The Leaf in a Page

 Good things come from experiments! A walnut crunch Sconut for example. Here we have a would be chocolate scone that has turned into a little walnut delight. I cannot call it a scone or a walnut chrunch as I believe Tim Horton's has the rights to it so we can call it a Sconut.  Half scone and half walnut crunch donut. I had a chocolate scone from Cobs Bakery and wanted to make one. When just substituting 1/4 of the flour with cocoa, I found the chocolate scone too dry and not sweet enough. After uping the sugar, butterand creams then trying again it dawned on me it tasted much like the beloved walnut crunch Tim Horton's no longer sells. I added a full cup of chopped lightly toasted walnuts and put a glaze on top and voila! We have a copycat! Here is the recipe: Chocolate Walnut Scones   Preheat to 425F or 218C All Purpose Flour                        ...

I call this the best fudge ever for several reasons 1. Ingredients are usually readily available in the house. 2. It only takes a bit of time to make Prep 5 min, Cook 5-7 min, Stir and pour 3-5 min. 3. Turns out perfect  each time. 4. Most importantly, it is my mom's recipe and it brings me home when I need a little emotional treat. 5. I used to offer fudge for fundraisers at work. I worked on the inpatient floor at our local women's and children's hospital. Sometimes we just needed something and fudge would start to raise money. We bought hand held fetal monitors for one of our specialist who went to an African community. We also bought movies for our VHS machines before Netflix took over. Other times some of our own staff were in a crisis, health or otherwise, and my fudge would raise several hundred dollars each time to help our cause. Trust me this is good fudge. Lets not waste any more time with blabber about this or that and start with preparing all you need. ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                               This delightful dessert should be tried long before your 6th decade. Who knew toffee paired with banana could be ultra delightful? Apparently many. The original was created i...

Focaccia Flat bread originated in Italy and Ancient Rome. You can easily search the history of this wonderful flat bread and I recommend you take some time to learn about it. Here are two savory focaccia's. A rosemary shown above and a tomato/basil on the side. I use the focaccia recipe from Peter Rienhart's The Bread Bakers Apprentice, 15th anniversary edition. I have made  slight changes I find suitable for the flour I use. All bakers recommend using a digital scale for accuracy. I will put both cups and teaspoons etc and grams for you. Just know that each cup of flour you get will be different and likely weigh more than the recommended amount. Bakers also recommend having all your utensils ready and all ingredients prepared before mixing. Bowl, sheet pan 17 X 12 inch, scraper or spatula, digital scale. Cover for sheet pan. I use a clear plastic bag. Metal or wooden spoon.  This is a two day process To make use 17 X 12 inch or one cookie sheet size you ...

Amazing Basic Sandwich Cookies The people who know me might know that I have been known to look for second hand cookbooks. Usually they are inexpensive and have the most interesting ideas. I found one such treasure, "Cooking a Common Sense Guide" published 2003 by Bay Books. New South Wales.  I have a photo of the cookbook.  It has no nonsence easy to read recipies. Except if you live in one part of the world and things are called something else where the book is published. Or if they use ingredients you are not familiar with.  For example a red capsican is a red pepper. It is always fun to learn something new so now I know red pepper has another name. I don't like to spend a long time on a blog post so here is the main recipe for the cookie. The only substitution was the self rising (SR) flour. Originally calling for 1 cup of all purpose and 1 cup of self rising. I will be putting 2 cups of all purpose (AP) flour and adding the baking powder and salt....

War Cake Big Raisins The first time I ever heard of War Cake was when dating David. His mom was making it around the holidays and it was Dec 1977. I asked why they called it war cake and his mom Edie, told me it was an easy, affordable cake with no dairy or eggs that people could send off to the men at war during war times. Edie also said the spices provide a way to preserve the cake so it will last for a while. I found more information at http://www.bcfoodhistory.ca/canadian-war-cake/ which has a very good write up about the history of war cake which agrees with Edie’s explanation.   Edie MacPherson circa 1978 The recipe I am sharing came from a cookbook she gave me so I could recreate the war cake for David. She changed it a bit and I made that version a few times but after reading a few others I noticed one with baking powder, whilst most of the originals have 1 or 2 tsp of baking soda only depending on the amount of flour the recipe called for. T...

Salt – Why we knead it in Bread. Hey we need it too! Salt is one of those ingredients we need for seasoning food and enhancing flavours. It is known to reduce bitterness while increasing the flavours of savoury, sweet and sour. This is why salt is added to most dishes. It is interesting to learn the role salt has in bread and I wanted to share the important reasons it is required in bread making. Put simply, it conditions the gluten in the bread to make it stronger and more elastic which allows the stretch needed for the little or bigger air bubbles to form cells and give a home to the gas released when yeast is munching on the starches and sugars. Funny how it reminds me that we need salt/sodium for our muscles to work properly. It plays an important role as part of the process that transmits nerve impulses sending messages to our muscles to contract and relax. This includes the muscles we are not always aware of such as heart smooth muscles that contract and relax a...