the soy nuts.
4. Bake 40-50 minutes.
5. Cool 15 minutes in the tin, then unmould onto a wire rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 408.0
Total Fat: 14.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 10.9 mg
Total Carbs: 68.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.2 g
Protein: 8.9 g

Another Shot

You'd think I was a glutton for punishment by trying constantly to please the stepfamily. They don't like "weird" food, things that are whole wheat or lower fat (like milk), and their idea of a good meal is something they didn't have to prepare. Left to their own devices, Ramen noodles and takeout would be de rigueur at the table. While I try my best to make things they like - and stay as far away from their "bad lists" as possible - when given the choice between homemade and storebought Coscto wins out every time.

Unfortunately, my stepdad's penchant for fruit also leads us down the path of "too much fruit", and while in the winter the house is usually cold enough to stem the onslaught of fruit flies and mould (yep, I said it), with Summer coming having to bugspray the kitchen every other day was not something I looked forward to. When I came home from school last week to find yet another bunch of bananas on top of the more-or-less blackened ones in the bowl and a dribble of cream from Mother's Day still sitting in the fridge, I figured "why the heck not. I'll make banana bread". And since my stepdad and grandparents (who often drop by) both adore banana bread, it seemed like a worthy adventure.

The Subject of Luck

It always bewilders people when I tell them I hate math and chemistry when they know I love to bake. I've always been somewhat amused by it myself, as well as by the fact that I am very perfectionistic in other aspects of my life like spelling, grammar and organization of things in "my space" (as well as my obsession with symmetry and within the past 10 years, the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder. But thats not the point.). I was never "good" at the sciences besides biology, and detested math even though I was actually pretty decent at it. I just found both subjects boring! There were too many hard-and-fast rules about what had to be done, and what the end results had to be. I became a bit of an annoyance to my teachers, I think, by asking why, and if there was ever a case where it didn't fit the mould. I didn't care that it wasn't in the textbook. I wanted to know!

But wait, I hear the die-hard bakers out there calling, baking is the same thing! There are formulas and ratios and specific things that have to get done for a good end product! Well, yes and no. There are wet / dry ratios in baking, but as long as you get those basic numbers down, get a binder or two in there, and some leavening in most cases, you can usually get away with anything else. I was on a mission to find a use for both my jar of boozy cranberry sauce and a bag of shredded carrots I had lurking in the freezer, and came across an awesome looking cake on King Arthur Flour. However, it used three eggs, half a cup of oil and a whole cup of sugar. Was it possible to make it without eggs, and with healthier fats and more fibre?  

Well, I figured I didn't have much to lose. The sauce and carrots weren't going to be eaten any other way, and I had all the rest of the stuff kicking around the pantry waiting to be used. Throwing any sort of conventional baking lore to the wind and relying on my instincts instead, I soon had the batter in the oven and baking away.