The most popular filling for Romanian sweet bread is walnuts. I ran a little short on walnuts, and added some cocoa powder to the filling.  **This recipe definitely falls in the “difficult” category– Without a doubt, cozonac’s are a labor of love; you’ll certainly get a chance to practice your patience and resilience.

Chocolate-Walnut Sweet Bread (makes 3 medium-size loafs)
Ingredients:

Sweet Bread Dough
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 pkg (.25oz) Fleischmanns Active Dry Yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- zest of one lemon
+ egg wash (1 egg, 2 tbsp milk)
+ loaf/bread pans

Chocolate Walnut Filling
- 2 cups walnuts, ground
- 1/2 cup dutch processed  cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix 1 tsp sugar, yeast and warm water. Allow the yeast slurry to stand for about 10 minutes, or until it turns foamy (as below). If the mixture doesn’t foam, it could be an indication that you’re yeast is no longer active, and your dough won’t rise.

2. In a sauce pan, scald milk over medium heat– once it bubbles, remove it from the stove, and mix in 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and salt until melted. Allow to cool until luke warm.

Prepare dough, and first rise:

3. In a large bowl, combine yeast slurry, milk mixture, eggs, zest and 1 1/2 cup flour. Using your hook attachment on your stationary mixer, mix on low until  combined. Stir in remaining flour .  Once you’ve added all the flour, increase speed, and allow to mix for 8 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic.

4. Once the dough has pulled together, turn it onto a lightly flour-dusted surface, and knead for an additional 2 minutes. Round into a ball, and place in large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 30 minutes)

Shaping and Second Rise:

5. Remove your dough from the bowl, and return to lightly floured surface. Evenly divide the dough into 6 parts (each loaf will need 2 rolls– this recipe makes 3 medium size loads). If you want to make 2 large loafs, divide into 4. Round divided dough into balls and return to greased bowl for the second rise. Cover with a damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm place for an additional 25-30 minutes.

While the dough is rising for the second time, prepare chocolate-walnut filling:

6. In a large bowl, combine ground walnut, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Slowly add milk, until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes until the milk is absorbed into the mixture. It should for a paste-like consistency; you may have to add a little to make the mixture spreadable– use your discretion.

Generously grease and flour bread pans

7. Roll out dough into rectangular sheet (1/8″ thin, approximatley 15″ x 7″), and spread out an even layer of the filling. Carefully roll the dough (think cinnamon roll).  Repeat this step for all remaining dough balls.

Pinch two filled dough rolls on one end, and carefully “braid” them together. Pinch the other end, and tuck the seams underneath the dough. Carefully transfer roll to a prepared bread pan. 

Final Proof/Rise

8.  Cover, and proof for an hour, or until doubled in volume. Proofing is the final step in fermentation, carbon dioxide is a bi-product of the chemical reaction, and gives rise to your dough. In commercial kitchens, proof boxes are used to keep dough at a warm temperature, in a slightly humid environment. At home, you don’t need a expensive proof box, because you can make your own, using your microwave. A handy tutorial is found here.

Pre-heat oven to 350′F

9.  Brush proofed rolls with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated (350′) oven for 50 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling rack.

Savory Quiche Dough -  Pâte Brisée
(makes enough for  2 x 8″ or 2 x 14″ x 4.25″)

Ingredients:
4 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup butter, chilled and cubed
2 egg yolks
¼ cup cold water

Directions:

Making the Dough:

Using the paddle attachment, mix the butter and flour together until the mixture looks like crumbs. 

Add the yolks and water, and mix on medium-low speed until just combined.

Once the dough comes together, remove from the mixer and bring it together by hand. Roll the dough into a ball, and press down into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes. You can make the dough a head of time (even freeze it), and proceed to the next steps when you are ready.

Remove chilled dough, and allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes until it becomes slightly pliable. You will still need the dough to be chilled, or else it’s tough to roll out. Lightly dust your surface with flour, and roll out the dough. I find it easier to sandwich the dough between two pieces of cling wrap, or parchment and roll it out.  Roll out to 1/8″ thick. Make sure that your dough is rolled out enough to fit the size of your tart pan. The dough should be used as soon as it has been rolled out.

Baking:
Pre-heat oven to 375′F.

Mold your pastry into your tart pan and refrigerate– refrigerating the dough prior to baking guards against excessive shrinking during baking. *I lay out the dough on a cling wrap, and then flip the dough into the pan (with the cling wrap on the outside), and use it to press it into the pan. This helps me evenly press down the dough without any mess.

… see? The cling wrap is on the outside, and the edges of the pan peep through. 
… the next step is to carefully pull back the edges using the cling wrap.

…Presto. Here is your raw tart shell (with even sides and bottoms!)

Using a fork, gently prick the bottom of the dough. Be careful not to fully puncture the dough or else any fillings might leak through.

If your recipe calls for raw shells, in cases where the filling also needs to be baked for a long time, fill your shell and bake.

If your recipe calls for a full or partial baked shell: line tart with parchment paper (or cupcake liners if they fit), and fill with dried beans, rice, or pie weights.

Bake for 8-10 minutes; or until lightly golden (the baking time really depends on the size of your pan). Remove the shells from the oven, allow cooling for 3-5 minutes and remove the parchment paper and weights.

If your recipe calls for 3/4 baked tart shells, return to the oven for 3-4 minutes to dry out the base. For fully baked, return to the oven until golden brown (8-10 minutes)

… I filled this particular quiche shell with caramelized onions and Macedonian feta. Click here to for part two of this recipe. 

If you don’t watch Seinfeld, the “pretzel” episode centers around Kramer landing a line in a Woody Allen film. In true Kramer style, he over-thinks things and over-rehearses the line.  The clip below is one of my all time favorites.

Anywhoooo, enough context… onto the recipe.

Soft Pretzels (makes 12 XL pretzels)

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 4 ½ cups
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable oil, for pan
- 10 cups water
- 2/3 cup baking soda
- 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Pretzel salt, or other toppings (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc.)

Directions:

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to turn foamy (as pictured). If your yeast hasn’t turned foamy at this point, do not proceed.  This may be an indication that your yeast cells are no longer alive, and your dough will not rise.

Carefully add the flour to the yeast slurry. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until combined. Add butter. Change to medium speed and allow the dough to knead until it is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl (approximately 4-5 minutes). The dough should be smooth and elastic—this is an indication of gluten development and ideal for this type of dough. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

I use a marker to draw circles outlining the size of the dough. I only do this because I can never tell if my dough has actually doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a rope—the length will depend on how large you want to make the pretzels.

Make a “U” shape out of the rope, and holding the ends of the rope, cross the ends of the rope over each other. Cross them again, and press the ends onto the bottom of the “U”.  Follow the pictures above.  Once your pretzels are done, place them onto the parchment-line sheet and set aside.  Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with salt, or other toppings.

Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes for large pretzels, and 8 minutes for small pretzels. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

…. if you can’t get the pretzel shape down, you can always make pretzel twists. They’re much easier and faster to make; all you have to do is take two dough ropes and twist them together, and firmly pinch them at the ends.

… these are a little toasty, but you get the idea:)

Happy Earth Day! In a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership, The Coca-Cola Company has enabled the H.J. Heinz Company to produce ketchup bottles using its breakthrough PlantBottle™ packaging.

Made from up to 30 per cent plant material derived from sugarcane, the Heinz Ketchup PlantBottle™ packaging looks, feels, and functions like traditional PET plastic and has the same recyclability as the rest of Heinz Canada’s Ketchup lineup. Now Canadians can enjoy the ketchup they love and support the environment. The Ketchup in PlantBottle™ packaging was launched in restaurant chains across Canada in a 575 mL format in January 2012, and is now available in grocery stores nationally in the 750 mL size.

Pretty cool, eh?

Pour me a cup of fresh coffee and sit me down with a plate of these and I will be happy. You can make these in which ever size you choose– I made them mini, because lets face it, calories don’t count when food is smaller

Spiced Rum and Clementine Whoopie Pies ( makes about 12x 3″ dia sandwiched cookies)
Ingredients:

- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ¼  cup vegetable shortening
- ¼  cup granulated sugar
- 1/2  cup packed dark-brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- ¼ cup dark spiced rum
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tsp all-spice
- ½ tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- zest of 1 grated clementine
+ Vanilla Buttercream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt into a bowl; set aside.

Add butter, shortening, and sugars to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; cream on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add half the flour mixture, then the milk, rum, vanilla and zest; beat until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture. Beat together, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Drop slightly rounded tablespoons of batter  (using a spoon or an ice cream scoop) 2 inches apart on each baking sheet. Bake the cookies for until they spring back to the touch (approximately 8 minutes for mini whoopies, 11-13 minutes for large).

Remove from oven; let cookies cool on baking sheets, 10 minutes. Transfer with a o a wire rack; let cool completely. Meanwhile, line a cooled baking sheet with a new piece of parchment; repeat process with remaining batter.

Spread buttercream on flat sides of half the cookies. Top each with one of the remaining cookies, flat side down, and gently press together. =

Potato Croquettes (makes ~24 2.5″ croquettes)
Ingredients:
4 large yellow potatoes (approx 2.5 cups shredded)
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 garlic clove
1/2  tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1/4 cup parmigiano cheese
2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
+ oil for frying (you can opt to bake them instead)

Directions:
Boil potatoes till knife tender. Drain and mash with butter, milk, salt and pepper. Add parmigianno cheese, 2 egg yolks, garlic and sage and mix until well combined.

Make even sized  potato rounds (think meatballs) and flatten them into disks. In a shallow bowl, scramble the remaining whole egg with 2 tbsp water. In a seperate shallow bowl, place panko bread crumbs.

Dip the croquettes in the egg mixture, than coat them evenly in the breadcrumb mixture. To make the process more efficient, coat all your croquettes before frying.

In a large, heavy set pan bring frying oil between 350 and 375 degrees F. If you have a deep fat frying thermometer, use it!    If you don’t have a thermometer, the oil is ready when a 1″ cube of white bread dropped into the oil browns in 60 seconds. Don’t overcrowd the pan!  Carefully add the croquettes , leaving lots of space around each piece so the food will cook evenly.  If you add too many croquettes at once, the oil temperature will drop and the croquettes will absorb fat instead of instantly searing.

Fry each croquette until golden brown and drain on towels. Salt and serve.

Macarons have a notoriously high failure rate—there is a lot that can go wrong: your meringue has to be spot on, your oven has to be calibrated perfectly, and your macronage technique needs finesse.

It’s a true craft that takes passion and resilience to master.  This idea isn’t limited to macarons, so if you haven’t mastered making those little sucker, use your favorite butter cookies and filling. Happy Easter!

Easter Macarons

Ingredients:

Almond Macarons – dyed pink and yellow (optional)
+ vanilla buttercream or white chocolate ganache filling
+ 100 g fondant (50g pink; 25g white; 20g yellow; 5g orange)
+ edible writer for details

Directions:

1. If you are making macarons, prepare them as per recipe. I used two sizes: 2.5″ and 1″ diameter.

I use a circle template that I made under my silpat to guide me when to stop pouring my macaron batter. I’m getting better at eye-balling my macaron size, but this guarantees me identical macaron sizes.

These macarons were pulled out of the oven a little too eary– they didn’t have enough rise. My oven sucks– its got 2 hot spots. Half of my tray gets burned and half is under cooked. Only a small few make it out perfectly. Any one looking to sponsor a baker to buy a new oven? haha.

For the details: (made in advance)

For the chicks: I used orange and yellow fondant for the beak and the crest. For the crest: I rolled out yellow fondant to 1/16″ thin and I took a short cut and used a small flower cutter. For the beak: I rolled out the orange fonant to 1/16″ and cut small triangles using a sharp knife. I carefully pressed two triangles together to create a beak. I adheared the details to the cookies using my filling icing.

For the bunnies:

The bunnies took a little bit more work. I first rolled out the pink fondant and used my number “1″ cookie cutter from my Wilton cookie cutter set (2 for each cookie). I chose the number 1 particularily because it had rounded edges that kind of look like bunny ears.

Using the same cutter, I overlapped cuts on the white fondant to create the lighter shades of the bunny ear (see above). I trimmed off the edges and sized the ears according to the size of my cookies. I bent the edges to add a little shape and character. The bunny nose was cut using the end of a round piping tip. I also added a few bunny tails using round balls of the white fondant. Once all the details have slightly firmed, wedge the ‘bunny ears’ in between two cookies with the buttercream. Finish adding the nose and tail and using a edible color writer, mark the eyes and mouth.

If you are strapped for time, you can prep 90% of this recipe the night before your dinner party– with that being said, the prep isn’t that bad!

Mom’s Famous Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:

6 large red or green bell peppers
2 ½ cups long-grain white rice
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 medium sweet onion, diced
3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chicken seasoning
1 egg

2 ½ cups tomato juice
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 bay leaves
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400’F.  Cut the bell peppers in half, top to bottom, or through the transverse of the pepper (up to you). Remove the seeds and the segments.

2. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, rise, onion, seasoning, and egg. Mix until it comes together.  Generously fill the peppers with the ground beef filling.

3. Grease your casserole dish or pan with vegetable oil, and snugly place peppers in the dish. Carefully pour tomato juice into the dish to fill ¾ of the way (approx 2 ½ cups). Season to taste, add bay leaves and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Remove the foil and using a ladle, carefully drain the tomato juice into a saucepan. Generously top each pepper with cheese and return the pan to the oven, uncovered, and bake for about 7-10 minutes until the cheese melts and starts to bubble.

5. While the peppers are baking make the tomato sauce: heat the tomato juice over medium high heat. Add all-purpose flour and whisk until combined. Once the sauce begins to thicken, remove from heat. Season to taste. I add a few fresh leaves of basil. Spoon sauce over peppers and serve.

No, this cake isn’t perfect. The idea was to strip away any culinary skill and show you that amateur chefs can still make gorgeous cakes. Once you have your cake, ganache and butter cream good to go, this project shouldn’t take you long to complete. Remember… the whole idea is to have a decent looking cake with very little skill:)

Ingredients:

Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake (makes 2 x 8″ cakes)
(adapted from Martha Stewart’s ‘Versatile Yellow Cake’)
-  1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
-  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for dusting pans
-  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-  1 teaspoon salt
-  1 1/2 cups sugar
-  2 large eggs
-  3 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-  1 cup sour cream

Basic Vanilla Butter Cream
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache (makes enough ganache to cover an 8″ cake)
- 225 gr semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (approx. 1 cup, or 8 oz)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp liquid glucose (optional)

Assembly:

1. Prepare your cake and butter cream icing. Once baked and cooled, trim cake layers to make sure they are level. Assemble by using once cake layer as the base, spread a butter cream layer on top, and place the second cake on top. Once this is done, you’ll want to use an off-set spatula to spread a thin crumb coat layer of butter cream. Pop your cake in the fridge for the butter cream to set (approx. 10 min).

2. Remove your cake from the fridge, and generously apply a ‘final coat’ on your cake. Using a clean off-set spatula, smooth off the top of your cake. In the cake above, I lifted the spatula in an upwards motion to create straight edges. This is much easier than attempting to create a smooth edge. Once you are happy with your cake, refrigerate for 10 more minutes to set .

3. While your cake is cooling, prepare your ganache (as below). Pour ganache over cake, using an offset spatula to spread the ganache over the edges. Top with fresh berries and serve.

Directions:

Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350′ F. Line the bottoms of two 8-by-2-inch buttered cake pans with buttered parchment paper. Dust the bottoms and sides of pans with flour, and tap out any excess. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream butter at medium speed until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar, and continue until lightened, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides once or twice. Gradually add eggs, beating after each addition until batter is no longer slick, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides, about 5 minutes.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture on low speed, alternating with sour cream, a little of each at a time. Beat in vanilla.
4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes; rotate the pans in the oven if needed for even browning. Continue baking until a cake tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, 10 to 20 minutes more. Transfer to wire racks to cool, 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; set cakes, top side down, on wire racks, and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour.

The nice folks at Sun Maid sent some samples of their raisin bread my way. I’m not proud of it, but I think I ate half a loaf in one sitting.  Delicious? yes. Guilt inducing? double yes. Lately, I’m loving the sweet and salty combinations in food. Going with this theme I made a savory stuffing using the sweet raisin bread. My dad, the toughest of critics, gave this recipe the silent nod of approval– he might not say much, but it speaks volumes:)

Raisin Bread Stuffing
(makes enough stuffing for an 10 lb turkey; or a 5 lb pork roast)

Ingredients:

- 8 slices Sun-Maid raisin bread
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- +/- 1 1/2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth

 Directions:

1. Cube the raisin bread.

2. In a large saute pan over medium heat, sauté onion and celery in butter until softened. Add poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add raisin bread and mix until combined.

3. Stir in broth until well moistened; you’ll need to use discretion on the amount of broth. Add enough broth until well moistened. Remove from heat.

4. Use the stuffing to fill a turkey, or roast, or bake in a greased, covered casserole dish at 325′ for about 30 minutes. Take the cover off in the last 5 minutes to brown.

5. I used my stuffing in a simple pork roast. I trimmed the fat off the pork and carefully cut the roast to “unroll” the pork. I spread  out the stuffing, and rolled the roast back together and securely tied it with kitchen twine. I seasoned it with my favorite wet rub, and seared the roast before roasting it in the oven at 375′ for 40 minutes, until done.