I had the pleasure this week of working with Sally Vaughan Johnston while she was in Winnipeg promoting the Best of Bridge Slowcooker Cookbook. As a food stylist I prepared the recipe in advance and then assembled the ingredients to take to CITY TV and CTV to be included in Sally’s on camera appearances. The recipe itself is a breeze and comes out beautifully.
The batter is spread into the bottom of the slow cooker, then the fruit goes on top with melted butter pored over all. The lid goes on and you just forget about it. While baking, the aromas of apples, cranberry, brown sugar and cinammon are as pleasurable as a tri-wicked ented candle from Bed and Bath.
The perfect flldessert. You can nap while it cooks. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Ingredients
1¼ c flour
¾ c sugar
1 t cinammon
½ t salt
1 egg, at room temperture
½ c 2% or whole milk
1 t vanilla extract
grated zest of one orange
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 c cranberries. thawed if frozen
¼ c orange marmalade
¼ melted butter
Instructions
Grease the insert of a 3½ - 4 qt. slow cooker.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinammon and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together egg, milk, vanilla and pour over flour mixture and stir until evenly combined.
Spread batter in prepared slow cooker.
In a bowl, combine apples, canberries and marmalade.
Arrange on top of batter.
Pour butter over top.
Cover and cook on hight for 2 to 2½ hours, until apples are tender and a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Turn off slow cooker, remove lid and let stand for 15 minutes before removing cake.
2.2.6
The tartness of the cranberries and orange peel in the marmalade beautifully offset the slight sweetness of the hearty cake.
Kath’s tip: I let the cake cool completely in the crock and then pulled the cake away from the crock with a spatula. When the time came to plate it, I used a large serving spoon that I had purchased at an Asian food store for serving rice. Sally indicated that it had come out more neatly than she had seen it previously.
Kath’s quote: Cranberries-“The Indians and English use them much, boyling them with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat, and it is a delicious sauce.” –John Josselyn, 1663
My cooking style is very conceptual. When I am in my own kitchen, I will read over a recipe and then kind of wing it. Knowing what foods pair, blend, enhance and contrast each other is a skill that I have unintentionally honed over the years. Baking on the other hand, is not a natural talent for me. I was an avid home economist student and even thought that this would be my career, so I know that baking is more like a science experiment where elements must interact and react in a certain fashion. This is why ingredients need to be precisely measured in order to produce the desired effect.
There are two men in my family who are great bakers. My husband D will whip up a batch of amazing cookies some evening, just because he has a hankering for something sweet. His Mom is a fabulous baker too, so this trait in genetic, I suppose.
The second man is the beau of Daughter #2 and I call him the Frenchman. He often arrives at our home with a package of sweets for his sweetheart and a separate package for us to share. These qualities seem like a contradiction in terms because he is as big as a bear (and likely as strong) and yet he is a an artiste and crafts-person (usually in wood or metal) but apparently too in the kitchen. I have already blogged about this delicious cookie but I have modified it for this purpose switching out the margarine with canola oil.
Cream together the canola oil, sugar, brown sugar and ¼ cup peanut butter until fluffy.
Beat in egg, milk and vanilla.
On low speed, beat in flour mixture.
Batter will be thick.
With your hands, form the dough into 32 balls and set aside.
For filling, stir together icing sugar and ½ cup peanut butter.
Shape this mixture into 32 balls also (they will be smaller).
Slightly flatten each chocolate ball and top with peanut butter ball.
Pull chocolate dough over peanut butter to cover completely and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake for 8 minutes or until just set.
Cool on pan 2 minutes before removing to wire rack to finish cooling.
2.2.6
These will be served tonight after our weekly “mandatory Sunday supper” which all the kids including the Frenchman are required to attend. Tonight D’s “Baking Mom Extraordinaire” will be at the table too. We’ll see how my cookies turn out under the scrutiny of this distinguished panel of judges.
I am using this recipe to enter a baking contest, initiated by the Manitoba Canola Growers www.blog.canolarecipes.ca in the hopes of attending a Food Bloggers of Canada Conference this spring www.foodbloggersofcanada.com. The event takes place in Hockley Ontario, which means that I will also be able to visit the family of the Frenchman. I will get to see first hand if his baking skills are genetic too.
Kath’s quote: “Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.”-Charles M. Schulz
I seem to continually draw attention to the fact that I am getting old. This is not because I am ill or feeling old, but because there comes a time in your life when you think that you have perhaps learned everything that you are capable of learning. Well, in my case I continually amaze(even) myself that, even though you might think that I have reached that stage, the opposite is true. I bet I learn something new every waking hour of my day.
I have never baked a pumpkin. In fact, I have never tasted pumpkin served as a vegetable until this summer. This is in spite of the fact that Precious Ramotswe, my all time favourite character in the Botswana series written by Alexander McCall Smith, eats baked pumpkin just about every evening. Well tonight I am baking a pumpkin and as I Googled pumpkin recipes, my own blog posts came up (life is strange). Anyway, my extended family is eagerly waiting the time that the Frenchman will post his glazed pumpkin cookie recipe that he contributed to last weekend’s Thanksgiving dinner, but in the mean time, I thought that I might be able to stave them off with his Pumpkin Scone recipe that he has already shared with me.
Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl.
With a fork, pastry knife, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter remain. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk pumpkin, half and half, and egg.
Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide).
Use a large knife to slice the dough into three equal portions. Cut diagonally to produce 6 triangular slices of dough.
Place on prepared baking sheet from step 2.
Bake for 14–16 minutes until scones turn light brown.
Place on wire rack to cool.
Sugar Glaze:
Mix the powdered sugar and 2 Tablespoon milk together until smooth.
Brush glaze over the top of each cooled scone.
2.2.6
Kath’s quote: “One can never know too much; the more one learns, the more one sees the need to learn more and that study as well as broadening the mind of the craftsman provides an easy way of perfecting yourself in the practice of your art.”-Auguste Escoffier
When it was J1’s family birthday dinner recently, I was surprized when he asked for a steak supper. After all, he works part time as a dining room server at The Keg Steakhouse and Bar, wouldn’t he have had his fill of red meat? Apparently not.
D went to great lengths to select the chicest of cuts. Nothing was too good for our son on his 25th birthday. The selection of Angus Beef meant that the steaks were beautifully marbled and oh so tender. Since I am the daughter of a meat man, I know that marbling contributes to taste and aging enhances tenderness.
The Cutco steak knives that I took out of their wrappings for the evening certainly impressed. J1 demonstrated just placing the knife on top of his steak and the utensil sliding through (with no effort on his part) to produce a perfect forkful.
Also on the menu were all of J1’s favourites: baked potatoes topped with real bacon, green bean casserole and herb pull apart loaf. The heart image below is a random piece of the loaf-I kid you not! For dessert though I was stumped as J1 is not a cake guy but I remembered chatting with a friend about a Mock Apple Pie recipe and had to give it a try.
Would you know that it was filled with zucchini from this photo?
6-8 c zucchini, peeled and cut into "apple-sized" pieces
¾ c sugar
½ c brown sugar
2 t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg
¼ t cardamom
1½ t cream of tartar
2 T corn starch
½ t salt
1 t vinegar
1 T butter
2 pie crusts (I cheat and purchase frozen Tenderflake)
½ t sugar, topping for crust
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Follow package directions t defrost pie shell.
Cook zucchini in boiling water until barely tender (about 2 minutes).
Cool and drain. Squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible with paper towels.
In a bowl, well toss zucchini with sugars and all other ingredients from list stopping with the salt.
Fill the pie shell with mixture.
Dot with butter, drizzle with vinegar.
Top with second crust.
Create steam cuts in the crust.
Dust with sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425.
Reduce heat to 350 and continue baking about 45 minutes.Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.
2.2.6
D said with amazement at a taste of the pie: “Well this proves that you can put sugar and cinnamon on anything and it will taste good!”
Kath’s quote: “Every year the number of new cookbooks increases, but in spite of them the progress made in this most useful of the arts is not ever overpowering. On the contrary, we must regretfully admit that nowadays people no longer prepare the fine and nourishing dishes that our mothers used to make.”-Anna Dorn, Cookbook Author (1834)
Our plans are in place for Thanksgiving weekend and I have my assigned dishes to prepare at “Life is Good” and then wrap and carry to “Kappy’s Korner” where we will all assemble.
This will likely be the last Thanksgiving dinner spent in this way as Sister #2 and her husband will have their neighbouring cottage completed by this time next year.
I think that the great room in that locale was designed especially with extended family dinners in mind.
The biggest hit most years is Sister-in-law #2’s Pumpkin Crunch Dessert. This year, I am actually remembering to post her recipe in advance o that you can make it for your festivities if you wish. 39 of my family members think that it is the best thing to happen to Thanksgiving dinner.
Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in large bowl.
Pour into pan.
Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture.
Top with pecans.
Drizzle with melted butter.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden.
Cool completely.
Serve with whipped topping.
Refrigerate leftovers.
2.2.6
Kath’s quote: “Pumpkin pie, if rightly made, is a thing of beauty and a joy – while it lasts…..Pies that cut a little less firm than a pine board, and those that run round your plate are alike to be avoided. Two inches deep is better than the thin plasters one sometimes sees, that look for all he world like pumpkin flap-jacks. The expressive phrase, ‘too thin’, must have come from these lean parodies on pumpkin pie. With pastry light, tender, and not too rich, and a generous filling of smooth spiced sweetness – a little ‘trembly’ as to consistency, and delicately brown on top – a perfect pumpkin pie, eaten before the life has gone out of it, is one of the real additions made by American cookery to the good things of the world. For the first pumpkin pie of the season, flanked by a liberal cut of creamy cheeses, we prefer to sit down, as the French gourmand said about his turkey: ‘with just two of us; myself and the turkey.'”-‘The House Mother’
