Category Archives: Desserts

Stracciatella Cheesecake Cookies

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Stracciatella cheesecake cookies

Canadian readers will know what I’m talking about when I say “Festive Special.” Every Christmas, a chain called Swiss Chalet offers their quarter chicken dinner with cranberry sauce and a spongy, sage laden side that they call stuffing. It’s sub-par, but the real draw is the package of 5 assorted Lindor chocolates that it comes with. Dark, milk, hazelnut, white and stracciatella, an orb of white chocolate enrobed in more white chocolate, studded with chocolate shards.

Finely chopped unsweetened Camino chocolate

Camino unsweetened chocolate, chopped into a pile of delicious shards, ready to create the stracciatella effect.

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A Cookie With Milk In It

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Chocolate chip condensed milk cookies

Old dog, new trick

I make chocolate chip cookies often. My go-to recipe is simple, though I’ve played with it in many ways (surprise, surprise). I’ve added coffee, corn syrup, corn starch, varied the chocolate, changed the flour, patted it into bars… Continue reading →

Special Banana Bread

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The art of food?

My daughter, who is 5 years old, knows what she likes (what 5 year old doesn’t?).  And when she sees art that speaks to her, she lets us know.  At 3, she was drawn to a piece by a talented young photographer in our church. A luscious composition of raspberries and chocolate cake on a vibrant blueish background. We bought it for her and it will eventually hang in her room alongside her latest acquisition.  Another blue background, this time a painting done by our Pastor’s wife, which I couldn’t resist playing with as a the backdrop for this photo…

Banana Bread Continue reading →

Weekend Eats

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Weekend Weather and Food

It’s been a “mild” weekend.  By mild, I mean hovering around the freezing mark.  Hey, it’s late February in southern Ontario.  It’s been a darn sight colder of late.  Zero, or even a degree or two warmer, has been most welcome.  We went tobogganing last weekend, given all of the snow we still had from a recent storm.  This weekend has been damp, even wet, and we’ve enjoyed lots of family time, and good food.

Rain drops on Juniper from myediblejourney.com Mild temps brought rain after much snow Continue reading →

Double Chocolate Muffins

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I never used to like baking.  I always preferred to be able to tweak and play right up to the very end of a dish.  I would make a batch of cookies here or there, or maybe a loaf of banana bread, but I just didn’t bake much when I was first married.  Much to my husband’s chagrin.

I don’t know what changed.  Or exactly when.  But somewhere along the way I began to enjoy baking.  Cookies, bread, loaves, muffins…

Double Chocolate Muffin Continue reading →

Salted Caramel Sandwich Cookies

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Are you tired of salted caramel yet?  Me either.  Bacon everything I think I’m done with (though bacon caramel corn is always awesome).  And I may be over quinoa, despite never having had it.  But salted caramel still rocks my socks. Continue reading →

Easing into the season

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And now, on to Christmas…

Well, not exactly.  It’s just a tick early, even for me, to start Christmas full on.  We did put up our outdoor lights this weekend, but that was more about grasping an opportunity during some very balmy weather than about getting festive.  They won’t be turned on for a couple of weeks.

Where my heart is at right now is easing into it all.  Autumn is still here (well, today feels like spring, but that’s beside the point).  The trees are pretty bare now, though.  There hasn’t been snow yet (to be fair, there was none last year at all).  But it’s there, just on the horizon (I hope).  With red and green and jingling bells and parties and Advent readings and baking. Continue reading →

Ginger Oatmeal Cookies

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I know it’s just dough, but look at the sunshine!

As I type this, the sun is streaming through my kitchen window.  A welcome sight, to be sure.  After over a week without so much as a glimmer from the golden orb, I am soaking up what I can.  It’s still chilly, though.  Which is again welcome after the balmy pre-Christmas season, through into the New Year that we experienced last year.  There was nary a flake to be seen, and winter coats were a formality, rather than a necessity.  This cool weather has inspired me to start baking. Continue reading →

Maple and Spice Chai Tea Loaf

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As predicted, the weather has cooled significantly.  It’s wonderful.  It was 10C when I got up this morning and I welcomed the ever so slight nip in the air.  Yesterday was the first day in… I don’t know how long that not one of our ceiling fans was on (we have one in nearly every room).  It’s pre-Autumn, and I’m loving it.

In honour of the weather and how it inspires me, I went looking for a loaf recipe using Autumn spices and Chai for our homeschool moms night.  No pumpkin, though.  The lone specimen we’ve managed to grow isn’t quite ready yet (though on inspection it’s closer than I thought).  I should just keep tins of pumpkin puree on hand, I think. Continue reading →

Maple Ice Cream

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The raspberries weren’t just pretty – they provided a really nice tart contrast to the sweet, luscious maple flavour.

It’s been hot lately in Southern Ontario.  Like 45C with the humidity hot (that’s roughly 113 degrees American). I took a bit of the first hot pepper from the garden the other night and discovered that they they do an amazing job of storing the heat of the day within their walls.  Yeowch!

In an effort to beat the heat, I decided to make ice cream. If you ask my husband, our ice cream machine is an appliance that is not used enough.  I like ice cream, but not as much as he does. Continue reading →