baking » Living Lou

Chocolate Orange Snow Caps

Why am I posting a Christmas cookie in September?

“You do know that it’s Labour Day?” – Yes, I am aware.

It’s obviously because I’m so excited for Christmas break already!

Just kidding, classes haven’t even started yet – that excitement would be a little bit premature.

So why else would I be posting a Christmas cookie in September? For a contest of course, so bear with me, or bookmark this recipe and look back on it come December.

Have you ever had a Terry’s Chocolate Orange? You know, the ones you smash to get them to fall open and then you can devour the little slices of orange flavoured chocolate? That was my inspiration for these Chocolate Orange Snow Caps. I’ve always loved the look of Chocolate Snow Caps, but wanted something a little bit more unique and festive for the holidays. I personally find that the flavour combination of chocolate and orange to be extremely festive and delicious.

Chocolate Orange Snow Caps (makes 18-20 cookies)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
zest of 1 small/medium sized orange
6 tbsp of butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
4 oz bitter sweet or semi sweet chocolate
1 tbsp milk
1/3 cup of icing sugar

Directions

Begin by melting chocolate in a small bowl over a pot of boiling water. Set aside to cool.

In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

Whisk the orange zest into the dry ingredients.

In a large bowl or using the stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg until fully mixed into the mixture. Next, beat in the chocolate.

Fold in the dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are somewhat combined with the wet ingredients. Add 1 tbsp of milk to aid the process. Dough will be wet.

Remove dough to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a disk, chill in the refrigerator for 35-45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and prepare a bowl with your icing sugar.

Remove dough from fridge and pinch of dough and shape into 1-inch balls – I used a cookie scoop as it made them more uniform in size. Roll the balls in the sugar coating and place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. The cookies will spread during baking.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies have spread and are cracked on top. The cookies will be soft to the touch. Allow them to cool completely before sampling.

I hope you enjoy these Chocolate Orange Snow Caps.

- Lou

Chocolate Pavlova [closed!]

There are a million things that I love about the summer, but one of my absolute favourites is the availability of local fresh fruits and vegetables. And eating ice cream everyday, and desserts like this Chocolate Pavlova. It’s a good thing that summer isn’t too long in Toronto because I think if I lived somewhere where it was hot 24/7, I would probably be double my size due to excessive ice cream and dessert consumption.

For the past few years, I have become increasingly interested in local produce. I especially love to see big chains joining myself and many other bloggers in the local food movement. I was beyond thrilled when I found out that each year, from May through October, the grocery chain Metro Ontario launches their Harvest from Home program, an initiative to support growing, purchasing and eating local food in Ontario. Metro is purchasing locally grown foods from more than 100 farms across Ontario, which not only provides us with wonderful produce but supports farmers and provides jobs! It’s crazy to think that typically food travels 1,500 miles to grocery stores, but by eating local, your “food mile” reduces drastically to 45 miles. Insane.

Strawberries are probably my favourite summer ingredient, they are so sweet and fresh in the summer. I knew when coming up with a strawberry inspired dessert that I wanted to keep them in their raw form and a pavlova is the perfect dessert to highlight the strawberries. Chocolate and strawberries is one of my favourite combinations so I knew that a chocolate pavlova was definitely in order.

Luckily for you my lovely readers, I have a nice giveaway! Metro will send one lucky reader who lives in Ontario a gift basket and a $50 Metro/Food Basics gift card. See details after the recipes.

Chocolate Pavlova (serves 4-6)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

2 cups sliced strawberries

For Meringue

6 egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup ground almonds
4 oz semi sweet chocolate, melted

For Whipped Cream

2 cups whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 275. Arrange racks in the top and bottom third of the oven.

Cut three 8-inch circles out of parchment paper and arrange on two baking sheets.

Next, combine 1/4 cup sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Continue to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then gradually beat in the sugar and cocoa mixture, salt and vanilla extract.

Gently fold in the almonds and melted chocolate.

Evenly distribute the mixture onto the parchment paper circles. Turn down the oven to 225 and bake meringues for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, rotating the baking sheets partway through.

Once meringue is done baking, turn down oven and let meringue dry out for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare whipped cream. Using an electric mixer, beat cream until thick, add sugar at the last minute.

To assemble the pavlova, gently remove meringue from parchment paper (don’t worry if it cracks, it will be covered by whipped cream and berries!). Cover meringue with whipped cream and top with berries. Continue with remaining cream and berries until you have three layers. Serve immediately.

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Giveaway is closed, the winner is Britt!

Giveaway Details

And for you, my lovely readers the lovely people at Metro Ontario will send one of you a gift basket and a $50 gift card to be used at Metro or Food Basics.

Giveaway is open to legal residents over the age of eighteen (18) Ontario, Canada.

To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know your favourite fresh summer fruit or vegetable.

All entries must be received by midnight, EST on Wednesday, August 29th. Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified via valid email address. If they do not reply within 2 days another winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: I was provided with the same items as the giveaway (food basket and $50 gift card) from Metro Ontario. The decision to feature the Harvest from Home program was my own and as always all opinions are 100% mine.

Orange Cake And a Giveaway! [Closed]

Orange cake always reminds me of my Nona. I remember eating it when I was a little girl, visiting her in Greece during the summer. My Grandmother shares my love for cooking and baking, we can chat on the phone for hours about baking bread or cake. She loves orange cake, and when I say love it I mean she always talks about her orange cake because it is to die for. I’ve always been kind of scared of making an orange cake because what if it wasn’t as good as my Nona’s! While I do cherish my Nona’s recipe for Orange Cake, it was only fitting that when I was sent a copy of Grace’s Sweet Life that Grace’s recipe of Orange Cake caught my eye.

Grace’s Sweet Life is a cookbook and blog written by Grace Massa Langlois, and it reveals the secrets to Italy’s most delicious, homemade Italian desserts. The book is filled with delicious, authentic recipes for Italian desserts and I’ve been obsessed with trying all the recipes ever since I first got the book. Up next is the Lemon Meringue Tartlette. I love the way Grace’s voice comes through strongly in her cookbook, each recipe comes with a descriptor, whether it be a little anecdote or an explanation of the recipe, it’s lovely, especially for a non-Italian cook! Giveaway details are after the recipe.

Orange Cake

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

6 large eggs, separated
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tbsp superfine sugar, divided
grated zest of 2 oranges
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

FOR THE SYRUP

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup superfine sugar
zest of 1 orange in large strips (no pith attached)
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeded
2 to 3 tbsp orange liqueur

Directions

FOR THE CAKE:

Place the egg yolks in a large bowl and the whites in the bowl of a standmixer. Cover each with plastic wrap and leave for 30 minutes, allowing to come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 and coat the sides of a pan (I used a 10 x 3 in. Springform Pan)

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.

Using a handheld mixer, beat the egg yolks, oil, vanilla extract and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. About 2 minutes.

Beat in the orange zest and juice.

Next, in the stand mixer, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. When the whites are foamy, add the cream of tartar. At the soft peak stage, add the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar.

Fold in one-third of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Then carefully, fold in the remaining whites until combined.

Pour batter into pan and bake until golden and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

FOR THE SYRUP:

Over medium heat, bring the orange juice, sugar, zest and vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, add the liqueur and continue summering until the syrup reduces slightly. About 5-8 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve.

Serve the cake with warm orange syrup.

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Giveaway Details

And for you, my lovely readers I have one copy of Grace’s Sweet Life for one of you to win.

Giveaway is open to legal residents over the age of eighteen (18) in the US and Canada (excluding Quebec).

To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know your favourite Italian dessert.

All entries must be received by midnight, EST on Tuesday, June 26th. Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified via valid email address.

Blueberry Breakfast Bars

I love blueberries, so when I was assigned Betcha Can’t Eat Just One for this month’s Secret Recipe Club I was ecstatic to find this recipe for Blueberry Breakfast Bars. I mean come on, how good do they sound? The best part about the recipe is how healthy and tasty they are. I loved the fact that they weren’t too sweet, because I don’t know about you, but I can’t stomach sweet treats in the morning.

Other than finding the delicious recipe, I was even more excited when I found out that Katie is a fellow Canadian food blogger! Blogging from the West Coast of Vancouver Island, which I’m sure is one of the most beautiful places in Canada. Many of her recipes, including this one for Blueberry Breakfast Bars are dairy and egg free, which meant that the fact that I had run out of eggs did not impact the making of the recipe. Yay!

I made a few changes to the recipe based on what ingredients I had on hand. The original recipe called for rolled oats and crushed bran cereal, but I just used quick oats and a little more whole wheat flour instead. I also only used baking powder and added in a touch more vanilla because I am a vanilla addict.

Blueberry Breakfast Bars (makes 8 bars)
Recipe adapted from: Betcha Can’t Eat Just One

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup almond milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp canola oil
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8″ pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.

In another bowl combine wet ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and lightly mix.

Fold in the berries.

Press into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bars comes out clean.

Allow to cool and cut into bars.

Katie put a nice icing on her blueberry breakfast bars, but I found they were just as good with a dollop of cream cheese.

- Lou

Corn Muffins

Corn Muffins are something that I’ve wanted to try making forever. I’ve always enjoyed them, but never got around to making them. For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I was assigned to Robin’s blog Penny-Pinching Provisions. What I love about Penny-Pinching Provisions is that it’s really all about the food. There are so many recipes that all sound equally as good. I was so lucky to be assigned to Robin’s blog because there is such a large variety of recipes that really, I could have made anything I wanted!

With that said, I had a really tough time picking a recipe because there were so many good ones. I mean, hello – she has over 15 muffin recipes! At first I was planning on making her Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins (how good do those sound!) but when I saw this recipe I knew that I had to make these.

Corn Muffins (makes 7-9)
Recipe from Penny Pinching Provisions

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease muffin tin to line with muffin liners.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and scoop into muffin tin.

Bake for 20 minutes.

This is seriously, one of the easiest recipes and I found myself baking another batch of these on a Monday night between commercials of a really bad show I’m embarrassed to admit I watch.

- Lou