#78) Strawberry Squares

Hello again everyone! The summer months sure are flying by, aren't they? Its hard to believe that in just 4 days I will be a married woman!!! Gonna be a good weekend :)

But enough about that and let's get talking about that dessert. (I have to apologize for the quality of the pic... I had to do it myself and, well, my skills stop at the kitchen :p)

I came home to my parents' a few days ago and one of the first things we did was go to a U-Pick for some fresh strawberries. We left the field with almost 20 cups of strawberries!!! The very first thing my dad asked for was a pan of strawberry squares and I couldn't say no :) But if you follow along on this blog at all you know I avoid using any packages in my baking and prefer to do everything from scratch - and those strawberry squares have gelatin in them to keep them nice and firm once they cool. So I done a bit of googling to find a gelatin substitute and what I actually found out was what gelatin is made out - bones, hooves, and connective tissue! (I am done with anything jelly and jiggly) It was time to find another way to make these squares.

So I put myself to work in the kitchen and whipped up a nice syrup, added my berries, and thickened it all with some cornstarch and water, and with my fingers crossed I put the squares in the fridge and hoped for the best.

Although they don't cut out with the same clean edges as the jelly version, they are so tasty and bone-free that my dad forgave me :) What do you think?


Strawberry Filling

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar (could easily be reduced to 1 cup)
3 cups berries (I used whole fresh, but frozen would work too)
2 tbsp cornstarch

- Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring often.
- Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Add berries and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Mix cornstarch with enough water to make a liquid, not a paste. Add to berry mixture all at once and stir quickly.
- Continue to cook for 5 more minutes, stirring often.
- Put a large sieve over a large bowl. Pour berry mixture through sieve. (This will separate the berries from the syrup and remove any lumps of the cornstarch mixture.
- Let cool for 30 minutes.


Graham Cracker Bottom

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon

- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Mix together all three ingredients and press into a 9X9 glass baking dish.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or just until it starts to brown.
- Remove from oven and set aside.


Chantilly Whipped Cream

500 ml whipping cream, cold
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

- In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form (it will take a while so don't give up!)
- Add the icing sugar and vanilla and whip until stiff peaks form.
- Keep cold until ready to use.


Assembly

- Place cooled strawberries from sieve on top of graham cracker bottom.
- Pour enough syrup over the berries to cover. (The leftover syrup is excellent for crepes!!!!)
- Let set in fridge until stiff.
- Cover with whipped cream. (The leftover cream is excellent for crepes!!!!)

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#77) Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

After nearly 2 years of blogging (my blog bday is on the 19th), it is sometimes hard to find new sweet treats to share with you guys. It is true, I tend to stick within my comfort zone of chocolate and peanut butter a lot, but every now and then it is really fun to whip up something totally different than my usual flavour combos, and that's why I enjoyed this cake so much!

I have to admit, until this bad boy came out of the oven, I had never even tasted any lemon and poppy seed sweet treats before - but I have been converted! This cake is so light and citrus flavour is so crisp that each bite addictive. And the four-berry curd in the middle - OMG! I was a little unsure while it was still hot, but once it cooled and settled into the cake.... well, let's just say it was a match made in heaven :)

I am going to be MIA again now for a while - July is gonna be a busy month - so with the exception of a couple of possible posts this week, I won't see you much next month. I am away in beautiful Quebec for two weeks, travelling home to Newfoundland for a week, getting married, and heading back to Quebec for the honeymoon... See you in August!!!


Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seed
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup evaporated milk
5 egg whites, room temperature (keep the yolks for the curd)
1/2 tsp sugar

Steps

-Spray 13x9 inch pyrex dish and line with parchment paper (long enough so there are "handles" on each side to lift out cooled cake).

-Preheat oven to 350F.

-In a medium bowl, stir together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.

-In a large bowl, cream sugar, zest, and butter.

-Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture in 4 additions, starting with milk and ending with flour. Beat after each addition.

-In a separate bowl, beat eggs and 1/2 tsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter.

-Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in dish for 15 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Cut down the middle to form to square cakes.


Four-Berry Curd

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups berries, fresh or thawed
5 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Steps

-Melt butter in large sauce pan.

-Add berries, yolks, and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and mashing berries. Mixture should thicken. (Mine didn't thicken very much so I ended up with a slightly runny curd, but the flavour was great)

-Once thickened, pour through a large strainer to remove the large pieces of berry. Add lemon juice and let cool to room temperature (should thicken more as it cools).


Assembly

-Pour some curd over top of one square cake. Place second cake on top.

(There will be plenty of curd left over to add to individual servings, as desired)

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#76) Cinnamon Cupcakes

Have you missed me? Well, that's not important - what is important is that I have missed you! But I am here with cupcakes in hand hoping you will forgive my long absence, yet again...

Here's the deal, fiance and I are getting married in just 65 days!!! (Yes I am nervous, but everything is falling into place nicely) So to get in shape and shed a few pounds I have hired a trainer and joined a Booty Boot Camp. Let me tell you, this trainer knows her stuff and she makes sure I work hard. But you know what that means, less time to be in the kitchen and super bad guilty conscious for eating all the sweet treats I love so much!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttt - last weekend was the May Long Weekend and I decided it was about time I got back in the kitchen and started playing with some ideas and ingredients.... the guilty conscious went on vacation :)

I started out wanting cinnamon buns, but I have a strange fear of yeast and am quite nervous about using it... I know, this makes no sense and cinnamon buns would be worth it, right? Yeah, I couldn't do it... So I done the next best thing - cupcakes!!! But sticking with the cinnamon bun craving I slapped some cinnamon sugar in the middle and topped them all with a highly addictive lemon cream cheese frosting. You have to try them!!!!!!!!!

Cinnamon Filling

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Steps

- Mix together in small bowl.

Cupcake Batter

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups cake flour (for those of you with AP flour - measure out all your flour, remove 7 tbsp, replace with 7 tbsp cornstarch - def worth the extra effort!)
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup (soy) milk
4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into large, deep bowl.

- Add the butter and 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth.

- In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, egg whites, the remaining 1/2 cup milk and the vanilla. Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Scrape down the bowl between additions.

Assembly

- Place 1 1/2 tsp cake batter into the muffin liners.

- Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of filling into the muffin cups.

- Cover with more batter, filling cups about 2/3 full. Use a toothpick to swirl the cinnamon centre.

- Bake at 350°F for 18-20.

- Cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 8-oz block (light) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
Grated rind of one lemon
1/2 cups icing sugar (this will change depending on moisture content of cream cheese, amount of juice in lemon, etc. - you want a smooth, fluffy consistency, but not pipeable frosting)

Steps

- Beat together all ingredients except icing sugar until combined.

- Add icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until proper consistency is achieved.

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#75) Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

I went out to a "girls' night" last weekend and thought it would be nice to add a sweet treat to the finger food menu... I had loads of bananas in the kitchen, and a couple handfulls of different kinds of chocolate chips kicking around... Well, what goes better together than banana and chocolate?

The banana bread was good, but I like a nice dense banana bread so to improve I would add another banana next time around. Also, the recipe I tweaked said to use all the batter in one loaf pan, but it was a lot of batter so I divided it into two loaf pans and got two nice loaves.

(PS - please forgive the poor photo, but souRIRE photography wasn't visiting last weekend)

I've got a few more bananas to use up this weekend... any suggestions for a banana sweet treat you'd like to see here?

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips + extra for the top(I used a mixture of white and mini semi-sweet)
2 cups ripe banana (about 4 bananas)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup (soy) milk
2 eggs

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare 2 loaf pans with spray oil.

-In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Set aside.

-In another bowl, mix together bananas, butter, milk, and eggs. Pour over flour mixture and stir just until combined.

-Divide between two loaf pans.

-Sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top (up to you how much!)

-Put loaves in the oven for 3 minutes. Remove and run a butter knife through each loaf lengthwise and widthwise to swirl the chocolate. (I used a "sawing" motion so I didn't drag the batter all over the place)

-Return loaves to oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

-Let cool completely before slicing.

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How to Bake: The Prepared Pantry

Hi everyone!

I know I have been MIA for a while but let me tell you I have not been lying down on the job - during Easter break I made a trip home back to Newfoundland for my bridal shower, where the theme was "Desserts for Dani." We had cake, cookies, cheesecakes, bars, and cupcakes - but I didn't get any good photos, sorry!

While I was on my little trip the folks from The Prepared Pantry contacted me about a great e-book they offer via their website. I should tell you I have been looking for a good how-to baking book for quite some time now - you know, not just a collection of recipes but a book that tells me the who, what, when, where, why, and how of baking. I have found some in bookstores, but am far too frugal to spend $75 on any book. That's why when I got this e-mail I signed up right away. Now, once a week I get a chapter e-mailed to me until I eventually have collected all 250 pages. I am currently on Chp 3 and have found the information very useful and explanatory. Sign up right now!



After I signed up I browsed through their website and found they offer a lot of neat products. Mainly they sell mixes, but you will also find herbs, spices, and tools as well. I have found a dozen or more items I wouldn't mind having, and have bookmarked them all for my fiance to have a look at (hint hint).

I hope you find this site as intersting as I did, and please, let me know if you have found any other similar places I might enjoy :)

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#74) Peach Upside-Downs

I have been drooling over my copy of Better Homes and Gardens' "Ultimate Desserts" since I got it in the mail last week. So I thought today was a good time to try out one of the many recipes I had picked out. The recipe in the book is a Caramelized Fresh Apricot Upside-Down Cake. Well, as I have said before, I live in Labrador so getting anything "fresh" is a pretty hard task. Also, I couldn't find canned apricots, so I went with canned peaches. And I couldn't justify making a whole cake for just myself, so I halved the recipe and made cupcake versions. Oh, and I have to apologize for the quality of the photo - fiance, aka souRIRE photography, wasn't here to do it today.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup butter (almost 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Steps

-combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil for 5-10 minutes (mine was done in about 7), stirring often. You want the syrup to be a rich amber colour. (watch closely as colour begins to change as syrup can go from sweet to burnt in just seconds)

-set aside.

Cakes

Ingredients

6 canned peach slices, drained (I will cut them into smaller pieces next time)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps

-preheat over to 350ºF and lightly spray 6 muffin cups with Pam.
-place peach pieces into muffin cups.
-pour slightly cooled syrup over peach pieces. Set aside.
-stir together flour and baking powder in small bowl.
-in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in milk and vanilla.
-in a clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
-fold one quarter of the egg whites into cake batter. Fold in remaining egg whites.
-using a 1/8 cup measure, divide batter among muffin cups.
-bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (mine took 22 minutes)
-let cool on wire rack in for 5 minutes, then run a knife around edges to loosed cupcakes. Carefully turn over onto a plate. Spoon any remaining syrup over cupcakes.

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Brownie Recipe Published!

Have you ever stopped my mixingbowl.com? Well, I have and it is a great place to share you recipes and find some real keepers from other people. There are loads of groups to join and a new contest every few weeks.

The folks at Better Homes and Gardens selected some recipes from this community to feature in their newest special interest publication, Ultimate Desserts, and guess who is featured on page 6......

You got it - sweettreatsdani :)

They have shared out Strawberry Almond Brownies with all their readers.

But when you pick it up don't stay glued to page 6, because I am already drooling over the pages and pages of tempting sweet treats. It is definitely a book I welcome to my collection with open arms, for more than selfish reasons :)

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