Cook & Mason

For months and months now I’ve seen baked donuts pop up on blog after blog and I’d been bookmarking all of them in the hopes that someday I would procure my own donut pan and finally be able to make them all. When I finally got my hands on a donut pan, these orange glazed blueberry donuts from Prevention RD’s blog were first in line – blueberries + orange + glaze – how could you possibly go wrong?

These definitely didn’t disappoint one bit – in fact, I almost had to hide these to keep Jon away from them. He loved them so much he ate 2 of them before dinner  and then 1 1/2 more afterwards! If that’s not a testament of just how amazing these are, then I don’t know what else to tell ya! My pan yielded only 15 donuts rather than 21 donuts which ended up making each of them approximately 137 calories each – a far cry from the 250 or more calories in a regular fried donut. And at 137 calories a piece, I reckon you could indulge in say, 1 or possibly 2 or 3 donuts without any very much guilt.

These orange glazed blueberry donuts are light and fluffy. The orange flavour shines through the glaze but not to the point that borders on too much orange. Jon is a hater of all things orange in baked goods and he didn’t give me his usual why-did-you-have-to-ruin-this-by-adding-orange-peel speech.

Recipe type: Breakfast, DessertServes: 15Ingredients

• 2 cups cake flour (or 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup blueberries, halved
• Orange Glaze:
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp whole milk
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice + more to thin out, if desired
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix. Add in the orange zest and mix it in.
2. Pour in the buttermilk and add in the eggs, applesauce and vanilla extract. Gently stir the ingredients together until just combined. Be careful not to over-mix the batter or the donuts will not be fluffy. Carefully fold in the halved blueberries.
3. Lightly grease a donut pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully spoon the batter into the doughnut pan. Fill each one no more than half way. Bake the doughnuts at 425 F for 8-9 minutes.
4. While the donuts are baking, make the glaze.
5. Put the powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add in the orange juice, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. If the glaze is too thick, add additional orange juice or milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. I needed almost 2 tablespoons of milk to get the glaze to the right consistency – start small and work up to more, if need be.
6. Once the donuts are done baking, let them cool in the donut pan for 4 minutes. Then remove them from the pan.
7. Dip one side of each donut in the glaze. Set the donuts on top of a cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath. Allow the glaze on the doughnuts to dry and serve immediately.

Notes

Remember to spray your pan again if you have to reuse the donut pan to make a second batch. I didn’t realize this and had quite the time prying my donuts out of their little spots.

The holidays are almost over and man, am I ever glad! Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas time and the time we get to spend with our family and friends. But – and I don’t know about you –  I absolutely, positively pig-out during the holidays. In our family, we usually host a Christmas eve games night at our house with a menu made entirely of hors d’oeuvres and dessert which, as you can imagine, is on the carby and heavy side of things. The following day for Christmas, we have a traditional Christmas dinner with all the traditional heavy carby sides such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes and fresh rolls. Needless to say once you add in a few office parties and get-togethers with friends, we were in much need of a lighter meal. This meal was exactly what we needed – light, flavourful and quick!

This is a quick weeknight dinner that can be put together with whatever vegetables you’ve got on hand – bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, onions – the options are endless. Broiling the tofu really gave it an amazingly chewy texture and is a technique I will be using from here on out in other dishes as well. While we ate our meal, I thought the dish could have used a dash of sugar to offset the spiciness of the dish but Jon thought it was perfect just the way it was. I’ve included the amount of brown sugar I’ll be adding in next time below and definitely recommend it if you enjoy your Asian meals a bit on the sweet side.

Recipe type: Main DishServes: 4Broiled tofu is combined with a spicy-sweet sauce to create a lighter version of this take-out favourite.Ingredients

• 1 (14-ounce) package water-packed firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)
• 1 tablespoon less-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons black bean garlic sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (8-ounce) package pre-sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup matchstick-cut carrots
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
• 2 cups cooked Jasmine rice

Instructions

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Arrange tofu in a single layer on a foil-lined jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray; broil 14 minutes or until golden, flipping the tofu half-way.
3. While tofu cooks, combine broth and next 5 ingredients (through sugar), stirring with a whisk; set aside.
4. Heat oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add salt and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms begin to release liquid, stirring occasionally. Stir in carrots and ginger; cook 1 minute. Add broth mixture; cook 30 seconds or until sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat; stir in tofu and onions. Serve over rice; sprinkle with peanuts.

Although Christmas is only a couple of days away, I couldn’t resist sharing this AMAZING recipe with you. This is one of the best cookies I have made – seriously! I first made this last year after seeing the rave reviews it got on Prevention RD’s blog and couldn’t leave them off  my Christmas baking list this year. It’s a buttery shortbread base topped with rich chocolate and bits of peppermint and a white chocolate drizzle – it’s really perfection in a cookie. It’s not too late to crank this one out before Christmas – I promise you won’t regret it.

Recipe type: DessertServes: 40 piecesRich buttery shortbread is topped with a thin layer of chocolate and some chopped candy-cane to create the best Christmas cookie.Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk
• 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red & white candies or candy canes (about 3 ounces)
• 2 oz. high-quality white chocolate

Instructions

1. Directions:
2. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line the bottom of the pan with parchment, letting it hang over the sides of the pan.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue to beat for an additional 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla extract and egg yolk.
4. Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually beat in the flour mixture, until just combined. Do not over mix.
5. Scatter the dough over the bottom of the prepared pan and gently press it, with slightly moistened fingers, to form a flat layer. Prick all over with a fork.
6. Bake the cookie layer until golden brown and slightly puffed, and edges are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, 25-30 minutes. Place on a cookie rack and immediately sprinkle chopped bittersweet or semisweet (or a combination of the two) over the cookie layer. Let the chocolate sit for about 3 minutes. Using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate into an even layer over the surface of the cookies. Immediately sprinkle 3 ounces crushed red and white peppermint candies, or candy canes, over the chocolate layer.
7. Place chopped white chocolate in a medium metal bowl set over a simmering pot of water. Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Using a fork, drizzle the white chocolate over the peppermint candies. Chill for approximately 30 minutes.
8. Gripping the overhanging parchment paper, lift the cookies out of the pan and place on a work surface. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the cookies into irregular pieces

I have been away, for a little while, with no explanations about why – for that I’m sorry. For the past week, the big dogs and I found ourselves “alone” and things were getting a little gloomy. Jon was away for work in Detroit this past week and while I had these grand plans to get a lot done for the blog, none of those things happened.

Isn’t it funny the difference between perception and reality? The whole past week was kind of a little sad actually. The big dogs were, frankly, a bit mournful in their demeanour. For the better part of the week (until Thursday), I would feed them their dinner and then they would proceed to pass out on the carpet – staring straight ahead – for hours, until we finally went to bed. They seemed really unsure of what was happening and lost interest in all their toys and play times as well. Some days in the past week, they would go to the front door and wait in anticipation for Jon to walk through the door. It was really, really sad. In comparison, they are both wrestling it out now as I type this.

And while I promised myself I would never be the kind of person that chose not to cook because my husband was out-of-town, I found it hard to muster the energy to cook an entire meal just for myself.  Well, never again! I am hoping I will remember this post the next time Jon is away.

On to the recipe then. These roasted parsnips are an amazing way to really taste the true amazing-ness of this winter vegetable. I love parsnips only when they are roasted! Roasting really brings out the subtle-sweetness of this vegetable and this dish is kept simple with only the addition of salt, pepper and a bit of rosemary and pumps up the earthiness of the parsnips. I LOVE this method of roasting vegetables and have used it on pretty much every vegetable I can think of. It really crisps up the veggies, giving them that nice golden-brown colour you want on roasted vegetables.

Recipe type: Side dishIngredients

• 6 parsnips
• Olive oil
• 1 sprig rosemary
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to boil. Meanwhile, peel the parsnips and halved length wise. Then cut the parsnips diagonally into smaller wedges.
2. Once the water boils, add a little salt and drop the parsnips into the water for about 5 minutes. Drain the parsnips in a colander. and let it dry for a couple of minutes.
3. Meanwhile, pour a couple of glugs (about 1-2 tbsp) of olive oil onto a cookie sheet. Strip the rosemary leaves off the sprig and add it to the sheet. Put the parsnips on to the cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir the parsnips to coat with the olive oil mixture.
4. Bake the parsnips for 20-25 minutes, flipping half-way, until they are golden brown.

This is not Risotto.

It tastes a lot like risotto – it’s creamy, uses arborio rice and looks a lot like risotto  – it has a similar texture to risotto, but without all the babysitting that traditional risotto needs.

Call it whatever you like – I call it delicious and unforgettable! So delicious that now, just less than a week later, I have no idea what I served with this “side” dish. This side dish was totally #1 in our books and is a meal in and of itself. A beautiful vegetarian one two-dish meal with limited hands-on time.

I modified this a bit from the original recipe because I left my shopping list at home and didn’t realize that the dish called for fresh spinach and instead got a box of frozen spinach. I thawed the frozen spinach in the microwave and wrung out the excess water using a strainer and it worked like a charm. Since I usually have frozen spinach on hand, this could be one of those dishes that comes in handy when it seems like I’ve got nothing in the house

Recipe type: Main or SideServes: 4-6Ingredients

• 3.25 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and all water squeezed out
• 1/4 lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup milk, warmed slightly*
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Stir in the rice and then top with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook until the rice is almost fully cooked and the broth is nearly all absorbed. Turn off the heat and allow the rice to cook on its own.
2. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a medium pan. Add the onion and let cook for a couple of minutes, then add in the garlic, cooking until the onion is tender. Stir in the spinach and cook until the spinach is heated through.
3. Add the spinach mixture to the cooked rice, along with the cheese and milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir until everything is combined and well-mixed. Mix in more broth or milk if the rice is too dry. Serve immediately.

Notes

*I didn’t warm the milk and found that the addition of the cold milk cooled down the entire dish. I would warm the milk to a temperature a bit warmer than room temp.

This dish was a couple of firsts for me – it was the first time I cooked with dried legumes and the first time I added something sweet to a savoury dish. While this tagine or stew, if you will, sounded wonderful when I planned out our dinners this past weekend, once I added in the dates to the dish I kind of panicked for a second. You see, I’ve always been a hater of the sweet/savoury mixed meals – like pork chops and applesauce. But I forged on knowing I loved all the other components of the meal.

Luckily we both loved this dish. It was a mix of savoury and sweet without being overly sweet in a candy-like manner. Since I was on the fence about the addition of the dates, I cut them into small pieces, instead of halves as the original recipe stated, and found that they almost melted into the stew which I loved and made the stew thick. All the flavours of this dish came together so beautifully. The lemon juice at the end adds just the right amount of sourness to offset the sweetness of the dates.

If you go the route of using dried legumes, like I did, make sure to add plenty of water. I was surprised to find that the original recipe states the serving size as 8 because my chickpeas soaked in all 3 cups of water I added in. My end dish would definitely not serve 8 people – which really is stretching it for 3 measly cups of chickpeas anyway. I’d say a more realistic serving size would be 4 servings. Also, the cooking time is increased if you are using dried chickpeas. I cooked my tagine for about 30-40 minutes instead of the 10 minutes from the original dish. However, I’ve found that 10 minutes is way too short a time to properly infuse all the spices of a particular dish into beans. Beans need to be simmered for at least 20-30 minutes for them to take on the flavours of a particular dish.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced (2 cups)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (4 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 15-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup whole-wheat couscous
• 1 cup pitted dates, chopped
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan and add in the onions. Stir and cook the onions until they are translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, cinnamon and saute for 30 seconds. Add in the tomatoes and chickpeas and 3 cups of water (if using dried chickpeas) or 1/4 cup of water for canned chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 45 minutes (for dried beans) or 10 minutes (canned beans)
2. Meanwhile, toast the couscous in a medium saucepan for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 1/4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let it stand undisturbed for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, fluff the couscous gently with a fork.
3. Stir the dates and lemon juice into the tagine and season with salt and pepper. Serve over couscous, sprinkled with cilantro.

Notes

If you are using dried chickpeas, soak 1.5 cups of dried chickpeas with water covering several inches above the legumes for 8-12 hours. Then, drain off the soaking water and use in the recipe above. Depending on how soft you want your chickpeas, you will be letting the dish simmer anywhere between 45 – 60 minutes.

I am one of those people that loves cookbooks and any other sort of printed literature that has recipes. I just LOVE to stumble across new recipes. I think the best types of recipes come from the places we least expect them to – such as the milk calendar. I have loved the Milk Calendar since I was in the 8th grade. Every year, we would get the calendar in the Saturday paper in early December and I would go through it in great detail, eagerly  looking for new recipes to make. Who knew it was just the beginning of a tiny obsession in development?

This recipe, as you may have already guessed, came from the Milk Calendar for the year 2000, which is hard to believe was 12 years ago now. Although I love the milk calendar a lot, my mother-in-law is one of the other people who I know who loves it just as much. I had overlooked this recipe due to a couple of ingredients that didn’t quite seem like they belonged – like vinegar and corn syrup. But after tasting the delicious chocolate-banana muffins which seemed to be a staple in her house, I was sold on this recipe which was moist and delicious without any added butter!

The milk calendar calls these “Chocolate Banana Cupcakes”. I’m sorry but it would be a crime to call these “cupcakes”. They are delicious and moist, as a banana bread should be, but these are no cupcakes and if you think they are, you need to taste a truly great cupcake! I had never baked this recipe as a loaf before, always sticking to muffins before, but this was so great as a loaf – the tops/sides/bottom of the bread was crunchy, in a good way, while the insides were soft and moist.

Ingredients

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp icing sugar, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 °F (200 °C). Lightly spray 12 muffin pan or a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a blender, mix together bananas, milk, brown sugar, corn syrup, oil, vanilla and vinegar and purée until everything is mixed, about 40 seconds.
3. In another bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; sprinkle over banana mixture and stir just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips gently and then spoon mixture into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack. Sift icing sugar over top, if desired.