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The Best-Ever Pancake Recipe: Lofty Buttermilk Pancakes | The Kitchn

Lofty Buttermilk Pancakes

Makes 18 to 20 3-inch pancakes. Serves 4 to 6

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 large eggs, separated

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Canola or peanut oil for frying

Heat the oven to 225°F and prepare a large baking sheet by setting a cooling rack inside. Place both in the oven.

Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk the egg yolks, buttermilk, and milk. Add the melted, cooled butter and whisk until well combined.

Pour the yolk and milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until barely combined. Add the egg whites and stir just until a thick batter is formed. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, film with 1/2 teaspoon of neutral oil such as canola or peanut oil. After about 30 seconds, when the oil shimmers but is not smoking, lower the heat to medium-low and use a soup spoon to drop in heaping spoonfuls of pancake batter.

The batter will spread into a pancake about 3 inches wide. Cook for about 2 1/2 minutes. (If the pancake scorches or the oil smokes, lower the heat.) When the bubbles that form on the edges of the pancakes look dry and airy, use a thin spatula to gently lift one side and peek underneath. If the pancake is golden brown, flip and cook on the other side for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, or until the bottom of the pancake is golden brown.

Remove from the skillet to the baking sheet in the oven. Scrape any stray crumbs or scraps out of the skillet, add a little more oil, and continue to cook the remaining batter.

Serve as soon as possible, with butter and warm maple syrup.

Recipe Note:

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can use plain yogurt instead. Just use about 2/3 cup and thin it with some milk until it reaches the 1 cup mark. You can also quickly make a buttermilk substitute by mixing 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar with 2 cups of milk.

via The Best-Ever Pancake Recipe: Lofty Buttermilk Pancakes | The Kitchn .

Canadian Patriotic Butter Tarts

Found this recipe online but the link was broken to the source site. Tracked it down with the Wayback Machine.

These picnic-ready, personalized pies are a fun food take-away for your guests (now say that 10 times quickly).

You’ll Need

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4¼ cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup raisins or pecans

1 pie crust, rolled to ½” thickness

8 – 125ml jam jars, washed and buttered

Prep and Cook

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Combine the butter and sugar and place in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Add the vanilla and raisins or pecans, and cook until the butter has melted. (This is the filling.)

Beat the eggs and whisk into the sugar mixture, cooking over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until the mixtures thickens and can coat the back of a spoon. Be very careful not to overcook the filling.

Roll out the piecrust and cut circles of dough with the mouth of the jam jar—2 per jar. Press one into the bottom of the buttered jar, top with filling and cover with the second piece of dough.

Cut a steam vent (small slit) into the top piece of dough, and place all of the pies on a large baking sheet.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before placing the lid on the jar.

Decorate with the O Canada Patriotic Pie label and baker’s twine or ribbon.

via Patriotic Pies – SavvyMom.ca .

Making Banana Bread

I’ve got two bananas getting over ripe. I bought them for Zack being out here but he didn’t stay as long as I had planned. I’m not feeling inspired to make anything in the kitchen, but those bananas are only going to get sadder looking by tomorrow.

I found this recipe:

Banana Bread Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutesCook time: 1 hour
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INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
METHOD
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

I'm Making a Candycane Vanilla Sort of Cheesecake Tonight

candycanekiss

Simply Recipes has The Perfect Cheesecake and Chatelaine has a Classic Cheesecake recipe. I’ve used these – but mostly just to make sure I didn’t forget anything, like the sugar (I only did it once!).

The Perfect Cheesecake was a bit interesting because they have iced it. I might do the same. I have candycane Kiss chocolates to put on top. The icing might be just the right thing to hold them in place and look prettier too.

Perfect Cheesecake Recipe
Cook time: 3 hours

INGREDIENTS
Crust
2 cups (475 ml) of Graham cracker crumbs (from a little less than 2 packages Graham crackers
2 Tbsp sugar
Pinch salt
5 Tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter (if using salted butter, omit the pinch of salt), melted

Filling
2 pounds cream cheese (900 g), room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar (270 g)
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream (160 ml)
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream (160 ml)

Toppings
2 cups sour cream (475 ml)
1/3 cup powdered sugar (35 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 ounces (340 g) fresh raspberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
1/2 cup water (120 ml)

Special equipment needed
9-inch, 2 3/4-inch high springform pan
Heavy-duty, 18-inch wide aluminum foil
A large, high-sided roasting pan

Prepare the crust

1 Prepare the springform pan so that no water leaks into it while cooking.* Place a large 18-inch by 18-inch square of aluminum foil on a flat surface. Place the springform pan in the middle of the foil. Gently fold up the sides of the foil around the pan. Make sure to do this gently so that you don’t create any holes in the foil. If there are any holes, water will get into the pan and ruin the crust. Press the foil around the edges of the pan. Place a second large square of foil underneath the pan, and repeat, gently folding up the sides of the foil around the pan and pressing the foil against the pan. Gently crimp the top of the foil sheets around the top edge of the pan.

2 Preheat oven to 350°F, with rack in lower third of oven. Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor or blender until finely ground. Put in a large bowl, and stir in the sugar and salt. Use your (clean) hands to stir in the melted butter.

3 Put all but 1/4 cup of the graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of the springform pan. (Save the remaining 1/4 cup for if you happen to have any holes that need to be filled in, either while you are making the crust, or after the cake has cooked and you’ve unmolded it.) Gently press down on the crumbs using your fingers, until the crumbs are a nice even layer at the bottom of the pan, with maybe just a slight rise along the inside edges of the pan. Be careful as you do this, as not to tear the aluminum foil. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
Make the filling

4 Cut the cream cheese into chunks and place in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes until smooth, soft and creamy. Add the sugar, beat for 4 minutes more. Add the salt and vanilla, beating after each addition. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Add the sour cream, beat until incorporated. Add the heavy cream, beat until incorporated. Remember to scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl, and scrape up any thicker bits of cream cheese that have stuck to the bottom of the mixer that paddle attachment has failed to incorporate.
Cook the cheesecake

5 Place the foil-wrapped springform pan in a large, high-sided roasting pan. Prepare 2 quarts of boiling water. Pour the cream cheese filling into the springform pan, over the graham cracker bottom layer. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Place the roasting pan with the springform pan in it, in the oven, on the lower rack. Carefully pour the hot water into the roasting pan (without touching the hot oven), to create a water bath for the cheesecake, pouring until the water reaches halfway up the side of the springform pan, about 1 1/4 inches. (Alternatively you can add the water before putting the pan in the oven, whichever is easier for you.) Cook at 325°F for 1 1/2 hours.

6 Turn off the heat of the oven. Crack open the oven door 1-inch, and let the cake cool in the oven, as the oven cools, for another hour. This gentle cooling will help prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking.

7 Cover the top of the cheesecake with foil, so that it doesn’t actually touch the cheesecake. Chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours, or overnight.
Prepare sour cream topping

8 Place sour cream in a medium sized bowl, stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla, until smooth. Chill until you are ready to serve the cake.
Note that this recipe produces enough sour cream topping for a thick topping and some extra to spoon over individual pieces of cheesecake, if desired. If you would like a thinner layer of topping and no extra, reduce the sour cream topping ingredients in half.

Prepare the raspberry sauce

9 Place raspberries, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Use a potato masher to mash the raspberries. Heat on medium, whisking, about 5 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Let cool.
Prepare the cake to serve.

10 Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Remove the foil from the sides of the pan, and place the cake on your cake serving dish. Run the side of a blunt knife between the edge of the cake and the pan. Dorie recommends, and we’ve done with success, that you use a hair dryer to heat the sides of the pan to make it easier to remove. Open the springform latch and gently open the pan and lift up the sides. Spread the top with the sour cream mixture. Serve plain or drizzled with raspberry sauce.

Yield: Makes 16 servings.

Canadian Pie-In-A-Jar

This perfectly packaged treat by Mijune Pak pulls in the best of all provinces! Find her foodie blog, Follow Me Foodie .

From Food Network Canada –  Recipe to Riches

Preparation time:

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Yield: 8

Ingredients

Pastry

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup marzipan (4 oz/120 g)

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut in cubes

3 tablespoons slivered almonds

1 unit egg yolk

6 tablespoons ice water

Vanilla Custard

1 1/2 cups 35% whipping cream

2 tablespoons maple syrup

unit Seeds from 1 vanilla bean

5 unit egg yolks

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Filling

3 unit ripe but firm Bartlett pears

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Brulée

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

Pastry

Grease bottom of eight 1 cup (250 mL) wide mouth mason jars. In bowl and using fingertips, blend together flour and marzipan until fine consistency. Work in cold butter until mixture has coarse crumb consistency. Using fork, stir in almonds. Mix egg yolk and ice water; pour over flour mixture and toss with fork just until dough comes together. Gather into a ball. Flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375F (190C).

Divide pastry into eight equal portions; press one portion firmly into bottom of each prepared mason jar (not up sides). Pierce a few times with tines of fork. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 350F (180C).

Vanilla Custard

In saucepan, heat cream, maple syrup and vanilla bean seeds over medium-high heat until bubbles form around edge of pan and mixture is steaming; remove from heat. In bowl, whisk yolks with sugar until thickened and creamy. Gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. Return mixture to saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until custard thickens and coats back of a spoon, about 2 to 4 minutes. Strain through fine-meshed sieve into a bowl. Place piece of plastic wrap on surface of custard. Set aside.

Filling

Peel and core pears. Cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) cubes. In nonstick frying pan, melt butter over medium heat; cook pears until slightly softened, stirring gently, about 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in sugar, salt and cardamom until sugar dissolves. In small bowl, whisk cornstarch into 2 tbsp (25 mL) water; stir into pear mixture and cook until thickened, about 30 to 60 seconds. Divide evenly among mason jars. Pour cooled Vanilla Custard over warm pears, dividing evenly.

Place mason jars in a large shallow baking dish. Add hot water to half way up side of jars. Bake in centre of oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until custard is set but slightly jiggly at centre. Carefully remove from water bath; cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until cold and custard is set, at least 2 hours.

Brulée

Preheat broiler. Sprinkle each pie with 1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) sugar. Carefully broil until sugar caramelizes. (Alternatively, use kitchen torch.) Serve immediately, or close jars and store in refrigerator. Best served at room temperature.

via Canadian Pie-In-A-Jar .

This one didn’t make it to the final two but the idea is so cute! I think the recipe is a bit complicated. I’d try adapting it to make it simpler and use less fancy ingrediants, like the marzipan and almonds (sometimes almonds give me an allergic reaction, not always though).