Meringue

Ingredients
Adapted from Martha Stewart 

3 large egg whites, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

Large pinch of salt

Large pinch of cream of tartar

Vanilla

Flavouring drops (peppermint - cinnamon - whatever you like) 

Red Gel-paste food coloring

1 kebob skewer

1 zip lock bag or piping bag with piping tip (depends on the look you would like to achieve)  

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Combine egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl.  Set bowl over a pot of simmering water, and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes. Add salt and cream of tartar.

Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue is mostly cooled, about 7 minutes. Add desired flavourings or vanilla extract. 

Using a small paintbrush, paint 2 vertical stripes of food coloring inside a pastry bag on opposite sides - remember to fit the piping tip first and prep the bag by placing in a cup for easy handling. 

Fill bag with meringue, and pipe 1 3/4-inch circular shapes (they don't need to be perfect rounds) 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. As you finish piping each shape, apply less pressure to pastry bag, and swirl the tip off in a circular motion.

Bake meringues until crisp on the outside but still soft inside, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Do not remove from the oven and let them sit overnight with the oven off. 

Enjoy! 

For the complete cookie list this year check out the list for 2012 here

Sponge Toffee - Honeycomb Candy

If you're a foodie you probably saw that episode when Nigella Lawson makes a batch of sponge toffee as a hostess gift and by time she arrives at her guests house she must apologize for nibbling at the batch on the ride there in the taxi - it is quite funny!


I probably made my very first batch after seeing the episode, however it actually turned out pretty flat and brittle, it looks like the easiest recipe in the world considering how simple the steps and ingredients are so I knew it was something I needed to try again - someday. 


I guess yesterday was the day, but to be honest my first batch actually messed up, so I'm going to warn you to keep a close eye on the candy thermometer, because I turned my head for just a second and I think the sugar over cooked resulting in a more "creme caramel" burned type sugar flavour in the toffee and it actually puffed up so much that it overflowed from the original pan and onto the counter top around it. 


With my third batch I was very careful and made sure to keep a close eye on the temperature, gently whisk in the sifted baking soda while it was still on the stove and add the vanilla later on not early on in the recipe.


**My recipe called for 2 tbsp of baking soda, so I measured a rough estimate, the recipe below says 2 tsp so I'm not sure what the difference would be but you could give it a try and let me know.  


I also used my new Presidents choice non stick baking pan that was on clearance at my local superstore, it is a glass pan that has a bubbly rough surface so I oiled a parchment well and placed it inside, and whatever corners touched the glass did not even stick, pretty cool!     


Just another word of warning, if your kitchen is warm and the humidity is high in your home the toffee may begin to melt over time, so I would advise if you're making it as a gift to be careful and let it cool well in a colder dry place and package it at the last minute.   I'm not sure this batch will melt but my first one did when I woke up in the morning, it had fused together like a big gooey mess even though the night before it looked very much like a normal sponge toffee regardless of the burnt taste. 










Ingredients:


2-1/2 cups (625 mL) granulated sugar

2/3 cup (150 mL) white corn syrup

1/3 cup (75 mL) water

4 tsp (18 mL) baking soda

2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla


Preparation
In 12-cup (3 L) saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup and water over medium heat just until sugar dissolves.


Bring to boil; cook, without stirring but brushing down side of pan occasionally with pastry brush dipped in cold water, until candy thermometer reaches hard-crack stage of 300°F (149°C), or when 1 tsp (5 mL) hot syrup dropped into cold water forms hard brittle threads, about 10 minutes.


Remove from heat. Standing back and averting face, whisk in baking soda. (Caramel will bubble and sputter and increase in volume.) Whisk in vanilla.


Pour into greased foil-lined 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan. Let cool in pan on rack without disturbing, about 2 hours. Break into 1-1/2-inch (4 cm) pieces. (Make-ahead: Store layered between waxed paper in airtight container for up to 1 month.)
Source : Canadian Livng Holiday Cookbook: Fall 2009

October

A fun weekend filled with food and art. On the menu is southern fried chicken, guacamole and apple pie ice cream (yes that's an apple pie, filling crust and all layered with homemade vanilla ice cream) topped with caramelized apples and an apple slice wafer.

Lots of pumpkin seeds from the carved out pumpkins... roasting ideas in the next post as well as more details on the dessert elements.

I've always thought fried chicken was complicated but it is probably the easiest thing to make!

I threw the chicken in a bath of buttermilk (really just watered down yogurt - lots of it!) and spices. Paprika, garlic, onion powder, cajun seasoning, first rubbed all over the chicken then saturated with buttermilk and left to marinade for 24 hours in the fridge.

The following day I set all the chicken in a strainer and let the buttermilk strain off, if it's too thick you can wash them a bit and let them dry.

Now they go into a flour mixture (just seasoned with salt, and more yummy seasonings as mentioned above)

This step is very important, they have to sit for an hour to absorb all the flour and create a "dough" so set them back in the fridge.

Now they get fried up and sprinkled with a bit of salt when they come out, served with fries.

Guacamole appetizer, another one of those easy party dishes, it's a big hit and you can make a huge batch.

Normally I add the cilantro into the mix but it doesn't look so good in pictures so I left it out and sprinkled it over later.

Chop up your guacamole, tomato, red onion, cilantro.

Add some smashed garlic, olive oil, lime juice and season with salt and a touch of cumin.

Some people like to mush up the avocado a bit into a dip but I like mine in cubes and not too "mushy"

Garnished and served with corn chips.

I served with these chipotle flavoured corn disks that were on discount at the supermarket because a few broke in the pack - so I took the opportunity to break the rest of them into chip sided pieces.

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