Baked Brie x 2

So I've made two different baked brie's and I'm excited to tell you about both of them!

Sweet Chili Baked Brie
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry, thawed
Sweet Chili jelly
Pecans
A pack of Brie
1 egg. 

Method:
Preheat oven to 400F. Place some flour loosely on your working surface to prevent pastry stick. Use half a package of the puff pastry, rolling into a thin layer approx twice the diameter of the brie. Spread evenly the chili jelly in the center of the pastry. I used about a cup of jelly, but do it to taste.  Then sprinkled some crushed pecans on top of the jelly. Place the brie on top of the mixture.  At this point you could cut the edges of the pastry so it is all circular, but I just folded all the excess over the brie.  Brush the egg over the edges of the pastry and then flip it into a baking container. Brush the rest of the egg on the top. I then chose to top the dish with more pecans.  Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

I took this to a wine & cheese party and it was the 'hit' cheese of the night, despite not remember a) what temperature to bake it at and b) having it cut into after removing it from the oven, rather than letting it sit.  Super big tip - bake this and let it sit at least 45 minutes. Also, bake it in a dish roughly the same size and shape as the brie to prevent excess overflow (as the cheese will be melted).



Cranberry Brie
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
Cranberry Jam
Almonds & Pecans
Brie
Egg

Method:
Same as above except substituting the cranberry jam for the chili jelly and adding some almonds in.


Tips: Make sure the brie you use is fresh and the flavour you like. The brie for the second one (cranberry) was past it's prime and a little sour. It was also probably a bit too big for the recipe - the pastry ended up being rather thin when stretched out over it all.


I personally preferred the first one, but will happily make both again in the future. Thanks to Campbells Kitchens for the idea, and my Aunt ('Mumtina Child') for some inspiration...

Chana Massala Challenge

The Challenge: cook enough chana massala for 10 people.
The Issue: converting a recipe... (MATH!!!!!!)
The Result: mixed and salty.

The extended family were over at my parents house this year for Christmas and we'd planned a non-traditional feast for Boxing Day: Curry Dinner. Due to many factors, we ended up eating this meal a few days later, but that didn't really affect anything, as I prepared my dish in advance.

Now, those who know me know that math is definitely not my strong suit. The recipe called for 200g of chick peas, and the cans I was using only listed information in ml or fluid oz... so I had to figure out how to convert it all and (even using a calculater), it took a really long time. Eventually I worked out that I had to multiply everything in the recipe by a factor of 8. This is not an easy task...  And I fully admit that after doing all the hard work, I ended up NOT using 8 x 1 teaspoon of salt, or 8 x 800ml of water...  so I was learning on the fly.  I also discovered the fun reaction of water and baking soda... ooohh bubbles.. rising bubbles... spilling over bubbles....ahhh!!!!!

The recipe itself is already in my blog - see the side-bar and go to October 2009...

The outcome.. well, it took forever to get the water to boil off. I introduced the dish as thrice-boiled chana massala, as it had literally been boiled on three separate occasions to try remove the water. ugh. And then, much to my dismay, the dish was incredible salty. Crazy salty.  I asked for help in this department as I had no idea how to remove salt from a dish... my aunt suggested I add apricot jam. Fortunately we had some, and the entire can of it was plunked into the dish. This did help, but it was still way too salty for my personal taste - others loved it...

All in all it was quite the learning exercise. I want to try make it again as a regular size batch, but might wait a while for the curry smell to disapate from the house!

Lemon Sugar Cookies

So this post is a 'Cooking with Friends' post, as I baked this while visiting Owen for a little Christmas celebration/ get together. And to be totally honest, he did most of the work, as he had never baked before (unless we are counting 'home-ec'.. are we??)... so I guess this is better known as a 'guest spot' on my blog or something...?

Anyway, these cookies are a fantastic discovery for anyone who likes things lemony.. I would recommend everyone try make them!  We had some 'technical difficulties' due to some missing ingredients and using a mixer which is probably, oh, 26 years old...(?), but the next time these are made I'm sure they'll be perfect! Owen found the recipe online, and when I get a hard copy of it I shall source it here.

Lemon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup granulated or raw sugar to roll the cookies in.

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F, line cookie sheets with foil/parchment and spray with cookine oil/Pam.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Zest the lemon and mix in with granulated sugar until sugar turns yellow-ish.
In a mixer combine butter and white sugar until smooth and fluffy (recipe says 3 - 5 minutes but took us way longer due to age of mixer and not softened butter). Then beat in egg, vanilla and lemon extracts.  Then gradually add the other dry ingredients until 'just moistened' (another area we got wrong...).
Roll about a tablespoon of dough into a round ball, then roll in the lemon/sugar mix to coat the exterior. Place each ball on the cookie sheet approx 2 inches apart.
Bake 8 - 10 minutes, then let stand for 2 minutes, and finally remove to cooking racks. Then, enjoy!

Our experience was slightly affected by not having baking soda or vanilla extract, so the cookies didn't 'spread' in the oven as they were supposed to. I would also recommend NOT using wax paper as your cookie sheet liner, as it seemed to, well, light on fire, or something... anyway..

And as these are fresh cookies, they should be consumed with in 3 days, as otherwise they go quite hard, and it's embarrassing serving them to guests.. ahem.. um.. yes... =P

Almond Squares - my favourite!

So I kind of sort of maybe totally polished off most of the first batch of almond squares Mum made, so it fell to me to replace the lot before Christmas arrived! Oh darn, now I know how to make this most delicious treat! mmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almond Squares

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp almond flavouring
1 egg white

Method:
Mix ingredients by hand & pat into 8 inch square baking dish. Actually, I didn't do this by hand, I used the mixer, so you can too!  Sprinkle with caster (berry) sugar if you want. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Cut into small squares.

These are so yummy delicous amazing... thank you to an extended relation for giving Mum the recipe years ago!

Tis the Season

'Tis the season for lots of cooking.. fa la la la la, la la la la...

rest assured there'll be lots of blogging... fa la la la la, la la la la...

ok ok, I'll stop...

But yes, I have cooking plans over the next week to 10 days, so will try update as things come out of the pan, pot or oven! :)

Shortbread

I made shortbread this past weekend as my contribution to a festive vampire-filled afternoon/evening. Making this was definitely a learning experience - I now fully understand the concept that some recipes need to be made a few days in advance for 'peak' tastes. I shall explain.

Mum found this shortbread recipe about 25 years ago in the Victoria Times Columnist. It was sent in by a lady named Margaret Giles of Colwood. I figure that if she had it published in a newspaper, it's a-ok to be up on my blog!

Shortbread
Ingredients:
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 pound butter (I feel like I'm channelling Julia Child with this one! "You can never have enough butter!")
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour.

Method:
Cream (whip like crazy) the butter and icing sugar until it is light and fluffy, then slowly add in the flour. I then patted and mushed it into the baking pan, but the recipe calls for you to roll it out to 1/4 inch and then cut into squares. I suppose you could also use cookie cutters here.

With Mum's oven we had to bake it at 350F for 45 minutes. The recipe says 320F for 30 - 35 min, so experiment at your leisure.  It wants it to be lightly browned.

Results:
Well, I baked this about an hour before leaving for my afternoon event and didn't know at the time that shortbread is best served a day or two after it has made. Something about 'settling' and becoming more moist. The general comments from the tasters was that they tasted good but were dry. Some suggested more practice and less flour.  The leftovers, however, were quite good over the next few days, so I think I'll stick with this recipe and just remember to make in advance!

Hummus

After a few weeks of organization I have finally made hummus!  This recipe is a mash up of a number of recipes I found or recieved... I don't know why I felt compelled to do that, but I just did... next time I wont, as I'm not skilled enough to be creative!!

Hummus
Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas (mine was 540ml, which is approx 18 oz)
5 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of tahini
3 cloves of garlic
dash of salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil
dash of cayenne pepper

Method:
Drain chickpeas. Put everything in the food processor. Process.  Serve with pita or bread or crackers or whatever you like!

Thoughts: Well, I think I either put too much lemon juice or too much garlic as there is a slight 'sour' or 'sharp' tinge to the flavour. Pretty good otherwise. I think I may have used too much tahini too, as it smells quite 'peanutty' (which is strange at tahini is seasame paste)...

I think next time I'll go directly from a recipe given to me and will try alter the measurements to fit the 'full can' as opposed to 2/3 cup of chickpeas it currently calls for.