I made rugelach for the first time a few months ago. Since then I haven’t  been able to stop thinking of  all the delicious fillings you could make them with. This time I used pumpkin, spices, pepitas and raisins. They were so good. Not overly sweet….although if that’s what you are going for you could easily toss in some extra sugar.

The Dough

• 4oz cold cream cheese, cut into tbsp sized pats
• 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp sized pats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• confectioners sugar for dusting table

The Filling

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2tbsp sugar
• 2tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup pepitas, whole or chopped

Egg Wash

• 1 egg, beaten + 1 tbsp water

To make the dough-

1. remove the butter and cream cheese from the fridge. Let stand for 10-15 minutes or so.
2. add the flour and salt to your for processor and give a quick pulse.
3. add the cream cheese and butter. Pulse just enough to incorporate the ingredients, you want large crumbly chunks. Do not over do it!
4. divide the dough into 2 balls. flatten into disks, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper.
5. refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

To assemble-

1. when the dough has chilled, remove the first disk from the refrigerator and let sit for a few minutes.
2. dust the work area with confectioners sugar then roll out the dough into a 12 inch circle.
3. spread half of the pumpkin mixture evenly over the dough.
4. mix together the sugar, spices and salt.
5. sprinkle with a little less than half of the sugar/spice mixture.
6. top with half of the raisins and pepitas.
7. using a knife or pastry cutter, cut the dough into 16 triangles.
8. roll up each triangle, starting with the wide end of the triangle.
9. place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
10. refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
11. repeat with the second disk of dough.
12. preheat the oven to 350.
13. brush the cookies with the egg wash.
14. sprinkle with the remaining sugar/spice mixture.
15. bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

*tip-to prevent the bottoms from browning too quickly I like to double up my baking sheets!

Alternative fillings-

• favourite jam(not too runny),nuts of choice
• caramel, chocolate chips and shredded coconut
• chocolate hazelnut spread and toasted nuts
• apricot jam, almonds and mixed dried fruit
• butterscotch, raisins and pecans

This beautiful cherry clafoutis has been on my “to make” list longer than cherries have been in season. Lucky for me I procrastinated long enough that I was able to snatch up a beautiful basket of Cherries at the local farmers market to use in this simple and delicious dessert.

Serves 8

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2/3 cup of sugar, divided
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp, almond extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups of cherries, pitted – you can leave them whole or halve them
• powdered sugar, for topping
• lemon, juice for topping

In your blender add the milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Blend. Pour 1/4 inch of the batter into a buttered medium-sized cast iron skillet ( or any oven safe skillet ). Bake until a thin layer begins to set, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the oven cover with a layer of cherries. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar over the cherries. Evenly pour on the remaining batter. Bake for 45 minutes or until nicely browned and puffed.

To serve: Let cool slightly. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy!

*Adapted barely  from Julia Childs  Cherry Clafoutis

3 cups sliced radishes

1 cup red onion, sliced in half moons

3 cloves garlic, lightly crush with the side of a knife

1 jalapeno pepper, halved length wise

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp honey

1 -1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cold water

In a non-reactive pot, heat the vinegar, sugar, honey and salt over medium heat. Stir until the sugar and salt has dissolved. Stir in the water. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Place the radishes, red onions, garlic and jalapeno in a medium sized jar. Pour the brine (vinegar mixture) over the radish mixture, making sure the radishes are totally submerged in the liquid. Refrigerate. You can eat as early as 1 hour later but I would wait a min of 4 hours but ideally I would wait and let them soak over night. These should last up to one month in the fridge ( as long as the mixture remains totally submerged in the brine )

*Note: There are a million ways to enjoy our pickled friends. Here are a few of my faves- serve in salads, on top of rice dishes, tacos or on sandwiches.

 Recipe makes about 12 small/medium pancakes

5 cups of shredded vegetable, I used a mixture of red and green cabbage, carrot and brussel sprouts

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded 

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tbsp worcester sauce

1/2 cup cold water

safflower oil or canola, for frying

In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a large bowl add the shredded vegetable, scallions and chicken. Now add the flour mixture and toss with your fingers until evenly distributed. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, water and worcester. Pour the wet ingredients into the cabbage mixture. Gently mix together ( do not over mix ). Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with oil and warm over medium heat. Make about 3-4 pancakes evenly spread apart, each one should be about 2 tbsp of batter. Slightly flatten with a spatula. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side or until they are cooked through and have a nice crispy brown outer layer.

Okonomiyaki Sauce:

1/4 ketchup

1 1/2 tbsp worcester sauce

1/4 tsp dijon mustard

1 bsp rice wine ( for cooking )

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp honey

1/8 tsp ground ginger

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 3-5 minutes until smooth and thick. Sauce recipe courtesy from Smitten Kitchen

Sriracha mayo:

1/4 cup mayo

1 1/2 tsp sriracha

Other toppings:

toasted sesame seeds

scallions, thinly sliced 

To serve:

Spread a bit of the okonomiyaki sauce on the pancakes and top with mayo and some toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

*Want to mix it up a bit? try adding any of the following to your pancakes

Kale, shredded

zucchini, shredded

baby prawns

bacon

fish

This is how Poppy and I spent our morning…..Enjoy!

for the cookies:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature

1 cup organic granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 orange, 1 1/2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

2 cups self rising flour, (if you don’t have self rising flour on hand you can use  all purpose flour + 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)

preheat oven to 350. In a stand mixer on medium-high, cream together the butter slowly adding the sugar. Add the egg then the orange juice and vanilla. Reduce speed to med-low and gradually add the flour. Mix until combined ( do not over mix ); separate the dough into two disks and wrap with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. On a well floured surface roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch in thickness. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many hearts as you can! Place the hearts on a parchment lined baking sheet and toss in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Remove from th freezer and bake for 10 minutes or until the bottoms and edges are begining to brown slightly.

For the Icing:

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tbsp meringue powder

1/4 cup water, room temp

1/2 tsp oil free vanilla extract, make sure there is no oil or it will ruin the icing!

pinch of cream of tartar

In the bowl of your stand mixer add the sugar, meringue powder and cream of tartar. Mix together using the paddle attachment. Add the extract to the water and slowly add it to the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed for about 5-6 minutes ( it should at this point be thick like pudding ) then up the speed to high for another 3-4 minutes or until stiff and fluffy like meringue (make sure you do not over mix! Regardless of how long you have been mixing STOP as soon the peaks form or in other words it becomes stiff)

*note: if this all seems like far more time and effort than you wanted to spend making valentine cookies,  you can alway buy pre-made white cookie icing it’s super easy to use, you don’t need a piping bag….way less clean up annnd you don’t have to let them set overnight! hmmmm that sounds pretty good lol

To decorate:

pipe the outline of a heart inside each cookie then flood with icing; if you don’t know how to flood cookies with icing check out this tutorial on sweetsugarbelle. Once you have flooded your cookies, let them set overnight. Using a food marker decorate the iced parts of the hearts. These make the perfect little valentine. Share the love! x0

I wanted to make Poppy a mini birthday cake that she would smash to bits and then devour because she loved it soooo much. Because of this I spent a long time searching for the perfect recipe. I wanted it to be healthy but also super yummy. I got a lot of flack from family and friends all of whom shook their heads at me in disapproval: ” it’s her first cake – make it a REAL cake,” they all said. I had a very different take on the subject. I knew for a fact I could make a healthy and delicious cake for Poppy without using a ton of crap. Also if Poppy has never eaten a sugar filled cake before she would never know the difference. I settled on this cake from Hellobee but struggled finding a healthy icing recipe that would be able to hold its form when piped ( I really wanted the cake to be pretty ). After a lot of internal struggling (lol) I decided to make a healthy cake with a regular cream cheese frosting

The party started at 4:30 and as the guests were flooding into our home I stood in the kitchen frantically trying to ice the cake. After spreading on the first bit of icing I tried to change my mind and toss the icing I had made and quickly whip up the healthy icing I had been looking at but my mother quickly talked some sense into me – ” dont be ridiculous, you are not throwing out all of this icing – just ice the cake”. So as our guests began to flow through the kitchen saying their hello’s I frantically iced Poppy’s cake…it was by far the fastest icing job I have ever done and it looked it… kind of defeating the reason I chose the sugary icing in the first place.

In the end non of this mattered. Poppy would not touch the cake. She hated the icing on her fingers and rather than licking the little bits off that we had to put on her fingers, she made mommy and daddy lick it off. It was a win win. No sugar ended up in her tummy and the next day I was able to do a beautiful photo shoot with Poppy and her cake! oh and after the photo shoot was over the grownups got to devour this delicious cake;)

*note:  I really wanted to start a few small but meaningfull/funny birthday traditions. This little pink hat is one of them. This hat is now Poppy’s birthday hat. Every year we will take photos of her in the hat….I’m sure you can see how this is going to become funnier and funnier as she grows. You’re welcome.

I love baking but this year I am tired. I am so tired I didn’t even bake a cake or make donuts for my twin sister Danie on her birthday! I honestly can’t remember the last time I didn’t bake for her. I feel awful but I honestly did not have the time or energy this year to bake for Danie annnd my Husband (whose birthday happens to be the day after ours) sooo I had to choose. I chose to make a cake for Kegan with the promise to Dan that I would make her the donuts and the tart she had asked for on a later date.. just not on her birthday. I will make them on a weekend when I have nothing to do but to take my time baking for Dan. This year Kegan’s Birthday was on a Monday so I spent the day with Poppy on my hip baking this strawberry and cream cake for Daddy. The batter may have been a little overmixed making the cake about half the height it was meant to be but I swear it was still delicious.  It definitely was not my best cake but I think given the fact that I had a very cranky babe glued to me I would say it was pretty darn good!

*Recipe from gracessweetlife

BUTTER CAKE:

- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

- 1/2 cup white sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp almond extract

- 2 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks

- 1/2 cup whole milk

- preheat the oven to 350.

- Grease 8 inch round cake tin ( you can also use pam baking spray )

- In a med bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well with a whisk. Set aside.

- In the bowl of your stand mixer , using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla on high speed until fluffy.

- One at a time add the eggs and yolks, mixing well after each.

- Turn mixer to low and add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk in 2 additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Mix until just combined ( do not overmix!!! )

- Pour the batter into cake pan making sure it is evenly distributed.

- Bake, alternating half way through, for 30-35 min (until when poked with a toothpick it comes out clean)

- let cool for 10 min then transfer to a wire rack until it has finished cooling.

SIMPLE SYRUP:

3 tbsp honey and 1/4 cup water. Over high heat whisk until honey has completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

STRAWBERRY CREAM TOPPING:

- 20 0unces fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

- 1/2 cup white sugar, divided

- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold

- 1 tsp unflavoured gelatin

- In a med sized bowl mix together your strawberries and  1/4 cup of sugar. Set aside.

- Place 2 tbsp of cold water in a small saucepan, add the gelatin and let soften for 5 min. Over low heat whisk gelatin until it has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool (keep a close eye on it or it will set and you will have to do this step all over again…which is not so easy to do if you have a baby on your hip but hey, now I know and I will try my best not to make that mistake again)

- In the bowl of your stand mixer, using the whisk attachment whip together the cream and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until soft peaks begin to form.

- Continue to whisk and gradually add the gelatin mixture; beat until soft peaks have formed.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE:

- Using a serrated knife cut the cake in half horizontally.

- Cut side facing up place the bottom half of the cake on a cake plate or cake stand.

- Brush cake with some simple syrup then add a layer of berries and a layer of whip cream. Repeat on second half of cake only first add the whipped cream and then top with berries.

* I spread the cream around the sides of the cake but next time I would definitely double the whipped cream recipe so I had enough to properly cover the cake and have a thicker layer of the cream in the middle layer. I might also use some homemade strawberry jam instead of simple syrup.

We had a few friends over for dinner last weekend. It was great to catch up, but even better to watch our friends interacting with Poppy and Poppy interacting with our friends. I decided to go with a Mexican themed dinner and dessert. Dinner was fish tacos and for dessert I made these beautiful, creamy, rich, chocolatey mini cakes. Heaven.

For those of you wondering what happened to me being  ” off refined sugar ” – well I think it goes without saying that I am no longer going down that path. I did it for a few months and I felt no difference in my energy or in any area that I was hoping to improve. I am now back to eating as we all should…everything in moderation. Enjoy.

CAKES:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 10 ounces 56% to 70%-cacao baking chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 4 tsp all-purpose flour
• 2-3 tsp adobo sauce ( from the can of chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce ) I used 2 tsp and couldn’t even taste a hint of the adobo, next time I will definitely use more.
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly coat the inside of the ramikins with butter, then sugar. In a medium saucepan combine the 1 cup sugar and orange juice. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add the chocolate and butter, stir until melted. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Now stir in the flour, adobo sauce and salt.

Set the ramekins in a baking pan. Divide the chocolate mixture evenly among the 8 ramekins. Place the baking pan on the oven rack. Pour boiling water into the pan, enough to reach half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the mixture is set. Using tongs, gently remove the ramekins from the pan placing them on a rack to cool. Serve in the ramekin or turn out onto dessert plates. Top them off with a generous drizzle of sweet crema.

SWEET CREMA:

• 3/4 cups Mexican crema or sour cream
• 1/4 cup sugar

Mix together

*recipe from Better Homes and Gardens