Dessert By Candy

Kuzumochi, Summertime Treat

I’ve been avoiding the oven since the weather warms up. My kitchen feels so empty without the constant output of bread, cookies, and cakes. Just as well because I have other things on my mind. It almost feels strange that I am 100% back into my training routine. Seven weeks and counting! The last two years have been filled with so many injuries and illnesses that I don’t recall any consecutive stretches of training lasting longer than a few weeks. It was always stop and go in hopes of stopping a turning tide. It feels unreal that my effort today may one day transforms to speed on wheels. I am afraid to hope because the disappointment will be crushing…if? when? training is once again out of the question.

Last weekend I looked up my to cook list and kuzumochi caught my attention. A few months ago, I stashed away all the special ingredients for this traditional Japanese summertime delicacy and totally forgot about it. Good thing I remembered because those ingredients are not cheap in North America. It would have been a huge waste if they end up sitting in the dark corners of my pantry for years. Luckily, sourcing the ingredients is the toughest part. The recipe itself is ridiculously easy.

Allentown Fairground & Farmers Market

After I finished racing in Pennsylvania on Saturday, I made a beeline over to Allentown Fairground for their farmers market and MayFair. In the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch settlement, it was a treat to find many local delicacies among the usual selection of fruit, vegetable, and meat. Since I had a long drive ahead of me back to Toronto, I could not indulge in perishable goods shopping. Anything that requires refrigeration was out of the question. Luckily I still found plenty to be excited about.

Lard Fried Potato Chips.

Do I have your attention? You read that right, one of the most addictive snacks cooked the old fashioned way in vats of pig fat. As the snack food capital of the country, lard is still in use for their incomparable flavour. Alas, the distribution is mostly limited within the state. I dropped by the dedicated chips and pretzels store in the market and stocked up on both regular and kettle cooked Good’s Potato chips. Two boxes filled with four pounds of porky carby crunch. I cannot wait to share them with friends.

A Picnic Basket For Road Trip

Last weekend I took my first significant road trip of the summer, a solo drive from Toronto, Ontario to Allentown, Pennsylvania. I covered over 1400km in less than two days. It is a trial run before another solo trip in June when I’ll drive between Thunder Bay, Ontario and Apostle Island, Wisconsin. I am not a fan of solo driving trip because my chronic insomnia makes it extra difficult to stay awake behind the wheels. Weaning myself off caffeine a month ago certainly is not helping. However, due to all my recent emotional turmoil, I much rather be by myself than locked in the car with other people. I am not in a good place mentally.

That still leaves me with the troubling task of staying awake while on the road. I discovered years ago that I am not capable of dozing off when I am chewing and swallowing. Road trip snacks take on different significance. They are literally my lifesavers. While I would love to munch on chips and pretzels, I shudder with horror at the caloric prospect. Instead, I snack on baby carrots when I feel virtuous and mini marshmallows when I am not. Not terribly interesting? Just wait until you see what I else pack for lunch and breakfast on the go…in a stylish picnic basket no less.

Matzo Granola

I used to think oats and granola go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. Oh how narrow minded I was! Striped down to the very basics, granola is toasted grains mixed in with nuts, seeds, and/or dried fruit. The toasting part can be taken one step further to become caramelizing. That involves fat and sugar. My favourite granola recipe, for example, glazes the grains and nuts with olive oil, maple syrup, and brown sugar to create the most addictive caramelized cereal. As for grains, rolled oat is the most common choice but certainly not mandatory. I used a mixture of millet, rolled rye, rolled spelt, and quinoa before. But what if I take a step back from whole grains? That was when matzo granola caught my attention.

A few weeks ago I made my first batch of matzo toffee and could not keep them around long enough. The crunchy (yet bland) unleavened bread was the blank canvas to support decadence like toffee, chocolate, and toasted nuts. Along the same vein, it can also serve as the blank canvas for granola. Just as long as you take the time to smash the matzo to smithereens. Oh what fun!

Those Flaky Layers!

Since I took a Strudel 101 workshop last December, I cannot get laminated dough out of my mind. What is laminated dough? That’s just fancy speak for flaky pastry like puff pastry, croissant, and danish with hundreds layers of alternating butter and dough. I attempted kouign amann a few weeks ago with mixed result and I feel that I cannot lay my obsession to rest yet. Over the Victoria Day long weekend, I took advantage of the time off and followed Cook’s Illustrated 10-hours recipe for croissant (the step-by-step photos are pretty helpful too if you’re new to laminated dough). I figured I should troubleshoot my kouign amann by first taking out the complexity of caramelizing the pastry. That would mean I was left with croissant master dough.

Since I was not short on time, I could allow my dough to chill and rest according to the recipe’s recommended schedule. I quickly finished my breakfast first thing in the morning, rolled up my sleeves, and made the lean yeast dough.

Unbeatable Combo

When you combine high butterfat butter, duck eggs, pastry cream, and dark chocolate, only good things can happen. One of my tasters just asked me “are these good for you?” while holding a brioche au chocolat in one hand.  I recited the list of ingredients in sing song voice and said “nothing that you cannot pronounce, right?”. As far as treats go, these buttery buns filled with pastry cream and dark chocolate are worthy candidates. They may not be wholesome like fruit and vegetable. But I would pick homemade brioche au chocolat over potato chips any day.

I had the urge to make brioche since last week but the warming weather suggested my craving was misdirected. Although the kitchen remained cool enough to work with copious amount of butter, it felt wrong to turn on the oven. I distracted myself briefly by looking at no-bake dessert recipes but I could not get brioche out of my mind. Last night I finally came up with a justification. I wanted my house to smell nice when the insurance agent arrived for home inspection. Freshly baked bread ranks right up there along with apple pie as my choice of home fragrance.

Sunshine

I’ll be brief today. I am still mourning a lost relationship and it is just one of those days which I am on the verge of tears all the time. I’ve been living in this state of sadness for over half a year and I am used to it by now. I am sad because I cannot let go. I still believe in us. Relief will come only when I can arrive at a different conclusion.

In light of the situation, I made something simple from ingredients I had at home based on recipe I previously used. Do you remember the blood orange ricotta bars I made for Valentine’s Day earlier this year? I was not pleased with the weird colour but loved the richness that ricotta added to the classic citrus bar. This time, I stayed with lemon but still could not remain 100% faithful to the original recipe. Instead of ricotta, I used quark, also from the mild fresh cheese family. The lemon quark bar took on a brilliant shade of yellow with creamy smooth topping. It was like sunshine in a bite with a side of buttery shortbread.

Uncharacteristic

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my Facebook feed overwhelmed with gratitude and love for mothers everywhere. It was a tough day for me. Even though it’s been over a decade since she left, the sadness is only buried deeper but never forgotten. I thought of going to the mausoleum but did not want to face the quiet stillness inside the building. I avoided any places that serve brunch because they were packed with families celebrating mothers of every generation. I went skating first thing in the morning, just like any typical Sunday. I stopped for drinks at a cafe on my way home and went grocery shopping. I spent my whole weekend cleaning the house top to bottom, just the way she liked it. I also cooked a steak dinner for Sunday night. Absolutely uncharacteristic of me but steak was her favourite special occasion splurge. If she is here with me, this is exactly the dinner I would cook to indulge her on this special day.

Mother's Day Steak Dinner

Pan Seared Bison Medallion crusted with Montreal Steak Spice

Crimini Mushroom Shallot Gravy

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potato

Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas

Chocolate Chips Banana Cake

The Mighty Duck Egg

I’ve known for a long time the extra oomph duck eggs add to baking. Cakes are loftier and custard is richer. Why did I not consider using duck eggs when baking bread too? I needed to find out after coming across a discussion thread which pretty much concluded “best challah you ever had”. Of course challah is a great candidate. Along with brioche, they fall into the category of enriched bread that depends on eggs, fat, or milk to tenderize the texture and enhance the flavour. Lucky for me, spring is the perfect time to spot duck eggs at farmers markets. I bought a half dozen with dreams of the eggiest of all eggy challah loaves.

I turned to smitten kitchen’s tried-and-true recipe for Fig, Olive Oil And Sea Salt Challah. I made it once before with great success. The non-traditional combination won me over immediately. The decision was made extra easy with my family-size opened bag of organic dried figs from Costco too. My previous success gave me confidence to make a double batch of this recipe even with my duck egg experiment. One ginormous braided boule for me, one ginormous braided boule for a friend.

Let The Buns Give Me Light

I made semlor at the wrong time of the year and they inspired me to continue baking out of season Swedish treats. I bookmarked Joe Pastry’s recipe and step-by-step pictorial for lussekatter (St Lucia buns) for a very long time. What better time to try it out than May when they traditionally ought to be eaten at the darkest time of the year (that would be December)? Lussekatter is part of the St Lucia Day celebration. The saffron buns in their bright yellow hue indeed make me think of light.

Daylight is not in short supply now that we stepped into May. On a good day, it is still bright outside at 8pm! According to the weather forecast, the official sunset time is actually 8:25pm as of May 5. In fact, my skating club kicked off our summer practicing schedule with training beginning at 6:30pm. That’s a good thing because I can avoid some after-work traffic to get to practice on time. Spring 2014 looks to be a bust. We are more than 6 weeks into the season but everywhere I look is still various shades of brown and gray. No buds on the trees yet. Only a few brave tulips and hyacinths poked out of the cold soil to remind us spring is here. Normally I would be very restless by now. However, the last two years of health issues have taught me an important lesson. I am thankful to have a body that allows me to be active. A bit of cold and wind may be unpleasant but it still beats sitting on the couch because I could not do anything else.