Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
One flavour which I really enjoy is Maple. In Canada at this time of year, the sap is running on the Maple trees and they are tapping them so that they can make Maple Syrup.
One of my favourite things to do when I lived there, with the family, was to take a trip into the Maple bush to watch them making the Maple Syrup and to buy some of their products.
They don't just make syrup, but also candies and sugar. Butter, fudge, etc. It takes about 45 litres of maple sap to make one litre of syrup.
The harvested sap goes into a sugar house where it is put into the evaporator which boils and condenses it down into syrup, as the water evaporates.
For other products (butter, sugar, candy) the syrup is boiled/evaporated/condensed even further.
When I first moved over here to the UK, Maple anything was very hard to procure. I came over with a 4 liter can of Maple syrup which I carried right onto the plane.(Try doing that now!)
Thankfully Maple products are a lot easier to find now. You can buy the syrup in all the shops and even Maple sugar in some.
I used some of my maple sugar the other day to make this delicious Pear & Maple Upside-down Cake, along with some maple flavouring in the batter.
Pears and maple go very well together. I had some tinned pears which were coming close to their sell by date and this was a great way to use them up.
Of course if you don't have maple sugar, soft light brown sugar works very well. It is what was originally used in making upside down cakes. Using maple sugar was my own idea, and it worked well.
I used tinned pear halves and pecans, filling in the spaces in between with some slices of pear and more pecan nuts.
The recipe itself was based on the one for Pineapple Upside-down Cake in my old Purity Cookbook. You can't beat that book!
It is filled with lots of very sound basic recipes.
The recipe for the batter calls for the use of white vegetable shortening, which makes for a lovely white sponge. Generally, you can use butter or margarine in place of shortening, but making this substitution may slightly alter the texture of baked goods.
Shortening is 100 percent fat, but butter and margarine are composed of about 85 percent fat and 15 percent water.
I have found that in cakes the substitution is barely noticeable really, except you might have a slight golden cake instead of a pure white one.
Not a problem really. Just don't use whipped or spreadable butters/margarines. Use solid, and you will be okay.
I think I like this Pear & Maple version even better than the old Pineapple version. My husband ate two pieces, one while it was still warm and another one later on after it had cooled!
Myself, I am trying hard to resist it, but it's hard to do! A little sliver won't hurt . . .
*Pear & Maple Upside down Cake*
makes 1 9-inch cake
A
delicious twist on an old favourite. If you want you can use 65g (1/2
cup) of maple sugar instead of the brown sugar called for in the recipe
for an even more maple-like flavour. That is what I did this time and it
worked beautifully.
a quantity of toasted pecan nuts
210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp maple flavouring
190g sugar (1 cup)
.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the sugar. Drop in the shortening and 120ml (1/2 cup) of the milk. Beat on low speed with an electric whisk for 1 minute. Add the eggs, remaining milk and maple flavouring. Beat for an additonal 2 minutes on low speed. Pour over the pears in the pan. Smooth out evenly.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes. The cake should spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven. Immediately invert on a serving plate. Let cool for 10 minutes before carefully lifting off the cake tin.
Cut into weges to serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
This really is a lovely cake and one I am sure the whole family will enjoy! Bon Appetit!
I never make a Jam Roly Poly for dessert but what I don't think of one of my favourite childhood stories, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers and the Roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter. Its kind of a gruesome story really when you think about it . . . rats
capturing an innocent little kitten and rolling him up in pudding dough
to bake and eat . . . it sent shivers up my spine at the thought. A tale really of a lesson learned about the perils of disobedience and the consquences which follow!
We have an elderly friend that I like to bake things for from time to time. We usually go to visit her a couple of times a week and I usually bring her something I have baked on one of those occasions. I get to enjoy the pleasure of baking something and she gets to enjoy the pleasure of eating what I have baked. As a diabetic I am not really supposed to be eating a lot of baked goods, so it works really well for me as I love to bake. Its a win/win situation really!
When I was much younger and still at school, many moons ago, I collected a series of Better Homes and Gardens Cookery books. It was like a mini encyclopedia of cookery. I used them a lot in my younger years and I still dig them out from time to time. Just because the recipes are old, it doesn't mean that they aren't still useful or delicious. Recipes like this RickShaw Rice which I garnered from the Speedy Skillet Meals book!
Any guesses on what my absolute favourite cookie of all time is??? No, it's not custard creams, oreos, chocolate chip or even shortbreads . . .
It's the humble, peanut butter filled, peanut butter flavoured oat cookie from Canada called . . . "Pirate Cookies!" I just love that wholesome crisp oatmeal cookie (slightly peanut butter flavoured) and that yummy peanut buttercream filling. Oh, nothing on earth tastes better with a glass of milk.
I like to pull them apart and lick up the frosting and then eat the cookie part. I like to dip them in milk and let them get soft and then eat that scrummy milk soaked goodness . . .
I like to eat them just as they come . . . two crispy layers . . . soft filling . . . Nom Nom!
I love to eat them anyway I can get them . . . only problem being . . . there is no such thing as a Pirate Cookie here in the UK . . . there is not even any biscuit that it close to being a Pirate Cookie.
My waistline is completely ok with that fact . . . but oh boy . . . you never know just how much you are going to miss something until it's way beyond your reach.
My waistline is completely ok with that fact . . . but oh boy . . . you never know just how much you are going to miss something until it's way beyond your reach.
I have been missing Pirate Cookies for nigh onto 16 years now . . . that's a long time to miss something.
Ok . . . so I have had the occasional fix when I happen to fly home for visits . . . but its not near often enough, truly. I love them that much.
Ok . . . so I have had the occasional fix when I happen to fly home for visits . . . but its not near often enough, truly. I love them that much.
I've tried bringing some home with me in my baggage . . . but they can get all crushed . . . not nearly as satisfying as crunching down your own biccies!
This week I decided to try to make my own . . . I baked oatmeal cookies largely based on an old recipe . . . I substituted some of the butter with peanut butter.
This week I decided to try to make my own . . . I baked oatmeal cookies largely based on an old recipe . . . I substituted some of the butter with peanut butter.
It worked. I had some lovely peanut butter flavoured oatmeal cookies.I created a peanut butter flavoured buttercream filling.
I sandwiched that yummo peanut butter flavoured buttercream filling betwixt two of those scrummy oat cookies.
I fell in love. Mr Christie . . . you DO make good cookies . . . but these are better.
The end.
*Homemade Pirate Cookies*
Makes 18
Printable Recipe
Something which I have always missed from home . . . now I don't have to miss them anymore.
For the cookies:
75g of plain flour (3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 TBS unsalted butter, at room temperature
90g of creamy peanut butter (1/2 cup)
96g of caster sugar (1/2 cup)
100g of soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
1 large free range egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
81g of quick cooking oats (1 cup)
For the filling:
3 TBS unsalted butter
90g of creamy peanut butter (1/2 cup)
130g of icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
3 TBS heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk togethet the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture and then stir in the oats, beating briefly to combine. Scoop out using a small cookie scoop (approximately 1 heaped TBS) and drop onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches in between each for spreading. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown and the edgese are set. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the filling by beating together the butter, peanut butter and icing sugar at medium speed until smooth. Add the cream and beat until fluffy. Put together the cookies into pairs with some of this filling in between. Press the filling to the edges. Store in an airtight container.
Oh yes . . . I will still be induging my fill the next time I fly back to Nova Scotia, but . . . it's nice to know that in the meantime I can still create a fabulous almost there substitute!!!
I fell in love. Mr Christie . . . you DO make good cookies . . . but these are better.
The end.
*Homemade Pirate Cookies*
Makes 18
Printable Recipe
Something which I have always missed from home . . . now I don't have to miss them anymore.
For the cookies:
75g of plain flour (3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 TBS unsalted butter, at room temperature
90g of creamy peanut butter (1/2 cup)
96g of caster sugar (1/2 cup)
100g of soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
1 large free range egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
81g of quick cooking oats (1 cup)
For the filling:
3 TBS unsalted butter
90g of creamy peanut butter (1/2 cup)
130g of icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
3 TBS heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk togethet the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture and then stir in the oats, beating briefly to combine. Scoop out using a small cookie scoop (approximately 1 heaped TBS) and drop onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches in between each for spreading. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown and the edgese are set. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Make the filling by beating together the butter, peanut butter and icing sugar at medium speed until smooth. Add the cream and beat until fluffy. Put together the cookies into pairs with some of this filling in between. Press the filling to the edges. Store in an airtight container.
Oh yes . . . I will still be induging my fill the next time I fly back to Nova Scotia, but . . . it's nice to know that in the meantime I can still create a fabulous almost there substitute!!!
I have no idea at all why this is called Spanish Cake. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly Spanish about it.
I only know that it has always been called Spanish Cake. It is flavoured with lots of cinnamon and topped with a Maple Icing.
You would think that it should be called Canada cake, but its not. Its quite simply Spanish cake.
Its a rather old recipe which has been kicking about in my Big Blue
Binder for a very long time. That means that this is a tried and true,
and a favourite recipe.
I probably picked up somewhere along my travels across
Canada. Possibly from one of my friends, but it was so long ago that I can no longer
remember where or when. I only know that its delicious.
It is buttery and moist. It has a lovely cinnamon flavour, but it is not a large cake. It is a very moreish cake, which more than makes up for its lack of size.
This is a cake you will find yourself wanting to cut a slice from again and again . . . and maybe even again. I once cooked it three times in one week. (Don't judge me, lol)
It's a single 8 inch square layer . . . topped with a maple sugar frosting that you pour over the cake while the icing is slightly warm. You do it when it is warm so that it spreads out easily across the cake.
You could use soft light brown sugar if you cannot find maple sugar. I am partial to the flavour of maple myself.
I did manage to buy it in a shop here in the UK. I think it was Asda, but I can't remember for sure. You can also buy it on Amazon.
My sister sent me over a kilo of it a while back. I treat it like gold. But it is always worth using it for this delicious cake. I like to top the finished cake with toasted walnuts . . . maple and walnuts go together like peas and carrots.
*Spanish Cake*
Makes one 8-inch cake
A lovely little cake flavoured with cinnamon and topped with a lucious maple cream icing.
For the cake:
140g of plain flour (1 cup)
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
120g of butter, at room temperature (1/2 cup)
190g of sugar (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs, separated
120ml milk (1/2 cup)
For the icing:
60g butter (1/4 cup)
80g of maple sugar (1/2 cup, can use 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar)
2 TBS milk
130g of icing sugar (1 cup)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.
Beat the egg WHITES until stiff and set aside.
Sift
the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Set aside. Cream
together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg
YOLKS one at a time. Beat in the flour along with the milk making
alternate additions. (3 dry and two wet) Mix well.
Fold in the egg
whites. Spread the batter in the prepared baking tin. Bake in the
heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top bounces back when
lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
The cake should also have begun to pull away from the sides a bit.
Remove from the oven. Cool in the pan for five minutes then lift out
onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Place
the butter for the icing in a saucepan and melt. Add the maple sugar
and heat gently over low heat for 2 minutes, until the sugar has
melted. Add the milk. Bring to the boil, then remove from the stove
and let cool. Beat in the icing sugar and spread onto the cooled cake.
Note - I like to sprinkle chopped toasted walnuts on top, but that is the Canadian in me liking the flavour of maple walnut.
I hope you will make this cake. When you do I think you will agree that Spanish or not, its one very delicious cake.
I hope you will make this cake. When you do I think you will agree that Spanish or not, its one very delicious cake.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
This is a cookie I used to make for my kiddos quite often when they were growing up and who wouldn't love them? A tasty peanut butter cookie, topped with a milk chocolate candy kiss as soon as they come out from the oven. Peanut butter and milk chocolate . . . a marriage made in heavenly bliss!
There are certain foods from your childhood that stand out and never get old . . dishes which evoke the sweetest memories and most tender thoughts. These squares do that for me. Aunt Orabelle's Date Squares. Aunt Orabelle was one of my mother's Aunts, sister to my Grandmother. She lived up on the South Mountain back home in an old farm house, with a lino floor . . . and she had a blind horse in the field next to her house that we loved to feed carrots and apples to. She made the best donuts . . . and yes, date squares!
It's the end of the week and time to get rid of a few bits in the refrigerator before I do my grocery shop for the next week. The bits I have leftover that are not large enough to be or make a meal on their own, but put together with other things can make a really tasty meal indeed!
Having spent a great deal of my formative years and part of my adulthood in Nova Scotia, Canada, I consider myself to be from Nova Scotia, even though I was born on Prince Edward Island. I am an Airforce Brat, and the ex-wife of a Canadian Serviceman, which means I have lived in many places in my life . . . but Nova Scotia is where my heart and allegiance lay.
I can remember making this easy casserole back in the 1970's when I was a very young new bride and thinking it was the penultimate in sophistication.
First there was the name, which sounds exotic. Then there was the broccoli. I don't know about you, but growing up in the 60's, in Nova Scotia, Canada . . . in a small town . . . broccoli wasn't something we ever saw.
To me Broccoli was an exotic vegetable.
To me, back then . . . this was dinner party or date night fare! You had meat, a vegetable and a scrummy sauce, all blanketed beneath cheese and buttered cracker crumbs.
To me, back then . . . this was dinner party or date night fare! You had meat, a vegetable and a scrummy sauce, all blanketed beneath cheese and buttered cracker crumbs.
What was not to like! It was easy and delicious! And I thought, quite impressive!
Nobody thought anything much about using condensed tinned soups back then. They were ineverybody's most people's cupboards.
Nobody thought anything much about using condensed tinned soups back then. They were in
My kids used to love this. (It was a great way to get them to eat their broccoli . . . well this and then there was melting cheeze whiz and pouring it over top, but we won't go there.)
I still make this from time to time and we still enjoy it. Only difference is now I am more than likely to make my sauce from scratch.
I still make this from time to time and we still enjoy it. Only difference is now I am more than likely to make my sauce from scratch.
It's healthier and there are no chemicals or preservatives.
I am also more than likely to use Purple Sprouting Broccoli or Tender Stem Broccoli because I am lucky enough to live in a time and age when those types of things are readily available.
It tastes rich and it is delicious and it provides just enough nostalgia to make me feel all warm and comfy inside.
It tastes rich and it is delicious and it provides just enough nostalgia to make me feel all warm and comfy inside.
I like to serve this with small baked jacket potatoes (for the fibre) and a vegetable. Yesterday it was green beans.
This
hearkens back to the early days of my cooking life, when I thought this
was the ultimate in sophistication. Maybe it was pretty sophisticated
in comparison to my mother's cooking, but it is rather dated now. That
doesn't mean it doesn't still taste delicious. Only difference now is
I make my own sauce instead of using tinned soup. Super simple and
super tasty.
You will need:
2 cups of cooked chicken, cut into chunks
4 cups of broccoli florets, cooked
2 ounces grated cheddar cheese (I like to use strong)
a couple handfuls of crushed cracker crumbs
*Back to the 70's Chicken Divan*
Serves 4
butter to dot
For the Sauce:
180ml of chicken broth (3/4 cup)
pinch dried thyme
pinch dried sage
pinch dried parsley
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pinch paprika
salt and black pepper to taste
180ml of milk (3/4 cup)
35g of plain flour (1/4 cup)
First
make the sauce. Blitze all of the ingredients together in a blender
until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, in a saucepan over medium heat
until the mixture boils and begins to thicken. Cook for several minutes
over low heat. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Set aside
until needed.
Preheat the oven to 420*C/425*F/gas mark
7. Butter a 10 inch glass pie dish. Stir together the broccoli and
the chicken pieces. Place into the pie dish. Spread the sauce over top
evenly. Top with the cheese and then the cracker crumbs. Dot with
butter.
Bake for 20 minutes, until hot and bubbling,
heated through, the cheese melts and the top is golden brown. Let
stand for five minutes, then spoon out to serve. Baked potatoes and a
vegetable go very well with this.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan@aol.com
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