shortbread cookies.

And so the baking continues. I'm quite impressed actually. I've already made chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies (that's a mouthful!), lemon crinkle cookies, magic bars, boeterkoek and now shortbread...and my husband hasn't eaten them all! That's a Christmas miracle in itself! 

I had never made shortbread until now, and not being a huge cookie eater...I'm not sure how valuable my opinion is, but these are dang good shortbread! Anna Olson...you done good! They've got all the qualities you'd want in a good shortbread...buttery, crumbly, melt in your mouth! And then the piece of chocolate on top is just the icing on the cake. Pick your favourite type of chocolate, whatever it may be! Just a word of warning...white chocolate (specifically cookies and cream) does not turn out as pretty :). 


Shortbread Cookies 
 
- (1) cup unsalted butter at room temperature 
- (1/2) cup plus 2 Tbsp icing sugar 
- (1/4) cup cornstarch or rice flour 
- (1 1/2) cups all purpose flour 
- (1/2) teaspoon salt 
- (1) teaspoon vanilla extract
- Your choice of chocolate (Toblerone, Jersey Milk, Cookies and Cream...etc!), optional

 
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down sides of the bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all purpose flour and salt and mix until dough comes together (it will be soft). Stir in vanilla. Spoon large teaspoonfuls of cookie dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto an un-greased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies. If you choose to add a piece of chocolate, press whatever chocolate you like into each cookie.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until bottoms brown lightly. The original recipe called for 18 to 20 minutes, but I found my cookies started to brown on the bottoms after about 12 minutes, so keep an eye of them! Remove from cookie sheet to cool and enjoy! Freeze the cookies if you'd like to enjoy them at a later date.

magic bars.

 

Wow. I honestly don't know where my head is these days. I have been attempting to bake over the last few weeks in an effort to give some homemade treats to some special people in my life. I know...it's very Italian of me :). Right now, those special people include our two doormen here at Chateauneuf...Tony and Larry. While I previously thought there job was semi-ridiculous, I have really come to appreciate these two over the past year living in our apartment. Besides their obvious role of keeping us all safe from random stragglers, they sign for me when a package comes and I'm not home, they seem to have a sixth sense and grab the door when I'm balancing 8 bags of groceries, and as of late, Larry's been hooking me up with a free copy of the National Post.

But about my head. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I like to cook...not always bake. With cooking, if I've forgotten an ingredient or two...no big deal, I'll substitute. With baking, substituting doesn't fly. It's so meticulous, and one slip up and all of a sudden you've got pancakes instead of Yorkshire Pudding. I know...not really baking, but case in point. 

So my first slip up was buying baking soda instead of corn starch when attempting to make shortbread cookies. I guess it serves me right for trying to cheap out and buy no name brand...all the boxes look the same! On my next trip to the grocery store, I decided while I was there that I wanted to make Magic Bars. Apparently I didn't know the recipe too well, because I got home and realized I needed graham crumbs. Failed attempt number one. A few days later I picked up my graham crumbs, so ready, set, go. Or so I thought until I realized that evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk are not the same thing. Failed attempt number two. This time I was halfway through the recipe, so there was no turning back. The friendly Korean lady at our local "dépanneur" and I are quickly becoming close friends. While grabbing the condensed milk, I saw some packages of chopped nuts, an ingredient I had also forgot, but previously come to terms with. I arrived home with my walnuts and milk in hand...finally ready to conquer this recipe. I bring up the recipe on my laptop and...shit...it calls for pecans and not walnuts...walnuts it is!

Magic Bars

- (3/4) cup of butter, melted

- (2 1/4) cups of graham crumbs

- (1) 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

- (1 1/2) cups of semisweet chocolate chips

- (1 1/2) cups of sweetened coconut

- (1) cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 13x9 inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or butter. Combine graham crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts.

 Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the entire mixture.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely and cut into bars or diamonds. I found the bottom layer to be a tad crumbly (although I'll admit I couldn't wait until they were completely cooled), but after putting the tray in the fridge for a while, they cut up perfectly. Store covered at room temperature or in the fridge and feel free to freeze. 

 

mediterranean eggplant and barley salad.

I know, I know...it seems like forever since my last post! It's not like I haven't been cooking! My memory card is FULL of pictures of food that I've been dying to put on the blog, but my problem lately is finding the time. For those of you who know me, and know that I'm currently only working part time, I'm sure you're shaking your heads right now. And no...I don't have kids to take care of either. So really, I don't have a good excuse. I'm just starting to understand the phrase "there just isn't enough hours in the day". Being a wife and running a home is a lot more work than I ever imagined! Cook, clean, laundry, repeat. I feel like I have a list of things that I'd like to do (maybe not "like to", but should) and just when I get through my list, the fridge needs to be cleaned again, so I start right back at the top of my list. Props to all of you who are doing this all while you take care of your kids and work full-time...or even run your own business...wow!

I was expressing this sentiment to a co-worker just the other day. My friend Helen and I have been lucky enough to be working together the last couple of months, and during one of our daily rants, we were discussing how we felt like we can't keep up with our own lives. Helen is one of those people that just can't say no, and thus works two jobs, always makes time for friends and family, and shows up to work everyday with AMAZING lunches!!!

Helen is a vegetarian and loves to experiment with recipes from various vegetarian food blogs. She brings something new and exciting to work everyday and I'm always amazed at the colours and smells packed into her Ziploc containers. Sadly, Helen had plans to move on to bigger and better things, and so we planned a little vegetarian potluck goodbye party for Helen. While my plan was to make something from her favourite food blog 101 Cookbooks I couldn't pass up the chance to make this recipe. I discovered this recipe on one of my favourite foodie blogs Smitten Kitchen and I followed it to a T (something new for me). My initial reaction when I read the ingredient list was that there was WAY too many flavour combinations going on, but somehow...it just works! A shout out to Deb at Smitten Kitchen for this amazing recipe...it was a hit!

Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad
Makes 4 (main course) or 8 (side dish) servings

- (1 1/2) lb eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- (3/4) lb zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- (10) tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- (1) teaspoon salt
- (1) teaspoon black pepper
- (1) cup chopped green onion (from 1 bunch)
- (1 1/2) teaspoons ground cumin
- (1/2) teaspoon ground coriander
- (1/4) teaspoon cayenne
- (1 1/4) cups pearl barley (8 oz)
- (1) 14-oz can reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (1 3/4 cups)
- (3/4) cup water
- (2) tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- (1) garlic clove, minced
- (1/4) teaspoon sugar
- (1/2) lb cherry tomatoes, quartered
- (1/3) cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, pitted and halved
- (1/2) cup thinly sliced red onion, rinsed and drained if desired
- (1) cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- (1/2) cup chopped fresh mint


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut up the eggplant and zucchini into small cubes. Toss with 5 tablespoons of oil, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Spread evenly into 2 oiled large shallow baking pans. Roast vegetables in oven, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden brown and tender, 20 to 25 minutes total. Remove from oven and combine vegetables into one pan to cool, reserving other pan for cooling barley.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add green onions, cumin, corriander and cayenne, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add barley and cook, stiring until well coated with oil, 2 minutes more.

Add broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until all of the liquid is absorbed and barley is tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for another 5 minutes. Transfer to the reserved baking pan and spread to quickly cool, uncovered, to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

Now it's time to put together the dressing. Whisk together lemon juice, garlic, sugar, remaining 1/4 teaspoon of pepper,  and 3 tablespoons of oil in bowl. Set aside.

To assemble the salad, combine cooled barley, roasted vegetables, tomatoes, olives, onions, mint and parsley into a large bowl. Pour the dressing on top and toss until combined well.

Feel free to make this salad a day a head of time, this will give all the flavours a chance to mingle. Cover and chill overnight, but make sure to bring it up to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!