S’more Chocolate Birthday Cake

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Andrea

Here’s an idea for a birthday cake I made today. It’s a chocolate layer cake that I made from scratch, but use your favourite chocolate cake recipe, out of a box is fine. I melted about 15 marshmallows with 3 tbsp of butter, and added that to a pre-packaged tub of white icing. I refrigerated that until it firmed up a bit. Frosted the cake, added some crumbled graham crackers in the center and sprinkled on top. Made chocolate shards and stuck them in. Quite dramatic looking, wouldn’t you say? Quite delicious too. Serve with ice cream. Fun! Continue reading →

Fruity Butter Tarts

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Andrea

fruit-filled butter tart with walnuts

Just when you thought butter tarts couldn’t taste any more awesome….well, they can. This recipe is inspired by my friend, Marion Ratzinger (who got the recipe from her friend…and she got the idea from her friend and so it goes 😉 ). This is basically a buttertart recipe with added fruit and nuts. We used fresh seasonal fruit, but they taste great with frozen berries as well. We added walnuts, but feel free to use whatever you like. Customize them to your taste. They are so good! The use of store-bought tart shells makes these a snap, in fact, my 16 year-old daughter made these with no supervision. You can throw these together Continue reading →

Zucchini Pecan Loaf

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Andrea

zuchini pecan loaf- delish

It’s that time of year again, already! Sheesh, it’s almost August and it seems like it was June about five minutes ago. Well, the good thing is the availability of fresh, local produce. One of my daughter’s male friends keeps bringing me giant zucchinis–so I had no choice but to figure out a great recipe for Zucchini Loaf. This one is easy, really tasty and fairly healthy. It makes 2 nice big loaves, everyone likes it, freezes well…and uses up all those zucchinis that everyone keeps dropping off! Continue reading →

French Crêpes

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Andrea

blueberry ice cream filled crepe with yogurt and berries with lemon zest

: ham and swiss filled crepe with mustard sauce

Crêpes are like very thin pancakes that you must handle a little more gently so as not to tear them. The batter is simple, but it needs to ‘rest’ at least an hour after you mix it up. They can be used in a myriad of ways – plain with maple syrup and butter, filled with fruit and cream or even used in savoury applications — ham and asparagus with a hollandaise sauce, chicken and broccoli in a cream sauce – the possibilities are limitless. The crêpes will keep well in the fridge or freezer, stacked with parchement paper in between. Continue reading →

Wild Blueberry Ice Cream

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Andrea

wild blueberry ice cream

Hello, I’m back! While I was up north, I was able to procure some wild blueberries from the Powassen Farmer’s Market. They weren’t cheap…but I am committed to making Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream for a personal chef dinner for 12, so I really wanted to use wild blueberries– they are smaller, taste better (as in, they actually have flavour), no pesticides and they are perfectly seasonal and so Canadian. This recipe turned out a creamy, flavour-packed delicious ice cream– and I do consider myself an expert on the subject of ice cream. I’ll be serving this with a blueberry/lemon poundcake. I think it’s going to be a nice ending to an elegant summer BBQ. Well, if you have an ice cream maker collecting dust in the cupboard, get it out and make some ice cream. God knows it’s hot enough, eh? I think tomorrow will be a record hot and humid day, it’s ice cream all the way. This is super easy to make! Who knew?

Wild Blueberry Ice Cream

from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My House to Yours

makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain before using) (I used fresh wild berries)
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
grated zest and juice of 1/4 lemon (or more, to taste, or play around with limes/lime juice)
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sour cream

*I will also be trying a dairy-free version with coconut milk

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, bring the blueberries, sugar, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice to a gentle boil. When the mixture is boiling and the berries start to burst, about 3 minutes, remove from heat. Cool slightly.

Pour the mixture into a blender and puree until relatively smooth (it will never be completely smooth). Pour the heavy cream and sour cream into the blender and mix until well combined.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and chill completely in the refrigerator – probably 2 hours.

Pour into the bowl of your prepared ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.

When ready, transfer to a plastic freezer container and place in freezer to harden, at least 6 hours.

Freeze in an air tight container. (will keep well for 2 weeks in freezer)

Remove from freezer 15-25 minutes to soften before serving. Enjoy!!!

*would be amazing with a peach pie. Or a lemon pie. Or a cake. Or by itself. Or with chocolate sauce. It tastes wonderful.