Clementine Cake

We had a bunch of clementines in the fridge that needed to get used up, so I went searching around for a recipe that would help empty out the fridge. I found a recipe that was originally for an orange cake, so I took that and substituted the clementines. I also made some clementine juice just by juicing them by hand. Deliciously sweet!

Clementine Cake

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

grated zest of 12 clementines

3 eggs

1/4 cup clementine juice (you can substitute orange juice)

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
• Combine the flour and baking powder and set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the zest and combine.
• Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.
• Alternating, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the juice, ending with the flour mixture. Stir until fully combined then pour into loaf pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. With about 15-20 minutes remaining, check to ensure that the top doesn't burn. If it is getting dark, lightly cover it with foil.

Holiday Feasting!

We're back from spending a good part of the holiday season with family in the Maritimes. What did we do? Well, we did some cross country skiing, enjoyed each other's company, played lots of games and, of course, we ate a lot food!

Here's some of the food that we enjoyed for our Christmas dinner. The wonderful, organic turkey was done by my father-in-law. He also made the stuffing which is a recipe that came from my side of the family. My mother-in-law made the cranberry sauce. It's the best cranberry sauce I've had and I'm still trying to get her to give me the recipe! Maybe if we ask her nicely, she'll provide a guest post for us all...hint** hint**

Here's a picture of the scrumptious stuffing that I talked about earlier. The recipe will follow...

The rest of Christmas dinner involved some sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes along with some really tasty gravy. Mmmm!

And, of course, who can forget dessert?!

This wonderful yule log came from Gourmandises Avenue in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia.

They make fantastic, professional French pastries and chocolates. They also do wedding cakes.

It was a chocolate yule log with a raspberry filling and it was absolutely delicious.

Great food, great family...that's what the holiday season is all about.

Oh, and it's not over yet...this week, we visit my family.

Now, as promised, here's the stuffing recipe:

Turkey Stuffing

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf French or Italian bread, chopped

2 cups mashed potatoes

1 package (500 grams) sausage meat (we use Maple Leaf uncooked sausage meat)

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1 large onion, diced

1 teaspoon dried thyme (if using fresh thyme, use about 1 tablespoon or the leaves of 6 sprigs)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

STEPS

• Place all ingredients into a very large bowl and mix together with hands until well blended. Insert stuffing into the neck cavity and the chest cavity of the bird. Extra stuffing may be baked in a casserole dish while the turkey is cooking.

More Holiday Baking

I finally had a bit of time to do some baking on the weekend, so I decided to make rugelach. It's a Jewish cookie and this version is made from a cream cheese dough and is filled with cinnamon, sugar, chopped walnuts and raisins. Yummy!

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

1 cup unsalted butter

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup ground walnuts

1 cup raisins, finely chopped

STEPS

• Cut cold butter and cream cheese into chunks. If you have a food processor, pulse the butter, cream cheese, flour and sour cream until crumbly. If you don't have a food processor, you can use your mixer. Mix the butter and cream cheese together first, then add the flour and sour cream.
• Shape the crumbly mixture into 4 equal disks. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours.
• Combine the sugar, cinnamon, walnuts and raisins in a bowl.
• Once the dough has chilled enough, roll each one into a 9-inch round on a well floured surface. Sprinkle with the sugar mixture and cut into 8 wedges. Roll each one up like a crescent, starting with the rounded end. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and chill for 20 minutes before baking.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bake for 25 minutes.
• Once the cookies are baked, remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack. Once completely cooled, you can drizzle with icing or leave them plain. I used almond icing which was made with icing sugar, a few drops of almond extract (to taste) and a few drops of water to reach a runny consistency so that I could drizzle it on the cookies, but not so wet that it wouldn't harden.

It's important to keep the dough chilled so that it is easy to work with. If it becomes difficult to work with the dough, put it back into the fridge and allow to chill for longer.

Rugelach on the cookie sheet waiting to be baked.

Rugelach drizzled with almond frosting.

Almost Parfait

I know it's November and the temperature continues to drop, but how could I possibly say no to a parfait? I didn't quite have all the ingredients, like the whipped cream, but it's close enough. It's a simple, delicious dessert that's sure to please any dinner guest. You can make it with any kind of cookie and any kind of ice cream that you like.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
4 cookies (Oreos, Fudgee-os, Piroulines, etc.)
4 scoops ice cream (Vanilla, Oreo, Butterscotch Ripple, etc.)
chocolate syrup
raspberry or strawberry syrup
whipped cream (optional)

STEPS

• In a plastic bag, crush 2 of the cookies by rolling with a rolling pin or a bottle. Sprinkle equal amounts of the crumbs into 2 martini glasses.
• Top the cookie crumbs with 2 scoops of ice and drizzle raspberry syrup around the edge and then chocolate syrup on top of the raspberry.
• If using whipped cream, add a nice dollop on top of the ice cream and drizzle more chocolate and raspberry syrup onto the whipped cream. Garnish with another cookie and serve with a spoon and a smile.
  

Oatmeal Cake and Caramel Sauce

When I first read about Lori's oatmeal cake at her blog, My Wooden Spoon, I was skeptical as to how something containing oatmeal could actually be good. I continued to read the recipe and thought that it sounded easy enough and maybe it could be good with the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, so I decided to try it. Well, Lori was right. The cake is delicious! We had to make an effort to not eat the whole cake in one sitting! Here's the recipe with a few small modifications to suit us, including a different caramel sauce only because I had already made some for something else.

For the oatmeal cake:

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 cup quick oats

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour an 8x11-inch casserole dish.
  
• Mix the water, oats and butter and let stand for 15 minutes.

• In another bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

• Add the oatmeal mixture to the sugar mixture and mix well. Bake in an 8x11-inch casserole dish at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

For the caramel sauce:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white sugar

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

STEPS

• In a two or three-quart saucepan, melt the sugar over medium-high heat. You can add 1 tablespoon of water to help the sugar melt more evenly if you think it will burn. Whisk or stir the sugar to help it heat evenly.
• Cook the liquified sugar to a dark copper-brown colour. Then add the butter and stir it in.
• Pour in the evaporated milk, then turn off the heat. Be careful as the sauce will froth up when you add the milk. Whisk the sauce until it is smooth. If you like it thicker, you can continue to heat the sauce until it thickens.
• Drizzle over the warm cake. You can store the rest in a jar for a few weeks. It will probably be a bit thicker, but you can reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Apple Crisp

Apple crisp is one of those delicious things you can enjoy at almost any time of the year, but is especially nice in the fall when the weather starts to get a little bit colder. Nothing warms you up like a bit of fresh apple crisp with that crunchy, crumbly topping and the taste of cinnamon and apples. This recipe, adapted from All Recipes, can be made with any fruits you like, whether it's apples, pears, peaches or any other fruit.

INGREDIENTS

8 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup water

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the apple slices in a 9x13-inch casserole dish. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples. Pour the water evenly over top.
• In a medium-sized bowl, combine the rolled oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together to form the crumble. Sprinkle evenly over the apple mixture.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 to 45 minutes.

The apple crisp can be enjoyed by itself or with ice cream and caramel sauce.