hazelnut & blond chocolate crispies

Oh my god, do you guys know about dishwashers? They are pretty great. I just moved into a new apartment with many lovely features, including a backyard & garden in which I have some little sprouts growing and some really nice stained glass windows and a big lovely kitchen with a dishwasher! This thing just washes your dishes for you. I can sit and have a cup of tea, and the dishes are being washed by a robot. It's the best thing ever. I can't recommend it enough. I feel like I have won the lottery, but more so. I shall endeavour to never live dishwasherless again. I just put the bowls and spatulas from this recipe right in there, and the elves that live in my dishwasher cleaned 'em right up. 

These crispy squares are a teeny, tiny bit more work than the standard version, but not too much. And it's totally worth the wee bit of extra effort for the nutty, toasty, toffee flavours. Toasting the cereal and roasting the white chocolate is quick and easy, but they add depth and toffee-nuttiness. Puffed rice cereal is classic, but you can use any puffed grains. I used a combo of rice and millet. Blond chocolate is overly-sweet white chocolate's grown up sister - toasty, nutty and toffee flavoured. White chocolate skeptics will be convinced. If you roast two bars of chocolate you can save half for snacking, melting over ice cream or folding into cookies. Some super fancy chocolate brands even sell blond chocolate - if you can find some you won't even have to turn on your oven. 

More with blond chocolate: caramelized white chocolate and raspberry financiers

blond chocolate:

1- 2 bars of white chocolate

On a cookie sheet, roast white chocolate at 265°F. Every 5 minutes, take the sheet out and smoosh the chocolate around with a spatula or bench scraper. It will seize and go all grainy and weird, don't worry! That's fine. 

Roast until chocolate is a deep toffee colour, a bit like peanut butter. Cool until hardened. 

 hazelnut & blond chocolate crispies

adapted from the kitchn 

• 6 cups puffed cereal, any kind

• 6 tablespoons butter

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 4 cups mini marshmallows

• 3 tbs praline paste

• 1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

• 1/3 cup blond chocolate, chopped into chunks

• big pinch flaky salt

Butter a 9"x 13" pan, or line with parchment, if you are too lazy to wash a pan (I am!). 

In a large skillet, toast the cereal on medium heat until it smells fragrant and turns slightly darker in colour. Let cool in a large bowl.

Melt butter in a large pot and on low heat, add marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Add praline paste and vanilla and stir until evenly incorporated. Pour marshmallow mixture over toasted cereal and add hazelnuts and chocolate chunks. Stir until cereal is evenly coated in marshmallow goo and press into prepared tin. Sprinkle with flaky salt if you like. 

Let set for about an hour and cut into squares. 

super lemony cake with cream cheese frosting

I think cake is almost always way too sweet. Super sweet frosting without any obvious flavour other than slick, fatty, sweetness with the faintest whiff of a mirage of vanilla. I never liked super sweet cakes and I think  that's why I like to make cake. I want cake to be its best self. Floofy and light and flavourful and intense and not quite so damn sweet all at once. It is possible! This cake combats over sweetness in two ways: super tart and thick lemon curd, combined with extra strength lemon syrup soaked cake layers; and a fluffy, tangy whipped cream cheese frosting. 

Layering the lemon in syrup and curd gets this cake intensely lemony: zingy and tart and puckering and bright. It's a summer time, sunshiney cake. This frosting is a little different that other cream cheese frostings, it's whipped up with whipping cream. It makes a really fluffy and light frosting that is pipeable and holds it's shape beautifully. 

Note about amounts: This cake recipe makes at least twice as much as you will need for the petite cake I made here. Either extra freeze raw batter in mason jars (make sure to leave 1" of space at the top of the jar and freeze without lid, put the lid on after batter is frozen) for using later, or just double the frosting, syrup and curd amounts and make a mega cake! The frozen cake batter will work great thawed, more on this coming soon. Frozen cake batter will change your life. 

yellow cake: 

adapted from smitten kitchen

• 4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 2 cups sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

• 2 cups buttermilk (or two cups milk soured with a splash of lemon juice)

Heat oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of two 6" cake pans with parchment paper. 

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Cream butter and sugar together until light in colour. Add vanilla and eggs and beat to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl and eat again until well incorporated. 

On the lowest speed, beat in buttermilk. Add flour mixture in three additions. Hand mix with a spatula a little to avoid flour explosions. Scrape down bowl to make sure there are no unmixed spots. 

Reserve half the batter for another use. Divide remaining batter between two prepared 6" pans. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cakes and run a knife around the edge so they come out of the pan cleanly. 

lemon curd:

adapted from Martha Stewart

• 6 egg yolks

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

• zest from one lemon

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 cub cold butter, cubed

Combine yolks, lemon juice and rind, and sugar in a small saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from heat and stir in cubed butter, mixing until well combined. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, transfer to a glass jar and chill in the fridge until cool and very thick. The curd can be made several days in advance.

lemon syrup:

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Chill.

whipped cream cheese frosting:

adapted from Just a Taste

• 8 ounces cream cheese

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs whipping cream, chilled

• 1/2 vanilla bean innards, or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese until soft. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well incorporated. Whisking at a medium-high speed, pour whipping cream into mixer bowl in a slow stream. Frosting should become very fluffy. 

assembly:

Trim cakes as required to flatten the tops, I like to cut the side crusts off too to get nothing but the super fluffy middle cake. Drizzle lemon syrup generously over the cake layers and let soak in for a couple minutes. 

Place one cake layer on a 6" cake board if you have it, or a flat plate or cake stand. Cover cake with a very generous layer of curd, it should be quite thickly set so you can really pile it on without oozing over the edge. Leave a thin boarder of uncovered cake around the edge to make space for squishing when you add the next cake layer. Sandwich next cake layer on top and cool in the fridge around 15 minutes to set up, to help the curd not ooze out into your frosting. This is a good time to make the frosting. 

Frost the chilled cake quickly all over with an offset spatula, making sure to cover all exposed cake. Adding more frosting as you go, use an offset spatula, or bench scraper to tidy up and give the cake some nice clean angles. I used a cake comb to make the ridges along the side on the cake.  

Optional: decorate your cake with some sprinkles. You really should do it though, look how cute they are.

strawberry rhubarb financiers

Happy spring to you! Well, to those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, I don't want to be hemispherist. Happy Fall if you live on the southern half of the planet.  If you live at the equator, which seasons do you go with? Is it Spring, Fall? Neither? Both? I know that there are less dramatic seasonal changes on the equator, but still. What season is it?

Anyway, it's spring!  In this particular chunk of the Northern Hemisphere, cherry blossoms are blossoming in a comforting way, that signals that winter's grip on us has loosened and it won't last forever. And when spring comes, so does rhubarb. Seeing it growing in the garden fills is so hopeful; I love the alien little ball of anemic, pale and slightly slimy leaves, poking through the dirt. 

Financiers are little French almond teacakes. They are pretty casual and unfussy as far as French pattiserie goes. If you happen to be in Paris, or anywhere else with a Maison Kayser, I strongly recommend a bag of their pistachio financiers.  They are so buttery, so pistachio-y. I have tried, but never quite managed, to replicate their glorious pistachiosity. If you aren't currently in Paris, New York or Tokyo (boo) then you can make them at home. They are really easy to make, and they can easily convert to being gluten free with a flour swap, or use hazelnuts or pistachios in place of almonds if you prefer. These ones are are crispy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside and with lovely little strawberry rhubarb centres. 

More financiers: apple & hazelnut, raspberry & caramelized white chocolate

strawberry rhubarb compote: 

• 3 cups rhubarb, chopped

• 2 cups strawberries, quartered

• 1/3 cup sugar (or a bit more, to taste)

• 1 tsp vanilla

Cook all ingredients together over medium low heat, until rhubarb is falling apart. Strain liquid off the compote and set aside for another use, like a tasty spring cocktail. The compote and syrup can be stored in fridge for around a week, or in the freezer for a couple months. 

strawberry rhubarb financiers: 

adapted from cannelle et vanille

• 120 grams egg whites

• 125 grams sugar

• 55 grams all purpose flour or white rice flour

• 25 grams almond meal

• 30 grams hazelnuts, toasted and ground into meal

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 150 grams butter, melted and cooled (browning the butter will add extra nuttiness!)

• 1/2 cup strawberry rhubarb compote

Combine sugar, flour, nut meals and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add egg whites and stir to combine. Stir in butter, cover bowl with plastic wrap and age in the fridge overnight. 

Generously grease financier tins or muffin tins. Fill with batter; only about 1/2 inch high if you are using muffin tins, up to the brim if you are using financier tins. Put 2 tsp of compote in the centre of each financier. 

Bake at 375°F for about ten minutes, until the centres are set and the edges are browned. Cool and then run a knife around the edge of the tins and gently remove the financiers.

mini sticky toffee puddings

If you are casting around for a Christmas dessert, or what to serve at any upcoming holiday party, may I suggest mini sticky toffee puddings. Sticky toffee pudding is alchemy. It consists of a date cake soaked in a buttery toffee sauce, but the flavour combination transcends the fairly humble ingredients it's made from. It doesn't really have any showy, braggart ingredients, nothing hard to source or especially expensive. But the combination is almost magically greater than the sum of its parts. I'm not exaggerating, it's transcendent.

My family have been having STP as Christmas dessert for a few years and we have always made it in the traditional way, in a big pan. To increase toffee sauce-cake permeation I poked lots of holes in the cake with a skewer, hoping get the sauce really soaked in there. But I thought that creating a larger surface area for sauce contact would really help them get thoroughly sauced. I used a miniature bun to bake these and the little nooks and crannies really catch the toffee sauce.  If you don't have a mini bundt pan, use a muffin tin or a 8" round cake pan, increasing the baking time to around 50 minutes. 

Note: Both puddings and sauce freeze very well. Just reheat sauce and cakes when thawed in a 350° oven.  

Adapted from Martha Stewart

date cake

• 1/2 cup  butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and extra for the pans
• 8 ounces pitted dates, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter and flour the mini bundt pans or whichever pans you will use. Heat oven to 250° F.

Boil a kettle and combine chopped dates with 1/2 cup boiling water in a small bowl. Cover with a lid or plate and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. 

Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Blitz the soaked dates in a food processor until a chunky paste forms. Add flour mixture, date paste and vanilla to mixer bowl and mix on medium until just combined, making sure to scrape the bottom. 

Using an ice cream scoop fill bundt pans 2/3 of the way full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. I found that they released from the pan best when they were still hot. Wiggle a toothpick around the edge of the pans to help unstick them, and pull them gently away from the edge with your fingers once they are cool enough to not burn you. Once they are pretty loose, pry em out.

toffee sauce

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients over low heat in a small saucepan. Simmer about 10 minutes. 

To serve, pour warm sauce over mini puds, and add a little bit of cream or ice cream if you like. 

Photos: Tyrel Hiebert