STEMS & FORKS

Beautiful musings of flora and fare.

Fruit

Grand Marnier Strawberry Dulce De Leche Pie

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This Post was sponsored by Paderno. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I was tempted to name this pie “Strawboffee.” Doesn’t seem to roll off the tongue as well as Banoffee does it. But in all fairness, I wanted to pay homage to the infamous British pie the Banoffee: a portmanteau of its two main ingredients. Bananas and toffee. 

So instead I called it a Strawberry Dulce de Leche Pie which doesn’t do the tart justice. But I couldn’t name it “Crushed digestive cookie crust, layered with a rich dulce de leche, with red strawberries macerated in Grand Marnier, topped up with a massive fluffy cloud of Chantilly cream and shaved chocolate Pie,” now could I?

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In this recipe, I made the dulce de leche by cooking the milk slowly in a Bain-Marie. Feel free to make your own homemade dulce de leche or boiling down the can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot. Frankly, I have never tried doing the method of boiling the entire can for an hour. I’ve read a few horror stories of it exploding mid boll! If you do boil the can please make sure the can of condensed milk is constantly and fully submerged in the boiling pot of water the entire time it is boiling. About 1 hour to boil is what I read online. The trick I’ve used below is cooking the condensed milk in the oven for an hour and a half in a Bain-Marie, a hot water bath. To slowly and evenly cook the condensed milk into a thick caramel toffee. …

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Rhubarb and Cherry Sheet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

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This post was sponsored by Metro Ontario. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

It’s late spring early summer here in southern Ontario. When the sun stays up and shines longer, the days are warm but not too hot and the evenings are just cool enough for an outdoor fire without those pesky mosquitoes. June is definitely my favourite month of the year. 

Asides from June’s fantastic weather is the incredible local produce that starts to hit the Metro stores across Ontario. Asparagus, strawberries, radishes and cucumbers are just a few items that are available locally from the fields of Ontario farmers. Not to mention the handful of other goodies coming from indoor greenhouses like bell peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes.

But hands down my favourite produce for the month of June is rhubarb and cherries. It’s as though these two were made for each other. The tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the cherries are indeed a match made in heaven in this sheet cake. And the cream cheese frosting elevates this sweet and tangy cake.

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Blackberry Jam filled Donuts

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I recently did a survey on my Instagram feed to see how many of you actually read blog posts…less than 50% read…most of you scroll through pics and just get right down to business with the recipe. So I decided to take a different approach today. Today’s blog post will be short and very sweet. a paragraph to sum up what this donut is. And a paragraph with short notes for handy tips and tricks… Leave a comment if you have time (something everyone said they were short on) and let me know if you prefer this sort of blog post!

ABOUT: This donut is also known as Berliner Pfannkuchen or pączki. Whatever you want call them, these donuts are AMAZING! How could it possibly go wrong when one deep fries brioche dough, cover it with sugar then fill homemade blackberry jam!!!

TIPS/NOTES:

  • Make sure yeast hasn’t expired…I store mine in the freezer !
  • I often get comments/messages that their yeast didn’t poof or their dough didn’t rise…either the water was too hot or not hot enough or the yeast has expired
  • This recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of yeast. I have tested this recipe with 2 teaspoons and 2.5 teaspoons and Ive decided that 1 tablespoon is best for the fluffiest donuts…If you’re curious to know more about this yeast testing…feel free to email me.
  • This is a sticky dough…Don’t be tempted to keep adding flour.
  • After kneading and the first rise, let it rest overnight in the fridge…makes dough easier to work with and has time for the flavours to work itself in the dough
  • As well overnight chilling makes for better texture.
  • Dough can be stored in fridge for up to 2 days
  • Donuts need to be eaten same day when fried…I’m confident there will be no leftovers.
  • The jam recipe yields about 1/2 cup of jam-i prefer my donuts with less jam…If you prefer loads of jelly, feel free to double the quantity for the jam!
Dough is almost ready for it’s first rise.
A look inside from one of the smaller donuts
An earlier test version…These didn’t get a second rise once they came out of fridge…You can see they are not as fluffy.

 

Blackberry Jam Filled Donuts
Yields 12
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Prep Time
14 hr
Cook Time
12 min
Prep Time
14 hr
Cook Time
12 min
INGREDIENTS For the Dough
  1. 1 Tablespoon traditional yeast
  2. 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar (for the yeast)
  3. 1/2 cup milk
  4. 1 teaspoon salt
  5. 455 g or 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  6. 50 g or 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
  7. 4 large room temperature eggs
  8. 85 g or 3/8 cup or 6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature & cubed
INGREDIENTS For the Blackberry Jam
  1. 340 g or 12 ounces fresh blackberries
  2. 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
  3. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  4. 1 tablespoon cornstarch
INGREDIENTS for Frying/Finishing touches
  1. 6-7 cups of vegetable or light oil
  2. 300 g or 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar for dusting the donuts
  3. 6 oz or 170 grams = about 24 blackberries to plug the holes
INSTRUCTIONS For the Jam
  1. Make the jam while you're waiting for the first proof or when the dough is chilling overnight
  2. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, stir the blackberries, and sugar together.
  3. Mash the berries with a masher
  4. In a small bowl mix 1 tablespoon corn starch and 1 table spoon water together, add to simmering blackberries and stir until it starts to thicken.
  5. Stir and heat for another 15 minutes or until it has thickened (will thicken more when cooled)
  6. Remove from heat and run through fine sieve to remove the seeds
  7. Set aside to cool - add the lemon juice then cover and store in fridge overnight
INSTRUCTIONS For the Dough
  1. In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon white sugar and 1 tablespoon yeast, set aside.
  2. In small saucepan, warm up 1/2 cup milk to a simmer until it reaches 110F (not too lukewarm but not to hot to touch- just use a thermometer !)
  3. Pour over the sugar/yeast and stir. Set aside and allow to poof about 8 minutes
  4. In bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar
  5. In stand mixer bowl with paddle attachment, beat the 4 eggs, then add the poofed yeast/milk mix
  6. On low, beat in the flour mix-will look shaggy
  7. Swap out the paddle to the kneading hook and knead on medium speed for 2 minutes until it forms into a large sticky ball like form-scrape down sides with spatula
  8. Add the butter, a cube at a time making sure each cube is well mixed in before adding the next cube of butter (still medium speed)
  9. Drop speed to low and knead for 5 minutes
  10. Dough is ready when it is glossy and somewhat translucent but doesn't tear
  11. Remember this dough is a sticky dough. Refrain from being tempted to add more flour...It will be less sticky after an overnight chill!
  12. Cover your bowl with a damp kitchen towel, leave in warm room for 1 to 1.5 hours or until it has doubled in size
  13. Punch dough down once, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight
INSTRUCTIONS for prepping the donuts
  1. Cut out 16 or so 4 inch square parchment papers, dust with a bit of flour and place on a couple large trays and set aside
  2. Turn dough out onto lightly floured counter
  3. Roll out dough into a 9.5 inch by 13 inch rectangle, 1/2 inch thick and cut out about a dozen three inch discs with a biscuit/cookie cutter (and maybe a couple smaller donuts from the edge of dough)
  4. (You can take the cut out dough and re-roll 1 more time to get 3 more donuts-note these will not be as nice looking as the original discs)
  5. Transfer all the discs with a non stick food turner (flipper) to the parchment paper squares
  6. Cover completely with a damp thin cheese cloth or plastic making sure the plastic doesn't touch the dough...you can do this by placing small tumblers or shot glasses in between the discs
  7. Place in warm area of home and let rise another 1 hour
  8. If you feel like they are over rising/proofing, then start frying...overproofing will have them smelling like yeast
INSTRUCTIONS for Frying the donuts
  1. Fill a piping bag with the cooled blackberry jam and a small round tip, set aside
  2. Lay out a few paper towels on a baking tray
  3. Pour the 1.5 cups of granulated sugar on a plate ready for donuts to be dusted
  4. Add the vegetable oil to a large heavy bottomed pot or your deep fryer to 350°F - 365°F.
  5. Take the discs of donuts flipping it over with the parchment paper and drop in oil ...Fry 3 at a time...more will alter the temperature of the oil
  6. Fry each side about 2-2.5 minutes or until golden brown and transfer to paper towel with a slotted spoon
  7. Roll in the sugar after about a minute of cooling and set aside on a baking rack or wooden board
  8. Do this to all the donuts
  9. Take a chopstick or something to poke two holes on opposite sides of all the donuts
  10. Gently fill jam on both sides of donut with pastry bag
  11. plug the two sides of the donut holes with a fresh blackberry
  12. Bon app!
Notes
  1. Donuts must be eaten same day as when its been fried.
  2. I tend to like my donuts to have less jam than the typical donut...feel free to double amount of jam (ingredients would double)
Adapted from Brioche dough adapted from The Kitchn
Adapted from Brioche dough adapted from The Kitchn
STEMS & FORKS https://www.stemsandforks.com/

 

Spiced Rum, Date, Walnut, Molasses Bundt Cake with Rum Caramel Drizzle

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Koreans can’t bake.

That’s been my insecurity since starting this baking journey. That I’m Korean. And unlike my fellow caucasian friends, I have no family pie recipe or a mom that baked chocolate chip cookies with me on Saturday mornings. The only things I baked as a child were Pillsbury crescents from a tin or boxed Duncan Hines. Baking from scratch was never a part of my family growing up.

Instead, my Saturdays consisted of Korean language classes followed by math drills with Sargent Shin… and his chopstick wand. After math, my sisters and I would get to watch some TV whilst stuffing thousands of Korean dumplings called “mandu”. Okay. Maybe not thousands but god did it ever feel like thousands! Only after all the mandus were stuffed and our math drills were done correctly, were my sisters and I allowed to bake Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake. And if we were really lucky, my mom would have bought the chocolate icing in a carton for us to ice the yellow cake with. As a child, baking this cake and devouring it was my escape, my utopia, my moment of being unkorean. 

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SweeTango Apple, Chèvre and Cardamom Tart (refined sugar free)

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This is a sponsored post in collaboration with SweeTango. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Apples are the most cultivated and universally recognized fruit and perhaps one of the oldest that has existed on earth. It’s also arguably the most written about fruit in fables, religion and myths. It has been symbolized as both good and evil.

In the western world, we know the story of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament, where the serpent tempts man to eat the forbidden fruit thereby starting the fall of man and the Christian definition of sin. Irish folklore has it that if a woman peels the skin of the apple in one continuous ribbon and tosses it over her shoulder then the initials of her future husband will appear. And the Trojan War? Well, the idea of Troy tossing the golden apple to the chosen goddess soon evolved to an ancient Greek tradition of throwing an apple to the one you love. 

SweeTango apples available early October to mid November. See SweeTango.com for a retailer near you

It’s no wonder this beloved fruit has been developed and bred into such amazing varieties. One favourite variety of mine is SweeTango. Grown in Canada exclusively for the Canadian market, SweetTango is a premium apple variety famed for its crisp, sweet, tangy and juicy bite. SweeTango also holds the Guinness World Record for “Loudest Crunch of an Apple” (March 2016) The bite registered at an impressive 79.1 decibels. To put things in perspective, a normal conversation clocks in at 60 decibels and a vacuum or kitchen blender 70-80 decibels (according to American Speech-Language Hearing Association)

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Chocolate and Orange Babka Wreath

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Babka or brioche? My husband Pierre insists on calling this a brioche wreath. Wikipedia says babkas are traditionally used for Easter holidays in eastern European countries. In fact babka comes from the Polish word Baba for grandmother. And some researchers believe babka goes as far back to the Greek period of Homer based on anecdotal texts that mention sweet, yeast leavened bread similar to Babka. Brioche is a pastry (viennoiserie) with a high butter and egg content which gives it that tender butter rich crumb.  It origins date back to the early 1400’s in France. In any case, I don’t want to bore you with a history lesson. You’re here for a guaranteed holiday showstopper that tastes amazing. 

I fully admit that this recipe requires time and patience. Which is why it’s perfect for a special holiday like Christmas or Easter. Theres not much hands on prep time as there is time to wait for the dough to rise. 3 hours warm room temp or overnight in the fridge. Then another hour for the second rise. So if you came here looking for a quick treat, wrong recipe. This babka needs to be prepared in advance. But trust me it’s totally worth the wait.

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Triple Berry Scones with Lemon Vanilla Drizzle

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I often laugh when someone writes a recipe declaring it easy, fast or that cooking is therapeutic. For me cooking and baking is not easy. It’s work regardless how simple the steps are to a recipe. The whole process of prepping, cooking and washing up…(especially washing up) is long and can be tedious at times. For me there is nothing therapeutic about cooking and baking. But there is something satisfying, fulfilling and validating about the process of cooking. If I had to compare it to something…hmmm… maybe giving birth to a child?  I’m not saying that a child is on the same level as a fresh loaf of banana bread. But the expression of something as profound as pregnancy being referred to “something in the oven” sums up what baking is in an exaggerated way. Getting ready for your child requires, well the creation (clears throat), the nurturing and caring while in the “oven” and than labour – blood sweat and tears- the finale- a reward…your beautiful baby or that fresh banana loaf. But it’s 100% all you and created by you.

I recently did a friend a favour and received several boxes of various berries and fruits. Gorgeous tiger and dark figs, cherries, strawberries, blueberries and kiwis. I planned to make something with the figs but they were at its prime and I admit my family and I scarfed them down in a matter of minutes. Kiwis – I’m sorry. But I don’t like you. You’re guilty by association. After getting sick one day as a child and barfing the green seedy exotic fruit all over my brand new overalls, I have never been able to try them again. So cherries, blueberries and strawberries in a triple berry scone (I know it’s not a berry…but they’re adorable like a berry) 

I made these scones when I was in a pinch to make a quick thank you for my daughters friend for hosting her at their cottage. Now if you are skipping the glaze (which I don’t recommend), try adding a touch more sugar as I lessened the usual ratio. Not crazy about super sweet scones but the drizzle does add a perfectly balanced and lovely sweet citrus zing. Remember, scones should be tender, slightly flakey, buttery with a touch of sweetness.  So here it is. A super fast and easy scone recipe (sniggering- bahaha). 

Bon app!

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Triple Berry Scones with Lemon Vanilla Drizzle
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • FOR THE SCONES:
  • 260 g or 2 cups AP flour
  • 2½ teaspoons baking powder
  • pinch of table salt
  • ½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder
  • 50 g or ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 115 g or ½ cup butter or 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
  • ½ cup heavy cold cream
  • 1 large egg
  • ⅓ cup overflowing fresh blueberries
  • ⅓ cup overflowing freshly chopped strawberries
  • ⅓ cup overflowing with pitted cherries
  • ⅓ cup toasted walnuts (optional)
  • FOR THE DRIZZLE:
  • 125 g or 1 cup icing sugar
  • 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
  1. FOR THE SCONES:
  2. Preheat oven to 400F (205C), line baking tray with parchment paper
  3. In a medium metal or plastic bowl, grate butter on box grater's biggest hole and pop in freezer uncovered- let it sit in freezer while you gather rest of ingredients
  4. In large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugar and whisk well and set aside
  5. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and cream together and set aside
  6. Add the cold butter in the flour mixture with fingers, tossing for about 15-20 seconds
  7. Pour the cream/egg mixture to the dry flour mix and stir gently with spatula - DO NOT over stir. stir still ingredients become just wet
  8. Fold in all the berries and the nuts (if you're adding)- don't overwork dough here
  9. shape the dough into a disc about 8 inches wide and about 1.5 inches thick
  10. With a sharp knife, cut the disc into about 6-8 equal wedges and separate about 1 cm at most
  11. Bake for 20-25 minute or until the crust is a golden brown
  12. Allow to cool before drizzling icing
  13. FOR THE ICING:
  14. In a bowl whisk together the freshly squeezed lemon juice, vanilla bean paste and icing sugar
  15. Drizzle over scones once they've cooled somewhat

 

 

Strawberry and Carrot Cake

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I realize I’m so behind blogging. I remember making this cake for fathers day which was easily over a month ago. We had a BBQ at our house and so asked my dad and hubs what they wanted for dessert. Dad asked for something with strawberries seeing as the season started and Pierre asked for carrot cake. Thus the marriage of the two. I prepared it not thinking very much about posting it as a blog. However realized I had too after posting a pic on Instagram and getting a barrage of requests to post the recipe. 

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Champagne Cake with White Chocolate Strawberry Frosting

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Love is an intense and fond affection for someone or something. But the intensity and type can vary so greatly. For me there are three broad categories of love. Love for my husband, love for my children and love for food. (Of course love for kids and hubby take 1st place:)
 
I found it fitting to prepare all the things I love for the ones I love; Champagne, chocolate, strawberries – in the form of cake. Just writing those words out made my water salivate with anticipation.
 
My love for chocolate never started until I was pregnant 11 years ago with my first born. Prior to that, I always had trouble finishing a chocolate bar. But theres something about pregnancy that changes a woman’s palette. (Any other moms go through the same experience?) Since having Moineau, I find it increasingly difficult to eat any type of meat. And the sugar intake, especially chocolate has exploded. I can now eat chocolate endlessly.
Champagne has always been a staple in our home. Each year we bring a few bottles back from Europe and indulge whenever a special occasion happens to come upon us. Pre and post natal, my love for the bubbly has not changed:)
 

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Berry Galette Picnic

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It’s been tried, tested and its definitely true. Kids will be more willing to eat unfamiliar foods if they have a hand in helping to make it.  I won’t get into all the tedious facts and stats about the nutritional value of berries, as we all know by now, they’re super healthy and chock-full  of vitamins. So I found it fitting to make berry galettes with the kids last weekend. It was incredible. My 2 year old son Georges who doesn’t take instruction very well was so eager to follow his older sister’s lead on how to roll the dough, then toss the berries in. Some of the galettes may have had a bit too much sugar or one too many berries. But they all turned out super great and delicious once baked.
 
 
Some tips to ensure this activity is fun and clean-up is minimal:
-To lay your biggest table cloth on the floor and have the kids assemble on top.
-Make the dough the night before.
-Have your kids roll them out on cutting boards or cheeseboards 
-Spread everything out on the floor
-Have the starch and sugar premixed in a bowl with a laddle or wooden spoon( I separated the starch and sugar…oops!)
-have the fruits in separate bowls and spread them out 
 

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