Die Happy.

The kids and I met our favourite friends to go sugar-shacking yesterday. We ran around in the woods, went on a horse-drawn wagon ride, warmed ourselves by an outdoor fire, ate pancakes and syrup and even learned something new. (Did you know that the native Americans collected sap in a hollowed out log, and dropped red hot rocks in it until it evaporated into syrup?) We caught up with people we love, ate maple syrup lollipops, and bought maple butter. We couldn't buy syrup because Hubs and I have strong syrup prejudices. We'll get there soon.

So, the question this morning was what to have for breakfast.

The answer?

Maple Biscuits. Die happy.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chilled unsalted butter (but I regularly use salted, because I regularly have it)
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 T maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a big bowl, and then cut in the butter. Add the milk and vanilla and mix just until coming together. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 1/2 inch thickness. Fold in half, then roll it out to a 1/2 inch thickness again. Fold in half, then roll to 3/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. (I just use a small juice glass to make rounds) Place on your baking sheet and brush the tops lightly with maple syrup. Bake 15-18 minutes until lightly browned.

Cool just enough to handle, and serve with maple butter. Bask in the grateful praise of your family.

"You're making what?"

That's what I said to my mom last year when she brought out all the ingredients she'd bought to make meatballs at the Princess's birthday party.

"Yuck! Don't poison my guests!"

"Stop being ridiculous. I read this in a magazine, I'm sure it will be delicious!"

"You've never made it? You're EXPERIMENTING on my friends?!"

"Yes. Now go away."

"This is my kitchen!"

"And I'm your mother. Go."

I went. And, as always, she was right. They were delicious. My 5 year old niece told my brother to get the recipe. And I surrepetitiously ate every remaining meatball (not that there were many!) after everyone had gone home.

And you can make it in the slow cooker, so this has now become a favourite recipe for nights when the Princess has dancing or swimming. And, because I love you, here it is.

Badness's Mom's Fabulous Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

One can JELLIED cranberry sauce (the kind with no pieces of fruit)
One jar salsa (medium or hot)
frozen italian meatballs

Put the cranberry jelly and salsa in the slow cooker. Break up the jelly a bit with a wooden spoon and stir it around a bit. If you're short on time you can heat it up in a saucepan first. Add the meatballs. Cook. Eat.

If you cook it on high, this only takes a couple hours, in fact, you can do it in half an hour in a saucepan on the stove. But it gets better the longer it simmers, so you can throw it in on low in the morning and let it simmer all day. This makes enough sauce for 50-60 meatballs if you're doing it for a party, but if I'm doing it for us I cook about 20 meatballs and then I put the leftover sauce in the freezer and use it for one more meal. (And a note on the salsa, use the cooked kind, I usually just buy the store brand for this, the jar I used last night was 650ml.)

You can serve this with pasta (my kids fave), or rice, or just fresh bread and salad (my fave).
Bad ate 5 last night. I was dreaming of leftovers for lunch, but Hubs ate them. Typical.

But at Midnight, you'll turn into a pumpkin...

Well, you might, if you eat as many of these as Hubs and my kids have been eating! I read a recipe for chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins the other day, and quickly ran out for pumpkin so that I could make them. I learned a long time ago that my family expects chocolate in their muffins, and as long as it's there, they'll accept any other ingredients without comment or complaint. Bananas, apples, whole-wheat, wheat germ, oatmeal, peanut butter, spelt, now pumpkin. You name it, they'll eat it with chocolate. The first batch was good, and they gobbled them down, but I wasn't satisfied. So I tinkered the recipe a bit and tried again. These are lighter, spicier, and healthier too! Ta da!

Badness's Better Chocolate-chip Pumpkin Muffins

Preheat oven to 375 F

Mix:

1 1/2 cup wholewheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves

Set aside, and in a big bowl combine:

1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling)
1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla (but I was out, and they were fine)

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir gently just until combined. When the flour is almost incorporated add chocolate chips. (I used 1/2 of a 350g bag, but you should use as few or as many as you want)

This amount was originally for 12 muffins, but I made 24. The kids and I like the small ones, and Hubs can always eat two. So, if you make 24 you'll want to bake them for about 15 minutes, if you make 12 it'll probably take 20. But keep an eye on them, every oven is different.

Enjoy!

Badness Goes Granola

Okay, not really. But I made some. Granola is one of those foods that I could just never really see the point of. The stuff that comes in the box? Tastes chemically. The powdery looking stuff at the bulk food store? Meh. But then....I made some. And today I made some more. Mmmm....

I've been eating 1/3 cup for breakfast with 1/2 cup of yogurt. On Friday the Princess said to me, "You have to eat something else for breakfast! You ate that day after day after day after day! The next day you have to eat something else. Promise Mommy...." I was out, so I ate something different for the last 3 days, but tomorrow.....

Here's the original recipe - change it as you see fit. I made a fruitless version, just augmenting the amounts of the other ingredients a little, and added chopped crystallized ginger....mmm.....

2 cups oatmeal (I used 1c. oatmeal, and 1 c. spelt)

1/2 cup wheat bran

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp cinnamon

dash salt

dash vanilla extract

1/2 cup each chopped dried apricots, dried cherries and raisins

zest of one lemon or one orange

Preheat oven to 325 F. Combine oats, bran, sesame, coconut, hazelnuts and sunflower seeds in a big bowl.

Heat oil, honey, cinnamon , salt and vanilla in a small saucepan until blended and runny. Pour over oat mixture and combine well. Spread onto greased or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 - 30 minutes, until rich golden brown. Remove from oven and stir in fruit and zest. Let cool, and break into pieces. Stores well in airtight container in pantry.

And here's a photo of the Princess with our latest Snow-girl.

And I've lost another pound!

Badness Jones' Emporium of Baked Delights....

My tummy hurt last night. After two days of baking and eating and cooking and eating and presents and eating and laughing and visiting and eating and eating and eating, I felt like my stomach was full of lead weights. I woke up this morning still full.

It was a wonderful Christmas. Santa came and spoiled my children. The expressions on their faces were priceless as they madly tore the paper off their gifts. I cooked a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for Hubs' family on Christmas Eve, and was in charge of dessert at my sister's house on Christmas day, so it felt like a bakeshop in here on the morning of the 24th.

Double Espresso Chocolate Torte

Apple Pie and Pecan Pie

Everything turned out wonderfully - I used orange juice as the liquid in the pastry, but I also used butter instead of shortening, and it was hell to work with. I'm giving you the recipe for the chocolate torte, because it was impressive and delicious, but also ridiculously easy and low effort.

On the Twenty's Signature Double Espresso Chocolate Torte

500g bittersweet chocolate, chopped (they recommend Callebaut, and that would probably make it even better, but I just used the extra-dark bars from President's Choice and it was still fabulous)

1 1/3 c. whipping cream

3/4 c. unsalted butter

6 eggs

1 c. sugar

3 tbsp. coffee liqueur

Preheat oven to 225 F. Butter a 10" springform pan, and line with parchment. Put chocolate in a large bowl. Heat butter and cream together in a saucepan just to a simmer, and pour over chocolate. Let sit 1 minute, and then whisk until smooth.

Whisk together eggs, sugar and liqueur and pour into chocolate mixture. Blend thoroughly. Pour into springform pan and bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours until edges are set and center is still slightly soft. Cool at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight in pan before unmolding and cutting.

Eat. Moan with delight.

Christmas Dog

Is Santa still here?

No - but he brought exactly what she wanted.

OH - I cherish each and every one of your comments, but I would just like to register my astonishment that my last post, a post about the interior of my fridge, garnered more comments than anything else I have written here. I love you, but y'all are wierdos. Thank-you! I'm so relieved that it's not just me.