Eating my Feelings Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

Tags

bakery, baking, butter, cake, comfort food, cooking, delicious, dessert, eat, eating, eggs, entertaining, food, kid friendly, kids baking, pandemic, pound cake, quick cooking, simple entertaining, sugar, vanilla, vanilla beans

This rich and buttery pound cake is simple to make but so elegant to eat while wearing jammies and watching “90 day Fiancé” or “My 600 Pound Life.”

Number of Servings: 1, perhaps 8, or even 12 depending how one is feeling that day 😉 This blog is a judgement free zone.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour 5 Minutes of drooling in front of the oven

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons milk (skim, low fat, or whole)
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste or a vanilla bean
• 1-1/3 cups cake flour … but seriously any flour you can find during this pandemic (I used AP), spooned into a measuring cup and leveled with a straight edge aka knife.
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 13 tablespoons salted butter, softened (no need to cut it in pieces) 16 tbls is a cup so y’all need to do some math or buy the butter in the sticks. Yes Salted … to be honest I only bake with salted butter. I remember saying it to my French instructor at Le Cordon Bleu and he almost fainted 👀 I’m too old to care anymore.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Lightly grease an 8-in x 4-in x 2½-inch loaf pan with butter like you are in an episode of Mad Men. Dust with flour, shaking off any excess. (Alternatively, use a nonstick cooking spray with flour in it, since we are 6 weeks into a pandemic the 1950s way suited me just fine.)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and vanilla until just combined.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture, in 2 separate additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to combine. Do not over-mix. (The batter may have a slightly curdled or grainy appearance — that’s okay.)
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a thin wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap or store in a large sealable plastic bag.
6. The wrapped pound cake will keep for several days (it will never last the long) at room temperature, for one week when refrigerated.
7. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, double-wrap it securely with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place it in a heavy-duty freezer bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.

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The Bomb Banoffee Pie 🤤

Tags

baking, banoffee pie, butter, chocolate, comfort food, cooking, delicious, dessert, Easter, easy cooking, eat, eating, entertaining, food, holiday, holiday baking, kid friendly, pie, pies, simple entertaining, sugar, toffee, vanilla, vanilla beans, whipping cream

Description

Banoffee pie is an English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee, combined either on a buttery biscuit base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter.

In simple terms it is a pie that is freaking delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups (150g) graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full sheet graham crackers)
• 5 Tablespoons (72g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/4 cups dulce de leche**
• 2 large bananas, sliced

Whipped Cream

• 2 cups (480ml) cold heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar or granulated sugar*
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• optional toppings: chocolate shavings, chopped nuts, or toffee bits for garnish

**

What is Dulce de Leche?

Dulce de leche is similar to caramel, but a little sweeter and creamier. It’s prepared by slowly heating sugar and milk until everything caramelizes. If we’re getting all scientific, I learned that a lot of the flavor comes from the Maillard reaction. Interesting! Dulce de lecheis Spanish for candy made/of milk. There are a few ways to prepare dulce de leche including:

1. The classic method of cooking down and constantly stirring milk and sugar
2. The shortcut method of cooking sweetened condensed milk

We’re using the shortcut method today, Both are delicious!

You need 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, a non stick frying pan, spatula and patience.

Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk into a non stick frying pan. Put heat on medium and stir with a spatula. You want the milk turn into a deep caramel colour that we will use for the banoffee pie. This whole process will take anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Whatever you do don’t stop stiring it! You can also do it on medium low heat too. This is a marathon not a sprint.

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
2. If you’re starting out with full-sheet graham crackers, you can use a food processor or blender to grind them up. Or crush them in a zipped top bag with a rolling pin. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl until combined. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Press the mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Make sure it is tight and compact. Use the bottom of a flat measuring cup to press it down tightly. Bake the crust for 15-16 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes (and up to 2 days) before adding the layers. Meanwhile, make the whipped cream. (Next step.)
3. For the whipped cream: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3-4 minutes. Medium peaks are between soft/loose peaks and stiff peaks and are the perfect consistency for topping and piping on desserts.
4. Spread dulce de leche on top of the crust. Arrange banana slices in 1-2 layers on top of the dulce de leche, then spread whipped cream on top.
5. Refrigerate pie uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Garnish with toppings before serving, if desired.
6. Cover and store leftover pie in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It won’t last 5 days…. just sayin’.

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Putting on the Pandemic Pounds Cinnamon Buns

Tags

bakery, baking, butter, cinnamon, cinnamon buns, comfort food, cooking, delicious, dessert, easy cooking, eat, eating, food, kid friendly, kids baking, simple entertaining, sugar, treats, vanilla, vanilla beans

Big, fluffy, soft and absolutely delicious. I have to admit I’m not much of a baker. I prefer to wing it in the kitchen, but with baking you can’t do that.

This recipe is pretty fool proof however! It takes a while though… from start to finish you are looking at about 3 hours or so. On a rainy day these are perfect to make!

Ingredients

For the dough:

• ¾ cup warm milk (whole milk or 2% preferred) (110 degrees F)
• 2 ¼ teaspoons quick rise or active yeast (1/4-ounce package yeast)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• ¼ cup salted butter, melted
• 3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• For the filling:
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (light brown sugar also works)
• 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• For the cream cheese frosting:
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Warm milk to around 110 degrees F. I like to do this by placing milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving it for 40-45 seconds. It should be like warm bath water. Transfer warm milk to the bowl of an electric mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Add in sugar, egg, egg yolk and melted butter. Mix until well combined. Next stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until a dough begins to form.
2. Place dough hook on stand mixer and knead dough on medium speed for 8 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. If it’s TOO sticky (meaning it’s sticking to the bottom of the mixer, add in 2 tablespoons more flour.) If you don’t want to use an electric mixer, you can use your hands to knead the dough for roughly 8 minutes on a well-floured surface.
3. Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel. Allow dough to rise for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size. This may more or less time depending the humidity and temperature in your home.
4. After dough has doubled in size, transfer dough to a well-floured surface and roll out into a 14×9 inch rectangle. Spread softened butter over dough, leaving a ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough.
5. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Use your hands to sprinkle mixture over the buttered dough, then rub the brown sugar mixture into the butter.
6. Tightly roll dough up, starting from the 9-inch side and place seam side down making sure to seal the edges of the dough as best you can. You will probably need to cut off about an inch off the ends of the dough as the ends won’t be as full of cinnamon sugar as we’d want it to be.
7. Cut into 1 inch sections with a serrated knife or floss. You should get 9 large pieces.. I got 10 🤷‍♀️
8. Place cinnamon rolls in a greased 9×9 inch baking pan or round 9 inch cake pan. (I also recommend lining the pan with parchment paper as well, in case any of the filling ends up leaking out.) Cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel and let rise again for 30-45 minutes.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees or 325 convection bake F. Remove plastic wrap and towel and bake cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. You want to underbake them a little so they stay soft in the middle, that’s why we want them just slightly golden brown. Allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes before frosting. Makes 9-10 cinnamon rolls.
10. To make the frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spread over cinnamon rolls and serve immediately. Enjoy!

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The Best Bolognese sauce, hands down. Instant Pot Recipe.

Tags

basil, comfort food, cooking, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy dinners, easy pasta, eat, entertaining, fall dishes, food, fresh, fresh cooking, fresh pasta, gluten free, instant pot, italian, Italy, kid friendly, make ahead meals, Parmesan, pasta, penne, pork, quick cooking, sauce, sausage, simple entertaining, spaghetti, sugar, veal

I can’t say enough good things about my Instant Pot. I bought the 8 quart one this winter and I can’t get enough of it. 

I typically make my bolognese sauce on the stove and it takes roughly 6 hours on a slow simmer to come out perfectly. 
Using my instant pot it took 35 minutes on high pressure and viola my sauce is ready!

The sauté feature is a huge time and prep saver as you can sauté in the actual pot. 

The key to this sauce is the meat ratio and I blitz all the vegetable in the food processor before I add it into the meat. This bolognese sauce is more of a ragu than your typical spaghetti sauce. Also another tip I don’t use beef, I only use veal and pork and prom sausage. This makes the sauce much more mild. 

What you need:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
• 1 1/2 pounds ground veal
• 1 pound Italian sausage meat (casing removed)
• 1 large white onion
• 2 carrots
• 3 celery heart stalks
• 4 garlic cloves 
• 3/4 cups of sundried tomatoes
• 1 huge handful of fresh basil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 28 oz can tomato purée (try to find San Marizano tomatoes)
• 1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
• Parmesan rind
• Dried Bay leaves (4) 
• 1/3 red wine
• Splash of heavy cream 

In a food processor add all the vegetables and basil and sun dried tomatoes. Blitz until their are no chunks and you have a very finely diced mixture. Set aside.

Plug in your Instant pot and press the sauté button – it will take a few minutes and it will beep and say hot.

Start sautéing the sausage meat so some of the fat renders down, once crumbly add the  ground pork and cook down and then add the veal. This whole process will take about 10 minutes to brown the meat. 

Once no longer pink, add in the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, basil and sundried tomatoe purée. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Then add in the 2 cans of tomatoes, salt and sugar and bay leaves. Throw in the Parmesan rind and 1/3 cup of good red wine. 

Put on the top of the Instant pot, press the meat/stew button (35 mins on high pressure) and sit back and relax! It will take about 5 minutes to come up to high pressure and then the timer will start counting down. Once it is finished, the Instant pot will shut off automatically. 

This sauce usually simmers on my stove for 4-6 hours. With this instant pot it now only takes 45 minutes! 

Typically a Bolognese sauce is served with a wider pasta noodle but you can serve it on whenever noodle you desire. Before serving add a splash of cream to the sauce. I can’t explain what it does to the sauce but it makes it amazing and rounds out all the meat and tomato flavour. 

This sauce freezes amazingly well (do not add the cream before you freeze it) and this recipe will give you roughly 10~12 cups. 

Mangia! 

Bakery Style Buttermilk chocolate chip muffins

Tags

bakery, baking, butter, buttermilk, chocolate, dessert, eat, entertaining, food, kid friendly, kids, kids baking, mini muffins, muffins, simple entertaining, sugar, summer, summertime, treats

First let me start by giving credit where credit is due, this recipe was given to me by a friend who found it on Pinterest these have got to be some of the best chocolate chip muffins I have ever eaten. I have tweaked the original recipe a bit, so here is my version. 

Chloe makes them at least every 10 days or so, they freeze incredibly well all you need to do is take a muffin out of the freezer put it in the lunch bag and by snacktime it’s thawed, Voila! These are a winner winner.

 INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar or vanilla bean sugar 

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 larges eggs beaten 

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or the best extract you can find 
1 1/2 cups miniature chocolate chips

sanding sugar for sprinkling on top – makes all the difference. 

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Use muffin liners or Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. This recipe makes 12 large and 12 mini muffins.
In a larger bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the butter, eggs, vanilla, and the buttermilk. Stir JUST until a batter with lumps forms.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill each cup in the muffin tin to be completely full (about a heaping 1/4 cup).

Bake at 425ºF for 5 minutes. Then decrease the heat to 375ºF and bake for another 13 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes before removing from the tin and serving.

Enjoy! 

http://www.monicaskitchen.com (new website coming soon!) 

Kouign-Amann…where have you been all my life?

Tags

bakery, butter, delicious, dessert, french, kanata, kouign-amann, pastry, sugar, treats

I’m going to apologize in advance to everyone who is going to see me in a swimsuit this summer. Today I discovered a little Parisian patisserie that is officially going to throw a wrench into my beach body… but I have come to terms with it and I hope you can too.

La Maison Du Kouign-Amann (a mouthful… for time saving purposes lets just call it La Maison) just opened up in the Kanata North BIA in March 2017. It is located conveniently across the street from Greco Kanata North and in the same plaza as ProStyle Martial Arts and Fitness.

Fran Jung is the owner of this fine establishment and she is the one responsible for baking these authentic french delicious delicacies.

People… let me introduce you to the most amazing buttery morsel I have ever eaten…. the “Kouign-Amann” (insert hallelujah emoji).  It is an amazing small buttery pastry that originated in Brittany, France. It is crispy and caramelized on the outside, yet tender and soft on the inside. To make it even more delectable, drizzle with salted caramel and devour. It is Heaven on earth! Fran supplies over 35 little shops in Ottawa with these delights. To serve them perfectly heat them in a 350 degree oven for 3 minutes or in a pinch in a microwave for 15 seconds or in a pinch, don’t heat them at all… I didn’t and it still rocked.

La Maison sells out almost daily so if you miss out, you can buy other goodies like mini cakes, and mini tarts, quiches, sandwiches, the list is endless.

A box of 5 was ~ 12$ and well worth it. I can’t wait to go back next week!

For the love of tasty food.

Monica xo

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

The BEST salted chocolate chip cookies in the world

Tags

baking, butter, chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, salted, sugar

I have been searching and searching for the best salted cookie recipe and I have created one. Hands down the best. It is chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I honestly could eat 6 in one sitting.

Do yourself a favour and make these as soon as possible.

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Salted Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used vanilla bean sugar)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Flaked maldon sea salt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.

2. Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten them out a bit and sprinkle lightly with a few sea salt flakes.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Pace back and worth until they are cool. Mine took exactly 9 minutes to bake.

Devour !

Christmas Baking 101

Tags

baking, butter, buttertart bars, chocolate, christmas, cookies, holiday, holiday baking, shortbread, sugar

You need a cookie ✔️

Something with chocolate ✔️

A bar of some kind ✔️

Feel free to mix it up but a sure fire way to have a successful Christmas dessert buffet is shortbread cookies, Christmas crack and butter tart bars. 

I have shared the crack and bars before and will again but today I will share my secret 100 year old shortbread recipe. 

Shortbread Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cup butter, softened

1⁄2 cup superfine sugar

2 1⁄2 cups flour

4 tbls of corn starch

Preheat oven to 300°.

Cream butter and sugar together.

Add flour and mix till texture is like clay.

Press dough into ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan, prick all over with a fork, and sprinkle with sugar (tilt pan to cover the top evenly, then shake excess sugar back into the sugar canister).

Bake for about 40-45 minutes (till very lightly browned–just golden around the edges).

Let stand for 2 minutes, then cut into 2 inch strips while warm… You should get 4 dozen per 9 by 13 pan. 

Leave in pan to cool thoroughly. (Shortbread will not be crisp until cool.).

Butter tart bars

Christmas crack

Enjoy!!!!!!

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

Vanilla Bean Sugar

Tags

baking, sugar, vanilla, vanilla beans

Vanilla bean sugar is super easy to make and super easy to use. 

All it takes is whole vanilla beans and granulated sugar. I used 5 vanilla beans for 1 1/2 kilos of sugar. Slice the vanilla bean in half and then scrape the inside of vanilla bean out. Drop it into the granulated sugar. DON’T THROW OUT THE VANILLA PODS! Put them in the mason jars and they keep perfuming the sugar. 

I use a food processor to make it and then store it in large mason jars. Store in a sealed jar and in a dark place. It stores for months.

I use it in making fresh strawberry jam, baking cakes and cookies and muffins.

It also makes amazing teachers gifts for end of school. 

Try it today!