Why?
Why?!
Why have I waited so long into the summer to make these? Everyone who knows me KNOWS that I am a peanut butter freak. I can live off the stuff. I just haven't been baking much with it. I like my peanut butter straight up. Yum...
One day when I got home from work, I had this sudden urge to bake something. And I thought, of course, peanut butter cookies are delicious, really easy to whip up, and require minimal clean-up and hassle. So off I went.
I adapted a recipe from an old September 2008 Food & Wine magazine that I happened to have lying around the kitchen. The recipe was much like the one on the back of the Kraft peanut butter jar (which is a recipe that I didn't really like when I tried it out a while back). However, these cookies turned out really tasty! They're pretty addictive too. I woke up this morning to find only a couple left. When I saw the plate last night, it was still full. I guess someone in my family had the late night munchies. The cookies are nice and soft and slightly chewy. I would have like it to be more chewy though. Maybe I'll up the amount of brown sugar next time. I think I want to increase the amount of rolled oats as well.
Today I'm off downtown for the Taste of the Danforth festival. Since the festival starts at around 6pm tonight, we're probably just going to hang around the East York/Leslieville/Little India area and eat lunch, shop (for cheap produce at Chinatown!), etc.
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, your choice. I used smooth because it was what I had at home)
- 1/4 brown sugar
- 1/4 granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking soda
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, mix together all ingredients until well blended and mixed.
3. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving some space inbetween cookies.
4. Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant (you can really smell the peanut butter...it makes the whole house smell like it...mmmm).
July 26th was my sister's 20th birthday, which is just another excuse for me to bake a cake. I wanted to make a more complicated cake, but I didn't have enough time! So I settled on making a chocolate buttermilk cake with a white chocolate pastry cream filling. I knew she didn't want anything with fruit in it, so I obviously looked for something chocolatty. I made the filling and the cake one day, and then filled it and let it sit overnight (so that the pastry cream could kind of soak into the cake a bit and let the flavours meld).
So for her birthday, we went out for dinner at Memories of Japan, and then we went for some gelato at Hollywood Gelato. This was my first time there, and it was extremely busy, especially for a Sunday. I walked in and was overwhelmed by all the people and possible flavours. In the end, I chose a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of roasted marshmallow (you can get a max of two flavours for a small cone). The flavours were very strong, and it tasted exactly how it should taste. The pistachio tasted like you were eating pistachios, and the roasted marshmallow tasted like you were eating roasted marshmallows! The gelato was so creamy and light, and the portions were very generous. Make a trip down there if you can!
Back to the cake! It's not the prettiest cake, but it tasted okay. The pastry cream didn't really taste white-chocolatty enough, but it was still a good filling. The chocolate buttermilk cake was very moist and rich. Another successful receipe from Caprial's Desserts (I know, it's as if this is the only cookbook I use)! The pastry cream kind of squished out around the sides when I put on the top of the cake.
Happy (belated) birthday Jessica!
When I saw limes on sale for 10 for a $1, I suddenly found myself with a whole bunch of limes. I don't normally have limes around, since we never use them for anything. I have always wanted to make a lemon meringue pie, since it is one of my favourite desserts (although I think I just like the merigue topping). Settling for a lime meringue pie, I found a recipe in Caprial's Desserts. I decided to make tartlettes, just because I like the idea of having individual desserts. I made the crust and filled the tartlettes with the curd a day ahead, since I was working all day the next day. Just before serving, I whipped up the meringue and topped the tartlettes. I don't have one of those fancy propane blow torches, so I used the broiler (for the first time! We got a new stove, and so now we actually have a functioning broiler!). I have to say, the meringue topping carmelized extremely fast! The tarts were honestly in there for like, 5 seconds, and I had to take them out because some of them were already on the verge of burning! The recipe was originally for a 10-inch pie, but I had enough dough to make 15 individual tarlettes. I modified the recipe, which can be found at the end of this post (the modified version, not the original). I had a bit of leftover curd, and a whole ton of leftover meringue (which was turned into meringue cookies that didn't really turn out so well...). The meringue recipe was also for a brown sugar meringue (which I had never tried, or heard of before, so it was cool little venture), which gave the topping a caramel colour. It was a bit too sweet for me, so I'll probably cut back on the sugar the next time I make a meringue (nobody wants diabetes!). Overall, I was really happy with the results, and I like the fact that most of the dessert can be made ahead. The only problem was that I didn't roll out the dough thin enough, so the crust on the tartlettes were a bit on the thick side. But it tasted like a classic lime meringue tart, and they just looked so cute!
The filled tarts ready to be cooled. Don't they look like those Chinese egg tarts?
The final plated dessert! It looks better in real life, actually. My photography sucks.
Lime Meringue Tartlettes
Crust
Filling
5 egg yolks
1/2 freshly squeezed lime juice
finely grated zest of 1 lime
3/4 granulated sugar
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Brown Sugar Meringue
1. Make the crust: mix the flour with the salt in a medium bowl.
2. Cut in butter pieces with a pastry cutter, or with your fingers until it is well blended and resembles a coarse meal (kind of like the size of peas).
3. Add the water, starting off with 3 tablespoons and mix until the mixture comes together and is just moistened. If it is still crumbly, keep adding water. Try not to overmix the dough.
4. Form the dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degreees
6. Roll the dough out onto a well-floured surface and cut out circles that are big enough to fit into muffin tins (I used muffin tins because I didn't have little tart molds).
7. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork, and bake until it takes on a bit of colour (mine took almost 30 minutes!)
8. Let cool completely.
9. Meanwhile, make the filling: whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest in a metal bowl. Add the butter.
10. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl), and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is very thick, and has a curd-like consistency (10-15 minutes).
11. Fill the cooled tart shells with the curd and refrigerate until cold and set.
12. Make the meringue: whip the egg whites on high speed until frothy.
13. Slowly add in the brown sugar, one tablespoon at a time (to give it time to dissolve), and whip until the egg whites are able to hold a stiff peak.
14. Generously top the tarlettes with the meringue and put it under the preheated broiler for 5 seconds, until the top is toasted and browned.
15. Dig in and enjoy!
Why?
