The Ups and Downs of October

My goodness, it's been two months since I've posted on my own blog - bad, bad, blogger!  I had the greatest intentions of trying all sorts of new recipes in October, but life didn't work out that way.

The month started with lots of repairs to my house, including the entire roof being replaced, right down to the plywood sheeting.  My daughter was back at home for Thanksigiving weekend, which was a real treat.  It was a good thing that I got a lot of garden cleanup done after Thanksgiving weekend, because the rest of the month was a major trip downhill.  What I thought was a really horrible stomach ache on a Sunday afternoon turned into surgery to remove an "emergent" appendix - read "ready to burst" - one day later.  I had great, quick care at Centenary Hospital (part of the Rouge Valley System) and was back at home by Tuesday afternoon.

Image courtesy Google.com

I was told to rest and not do anything, but I didn't need any reminders.  Just sitting in a chair was enough of a challenge, let alone trying anything more strenuous.  Did I feel like crafting, or baking, or blogging - nope.  I didn't have the inclination or energy to sit at my work table or stand in the kitchen making any new creations.

I spent three weeks at home, reading and re-reading favourite books, napping more than I ever thought possible, catching up on daytime TV, watching all the news reports on Hurricane Sandy and the US Presidential election and being royally bored out of my mind by the time I was allowed to return to work.  You know you've got serious cabin fever when the highlight of your day is waiting for the newest Barefoot Contessa cookbook to be delivered by UPS and then giving the delivery guy Hallowe'en candy to say thanks. ;) 

Family and friends were a godsend and I couldn't have gotten through three weeks without them.  From dog sitting, to picking up groceries and Hallowe'en candy and calling to check up on me, they kept me sitting still (which they'll tell you is a hard thing for me to do!) and sane - I love them all.  So now I've been back at work for a while and doing some baking again on the weekends.  Ina's newest book, "Foolproof", has inspired me already and I'll be testing one of the recipes on Friday night.  I'll keep you posted on how it worked and then it's on to some Christmas baking.

Tips and Tricks for Drop Cookies - What Momma Never Taught Me

Two weeks ago I made a huge (6 dozen) batch of Chocolate Crisp cookies for the United Way kickoff event in my office.  I've made these before for the office gang, but inevitably get told how much they like them and can they have the recipe.  Since I've made them so many times, I can actually rattle off the ingredients and baking order by memory now! ;)

 

Drop cookies like these are something my mother never baked and wouldn't start making now.  She's all about precision in her baking - piped meringue "Kisses", lemon squares that she measures with a ruler when cutting out, pressed Christmas cookies that are all the same size - you get the idea.  So having tips and tricks for drop cookies are what I've learned on my own either with a lot of recipe reading or by watching tons of baking shows on The Food Network.  With this particular recipe, I've gotten questions about "how do you get so many out of the batter?", "how do you get them the same size?" - lots of questions I used to ask before I started baking so often.

 

So here are some of my favourite tips and tricks for drop cookies:

 

Parchment paper is your best friend for every kind of baking.  For about $5 roll, you will have stick-proof cakes and cookies and, after baking cookies you won't have to wash the pans.  You can also keep using them over and over for whatever batch you're making - they don't have to be replaced after one time in the oven.  It's a must-have at my house.

 

 

Use graduated scoops.  They make them in lots of sizes, not just as ice cream scoop measure size which is huge!  I picked up mine over time at Winners and Homesense and they're invaluable.  Your scooped cookies will be the same size, so that you have uniform baking times and know just how many you'll get out of each batch of dough.

 

 

Use hot water with your cookie scooping.  Lots of cookie doughs are very tacky and wet, so I keep a glass of hot water on hand to dip the scoop into before measuring them out.  Place it on a paper towel and tap off the excess water before dipping into your dough, so that you don't have a soggy mess to deal with.

 

Rotate your pans halfway through baking for any kind of cookie. Until I went to a demonstration with Elizabeth Baird, formerly of Canadian Living Magazine, I didn't know why my cookies were always more brown on one side than the other.  Light bulb moment!  Half way through baking, rotate your pans from top to bottom oven racks AND rotate the pan from front to back.  The back and lower half of any oven are generally hotter, so this allows your cookies to bake evenly.

 

Have lots of cooling racks ready.  Once your pans come out of the oven, for most cookies it's best to wait at least a minute before lifting them off.  Generally that means you've got about two dozen waiting to be cooled, it's best to have at least 2 racks waiting to go.  I use three, so that I can let two pans cool on the racks and then place the cookies onto the third rack once they can be handled.  I have a set of these stacking racks, but keep forgetting about them and using the single ones - must get them out again!

 

 

A nice extra - invest in a larger spatula to use as a cookie lifter.  This sounds like an unnecessary item, but if you bake a lot and have tried lifting soft cookies with a plastic lifter, you'll know it's not.  A spatula like this is generally made of metal and nothing like the thicker silicone type, so it will slide *under* the cookies easily, rather than pushing them around on the pan, into the other warm cookies.  Mine is by Wilton and I just love it!

 

Hope these tips are of help!

 

(All images courtesty Google.com)

Bread and Salt and New Beginnings

Our family has a gift tradition that never varies when someone is moving into a new home - bread and salt.  Two of the most humble items in any home and they're given with the following wishes.  Bread, so that you'll never go hungry and salt, so that your life will always have flavour.

 

 

Image courtesy Google.com

I thought that this was a tradition throughout European countries, but after talking to one of my Italian friends, it seems that it's related to Central Europeans.  Twenty-two years ago, after my marriage had ended and it was time to move out of my parents' place after five months, when I rented my own first place my best friend came with these gifts and a rechargable screwdriver.  Hey, that's how the two of us roll. ;)  I know I took bread and salt to Megan's first shared apartment in the west end of Toronto, along with lots of other groceries.

 

Bread and salt came with us down the highway to Waterloo on Monday to Sarah's first place.  She stuck it out, living at home throughout her undergrad degree, and will now have a great place to live and work on her postgrad studies.  It's a new beginning for both of us.  We tried to give each other as much space as possible - okay, moms don't always do it, but we TRY - and I think the good times outweighed the bad.  I'm going to miss our crazy routines - eating ice cream while we watched The Biggest Loser (seriously), our guilty pleasures watching and snarking on lots of the Housewives series, doing the "Ed Grimley" dance when we were both overtired (this has to be seen to be believed), sharing our mutual OCD about how things "have to" be organized around the house and more things that I can think of right now.

 

Life and changes will continue to happen - that's reality.  As much as I'm going to miss my baby, it's time for her to fly.  So I'm doing what I always do when changes happen - I rearrange things, paint rooms, make plans with my friends and yes, get organized for that next trip down the 401 to Waterloo.

 

Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake

It's been a crazy summer this year and it's not just because of the insane heat, which I can't stand.  Between Sarah's imminent move and wedding dress shopping with Megan last Saturday, I also got the news that my entire roof needs to be replaced.  That shock took a good week to get over - it's mind boggling how much a roof costs, but mine will be replaced right down to the plywood and I'll have new waterproofing installed that this house has never seen..

For my birthday this year, my co-worker and friend, sister-in-snark and amazing baker buddy Teresa gave me this gift bag.  I told her it's never leaving the house or being regifted, plus I decided it's the perfect mantra for the upcoming year...

I liked it so much that I bought a matching journal from Indigo to carry around with me.  All I need to do this week is call the roofer on Tuesday and tell him he's got the job and hopefully get in some baking time for Duncan's birthday on Friday.

Wow...I really am a Mother of the Bride

There is so much going on right now at our house and unfortunately it hasn't included testing many new recipes.  I've made old favourites and after a bit was eaten at home, the majority has gone to the office.  My co-workers are very happy when this happens.

In addition to Sarah preparing for her move to Waterloo and the Ph.D. in her future, my older daughter Megan and her sweetie Duncan are now engaged...sigh!  The date next June is set, they've reserved a venue and lots of other plans are underway.  I've been told I have free reign when it comes to planning her bridal shower - thanks Megan! - which will be a combination of a lot of fun and not unexpected stress.  Apart from baking, my other very active hobby is paper crafting, so my two die cutting machines will be working overtime on invitations, decorations and more - I can't wait!

One decision Megan made is to have her friend and fellow OCADU alum, Nadia, create her wedding cake, or facsimile thereof.  A co-worker asked if I would be making the cake, but that is SO far out of my skill range I'd never even consider it.  Nadia, on the other hand, is mad talented.  She's also the baker who made the cake for the 4th year student catalogue last year.  Here's that cake, as a little reminder of her skills:

That's her hand painted work all over that cake and it was delish to boot!  Here's her updated website - make sure to scroll over her creations to see them in colour:  Nadia and Co.

The girls always laugh about a comment I made a few years ago.  For some reason we were talking about wedding cakes and I said "No boring cake!  I'm paying for the cake!"  With Megan's ideas and Nadia's skills, I don't think "boring" will ever be used in conversation.

A new Ina Cookbook in October!

If you're a regular reader of this blog (thanks to all 10 of you!), you'll know I love Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa.  I love how her recipes are written and that she tests them repeatedly to make sure they work.  From my experience, every one of her recipes has worked out flawlessly.

So this week, when I got her her email update that leads you to her site, I was thrilled to see that her publisher is releasing her newest cookbook on October 30th this year.  It's called "Foolproof", and I have no doubt every recipe will be!

Image Courtesy barefootcontesssa.com

If you've never visited Ina's site, I highly recommend it - there are lots of great tips, recipes and interviews with Ina - Barefootcontessa.com

I may even treat myself to an autographed copy this year. :)

Orange White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I planned to post this recipe on Thursday night, but with a violent thunderstorm going on and a neighbourhood that usually loses power, I held off until today. ;)

This recipe is actually Orange Vanilla Chip Cookies, from "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook", but it specifies that if you can't get the vanilla chips, white chocolate chips should be used instead.  Since vanilla chips don't seem to be sold in Toronto, I'll have to stock up on them when we take our next shopping trip across the border.  From the reactions of my "taste testers", they had no complaints - all of the cookies were gone before noon on Monday.  I was asked not to keep extra desserts in the house, so my office buddies get all my baking right now!

When I see a cookie dough completely "pull away" from the sides of the mixing bowl completely, I expect it to turn it out perfectly and I'm usually right.  This recipe was no exception and I know I'll be making it many times again.  They're light and crispy on top, soft on the inside - a lovely little treat!

Ingredients:


2-1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large, room temperature egg
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer), cream the butter and two sugars until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add the egg and mix in well.  Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.  Stir in the orange zest and the chips.

As usual, I used my 1 tsp scoop to measure out the cookies.  Despite the fact that the recipe yield listed was 3 dozen cookies, I had four dozen after baking.  One dozen should fit nicely on each baking sheet.  Since the cookies were very rounded and I wanted to make sure the dough wasn't raw inside after baking, I flattened them lightly with a wet fork.  Bake for 10-12 minutes - 11 was perfect in my oven.

Cool on the sheets for a minute before removing to a cooling rack and enjoying!