Peanut-butter Pretzel Balls and Brownies

 So first off, news of the week,  Podcamp hits Halifax on Sunday (well Alderney in Dartmouth).

Thanks to my friend and co-worker Rebecca for turning my eyes to this beaut, I can’t tell you how excited I am. I am hoping to catch a few sessions on wordpress blogging, pod casts among other social media seminars. I’m not going to lie either, I’m looking forward to an amazing looking lunch by Local Source! What vegetarian doesn’t get excited about locally sourced food and portobello sandwiches? You tell me right now! Well maybe if ya’ll are lucky and I can stand to withhold devouring it totake a photo for you!

In other news, have you ever had one of those madding moments where you are in your pjs on your couch with the craziest food craving?

Just to be clear we are on the same page……you aren’t necessarily hungry, just crazed and in need of the perfect thing to nosh on. It soo overcomes you that you either run into the bedroom and put on clothes to get to the closest store/restraurant OR run to the kitchen and concoct the closest fascimile of your craving; a food Frankenstein with the ingredients you have on hand.

Some times it’s sad, and you should be ok with that, not everything is going to be perfect all the time. But other times, oh man,  it works and you just made something THIS good! 

In case you are so mystified by the thought of this merger or maybe  you are still not clear but I’d like to announce that peanut-butter pretzel balls and brownies had a baby!

This is their story:

Peanut buttter ball Brownies

For the peanut butter pretzel balls

• 1/2 natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup of crushed pretzel sticks
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 cup of icing sugar
• a sprinkle of salt

For the brownie batter (original post here)

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup soymilk
• 1.5 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the peanut butter pretzel balls mix all ingredients except the icing sugar together in a small bowl. Add the icing sugar a few tablespoons at a time and mixing well.  The dough will be a little stiffer than you normally expect in pb balls, they will be baked so in order to retain their shape this is a good thing.  With a teaspoon and your hands, roll dough into balls a little bigger than a marble and space evenly in a prepared 8″ pan.  You should get about 12- 16 miniature pb balls. Set pan in freezer.

For the brownies, add the oil, maple syrup , soy milk and vanilla to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl mix together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a rubber spatula, trying not to over mix.

Put the batter in the non-stick pan carefully over the pb balls, try to spread it out as evenly as possible.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Be careful not to over bake and even thought it’s hard, let them cool before cutting. Serve with a cold glass of almond milk or warm hot cocoa.

  

Pesto Focaccia

My coworker Lee had found this nifty flour that actually had pesto in it. I hummed and hawed (is that how you spell that? I’ve only ever said it before) about what can I make. Obviously bread was on my mind but did I want to make focaccia?  I looked up some recipes online then I looked at the flour some more. There was actually a recipe on the side of it so I gave in. I had to make some adjustments due to it calling for pork fat but I think it turned out grey. This recipe make 4 small loaves, each about 9 inches in diameter and 1.5-2 inched thick. While you could definitely make pizza dough out of it it has such a nice flavor its great with just olive oil or as a sandwich bread.

Pesto Focaccia

• 2.2 lbs /1 kg of pesto flour
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp of warm water
• 5 tsp each of yeast and salt
• 2 +1/2 tbsp olive oil

 

Method

Preheat oven to lowest setting for 5-10 minutes then turn off.

In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients and form a well in the centre. Add warm water and oil to well of flour and combine with hands. Knead  for 5 minutes on a flat surface. Clean out the same bowl and oil the sides. Add dough to bowl and place in warm oven. Make sure the oven is off and if needed crack the door a bit. Let rise for about 30 minutes.

  

Divide dough into 4 equal pieces and pat down on a flat/floured surface with fingers until hey are about 10″ in diameter. Dap with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and let rise for another hour to hour.

 

Preheat oven to 430F and let dough rest until the oven is ready 15-30 minutes. Oil a pan and carefully transfer 2 loaves at a time. Bake for about 10-15 minutes depending on your oven temperature. You do not need to super brown this bread, it’s prettier when it’s not browned as you can see the slight green color.

  

Remove form the oven and bake the other two loaves while the first two cool. If you are going to make a sandwich I would wait until the loaf is cool to the touch. I made a amazing sandwich with fresh tomatoes, romaine lettuce, truffle flavored cheddar cheese and some mayo, salt and pepper.

 

New Year Refocusing and Candy Liqueurs

It’s almost the middle of January! Happy Belated New Years to you all!

Just so you know, I had the best intentions for a glorious post of New Year’s refocusing (not one for resolutions). I was hoping to post about what was super popular on v-spot  in 2011 and also finally get that post out about the candy liquers I made for my Mother over Christmas. Obviously (and unfortunately) NONE of this happened although I’d love to convey that I thought about it on January 1st, 3rd, 7th and 10th. I’ve been thinking about ya’ll, this blog and what I want to write about. Really I promise! I’ve planned out recipes and executed some. I also have been kind of cursing, on the daily, about my need for a new camera and a source of natural light. I think the winter blues is setting in.

To recap the last 2 weeks, January 5th was my Father’s Birthday. The day before I had some shoes delivered which were in the style of motorcycle boots. This seemingly makes no connection yet, but, he was probably where I got my shoe obsession. Wearing those boots made me feel like a was a kid shuffling around in daddy’s shoes all day. I couldn’t wear them on his Birthday. I listened to Cat Stevens while I rode the bus, and then tried to forget about it for the next 8.5 hours.

His absence doesn’t feel like a missing piece of my life, the proverbial hole feels like a missing opportunity I could have had to reconnect. Therefore my most important resolution (refocus) is for love in 2012. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve lost patience and sympathy at the end of 2011 due to my many negative circumstances that piled up, but I’m happily on the mend. I need to remember while my family needs are my first priority, I’m not the only person bad things happen to. So to toast to this realization and to admit I need to refocus my priorities for this new exciting year ahead of me, here is a recipe for super simple candy liqueurs.

 

Jolly Rancher Liqueur

• 15 cherry jolly ranchers
• 5 green apple jolly ranchers
• 750 ml of premium vodka ( I used Sky)
• a glass container that holds about 900-1000 mls

Chocolate-Candy Cane Liqueur

• 3 candy canes broken into 1 inch pieces (you can use peppermint extract as well)
• 375 mls of each creme de cacao and premium vodka
• a glass container that holds about 900-1000 mls

Method

For both of these liqueurs add the candy to clean reseal-able bottles and pour alcohol over the candy. It takes about 24 hours to dissolve, shake, decorate and serve.

As these were presents, I found a few cocktail recipes and printed them on marbled paper to create a label. I actually bought the bottles as a drink called Efferve which is a beautifully bottled sparkling lemonade. I cleaned, sterilized them and dressed them up with ribbon.

While the liqueurs are sweet, they are great for mixing into cocktails and super easy to make.

Orange Scented Cuppins (?)

I hope everyone had a good holiday! I hope you ate yourself into a bigger pants size. I know I did. I really just don’t want to be alone on glutton island. Just so you know and can have some comfort, my fat pants are tight. I have eaten my way almost into 2012 but I’m not worried about that right now. I’m in love with the smells that are in my house. Orange, cinnamon, ginger and rum… it’s my favorite smells this time of year. Exercise and diets are so 2012.

So while you are probably sick of food in general, I hope I can entice you with these spicy cup-cake-muffin things. I came up with the word ‘cuppin’ and if you have any dirty feeling inside when you say cuppin be thankful I didn’t go with the alternative; muffcake. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Orange Scented Muffins

• 1 +1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 cups water
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• Juice of one orange
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Topping

• 1 tsp orange zest
• 2 tbsp raw sugar
• 4 tbsp roasted chopped almonds
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 350

Prepare a muffin tin with liners. Prepare the topping  by adding all ingredients, mixing and set aside.

Combine all dry ingredients  in a large bowl. In a separate medium sized bowl combine all the wet ingredients. Add wet to dry, batter should not be lumpy but try not to over mix.

Pour batter, about 1/2 cup each, into a muffin cup.  Spoon about 1/2 tsp of topping over each cuppin. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

To check doneness insert a toothpick in the centre, if it comes out clean then the cuppin is done. Enjoy with a mulled wine, hot apple cider or a warm tea!

Dark Chocolate Truffles

I tend to write more about my kitchen successes however like everyone else I sometimes just bomb a recipe either through my misinterpretation of the recipe (aka looking at the ingredients but not reading the steps) or by my adventurous nature (trying to adapt one recipe to create another). This will be  a tale of a high note and a several low notes.

For Christmas this year I really wanted to make a few things. One being liqueurs which I’ll post about shortly and the other, truffles. Now all I’ve ever read or heard about making truffles is true, they are easy and delicious. So I set off to the grocery store to flip flop over what chocolate to buy. I knew my boyfriends Mother only like dark chocolate so that was a no-brainer and AJ likes white and milk chocolate. I was worried milk chocolate wouldn’t make a good truffle so I took a gamble and bought white chocolate with cookie pieces in it. I gathered the rest of the supplies and headed home.

On Christmas Eve day I cleaned house and started the dark truffles. I found a recipe that looked promising on canadianliving.com  that I then I adapted for the quantity of chocolate I bought and what my plans were. I more or less followed the recipe but I split each batch into two and made an almond flavored dark and a plain dark. With the white I made a plain one and made a candy cane flavored one. I was stoked, they just needed to chill to set then I needed to roll them and package them. In the mean time I had gifts to wrap and laundry to do.

AJ and I ended going out for breakfast because the kitchen was a mess and when I came back I was super excited to see that the dark chocolate had set perfectly and I got to work on rolling and packing. Before I knew it they were done and looked irresistible. I moved on to the next, the white chocolate ones, which I had planned to serve to my friends when they came over later that day. They did not set. I tried to chill them in the freezer, I even tried to roll them despite being a soupy texture and nothing worked. I don’t know if it was just a white chocolate thing or the fact they had cookie bits in them or maybe I added too much cream or candy cane. What ever it was, I was super bummed. I immediately went to plan B, what can I make with this mint chocolate cookie white chocolate disaster? I thought of short-breads and cake and then settled on a grandiose blondie. I took two-thirds of the truffle mix and stirred in flour, more candy cane, an egg, salt and baking powder and then finally about 50 grams of very good dark chocolate bits I had left over. I baked it for about 25 minutes in a 350 oven and made the house smell amazing. I let it cool about 45 minutes and when it was just above room temperature iced it with the remaining white chocolate truffle. It was just warm enough it created a beautiful frosty glaze. I was happy again. I washed up, and finally went to sit in the living room.

My dogs are very much here, there and everywhere you are dogs. If you are doing something, they need to know what. I was sitting on the couch in the living room with my boyfriend and Gambit, Rogue however was in the kitchen. It was awfully quiet which is not a trait usually associated with Rogue. I called her name and I heard a slow stepping dog. I got up, looked down the hallway and her ears were pasted to the side of her face, her gaze looked downward and as she slowly met me halfway down the hall she did the slow wag as if to ask ;is she going to notice anything is different?’. I immediately knew she did something, I was hoping it was peed on the floor or got in the garbage but I knew she  ad done something to my pan of blondies. I went in the kitchen, looked on the counter and there was a few licks of glaze completely missing form the cake. Rogue! My perfectly warm, kitchen sink blondie had been tainted, and in the garbage it went. I was so upset as it was such a waste of good ingredients I thought of ways to salvage it but at the end of the day no one wants to eat a cake that a dogs mouth had been on. Time to move on.

So below is a recipe for dark chocolate truffles which I adapted from Canadian Living, I encourage you to try them as they make a great gift and are super easy to make. They would be awesome to serve on New Years Eve if you are having a fancy soiree, just don’t make them with white chocolate or leave your dogs unattended in the kitchen.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

• 300 g of a good dark chocolate cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla/almond/mint/rum extract or 1 tbsp flavoured liqueur (bailey’s, ameretto, creme de menthe)
• chopped nuts, cocoa, chocolate shavings, coconut, sprinkles, crushed candy to roll truffles in

Method

Using a sharp knife cut up chocolate into small pieces( smaller than chocolate chip size if possible) and put in a large heat proof bowl.

In a medium sized heavy bottomed pan heat cream and butter just to a boil. Once it is about to boil remove form the stove and pour it into the bowl with the chocolate. Stir until it is all combined. At this point if you are making only one kind of truffle add which ever extract or liqueur you would like. I separated mine into two smaller bowls and added almond extract to one and vanilla to the other. Combine well and place in your fridge for about two hours to set.

 

While chocolate is setting , make toppings by roasting almonds, peanuts or cashews and then chopping them up and setting aside. Cocoa is great you can just take out about 1/4-1/2 cup and set aside. If you have extra dark chocolate shave, grate or finely chop it and set aside in small bowls. For candies such as candy canes I just put in my mini food processor and ran it in spirts until it reached the size I wanted.

Once chocolate is set spoon out the truffles in about 1- 1 1/2 tsp amount sizes and roll quickly with your hands and then roll in topping. As the origonal recipe suggested a melon baller would be perfect but I didn’t have one so I went with my measuring spoon that had a very rounded shape and it worked fine. It’s really OK if these are not perfectly shaped so don’t fuss over it too much or you’ll end up with a melted mess. Set aside each truffle in a  muffin cup liner or a truffle liner and leave to chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve.