Author Archives: saltandserenity

Provençal Chicken Thighs

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I like to think of chicken as a blank canvas and that’s why I find it so exciting to work with. It has a mild flavour that can stand up to almost anything you combine it with.

I decided to go to the South of France this week with Chicken Provençal. Tomatoes, garlic, olives, and capers are the big flavour enhancers here. If you can find some cherry tomatoes on the vine, they make for a gorgeous presentation. I roasted them separately and put them on top of the finished dish. I find that it you cook them with the chicken, they break down too much. My olives of choice are Castelvetrano, which hail from Sicily and are worth seeking out. They are bright green with a meaty buttery flesh. Many specialty stores now stock them in their olive bars and you can find some good jarred ones.

I like to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs as I think they have the most flavour. You could certainly use chicken breasts, but just make sure you don’t use boneless and skinless. You need the protection that the skin and bones provide, so that they don’t dry out.

Brown the chicken pieces well, to get a nice crispy skin. Then remove the chicken from the pan and add your flavouring ingredients. Garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, olives and capers figure prominently in this version. I tucked in 2 peeled and quartered onions into the mix as well. Chicken stock and white wine go in next. Then place the chicken pieces back on top, making sure that the liquid only comes about halfway up the height of the chicken. You don’t want to submerge the chicken in liquid and ruin that crispy skin you worked so hard to achieve. Tuck it into the oven to finish cooking.

My twist on this classic dish is to create a “cream” sauce to finish the dish. But, I didn’t use any cream at all to create this velvety smooth sauce. Once the chicken is finished braising, strain the cooking liquid and puree it in the blender with the braised onions. It’s a trick I learned from Food 52 Genius recipes. It creates ta luscious creamy sauce that begs for some crusty bread to sop it up.

I highly suggest you use a digital thermometer to test when the chicken is done. This is my favourite thermometer. A bit of an investment but it lasts for years. It takes all the guess work out of cooking. Chicken breasts are done at 150°F and thighs are most tender if cooked to 195°F. I also use my instant read thermometer for baking bread and cakes. I get perfect results every time.

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Cara Cara Orange Buttermilk Ice Cream

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The truckers have finally left Ottawa . Russia has invaded Ukraine and the world feels like a very scary place right now. Ice cream might not be the first thing you think about making in late winter, but the world seems a bit upside down right now, so I vote for winter ice cream.

I don’t normally comment on world events on this blog, but it feels wrong to go about business as usual and not acknowledge what is happening. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of the Ukrainian nation. If you’re looking for ways to show your support, the Globe and Mail published an excellent list a few days ago. And if you’re looking to educate yourself a bit more about the conflict and understand a bit of the history of this region, I highly recommend these podcasts by Today Explained.

Back to the regularly scheduled program. Do you guys know about Cara Cara oranges? I feel like they don’t get as much attention as they deserve, because of their more flamboyant cousin, the Blood Orange. Cara Cara oranges are a bit more bashful, but, in my humble opinion, much more delicious than blood oranges. While they look like a regular navel orange on the outside, inside, their flesh is a lovely pink colour. They’re sweeter and less acidic than a regular navel orange. They have a delicious “berry-like” flavour. They’re only available for a few short months each winter.

If you have an ice cream maker, (I have and love this one) this is a really simple recipe to put together. Mix orange zest, juice, sugar, buttermilk and cream together and pour into ice cream machine for about 20 minutes. Transfer to a covered container and freeze for a few hours.

The buttermilk gives the ice cream a nice tangy flavour that really complements the sweet Cara Cara oranges. Scoop it into a cone or bowl or get fancy like me and hollow out some orange halves. The best tool for removing the inside flesh is a grapefruit spoon. It’s one of my favourite kitchen tools. I also use it for scraping out the stringy bits of squash after you pull out the seeds.

I garnished with some dried orange slices from this Etsy shop. They arrived so quickly and in perfect condition. They would look beautiful on a Cara Cara Orange Pound Cake too!

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Maple Walnut Cinnamon Star Bread

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Google “star bread” , and you will slide down into very enjoyable rabbit hole . It is one of the baking world’s most amazing feats of engineering. It looks complex to create, but it’s actually easy to accomplish. Check out my video to see how it’s done.

The filling possibilities are endless. I decided on a maple walnut with a hint of cinnamon, a classic and very delicious combination. Maple butter (sometimes called maple spread) provides the maple flavouring. There is no actual butter in maple butter. It’s just maple syrup boiled to 234°F, cooled and then whipped to obtain a creamy consistency. I buy mine at Loblaws, but it is widely available online. It makes a delicious rugelach filling too.

You could fill yours with jam, cinnamon-sugar, Nutella or even go savoury with pesto or cheese. The possibilities are endless. They are so satisfying to create, not to mention, very delicious to eat.

The dough for this pull-apart bread is pillowy soft and tender. I tested a few different recipes and settled on the one from kingarthurbaking.com. Their recipe includes an unusual ingredient, dried potato flakes (also known as instant mashed potatoes). The starch in potatoes attract and hold more water than the starch in wheat flour, making the dough moister. The starch molecules in potatoes also inhibit gluten formation, making the dough light and airy. I found instant mashed potatoes at Bulk Barn, but most supermarkets carry it as well.

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Blonde Chocolate Ganache Sandwich Cookies

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Cookies are my love language. It’s how I show those nearest and dearest to me that I care. I think the ultimate cookie needs to be both beautiful and delicious. While I admire cookies artfully decorated in royal icing, I have no desire to eat them. Too sweet and lacking depth of flavour.

These are the cookie equivalent of conversation hearts. Remember those awful chalky candies? These are much more delicious. Who wouldn’t want to receive a box of these?

We don’t really celebrate Valentines Day in our house, but I’m helpless when it comes to buying baking gadgets. These fondant alphabet stamps work beautifully on cookie dough too. The most challenging part of making these was arranging the letters onto the handle, because you need a mirror image of what you actually want to spell. The part of my brain that understands directions and left and right is significantly underdeveloped, so I struggled with this. I had to arrange the letters and then hold it up to the mirror to make sure it was correct. (I can hear the laughter from my family!)

The filling in these sandwich cookies is a ganache made with blonde chocolate. A ganache is essentially hot cream poured over chocolate and sometimes some butter. It is stirred until the chocolate melts. A warm and fluid ganache can be poured over cake. If you let the ganache firm up, it can be rolled into little balls and dipped in melted chocolate to create truffles, or you can do as I did here, and pipe the ganache onto cookies.

My chocolate of choice here was blonde chocolate. For the uninitiated, blonde chocolate is caramelized white chocolate. You can buy it already caramelized (Valrhona Dulcey), or you can make it yourself by roasting white chocolate in the oven. Buttermilk by Sam has an amazing tutorial on her blog. You could also make a milk or dark chocolate ganache.

Blonde chocolate is less sweet than white chocolate and has an amazing toasted almost caramel flavour. Even white chocolate haters like it!

For the cookie, I used Alice Medrich’s recipe for butter cookies. They are plain, in the very best sense of that word. “Plain” was the ultimate compliment from my dad. These tender yet crunchy cookies perfectly showcase the creamy blonde ganache.

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Winter Red and Green Salad

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Unless you’re a close family member, it may surprise you to learn that I eat the same salad for lunch everyday. Arugula, thinly sliced romaine and radicchio, tossed with my home-made sherry and honey vinaigrette. I will toss in a bit of protein, either chickpeas, turkey, chicken, tuna or egg. A small handful of my house croutons is non-negotiable. It is always eaten, standing over the sink, from the stainless steel mixing bowl I tossed it in. Somehow it tastes better that way.

I created this salad as a way of forcing myself out of my rut. I wanted lots of vibrant colour on my plate, and I challenged myself to see if I could do it without any lettuce. In my mind I envisioned a red and green colour palate. The red was easy. Pomegranates added a sweet pop of texture and colour and blood oranges added the vibrancy I was craving.

For the green, I settled on green beans, sugar snap peas and frozen green peas. I made sure to refresh the green beans and sugar snaps in ice water after boiling, to preserve their verdant shade.

For the dressing, I started with mixing the juice of the blood oranges with some olive oil, but found that the oranges were missing the acidic punch I needed. A bit of red wine vinegar fixed that issue. Extra crunch in the form of toasted hazelnuts was a welcome textural addition.

Break out of your salad rut with this winter red and green salad. You’ll thank me.

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Mocha Rugelach

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If you’re a fan of mocha (coffee +chocolate) then these rugelach are sure to satisfy. These little cookies are for an adult palate. Not too sweet, almost pleasantly bitter from the intense coffee flavour.

I adore all coffee flavoured foods, especially coffee ice cream and coffee crisp chocolate bars! But I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in my late 30’s. I always found the taste of plain coffee (even with milk and sugar) too intense. And then my friend Brigitte made me a big bowl filled with hot foamy steamed milk and just a bit of coffee. I was hooked. Over the years, the amount of coffee has increased and the milk has decreased, but I still think of her every morning when I’m frothing my milk.

These rugelach start with a flaky cream cheese dough, studded with instant coffee crystals, to really amp up the coffee flavour. Those brown streaks in the dough, in the photo above are Folgers Instant Coffee Crystals. It gets mixed into the dough, at the very end of the process, so that the dough stays prettily speckled.

Roll the dough into a circle and then cut it into wedges. Coat each triangle with a thin layer of mocha ganache and then sprinkle with hazelnut-chocolate streusel. Roll up into little crescents.

Brush with egg and bake. Enjoy with a latte. Any leftovers freeze perfectly.

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Winter Squash and Kale Rye Galette

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January blog posts tend to be full of lofty resolutions and unrealistic goals about how to live a better life. I promise you, this is not one of those posts. I admit that I have have been guilty of exactly this, every January for the past 8 years. Check out my January healthy eating blog posts, if you like (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014 ).

This year, I just can’t seem to get my ass in gear. I’m feeling particularly unmotivated and blah. I feel like this guy. Can’t get off the couch to stop bingeing on Bonus Family and Working Moms on Netflix. Very addictive. I know I’m not alone. Almost every single person I have spoken to in the past 2 weeks is feeling this way. I’m here to give you permission to forgo goal setting this year. Treat yourself kindly and ease back in at a pace that makes you feel comfortable.

I eased back in gently by choosing a galette for my first January post. Made with butter and cheese! I am a big believer in small steps. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

We’re taking baby steps here with this galette. I incorporated some whole grains into the crust with the addition of rye flour. I snuck in a layer of Gruyere and ricotta cheese between the kale and the butternut squash. It’s all about moderation.

This rye crust could go sweet or savoury. It is flaky AF. I learned how to make it from Kim Boyce in her book, “Good to the Grain”. If you’re interested in incorporating more whole grains into your baking, this is a fantastic resource. I love the lyrical way she describes this dough.

“The method for making this dough is similar to that for a rough puff pastry, a method I learned while working with Sherry Yard at Spago. It calls for letting a rough dough, made from chunks of butter and moist clumps of flour, rest in the refrigerator to give the gluten time to relax and the flour time to absorb the water. After an hour, the dough is rolled and folded a few times to create long “laminated” layers of butter throughout the dough, which give it its flakiness.”

Feel free to enjoy with a small glass of wine, if you are so inclined. Tell them saltandserenity told you to be kind to yourself!

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Caramel Stuffed Ginger Crinkle Cookies

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At first glance, ginger and caramel may seem like an odd pairing. But one bite of this cookie will convince you that it’s a marriage made in heaven. The sharp bite of ginger is tamed by the sweet creamy caramel.

While we traditionally associate ginger molasses cookies with the winter holiday season, I discovered that they are equally delicious in summer, with a big scoop of salted caramel ice cream sandwiched between two chewy ginger molasses cookies. My favourite ginger molasses cookie recipe comes from my friend Lanie. She calls them Ginger Crinkle Cookies, because they develop beautiful cracks all over the surface as they bake. Ever notice how we covet cracks and crevices in our cookies, but not in our aging skin? Just saying!

I wish I could take credit for the genius idea of stuffing a sea salt caramel into the centre of a ginger cookie. But I must give credit for the inspiration to blogger and cookbook author Ruth Tam. When she posted these cookies on her Instagram page a few weeks ago, I knew I must add them to my holiday cookie list.

Watch the video below to see how these cookies come together.

When choosing the caramel to stuff into the centre of these cookies, be sure to use a good quality sea salt caramel. The inexpensive square caramel candies they sell in the supermarket do not stay creamy for very long after baking. I have baked these a few times now. The first time I used Sea Salt Caramels from Target. They were pretty good. The second time I made them, I made my own caramels. I used this recipe from Sally. Excellent caramels and if you have a candy thermometer, they are foolproof!

Next time I make them I want to try pickle and myrrh’s sea salt caramels. They ship worldwide and I have heard amazing things about them.

More is not always better, especially in the case of caramel. A small piece in the centre of each cookie will suffice. I speak from experience. With my second batch, I tried to cram in more caramel and I got a gooey mess. The creamy caramel escaped from the confines of the dough and the cookie never really set up properly. The perfect ratio is 48-50 grams of dough (about 2.5 tablespoons or this cookie scoop) to 8 grams of caramel. And yes I measured with a scale. That’s why all my cookies baked evenly.

Once the cookies are scooped, I released them right into the coarse sanding sugar. The cookie scoop makes lovely little ridges on the top of the dough ball, perfect for filling in with the sugar. Don’t be tempted to roll the dough into a smooth tidy ball with your hands. Remember, we want a cracked surface.

When you remove them from the oven, they will be golden brown, but still quite soft. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a good 10-15 minutes to set up before you try to move them.

Click here to print recipe for Caramel-Stuffed-Ginger-Crinkle-CookiesDownload

If you plan to make your own caramels, click here to print recipe for Sea Salt Vanilla Caramels from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Cookie Box

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Today is International Cookie Day. I can think of no better way to celebrate than with a cookie box. It’s hard to choose my favourite cookie. It’s like asking a parent to choose a favourite child. It all depends on the day and mood.

Some of the cookies in this box are over the top decadent indulgences. The Raspberry Sandwich Cookies ,the Coffee Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies and the Toblerone Shortbread fall into this category.

Some of the cookies have a quieter more humble flavour, like the Lemon Coconut Cookies and the Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies.

As in nature, no two of my snowflake cookies are exactly the same. I went with a pink and gold colour theme this year. Very glam. Even though we’re still mostly staying home, my cookies are dressed up and ready to party.

I make Chewy Gingerbread and Brown Sugar Snowflakes every year. This year I also added some reindeer to my collection. They are undeniably adorable and so much fun to decorate.

However you’re celebrating International Cookie day at your house, I hope it’s filled with lots of sweetness, butter and sugar.

Coffee Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

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There are over 100 cookie recipes on my blog. To say that I am passionate about cookies would be an understatement. I think that cookies are the perfect way to end a meal. Just a small bite of something sweet. I’m always puzzled why more restaurants don’t put cookie plates on their dessert menus.

Of the more than one dozen cookie cookbooks on my shelf, the one I reach for more than any other is Cookie Love by Mindy Segal. If you’re looking for quick one-bowl, stir and scoop cookies, this is not the book for you. This book is filled with cookie projects. Multi-layered and textured cookies that are a labour of love and a work of art.

These are an intensely coffee flavoured cookie. The recipe calls for instant coffee crystals, like Folgers. It’s important to use instant coffee crystals and not powdered instant coffee You want those specs of coffee to be visible in the dough. Powdered coffee would just dissolve. The cookies are sprinkled with a touch of turbinado sugar before baking. They add a lovely crunch to the cookie.

The buttercream filling is made with a mix of dark and milk chocolate, butter and sour cream for a hint of tang to balance out all the chocolate richness. The buttercream gets piped around the border and the centre is filled with a dollop of Nutella.

Because we’re fancy around here, I dipped the end in melted chocolate and then studded them with chopped toffee bits and chopped toasted hazelnuts, for crunch. We are team texture here at saltandserenity.

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