Trick or TrEAT!
Today nine of my favourite food, craft and lifestyle bloggers await behind nine haunted houses (undoubtedly catching up on their sleep) with an array of scary holiday treats created just for you. At the end of this post you’ll find links to the next houses on the block, which will in turn direct you to the next, and so on. It’s like real trick-or-treating, isn’t it? Except that you won’t accidentally eat a dozen mini chocolate bars or need to bundle a snowsuit under your costume, and in fact we won’t even know if you don’t put on a costume at all. (Or hey-if you’ve eaten way too many mini chocolate bars you can always blame it on the “bulky snowsuit” under your clothes.) Just curl up with your laptop and a mug of something warm (and/or boozy) and come visit the people in our neighbourhood.
I have to admit I like the idea of candy apples much more than the apples themselves; the caramel variety is almost impossible to get a grip on, the caramel slipping across the smooth apple skin as you plow it with your teeth. And I’m never quite sure how to approach the hard red candy kind; there is no way to be delicate when sweet shards are shattering all over your face, sticking to your cheeks. That said, I can’t let Halloween go by without making them.
While we’re being honest, I may as well admit that I don’t generally make the caramel kind because those little square caramels and I have a history; namely I was completely and all-encompassingly addicted to them a few years back. It was right after W was born, when people kept saying to me “you’re breastfeeding – you can eat whatever you want and you’ll totally lose weight!” Bollocks. I of course wanted to believe this and so put it to the test, downing my own weight in caramels daily. Their little wrappers were everywhere, even though I grabbed them and stuck them in my pockets anytime I went from room to room. I got panicky whenever my stash ran low. When I got a batch that were on the hard side, I carried them in my pockets until they softened up. Two months and 25 pounds later (I’m not even exaggerating) I had to quit cold turkey.
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October 25 2009 | sweet stuff | 31 Comments »
It’s Birthday Weekend – my sister’s yesterday and Mike’s today. I taught a hands-on low-fat baking class yesterday at the Cookbook Company yesterday afternoon, and last night a bunch of friends came over to watch the hockey game and say Happy Birthday to Mike. I got mini cupcakes from Crave, and made extra mini pavlovas while I was making them for my event last week. I made a quick batch of caramelized onion dip and spread two small baking dishes with a can of refried beans, covered them with a thin layer of salsa verde and grated Monterey Jack and baked them – voila – something scoopable for corn chips during the game. OK, I also made a quick batch of wings, but that was it.
This morning W and I did a coffee run and made crêpes for breakfast – not an easy task with a 4 year old who was up until almost midnight last night playing Transformers with the Big Boys. Everything was WRONG and THESE AREN’T REAL PANCAKES! and WE CAN’T COOK THE APPLES! and YOU CAN’T CUT MY PANCAKE FOR ME I CAN DO IT MYSELF! NOT THAT I’M GOING TO EAT IT ANYWAY BECAUSE IT’S NOT A REAL PANCAKE! (At which point he stormed up the stairs, sat on a step halfway up and growled, arms crossed across his chest, “STOP BEING HAPPY! YOU GUYS CAN’T BE HAPPY!”) And so we ate our crepes ourselves-much more peacefully-drizzled with Roger’s Golden Syrup.
Of course the apples and cream are totally optional – you could sauté pears instead, or bananas, or ditch the fruit and spread them with butter and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and a few drops of lemon juice. This is my typical standing-at-the-stove snack, which generally fills me up before I even make it to the main event. I feel like a big wad of dough sitting here at the computer – Julie the Hutt – after consuming far too many sugary crepe roll-ups.
Crêpes with Sautéed Apples and Whipped Cream
Crêpes:
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. canola oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
pinch salt
extra oil, butter or nonstick spray for cooking with
Apples:
a drizzle of oil
a small blob of butter
3 tart apples, unpeeled and thinly sliced
a few spoonfuls of sugar, maple syrup or Roger’s Golden syrup
a sprinkle of cinnamon
1/2-1 cup heavy cream, whipped with a bit of syrup or sugar
Pulse all the ingredients in a blender until foamy or whisk until well blended and smooth; let the batter sit for half an hour. It should have the consistency of heavy cream.
When ready to cook, preheat a large skillet or griddle and brush it with butter or oil or spray it with nonstick spray. Pour about a quarter cup onto the skillet and tilt it around so that it runs into a circle. Cook until the top loses its gloss, which should only take a minute or two, then flip. The bottom should be golden. Cook the other side for about 30 seconds and then slide out onto a plate. Keep warm in a 250F oven while you cook the rest.
Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in another skillet over medium heat. When the foam subsides, add the apples and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft and starting to turn golden around the edges. Add the sugar or syrup and a shake of cinnamon, cook for another minute, tossing to coat the apples well. Remove from the heat.
Fill crepes with the apple mixture, roll up and top with whipped cream. Serve warm.
Makes about 10 crepes.
One Year Ago: Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard
October 25 2009 | breakfast | 11 Comments »
