Gingerbread Macarons

French macarons, the very popular and trendy Parisian cookie, often confused with coconut macaroons, are seen all over the big cities. Les macarons were first popularized in the 1930's by the famous pastry shop Ladurée, in France, where the invention of the double-decker macaron came to be. This light and sweet cookie contains a center filling of butter cream or jam filling which is sandwiched between two dome shape meringues that come in many different flavours. Raspberry and pistachio seemed to be the most popular, but I thought gingerbread macarons would be very appropriate for the holiday season.

When properly made, the dome of the cookie should be a smooth and glossy top with a moist interior that melts in your mouth. There should also be a ruffled ridge around the cookie, the foot of the cookie or le pied in French. Don't worry about mastering these cookies the first time you make them. Not until recently has the recipes been written for chefs at home, it has mainly been for professional chefs where recipes measurements are in weights as oppose to volumes.

But if you intend on becoming a master pastry chef, make sure you follow these tips, they will prevent kitchen break downs and wasted batter.

• Use pasteurized liquid egg whites as oppose to separating egg whites and make sure it is at room temperature.
  
• When whipping the egg whites, add the sugar in once foam has formed and beat at medium high speed until the egg whites are firm and glossy. Try not to stop and start to mixer and don't worry about over whisking the eggs. It is better to get stiff peaks then no peaks at all. I like to mix in a glass bowl.
  
• Make sure you sift each dry ingredient at least twice (or "shift" as my mom says). Once before you mix the dry ingredient together and then once again when you add it to the egg whites.
  
• When folding in the almond mixture with the egg whites, fold one way to keep as much air in the batter as possible.
  
• Do not use wax paper, the cookies will stick to it, use parchment paper.
  
• Once you've piped the raw cookies on a baking sheet, dip the back of a spoon in warm water and smooth out any peaks left by the piping bag.
  
• Let the piped, raw cookies stand for 30 minutes at room temperature before baking to promote a glossy top crust.
  
• Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the paper with a thin spatula. You can add drops of water under the parchment paper to help remove the cookies as the macarons will release more easily with steam.
  

Gingerbread Macarons

Makes 24 Macarons

Macarons

• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 1 1/4 cups finely ground almonds
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground cloves
• 1 ginger snap cookie
• 3/4 cup egg whites at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Filling

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1/2 cup softened butter

1. For macarons, preheat the oven to 300°F
2. Line 2 large baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw 24 circles, 2 inch in size on each sheet; flip the parchment over. Place each prepared tray on top of another baking tray.
   
3. Combine the icing sugar, almonds, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a medal blade. Blend for about 30 - 60 seconds or until the mixture is fine powder; transfer to another bowl.
   
4. Place gingersnap cookie in the food processor and blend until finely crushed. Sift through a medium sieve. Discard larger crumbs trapped in sieve. Reserve the fine crumbs.
   
5. Place the egg whites and vanilla in a large bowl. Use an electric mixture on medium-high to beat until white are foamy. Add the granulated sugar by the spoonful, beating until firm and glossy. In 2 additions, gently fold the reserved almond mixture into the egg white until the mixture is streak free. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip that is about 1 cm wide.
   
6. Pipe the batter onto the prepared baking sheets by placing the tip into the center of each circle, squeezing just until the batter reaches the outer edge. Use the back of a spoon dipped in warm water to smooth out any peaks. Sprinkle each cookie with a little of the finely ground gingerbread cookie crumbs. Let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes but no more than 60 minutes.
   
7. Bake, on the center rack, 1 sheet at at time for 15-16 minutes or until the surface is set and bottoms are light golden. Cool completely on pan. Gently transfer to cooling rack until ready to fill. The cookies can be stored in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
   
8. For the filling, combine the sugar and egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer or another large heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring the bowl and the water do not touch. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture feels warm to the touch and is light, fluffy and white, about 3 minutes.
9. Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer; fit with the whisk attachment. add the spices and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed, or until mixure cools and forms a thick shiny meringue. Beat in the butter, adding 1 tbsp at a time until very smooth. Beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until very thick and light, about 6 minutes. spread an equal amount of filling on the bottoms of 24 cookies; sandwich with an additional cookie.

Recipe from Food and Drink Magazine

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

It has been way too long since my last post. The month of November was filled with projects due every week, leaving me no time to write about the things that I ate. But now that the holidays have arrived, I finally have time, to once again, fill my blog up with cooking, baking and eating.

This post is featuring a soup that may seem like it should have been featured during the fall but the aroma and flavour that arise from this soup remind me of the scents of the holidays. This may be because my family likes to accompany our turkey dinners with sweet potatoes.

This colourful and bright soup is perfect for lunch or the start of a tasty dinner. Pair it with a piece of hearty bread as you will be using it to wipe up the bottom of your bowl. Also, the variety of nutrition that makes up this soup will not make you feel guilty for wanting seconds.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

Serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 1 cup of chopped carrot
• 3 cups of peeled and chopped sweet potatoes
• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• 1/2 tsp of chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 5 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup whipping cream or 2% (whichever you prefer)
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Garnish:

• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sage leaves

1. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes or ntill they begin to soften. Add carrots and sweet potatoes and saute for 5 mintues.
2. Add ginger, chili flakes and cinnamon and saute for 1 mintues or until fragrant. Add lentils and stir to coat with oil.
3. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until vegetable are very soft and lentils have exploded.
Puree soup in food processor or with hand blender. Returen to pot, stir in whipping cream and season with salt and pepper. Stir in lemon juice and maple syrup. Reheat when needed.
5. For garnish, heat oil in small skillet over medium-high heat and fry sage leaves for 30 seconds or until crisp. Drain on paper towel and place on soup.

Recipe from Food and Drink Magazine

Buttery Cinnamon Cake with Apple Compote

For those of you who were lucky enough to go apple picking this year, I have found a recipe that will put good use to your apples. It is an apple compote that is topped onto a soft and delicious cake, infused with cinnamon flavour. I used Empire apples for a chunky texture, but you can also add McIntosh if you like.

I found this recipe in one of my favourite magazines, the LCBO's Food & Drink. Do not underestimate this free magazine that the LCBO puts out seasonally. I would say that this one of Canada's most beautiful magazines, photographically and typographically. Even the layout of the magazine is well thought out, they incorporate the ads so well into the layout that it creates this cohesive look to the magazine without ruining the actual content.

I really just had to appreciate the magazine for a moment since in Canada, we really don't get many beautifully designed magazines and it is very refreshing to see one.

Art and design can make me so happy sometimes, but back to food, as this is a food blog.

Buttery Cinnamon Cake with Apple Compote
Serves 8

Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp of ground cinnamon or ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Glaze

• 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp of water

Apple Compote

• 4 large-red skinned apples (diced, peeled if desired)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cardamom or ginger
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the sides of a 9-inch spring-form pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until blended. Stir in flour mixture alternately with sour cream, making 3 additions of flour and 2 of sour cream. Spread into prepared pan, smoothing top.
3. Bake for 45 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a rack for 3o minutes.
   
4. For the glaze, combine sugar, cinnamon and water in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove ring from cake. Brush top and sides with glaze and serve warm or slide the cake off the pan onto a rack and let cool completely.
   
5. Meanwhile, prepare the apple compote. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until apples are tender but still keep their shape. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm with slices of cake and dollop of whip cream.

Recipe from Food and Drink Magazine

Rice Krispie Jack-O-Lantern

Halloween is a time for yummy treats and great fun. It's also a time to get creative with baking, so think of some of your favourite recipes and how you can add a Halloween twist to it. It's pretty easy to turn Rice Krispie Squares into any holiday treat simply by adding food colouring or sprinkles.

If you can find thicker pretzels, it'll probably look better for the stem of the pumpkin. Also, if you can find a tube of icing to decorate the face, you'll be able to make actual Jack-O-Lantern faces, as oppose to my toothpick drawn smiley faces.

Rice Krispie Jack-O-Lantern

• 6 cups of Rice Krispie
• 5 cups of mini marshmallows
  
• 1/4 cup of butter, a little bit extra for your hands
  
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• Orange gel colouring or red and yellow food colouring
• Pretzels
• Chocolate Icing

1. In a large pot melt the butter on low heat. Once it has melted add in the marshmallows.
2. Continue to stir the marshmallow until melted and add in the vanilla and food colouring. If you use red and yellow, drop in the yellow first and then the red, as it is harder to make the marshmallow lighter than darker. Add in about 5 drops of yellow and 2 drops of red. Add in either more red or yellow to get your desired colour of orange.
   
3. Once you have blended the colour into the marshmallow add the Rice Krispie and mix quickly.
4. Butter your hands so you don't get the mixture stuck to your hands and roll the mixture into a ball. Take your index knuckle and make a dent on the top where you will stick the pretzel as the stem.
5. Decorate the faces on the little pumpkins and enjoy!
   

Nourish Bistro in Banff AB

Last weekend I went to Banff for the Thanksgiving long weekend. It's always such a nice break for me to head out west to the Rocky Mountains as Toronto can get very hectic sometimes.

Usually when you think of restaurants in Banff, you think of really great pubs where you can grab a beer with friends. However, tucked away in the Sundance Mall is this amazing vegetarian bistro called Nourish.

You would be surprised by the food that comes out of the small little kitchen, the restaurant itself, can't really hold more than 30 people. I can assure you that you will experience many unique and sweet flavours at this restaurant. I didn't even notice that I was just eating vegetables, the absence of meat did not cross my mind once, that is how flavourful the food is here.

The food is also meant to be shared, which is a wonderful idea considering you want to try everything on the menu. There was five of us so we ordered 4 dishes and 2 appetizers to start. It was the perfect amount, I was so content in the end, it even left enough room for their strawberry and apple pie.

The first thing that arrived on the table were our two appetizers. We ordered the Edamame Beans and Spanakopita. These appetizers instantly gave me an idea of what I was in for at this restaurant. New flavours added to old dishes. The Edamame beans were tossed in Hemp Seed Gomasio and drizzled with a creamy sweet sauce. The spanakopitas were filled with 4 spinach and feta, served on a bed of fresh greens with a balkan style yogurt and dill.

We then had the Gourmet Falafel, which contained spiced oven baked chickpeas and fava bean falafael. It was wrapped in a garlic hummus tortilla shell with cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, roasted red peppers, field greens and garlic dill. It even came with a edible flower, which kinda tasted a bit like lettuce.

We then moved onto their delicous House Curry which contained lentils, spinach and chickpeas stewed in tomato masala with seasoned quinoa and veggies served on rice.

The King Kong Noodle was probably the most flavourful dish of the night. The soup is made up of 6 nuts and veggies in a sweet coconut chili sauce that is topped with cucumbers, spinach, marinated mandarin oranges and pea shoots served with verm rice noodles. Seriously, flavour, flavour, flavour.

Finally, we received our Spicy Salsa Verde Burrito filled with chinnamon chili spiced cauliflour, mushrooms, red pepper, jalapeno, refriend black beans, sticky rice and monterey jack, topped with their salsa verde.

Even though I was completely full at the end I had to try their strawberry and apple pie which made the whole entire meal and night come together at the end.

If you are ever in Banff, I highly recommend you come here with a few friends and enjoy a night of fresh, healthy and flavourful food.

Resrvations recommended 1-403-760-3933
Nourish Vegetarian Bistro
215 Banff Avenue
Upper level Sundance mall
Banff, AB

Cranberry Chicken

If you're missing out on your mom's Thanksgiving dinner this weekend you should definitely make this dish. It's easy, tasty and it'll feel like a home cooked meal. This is also my friend Cari's favourite dish.

Cranberry Chicken

Serves 4

• 4 chicken breast
• 1 can of whole cranberry sauce
• french salad dressing (approx half of the regular 473 ml bottle)
• 1 package of onion soup mix
• 1 cup of frozen whole cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
   
2. Cut up the chicken breast into bite sized cubes and place them in a 9x1 3" oven dish.
3. In a large bowl mix together the cranberry sauce, french dressing, onion soup mix and the frozen cranberries. Pour the mixture over the chicken in the oven dish.
4. Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes, uncovering for the last 10 minutes.
   
5. Serve over rice and with a mixed green salad.

Delight in the Junction

I know this fall weather probably isn't making you think about ice cream, but it should. It's never too cold to have Delight's handmade organic ice cream. Greg's Ice Cream at Bloor and Spadina, and White Squirrel in Trinity Bell Woods, serve really great ice cream. But I am seriously telling you, that you have never tried real ice cream, until you've tried it at Delight.



There's something to be said about people who incorporate love and passion into their food, it taste different. Owner's Jennifer Rashleigh and Jeff Brown are a pair that truly care about how their chocolate and ice cream will taste.





Delight uses only natural, organic ingredients, fair trade chocolate and sugar, as well as seasonal and local fruits. These people know how to make ice cream and chocolate, they've stripped it down to the bare essential ingredients.



Two flavours that you must try: Mint Chocolate Chip and their Quebec Blue Cheese. Blue Cheese you say? Yes, Blue Cheese and ice cream, you would have never guessed that they would taste amazing together.







Delight Chocolate
3040 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario
416-760-9995