Food traditions

With Pancake Day around the corner, I'm reminded there are a lot of traditions and holidays centered around food. I haven't always followed these traditions due to being busy or just plain lazy. But now that I'm a mom, it's up to me to introduce traditions to my family and make these days special. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without gingerbread cookies, after all. Think about all the traditions and holidays we use food to commemorate. And even if it's not as simple as a cake on one's birthday (though that's a pretty important food-related tradition!) you have to admit we tend to use food as a way to celebrate almost everything. So I'm going to make a commitment to pay more attention to these foodways traditions in the future and give Charlotte special moments. I have visions of presenting homemade goodies to her and family on special days and even of her helping me prepare meals and treats when she gets older.


Thankfully, I have a good few months before she is able to eat solid food. It will give me time to reflect on my own family's traditions and food moments as well as my cooking/baking repertoire . Though she will be just old enough to try a few bites of these reindeer gingerbread cookies (with pretzel ears, chocolate chip eyes and a Smartie nose) come Christmas time. I made these for the first time this past December so maybe it will be our first food tradition!

The kitchen grinch mindset

What better season is there for cooking and baking then the holidays? The weather is cold, houses are warm and filled with friends and family, guests keep you on your hosting toes...except all that is a bunch of crap. Right? Well not really but it feels like it lately and I swore to myself this year to take a break and not over-exert myself into the food frenzies. Last year I did two brunches back to back weekends, made homemade treats as gifts for everyone I knew (tied with a bow), had at least three different cookie doughs in the freezer "just in case", made my own mulled cider, and did Christmas day breakfast for family before heading out the door for at least two other meals that day. Not this year. Not me. I just don't have the mindset or energy.

But a gathering of old friends who are home for some holidays made me realize I don't have to settle on doing absolutely nothing. There is a happy medium ground between all that baking and cooking activity and being a kitchen grinch. I came to the realization when I tasted this friend's sticky toffee pudding. Now, I'm not from the UK nor do I have an emotional attachment to the stuff. But it was deadly! And it reminded me of a couple cooking shows and specials I've seen over the years where this sticky toffee pudding is featured every time. It's like the Brit's version of fruit cake - only amazingly better. Plus I've always wanted to try making it from scratch. I've even done the caramel sauce before but never the cake.

So I'm going to try my hand at it finally, Rachel Allen's recipe to be exact because it just looked so good in her Bake! cooking school segment. And hopefully, just maybe, it'll get me back into the baking spirit. Then I'll try really hard, I promise, to not get out of control. No biscotti, no sugar cookies, no blueberry jam done up with my own to/from tags and ribbons, no Guinness chocolate cake that takes a whole day to make...just sticky toffee pudding.

One step at a time.

photo: photobucket

Awesome chocolatey brownies

Photo: Guilty Kitchen

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon (and celebrate my dad's birthday) than make a batch of easy but choco-gooey brownies? I have a go-to Toblerone brownie recipe but wanted to try something new. Then I remembered a brownie recipe had come through the pipes on FoodBuzz recently. It's the Guilty Kitchen's recipe for The Perfect Brownie.

I followed it to the letter - except I also added chocolate chips - and the end result was indulged, decadent and, well, awesome. Prepare all the ingredients on your counter, and pre-heat the oven while you're mixing everything together. The recipe goes by in a snap. This wonderful treat is so easy and quick to make. It's a sweet brownie that's heavy on chocolate. Here is a the recipe and I highly recommend you try this out! Thanks fellow food buzzer!

3/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp cocoa
6 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids or more)
1/2 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp instant coffee
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 brownie pan. In a bowl, whisk together or sift the flour, salt and coca powder. In a double boiler (metal bowl resting on top of a saucepan of water), melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee. Add sugars and remove from heat.
Add in eggs and vanilla, but do not over beat. Sprinkle flour over chocolate mixture, folding gentle with a spatula. Again, to not over mix. Pour into baking pan, bake 30 minutes (rotating halfway) or until edges are completely cooked and center is slightly underdone. Let cool in the pan, cut into squares and enjoy!

I found 30 mins to be the perfect timing but all ovens vary. Just keep an eye on it towards the end of cooking time. Leaving the brownies underdone is, in my opinion, the best method because they'll be more ooey gooey. This recipe would also be good with some add-ins like marshmallow, nuts or or dried fruit (though all those things would take away space from the coveted chocolate) and the perfect pairing is a big glass of milk!

Easy to shop for

The past weekend marked another birthday in the life of me. And though I advertised there was no need for presents, my wonderful friends and family did not listen and brought them anyway. And there's a theme...

We all know those people in our lives who are hard to shop for? Apparently I'm not one of those people. I received cookbooks, a 9" spatula, a pie server, an avocado saver (didn't even know these existed!), a cake tester and wine. That last one doesn't really fit the food theme but, hey, I like wine.

My boyfriend even gave me a cast-iron frying pan. One friend said, shocked, "I think I'd hit my boyfriend with the pan if he gave me that." But it's what I wanted! I'm a fan of useful things for gifts and what's more useful than stuff you can make food with and enjoy on a daily basis? So thank-you for the new gadgets (and the non-food-related gifts too). I'll try my best to put them to good use!