July 11, 2012
Cherry pie and tart filling is usually made with sour cherries. Sour cherries are only available for a short time in the early spring. Honestly, I seldom find sour cherries in our markets up here so I am making these tarts with regular cherries. If you do have sour cherries maybe adjust the amount of sugar you are using, you may need a little more. Otherwise I think things should work the same. Making individual... View Article
July 8, 2012
These last few days in Kelowna have been lovely, although I didn’t get to cook any dinners. With all the gorgeous produce in the markets I was eager to cook but I am coming back next weekend and staying for a while so will get to do more cooking then. I did have plenty of opportunities though to prepare snack food and I posted some of them in the last few days. This morning is... View Article
July 6, 2012
Not to be rude or anything but “stick it” in culinary terms is not so bad. I tend to “stick” foods on skewers for presentation, grilling, and ease of serving. Why not? I am fairly adventurous and like the unexpected. Don’t these fruits look more special on a stick then on a plate? I made them this morning, expecting a couple of friends to drop by our place at the end of their morning walk... View Article
July 4, 2012
There are countless “best” chocolate chip cookies recipes out there. I am not going to make any such claims. I am sure that your Mom makes the best ones. However, I have been experimenting with different ways of baking cookies and now and then will post a recipe that I think is good for sharing. I made these ones large, soft and cake-like with an additional egg yolk and glucose. I used glucose as it... View Article
June 29, 2012
Flying to Kelwona from Calgary on Thursday I was visualizing us sitting on the rooftop patio of our local abode, scanning the scene and sipping a wonderful iced drink. Although of course I have more than enough glassware I still had to stop on the way from the airport at my favourite store in Kelowna for dishes and accessories for entertaining, Modern Accents on Bernard, to check out their current collection of glassware for serving... View Article
June 21, 2012
I have to confess that I have been on a cookie baking binge lately. I wonder what got me started? Probably my outing with my friend Anne who celebrates her wedding anniversary every year by donning her original wedding gown and going out in a “chauffeur” driven luxury car, dressed as a bride, delivering cookies (aha) to un-expecting and bewildered friends . I went with her dressed as the “bride’s maid” but more on that... View Article
June 16, 2012
Cookie lovers come in two camps: those who love their cookies crisp and those who love them chewy and soft (I belong to the latter), but the melt-in-you-mouth cookies are universally liked. These is what these cookies are about and I think they may please both camps. They are meltingly soft yet have some crispness to the texture. Who said you cannot please EVERYONE? These cookies hold their shape and don’t spread much during baking... View Article
June 15, 2012
I worked at baking cheesecakes for quite a while before I finally achieved the kind of cake that I like. A lot of cream cheese and eggs went in and out of my kitchen without leaving a mark. I finally came up with a method that works for me and hopefully for you as well. This cake is made with cream cheese and sour cream and produces a lovely cake that holds it shape and... View Article
June 7, 2012
For adults only, these creamy, fudgy, chocolaty cream cheese brownies are so good and so easy to make I am sure you will add them to your favourite brownies collection. I have been experimenting with brownies for a few days with different results in textures. Some were cake-like with a crackly top layer, some were light, others heavier. A lot of chocolate came and went through my kitchen this week. This one seems to have... View Article
June 3, 2012
Oh-so-delicious rice pudding with tangy rhubarb compote at the bottom. I saw this offered for sale at the Okanagan Grocery Artisan Bakery in Kelowna over the long weekend in May and for the next few days went there every day and purchased a couple of jars of this delicious pudding to serve after dinner. I must admit that not all of them made it to dinner, as we enjoyed them just for fun while sitting... View Article
April 18, 2012
This is a twist on the usual presentation of a baked apple. I choose a large apple, then core it and slice it very thinly on a mandolin or another slicer. Be sure to keep all the apple pieces as intact as possible as you will re-assemble them so it looks like an apple, slices all stacked up, including the top slice. I then place the entire apple in a buttered ramekin dish that it... View Article
April 15, 2012
For apple lovers only. A heart-warming country style dessert to end a fall or winter dinner. Serve it floating on vanilla pastry cream or with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce. 1 apple per person (gala, empress, honeycrisp or other firm apples) Brown sugar Crushed granola Butter Vanilla cream (see recipe) Or: Caramel sauce: 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoon butter 1 cup cream Cut the top off the apple and... View Article
