Remember what I said about September being the busiest month of the year?
Well, scratch that. October must have taken that as a challenge.
I spent the first three weeks of the month working 10 hour days setting up the North Van store, which opened on the 24th - yay! The first week has been great, we've received an overwhelmingly warm welcome from the community. We also have a full teaching kitchen at that location, and are running lots of different cooking classes. I'm lucky enough to be able to take part in any class, any time. And Corey and I have taken part in two so far - Autumn Harvest and Cooking with Chocolate. You probably saw Corey's photos - he's the unofficial Cook Culture photographer. I really enjoyed being part of building the store, and looking forward to seeing what it becomes. The only thing I'm not loving is the hour long commute both to and from work everyday. But, at least I can use that time to just sit and read - trying to look on the bright side.
We made a trip home for Thanksgiving, which flew by. We threw together a last minute Thanksgiving dinner with Aaron & Michelle, and had one with my family. And I taught Kiana & Talia how to make apple pie! We also took my nieces out to Stamp Falls to watch the fish jumping up the falls. They all really enjoyed it, and were asking a lot of questions - especially Taila who had me read her every info sign along the trail.
We also made a trip up to Princeton the weekend after Thanksgiving. Corey's Grandpa was up from Colorado, so it was nice to visit with him. We went fishing on the lake a couple times - Corey finally got me fishing! I had 5 bites, one of which I pulled up right next to the boat. But, they all got away, with my worm. So we decided I was better at feeding fish than catching them.
And then Aaron & Michelle came for a quick visit, and we all went to the BC Beer Awards. Which was awesome, but that goes without saying.
Brown Sugar Shortbread, Cornflake-Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies,
Week 40 - Brown Sugar Shortbread, via Food 52 - baked for 25 minutes, cut into 16 cookies
This is another recipe out of the new Food52 Baking book. Its perfect for when a shortbread craving hits, and made with only 3 ingredients you'll already have on hand. The brown sugar gives it a richer flavour than other shortbread recipes I've tried, which is nice since its such a simple cookie.
1/2 cup Salted Butter (at room temperature)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour
1. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and pale. Add flour and stir just until incorporated.
2. Transfer dough into an 8-inch cake pan (square or round), and press it into an even layer with your fingers. Prick the dough evenly across the surface with a fork. Score the dough into the number of pieces you want - e.g. if you're using a circular pan score it into 16 triangles.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before baking.
4. Preheat oven to 325F (165C).
5. Back for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is a very light golden brown and the surface looks dry. Watch carefully so it doesn't get too dark, it will get darker as it cools in the pan.
6. Remove from the oven and immediately cut using the scored lines as guides. Let cool in pan before separating the pieces. The shortbread will keep in an airtight container for several days.
This is another recipe out of the new Food52 Baking book. Its perfect for when a shortbread craving hits, and made with only 3 ingredients you'll already have on hand. The brown sugar gives it a richer flavour than other shortbread recipes I've tried, which is nice since its such a simple cookie.
1/2 cup Salted Butter (at room temperature)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour
1. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and pale. Add flour and stir just until incorporated.
2. Transfer dough into an 8-inch cake pan (square or round), and press it into an even layer with your fingers. Prick the dough evenly across the surface with a fork. Score the dough into the number of pieces you want - e.g. if you're using a circular pan score it into 16 triangles.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before baking.
4. Preheat oven to 325F (165C).
5. Back for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is a very light golden brown and the surface looks dry. Watch carefully so it doesn't get too dark, it will get darker as it cools in the pan.
6. Remove from the oven and immediately cut using the scored lines as guides. Let cool in pan before separating the pieces. The shortbread will keep in an airtight container for several days.
Week 41 - Cornflake-Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies via Martha Stewart - baked for 10-15 minutes, made 26 cookies
This recipe hails from Milk Bar (in New York & Toronto), whose name you may recognize from Master Chef's newest judge, Christina Tosi - who I love! However, I'm ruling this recipe the second major cookie fail of the year. Which is really disappointing, since it was one of the more time consuming recipes I've tried. I know our oven isn't perfect, but I can usually compensate for it's quirks, not this time. Or, maybe it was a combination of multiple factors - I'm still a bit confused on way these didn't work. I baked the first batch at 375F, as the recipe said, and after 10 minutes had to pull them out because the edges were starting to burn, while the centres were raw, and they were spreading into each other. So I tried turning the oven down to 350, and managed to keep them in the oven for 15 minutes before the edges started to burn, but again the centres were still almost raw. I'm kinda left scratching my head on this one. After my second attempt at baking them, I decided to give up and just let Corey eat the cookie dough. Oh well, they can't all be winners
This recipe hails from Milk Bar (in New York & Toronto), whose name you may recognize from Master Chef's newest judge, Christina Tosi - who I love! However, I'm ruling this recipe the second major cookie fail of the year. Which is really disappointing, since it was one of the more time consuming recipes I've tried. I know our oven isn't perfect, but I can usually compensate for it's quirks, not this time. Or, maybe it was a combination of multiple factors - I'm still a bit confused on way these didn't work. I baked the first batch at 375F, as the recipe said, and after 10 minutes had to pull them out because the edges were starting to burn, while the centres were raw, and they were spreading into each other. So I tried turning the oven down to 350, and managed to keep them in the oven for 15 minutes before the edges started to burn, but again the centres were still almost raw. I'm kinda left scratching my head on this one. After my second attempt at baking them, I decided to give up and just let Corey eat the cookie dough. Oh well, they can't all be winners
Week 42 - Mini Black & White Cookies, via Food 52 - baked for 8 minutes, made 18 cookies
If a pancake and a cookie had a baby, this would be it. Down to the buttermilk in the dough, which is more like a batter. I used my cookie scoop, which is 1 1/2 tbsp, so the cookies were slightly larger then the recipe specified. And they spread a bit further than I was expecting, so some of them touched, but you couldn't tell once they were iced.
If a pancake and a cookie had a baby, this would be it. Down to the buttermilk in the dough, which is more like a batter. I used my cookie scoop, which is 1 1/2 tbsp, so the cookies were slightly larger then the recipe specified. And they spread a bit further than I was expecting, so some of them touched, but you couldn't tell once they were iced.
Week 43 - Brownie Roll-Out Cookies, via Smitten Kitchen - baked for 7 minutes, made 12 cookies (using a large cutter)
These cookies are pretty straight forward, using standard pantry ingredients, but they're a little twist on traditional roll-out cookies. I used a tulip cookie cutter, flipped upside down, with white icing, to make ghosts for Halloween. I realized I don't have any Halloween cookie cutters - I'll need to fix that.
Corey is spending the weekend in Princeton. When we were there a couple weeks ago his dad injured his knee pretty bad, so Corey is up there helping his parents get ready for winter - chopping firewood, clearing trails, pulling the docks out of the lake. And he'll hopefully get in some fishing while he's there. I chose to stay home this weekend, because I just needed a break after everything that went on this month. So, I've got a pretty awesome solo Halloween going on - watching Casper and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The only thing that would make it better is if I had Hocus Pocus. But, that is proving to be the most difficult movie to track down. Good thing I watched it with my nieces over Thanksgiving.These cookies are pretty straight forward, using standard pantry ingredients, but they're a little twist on traditional roll-out cookies. I used a tulip cookie cutter, flipped upside down, with white icing, to make ghosts for Halloween. I realized I don't have any Halloween cookie cutters - I'll need to fix that.
Looking forward to a quiet and cozy November, with a few adventures thrown in. We don't have much planned, which at this point I'm thankful for.
Would love to hear what you've all been up to...
Sending love,
Xo, A
