Puffed Wheat Squares!

We had lived in Ontario for a couple of years before one day, when I was having a craving for sweets, I realized that I hadn't seen any puffed wheat squares since we moved here.  In Alberta you can find these everywhere, even gas station convenience stores.  So I asked around if anyone knew where I could get one and they looked at me with a puzzled expression as I explained these tasty treats - kinda like a rice crispy square but chocolate instead of marshmallow and puffed wheat instead of rice.

I set out to make them myself.  It was a challenge to find puffed wheat at the grocery store.  They don't carry it at my local store but I finally found them a larger chain, so you may have to shop around for this.  Puffed wheat is similar to Sugar Crisp cereal, but without the extra sugary goodness.  It will probably be in the baking isle rather then the cereal isle.

If you have never tried these, it is definitely worth it to search around a bit for the puffed wheat.  If you have tried these then you know what I'm talking about.  When I make them, I have to give most of them away or my husband and I will eat the entire sheet in 2 days.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup of corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 small bag of puffed wheat (about 8 cups)

Combine the butter, corn syrup, sugar, brown sugar and cocoa in a saucepan over medium heat.
Once the mixture has reached boiling remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

Have the puffed wheat ready in a large mixing bowl.  Pour the mixture over the puffed wheat and mix well.  Press into a 9x13 baking pan lined with parchment paper and let cool.

Cheese Biscuits

We've been experiencing a bit of a heat wave here so I didn't bake anything last week.  I did try to make vanilla pudding from scratch but it ended up more like vanilla flavoured soup.  I will have to attempt that one again to see if I can get a more pudding like consistency.

Yesterday morning the temperature finally dropped enough that I could turn on the oven without it feeling like I was already in an oven, so I made cheese biscuits!  These are great for breakfast or with dinner (we ate them all day).  You could also substitute raisins for the cheese if you want more sweetness.

Ingredients

Makes 10 to 20 biscuits depending on size.

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup of your favorite grated cheese (I used cheddar and monterey jack)

Heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Mix together the dry ingredients and then mix in the butter until it is fully blended.

Stir in the yogurt, milk and cheese and mix until the dough forms a ball.

Put it on a floured surface and roll out to a thickness of about a 1/2 inch then cut out circles with a biscuit cutter, or if you don't have one like me, the lid from a instant coffee container.  Although a good sized glass would work too.

Place the cut dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 7 to 8 minutes.

So yummy with a little butter!

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Whenever I go to the grocery store I try to get one ingredient that I am not entirely sure what to do with.  Last time it was jalapenos! We occasionally buy the frozen jalapeno poppers (so yummy) so I thought it would be great to try to make them from scratch.  The results surprised me!

Ingredients

• 4 Jalapenos
• 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 chili powder
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of flour
• Rubber/latex gloves (will explain below)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In one bowl add the bread crumbs, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
In another bowl add the egg and whisk.
Put the flour on a plate.
In bowl number three, add the cream cheese, milk and cheddar cheese. Stir until the cheese is well mixed.

Put on your gloves, cut the jalapenos in half lengthwise and de-seed them.  I advise leaving the gloves on until you clean up the jalapeno seed mess.  I took mine off a little early and two of my fingers were burning for hours afterwards.  After cold water and ice did not help I looked up a remedy and discovered that lime juice and vaseline took the burn away in 15 minutes, whew.

Stuff all your jalapeno halves with the cream cheese mixture.  Then dip the jalapeno in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs.  Make sure you coat all the sides.

Put the popper cheese side up on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Caution!  It turns out these are waaaayy more spicy then the frozen variety that we were used too.  A tip that I got from a friend (after our mouths were burning) is to soak the de-seeded peppers in a mixture of half oil and half vinegar overnight.  I am going to try this next time we make these and hopefully we can enjoy them a little more.

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

Happy Canada Day!

In honor of this holiday I attempted to make Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Filling.

Ingredients

Makes 10 sandwiches.

Cookie

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 square of unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp red food colouring
• 1/4 cup yogurt 

Cream Cheese Filling

• 1/8 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Hopefully you won't have a flour explosion all over the table like I did.

Break up the chocolate into smaller chunks, put it in a bowl and microwave for about 60 seconds, or until melted.

In a big bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.  Add the egg and mix till smooth.  Add the red food colouring and chocolate, mix until blended.  Then add half the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.  Beat in the yogurt and then the other half of the dry ingredients.

Drop spoonfuls on cookie sheets. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.  Let the cookies cool on a wire rack before adding the cream cheese filling.

For the cream cheese filling, whip the butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract until smooth.  Mix in the icing sugar in portions until you get a nice consistency.

The cookies worked out pretty well but there are some things that I would do differently next time.  I only added 1 tsp of red food colouring instead of the 1 tbsp I have listed above so my cookies came out more brown then red, wah wah.  Also the cookies really poofed up so the sandwiches were more like puffy mounds with cream cheese icing in between, still tasty though!  Next time I would flatten out the dough a little before putting it in the oven to try to get more of a sandwich look.

Blueberry Pancakes

Once you've make pancakes from scratch, you will never go back to boxed pancake mix.  They are so easy to make!  However I need to practice my pancake flipping skills because sometimes they end up smushed sideways or up on the edge of the frying pan, whoops!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons of margarine or melted butter
• 1/2 cup of blueberries (or to taste)

 

Get a big bowl and mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter. 

Mix it until smooth and then add the blueberries.

Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, I use about 3 tablespoons for each pancake. Brown on both sides, you will know when to flip them when the edges turn color and the middle starts to bubble.

This recipe should make 8 but I usually only get 6 medium sized pancakes and then the last one is huge since I use up the rest of the batter.

I've tried these pancakes plain, with chocolate chips and with blueberries and the blueberry version is definitely my favorite (and my husband's favorite!).

 

Intro

I love to bake!  Almost every weekend you will find me in my tiny kitchen baking all sorts of sweet and savory treats.

I am not exaggerating about the tiny kitchen!  It is a 5' x 7' space, so small that the fridge has to be out in the dining room.  And my oven is so old that it doesn't even have a window!  I didn't even know that was possible!

I still consider myself a beginner in my baking adventure, it can be challenging but it is always fun.  I make mistakes and don't always have the right equipment but I will attempt almost any recipe, with occasionally disastrous results.

Success or failure, I will share my experiences and recipes with you.