Category: Food

I made caramel filled snickerdoodle cookies today. It got on my to-do list as soon as I saw these little beauties. Most appealingly, it was a simple recipe where the only exotic ingredient was a dollar’s worth of soft caramels that we picked up at the Bulk Barn.

I was able to replicate the striking visuals, at least with a few of the cookies. That said, the taste wasn’t all that grand. I don’t think I’ll be making these again, favouring instead the simpler but more sumptuous snickerdoodle recipe from Betty Crocker. Sometimes, simpler is better.

I’ve been baking a fair amount lately, and that means some experimentation. Some works, more doesn’t.

Well, count this as a success: tea bread. Infuse bread with the aroma of your favourite loose leaf tea for a smooth flavour that isn’t overpowering.

The bread recipe I use calls for a cup of water. I replaced that with a cup of Green Chai tea. I made sure that it had cooled before mixing it in, as I didn’t want to kill the yeast. I then added the soaked tea leaves and a dash (1/3 tsp) of baking soda to disarm the tea’s bitterness. Amorphous blob shape aside, it turned out real nice.

The tea infusion worked well with pizza dough as well. I used it in a folded pizza that was stuffed with ground beef, grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms and topped with BBQ sauce and cheese.

I also made chocolate baked doughnuts over the weekend using a recipe from Mama’s Gotta Bake. I screwed up the glaze portion (too much milk), so I threw in icing sugar and cocoa powder to make up for it. It worked. It tasted like miniature chocolate cake, and there’s nothing wrong with that!

I also got together with a friend last week for some de-stressing pie making. Blueberry.

I made more doughnuts today using two vegan recipes. The outcome of one recipe was underwhelming, but the other was… godly. It was a variation of the tried and true baked cinnamon roll doughnut recipe I blogged about earlier, and are without question the best ringed creations I have made to date. Superior to the non-vegan version.

In a luck of the draw, the loaf of garlic basil bread that I improvised turned out perfect and fluffy. The pasta turned out swell too. I’ve included the recipes here. The doughnut recipe requires a doughnut pan, as the batter is too runny to hold its shape without assistance.

Baked Vegan Cinnamon Roll Maple Doughnuts Recipe

Stage One: The Cinnamon Topping

• 2 Tbsp Butter (Earth Balance Spread)
• 5 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Molasses
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Milk (Unsweetened Almond Milk)
• 1 Tsp Corn Starch (aka. Corn Flour)
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1. In a bowl, mix the sugar and the molasses to make brown sugar.
2. In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Once melted, add the sugar and all the other ingredients. Wait for it to bubble.
3. Once it bubbles, take it off the heat. Pour a teaspoon or two in the bottom of each doughnut mould.

Stage Two: The Doughnut Batter

• 1½ Cup All Purpose Flour
• ½ Cup Sugar
• ½ Cup Milk (Unsweetened Almond Milk)
• ¼ Cup Butter (Earth Balance Spread)
• ¼ Cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• 3 Tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ Tsp Salt
• ¼ Tsp Nutmeg

1. Melt the butter. In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with the apple sauce and milk.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
3. Add the contents of the small (wet ingredients) bowl into the larger (dry ingredients) bowl. Fold until just combined – you don’t want to overdo it.
4. Pour the batter into the doughnut moulds.
5. Bake at 350F. The doughnuts are ready when you push down on them and they inflate back to their old shape. Around 10-15 minutes.
6. Pull out the doughnuts and cool.

Stage Three: The Maple Frosting

• 2 Cup Icing Sugar
• ⅓ Cup Butter (Earth Balance Spread)
• ⅔ Cup Cream Cheese (Tofutti)
• 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1. Mix the ingredients until uniform.
2. I use wax paper to make a piping bag, then pipe it on top of the doughnuts.

Gluten-Free Version: Substitute the flour for all-purpose gluten-free flour. Also add 1 tsp of xantham gum to the dry mixture from stage two. I found that these needed to be left in the oven a few minutes longer as well.

Garlic Basil Bread (With Bread Machine)

• 3 Cup All Purpose Unbleached Flour
• 1 Cup Water
• ¼ Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Basil
• 1 Tbsp Garlic
• 2½ Tsp Yeast
• 1 Tsp Vinegar

1. Place ingredients in bread machine.
2. Set on the white bread mode and go.

Eggless Pasta (With Pasta Maker)

• ⅔ Cup Semolina Flour
• ⅓ Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 3+ Tbsp Water

1. Mix the flours.
2. Add the oil. Add water and knead until the pasta holds together. Split into two or three pieces and pass through the pasta maker.

I still don’t know whether this was a bad idea or not. I fell asleep last night with this idea in my head that I wanted to make oat bars, something that was more cookie than granola bar. So I plagiarized the dough recipe from a cookie recipe I liked, and substituted some flour for oats. I also added peanut butter and concocted my own brown sugar using molasses.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cup Oats
• 2 Cup Flour
• 1.5 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Butter
• ¼ Cup Peanut Butter
• 2 Tbsp Molasses*
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 2 Eggs

*Alternatively, you can substitute the molasses and sugar for: 1 Cup White Sugar + ½ Cup Brown Sugar.

Instructions:

1. Mix the wet ingredients: sugar, butter, peanut butter, molasses, eggs.
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients (dry stuff).
3. Set the oven to 350F. Shape the dough into bars, and place them on a tray to put in the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
4. Take out the tray and let cool.

Verdict:

There weren’t enough oats. I think next time I’d do 1.5 cup flour, 2.5 cup oats.

This was a day alone for me, and I decided to treat myself with a pulled pork sandwich. I turned on the slow cooker in the morning and threw in tenderloins, chopped up onions, BBQ sauce, tomato soup, basil, garlic powder, a bit of water and some salt. Basically, what I had laying around.

I also made a loaf of whole wheat bread. The pork tasted great; I think next time I’d butter the bread and toast it a bit before serving.