Tag Archives: sweet

Sweet Cinnamon Apple Bread

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It’s cold and rainy and gloomy. I’m not complaining though. Why? Because this weather gives me a reason to make delicious comforting sweet bread. And I also wanted something to go with a hot cup of coffee.

Like a rich coffee cake, this bread is so dense and soft in the centre it’s almost gooey and that is because of the layer of chopped apples with sugar and cinnamon. I also added more nutmeg (it’s so fragrant and wonderful!) than is usually called for in most spiced recipes but if you’re not a fan of nutmeg you can use a pinch. This would be perfect for Christmas. And breakfast.

Sweet Cinnamon Apple Bread

Makes one scrumptious loaf

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

2 1/2 tbsp oil…I used peanut but vegetable would work too.

2 tbsp apple sauce…I used unsweetened

Preheat oven to 350F/176C. In a small bowl mix the white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and apple bits and set aside. In a large bowl mix the rest of the ingredients. In a greased 9″x 5″ loaf pan pour half the batter. Sprinkle the apple cinnamon mixture on top and then pour the rest of the batter over that. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Easy!

 

Sweet, Sweet Heirloom Tomatoes

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Sweet, delicate, juicy, and seedless. Yes, seedless. The heirloom tomatoes we grew on our tiny terrace/balcony/protruding ledge of concrete have at last become edible. We planted the seeds into two large pots, unknowingly, “too late in the season” in April. But Jay and I did not let that warning dampen our excitement about eating fresh tomatoes from our very own “garden.”

We had to move the pots indoors last week as the weather became cooler.

Now they don’t have to hang out with the robust oregano and rosemary.

Biting into these amazing little tomatoes is like taking a bite out of candy. I keep telling Jay I could probably make a sweet pie out of these tomatoes…if we had loads more of course.

But we have learned what we need to do next year. Firstly, we will plant the seeds in small containers in February and keep them indoors. Once they’ve grown a bit and the weather has started to warm, we’ll put them in large pots out on the terrace/balcony/protruding ledge of concrete (seriously, I don’t know what to call it because it runs the length of the living room but it’s only about a foot wide, meaning there’s literally only enough room for a few plants). The tomatoes require serious amounts of water, as in, I can’t just water them when I remember, every other week – these plants need water EVERYDAY. Of course they shouldn’t be drowned but if they are to survive the soil needs to be moist always, especially once they start getting big.

Not much I could do with a few tomatoes other than enjoy them in a delicious breakfast wrap :)

 

 

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

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Pound cake. When I hear those two words I think of moist, sweet bread with a delicious brown crust. Pound cake takes me back to the days when I’d break off pieces and squeeze them in my hand to make tiny pound cake balls. I’ve often wondered why it’s called pound cake. My first thought is that there’s a pound of butter in it but in this recipe there is only (ha-ha) 3/4 pounds of butter. I did some research and the reason it’s called pound cake is because traditionally there is a pound each of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs.
The pound cake I made comes from, wait for it, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.
I used 3 sticks of butter, one package of cream cheese, 2 and a half cups of sugar, 6 large eggs, salt, vanilla, baking powder, and 3 cups of flour. I divided the dough into a loaf pan and a square baking and at 330F it took less than an hour to bake.
I may have beat the dough a bit too much, causing it to turn a little airy. I also didn’t use eggs at room temperature and the coldness from the eggs made the butter (also at room temperature) temporarily curdle. No worries though because the cake is fantastically moist and perfectly sweet. It’s a brilliant choice for breakfast with a cup of coffee.

Lemon Squares

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Several weeks ago, after embarking on the ludicrous writing adventure, I found myself stuck. Writer’s block. So what did I do? I baked. I procrastinate by baking. And thanks to the lovely AsiaJo over at Frock and Fork, I found exactly what I needed to make on that day of mental stuckness. Lemon Squares (recipe here). Let them cool completely as they are quite soft when they come out of the oven. These easy to make squares were so delicious and perfectly sweet. Addictive too. I had to hide them so I wouldn’t eat them all in one sitting.

Sweet Shrimp Salad

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After a gruelling, yet satisfying, turbo sculpt workout I craved a big bowl of salad. Believe me, a few years ago I would not have craved a salad after a workout – I would have probably ran to the closest McDonald’s for a Quarter Pounder, fries, and a coke. I have changed my ways and if I were to eat a whole burger from McDonald’s right now I’d probably get an upset stomach.
Anyway, today’s salad started out with sautéed shrimp with garlic powder, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, celery, and feta cheese. It’s when I get to the dressing that I tend to experiment a bit. Today I mixed about a teaspoon of mustard, two dashes of Frank’s Redhot, and about a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar. It was tart and sour and spicy of course, not bad but it was missing a bit of sweetness. So, I added about a teaspoon and a half of guava jelly. Don’t ask me why I reached for the guava jelly jar, I just did. And it was lovely. Once the salad was tossed and I was ready to drizzle the dressing over it, inspiration struck. I felt daring and experimental so I grabbed the pineapple I had cut up this morning. Now, I have to add here that I absolutely do not like fruit in salads and yet I still felt inclined to add fruit. Chunks of pineapple over the salad and spicy-sweet dressing over top made a delicious and refreshing salad. The sweetness from the pineapple was a good compliment to the feta cheese and the spice from the dressing. I think I’ll be adding fruit to my salads from now on. I guess it’s an acquired taste.

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Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Cookies

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Not too long ago I acquired yet another baking book. It’s called 1 dough, 100 cookies by Linda Doeser. I hadn’t baked any of the cookies in the book until today because I couldn’t make up my mind on which recipe to try. I figured chocolate chip cookies with cinnamon would be a safe and easy way to start. I’ve adapted the recipe slightly:

Makes about 30-34 cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup golden yellow sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 semi sweet chocolate chips

salt

For the coating:

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, then beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Sift together the flour and a pinch of salt into the mixture. Add the chocolate chips and combine. At this point I stared, confused, at the dry and crumbly “dough” in my bowl. It looked more like pie pastry before it’s kneaded together, which is what I decided to do. I had to knead the dough with my hands until it had the consistency of cookie dough. Once that’s ready, scoop out tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. For the coating, mix the cinnamon and sugar in a shallow bowl and roll the cookie dough balls around to coat. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten each ball slightly. The book says to bake for 12-15 minutes but I’d say bake 15-20 minutes, depending on how crappy or awesome your oven is. In my case I took them out after 20 minutes because they never changed their shape, I thought the butter would melt and they’d transform into flatter cookies. Instead they kept their original shape.

The first cookie I tried was kind of a let down. I was expecting a hard and crunchy cookie but it was just crumbly and the flavour seemed a little weird, like old oil. The next cookie I ate was a thousand times better, crumbly, sweet and full of cinnamon. So I’m thinking that maybe the first cookie touched a part of the Silpat sheet with oil residue? I’m not sure. Anyway, these things are a little addictive and I’ve eaten about 10 of them now, so be careful.

Honey Teriyaki Salmon and Rice

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This was definitely a winner! From the Weight Watchers Turn Around Program book I made this amazing salmon last night. The recipes in that book are alright but some are fantastic. Here’s the recipe:

Makes 4 servings, is worth 4 points per fillet

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 tbsp honey (I used raw unpasteurized)

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed (I used 2 cloves cuz I love garlic so much)

4 (1/4 lb) skinless salmon fillets (I left the skin on the salmon and removed it during cooking)

Mix all the ingredients, minus the salmon, in a small bowl until the honey dissolves. Pour the mixture into an airtight container or ziploc bag and add the salmon. Coat the salmon well and refrigerate for 6-24hrs, turning it over occasionally. I think I might have only marinated the fish for 5hrs but it was still amazing.

Spray a ridged grill pan or nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium heat. I just poured a bit of olive oil in a frying pan, worked just as well. Place the salmon fillets in the pan, keep the marinade, and cook about 5 mins on each side, turning the fillets and brushing them with reserved marinade. About a few mins before they were cooked I removed the skin. I think the skin added so much flavour the salmon.

While the salmon was cooking I made rice with leeks.

Earlier that day, when Jay and I went to buy groceries, Jay picked up a large bunch of leeks. “Those aren’t on the list,” I said. “I want to make soup at some point this week,” he said. We had a tiny fight at the grocery store because after I had spent an hour working on our weekly menu he decided to pick up the leeks and extra vegetables for a soup that was not on the menu. Then I noticed a tag on the leeks that had a recipe for rice and leeks. Easy to make. “Very well, Jay, we shall take the leeks.”

Recipe for rice with leeks, Makes 2 servings

1 tbsp butter (I used oil cuz I forgot to buy butter…sigh)

1 leek, rinsed and chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

Dash of oregano

Cooked rice, about 1-2 cups I’d say

In a pot, sautee the chopped leeks until soft. Add the tomato paste and oregano and combine. Add the rice and mix well. At this point, the salmon fillets were almost ready and I had extra marinade so instead of throwing it out, I poured the rest of the marinade into the rice until it was cooked and absorbed.

As I said, the salmon was amazing and the rice was perfect with a bit of grated Parmesan on top. The salmon had the right amount of salt and sweetness.

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