Ghirardelli Chocolate Waffles

Mmmm...CHOCOLATE!

I am not really such a huge chocolate fan. But let me tell you...these waffles are good!

Sift the dry ingredients...

Then combine with the wet ingredients. Ladle about a cup of the batter onto a pre heated waffle maker and spread the batter using an offset spatula. Close the lid and let the steam fill your senses with the delicious scent of fresh chocolate! Repeat with the remaining batter.

Here is what the final product looks like.

I think I want one now.

Lucas loved the waffles. Could you tell? He had the melted chocolate chips all over his face! Too cute!

Ghirardelli Chocolate Waffles

(Taken form the Ghirardelli Website)

Yield: 6 servings

1 1/2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups whole milk

Directions

Preheat waffle iron. Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and salt and whisk to thoroughly mix. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg yolks, and oil. Add to the flour and whisk gently until just combined.

In clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric beater at medium speed until they form soft peaks. Fold into the batter and mix in the chocolate chips.

Ladle one-third of the batter onto the center of the waffle iron. Close the top and cook until the waffle is crispy on both sides. About 2-3 minutes. 

Drizzle with syrup if desired. Serve immediately.

This how I plated them for brunch.

Enjoy!

Blintz Soufflé

Such an easy dish!

Maybe because I cheated a little bit!

Line up the frozen cheese blintzes in a 9" x 13" dish over melted butter.

Combine remaining ingredients except cinnamon in a blender, or in this case, in my mom's old school Food Processor.

Pour over the blintzes.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Blintz Soufflé

18 frozen blintzes (cheese, cherry, blueberry) I used only cheese

5 tablespoons butter

6 eggs

2 1/4 cups sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter in a 9" x 13" baking dish.  Lay frozen blintzes in pan.  Combine rest of ingredients except cinnamon, in blender or mixer and blend well. Pour over blintzes. Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake one hour. Serve hot from oven. 

My suggestions:

I would add about a tablespoon of sugar to the cinnamon before sprinkling over the blintzes.  Also, I prefer to let the dish set for about a half hour to bring it down to room temperature before serving.  I even like it cold, the next day!  Finally, a sweet berry coulis always tastes delicious on the side!  

Enjoy!

Easy Cottage Cheese Pie

Ya...not as easy as my Aunt had suggested...but, it still tasted good!  It was my first time making a pie!  I am so used to letting butter soften overnight to make cookies, that I didn't realize that butter used for pie crust is supposed to be cold. A lesson learned for next time. This didn't affect the flavour of the delicious crust...just the appearance!  Instead of a nice jagged edge, as I had planned for, I ended up with a two inch wide crust.

Ingredients you will need for this recipe:

Topping:
1/2 c. cornflake crumbs or bread crumbs
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Dough:
1/2 c. butter cut in chunks
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sour cream

Filling:
1 lb. dry cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. sour cream
dash of salt
1 tsp lemon juice

Topping:
In Food Processor use steel knife to combine ingredients for topping.  Process until fine and set aside. Rinse bowl. 

Dough:
Process butter, sugar, egg and vanilla for 2 minutes scraping down the sides of bowl once or twice. 
Add remaining ingredients for dough.  Pulse, just until mixed.  Spread dough into bottom and up sides of greased 9'' pie plate with rubber spatula.  (I refrigerated the dough as I went on to prepare the filling.) Wash and dry bowl and blade.

This was the first time I made my own crust. It looked so good before I put it into the oven.

Filling:

Combine all filling ingredients in processor bowl. 

Process until blended. Spread evenly over dough.

Sprinkle with topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Serve with sour cream and berries. 

Yield 6 servings. 

I actually prefer to eat this pie cold.  It is delicious!   Let sit for about 2 hours and refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!

Fun with Apples

Apple Picking

Saturday was such a gorgeous day to finally go apple picking! We decided to go to a neighbourhood farm called Country Apple Orchard Farm with dwarf apple trees which were perfect for our mini picker, Kelly!

This is what a dwarf tree looks like. No ladders required!

The resident baker suggested that Cortland apples are great for baking. I agree! Everything I made turned out very well!
Even the dwarf trees had some apples that were higher up. My sister and I had fun trying to jump for the high ones!

Got it!

The ladybugs also wanted to be in on the fun!

Our "mini picker" was the cutest of them all!

Not bad for her first time!



Now onto the yummy stuff...

Apple Cake

Does this cookbook look familiar to anyone? I stole it from my mom's kitchen!
Turn to page 128 and follow the apple cake recipe. So easy!

But in case you do not have the book, here is the recipe...

Apple Cake

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. oil

3 tbsp. water or orange juice

1 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

6-8 apples, pared and thinly sliced

1/2 c. white or brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 c. icing sugar, if desired

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in oil. Add liquid alternately with dry ingredients and beat until just smooth. Spoon half of batter into a lightly greased 9" square baking pan. Spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Add apples which have been sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Cover with remaining batter. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 -60 minutes, until nicely browned.

Variation: Use blueberries, cherries or any desired pie filling in place of apples.

Peel 6-8 apples. But don't throw the peel away!
Squeeze half of a fresh lemon over the apples to avoid browning.
Core and thinly slice in food processor.
Coat sliced apples in sugar and cinnamon.
Prepare batter and pour half on the bottom of baking dish. Evenly layer apples next.

Top with remaining batter and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Delicious!

Apple Chips

Use remaining apple peel and coat in juice left over from apples that were used for the cake. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread out apple peel. Sprinkle some additional brown sugar over the skins and bake at 200 for 2 hours. Let sit in oven overnight.

The result...crispy, sweet apple chips.

Apple Waffles

Peel and grate one apple.

Add grated apple to the following recipe:

3/4 cup margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

2 cups flour

1/4 cup milk

Yield: 4 waffles

Pour 3/4 cup of batter onto waffle grid. Close waffle maker.

Bake for about 3-5 minutes until steam no longer escapes.

Allow waffles to cool on cooling rack.

Serve with syrup and your favourite fruit. Watch the syrup drip down the sides...and...enjoy!

Candy Coated Caramel Apples

4 apples at room temperature

4 sticks

40 individually wrapped creamy caramel candies

wax paper

Buy about 40 individually wrapped creamy caramels from Bulk Barn and unwrap while watching your favourite TV show.

Line cookie sheet with wax paper. Insert sticks into apples.

In a bowl, microwave caramels with 1 tbsp of water in 30 second intervals until melted.

Roll in caramel sauce. Use the back of a spoon to remove excess caramel. If desired, roll in topping such as mini M&M's, sprinkles etc. immediately. Let set for 15-20 minutes.

Wrap and tie. Perfect for a sweet gift!

Everyone always asks me what I do with everything I bake. I usually bring it over to a friend's house, like I did with the apple cake this weekend. Or, I have people over to eat it. Or, Rich eats it...

But this time I want to share and I want three of you to have a caramel apple. Well, I want all of you to have one, but I will only have three left after the one that I test!

All you have to do is give me some advice...

I still have some apples left from my trip to Country Apple Orchard Farm and I am responsible for making snack for the staff at my school this Friday.

So the question is...What should I make?

I'm also curious...What would you make?

Leave your answer in the comment section below and you’ll be entered into a draw for a chance to win one of the caramel apples pictured above.