Archive for the 'cookies & squares' Category
It wasn’t raining when we woke up this morning, but the mist was so heavy it was like the clouds stretched all the way to the earth. W said, as we drove to the beach, that it was just sparkles falling from the sky.
At the north end of Chesterman, when the tide is ultra low (there are two low tides per day – the first much lower than the other), caves are revealed around the point whose access is most often obstructed by water. Early in the morning though, at this time of year, the tide backs off enough to let us around the end of the rock and through the caves, even the smooth-walled one that’s just wide enough to fit us walking in single file and cuts straight through barnacle-covered rock (you’ll have to duck toward the end) to the sea anemone-filled tide pools on the other side.
Later, we made cookies. There are plenty of BC blueberries around right now, and the question of whether or not blueberries would go well in cookies (why should they be limited to muffins?) arose. Only one way to find out.
Chewy Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup (or so) fresh blueberries
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl beat the butter, oil and brown sugar until creamy; beat in the egg ad vanilla.
Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt and stir until almost combined; add the blueberries and stir just until blended. Drop large blobs on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, until set around the edges but still soft in the middle.
Makes 1 1/2-2 dozen cookies.
July 29 2010 | cookies & squares | 25 Comments »
The mornings are the best part. Invariably tired (there are no early nights in Tofino) there are boys padding around in their PJs, excited to be in Tofino, wanting pancakes or poached eggs on toast.
Some mornings we take Lou alone to the beach, but there is also the lure of the boathouse, set on stilts two flights of stairs below the house, just above the rocky inlet. I go down in the cool air with a new cup of coffee and a book to sit in one of the pair of pale green Adirondack chairs (not so comfortable, but well-suited to this particular scene) overlooking the water. Lou follows me down and dozes on the warm wood in scattered sunlight. Crows caw testily at me (or at Lou, for being a dog and snoozing rather than pay attention to their presence a few feet away in the branches?) and wildlife goes about its business of living.
Meares island sits quietly across the water as it always does – there are cows living on Meares, their descendants having swum to shore from a sinking ship in the 1800s with sailors who were later rescued by another ship that didn’t have space for cattle. The tide is out, leaving the mudflats an open buffet for sea birds and buoys left sitting on the muck. Sometimes you can see the tide turn, and barely-there waves tentatively begin to tiptoe back toward the shore. Today, it made me realize I had promised the boys we’d drop the crab trap – best done at low tide, and pulled up when it’s high, the ocean having brought crabs along with it.
I stay down as long as I can, resisting thoughts of the boys and what they might be up to – what plans are being made – everyone else must be anxious to start their day, to go on outings. Sunscreen and towels and dry clothes and snacks and bottles of water must be packed. Eventually I go up and we head to the beach, or the park, or the little aquarium in Ucluelet.
Today ran long, and by dinnertime after too much sun and sand no one had the gumption to come up with a meal plan. There was enough in the fridge, so we steamed corn, cooked spaghetti and tossed it with pesto from the beach grocery, made up a salad from the head of lettuce the 90 year old next door neighbour offered from her garden, peas in their pods, slivered purple onion, strawberries, avocado and crumbled feta, toasted kale chips and roasted the tiniest potatoes we bought at the Saturday morning market. Creamy yellow and red the size and colour of radishes – some as small as peas.
All they needed was to have their dirt rinsed off and to be tossed with canola oil and salt, then roasted at 450F for 20 minutes, until tender inside and crispy out.
I’m hooked, in case I haven’t told you this already, on kale chips.
To make kale chips: wash, dry well and tear kale into big bite-sized pieces, tossing out the thick stems. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with canola oil; toss with your hands to coat them well, and sprinkle with salt. Rearrange in a single layer and roast at 400F for about 10 minutes, until crisp and starting to turn golden. (Watch them closely – if your oven is too hot they can burn quickly!)
July 26 2010 | cookies & squares | 18 Comments »
It would have made sense to post this recipe on the weekend, since this is what I made approximately a dozen batches of between Friday night and Sunday. I was on the kitchen stage all weekend, and this year the canola producers asked if I’d do a demo for them. I was happy to, since I tend to extol the virtues of canola oil while up there on my soapbox anyway. It really is great stuff.
They ran a recipe contest, and wanted me to make one of the winning recipes – a recipe called Saskatoon Bars. It turned out to be one of those great versatile recipes that come in such handy in summer, when depending on the week you might have rhubarb or apricots or blueberries or blackberries to use up. This makes a big batch of cookie-like bars that with the dough patted on the bottom (sounds like it’s getting a spanking) and then dropped on top, reminded me of a cobbler. So I renamed them Blueberry Cobbler Cookie Bars. It’s all in the branding, don’t you think?
And because the saskatoons aren’t quite ready yet, I used blueberries. Also, the original recipe called for almond extract, but I’m not a fan. It does pair well with blueberries or saskatoons though, so feel free to add it back in.
Blueberry Cobbler Bars
Adapted from the third place recipe submission (Saskatoon Bars) by Sharlene from Regina, Saskatchewan. Thanks to the folks at Canola Info for the recipe! If you like, whisk together a cup of icing sugar with a capful of vanilla or almond extract and a tablespoon or two of milk until you have a drizzling consistency, and drizzle the icing over the bars.
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 cups blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, Saskatoon berries or sliced strawberries, fresh or frozen (don’t thaw them)
Preheat oven to 350ºF and spray large 10.5 x 15” jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet (I used a half bun pan) with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, cream together canola oil, butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add the flours and baking soda and stir just until the batter comes together.
Spread 2/3 of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with berries or sliced fruit, then drop the remaining dough in spoonfuls over the fruit – it will spread as it bakes, and you don’t need to cover it all.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch.
July 20 2010 | cookies & squares | 16 Comments »
I realize this is far from a June weekend sort of a recipe – but remember those bazillion baggies in my cupboard? I’m chipping away at them. Starting with the figs.
This weekend is the Food Bloggers’ Bake Sale in support of Calgary Meals on Wheels (at the Market Collective in the old Anthill building in Kensington -148-10 St NW- Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 11-5 – admission is $2 or a food bank donation) – I baked a half dozen Blueberry & Ginger Banana Loaves, Cranberry, White Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cookies, Brownies for a Crowd, Kettle Corn (that everyone ate while watching the World Cup), some Sponge Toffee (that I burnt all to hell) and these squares. Everyone knows and loves date squares (affectionately known as Matrimonial Slice for their popularity at weddings and showers in the fifties). Turns out they can take on any number of fillings; here cranberries are cooked down with dried figs to a thick jam, then spread in between layers of crumbly oats, butter and sugar. It really smacks of fall and back to school. No matter.
Fig-Cranberry Oat Squares (Matrimonial Slice)
Base & topping:
1 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour, or a combination
1 cup oats
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, chilled
Date Filling:
1 250 g (8 oz.) pkg. dried figs
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
3/4 cup sugar, white or brown
3/4 cup orange juice or water
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a small saucepan, combine the figs, cranberries, sugar and orange juice over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until the berries burst and the mixture becomes thick and jamlike. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and mix with a fork or your fingers until the mixture is well combined and crumbly. (Alternatively, the mixture can be pulsed in a food processor until well combined.) Press half the crumbs into an 8” x 8” pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
Spread the filling over the crust, and sprinkle with remaining crumbs, squeezing as you go to create bigger clumps. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until pale golden and bubbly around the edges. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Makes 16 squares.
Speaking of food (and aren’t I always?) I have a good food read to give away for Free Stuff Friday – a copy of Tara Austen Weaver’s The Butcher and the Vegetarian, an excellent summer read. (Hey, if you do see summer, can you send it over? Thanks.) Congrats to Jill, who got that bowl filled with cookies, and Erica, who I got to hang out with at GalleryCalorie last weekend!
What I’d really like to know is: what was for dinner last night?
June 18 2010 | cookies & squares | 37 Comments »
I wish I could take credit for these, but alas – they are the brainchild of Jen at Chocolate & Ginger. She came up with them to sell at the Food Blogger Bake Sale taking place this weekend at the Market Collective, happening this weekend in the old Anthill building in Kensington (148-10 St NW) in support of Calgary Meals on Wheels. It runs on Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 11-5 – admission is $2 or a food bank donation. We chatted about it on CBC this morning, and so I made these to bring in – bacon is a breakfast food, right? – and made a great number of people very happy.
I’ll be at the bake sale on Saturday from 12-2pm flogging our wares.. not quite sure what I’ll be making yet. Possibly maple sponge toffee. Or brownie pops. Or maybe some good old pound cakes and loaves. W and I bought mini pie tins, and now he’s all revved up to make little pies. So there’s that. Except that once we make them I may not be able to part with them. I get attached that way.
It’s quite a lineup of food bloggers on board – it was dreamt up and organized by Vincci of Ceci n’est pas un food blog, and besides myself she rounded up Pierre of Kitchen Scraps, Jen of Chocolate & Ginger, Dan of Dan’s Good Side, Vlad of Vlad’s Gonzo Food Blog, Lauren of Celiac Teen, Claire of I Love Alberta Beets, Zoey of Vegedible, Chelsey of The Crazy Kitchen, Fareen of Food Mamma John & Nancy of ChowTown, Cheryl of Backseat Gourmet, Peter of The Celiac Husband, Liz of Truffle Mutt, Andrea of Live, Laugh, Love, EAT!!!, Heather the Calgary Restaurant Examiner and Bonnie of Scrumptiously Fit Food.
Phew. That took a lot of energy. I need a cookie.
So have you heard of Mo’s Bacon Bars? I had heard of them, but not tried one – they are Applewood bacon + alderwood salt + deep milk chocolate – 82 g (or thereabouts) for $10. Fortunately I’m not rich enough to become addicted. (You can find them at Savour in Inglewood and the Cookbook Company on 11th Ave.) Jen had the brilliant idea to turn them into a cookie.
I imagine you could chop up a Mo’s Bacon Bar into any chocolate chip cookie dough, but this is a good one. Crispy edged, soft in the middle. (If you’re looking for a sort of chocolate chip cookie tutorial, I posted one over here today.)
Chocolate & Ginger’s Applewood Smoked Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookies
recipe courtesy of Jen at Chocolate & Ginger – thanks Jen!
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
1 Vosges Mo’s bacon bar (with applewood smoked bacon, alderwood smoked salt and deep milk chocolate), chopped
1 70% dark chocolate bar (ie Lindt/Valrhona), cut into rough small chunks or 1 1/4 cup dark choc chips works too
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or like me, with a bowl and wooden spoon), beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated, then stir in the flour mixture followed by the nuts and chocolate chunks.
On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight – or freezer for couple hours to speed up.
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice the logs into disks 3/4 inch thick and place the disks 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. If the nuts or chips crumble out, simply push them back in.
Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies are very lightly browned in the centers, about 10 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.
June 15 2010 | cookies & squares | 15 Comments »
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