O Christmas Tree

Our tree is lite with lots of white lights and decorated with mercury glass baubles in silver and gold, as well as some few sparkly crystals. (Please don't pay attention to the mirror on the floor!)

My angel was the first decoration I bought 13 years ago when I moved from France to Canada.

I also decorated the mantel with lots of mercury glass candle holders, I just love the way it all sparkles when the candles are burning and the lights are dimed.

Nutella pockets

What do you get when you mix all these ingredients??

Well...you get yummy flaky little pockets filled with gooey and warm nutella!!!

But these come with a warning. They are not for the faint of heart. So unless you know you can take 2 sticks of butter and a whole package of cream cheese (even the 1/3 less fat one!!) without a blink, you better eat these while running on your treadmill...HA!!!!

First you will need to make the dough.

In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and creamy

Add the flour slowly until the dough forms. Do not over-mix!

Shape the dough into a disk and cover. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

On a lightly-floured surface, using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Form the scraps into a ball and re roll to make more circles.

Fill each dough circle with a small spoonful of nutella
 

Dip your finger in tap water and spread on the edge of half the circle to help create a seal. Fold the dough over to create a crescent.

 

Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool, then sift the confectioners' sugar on top and serve.

 
Try not to burn your mouth when eating one just out of the oven, cause it hurts (believe me, I KNOW!!!!).
 
The dough is really good for any tart or pie you may want to make. I personally kept the leftover dough (instead of making more pockets!!) to try an apple/cranberry tart and it was really good.
 

 
 
Ingredients :


1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Nutella
Water, as needed
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
Special equipment: 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter

Yummy easy roasted potatoes

You will never want to try another roasted potatoes once you try these!! I mean they are amazing, the most delicious, flavorful potatoes to ever grace my kitchen table. OK...potato lover talking here, but once I start to eat them, stopping is impossible.

And to top it up they are super easy to make, so give them a try you will not regret it!!!!

Roasted potatoes with lemon :

1 pound potatoes, washed and cut into wedges, skin left on
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp melted butter
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Wash and boil the potatoes in lightly salted water for 15 minutes. Drain.*

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl, mix together the oil, butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and oregano.
Pour oil mixture over the potato wedges and toss to coat evenly.

Spread on a baking sheet, then season with salt and pepper.

Cook, stirring once or twice for 30 or so minutes or until they are tender.

Increase heat to 425 and roast another 15 minutes to crisp.

Enjoy away!!!!

So excited!!!!!

Two weeks ago I got a call from a local reporter from our local newspaper asking if I was interested to do an interview to talk about my blog. I was very excited and also scared. In the end I loved the experience. Once the interview was published it was funny to hear people tell me how great the article and my blog are. And here I thought noboby will read them or recognize me!!! Anyway, I want to thank Lauren Carpenter for writting such a nice article about me and I hope you liked the cake!!

You can read the article here.


Now let's talk about food, shall we. This week will be a chocolaty one at my house, a nutella kind of week. To make you wait here's some yummy, drooling nutella treats !! Stay tuned.

Eve's pudding

This recipe just became one of my favorite apple cake. Seriously, it is so good, sweet and tart from the apples and lemon, and nutty and crunchy from the almonds. Amazing.

This recipe was originally known as "Mother Eve's pudding". It would have been made with suet pastry and boiled in a basin covered with a cloth. This version is baked in the oven, and is made from a lighter lemon and almond-flavoured sponge.

For this recipe you will need caster or superfine sugar, if like me you don't have any on hand, make your own. Toss regular sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade for a few minutes. You can try a blender, but the results aren't quite the same.


Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter an ovenproof dish.

Beat together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is very light and fluffy

Gradually beat the eggs into the butter mixture, beating well after each addition

then fold in the lemon rind, ground almond and flour.

and mix well. You'll get a dough that's a little stiff but spreadable.

Mix the brown sugar, apples and lemon juice, and tip the mixture into the ovenproof dish, spreading it out evenly.

Spoon the sponge mixture over the top and spread evenly. A trick to make this easy is to use an off set spatula. Run the blade under warm water to make it even easier.

Sprinkle sliced almonds over and bake for 40-45 minutes, until risen and golden brown.

And voila!!

Give this cake a try, you will not be disappointed.

Eve's Pudding :

1/2 cup (1 stick) sofened butter
1/2 cup caster (superfine) sugar
2 eggs
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup self-rising flour. Make your own by stirring together 1 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. Presto, you've got self-rising flour!
1/3 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 lbs cooking apples, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Fondant au chocolat.

A fondant au chocolat, which translates to melting chocolate,because of it's fudgy heart is a cake that bakes with very little flour and lots of chocolate, which in my opinion is the best thing ever (this is the chocoholic on diet talking here!!!).

This chocolate cake is one of my all time favorite, easy, simple, and delicious. I make it for all special events, like birthdays, girls night out, pot luck dinners with friends, and it's always a crowd pleaser. You can serve it as is or with a raspberry syrup, vanilla custard, ice cream, or make it extra special by icing it with a chocolate ganache (a mixture of chocolate and cream) and  decorate it with fruits or, why not, with flowers.

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I suggest you give it a try and you will be sure to please your guests by serving that scrumptious chocolate cake, and it's a nice change from lets say a pecan or apple pie (well in my opinion!!!), and it's less work.

Fondant au chocolat :

1 2/3 cup (300 g) of chocolate
9 tbsp (125 g) of butter
5 eggs
1/2 cup (120 g) of sugar
2 heaping tbsp flour
1 tbsp ground almond
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425F

Melt the chocolate and butter on a double boiler. When melted remove from heat and quickly beat in the egg yolks. Add the sugar, flour and almond, mix well.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt into soft picks and delicately fold them into the chocolate mix.

Butter a 8 inch round pan, pour the batter and bake first at 415F for 10 minutes then turn down the oven to 300F and bake for another 10/15 minutes. Be careful to not over bake your cake or it will end up hard, you want it on the underdone side.

When cool, turn out your cake on a plate and enjoy anyway your heart desire....mine will be with more chocolate on top!!!

Meatloaf story.

Usually while thinking about my weekly menu, I ask the kids what they would like to eat that week, let me tell you they sometimes come up with the weirdest ideas !!!!! Last week one of them asked for meatloaf, but it came with a warning "but mom can you make a different one this time!!!!". I like to use this recipe from Giada which is a great one, but apparently not this time. Now, do you know how many recipes come up when you type "meatloaf recipes" on Google ????? TONS !! The choice was tough, but I finally found the right victim.

This time I didn't get a chance to take pictures of each steps, but I wanted to share this recipe with you all. It's a good one!! The picture is not the best one..

Ingredients


1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (about 1 ounce)

Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves,chopped

1/2 cup ketchup ( I used marinara sauce instead, cause I don't really like ketchup..)

3 ounces white cheddar cheese, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish ( Iskipped this ingredient)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin

1 large egg, lightly beaten


Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs; cook 3 minutes or until toasted, stirring frequently.

3. While breadcrumbs cook, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Combine onion mixture, breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup ketchup, and remaining ingredients. Shape into 6 (4 x 2-inch) loaves on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; spread 2 teaspoons ketchup over each. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until done.

Recipe from Cooking Light.

Brioche

There's nothing I love more than a warm slice of brioche for breakfast or tea time, or any time for that matter!! My Facebook friends and I have been sharing and making this brioche recipe for a while now. It comes from this french blog and I have been doing it since. It takes no time to make especially if you have a Kitchen aid, the longest part is waiting for the dough to rise once overnight and again when shaped into a brioche.



First make the sourdough by diluting yeast in lukewarm milk. In a mixing bowl put 2/3 cup of flour and add your sourdough. Mix the dough and let it rest for about 1 hour or until it doubles in volume. Just like so...



Preheat your oven at 375F

In the same mixing bowl put 1 1/3 cup of flour, 1 whole egg and  6 egg yolks (in the recipe it asks for 175 gr of eggs), sugar and salt, mix for a few minutes, then add the sourdough. Mix again for another 10 minutes at speed 1 on your Kitchen Aid mixer.

Add 1 stick of soft butter. At this stage I switch from the paddle to the hook on the mixer. And mix for another 20 minutes !! I know it's long and that's why having a mixer makes it so much easier.

You should end up with a soft and elastic dough that dos not stick to the mixing bowl

Put the dough in a large bowl (large enough so the dough can rise easily) cover with saran wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day take your dough which should have risen, and punch it to give it it's initial size !

Roll out your dough in a rectangle shape,

Fold it once...

then a second time...

and give it a 1/4 turn, repeat this operation 2 times. Roll out, fold and turn.

Cut your dough in 3 or 4 equal parts...

and shape them into balls,

Place the balls in your bread pan, cover with a towel and let rise for 3 hours or until it doubles in size

Obviously mine went a little bit over board, but that's OK. Paint the top with an egg wash. Put a small dish of water in your preheated oven and in goes the brioche. Bake for 30 minutes, 10 minutes before the end of cooking cover the brioche with a sheet of aluminium foil. Then leave it an extra 5 to 10 minutes in your oven with the oven turned off.

Always keep an eye on it during the cooking process though, all ovens are not equal, and from one oven to another you will have to adjust the temperature of it.

And here's the result !!!! Doesn't your mouth water just looking at it !!! Sure mine is...And if you want to eat it a different way than with butter for breakfast. Let me give you an idea, get your panini maker out, spread a good BIG spoon of nutella on one slice put another slice on top and grill this baby, you'll feel like going to Heaven and back!!!!!

Brioche recipe

Ingredients :

2 cups flour

3 tsp dry yeast

1 whole large egg + 6 egg yolks

1/4 cup lukewarm milk

1 stick of butter soften

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt