As a delicious treat to bring down to Dr. S’ parents in Florida, I made this cookie recipe from the latest CI issue. It is easily made using food processor (to grind the oatmeal) and mixer (to make the dough). The use of the springform collar didn’t seem to make much differenc...
As a fitting end for our Hanukkah party, I knew this olive oil gelato would be a special and unusual treat. This recipe from Williams-Sonoma is adapted from one in The Babbo Cookbook but alters it so that the egg yolks are cooked. I was a bit worried as to how the olive oil wo...
For our Hanukkah party, I was very excited to deep-fry things and decided on these Gala apple fritters. The batter requires folding in whipped egg whites after a resting period, so it takes about 40 minutes in total to make. We used one of those old-fashioned apple peeler/core...
In looking for 2009’s fruitcake, I wanted one that featured lots of nuts and dried fruit, with none of the candied pineapple and cherries that most include. In years past, I’ve made recipes that included olives, applesauce, one from Alton Brown, a delicious cashew-based one fr...
For a friend’s 40th birthday party, I was asked to make a cake. As chocolate was one of his favourite flavours, I thought this recipe from a recent CI issue would fit the bill. I used an 8 3/4” cake ring to bake the cake. Everything was going fine until we took the cake out of...
My colleague alerted me to a post on Metafilter about a food science blog. When I saw the awesomeness of the ginger pumpkin cake, I knew I had to try it. The first step is creating the dehydrated flavour sheet (Fruit Roll-Up, that is). I used fresh roasted pumpkin, pureed and ...
I’ve had my eye on this recipe for years, and finally decided to try it. I made a layer cake using two 9” pans (the linked recipe has been modified from the original), covering it with plain cream cheese frosting (caramel would be overkill). As my parsnips were old and startin...
I found this recipe while looking for ways to use up some yogurt we bought from Costco. The dough is simple to make in a stand mixer, and I left it sit in the fridge for a few days, punching it down when it filled the bowl. Since I made a double batch, I assembled the babkas u...
I’ve always braided challah using the three-strand method as it’s the easiest way to do it. But I wanted to learn the other braids as well and set out to learn the six-strand method for our Shabbat dinner tonight. After Googling around for a while, I was frustrated by all of t...
I got a copy of this apple cake recipe from Sarah’s cousin recently, who made it in her cooking club. The intro text says it dates from the Dinah’s Cupboard days (circa 1987). The recipe employs an oil-based batter, enhanced with a bit of orange zest and juice. Apple wedges ar...
My Dad wanted a pecan pie for his birthday, so I turned to Cook’s Illustrated as I’ve had success with one of their previous recipes. But I also wanted to make something I haven’t tried before, so I used the maple version of this pie. I made a 7” tart plus four small 4” tarts...
We’re trying to incorporate more pumpkin into our diets, so I decided to try this interesting cake with fresh puree. The entire issue has distinctly modern tone to it, from the prominent use of whitespace to the bold, primary-coloured graphics. In this recipe, what is unusual ...
I can’t remember if I made these with pumpkin or another kind of squash. But from reading several recipes recently, I knew to avoid acorn squash which are stringy and watery. To embellish these muffins, I added chocolate chips to the batter, and walnuts on top. Dr. S loved the...
We cut back this year and only took home 28 lbs of apples from the orchard. For a different treat, I tried making this two-fruit crumble pie. Using jarred sour cherries (purchased at Fresh From the Farm), I mixed the filling and made the crumble topping fairly quickly. I reall...
A friend of ours recently told me about Bakerella which is where I found a link to the idea of Pie Pops. The incredible detail and super-composed photography make Luxirare’s pages seem like fashion shoots, but we loved the idea of a handheld pie snack and set about to make our...
In the soaker for this bread, I used blue cornmeal, a little kamut flour, some golden flaxseeds ground in a suribachi plus a few other whole grains as specified in the recipe. Both the soaker and the biga went into the fridge for several days. I omitted sesame seeds from the f...
The first time I made this recipe, I used raisins and jarred applesauce. It turned out to be substantial (filling a whole 10” tube pan), moist, and deeply satisfying. I didn’t find the large quantity (6 tsp) of spices to be overpowering, even though I used freshly ground allsp...
With all of the egg whites left over from making two batches of creme anglaise, I searched online for financier recipes and found this one. There’s nothing difficult in this recipe, but you do have to toast, skin and grind hazelnuts, as well as accumulate the egg whites. Inste...
I volunteered to make the challahs for the upcoming Rosh Hashanah dinner at Dr S’ parent’s house, so I thought a trial run of this recipe would be a good idea. Apples are a traditional part of the Jewish New Year celebrations, and a round challah is also common for Rosh Hashan...
For a finale to a BBQ we hosted on Sunday, I abandoned the idea of a peach pie as there wasn’t time to make pie dough and ended up baking some peaches instead. The huge, juicy fruit was skinned, then tossed in a mixture of butter and brown sugar, then sprinkled with juice and ...
For a crowd-pleasing dessert to be served at our post-wedding party on Saturday, I wanted to make a cheesecake that featured Kahlua. We have a lot of bottles of the coffee-flavoured liqueur, but I wasn’t satisfied with any of the recipes I found. Then, I stumbled upon this rec...
I’ve known about this cookie for some time from Candy, but only recently bought a copy of the cookbook they’re from. It’s a labour intensive recipe, requiring two doughs and lots of chilling time. Earlier in the week, I made a full batch of sweet tart dough, ensuring that the ...
In preparation for a wine, cheese and dessert post-wedding reception we were hosting at the house, I made these bars ahead of time and froze them. They weren’t very much work at all to make. Instead of key limes, which I find frustrating to juice because of their size, I used ...
I really felt like something made with cornmeal so I turned to this recipe for a breakfast treat. Using the cranberry variation (which just increases the sugar to 2/3 cup and replaces cherries with 2 cups cranberries), I whipped these up in no time at all. They made 10 large, ...
The idea was to use a big 3L basket of apricots (plus a handful of raspberries and blackberries) to make a yummy tart, and to use up an old piece of almond paste. Unfortunately, this tart was a bit of a disappointment. The pat-in crust was simple, as was mixing sugar and corns...
Instead of the original crust recipe, I used the newer CI vodka crust recipe. My peaches were very juicy and there was probably one cup of liquid in the bowl after I mixed in the sugar and tapioca powder. I didn’t use any of the extra liquid, and the pie turned out fine. The l...
Dr. S recently signed up for a subscription to the online version of Cook’s Illustrated. I like this magazine a lot and have always felt that subscribers should get access to it for free, so I grumbled about having to pay. But it’s a couple of bucks a month and even though it’...
We’ve been really busy with travel, vacation and wedding planning so there hasn’t been much time to bake. While we were at a cottage, I made crowd-pleasers like blueberry scones and mixed berry pie. This holiday weekend, I had time to try something new and bake a little snack ...
I made a big chocolate cake to celebrate the successes of Dr. S’ grad students this week. Instead of a double boiler, I just gently microwaved the hot water, chopped chocolate and cocoa powder. It came out looking like it seized, very stiff and pasty but as I added the sugar, ...
I enjoy the multigrain bread I make from time to time, but I’m always looking for new recipes. Cook’s Illustrated’s take on multigrain bread is to start with 7-grain cereal. As a substitute, I just ground up a 7-grain mix in the food processor so that it would absorb the hot w...
Well, perfect, according to Cook’s Illustrated. This article evaluated the techniques described in the New York Times’ recipe from last summer, as well as the original Toll House recipe. I tried the NYT one last fall and wasn’t blown away. But I must say that this recipe was w...
As a finale to my pulled pork BBQ lunch, I decided on a light, fruit-based dessert. This berry pie needed only a little bit of work to put together. The graham crust used only 9 crackers but 5 tbsp of butter which made it very greasy; I added two extra. It baked up quite soft ...
A bulging bag of hazelnuts was the inspiration to look for hazelnut recipes, and I knew this was a recipe I wanted to try as I also had a forlorn package of cocoa nibs and an abundance of jams. I decided to use the jar of raspberry jam from Harvest Song that someone gave us at...
These buns were based on the White Bread recipe, Variation 2 (the one with buttermilk). I used yogurt, thinned with milk instead. Due to carelessness, I misread the instructions and sprinkled flour on top of the risen buns, before spritzing with water so that the seeds would a...
As a slightly fancy dessert for a pizza party we held on Friday, I made these edible ice cream containers. I skipped the step of browning the butter, but followed the directions otherwise. It’s difficult to get the batter to an even thickness without one of those wooden tools ...
After receiving 6 bunches of bananas from my cousin (courtesy of the Toronto film industry), we’ve enjoyed eating them in banana bread and banana ricotta pancakes. But Dr. S didn’t find the flavour of my favourite banana recipe intense enough, so I went searching for something...
With the last of the Meyer lemons we bought for our brunch a few weeks ago, I happened to come across a blog post that featured this delicious member of the citrus family. I asked Dr. S to pick up a tub of ricotta and whipped up (literally) this pudding cake as a weeknight des...
To replenish our muffin supply, I was looking around for a recipe that would use up a lot of yogurt and found this one online. Putting the dry ingredients in a food processor worked out well for me, because my brown sugar was lumpy and hard. Blitzing it for a minute pulverized...
I can’t resist “weird” ingredients in food, so an old-fashioned wartime cake that used mayonnaise was begging to be made. Also, we had a leftover jar of mayo from making potato salad the weekend before, and we rarely use mayo. The cake requires two bowls, no electric mixer, a...
I made a batch of chocolates from Peter Greweling’s Chocolates and Confections to bring for Passover dinners. The name of these chocolates has a two-fold meaning (in my interpretation anyway): Mount Rainier is a mountain which these resemble, and Rainier is a type of cherry.De...
nodrog requested a cake for yyzgirl’s birthday party and gave me some parameters to work within: white chocolate, banana, praline and caramel. I found a charlotte recipe that sounded good and adapted it to incorporate to use white chocolate instead of dark. These types of dess...
There’s always some flavour-boosting step to CI recipes and for these muffins, making blueberry jam is it. However, it’s not as complicated as it might sound, just simmering berries with a bit sugar until it’s reduced. There are no good fresh local berries right now, so I used...
Beer is not a common ingredient in sweet baking. The only times I’ve used it that I really enjoyed are in cherry muffins and in the CI no-knead bread. But stouts are dark beers and their taste often suggests chocolate or coffee. I first made this cake many years ago with with ...
Lisa’s post looked so good that I wanted to make this right away. I used buttermilk, as Kimball said this variation was far superior than using plain milk, but forgot to heat the water to boiling. This resulted in a longer first rise in the oven for me. The recipe heading says...
A simple cake featuring coffee (undetectable) and honey (very fragrant) which I augmented with some bourbon-soaked currants.
Instead of making several large cakes, Dr. S wanted me to make some cupcakes for our housewarming. As I like variety, I embarked on a mission to make two dozen each of three different kinds. The espresso cupcakes with white chocolate frosting recipe comes from A Passion for De...
For our housewarming party, I decided to make a couple of batches of chocolates. Using a tray of hollow milk chocolate shells, I filled them halfway with store-bought dulce de leche, then topped them off with a coffee-chocolate ganache. I let these dry out for a day, then seal...
We have a lot of whole wheat flour in our kitchen: some in a clear plastic container in the fridge, some in a paper bag in the fridge, another unopened bag on the pantry shelf. I wanted to try a 100% whole wheat loaf and thought this recipe would be a good place to start. The ...
I tried another cake-loaf from this book that used whipped cream to improve flavour and texture. Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out very well. Step One is to toast pecans and then toss them in a bit of butter. I haven’t read why she calls for this buttering step, as it’s one ...
Having moved into our new house, I resumed by regular baking my trying a new bread to go along with a stew I was making for dinner. The use of beer for the liquid sounded interesting, and I used a bottle of light ale that I had on hand instead of a dark beer the recipe called ...
This blog has been hosted on my ISP for some time, but I’m switching providers. I’ve moved the blog over to Blogspot, with the URL . Those of you who’ve bookmarked the redirection URL http://gnuf.blogsite.org/ should hopefully get redirected automatically. In the meantime,
Corriher points out that this isn’t like a traditional Christmas fruitcake, in that it is a cake with some fruit in it, rather than a lot of fruit with some cake in it. I used the suggested Grand Marnier-soaked raisins, as well as adding dried cranberries, candied orange peel ...
This cake seemed like a good way to use up a lot of ingredients at once (I’m moving to a house soon). There were lots of tips in this eGullet post which were helpful the second time I made this loaf. Don’t bother with breaking up the almond paste with the mixer, it’s very fast...
This unusual cookie recipe included dried figs and walnuts that are pulverized into tiny bits and added to the batter. The logs were quite sticky and crumbly, even after baking. Slicing them proved to be troublesome, as the pieces tended to break apart. Due to time constraints...
A case of Sharon fruit purchased at T&T led me to look for persimmon recipes. There were remarkably few options in my library of cookbooks, but I did remember reading an article by Harold McGee about pH and its effect on a pudding he came up with. I set out to try it this ...
For a breakfast treat at the cottage we were staying in over New Year’s, I decided to make sticky buns. Even though Cook’s Illustrated is very picky about their recipe and directions, I took a few liberties to accommodate for ingredient and kitchen constraints. I used lemon-so...
