Obviously, December is all about the holidays.

But in the Cream Puff household, it’s also about breakfast.

Because we all tend to be off from work for a good part of the month (I take holidays and my brother is home since the factory usually closes for two weeks), it means lots of lazy mornings where we can all indulge in some long and slow breakfasts.

The stars of the show are usually pancakes, waffles or french toast. If it’s up to me, it would pancakes almost every time.

Much like chocolate chip cookies and granola, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as the “best recipe ever”. There’s always another recipe on the horizon waiting to be tried.

This time around it’s a recipe for Classic Buttermilk Pancakes from Issue 102 of Fine Cooking.

Wow. These were good.

I have a few other buttermilk pancake recipes, which are also very good, but these somehow were just a bit fluffier. I followed the instructions precisely, especially the part about letting the batter rest for a bit. I think this is absolutely key when making pancakes or waffles. Letting the batter rest allows it to thicken as the flour absorbs the liquid and swells. This gives you a pancake that rises more and that is far more fluffy and light.

So I’m going to stop now because my mouth is watering and there’s no way that I can make pancakes right now.

I ate them all up with lots of maple syrup and salted butter.

As always, I’m joined by a few people who have decided to attack that magazine pile. That’s what Magazine Mondays is all about!

Here’s who joined me this week:

Candy Girl made a Tangerine Beef with Scallions from the November 2009 issue of Food Network Magazine.

Di from Di’s Kitchen Notebook used a recipe for Streusel-Topped Chocolate-Cranberry Bread from the December 2009 issue of Bon Appétit as inspiration for a danish braid.

Poppy of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Chicken & Fontina Quesadillas from a 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

Janie of Panini Girl made Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies from the December issue of Sunset magazine.

And with something a little different, Wandering Coyote of ReTorte features her lastest article in Bread & Molasses magazine complete with Cheese Ball recipe!!!

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone. She also added her own modifications and changes.

Can I just say that I completely LOVED this challenge!

After missing the last two Daring Cooks challenges and not having much success with the October Daring Bakers’ challenge, it was such a pleasure to try making cannoli.

This was a first for me. I’ve never tried cannoli at home mainly because, to be honest, I’m not a huge cannoli fan. They’re okay, but they wouldn’t be my first choice when it cames to Italian desserts.

And I think I now know why.

After making the cannoli shells on my own, I can see that most of the cannoli shells that you buy at the store and even at bakeries, pale in comparison.

The recipe that Lisa provided created a shell that was crispy and light, with a faint hint of Marsala that was so pleasing.

And the filling was rich and luscious.

Perhaps what made this most worthwhile is that I finally got to use the cannoli molds that I purchased several years ago. I purchased them to use in making rolled cookies like tuiles, but I think in all this time I’ve only used them once.

While I considered rolling out the dough myself, I wimped out and used my pasta machine (thankfully Lisa included that in the instructions).

It was a breeze to roll out the dough with the machine. I wrapped the circles of dough around the molds and fried those babies up.

They looked so lovely coming out of the oil that I had to resist the urge to remove them from the mold right away. I found that if you let them cool down a bit, they slide of easily.

I didn’t do anything really fancy with my filling. I flavoured it with cinnamon and vanilla extract and as for the shells, I dipped the edges in melted bittersweet chocolate and then in ground pistachios.

These were just so delicious. The shells were so crispy they shattered when you bit into them. The filling was creamy and perfect and the chocolate and pistachios were just the right touch.

In the course of frying the cannoli shells, a few came off the mold because I hadn’t secured them properly but no worries, I used the shells to make cannoli stacks as Lisa suggested.

Thank you so much to Lisa for hosting. That’s another challenge to cross off the list!

Ciao!

Is it Monday again, already?!

Yikes! It never fails that as the Christmas holidays begin to appear on the horizon, it seems that time flies by even more quickly than usual.

Since Christmas is cookie season as far as I’m concerned, I had to share these amazing cookies that I first made about two months ago. Since that time they have become absolute favourites. I haven’t met one person that can resist them.

For this week’s Magazine Mondays entry, I give you Salty-Sweet Butter Pecan Cookies from the King Arthur Baker’s Banter blog.

Oh, sweetness! These cookies are unreal. Before baking them, you dip them in a mixture of sugar and salt. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, used properly, salt makes such an incredible difference in baked goods. So many people don’t believe me but it’s so true. Every single person that tried these cookies would ask, “Why are these so addictive?” and I would answer, “It’s the sugar and salt”.

Salty-sweet. It’s the way to go!

I almost didn’t try these cookies because the recipe calls for vegetable shortening. Honestly, I can’t say I’m totally thrilled about the idea of using vegetable shortening in a cookie but I have to admit, they were delicious. I keep meaning to try them with all butter, but I haven’t done so yet.

I really can’t say enough good things about these cookies. Hope you’ll give them a try!

As you know, Magazine Mondays is all about kicking that pile of clipped recipes in the butt. And Christmas is the perfect time to finally try so many of those earmarked recipes. Get to it!

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Wandering Coyote (who is on Canadian Living’s payroll … I’m convinced) made a Glazed Balsamic Chicken from a May 2004 issue of Canadian Living.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made a Pumpkin Pie Cake from an old issue of The Shreveport Times.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Creamy Mushroom and Almond Pasta from Issue 38 of Donna Hay magazine.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Sesame Spatzle.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I owe someone.

Quite awhile ago, Mr. Nazca sent me a certain little book in the mail and by doing so, threw down the figurative gauntlet. My challenge, assuming that I would choose to accept it, was to read said book and at the very least attempt a recipe.

The book in question: Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook: A useful and improving Almanack of Information including Astonishing Recipes from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

I’m serious.

Apparently Nanny Ogg is the one that everyone goes to for advice. Having never heard of Nanny Ogg before this book, I was quite surprised to learn that I can, in fact, consult her for all sorts of friendly tips including, but not limited to, ettiquette with scarecrows; how to properly offer an umbrella and how to behave at a ball. Nanny Ogg also offers marriage advice, which isn’t useful to me at the moment, but should I ever be married I know that I can count on Nanny Ogg’s to instruct me in the proper way to argue with my husband.

Very useful.

There’s a section on “Etiquette in the Bedroom”, but it seems the most important bits are obscured by printed notes that must have been overlooked during the printing process. Unfortunately the notes cover up the parts where Nanny Ogg’s explains how to … ah … handle things.

Not so useful.

Anyway, the best part of the book is clearly the recipe section. Who wouldn’t want to try Mrs Colon’s Genyooin Klatchian Curry or Nobby Mum’s Distressed Pudding?

My personal favourite, and the recipe that I shall hold dearest, is the one for Bread and Water. Luckily I have the ingredients for that on hand pretty much all of the time.

When it came time to decide what to make in order to impress Mr. Nazca, I seriously considered Knuckle Sandwich, but instead settled for Nanny Ogg’s Perfectly Innocent Porridge. The recipe includes one for Completely Innoffensive Honey Mixture Which Shouldn’t Make Anyone’s Wife Laugh, unfortunately, that recipe calls for rose petals and edible gold leaf which are, sadly, in short supply these days.

Nanny Ogg’s porridge was quite delicious, though. I topped it off with vanilla sugar, butter and blueberries. I’m assuming Nanny Ogg’s would approve.

I must say I was wonderfully entertained by this book. I just hope the reprint clears up that Etiquette in the Bedroom section …

Mr. Nazca, consider our debt settled. For now.

Ciao!

A Recipe for Porridge based loosely on what Nanny Ogg says …

Serves 2 people.

1 cup porridge oats
1 cup whole milk (you can also use water but that’s so boring)
optional toppings: butter, brown sugar, vanilla sugar, fresh fruit, nuts …

Combine the oats and the milk in a small pot and let come to a boil.

Reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the oats are cooked through.

Serve immediately with the toppings of your choice.

Last month I posted about a cooking group called Cooking Italy, started by Angela of Spinach Tiger. The idea behind the group is that each month, you prepare a set of pre-chosen recipes from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

I loved the idea of the group as soon as I heard about it because I am a huge fan of Hazan’s and don’t use her book nearly as often as I should.

One of the things I told Angela, right off the bat, is that it would be very unlikely that I’d be able to make all of the recipes each month. These days, I’m having enough difficulty getting to the Daring Bakers/Daring Cooks challenges, much less anything else.

Add to that the fact that the past month-and-a-half has been brutal at work. I’ve barely been home and the idea of cooking has been just that … an idea.

Thankfully, work has eased up and I can begin to contemplate some return to normalcy. The very first thing I did this weekend was to make one of the Cooking Italy November recipes: Amatriciana.

Amatriciana is a sauce that originated in Amatrice, Rome, where one would usually eat the sauce with a type of pasta called bucatini. I have other recipes for this pasta dish, Bucatini all’Amatriciana, but many of them do not include tomatoes, which I find interesting.

I believe that it is more authentic to include tomatoes, as Hazan does in her book. Essentially, Amatriciana is a sauce of onion, pancetta, tomato and chili pepper. In my opinion, the spicier the sauce is, the better it is.

Another reason why I wanted to finally try this recipe for the cooking club is that several weeks ago, we went to one of our favourite restaurants and unfortunately, I had a most disappointing dish of pasta with Amatriciana sauce. The pancetta had no flavour (which to me means that it must have been very old) and the pasta was literally lost in a plate full of sauce. Way too much sauce. Worst of all, the pasta was overcooked. I was so disappointed that I vowed to make a good plate of Amatriciana as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

When Angela chose Amatriciana as part of the November schedule, I was thrilled!

This sauce was so good. It was bright, spicy and flavourful. I especially loved the finishing touch of Parmigiano Reggiano combined with Pecorino Romano, two of my favourite hard cheeses.

While I couldn’t find bucatini at the store, I did find spaghettoni which are a thicker version of spaghetti.

I absolutely loved this pasta. I’ll be honest, my eating habits haven’t been very good for the past month or so. Late nights at work mean lots of pizza and take-out. It was lovely to have a simple, yet robust plate of good ol’ home-cooked pasta.

I altered the recipe slightly so here’s my version, but Marcella’s version is on page 157 of the book.

Check out the Cooking Italy page for more information on the group and also to see the monthly schedule.

Ciao!

Spaghettoni all’Amatriciana

Note: If you can’t find bucatini, try another thick, long pasta or try a larger small pasta like rigatoni. An authentic Amatriciana should use fresh hot chili peppers but I didn’t have any and surprisingly, our local grocer didn’t have any either. I substituted red pepper flakes. This dish will serve 4 people very generously

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 small piece of pancetta, finely diced (you want between a 1/4 cup and 1/2 a cup of diced pancetta)
1-1/2 cups of chunky tomato puree (either use whole canned tomatoes that you chop up yourself until you have a chunky/juicy blend or, when they’re in season, use fresh tomatoes that have been coarsely chopped in a blender or food processor).
1 tbsp. red pepper flakes (yes, that’s a lot, but we like it spicy)
salt, to taste
3 to 4 tbsp. Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
3 to 4 tbsp. Pecorino Romano, grated
1 pound of the pasta of your choice

Prepare the sauce:

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, shallow pan that is big enough to accommodate the pasta. Add the onion and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, over medium heat.

Add the pancetta and continue sauteeing for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and the red pepper flakes. Let the mixture come to a boil and then salt to taste.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 20 minutes. You want the sauce to reduce considerably. You should have a thick sauce when you’re done.

Prepare the pasta:

While the sauce is simmering, boil the water for the pasta. About 10 minutes before the sauce is ready, boil your pasta according to package directions.

Assembling the pasta:

Once the sauce is done, adjust the seasoning and then lower the heat until the pasta is ready. When you’ve drained the pasta, add it to the pan with the sauce and toss to coat.

Immediately add in the Parmigiano and the Pecorino and mix well. You may need to add a bit more cheese, but that’s up to you.

Serve immediately and enjoy.

From about September to March, I could pretty much each potatoes every day.

In fact, I could probably eat them two or three times and day and be perfectly happy.

Spud, I adore you!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since I first made this recipe, but that is in fact the case. On New Year’s Eve 2008, I made Pan-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Pancetta from the December 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

While I didn’t photograph the dish that evening, they were clearly a hit from the beginning and have become one of our favourite ways to prepare potatoes. You can easily halve the recipe and you certainly don’t have to use fingerling potatoes. I often make the dish with Yukon Gold potatoes.

This is my Magazine Mondays submission. As you know, MM is all about getting into the kitchen and finally trying those magazine recipes that you’ve bookmarked. Here’s who’s joining me this week:

Lori of Making it My Own Way Blueberry Crumb Bars from Bon Appétit.

Jennifer of Daydreams of Baking made Macadamia Coconut Meltaways from the November 2009 issue of Women’s Day.

Tia of Buttercream Barbie made Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry Sticks using her favourite all-butter dough from September 2009 issue of Gourmet. Because I missed MM last week, Tia had a second submission which is Oatmeal Honey Bread, also from Gourmet.

Debbie of Taste of Sweet has been a busy girl! She made a Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich from Cooking Light, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps from Cooking Light, and Bulgogi (Korean Beef BBQ) and Shank Kimchi from Cooking Light.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made … yes … from Canadian Living … Chicken Noodle Soup.

Nina from Prêt à Gourmet made Cinnamon Rolls from Issue 31 of Fine Cooking.

Allison of Bake Your Heart Out made Pumpkin, Sage, and Browned-Butter Quick Bread from the November 2009 of Martha Stewart Living. She also made Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple-Marshmallow Cream from Bon Appétit.

Janie of Panini Girl made a Stuffed Squash from Gourmet.

Patricia from Brownies for Dinner made Brown Sugar Baked Sweet Potatoes and Acorn Squash from Gourmet.

Jamie of Life’s a Feast made Chocolate Meringue Coffee Cake from an old stack of magazine clippings.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

We have a winner for the trip to NYC to attend the New York Cake Convention from January 2 to January 5, 2010. Check it out!

Congratulations to our winner!

Ciao!

If you haven’t already heard, it was announced that The Daring Kitchen won a Foodbuzz Blog Award for Best Group Effort.

I don’t think there is a better name for an award that could perfectly capture how and why The Daring Kitchen is what it is.

In every sense, it is truly the culmination of a group effort. And that group is made up of all of you Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks out there.

Congratulations! Take a bow! Be proud of yourselves! Bring on those DK challenges!

Ciao!

Thank you to everyone that voted for The Daring Kitchen. To celebrate the victory, here’s an easy “cookie” recipe that you can make quickly. Of course if you’re a Daring Baker you’d make the puff pastry from scratch …

Cinnamon Sugar Puff Pastry “Cookies”

Yield: It’s difficult to say because it all depends on the size of your puff pastry sheet, as well as the size of your cookie cutter. But you should get at least 20 to 30 “cookies” that are roughly an inch in size.

1 sheet of puff pastry
all-purpose flour (to dust your work surface)
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp. of water

Combine the ground cinnamon and vanilla sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Flour your work surface and your rolling pin and roll out your sheet of puff pastry until it’s about a 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While the oven is preheating, begin cutting out your “cookie” shapes using a cookie cutter of your choice. When you cut the cookies, press down evenly but don’t move the cutter around too much. This will prevent the puff pastry from rising nicely. You don’t have to use a cookie cutter here. You can also cut the puff pastry into small squares with a sharp knife.

Transfer your “cookies” to one or two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. When you’re done cutting out cookies, put the trays in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

After ten minutes, remove the tray(s) of “cookies” from the refrigerator. Carefully brush them with egg wash (egg and water mixed together) and then sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake in the middle or lower part of the oven for 8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the “cookies” are puffed up and browned.

Remove from the oven to a wire rack and let cool. Or at least try to let them cool down before gobbling them up. These treats should be eaten quickly as the puff pastry doesn’t remain crisp for long.

Enjoy!

Doesn’t anyone out there want to win a trip to NYC???!

Last month, Lis and I announced an exciting contest that we’re hosting thanks to the great people with at the U.S. Confection Connection.

We’re offering an all-expenses paid trip for our lucky winner (and a guest) to New York City from January 2 to January 5. In addition to round-trip airfare and hotel stay, the winner will get to attend the New York Cake Convention where they will be able to attend events like the Live Cake Challenge, as well as have the chance to assist pastry chef Michelle Bonmarito in a class.

So what do you have to do to win?

Simple. Just decorate a cake! We’re asking people to decorate a 9-inch cake to best represent the Autumn. Your submission has to include three photos: one photo of your 9-inch cake, undecorated; one photo of your cake, mid-process; and one photo of the finished cake.

We don’t care what flavour the cake is, if it’s layered or not, or even if you baked it yourself. As long as it’s nine inches, you’re good to go!

Be wild, be creative, be fun!

All of the details are here, on The Daring Kitchen site.

But hurry because you only have five days left!

Submissions should be posted here.

If you have any questions at all, e-mail me at creampuffsinvenice{@}gmail{dot}com.

Come on people, get your cake on for a chance to go to NYC!!!

Ciao!

It’s all the cookies you’ll be baking.

Don’t look now but it’s already November and if you think that the holiday season is still far off, you’re wrong.

Very soon cookie recipes from all over the world will be knocking on your door, begging you to bake them.

Don’t fight it. Embrace the cookies.

Let’s say that together.

EMBRACE THE COOKIES!

If I may be so bold as to get the ball of cookie dough rolling, you may want to consider Julia Usher’s Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year as a prime candidate for holiday baking ideas (as well as year-round cookie-baking projects).

Take it from a cookbook addict, this is an incredible baking book. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of cookie-baking projects. While there are recipes for both elaborately decorated cookies and simpler treats, the book’s greatest strength is to approach each recipe in a clear, organized way so that even the beginning baker can master these cookies.

Oh, and the cookies! They are so sweet … literally and figuratively. Every major holiday is covered so it’s a book that will guide you throughout the year, not just Christmas.

I’ve had this book for awhile and if I had the time, I would have tried many of the recipes but I wanted to tell you about it in advance of the holidays so you can run out and get a copy or put it on your wish list for Santa.

I have a real soft spot for crescent cookies of any type. The book features a recipe for a crescent cookie called Sugar Between the Sheets. For more than ten years I’ve had a go-to crescent cookie recipe that I make every Christmas: my Apricot Walnut Crescents. I make them every year, often by request. But after making the crescent cookies from Usher’s book I must say they’re going to give my Apricot Walnut Crescents a run for their money.

Made with sour cream, a rich and tender pastry holds a filling of walnuts and sugar that almost caramelizes as it bakes. So. Sweet!!!

As I mentioned above, I could have easily tried every recipe in the book if I’d had the time. Rest assured, though, I’ve bookmarked several other recipes for the holidays.

While I’m getting myself organized and planning ahead, you should be too. If you’re big on cookies for Christmas or any other holiday, you’ll love this book!

Ciao!

Every year, in early October, we have a Thanksgiving potluck at work. I usually try to bring two dishes (surprisingly I tend not to bring dessert …). Because I organize the potluck, I try to wait until the very end to decide what to bring and I generally try to fill in any gaps in the menu.

This year, we were short on bread recipes so I decided I’d bring something that was appropriate for Thanksgiving … something that just oozed the fall and the harvest.

Enter the Bacon Cheddar Quick Bread with Dried Pears from the October 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

The bread was so easy to make and was very good, however, I would recommend that you eat it warm from the oven and not the next day. I made it on Sunday for Monday’s potluck and while it was tasty, it would have been better warm with some butter.

As you know, Magazine Mondays is all about tackling that pile of clipped magazine recipes that you’ve got. Don’t look the other way. You know you have tonnes of recipes you haven’t tried yet. We all do! So get to it!

Here’s who joined me in liberating themselves from another magazine recipe:

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy joins us with a tempting Maple Chicken.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made a Spicy Chicken with Mushrooms dish from the November 2008 issue of Family Circle.

Mondo of Mondo’s Morsels (love this blog!) made a gorgeous Blueberry Lemon Cornmeal Cake from the September 2006 issue of Fine Cooking.

Janie of Panini Girl made a pretty Butternut Squash Soup with Sage from the November 2001 issue of Bon Appétit.

Our most loyal Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Chicken Sangria from the March 2009 issue of Gourmet.

Georgia of Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do? made a soul-satisfying Winter Lentil Soup from Real Simple magazine.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!