If you’d like to win a copy of Giulia Melucci’s book I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, head over to The Daring Kitchen and enter our giveaway.

Melucci’s book is about her experiences living and loving in New York City. Her story is punctuated with some incredible recipes.

We’re happy to offer some copies to you, but you have to do a bit of work for it. You have to head over to The Daring Kitchen forums, to the May 2009 - Cookbook Giveaway thread, and tell us about your first experience making homemade pasta.

The five best stories will win a copy of Giulia’s book. Remember, be sure to read the rules and then tell us your story!

Ciao!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

What is it about cheesecake that is so enthralling? Is it the creamy texture? The fascinating base? The endless ways to top it?

I don’t know. I just know it’s good.

And yet, even though it’s one of my most favourite desserts, I hardly ever make it.

Perhaps that’s because I can very easily eat an entire cheesecake myself. Oh, yes.

Been there. Done that. Have the t-shirt. (Speaking of t-shirts … have you bought your DK t-shirts yet???)

But I’m always happy to try a new recipe for cheesecake so I was pleased to see that Jenny of Jenny Bakes, our lovely hostess for the April 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge, chose a cheesecake recipe as this month’s test.

While the recipe itself is straightforward, the challenge for Daring Bakers was to find new and interesting ways to interpret and flavour the cheesecake.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t have a lot of time to execute some of the more fanciful ideas that came to mind (let’s just say one involved silicone and cherry blossoms). Thankfully a lack of time and some timely prudence both conspired to prevent such plans.

In the end, I made your standard nine-inch cheesecake but I challenged myself by trying some flavours in a cheesecake that I’d never tried before.

For starters, I flavoured both the crust and the cheesecake with a healthy dose of rose water, which I have come to love.

Secondly, I added the flavour of Meyer lemons. While I know what Meyer lemons are, I’d never actually tasted one before April of this year. I found them in a local supermarket and bought two sacs because I was so excited. So I used some of the Meyer lemon juice and zest in the cheesecake as well.

I then made candied lemon slices with more of the Meyer lemons and used that as a topping to the cheesecake, spooning the candied lemon juice over the top to add shine and some sweetness.

While I did not taste the cheesecake myself (I brought it to a group of people that I work with who were particularly helpful to me during a big project earlier this year), from what I understand it was a creamy, luscious cheesecake that disappeared very quickly. And it was a pretty cheesecake too.

I can’t wait for Ontario strawberries to come in. I’m going to be making this again topped with a fresh strawberry sauce.

And I will call it, Le Cheesecake.

Ciao!

For the cheesecake recipe, please visit Jenny’s blog.

I specifically waited until Saturday to put this post up because to me, Sunday is the king of brunch days.

Thanks to my dear friend Cath of A Blithe Palate and Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness, I’ve had the chance to review Gale Gand’s Brunch! as part of a cookbook spotlight that they’re co-hosting.

I’m lucky enough to own a copy of Gale’s book Chocolate and Vanilla (read the review I did here), which I love and have used many times.

I’m a big fan of Gale’s, although I’m not as familiar with her as I am with other cookbook authors. But most of the people that I know that are familiar with Gale, seem to enjoy the same things that I like about her books. To begin with, they’re very open. What I mean by that is that from the first page there’s a very clear sense that I can easily try each and every recipe in the book. And brunch, above all things, should be easy and straightforward. That’s why we call it brunch and not a formal dinner!

There’s also a lightness to her recipes that I enjoy. Do not fear. There’s butter aplenty (as there should be in all brunches). What I mean is that the recipes are imbued with a sense of starting your day off in a comforting, happy way … another important ingredient in a successful brunch!

At the end of the day (or should I say the beginning), it’s easy to imagine waking up on a Sunday morning and trying any one of the recipes in this book. As it turns out, I tried three, all of which were wonderful.

Because I’ve never met a buttermilk pancake recipe that I haven’t wanted to try, I tried the Buttermilk Pancakes and they were simple, quick and just delicious (pictured above).

And because I’ve never met a granola recipe that I haven’t wanted to try, I made the Cranberry-Almond Granola (with some macadamia nuts thrown in). Wonderful!

And finally, the Quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake called to me because I had some pears that were languishing in the fruit basket. Now I should tell you that pears are not high on my list of favoured fruits but this quick and most cake actually made me like them. That’s good enough for me!

If you’re into brunch (and who isn’t), I cannot recommend this book more highly! I’m off to plan tomorrow’s brunch …

Ciao!

Are your aprons looking a little ragged these days?

Tired of bits of paper cluttering the kitchen sink … need some refrigerator magnets?

Want to be environmentally friendly a sport a new tote bag instead of using those nasty plastic bags?

Is it time for some new … ah … unmentionables?

Well, I strongly recommend you head over to The Daring Store where you can outfit yourself with a whole new spring kitchen outfit (assuming you wear aprons outside of the house) and all sorts of other goodies.

As many of you know (if you don’t know … where have you been???), Lis and I launched The Daring Kitchen in March, which is the new home for The Daring Bakers and The Daring Cooks. We’re happy to announce that we now have our very own store where you can buy all sorts of fun stuff with The Daring Kitchen logo and character badges.

You can find the store here.

I expect to see all of you wearing an apron.

No need to show me your unmentionables. Really.

Ciao!

I’m back with one of my favourite Magazine Mondays post in a long time.

This recipe hasn’t been bookmarked for very long. I was sitting on the subway a few weeks ago, on the ride home, trying not to nod off. I pulled out the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit and on page 23, saw a recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Tarts with Crème Fraîche Sorbet. I immediately knew I had to try the recipe for two reasons: 1) I still had a package of frozen strawberries and rhubarb from last summer in the freezer and 2) I was recently looking through David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
and had my eye on a recipe for Crème Fraîche Ice Cream. That same night I was happily rolling out tart crusts and making the custard base for the ice cream.

I have a thing for strawberry and rhubarb. I’m always looking for the perfect strawberry-rhubarb tart recipe and I think I may have found it. These were delicious and the tangy ice cream was the perfect complement.

A bit of bad news though … I can’t seem to find the recipe for the tarts on-line! It’s on p. 23 of the magazine but it’s not on-line yet. And even worse … I don’t know what I did with the magazine!!! I’ll keep looking for the recipe on-line and link to it if it shows up.

While this wasn’t by any means one of the oldest magazine recipes lingering in my pile, I’m sure glad I tried it! Fingers crossed that I can find that recipe.

Here are all the people that joined me in making a dent in their magazine piles:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Ricotta Cookies.

Tamy of 3sidesofcrazy made Glazed Green Beans.

Emiglia of Tomato Kumato made Spring Peas, Two Ways.

Mandi of Red Dirty Mummy made Currant and Hazelnut Baked Apples.

Elizabeth of The Waspy Redhead came in with two posts this week: Lemon Ginger Mini Cheesecakes and a Spinach and Leek Rolled Omelet.

Simone of Junglefrog Cooking made Ricotta and White Bean Salad.

Saliha of Hayat Binbircesni made Crackle Cookies!

Debbie of Taste of Sweetness made some incredible Gnocchi with Wild Mushroom and Sage Ragu.

Janie of Panini Girl made an Italian Chicken Salad.

Georgia of Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do? made a Chipotle Chicken Sandwich.

Joy from The Cooking of Joy made Coconut Lime Cakelets.

Nurit of 1 family. friendly. food. made Peas and Tarragon Soup. Gorgeous!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I cannot believe April is more than halfway over and I have yet to even mention my Flavour of the Month: Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Lemon Desserts.

I adore Lori. I love her recipes and all her cookbooks are just so good. I count them among my most treasured books.

The warm weather has (finally) arrived here in Toronto and it’s just too beautiful outside for me not to be out there. So I’m going to keep this short.

Do you know that I have never made sugar cookies?

Isn’t that crazy!

I had bookmarked Lori’s recipe for Old-Fashioned Lemon Sugar Cookies and I just had to try them.

Something about the lemon and old-fashioned, rustic look to these cookies made me think of a pretty farmhouse in the country with flowers everywhere and budding trees and blue skies and gingham curtains for the windows and a lemonade stand out front and cute gardening clogs by the back door and a nearby pond and chicken and dumplings bubbling on the wood-burning stove. You know, back when life was simpler.

Mind you, I have no idea where this specific farmhouse is located. I’m pretty sure that I don’t own a scrap of gingham and I know, for a fact, that I would look horrid in any manner of clog. I’ve never had a lemonade stand nor have I ever had chicken and dumplings. And wood-burning stoves scare me. A little.

Never the less, a Cream Puff can dream.

And whilst she’s dreaming, she can bake these delicious cookies that have a lemon hit that gets you right where it counts: in the imagination.

Ciao!

Note: I don’t have a recipe for you, unfortunately. As regular readers will know, I don’t like reproducing recipes from cookbooks unless I have adapted them into my own recipe. But if you have a favourite sugar cookie recipe, try it out with lots of lemon peel and a hit of lemon juice. You’ll love it!

Today is Easter Monday, or Pasquetta, as we say in Italian.

Unfortunately I don’t have time for a Magazine Mondays post today (MM will be back next week), instead I thought I’d wish everyone a Happy Pasquetta and let you know what we enjoyed for our Easter lunch.

Mama Cream Puff truly outdid herself on Easter Sunday.

Other than the salad, I don’t have any pictures of the finished plates because with almost 20 people in the house there wasn’t a lot of time to snap photos!

We started off with a salad of arugula dressed with a lemon vinaigrette and topped with roasted asparagus, Prosciutto di Parma and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano. We’ve had this as a starter the past few years as opposed to a more traditional antipasto, which can be very filling.

The salad was followed by the primo, or the first course, which was my mother’s homemade agnolotti di ricotta dressed with lots of Parmigiano Reggiano. This is a typical dish from where my father is from (Le Marche).

We then had homemade fettucine with a lamb ragu.

The primo was followed by the secondo (second course), which was barbequed leg of of lamb accompanied by grilled peppers with feta, lemon-roasted potatoes, broccoli rabe tossed with garlic and olive oil (rapini) and marinated olives.

After taking a break, we then had manichitti (another traditional dish from where my father is from), which are little steaks taken from the rack of lamb. They’re frenched and then the meat at the end of chop is pounded thin, breaded and fried.

The manichitti were followed by my mother’s Olive Ascolane, which are olives stuffed with meat, breaded and then fried.

This was followed by fruit and then dessert (I made dessert), which I posted about on Easter Sunday. We also had store-bought pastries courtesy one of my aunts and another aunt made little chocolate cakes, which were also delicious.

All in all, it was a lovely Easter meal!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

Happy Easter, my friends!

The cold and snow of earlier this week has passed and Toronto has now been embraced by the sun.

Finally.

On this day of new beginnings, I hope it’s a new beginning for all of you in so many ways. I hope it’s a beginning to a season of new ideas, lovely food, the best baking and many warm moments.

For me, Easter is always a beginning. For starters, soon I shall put away my socks and let my feet live freely in sandals (have I ever mentioned my hatred of socks … no? … a post for another day …). I’m also hopeful that it’s the beginning of some better baking. As you know from this post, I’ve been struggling of late, but it seems that with the Chocolate Coffee Dacquoise pictured here, things are beginning to get back on track. Mostly I’m hopeful, that it’s the beginning of many joyful days for all of us!

A new beginning. That sounds very nice.

Happy Easter! Buona Pasqua from Cream Puff and family to you!

Ciao!

Dare una mano means to lend a hand.

I was contacted by Joanne of Frutto della Passione today, asking if I’d post about the efforts to help the victims of this week’s devastating earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy.

Joanne is asking that bloggers in Toronto share some important information with their readers in the event that people want to do something to help.

The Federazione Associazioni e Club Abruzzesi Greater Toronto and The Grand Priory of Canada for the Knights Hospitallers of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta (Ecumenical Order) have created a Trust for those affected by the earthquake in Abruzzo.

If you want to donate to the Trust, here’s the information:

O.S.J. Charities Trust Fund for L’Aquila

Abruzzo Italy - Earthquake

Account Number: 09012 69-21310

At: CIBC 7765 Yonge Street, Thornhill, Ontario L3T 2C4

Here are some links to Italian bloggers and more information on lending a helping hand:

FrancescaV

Ms. Adventures in Italy

Bleeding Espresso

Bella Baita

Your support is greatly appreciated!

Ciao!

I have lost my baking mojo.

I cannot believe it.

After two months of almost no baking thanks to a huge work project, I had every intention of diving right back into the deep end of the baking pool.

For several weeks now I’ve been sifting through my most treasured cookbooks imagining all the recipes I’d finally try. I have broken every I-won’t-buy-one-more-magazine vow that I’ve made and happily bookmarked recipe after recipe.

And all I have to show for it are these mini Cranberry Vanilla Coffeecakes that fell apart.

In an attempt to spark some excitement, I thought I’d bake them in mini bundt pans instead of one large pan. And when I overfilled the mini bundt pans, I ignored the baking voice that said, “You’re headed for trouble, Cream Puff.”

I never ignore the voice. But I did.

And then this happened.

I threw the whole lot in the garbage. I couldn’t even bear to look at them.

Where has my mojo gone?

Me sad.

Send help.

Cream Puff and family want to extend their support to the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy.

You are in our prayers.

I’m back with a Magazine Mondays post!

For me, muffin recipes are a lot like banana bread or pancake recipes, I could try a thousand of them, constantly in search of the perfect one.

I have a general muffin recipe that I’m pretty happy with but I thought I’d give the chocolate chip muffin recipe that I found in a special issue of Fine Cooking a try. The Winter 2006 issue was one dedicated entirely to Chocolate. I bookmarked it awhile back and I happened to have a surplus of chocolate chips on hand so I baked up a batch. I looked for the recipe on-line but couldn’t find it so I’ve reproduced it here.

These are definitely mall chocolate chip muffins. They bake up huge with satisfyingly full tops. They were moist and very good, although if I made them again, I would omit the pecans (I like my chocolate chip muffins to be all about the chocolate chips). I’d also omit the glaze as I found it made the muffins too sweet. Overall, though, it was a good recipe and I’m glad I tried it.

I am so thrilled each week to see how many of you are tackling those magazine piles cluttering your homes. Job well done! Here are all the people that join me this week in conquering magazine piles everywhere:

Jen of the adorable Baking and Dogs brings us a very seasonal and timely recipe for Chocolate Cherry Hot Cross Buns.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen brings us some Rublikuchen, otherwise known as Carrot Cake. Otherwise known as yummy!

My Ottawa best friend Jenny, of All Things Edible, has promised to make breakfast for all of us and she’s serving Oatmeal-Raspberry Pancakes. I’ll bring the maple syrup!

For lunch we’re going to have the Beef and Green Bean Stir Fry that Jenny mde a few weeks ago and that I forgot to post … oopsie!

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy (love that name) brings us some Orange Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I always have time for cookies! She also brings us some Carrots, Apricots and Baked Beets!

Christie and Ian of Coco Bean made a Smoked Salmon, Dill, Goat Cheese and Artichoke Quiche that has my mouth watering!

The warm Claudia of the sweet blog Cover Girls outdid herself (and all of us) with three magazine recipes: Lamb and Eggplant Shepherd’s Pie, Caramel Apple Crisp and Baked Brie with Sauteed Mushrooms.

Biz of the blog Biggest Diabetic Loser embraced Clean Eating magazine and made a delicious Mac N Cheese.

A regular contributor, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, brings the bundt cake back with a Cardamom Vanilla Bundt Cake with Lime Glaze.

Natashya, in a very timely move thanks to the Easter holiday, also made Lemon Current Hot Cross Buns.

Not only is Cathy’s blog, Noble Pig, noble, but so is Cathy. I. Love. Her. And I love the Roasted Salmon with a Lemon-Herb Matzo Crust that she made.

My sweet Janie from Panini Girl took a bite out of her magazine pile with two recipes this week: Chicken and Leek Pie and a gorgeous Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin.

Mandi of Red Dirt Mummy made a gorgeous Zucchini Cake … I can’t wait for zucchini to be in season again!

ReTorte of Wandering Coyote made Monte Cubano that I’d love to climb!

Claudia of Journey of an Italian Cook made Chicken with Penne and Rosemary. I’ll just go get my fork!

Saliha of the blog Hayat Binbercesni makes some adorable mini pizzas and banana pudding!

Last but not least, I got a lovely e-mail from a woman named Vicki B. who mentioned that she did not have a blog but she did have a huge magazine pile that she wanted to tackle. She asked if she could participate and I said of course. Vicki made a batch of Oatmeal Scones from the Cook’s Illustrated Holiday 2007 issue. Thanks, Vicki!

Thank you to everyone that took part in this week’s edition of Magazine Mondays! For more details on this non-event, just click the link in my sidebar. And remember, anytime you post a mgazine recipe, just let me know!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Chocolate Chip Muffins
Winter 2006 issue of Fine Cooking dedicated to Chocolate.

Note: This recipe yields 12 large muffins. They freeze well as long as they’re wrapped in plastic. The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup of coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts but I omitted those here because I think the muffins are best without the nuts. While I included the recipe for the glaze, I recommend the muffins without it.

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour (use unbleached if you have it)
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

For the glaze (optional):

3 cups icing sugar
6 tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and place a rack in the centre of the oven. Lightly oil the top of a 12-cup muffin tin or spray with cooking spray. Line with muffin cups (it’s best to use grease-proof ones if you can find them).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a bowl, whisk together the butter, whole milk, sour cream, eggs, egg yolk and vanilla exctract.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently combine using a rubber spatula. Mix only until the dry ingredients are moistened. Don’t overmix or your muffins will be too dense. Don’t worry if the batter seems lumpy or if there are still some flour streaks.

Add the chocolate chips and fold in quickly, again being careful not to overmix.

Distribute the batter among the muffin cups. Mound the better up in the centre of each cup. It will rise above the rim of the muffin cup by as much as an inch. Don’t worry. These are big muffins!

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The muffins will be golden and will spring back when pressed lightly. As an extra test, insert a toothpick into the centre of a muffin. If it comes out clean, the muffins are ready.

Remove the muffin tin to a rack and let cool for 15 minutes. With a knife, separate the muffins evenly and then gently lift them out of the tins. Let them continue cooling on the rack.

If you want to glaze them, make the glaze and pour over the muffins. If not, enjoy them as they are!

Whenever I tell people that I have no idea how many cookbooks I own (I never count them!), I usually get a surprised response. Most people I know might own a handful to ten cookbooks. I own well in excess of 100 (and counting).

The inevitable question is: Why do you have so many?

And the answer is: Because … cookbooks make me happy.

For me, cookbooks are a source of inspiration and a source of pleasure, particularly when I’m stressed out or preoccupied. If I sit down with a cup of coffee and a cookbook, it’s an opportunity for me to focus on what makes me happy and in the process, clear my thoughts.

So it goes without saying that I will never turn down a cookbook. Never!

I was so happy when I was given the opportunity to review The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook: The Essential Recipe Collection for Today’s Home Cook.

I won’t lie. I’m a Williams-Sonoma junkie. I have access to not one but two Williams-Sonoma stores and I regularly make a pilgrimage to worship at the altar of expensive kitchenwares.

Yes. I know. You don’t need any of that stuff to be a good cook. Blah blah blah.

Me likey. And if I want to weep over multi-coloured melamine nesting bowls that’s my business, not yours!

On to the book at hand. As I mentioned, I had the chance to review this book and as one would expect from a cookbook featuring the Williams-Sonoma brand, it’s polished, thorough, accessible and pretty to look at.

The book has almost 400 recipes so it’s definitely value for the price. The recipes range from classics to more modern fare. If you’re familiar with Williams-Sonoma cookbooks then you won’t be surprised by this one. The recipes are clear, clean and precise and never daunting. And they all have that same quality that you sense in the retail outlets: it all just seems so easy.

I would have loved to try about half of the recipes but I had to get my review up so instead I settled on two classics: Banana Bread and Macaroni and Cheese. Both easy enough, but I’ve seen and tried many a recipe for both dishes that greatly disappoint. So I thought I’d put the book to the test.

I wasn’t disappointed.

The Banana Bread was easy, quick and completely satisfying. I actually threw in pistachios for the nuts because I’m on this pistachio bender at the moment and the results were lovely. The cake was moist, not too sweet and made all the banana bread lovers happy.

The Macaroni and Cheese made me really happy. I like old-fashioned macaroni and cheese where you take your time and make a cheese sauce and pretend that cholesterol counts don’t matter. Too many macaroni and cheese recipes nowadays cut corners or try to get you to believe that a few measly tablespoons of cheese will satisfy you. This recipe is pure macaroni and cheese at its finest. I wish I could be more eloquent but really, there’s not much more to than it was really really really good.

If you’re a fan of the Williams-Sonoma cookbook collection, this is one to add to it. If you’re looking for an excellent general purpose cookbook, then this is one to invest in. If you want to live in a Williams-Sonoma store, this cookbook is the next best thing.

Ciao!