A superior chocolate babka

If you’ve ever paid attention to the right-hand column on my blog, you’ll know that the post titled Chocolate Babka has been one of the most (if not THE most) popular post in the past several years. I think you’ll therefore be happy to know that the chocolate babka recipe I am about to share is far superior! It’s from Smitte Kitchen, where Deb Perelman has posted beautiful photos of each step if you need more details than I give here. (I also learnt the word “abstemious” in that post, although it should be said that what she wrote was actually that this babka is NOT abstemious, despite the smaller quantities of butter and chocolate compared to other popular recipes!) She adapted the recipe from chocolate krantz cakes by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, which may be a more accurate name for it (or at least, maybe it was when the cake was made their way, with chopped nuts, more syrup, and rolled into a longer rectangle before being rolled up). It’s worth noting that the chocolaty brioche that we call babka these days isn’t really babka at all – I don’t care what you call it, though, because this is delicious!

This babka is pretty simple to make (you can do it all in a day if you want, or prep it the day before and bake it the morning of). The egg and butter dough is tender and flavorful without being too sweet, so the syrup glaze at the end is a welcome addition, plus it makes everything look so much better! I also loved the filling, which was more of a chocolate paste than chopped chocolate, and therefore offered, shall we say, more even coverage. This recipes makes two loaves – we ate one right away and froze the second for later consumption.

For the dough
4 ¼ cups (530 g.) white all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
½ cup (100 g.) granulated sugar
2 tsp. instant yeast
grated zest of 1 small lemon or half an orange (I used the latter)
3 large eggs
½ cup water (cold is fine) and up to 1 to 2 Tbsp. extra, if needed
¾ tsp. fine sea or table salt
2/3 cup lactose-free butter (150 g. or 5.3 oz.) at room temperature
safflower oil or other neutral oil, for greasing

For the filling
4 ½ oz. (130 g.) dark chocolate (or approximately ¾ cup chocolate chips)
½ cup (120 g.) lactose-free butter, cold is fine
scant ½ cup (50 g.) powdered sugar
1/3 cup (30 g.) cocoa powder
¼ tsp. cinnamon (optional; I didn’t use it)

For the syrup
1/3 cup water
6 Tbsp. (75 g.) granulated sugar


For the dough
Combine the flour, sugar, yeast and zest in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer. Add eggs and ½ cup water, mixing with the dough hook until it comes together; this may take a few minutes. It’s okay if it’s on the dry side, but if it doesn’t come together at all, add extra water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a mass. With the mixer on low, add the salt, then the butter, a spoonful at a time, mixing until it’s incorporated into the dough. Then, mix on medium speed for 10 minutes until dough is completely smooth; you’ll need to scrape the bowl down a few times. If the dough doesn’t pull away from the sides of the bowl yet after 10 minutes, you can add 1 tablespoon extra flour to help this along.

Coat a large bowl with oil (or scrape the dough out onto a counter and oil this one) and place dough inside, cover with plastic and refrigerate. Leave in fridge for at least half a day, preferably overnight. (The dough will grow, but it will not double in size. Note that if you want this to be a single-day process, you should leave it out at room temperature for 3 hours to grow, then refrigerate it for 30 minutes, because the dough will be much easier to work with when it’s cold.)

For the filling
Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa; mixture should form a spreadable paste. Add cinnamon, if desired.

For assembly
Coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans with oil or butter, and line the bottom of each with a rectangle of parchment paper. Take half of dough from fridge (leave the other half chilled). Roll out on a well-floured counter to about a 10-inch width (the side closest to you) and as long in length (away from you) as you can when rolling it thin, likely 10 to 12 inches.

Spread half of chocolate mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border all around. Brush the end farthest away from you with water. Roll the dough up with the filling into a long, tight cigar. Seal the dampened end onto the log. Place the log on a lightly floured baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes, which will make the next step (cutting it in half) much, much easier. Repeat with second dough.

Trim last ½-inch off each end of log. Gently cut the log in half lengthwise and lay the halves next to each other on the counter, cut sides up. Pinch the top ends gently together. Lift one side over the next, forming a twist and trying to keep the cut sides facing out (because they’re pretty). Don’t worry if this step makes a mess, just transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. You can make an S shape with the dough and nestle the trimmed ends of the log in the gaps, but by the time the dough is done rising and baking, the gaps should be filled anyway, so don’t worry about that too much. Repeat the process with the second loaf. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise another 1 to 1 ½ hours at room temperature.

For baking the babkas and making the syrup
Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Remove towels, place each loaf on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30 minutes, but there’s no harm in checking for doneness at 25 minutes. A skewer inserted into an underbaked babka will feel stretchy/rubbery inside and may come back with dough on it. When fully baked, you’ll feel almost no resistance. If your babka needs more time, put it back, 5 minutes at a time, then re-test. If it browns too quickly, you can cover it with foil.

While babkas are baking, make the syrup. Bring sugar and water to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside to cool somewhat. As soon as the babkas leave the oven, brush the syrup all over each. It will seem like too much, but will taste just right — glossy and moist. Let cool about halfway in pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way before eating, if you can wait that long.

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

I keep trying new things for breakfast, bless my heart. Despite how healthful they sounded, chickpea, date and coconut triangles were not my thing, being too soft and a bit bland (I’m not sure whether adding chocolate chips would have saved them; as it was, I think the Fox was the only one who liked them).


I also made cranberry, orange, and white chocolate scones, which were in fact delicious (pieces of white chocolate ended up basically caramelizing in the oven and were the best part), but somehow I don’t have really good pictures.


So enter these fresh strawberry muffins. Because they contain fresh fruit, they don’t keep very well, so I preemptively froze most of them – and I can attest that those are delicious after 30 seconds or so in the microwave. These muffins are topped with cinnamon sugar, but I think you could swap the cinnamon for nutmeg or cardamom or omit it altogether. And you could probably use other berries, depending on what you have on hand. It’s a simple, versatile recipe!

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup lactose-free butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla
½ cup lactose-free milk
1 ½ cups chopped strawberries
3 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Grease a muffin pan or line the wells with paper liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Gently stir in strawberries.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Miyoko's vegan cheese

I’m not sure when I first heard of Miyoko’s, maybe a few years ago, but I’d had my eye open for a while in the vegan section at the grocery store. (Although, to be honest, I might have gotten sidetracked by Green Valley Organics’ lactose-free dairy offerings!) Miyoko’s make cultured nut cheeses, sometimes fermented, and that’s what gives their cheese the tang that is often missing from vegan offerings.

I first saw the vegan cheese wheels, which are essentially spreadable cheese. My Whole Foods doesn’t have all the flavors, but I tried Classic Double Cream Chive and Garlic Herb. I originally liked the latter the best, because the taste is strongest, but the Little Prince tasted them both and, while he doesn’t like the garlic one at all, he has declared the double cream chive to be his favorite cheese EVER and kept asking for more, so I bought another one. I found the cheese wheels to be a bit stiff (as is some spreadable dairy cheese, to be fair), but it was still possible to spread it on crackers, and I’m sure it would have been good on bagels, too. They are both made from a base of cashews, water, and coconut oil, with a little funk from rice miso and a lot of umami from nutritional yeast, but the double cream chive was definitely milder (I’m sure the other one left me with garlic breath, but as I was mostly eating it for lunch, I think only the Fox would have complained, and he can’t talk yet). It’s not quite the texture or flavor profile of the spreadable Boursin of my youth, which I still miss (the Boursin, not the… although… never mind), but it’s delicious.


Then I tried the Fresh Vegan Mozzarella, made mostly from water, coconut oil, cashews, and tapioca (see here for another review). I basically mixed these two recipes to make margherita pizza. This is by far the best vegan cheese I’ve had on a pizza! It’s super creamy, it melts, it browns… It’s a bit too soft to slices as cleanly as dairy mozzarella, but that could work in its favor because I think I would also use it instead of ricotta by mashing it up a little.


The products are obviously not nut-free, but all the regular product lines are gluten-free, only one product contains soy, and the company hopes to be certified kosher this year. And since it’s a vegan company, it’s lactose-free, too. It’s possible to buy their in Canada, according to their FAQ page (scroll down), though you might have to order them online. I’ll sure be buying them again!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This is a recipe for my mother’s pineapple upside-down cake. The original version was from a recipe book, but it doesn’t even matter which one, because she changed the recipe by adding an egg and completely changing the steps. I mean, as written, the directions have you mix the milk and egg into melted butter, and then mix that into a flour-sugar mixture; my mother makes it the more traditional way of creaming butter and sugar, adding eggs, then alternating the dry ingredients and milk to mix everything together. To be fair, I actually tried it once as written, because sometimes a really great cake comes from an unconventional method (see the definitive yellow layer cake), but this time it was a disaster. So as if often the case, mom was right all along. When I tried the cake her way, it was perfect. So here it is, pineapple upside-down cake.

12 Tbsp. lactose-free butter, at room temperature, divided
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup pineapple juice (just use what is in the can of pineapple rings)
5-6 whole pineapple rings (see note below)
1 ½ cups (215 g.) all-purpose white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
½ cup lactose-free milk

Preheat oven to 400 °F.

Put 4 Tbsp. butter in an 8” round pan and pop it into the oven for a minute or so, just until the butter melts. Remove the pan from the oven and mix in the brown sugar until dissolved, then add the pineapple juice. Arrange the pineapple rings in one layer in the pan; set aside. (All 5 rings fit on the perimeter of the pan, but if I had really tried, I might have been able to squeeze in a 6th ring in the center. Note that you could also do it the retro way and put maraschino cherries in the center of each ring.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the remaining 8 Tbsp. butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one by one. Mix half of the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing just until evenly combined. Carefully spoon the batter over the pineapples in the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, fruit side up, and let cool completely.

Housekeeping

The title of this post works on more than one level, as you’ll see below, though I didn’t mean it as a pun when I wrote it…

- On a whim, I decided to take a free online course at the University of Alberta titled Indigenous Canada, after reading about it here. It’s supposed to be a 12-week course requiring 3 to 5 hours a week, and I honestly don’t know where I’m going to find the time, but technically I’ve got 180 days to complete it and I really wanted to learn more about Canada’s First Nations, so there we are.

- I’ve had my genetic profile done on 23andMe.com. Most of it confirms what I already know, though I had more British/Irish DNA than I thought. I also have some Iberian DNA I did not know about (a chromosome 12, basically). What I particularly enjoy are the comparisons between my DNA relatives and the average 23andMe customer. For example, I am 67% less likely to drink instant coffee and 49% less likely to drink espresso drinks (I don’t drink coffee at all), but 23% more likely to think that cilantro tastes like soap (not true, I actually love cilantro). I am 50% less likely to be a vegetarian – technically true, though this doesn’t say anything about flexitarianism. I am 22% more likely to own a dog (I did have one and will probably have another eventually), and 21% more likely to have hair that becomes frizzy in humid weather (so true).

Another cool thing about 23andMe is that it can put you in touch with distant relatives. I found one who, after some digging, I identified as my third cousin twice removed (which means that he and my grandmother share a set of great-great-grandparents).

- Another thing that I really wanted was a digital way to create my family tree and preserve it online. I had pieces of paper with various branches of my family tree, but I wanted it all in one place, organized in a uniform manner, and viewable online. My friend Jen, who’s a bit of an expert at these things (see Jenealogy), recommended FamilySearch.Org, and I LOVE it! It’s a free service, which is important to those of us who are just dabbling in genealogy to begin with. There’s an option to add photos of ancestors if you have them, and you can write life sketches, add important dates and alternate names and job titles, etc. The really awesome thing, though, is that if one of your deceased ancestors is already in the database, you can just add him/her to your tree and then all their data, including *their* ancestors, gets added automatically! I was able to go back to the 1100s on one branch and the 1300s on another, and if that’s not amazing I don’t know what is. Granted, I have an advantage in that the Catholic Church in Quebec was very good about keeping records (birth, marriage, death), and Canada has enough census data to fill in some gaps. Plus, my ancestors were mostly from France and Great Britain/Ireland, whose records are usually searchable.

- I’ve been on a decluttering kick lately. The Engineer and I finally whittled down our CD collection so that we could get rid of his CD tower and put all of our CDs in my bookcase (a short three-shelf Billy bookcase from Ikea with their CD inserts, which are now discontinued), thereby saving a bit of space. It made me think of people who are so minimalist that they own only 100 things. I had linked to this article several years ago (it explores the correlation between minimalism and happiness), though I think the process as it is mainstreamed today (the 100 things challenge) was popularized by David Bruno. Let me tell you right now: I don’t believe this is achievable for me. Maybe millennials have an easier time if they haven’t come of age at a time when people bought physical copies of media items like music, movies and books, if they only ever had digitals copies of those to begin with. Maybe if the Engineer and I were childless and lived in a small studio apartment in New York City where we never entertain, we could do 100 things each, but even then it would be a struggle. Add the fact that we live in a suburban house with a yard and two-car garage, that we have kids, that I’m sentimental about (too) many things… It’s just not realistic. What *would* be realistic, though, would be GETTING RID of 100 things. I figured I could get rid of 100 things in the first 100 days of the year.

Except, as I said, I had already started decluttering my music collection, and I had a bunch of CDs in my “maybe” pile (as in, “maybe I’ll be able to let it go once I make a digital copy of it” or “maybe if I listen to it again I’ll realize I don’t like it that much anymore” – only a handful of those made it back into my collection). I hadn’t counted how many items were in that pile, but I knew that given those, it wouldn’t be a big challenge getting rid of 100 things (I ended up getting rid of an even 60 CDs and cassette tapes). So I’m now trying to get rid of 365 things this year. It’s more of a goal than a resolution, and I’m hoping not to make myself crazy with the exact number when it comes down to it. (Some people do recommend doing the challenge without counting.)

I’ve decided that I am not counting food items, toiletries, anything meant to be single-use/disposable, digital files, or monthly magazines from subscriptions. I am also not counting things that I am replacing. (So, for example, if I get rid of a sweater because I’m decluttering, then I’ll count it, but if I buy a new sweater and end up getting rid of an old sweater to make room for it, I won’t count it. Fair?) There are some things I’m not sure how I’ll count – like if I get rid of a bunch of papers I’d been holding on to for years, is each sheet of paper one item? Or is a collection of papers a single item, regardless of how much I whittle it down? I’ll figure it out when I get there, I guess. I am counting sets as single items, though. I’m also not sure how to count baby clothes. In theory, those are baby items, not mine, but I’m sure you’ll agree that my baby doesn’t yet feel any sense of ownership over onesies he’s outgrown! Those are really my responsibility, so it seems like they should count. But a single onesie being one item makes it too easy – I might make sets to sell or donate and count each set as a single item.

So anyway, without counting any of the baby clothes, on this 100th day of the year, I have gotten rid of 124 items (though some are on eBay, Nextdoor, or Vinted and haven’t sold yet, or are in a bag that I have yet to take to my chosen donation center). This fall I’ll tackle my books (because the Engineer wants me to make room for more of his in the bookcase, as more than half of the titles there are mine – he says it isn’t fair, I say he knew what he was getting into when he married me, but I can compromise because that’s what partners do). I’ll also do another big clean out of my closet, because by then I’ll be out of the maternity clothes for good, and I have to say I’m really looking forward to getting my “real” clothes back. I’ll report back on my progress later in the year.

Maple Bacon Scones

I know I just said that I like eating muffins for breakfast, but perhaps what draws me to them isn’t so much their muffiness as it is the fast that they are portable breakfast pastries, ideally with some heft to them (whole grains or otherwise); plus, I can make them ahead of time. That is probably why I also like scones, and maple-bacon is always a winning combination! These were originally more savory scones, but I went easy on the onion powder and pepper and, in hindsight and in the recipe below, I’m reducing the amount of salt. I used coconut milk instead of the cream. I loved the result, and the Engineer called them “frickin’ good.” I’ll be making these again!

2 cups (260 g.) all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. black pepper (or a bit less)
½ tsp. onion powder (or a bit less)
½ cup lactose-free butter, cold and cubed
1 cup cooked, finely chopped crispy bacon
¼ cup maple syrup
¾ cup lactose-free cream or coconut milk, plus additional for brushing

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, pepper, and onion powder (I always do this and the next step in a food processor, as it’s so much faster). Use a pastry cutter or the back of two forks to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until pea-sized clumps are throughout. Stir in the bacon. Combine the maple syrup and the cream in a separate bowl and then stir into the dry ingredients, just until evenly incorporated. If a lot of dry ingredients remain in the bottom of the bowl you can add an additional tablespoon of cream, but be sure to not add too much liquid.

Pat the dough out in a ¾” thick circle and place the dough round on a parchment lined baking pan in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 °F.

Once the dough is chilled, cut the dough into 8 wedges but leave the circle of pieces together. Use a pastry brush to brush a thin layer of whipping cream over the scones. Bake in the oven until golden brown around the edges of each scone, about 35 minutes.

Pink Velvet Cupcakes

I made two kinds of cupcakes recently. One was very pretty: chocolate cupcakes with blood orange glaze. But they weren’t that different from what I usually make, so I’ve decided it doesn’t warrant its own post.


The other recipe, Paleo pink velvet cupcakes from Civilized Caveman Cooking, made less than photogenic cupcakes in my case. There was originally a maple vanilla frosting, but when I made it, it was a complete disaster and was nothing like the pictures in the original post, so I’m not sharing that recipe (and pardon the unappetizing photo). The cupcakes themselves, however, were surprisingly good! I’d definitely make that recipe again, just with another frosting.

Note that this recipes makes 10 cupcakes, not the typical 12.

¾ cup tapioca flour
½ cup coconut flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. beet powder
1 pinch of salt
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup maple syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Prepare a muffin pan by lining 10 of the wells with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together tapioca flour, coconut flour, baking powder, beet powder and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer or large bowl, mix together coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla extract. Slowly mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture, ¼ cup at a time, until well mixed. (I think that since there’s no gluten in this, you can’t really overmix.)

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each well 2/3 of the way. Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through (a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean). Let cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Beet Cake with Blood Orange Frosting

I made two different desserts that called for mixing (or hiding, depending on your point of view) beets in chocolate. Real Simple’s dark chocolate beet cookies were okay (once I added enough buckwheat flour to change the runny batter into a dough suitable for cookies, that is!); the recipe made 2 dozen cookies that were good as a snack, not too sweet, but they were best eaten within a day or two.


The other recipe was this chocolate beet cake with blood orange frosting. The cake was crisp on the outside and moist on the inside; I really enjoyed it, though I’m reducing the amount of salt below. I baked my beets for two and a half hours before giving up, because they still weren’t quite as tender as I would have liked them, but the cake turned out fine. The frosting also came out too liquid, despite my using 2 cups of powdered sugar where I should have needed only ¼ cup – it was more of a glaze than a frosting. It still came out very pretty, but I’m wondering whether I’ve completely lost my hand at making frosting with real butter, after using the only lactose-free option I had for so long. Next time I make this, I might use beet powder to color the frosting instead of beet and blood orange juice, and just omit the citrus from the recipe altogether. I’ll write down the instructions for the frosting as they appeared in the original recipe, but keep that in mind.

For the cake
3 - 4 medium beets
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. fine sea salt
3 eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the frosting
4 oz. lactose-free cream cheese, at room temperature
8 Tbsp. lactose-free butter, at room temperature
¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted (see note above)
1 pinch fine sea salt
1 Tbsp. beet juice squeezed from reserved grated beets (see note above)
1 tsp. blood orange zest plus 1 Tbsp. juice plus several blood orange wedges for garnish (see note above)
beet powder (see note above)

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Remove beet greens and scrub beets. Arrange beets in a small baking dish, add ½-inch cold water and cover tightly with foil. Bake until beets are fork tender, 50 - 60 minutes, depending on size (see note above). Use caution when lifting foil as the steam plume will be very hot. Drain hot water and set beets aside to cool. Under cold running water, rub peel off with fingers or use a peeler. Trim beets. Beets can be prepped ahead to this point and refrigerated until needed.

When ready to make the cake, preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and dust with cocoa powder or use a baking spray.

Grate enough of the cooked beets to make 1 ¼ cups. Reserve ¼ cup grated beets to color frosting.

In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda, and sea salt.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs and sugar on low speed for 4 minutes. Add grated beets and vanilla and mix until incorporated. With mixer still on low, fold in half the flour mixture, all of the olive oil, and then the remaining flour. Mix just until everything is well combined.

Spoon into prepared pan and slide into oven. Bake 65 - 75 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Cool cake on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then carefully unmold and set on wire rack to cool completely.

To make frosting, beat cream cheese on low speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl for 3 minutes. Add the butter and beat 3 minutes more, scraping down sides as needed. Sift in powdered sugar, add sea salt, and beat 4 minutes longer, scraping down sides as needed. Add blood orange juice and zest, and beat until well incorporated. Add beet juice a little at a time, until the desired color is achieved. (As I said, consider using only beet powder instead of any juice, to achieve the desired color and keep the frosting more solid.)

Frost cooled cake and garnish with blood orange segments. Cake and frosting can both be made ahead (frosting should be refrigerated); set cold frosting on counter to warm slightly before frosting cake.

Pommes de terre rattes rôties et trempette bacon-cheddar

Une autre recette de Marie-Ève Laforte sur Fraîchement Pressé! J’étais contente de trouver un sac de pommes de terre rattes de toutes les couleurs pour faire cette recette. J’étais sûre que ça allait être bon – honnêtement, c’est dur de se tromper avec des pommes de terre, du bacon, de la crème sure et du fromage! (J’ai omis la sauce sriracha et le piment fort, quand même, mais c’est selon mes goûts.) Et en effet, c’était absolument délicieux! J’ai servi le tout avec de la dinde en saumure, mais ce serait aussi une excellente entrée ou collation. L’Ingénieur a qualifié ce repas de « cinq étoiles » et m’a demandé de le refaire!

1-2 lb. de pommes de terre rattes (j’en avais 1 ½ lb.)
2 c. à soupe d’huile d’olive
1 c. à thé de poudre d’ail
1 c. à thé de poudre d’oignon
1 c. à thé de paprika
sel et poivre, au goût
1 tasse de crème sure sans lactose
½ tasse de fromage à la crème sans lactose
2 oignons verts émincés
6-8 tranches de bacon cuites, refroidies, en morceaux
1 tasse de cheddar sans lactose râpé

Préchauffer le four à 400 °F.

Laver et couper les pommes de terre en deux sur la longueur. Dans un grand bol, mélanger les pommes de terre avec l’huile d’olive et les épices; saler et poivrer au goût. Bien répartir sur une plaque de cuisson recouverte de papier d’aluminium. Faire cuire jusqu’à ce que les pommes de terre soient croustillantes, environ 20 à 25 minutes.

Dans un autre bol, mélanger la crème sure et le fromage à la crème avec une spatule jusqu’à consistance lisse. Saler et poivrer au goût. Ajouter le bacon, le cheddar et les oignons verts au mélange (si désiré, conserver un peu de chaque ingrédient pour garnir le dessus de la trempette). Servir avec les pommes de terre!

Brined Turkey Breast

I decided to take my leftover raw turkey out of the freezer and make this recipe from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (which I talked about here). It was originally a spicy brined turkey breast, but I used a small amount of Korean pepper instead of the large amounts of stronger peppers called for (the version below is mine); I also adapted it to the 3 pieces of boneless, skinless turkey breasts I had. I also did not leave my turkey at room temperature for 2 hours because, you know, salmonella.

The turkey this brine produced was moist and flavorful and easily the best tasting turkey I had ever had! I was blown away by this recipe, actually, and declare it fantastic. The Engineer actually called it magnificent. I served it with fingerling potatoes and bacon-cheddar dip, which the Engineer called a five-star meal and asked me to please make it again.

2/3 cup kosher salt or 7 Tbsp. (3 ¾ oz.) fine sea salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 garlic head, halved crosswise
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1 tsp. Korean pepper
1 lemon
6 bay leaves
1 boneless skin-on turkey half breast, about 3 ½ lbs.
Extra-virgin olive oil

Place the salt, sugar, garlic, peppercorns, and Korean pepper in a large pot with 4 cups water. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the lemon zest, then halve the lemon. Squeeze the juice into the pot, then add the lemon halves and zest. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, stirring from time to time. When the salt and sugar have dissolved, remove from the heat and add 8 cups cold water. Allow the brine to cool to room temperature. Submerge the turkey breast in the brine and refrigerate overnight, or up to 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425 °F. Set a large cast iron pan or other ovenproof skillet on the stove over high heat. Once it’s hot, add a tablespoon of olive oil, then place the breast in the pan, skin side down. Reduce the flame to medium-high and brown the breast for 4 or 5 minutes, until the skin starts to take on some color. Use tongs to flip the breast so it’s skin side up and slip the pan into the oven, pushing it as far back as it will go. (This is the hottest spot in the oven, and the initial blast of heat will ensure the turkey browns well.)

Cook the turkey until it registers 150 °F at its thickest point, about 25-35 minutes. Remove it from the oven and the pan, and allow to rest at least 10 minutes before slicing across the grain.

Quelqu'un a dit chocolat?

- J’ai essayé les chocolats forestiers de Couleur Chocolat. Les saveurs étaient très intéressantes : sapin baumier, carvi sauvage et panais, peuplier baumier, myrique baumier, puis algues. La présentation était jolie, et j’ai trouvé ça très original comme façon de présenter les saveurs du terroir québécois!


- J’ai enfin essayé quelques barres de chocolat Fruition, réputé pour être l’un des meilleurs au pays (il est fait dans l’État de New York). Et je suis d’accord! Il s’agit d’excellent chocolat couverturier éthique, avec une texture crémeuse et un goût raffiné. J’ai acheté le Marañón Canyon Dark 76%, l’Hispaniola Dark 68% et le Dark Milk with Flor de Sal, ce dernier étant mon préféré. Si j’en vois des barres en magasin, je récidive, c’est certain! Il contient des produits laitiers, mais dans les barres que j’ai essayées, la quantité était assez petite que je n’ai pas eu de problème.


- Aussi, nettement moins classe mais quand même satisfaisant, le Chocolove Salted Almond Butter in Dark Chocolate, un chocolat européen avec une saveur américaine. Délicieux! Il y a même une note recommandant de le déguster à 70 °F (mais de l’entreposer entre 55 °F et 65 °F) – j’avoue que j’ai tout fait à la température de la pièce, sans mesurer!


- Pis bon, autant en parler, même si je n’ai pas documenté le tout en photos : j’ai essayé la boîte de 10 morceaux Mostly Dark de Bon Bon Bon, une entreprise de chocolat artisanal de Détroit. Si vous voulez essayer, je recommande fortement cette option, car il y a des dizaines de saveurs du moment qui ne sont pas offertes en ligne à la carte. Bémol : l’emballage, qui se veut original, présente le problème de laisser passer plein de miettes de chocolat à l’extérieur, et ce, même si chaque morceau est emballé individuellement dans la boîte. Vraiment poche! Par contre, les chocolats sont à la fois magnifiques et délicieux!
Sur la photo, il s’agit d’une ganache de chocolat blanc infusée à la rose et épicée au poivre blanc, dans une coquille de chocolat noir. Il y avait aussi des saveurs comme chili et cannelle, beignes et café, praline à la noisette et ganache au miel, figues et épices ou encore douglas vert. Aussi bons qu’originaux! D’accord, ça revient cher, c’est donc un petit luxe que je ne pense pas me payer de nouveau, mais j’ai beaucoup aimé l’expérience.


- J’ai aussi goûté au chocolat au lait sans lactose de Valor, qui contient du lait de vache et de la lactase. J’ai trouvé ça correct, et j’adore avoir l’option de chocolat au lait sans lactose, mais avec une teneur en cacao de 35 %, c’était un peu trop fade et sucré pour moi.


- Un autre chocolat que j’aime beaucoup est le Divine Dark Chocolate with Pink Himalayan Salt. Tout comme c’était le cas du Green & Black’s Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt (mon équivalent de tous les jours), il s’agit d’un chocolat équitable, à la différence que pour celui-ci, les gens qui font la récolte du cacao sont copropriétaires des plantations. Je me rends compte en comparant les deux étiquettes que le Divine est en fait plus sucré, mais pourtant, on jurerait le contraire, alors qu’il contient 60 % de cacao contre les 70 % du Green & Black’s. Il contient aussi moins de gras et de fer, mais plus de fibres. C’est quand même un peu moins calorique par portion. Toutes choses faites, je l’aime autant et j’en achète de temps en temps quand je passe chez Whole Foods. (Pour les intéressés, il ne contient pas d’huile de palme, mais pourrait avoir été en contact avec du soya, du blé ou des noix. Il y a aussi un avertissement comme quoi il contient du lait, mais je ne vois pourtant pas de produits laitiers dans la liste des ingrédients!)

Citrus and Yogurt Cake

It’s the tail end of citrus season, but take heart: here’s a citrus cake that can be made year-round with lemon and orange. I’m sure you could experiment with it and use Meyer lemons and Cara-Cara oranges during citrus season, but really, it’s delicious with what is available in supermarkets all the time. This cake is gluten-free, but I’m pretty sure you could substitute an equal amount (in weight) of all-purpose flour and get good results, too. The glaze is optional, but I recommend it. This cake was wonderful! We give it three thumbs up. The recipe is from Cannelle et Vanille; the original post suggests adding rose water to the cake and dried rose petals on top of the glaze, and I might do that next time.

For the citrus and yogurt cake
1 cup (140 g.) superfine brown rice flour
½ cup (50 g.) almond flour
¼ cup (30 g.) tapioca starch or cornstarch
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 ¼ cup (250 g.) natural cane sugar
2 tsp. finely grated orange zest
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
12 Tbsp. or 1 ½ sticks (170 g.) lactose-free butter, room temperature
½ cup lactose-free Greek-style whole-milk yogurt
3 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Prepare a 9”x5” loaf pan by greasing it with soft butter or non-stick cooking spray (I also lined it with paper). Set aside.

Whisk together the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Mix the sugar, orange and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer. Rub the sugar and zest between your fingers to release their natural oils, making it more fragrant. Add the soft butter to the bowl and with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar mixture together on medium high speed for 2 minutes until light and creamy. Make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as well as the paddle to make sure all the butter is well mixed.

Add the yogurt and mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time while mixing in between additions. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again to get a very smooth mixture. Add the vanilla extract and the dry ingredients. Mix until combined and smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is done in the center. To see if the cake is done, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and if it comes out dry and clean, the cake is done. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then invert it onto the cooling rack and let it cool for another 15 minutes or so. We want to glaze the cake when it’s room temperature but not too cold.

For the citrus glaze
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
½ tsp. lemon zest
½ tsp. orange zest
2 to 4 Tbsp. lemon juice

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth (start with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and see if it needs more). The glaze should be thick yet pourable.

Pour the glaze over the cake while it is still on the cooling rack. Collect the glaze under the cooling rack and pour it over the sides of the cake. Let the glaze set for a few minutes before cutting into the cake.

Chickpea Vegetable Quiche

I tried this quiche recipe, which happens to be both vegan and soy-free. Honestly, it’s probably more of a vegetable tart than a quiche, but just go with it. I used store-bought pie dough, which tends to be relatively shallow (just like the tart pan called for in the original recipe), but I ended up splitting the vegetables between the two plates and doubling the batter recipe to make two quiches; those are the amounts below. I put one in the freezer at the time and pulled it out again for dinner last night – I can confirm that it freezes well, so don’t hesitate to make two (otherwise, you could make a bigger one in a deep pie plate and bake it longer).

I really liked this, as I found it a more-than-palatable way to eat a lot of vegetables; that being said, I’d serve it more as a hearty side (as I did last night) or a light lunch than as a main course for dinner.

2 store-bought plated pie doughs
1 medium zucchini, chopped into half-rounds
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped into short, thin strips (I sliced it further into squares)
½ cup peas, fresh or frozen and thawed
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chickpea flour
2 Tbsp. potato starch (I used corn starch)
4 tsp. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried sage (I omitted it)
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. baking powder
2 cups vegetable stock or water
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 °F.

Blind bake your plated pie doughs for 10-15 minutes, just to help them set up and get very, very light brown. Set aside to cool.

For the filling, toss your chopped veggies, scallions, and minced garlic together to achieve an even distribution of everything, and then transfer it into your par-baked crusts.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, potato starch, nutritional yeast, salt, herbs, spices, and baking powder. Pour in the vegetable stock or water and oil, and whisk until smooth. (It should be about the consistency of pancake batter.) Pour this batter on top of your vegetables in the tart shells, making sure to fill all of the gaps. Lightly tap the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for 45 – 55 minutes, until the filling appears set and lightly golden brown on top. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. (It’s also great at room temperature.)

Crumb Muffins

I’m a creature of habit. One of my favorite breakfast foods is muffins. Well, I also really like oatmeal, but the last recipe I tried (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate baked oatmeal) was only okay, not great. So I went back to muffins, and since the Engineer is drinking Soylent most mornings and the Little Prince is in a phase where he doesn’t like blueberries, I made a blueberry muffin for one, but it just served to remind me that I don’t like microwaved mug muffins!

Then I made banana chocolate chip crumb muffins, which should have been great, but were really underwhelming. That being said, I had about half of the topping mixture left, and because it contains lactose-free butter (which is like gold around here), I really didn’t want it to go to waste. So I made a batch of the original recipe, the bakery-style crumb muffins, and those were fantastic! I’m not sure how the plain version was so much better than the banana chocolate chip variation, but there you have it. I’m reducing the amount of topping below, so that you don’t end up with way too much, but do try to use lactose-free butter instead of margarine sticks, it’ll make a difference here. These muffins freeze beautifully.

For the crumb topping
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt
5 Tbsp. lactose-free butter, melted and cooled
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp. cake flour

For the muffins
2 ½ cups cake flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. (6 oz.) lactose-free butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup buttermilk (lactose-free milk with a splash of lemon juice)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup powdered sugar (optional; I didn’t use it)

Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 °F. Line a standard 12-well muffin tin with paper liners, or coat the wells with butter or cooking spray; set aside.

To make the crumb topping, whisk the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl. Whisk in the butter until well-combined (the trick here is to avoid over-mixing, as this will turn chunks of topping into finer crumbs). Stir in the flour until the mixture is just combined (again, don’t over-mix – you want nuggets, not sand!), with thick, wet chunks; set aside.

To make the muffins, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl; set aside.

Whisk the butter, buttermilk, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until just combined; some lumps are fine.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin wells, filling each one ¾ of the way full. Divide the reserved crumbs among the muffin wells, and gently press them into the batter.

Bake until the muffins are golden-brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Cool the muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Dust the muffins with the powdered sugar just before serving.

Chocolate Pumpkin Magic Cake

Since canned pumpkin is available year-round, I don’t feel like this cake is particularly seasonal. That being said, I suppose it would make a great dessert for Thanksgiving! It’s another one of the “magic cakes” where different layers form during baking. In this version, though, the pumpkin pie filling is deposited on top of the chocolate cake batter, but then it sinks to the bottom and therefore switches places with the chocolate cake. That didn’t happen in my case, or at least not cleanly across the entire confection, but the cake was delicious nonetheless. I used Cocowhip for the topping – it was too runny when I made it, but after a night in the fridge, it had set up properly and at that point, I could have topped the whole cake with it, but I continued to dollop it on each individual piece as I was serving it. Note also that for once, to make my life easier, I did use a boxed mix for the cake, since that’s what the recipe actually called for and I wasn’t sure what recipe to make to end up with the same amounts. So anyway, it made the process easier. Instead of evaporated milk, I used sweetened condensed coconut milk. We all loved this cake!


For the cake
1 box of devil's food cake mix PLUS ingredients needed to make (eggs, water, oil)

For the pumpkin pie filling
1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin purée
½ cup evaporated milk substitute (see note above)
½ cup lactose-free cream or coconut milk
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I always make my own)

For the topping
1 (4-serving size) box vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup cold lactose-free milk
8 oz. Cool Whip equivalent (I used Cocowhip, but see note above), thawed
4 or 5 gingersnap cookies, crushed into crumbs

For the cake and pumpkin pie filling
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9”x13” cake pan.

Prepare box of cake mix according to package instructions, then pour into prepared cake pan. DO NOT BAKE – set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the pumpkin pie filling until smooth. Slowly pour the pumpkin pie mixture all over the cake mix.

Carefully place cake into the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the center is no longer jiggly, and a toothpick inserted into cake mix comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature.

For the topping
Place the vanilla pudding mix into a large bowl and pour in the cold milk. Whisk until combined and starting to thicken. Gently fold in the Cool Whip until it's completely combined. (In my case, it was better after setting up in the fridge for a day – this can absolutely be prepared in advance.) Spread on top of the cooled cake then sprinkle with the crushed gingersnap cookies.

The cake can be served now, or chilled, over the next few days.