Baked Buffalo Fries

Baked not fried.....serve with sour cream. Yum!

5 potatoes, skin on
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2-3 tbsps  your favourite BBQ sauce
squirt of sriracha sauce
splash of lemon juice
cayenne pepper
paprika
salt

Cut the potatoes in wedges and place in a plastic bag or a saved wax cereal bag. 

Mix together the vinegar, BBQ sauce, sriracha and lemon juice and toss with the potato wedges. I used President's Choice Beer and Chiptle BBQ sauce.You can toss in the seasons too or wait until you have the potatoes on the baking sheet to sprinkle them on.

Give them an extra squirt of sriracha and bake at 450F for 20 minutes.

Quinn's Farm Pumpkin Loaf and Muffins

Way back when the kids were in elementary school they went on field trips to Quinn's Farm for both apple and pumpkin picking. They would always have a snack...apple juice and a pumpkin muffin.

On the first trip there in 1996 the farm was kind enough to hand out some pumpkin recipes and I've been using this one for pumpkin loaf and muffins ever since. And I always try to keep some pumpkin purée in the freezer.

4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups white sugar
2 cups puréed pumpkin
3  1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch cloves
3/4 cup raisins (dried cranberries or chocolate chips)

Cream the first 4 ingredients together.  Combine the dry ingredients and add all together. Fold in the raisins (we usually go for the chocolate chips)
Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans or 30 medium muffins tins lined with papers.

Bake at 350 F for 1 hour for loaves, 25-30 minutes for muffins.

Thanks Quinn's

Butter Tart Squares

I just found out recently that butter tarts are a Canadian dessert. Wikipedia says that the first recipe for butter tarts was published in the province of Ontario dating back to 1900! It also appeared in the Women's Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Montreal Cookbook from the same era.

It's about time I made some!
But I thought I'd try them in a square.


1 lb pie dough

4 eggs, beaten
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups raisins

Roll out the dough, and let it rest 5 minutes, then check for size. You want it to be a 10 X 13" rectangle for an 8 X 11" baking dish.  Place it in the dish, press up the sides and flute the edges.

Put it in the fridge for 10 - 15 minutes.
Prick it with a fork several times and bake in a 350F oven for 10 minutes.  
I forgot to put mine in the fridge so the sides shrunk a bit : (

For the filling simply combine all the ingredients and pour into the pre-baked shell.
Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Look at that crispy top and all that gooey sweetness inside!
Because my dough had shrunk I had filling leftover so I did end up making a few mini tarts too. Bake them 15-20 minutes.

Almond Spritz Cookies

I should make these during the year but seem to only make them at Christmas.

1 cup softened, unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 scant cups flour
1/4 tsp salt (none if using salted butter)
1/2 cup ground almonds
125 g semi sweet or milk chocolate squares

In a large mixer bowl beat butter, then add the sugar, vanilla and almond extracts. On low speed add about 2/3 of the flour along with the salt. Add the ground almonds blending well and slowly add the remaining flour.

Fill a pastry bag with some of the cookie dough and cover the rest.

Use a large star tip and pipe dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 1" apart.

Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.

Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water making sure no water splashes into the chocolate.

Dip one end of cooled cookies into chocolate, add sprinkles if you like, and place in the fridge to set.

This is only a few of the 81 almond spritz cookies this recipe made.

Tropical Fruitcake

I don't know why some people don't like fruitcake.
I love it!
Maybe you grow to love it.  Seems as though kids like it less than adults. Anyways, I'm rambling...here's the recipe for Tropical Fruitcake. It's best started a couple of months before Christmas so as to have time to cure.  I've still got 3 weeks to feed these ones. Should be ok.

1/2 lb figs, chopped (don't forget to remove the stems)
3/4 lb mixed candied fruit
1 lb mixed red and green glazed cherries
3/4 lb raisins
1/4 lb shredded coconut
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1/4 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup booze

Mix everything together up to this point and sit at least overnight or, even better, a few days.
I used pineapple liqueur with 26% alcohol that we picked up in Cuba, but you could use port, whiskey, rum or brandy. You can change up the fruit but it should total 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 lbs.

Add:
1/4 lb walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp fresh grated ginger

Mix and set aside:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon

In a large mixer bowl beat together:
1/3 cup softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

Add:
4 eggs, one at a time
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup cold tea

Fold in the flour mixture, blending well.
Add this batter to the soaked fruit. 

Grease pans and line bottoms with parchment paper.

2 - 6" springform pans
6 - 2X3"  mini loaf pans.

Steam mini loaves 1 hour, 6" rounds for 2 hours. They will each then be baked in a 300 F oven for 1 hr. As I don't have a fruitcake steamer I improvised with my canning pot, using the rack to hold both cakes. I'm feeling very proud of myself for having thought of this! For the loaf pan, simply sit it in a larger pan and cover with foil. Both the steamers should have about a 1/2" of water in them.

Here they are ready to be steamed and the picture on the left is after the steaming is done.
A cake tester should come out clean when done.
Remove to a rack to cool for 12 hours. Yes 12, not a typo! At least for the larger cakes, just remember to cover them with a clean dishtowel.
For the little loaves I poked them a few times with a skewer and drizzled more booze over the tops! I didn't poke the larger ones because I was afraid it would break them.  In hind sight I don't think it would have.

Once cooled wrap the cakes in booze-soaked cheesecloth and over wrap in foil.

Unwrap and give them a little drink every 3-4 days. This should be done by drizzling over and brushing in any pooling of the booze. Keep doing this for 4-6 weeks.  I was a little late getting started with these ones, but they should be good to go by Christmas.  I'm going to keep one 6" cake for next year.  So for that one I'll ripen it with booze for the 6 weeks before putting it away in the freezer. They love getting brushed with booze! They say fruitcake, when cured properly, can sit on the shelf in a cool dry place for a year. But I'd rather trust the freezer.

Had to slice one of the small loaves and give it a try, but will be leaving this 6" beauty until Christmas.

My daughter, who is not a lover of fruitcake, said "Ugh, fruitcake! It's like the blood pudding of desserts!"
Why don't you tell us how you really feel about fruitcake!


Update:

So here's a slice taken Dec 22nd. Beautifully moist and the flavours have developed nicely after only 3 weeks of curing.

Merry Christmas!

Boozy Christmas Balls

Last night we watched an old Saturday Night Live Christmas Special with Alec Baldwin.
You know the one....... Schweddy Balls.

These are not THOSE balls!

1 cup ground almond 
1/2 cup chocolate Oreo baking crumbs
1  1/2 cups quartered dried figs
2 tbsps shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsps liquid honey
3 tbsps booze (rum, whiskey, brandy, whatever you like)
chocolate sprinkles

Start by quartering the figs. Don't forget to remove the stem.

Take about half the figs and chop them in a food processor. Add the rest of the figs along with some of the ground almonds. It should be crumbly. Add the rest of the ground almonds, baking crumbs and coconut. Pulse a few times.
Finally add the liquid...vanilla, honey and booze.  In this batch I used 1 tbsp whiskey and 2 tbsps Glayva (scotch liqueur).

Process until the mixture comes away from the bowl of the processor. Take a small scoop (1" size) and roll into balls, then roll in chocolate sprinkles.

You're done!  Oh, did I mention?  No baking!

Makes 28 - 1" balls
And if you've never seen SNL's Schweddy Balls, google it  ; )

Garlicky White Pizza with Turkey

A change from regular all dressed tomato sauce pizza, and bonus, you can use that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Or plan ahead to use some leftover turkey from Christmas. Don't have any leftovers?  Just cook up a chicken breast or two.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup 10% cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsps flour
Salt, pepper and a pinch or 2 of chili flakes
1  1/2 cups chopped leftover turkey or chicken
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded parmesan or romano
1 cup sliced mushrooms
a few sliced onions
a sprinkle of oregano
basil leaves 

your favourite pizza dough or this one, my favourite
http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/03/this-is-best-pizza-ever.html

Heat oil and butter in pan and add garlic. Brown very lightly.
Whisk 2 tbsps flour into the cream and milk and add salt, pepper and chili flakes. Continue whisking as you add it to the pan. Cook a few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.

Once you have your pizza dough ready in the pan spoon on the sauce. Top with turkey, cheddar, parmesan and mushrooms. Add some onion slices and sprinkle with oregano. 

Pop it in a 500 F oven for 11 minutes. Remove and finish with a few basil leaves.  I didn't have any fresh but did have some I had put away in oil using this method:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2015/10/storing-herbs.html

Let it sit a few minutes before cutting. Hope you like it!