Sesame Crackers

James and I had some friends over for dinner the other day, and is there ever a better excuse to make your own crackers? These are perfect for cheese and dips, as they are only very lightly salted. I also like rolling them out in big pieces—saved a lot of time, and I think it's a neat look. This recipe is exceptionally easy, the crackers taste great, and they look lovely; I already have a second batch of dough in the fridge, waiting to be rolled.

Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce

I've been tempted to try making candies and caramel sauce with honey for quite some time, but I've always been anxious about the potential of wasting large amounts of honey. I'm not certain what prompted me to finally do it, but I made caramel sauce today, using this recipe. Though I have recently re-embraced dairy, a couple of my loved ones are lactose intolerant, and as I intended to make this as a Christmas gift for one of them, I opted to try using coconut milk.

Pecan Shortbread

To somewhat resolve my inner conflict over the sugary food related things I do at work, I've decided that I'd really like to establish my own repertoire of basic recipes, made with local sugars...perhaps to appear in my imaginary bakery. I really enjoy working on recipes and testing my knowledge of baking theory to adapt them. Shortbread was a delicious and simple place to start. And pecan sandies are among James' favourite cookies.

Getting Ready

Christmas is coming too soon, and I'm trying to get ready. Today I'm working on a shortbread cookie recipe for here and trying to finish my Christmas cards—'tis the season!

Lately

Christmas is coming, so I've also been busy knitting and making cards etc..., and work is pretty nuts right now too. I have been baking at home, because James and I have had company for the last two weekends, but by the time I feel any ambition to take a picture, it's gone.

I've been feeling conflicted about the amount of cane-sugar baking I do, when my real interests are in baking with local sugars, but here are a couple little sugary things I've made lately. The cookies are just a basic sugar cookie recipe with royal icing. I made them for fun, because I'd like to improve my piping and decorating skills. The cake is a chocolate genoise, with orange flavoured buttercream, that I made for a friend of James'. The colour combination for the cake's icing was a definite mistake, but I do think taste is most important, and the feedback was great. I hate looking at all the imperfections of my decorating, but I try to remind myself that I have to start somewhere.

Blueberry Dessert Scones

Sometimes I dream about opening my own bakery. And although it's far off, I've already decided that, if I do, these scones will be there. I love them, though they're very different from the Hearty Scones I've already posted. They're rich, sweet, short and crumbly. They like...melt in your mouth. This is one of my favourite recipes I've ever put on this blog.

Hearty Scones

Unfortunately, I don't get to do very much baking at my new job here in Toronto. Since I don't get my fix there, and I really have aspirations of becoming a great baker, I've started baking and experimenting a lot at home again. I've also taken out this book from my local library—trying to keep some sense of instructed learning.

Foraged Apple Crumble

I've yet to settle into Toronto living, and it makes me a bit anxious. Especially right now, when I know my garden at my family home is producing beets and carrots, and there are apples waiting to be picked from our tree.  Also, my mom tells me the cottage is beautiful this time of year.

Raw Hazelnut & Cacao Nib Refrigerator Cookies

As winter approaches, I am becoming less strict about my adherence to a raw diet. However, I have found I prefer many raw recipes to their unraw counterparts—I am maintaining my switch to cashew yogurt and nut milk, and zucchini hummus is just so delicious, and much easier to make than chickpea hummus. I really did miss tea, though.

Clammin'

My vegetarianism has always been based on the supposed philosophy that "if I killed it, I'd eat it." Until recently, however, I'd never actually lived that motto. 

While fetching James for our move to Toronto, I had the chance to go clamming, and have a clam boil on the beach. Digging for clams was actually a lot of fun—probably my favourite part of the process.

We boiled the clams over an open fire, with an assortment of root vegetables, an onion and some crushed red pepper. It was my first non-vegetarian meal in 7 years, and though I felt no moral apprehensions about eating the clams, their disgusting bodies made me think twice...clams are really gross looking. I overcame their appearance and they were surprisingly good, though I don't foresee any clam cravings. I think I've probably had my fill for life.

James and I are officially moved to Toronto, so life should be settling down, and I will soon return to some of my normal activities—blogging, for example.

Blog is on the back burner, because I love summer and I've been spending every moment I can spare at my family's cottage.

I would like to say I'll be back soon, but James and I have decided to move to Toronto in September, so things will be hectic for a while. I'm sorry to leave my family, and a job I love so much, but it's also very exciting.

Anyone know of any nice bakeries in Toronto that might be hiring? Seriously...I'm going to need a job.

Zucchini Hummus

I am still eating raw, but I spend all day working in a kitchen, and with summer weather drawing me outside, my food preparation at home has been very minimalist. Mostly, I just eat an assortment of fruits and vegetables with no preparation required.

Strawberry Picking: Valley Sunset

Probably the last strawberry pick of the season. This variety was by far my favourite.

Strawberry Picking: Cavendish

Strawberry pick number three. This variety is called Cavendish and it's pretty good—slightly better than Cabot, which actually turned out to be better than I first thought. Still anticipating the berries from peak season.

Strawberry Picking: Cabot

Another trip to the strawberry field. This variety is called Cabot. The berries are huge and though they're better than the first batch, I'm still unsatisfied.

Blooming & Growing

Strawberry Picking: Annapolis

Mom, James and I went strawberry picking this week, on the farm's opening day (June 14th). It was nice, but the strawberries—a variety called Annapolis—are a bit watery tasting. I'm excited to go again and taste the next batch.

Raw Dough-Nots

Fruit is my typical raw dessert, but James was visiting this week, and I wanted something to distract him from my cherries and watermelons. So, I made raw dough-nots.

June Garden

Cake Decorating: Mocha Buttercream & Butterscotch Filling

This cake is a chocolate genoise, with mocha buttercream and butterscotch fudge icing for the filling—all recipes came from my school baking file. The inspiration for the piping came from here.

This is part II of Michelle's birthday. I made it to supplement the first cake, in case it wasn't enough for everyone (I delivered it to work), and also to say "goodbye Home Hardware"—I worked my last shift there on Tuesday...because I've started a full-time job in a pastry kitchen! That's my excuse for limited posting—it's been two weeks since my last day off, as I was working both jobs for a while.

Cake Decorating: Piping & Cream Cheese Icing

I made a spice cake with cream cheese icing and blueberry jam for my best friend's birthday. I used this cake recipe, which I converted to weight, a cream cheese icing recipe from my school recipe file, a heavy sugar syrup and this blueberry jam. My piping was inspired by this cake.

All this cake decorating has left me desperate for a revolving cake stand. Right now I'm using an inverted cake pan...

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Spinach & Spiders

Raw Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumble

I usually care more about eating locally than eating raw, so I was disappointed when I realized that rhubarb season was here, and that I didn't know how to enjoy it raw. Inspired by a couple of recipes, I decided to make a raw crumble. 

Spring

Green Apple Guacamole

A problem I have with a lot of prepared raw food is that it's often heavy on the nuts. I love nuts, very much, but my stomach reacts negatively when I eat large quantities of them. So, I've been looking for more vegetable based meal ideas.

Hazelnut Milk

Hazelnut milk is the answer to my mild aversion to Almond Milk. It's strange that hazelnut milk tastes just like you'd expect—hazelnuts—but almond milk doesn't taste much like almonds to me. Not only do I prefer the taste, but I am a bit obsessive about not repeating too many of the same foods in one day. I like to diversify my nut consumption, and since there are already whole almonds in my muesli, I'd rather eat it with hazelnut milk, than more almonds.

Cake Decorating: Birthday Cake (Buttercream Roses & Piped Chocolate)

I was asked to make a cake for some fellow employees' birthdays. I may have over-done the decorations...the cake turned out a bit feminine—Mother's Day-ish, even—but, they got what they paid for. If you notice a bit of roughness around Birthday, it's because, on my first attempt, I wrote Happy Bithday. Don't judge, I have an excuse—someone called right when my chocolate had come to working temperature, and instead of accepting my inability to multitask, I decided to go ahead with the spelling, while on the phone. Fortunately, chocolate becomes stiff when cool, so I just removed the letters with a paring knife and tried again.

Happy Birthday Dan & Hannah!