happy new year

I know I'm a bit late, but happy new years! Its already mid February, time sure flies. And i must admit that its hard to keep up with the blog.. I will try to post more this year! :)

White chocolate, Cranberry & Pistashio cookies - Delicious!

It's almost christmas! I love it, its baking season. It's too cold to do anything outdoors and the malls are crazy. But i gotta admit.. i still go to the mall every weekend! Yesterday we made some delicious cookies, we found the recipe from Canadianliving.com - one adjustment i made was cutting down on the sugar.

Ingredients:

2/3 cups of softened un-salted butter *at room temperature*
1/2 cup brown sugar - packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 - 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips/chunk (add more if u like) *recipe calls for 6oz which is approx 3/4 cup*
2/3 cup shelled unsalted pistachio
1/2 cup dried cranberries


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar together until fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla extract
Fold in dried cranberries, white chocolate and pistachio
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes

*yes i would make these again!*

Pumpkin spiced donut - recipe from PastryAffairs

I made some pumpkin spiced doughnuts a few weeks ago, i followed pastryaffairs recipe. I just skipped the cloves since i didn't have any. And instead of using canned pumpkin puree, i made my own. I'm currently still contemplating whether i should buy a camera or not to take these food pictures.. We shall see!

The icing was tasty, but it was a tad bit too sweet for me, so for my second batch i didn't add any icing.

Recipe:

Pumpkin spiced Doughnuts
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar (option: cut down to 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease doughnut pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla until thoroughly mixed. Mix in the sugars, pumpkin, spices, and salt until smooth. Fold in the baking powder and flour.

**note: when filling doughnut pan with batter - you can transfer the batter to a plastic bag or pastry bag)

**Bake for 15-18mins**

Vanilla Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Mix all ingredients together until blended **option - can add more milk if the icing is too thick*** *yes i would make these again, it's a healthier option than deep fried doughnuts*

Boujour Montreal

i don't know what really stopped me, but I'm going to start blogging again because i love it. I actually visited Montreal, QU this week, and it was wonderful! it was a very relaxing trip, minus the cold weather. Surprisingly it was a lot more colder than Calgary. We visited a few cafes, and i must say my favorite cafe was Olive Gourmando.

My First Macaron Experience (Baking)

So today i finally decided to make some macarons. I failed.. but they still taste great!! i will definitely try to make some more later.. and succeed.. hopefully!

My macarons didn't have any feet.. probably because i didnt wait 30-35minutes for it to sit before putting them in the oven. AND my macarons cracked like crazy... even tho i tapped the trays around 10 times.

my experience in photos:






my first batch





my second batch. looks better!!



peanut butter and jelly.. + nutella





Making macarons is so challenging.. its so hard to not undermix or over mix. AND i need to add more food coloring next time, i was aiming to bake some purple macarons but they just turned out to be white/golden. i will bake these again FOR SURE.

Cucina Market Bistro Calgary

This is awesome.





Stopped by Cucina on Stephens Avenue today. Great coffee (they serve Phil and Sebastians Coffee) and the white chocolate cranberry scone was delish. I think i will be heading here for breakfast /lunch this coming weekend!

Analog Coffee

a quick look at the menu







We went to Analog Coffee on 17th Avenue today for some hot chocolate, I really like the ambiance and interior decor there. It's mid November already, time sure flies.. I think I'll put up the christmas tree next weekend!