Food Friday

Okay, confession time.

I'm a little... um... odd, when it comes to baking and serving guests. Just a little.

In the last weeks of my pregnancy with Norah, I had that time-honoured nesting instinct kick in. But where many women channel that energy into a good deep-clean of their house, or stocking their freezer with pasta sauces and frozen casseroles, my energies went into something a little less practical.

You guessed it. Baking.

By the time I'd finished, my freezer was packed with cookies. Sure, there were some meal-related things in there, but those were mostly prepared by Francis and my mother. My contribution was laden with sugar and real butter. I won't bother to tell you exactly how many cookies and squares I put in there, but let's just say I was well into triple digits...

And why did I feel the need to do this, you ask? Follow, if you can, my twisted, hormonal logic:
"When the baby is born, people are going to want to come over and visit to meet him/her. If people come over, I have to serve them something. I'm not okay with putting out a plate of Mr. Christie's finest. But I'm also not likely to have the energy to bake with a newborn to look after. Therefore, I should bake now."

As if people would care what I put out, or even if I put out anything! But one cannot rationalize with a woman preparing to give birth. It's just not possible.

I still like to serve fresh, homemade baked goods when people come over, but I don't always have a lot of energy or a lot of notice. So I've come up with a few things that I can make in a hurry, with a few simple things that I can have on-hand in my freezer at all times. Here's the first:

Berry Galette*

*A "galette" is really just a free-form tart. It just sounds fancier!

You will need these things from your freezer:

Ready-made pastry. Makes everything easier! (Confession #2: I've never made pastry from scratch. Never ever.) Just let it come to room temperature (only takes about 15 minutes) before you try to handle it. By the way, try to get the "deep dish" variety. It just works better.

Of course you can substitute any kind of frozen fruit here, it just so happens that my favourite is the mixed berries. And don't be afraid to buy the no-name version - I'm not hugely brand-loyal when it comes to frozen fruit.

The Cool Whip, of course, can be considered optional. But I like to garnish, so for me it's mandatory. Plus - it's pretty yummy.

Now you just need a few standard things from your fridge/pantry:
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp unsalted butter (margarine is fine too, if that's what you have)

Mix the first 4 ingredients with 3 cups of berries. Take the pastry out of the aluminum pie plate, and place it, more or less flattened-out, in the middle of a cookie sheet.Pile the berry mixture in the middle of the pastry, and dot with the butter/margarine. Now comes the fun part! Fold the pastry over the berries, overlapping the folds and leaving the berries visible in the centre. (Optional: you can brush the pastry a mixture of an egg whisked with 2 tbsp of water to help with the browning). Bake for 35 to 45 minutes at 375, until golden brown. Allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into it (this helps it to thicken).

Trust me, it tastes as yummy as it looks!

If you choose to skip the Cool Whip, you can always dust the galette with a little icing sugar. It's also very tasty if you swap the Cool Whip for vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. (My problem is that ice cream isn't as likely to survive in my freezer!)

Try it out. You won't be disappointed!

*Next week: Chocolate Trifle, also with simple things from your freezer!

Food Friday

This isn't a typical Food Friday post, because it's not about something that I made. Rather, my sister got me hooked on a baking blog, and I just have to share!

I absolutely love to bake cakes. And even more than baking, I love to decorate cakes! So ever since Jenna pointed out this blog to me, I've been hooked.

In particular, I love her cake pops. She mixes crumbled cake with icing, rolls it into a ball, puts it on a stick, and then decorates it.

Yup, they're all edible!

If you love baked goods, even if you don't make them yourself, just check out Bakerella. The photos of the stuff she comes up with will make you drool all over your keyboard. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Food Friday

I've decided that Fridays will be my day to post some of my favourite recipes. Lately, I've been on a Christmas baking kick which, among other things, has included several varieties of biscotti. I have two favourites so far. Here's the first one:


Gingerbread Biscotti
Ingredients:
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup molasses
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoons baking powder
3 teaspoons ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Directions:
1. Place the almonds on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway through until golden. Be sure to keep a close eye on them, they can burn quickly.
2. Allow almonds to cool, then chop into small pieces and set aside.
3. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, molasses until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
4. Using another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and almonds. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and stir to blend.
5. On two greased cookie sheets (or cookie sheets covered with parchment paper), using floured hands, pat the dough into 4 flat loaves, spacing them evenly on sheets. Each loaf should be about 1/2 inch thick, 2 inches wide and the length of the baking sheet.
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven until just browned at edges and springy to touch, about 18-20 minutes. Halfway through the baking turn the pans so they bake evenly.
7. Leave the biscotti on the cookie sheets until just cooled, then cut into long, 1/2-inch thick diagonal slices.
8. Turn the slices over and arrange them close together on the baking sheets and bake again at 350 degrees until browned, 15-18 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely before dipping, drizzling or storing.
*Melt white chocolate chips (or baking squares) in a double boiler with a bit of shortening (about 1 tbsp shortening per cup of chocolate). Use this to drizzle over the biscotti or dip one end of each biscuit in it and place on foil or parchment to harden.