Nanaimo Bars

Nearly every Canadian has made Nanaimo Bars, either from scratch or from the (actually quite reasonable) boxed version made by Robin Hood. The base is a rich graham mixture with the nutty undertones of coconut. It's balanced out by an sweet filling, and topped all off with a layer of chocolate. We recently had friends over for dinner and served these as dessert - especially since we knew the guest of honour had never had the opportunity to try them before as he is from Israel. The look on his face was pure awe & astonishment. "These are perfect," he exclaimed.

Nanaimo Bars were named after the British Columbia town Nanaimo. It is rumoured that in the 50s, a magazine had a recipe contest and a local housewife came up with this recipe and submitted it. Having no name for her concoction, she named it after the town in which she lived. She won the contest, and this delicious little treat has become a Canadian culinary staple.

Nanaimo Bars
(Recipe from Joy of Baking.com)

Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (I use Dutch-processed)
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut (either sweetened or unsweetened)
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped

Filling:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 - 3 tablespoons milk or cream
2 tablespoons vanilla custard powder (Bird's) or vanilla pudding powder
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (230 grams) powdered sugar (confectioners or icing) sugar

Topping:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Butter (or use a cooking spray) a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) pan.

BOTTOM LAYER: In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in the sugar and cocoa powder and then gradually whisk in the beaten egg. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (1 - 2 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and chopped nuts. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Cover and refrigerate until firm (about an hour).

FILLING: In your electric mixer cream the butter. Beat in the remaining ingredients. If the mixture is too thick to spread, add a little more milk. Spread the filling over the bottom layer, cover, and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).

TOP LAYER: In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Spread over the filling and refrigerate.

TO SERVE: To prevent the chocolate from cracking, using a sharp knife, bring the squares to room temperature before cutting.

Yield: Makes about 25 squares

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Deep Dish Squash Pie

Today is (Canadian) Thanksgiving. This year I'm thankful for many things, some more than others. This time of year always makes me so reflective on my life and my childhood. Perhaps it's because the cycle of nature is taking certain things and closing up shop for the winter: leaves are changing colour, birds are preparing for flights south and plants offer up their yearly bounty to help see us through the long, harsh cold. I love everything about this time of year and this holiday is one of my favourites. (Photo shows the goods we've acquired R-L: a [very large] pumpkin, buttercup squash, acorn squash, and a cute little gourd I've named Herman.)

My father never liked squash and still won't eat it. My grandparents always grew it and they'd serve it with our holiday meal, but my dad never partook. It must've been something about orange vegetables as we never had cooked carrots as a child either. In any case, my grandmother always had pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dessert. Oh, my dad did love pumpkin pie. But it was a well known secret for years that the pumpkin pie he was eating was actually made with buttercup squash. I thought the wool had been pulled over his eyes for years - eventually it slipped out but he already knew. And as I'm older now, and a tad more experienced in the kitchen, I realise that squash and pumpkin aren't that far off in texture and flavour - and if you go to my husband's part of the world, they're all called pumpkin anyway.

That being said, he's never had one done up in a pie. Understandably though, as Thanksgiving isn't a recognised Australian holiday, and the date does fall into the warmer season. But he's only ever had pumpkin or squash in savoury dishes. This was the first time he had squash pie and he did like it (coming from the man who doesn't like sweets).

This particular pie is less dense than those of my mother & grandmother, but it still slices cleanly and has a delicately sweet flavour. I used an entire buttercup squash (in the picture at top) and it was just enough. Using a deep dish pie plate, the filling came about a centimetre below the rim of the pie, but fluffed up and filled it in perfectly while baking.

Deep Dish Squash Pie

1-9" pie shell
1-2lb squash (buttercup or butternut)
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
2 large eggs

Prepare pie shell & keep refrigerated until required. Peel & steam squash until tender. Remove from heat and mash in bowl. Preheat oven to 350°F. On low setting of mixer, add evaporated milk, whole milk, butter, sugar & maple syrup. Add salt & spices, mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, being careful to ensure they are thoroughly incorporated. Pour mixture into prepared pie shell. Bake 40-55 minutes, or until set when toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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Butter Tarts & Lemon Custard Tarts

It was a special day at work today. Instead of cookies, I made two kinds of tarts. Of all the requests, lemon was the overall winner. Me, personally, I adore a good butter tart. Butter Tarts are about as Canadian as maple syrup and hockey (despite that our official national game is LaCrosse). I don't know anyone in my family who doesn't have at least one recipe for Butter Tarts. Originally thought to be derived from the American Pecan Pie, butter tarts have two schools of adorers: those that like them gooey, and those that like them custardy. I prefer the gooey. With (most commonly) walnuts, seedless Thompson raisins or without, gooey Butter Tarts make me purr. These ones I made in a muffin tin, so they were definitely more than two bites and they were definitely delicious!

Feel free to omit the dough and use your own favourite. I use the recipe my mum gave me that she adopted when she worked at an Irving Big Stop restaurant (also very Canadian, at least in the Maritimes anyway). The dough, which uses an egg and baking powder, never gets tough - you can roll it and roll it and roll it and it's still as pliable as when it's freshly made. It always turns out crispy and flaky and melt in your mouth and I don't think I'll ever switch!

Festive Butter Tarts

1-1/4 cup flour
3 Tbsp icing sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup raisins (optional)
3 eggs
1 cup corn syrup or honey
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
pinch salt

Combine flour & sugar. Cut in softened butter until mixture is crumbly. Divide dough among 12-3" fluted tart pans or 3" muffin tins. Press dough evenly over bottom & up sides. Place pans on baking sheet. Sprinkle raisins evenly over bottom of each tart shell. In separate bowl, combine eggs, corn syrup or honey, brown sugar, melted butter and salt. Pour into tart shells, filling each 2/3 full. Bake in preheated 375°F for 20-25 minutes or until set. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely. Makes one dozen.

Lemon Custard Tarts
(Recipe from Food Network Canada's Christine Cushing Live)

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
grated rind of one lemon
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1-1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg yolk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together half the sugar with the 1 yolk, 2 whole eggs, lemon juice, lemon rind and vanilla in a medium bowl. Whisk the cornstarch, remaining sugar and milk in a bowl or measuring cup. Bring milk to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until slightly thickened. Slowly, whisk into egg mixture. Return to sauce pan and bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, sealing plastic wrap directly over the custard so that no skin forms on the custard. Put in refrigerator and thoroughly chill before using, about 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Roll out the puff pastry to 1/8-inch thick. Cut the pastry into twelve 4-inch circles with a cookie cutter or top of a cup or glass. Press pastry circles into muffin cups. Prick the bottoms with a fork. Line each puff cup with aluminum foil. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Remove foil and pie weights. Cool pastry for 5 to 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spoon the cooled custard into the baked puff pastry cups. Bake until golden and skin forms, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let tarts cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature or chilled. The custard will be a little loose.

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Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sometimes you need a cookie that isn't superficial, or chocolately. Sometimes you need a cookie that is hearty and sweet and reminds you of all the goods things. Weekends in your grandmother's kitchen... the bounty nature provides... things like that.

This cookie was made for my coworkers (they are a lucky lot, aren't they?). I try to make sure everyone gets a request. This one came from an Ocean Spray calendar that one of my co-workers had and it proved to be a big hit - despite that it wasn't full of cocoa!

Oatmeal Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
(Courtesy of Ocean Spray Recipes)

2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 6-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Sweetened Dried Cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in sweetened dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes approximately 2-1/2 dozen cookies.

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Why I love the Farmer's Market

Every Saturday morning, the husband and I go to our local farmer's market on our weekly grocery trek. We've made it a habit to stop there because, thanks much to Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall & Jamie Oliver, I will now not eat chicken purchased from the supermarkets. I've been wanting for sometime to go as organic & natural as possible in terms of the food I put into my body & what sort of carbon footprint I leave with the chemicals I deposit into the environment. Besides, going to the farmer's market and purchasing the goods there puts money back into the local economy.

I stop at a booth run by Stephen Taylor's Farm to buy my eggs ($2.35 for a dozen, extra large, brown eggs - you can't beat that!). I will also buy my beef there. We stop at a place called Armstrong Cheese to purchase any cheese we may be craving. While not all organic, the family who runs this stall really take pride in their work. Cheese can be a smelly business, but they certainly enjoy it - and each time I go, I like to try something new. "Give me something... old & European," or, "zingy & French!" My favourite is old, English cheddar. There's a distinct flavour variation between English & Canadian cheddars. I find the English one just a bit more... zippy!

Next we get our fruits & veggies from a number of vendors. Arimosa is an organic farm just on the outskirts of the city. Hope Farms is another. Between the two of them, you can get just about anything. Carrots, an assortment of radish (including one that is black all the way though), lemon cucumbers, and this week I bought us some Italian beans. Long, thick & purple! But, when you cook them, they turn green. Very tasty too, slightly nutty. We've gotten in the habit of bringing back the containers the fruits & veg comes in. From the wooden boxes that held berries, to the cardboard ones with the handle on the top that carries apples & plums... we don't throw them out, we take them back for them to use again. And they do. And some days, if you have enough brought back, they give you a discount on your purchase. :)

Lastly, we stop at one of our favourite places, Springbank Farm. We get our pork & chicken there. And in two week's time we should be able to get some lamb. Now, this place, aside from great prices and grain fed livestock, is pretty amazing. The guys that work the stall there (and at the Dieppe Farmer's Market) are pretty darned amazing. We go in and they routinely knock a buck or two off of the price. Last time they gave me an extra packet of home-smoked bacon. The time before that they gave us two chicken carcasses for making broth (see picture). These two carcasses were roasted with some fresh herbs, salt, pepper & some olive oil (not too much, just enough for the herbs to stick). They were boiled with your basics - a large onions, a large carrot and a stalk of celery cut in two. The broth it made was decadent. And the best part, there was enough meat on the bones to tear off and use for making a soup, stew, or even sandwiches. And it was free. That's practically an entire meal, free, that we got from the Farmer's Market.

Free food. Organic livestock. Infusing the local economy. Making the indent of my carbon footprint a little shallower. Overall, superior quality & pride. These are the reasons why I love going to the Farmer's Market.

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Earl Grey Tea Shortbread

So, it was cookie-time at work again and one of my co-workers requested shortbread cookies - the kind with a dollop of icing on the top. I decided that this was time for me to try out a new recipe. I adore tea, Earl Grey in particular. When I found this recipe, I was beyond giddy since I also adore that melt-in-your-mouth texture of shortbread. Now, I'm also particular about my shortbread - I like it crumbly and very dry. If a recipe calls for just flour, I will always substitute, at least a portion of, that flour for cornstarch. That is what I ended up doing with this recipe - and given that they were dry and crumbly to begin with, I don't think that much more than the 1/2 cup substitution would've been a good idea.

Earl Grey Tea Shortbread Cookies
(Original recipe published in the special issue Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies 2005 - though the icing is my own concoction.)

Cookie
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 Tbsp finely ground Earl Grey tea leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 confectioner's sugar
1 Tbsp finely grated orange zest
Earl Grey Icing
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp brewed Earl Grey tea, cooled
1/4 tsp orange extract
silver dragees for decoration (optional)


Whisk flour, cornstarch & salt in small bowl; set aside. Put butter, sugar & orange zest in bowl of electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until pale & fluffy (about 3 minutes). Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture until just combined. Divide dough in half; transfer each half to a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Shape into logs 1-1/4" in diameter. Transfer inside paper towel tubes to freezer - freeze until firm (at least 1 hour). Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut logs into 1/4" slices. Space 1" apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake cookies, rotating sheets half way through until edges are golden (13-15 minutes). Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to five days.

Mix icing ingredients in small bowl. The icing should be able to form peaks, but should smooth out within a few seconds without being runny, giving it the appearance of a smoothed ganache when cooled. If too runny, add more sugar; if too thick, add more tea. Decorate with dragees if desired.

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Rhubarb Tart

I love rhubarb. One reason being the tart, eye-wincing flavour it imparts. The second - it is one of the few harvests that is not imported from Portugal or Guatemala. It grows in our back yards and reminds us of simpler times. Days spent with grandmothers in frilly aprons, boiling it on the stove or making a pie with plump, fresh strawberries.

Hot, sticky summer days deserve a good dose of nostalgia and a tasty rhubarb treat. This tart has a nice, buttery pastry and the rhubarb is made extra zippy with the added lemon peel. I don't know about y'all, but this ain't my grandma's rhubarb! This one's got zing!

Rhubarb Tart
Recipe courtesy of The Rhubarb Compendium

Crust:
1-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 tbsp (or more) ice water
3 tbsp apricot jam
Filling:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
3-3x1/2" strips lemon peel (yellow part only)
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 lbs fresh rhubarb, trimmed, cut diagonally into 1/2" thick pieces (about 6 cups)

For crust:
Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Add butter and cut in, using pastry cutter or two knives, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add sugar and egg yolks and blend briefly. Add 2 tablespoons water and process just until moist clumps form. If dough is dry, add more water by teaspoonfuls to moisten. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated. Let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough disk on floured surface 12" round. Transfer to 9" tart pan with removable bottom. Trim crust overhang to 1/4". Fold overhang in, creating double-thick sides. Freeze tart crust 15 minutes.

Line crust with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake until crust is golden brown, piercing with fork if bubbles form, about 15 minutes. Brush crust with jam and bake until jam is set, about 5 minutes more. Transfer pan to rack and cool.

For filling:
Combine sugar and water in heavy large skillet over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Increase heat and bring to boil. Add rhubarb and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover pan and simmer until rhubarb is just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Let stand covered until rhubarb is tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover and cool completely.

Using slotted spoon, remove rhubarb from cooking liquid and arrange in concentric circles in crust. Strain cooking liquid into heavy small saucepan. Boil liquid until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Cool syrup completely. Spoon syrup over rhubarb. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

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