Brown Butter Salted Caramel Crunch Cake 2.0

I first baked and posted about this cake in 2016, for my own birthday. It was probably one of the most delicious things I have ever baked. However, my photos from that post (see below) do not do it justice.

The lighting is awful, the white balance is off and the angle I shot the cake at is just wrong. It does nothing to showcase the majestic height of this beauty. I have learned a thing or two about lighting and composition since then. It’s always a very satisfying thing to look back and see your own progress, no matter what you have chosen as your life’s work.

This cake was inspired by Bobbette and Belle’s Salted Caramel Toffee Cake.

This was my starting point, but I made a few changes. I browned the butter for the cake. Brown butter adds a layer of toasty, nutty deliciousness. Making it couldn’t be simpler. Butter is composed of butterfat, milk protein and water. When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk protein. As you heat the butter, and it begins to bubble and sputter away, the water evaporates and the hot butterfat begins to cook the milk solids, turning them from creamy yellow to a splendid speckled brown colour and your whole kitchen smells like toasted hazelnuts. It’s insanely gorgeous!

In addition to the salted caramel buttercream between each layer, I decided to slip in an extra layer of almond meringue. The textural difference of pillowy soft cake layers is fantastic with the chewy crunchy meringue.

The cake is topped with a crown of English toffee. I made my own, because I could not find any in Ottawa this week. Laura Secord used to make an excellent version, but they are closed now. Purdy’s Chocolates normally carries it, but they were out of stock. If you live near a Trader Joes, they make an excellent English Toffee.

I made the cake again this weekend for my daughter’s 29th birthday. One of the pitfalls of having a mother who is a food blogger, is that your birthday cake is usually presented with a few slices removed and looking a bit rough around the edges from being photographed for a few hours. I always felt slightly guilty about this, so this year I made 2 smaller 6 inch cakes. One for me, to slice and shoot and the other just for the birthday celebration. Everyone loved this idea. More cake for all and no mom yelling, “don’t touch the cake yet. I need just a few more shots.”

This cake is a labour of love. Split the work over a few days and enjoy the journey. It’s worth it.

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Blackberry Meringue Tarts

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If you are looking for a baking project, and take great pleasure in creating beauty, these tarts are for you. If you just want a quick sugar rush, this is not the recipe for you. These blackberry meringue tarts were inspired by Anna Olsen. She created something similar on her show Bake with Anna.

There are three component parts of the recipe. The blackberry jam, the pastry and the meringue. Feel free to split the work over two days if you like, making the jam and tart shells on day one and filling and topping with meringue on day two.

The tart shells are totally baked before filling with the jam. Make sure they are golden brown and the bottom crust is not too blonde. Once the shells are cooled, brush them with a little melted white chocolate. This provides a barrier so that the jam does not make the pastry soggy. Plus, the sweet white chocolate is a fantastic flavour partner for the tart blackberry jam. I add a bit of rice wine vinegar to my jam to prevent it from becoming too sweet, a tip I learned from Jake Cohen.

The meringue I suggest for this recipe is a Swiss meringue. While a French meringue is simpler to make (see this article for a detailed description on the different kinds of meringue), it is not as stable as a Swiss meringue and you won’t be able to achieve the fine definition of those gorgeous piped stars.

Feel free to leave the meringue snowy white, or use a mini culinary torch, if you have one, to burnish the meringue. You could also just pop it under the broiler for a minute or two.

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Mocha Almond Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

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One of my strongest childhood memories, is spending Sundays with my dad. He would take me and my sisters out for the day to give my mom a break. In the summer it would be swimming and then dinner and ice cream. In the winter, it was usually a movie, dinner and ice cream. I recall seeing Mary Poppins 7 1/2 times. The 1/2 was because my little sister threw up and we had to leave.

Dinner was usually at the Copper Kettle. We’d always have fried chicken in a basket. I fondly remember the little packets of honey that we’d open with our teeth, and drizzle all over the chicken and fries. After dinner, we’d go to Bresslers Ice Cream at Bayview Village. That was when Bayview Village was a strip mall, and not the fancy place it is now.

Everyone had their favourite flavour of ice cream. My sisters ordered strawberry (Jody), bubblegum, (Lynne), and maple walnut (Faith). My baby sister (Bo) was too little to come and my baby brother (Jay) wasn’t even born yet! I always got two scoops, chocolate on the bottom and pistachio on top. My dad always got pistachio. He loved all nuts.

When I was a teenager, I discovered Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream at Baskin and Robbins. I adored the deep, slightly bitter coffee flavour, balanced by ripples of chocolate fudge sauce. And the little pop of crunch when you’d bite into a nugget of almond was easily the best part for me.

Thanks to my friend Brigitte, I have recreated this iconic flavour at home. The base coffee recipe is hers. I added swirls of hot fudge sauce and toasted salted almonds. It comes together really quickly. Store-bought fudge sauce will totally work, but it only takes a few minutes to make your own. My favourite recipe is from Deb.

Extra hot fudge sauce and almonds are totally optional, but highly recommended!

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Brown Butter Apricot Almond Tart

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Of all the summer drupes, apricots are my least favourite. (Had to sneak in my new word of the day). They are extremely fragile, and the window when they are perfectly ripe, is very tiny. Too soon and they are hard and sour. Too late, they are dry and mealy. Since apricots are a climacteric fruit (another new word for me! That’s two today. I’m on a roll), it’s best to buy them firm and let them ripen on the counter. When ripe, they will be bright orange with a rosy blush.

Mini tarts are a bit more work, but there is no denying the cuteness factor.

For eating out of hand, I’d always choose a peach, plum or nectarine before an apricot. But something happens to the flavour and texture when they are cooked. The heat of the oven coaxes out their sweetness, but not to the point of cloying. They still keep a hint of their tart nature.

Start with a brown butter crust. I have used this crust before here. It adds such a wonderful nutty flavour. You will need to blind-bake the crust, to give it a head start. No one likes a soggy bottom. An almond filling is spread over the partially baked shell and then down go the apricots. It’s worth taking the time to be precise in arranging them. Or not. You do you.

A brushing of warmed and strained apricot jam on top is a nice finishing touch to make your tart shimmer. A few toasted sliced almonds and a bit of icing sugar are optional but really dress up the tart.

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Chipotle Honey Chicken Tacos

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When we moved from our family home to a condo a few years ago, I set up one of the bedrooms as my office. It has a huge desk and a really comfy ergonomic chair, perfect for sitting and writing blog posts, editing photos and all the other desk work I do. There is a huge window and lots of lovely light. Yet, somehow, I’m not using this space as I envisioned.

My office has become a storeroom for all my props, an addiction that has usurped my previous addiction for shoes, as well as a repository for all the items I’m not sure what to do with yet. Oh, and under the floating bookshelves, are several cases of empty wine bottles that have been piling up since social distancing began almost 19 weeks ago, but we won’t go there today.

I spend all my time in my kitchen. I have a small sitting area, off the kitchen, with two chairs and an ottoman. I bought a laptop tray and have set up an office from there. I’m happy, so all is good, but I really need to organize that office.

I’m excited to share this recipe with you today. It’s moved into our weekly rotation of dinners around here. The inspiration came from a Bon Appetit recipe for Chipotle Honey Shrimp Tacos. This is my adaptation. I love a dinner you can eat with your hands, where everyone assembles their own. This used to really confuse my husband. He would come to the table and see all the bowls of ingredients and sauces and say, “Cin, what do we do here?” It’s become one of our favourite family jokes.

Start with marinating boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a mixture of honey and canned chipotle chiles in adobo. They are found in the Latin/Mexican section of the supermarket. If you can’t find them, I included instructions for making a substitute sauce in the recipe.

Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roast in a 375°F oven for about 30 minutes. While the chicken is roasting, prep all the sides. Anything goes here. Be creative. I used red and green cabbage, sliced jalapeños, pickled red onions, cilantro, avocado and lime. I mixed up a quick crema sauce with garlic, mayo and dairy-free sour cream (Tofutti sour cream).

Serve with beer (optional) and lots of napkins (not optional). These are a delicious drippy mess.

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Pluot and Thyme Galette

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Do you guys know about pluots? They are a hybrid between Japanese plums and apricots. Unlike plums, which can sometimes be tinged with bitterness, pluots are brimming with sweetness. They come in a variety of hues, ranging from purple to red to green. Some varieties are speckled, like a dinosaur egg. Black plums would be a good substitute if you can’t find pluots.

Pie is not really my thing. But I adore galettes. They are essentially a free-form pie and their casual messiness really appeals to me. They come together so quickly. I like to make a few recipes of galette dough at a time. I roll them out into 13 inch circles, wrap them in plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer. I use them for sweet and savoury galettes all summer long.

https://youtu.be/YPnToE7njIE

Any red jam would work here. I used strawberry rhubarb, but raspberry, strawberry or even fig jam would be delicious.

The addition of fresh thyme really complements the sweet pluots. The tiny leaves of a few sprigs brings out the floral note of the pluots.

A scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream would not be unwelcome.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Rugelach

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There are no shortage of Rugelach recipes recipes on this blog. Rugelach dough, rich with butter and cream cheese, is a great blank canvas. Then it’s time to have fun and create different flavour combos.

In 2016 I went wild with Cookie Butter Rugelach. The following year I baked Mindy Segal’s Cinnamon Brickle Rugelach. And last year fruit and nuts were featured in my Rhubarb-Raspberry Pistachio Rugelach.

This one starts with making your own strawberry rhubarb jam. Store-bought is fine, but if you have an extra 20 minutes, this jam is stellar. I discovered this recipe from Jake Cohen over at thefeedfeed. Sweet and tart with a little pop of acidity from rice wine vinegar, you will find yourself putting this s##t on everything.

This dough rolls out like a dream. No cracking or splitting. It’s like velvet.

Each little wedge gets rolled, starting at the fat end and ending at the point.

Brush with egg and bake.

While they are baking, crush some freeze dried strawberries into a fine powder and mix with granulated sugar. As soon as the rugelach are baked, spoon some strawberry sugar over the rugelach. Once they are cool, give them a second dusting. If you have never tried freeze dried berries, you must seek them out. Many natural/health food stores carry them, as do Trader Joes and Whole Foods. They are a concentrated punch of colour and flavour that will elevate any baked good.

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No Churn Malted Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

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No churn ice cream means that no ice cream machine is required. You just mix all the ingredients together, freeze, and voila, creamy, smooth, luscious ice cream. How is that possible you ask?

When you make ice cream the traditional way, in an ice cream machine, the action of the paddle, churning the mixture, is actually incorporating air into the ice cream, so you end up with a light and fluffy finished product.

The secret to no churn ice cream is two key ingredients. The first is whipped cream. You whip the cream before mixing it into the other ingredients. The act of whipping causes the volume to increase and incorporates air into the cream. Whipping the cream replaces the work of the ice cream machine.

The second key ingredient is sweetened condensed milk which has a very high sugar content. Sugar lowers the freezing point and prevents the ice cream from becoming rock hard. The “condensed” in sweetened condensed milk, means that the milk has been cooked down to reduce the water content. Less water means that you will not form ice crystals. So you end up with a smooth and velvety ice cream.

But sweetened condensed milk is a mixed blessing. While the high sugar content keeps it creamy, it can also produce some very queasily sweet ice cream. The solution, I have discovered, it to be strategic about the flavours that you incorporate into it. I would not add crushed Oreos to make Cookies and Cream, or fudge and marshmallows to make Rocky Road ice cream.

I added malted milk powder to my no churn ice cream. Stella Parks calls malted milk powder the umami bomb of desserts. Malted milk powder contains barley malt, wheat flour, milk powder, and salt. The barley malt gives malted milk powder a roasted, toasty earthy flavour. The salt aids in tempering the sweetness, and enhancing all the other flavours in whatever it is combined with.

Malted milk powder is mixed with some heated 1% milk to dissolve it. That gets cooled down while you whip the cream. Mix the sweetened condensed milk with the malted milk mixture and fold in the whipped cream, some vanilla bean paste and a pinch of salt. Pour that into a 9x 5 inch loaf pan.

I decided to add a chocolate swirl to my ice cream. A touch of coconut oil added to the melted chocolate keeps it from becoming too brittle when it freezes. Put the ice cream in the freezer for at least 5 hours before scooping.

Creamy, rich and smooth, with a real toasty depth of flavour, this is ice cream for grownups. If I weren’t socially distancing this summer, I would invite my friend Mrs Grizzly over for a few scoops. She is a malted milk aficionado.

Feel free to drizzle a little extra melted chocolate on top. I don’t think anyone will complain.

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Breakfast Burritos

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I’m a big fan of breakfast for dinner. We have eggs for supper at least once a week at our house. A burrito is the perfect way to wrap up your dinner in one neat little package. These burritos check all the boxes for a satisfying meal. Here’s how it all comes together.

I have recently discovered “Beyond Meat Spicy Italian Sausage”. It’s a plant based protein, that so closely resembles the real thing, it’s amazing. I’m always on the lookout to reduce my consumption of meat, and I have tried many “meat alternatives.” Most of them are sorely lacking in texture and flavour. This one did not disappoint. This is not a sponsored post, I just really love the product. I removed the “meat” from the casing and sautéed it in a pan, breaking it up into little pieces, until browned and crispy. I have used it as a pizza topping, mixed into frittatas, and tossed it with pasta and tomato sauce.

You can assemble and wrap the burritos ahead of time and stick them in the fridge for a few hours. Heat them in a 350°F oven for about 15 minutes to heat them through and melt the cheese.

There is no end to the fillings you can use. Sautéed onions, black beans, salsa, hash browns, mushrooms, or spinach. Get creative.

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Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen