When J Cooks (Braised Lamb Shanks)

HOLY DELICIOUS!

Meatballs!

On top of spagehhhhhhtiiiii cauliiiiiiiflower. . .

I didn't really go out of a limb with this month's meatball challenge. Many Daring Cooks put in so much more effort than me. (Holy crap Audex, I want to eat all of these! Where can I get kangaroo in Canada?) I just winged it (or "wung" it, as my French-Canadian prof might say) with a vague idea of recreating the meatballs that my mum used to make us when we were kids. The went over pretty well, and J exclaimed, "when you said 'meatballs' I didn't expect THIS!"

Prinsesstarta with Piere Hermé's Chocolate Pastry Cream

Of course I forgot to post on time for May's Daring Baker's Challenge. As ever. I actually made this near the beginning of the month. We were challenged to make a prinsesstarta, which is normally layers of sponge cake, jam, pastry cream, and whipped cream underneath a covering of bright green marzipan. This is nearly that, except that I wanted to bring it to a party that we were having for two students doctors (yay!) in our lab who just successfully defended their PhDs. So, rather than a traditional prinsesstarta, it needed to be a mouse-shaped-prinsesstarta. Because that was relevant.

Chicken Ballotine Stuffed with Sausage, Sweet Potato, Pecans, Apples

Warning: May be triggering for vegetarians.

So, if you've ever wanted to make a turducken, one of the things you have to contend with is de-boning all of the birds. I've never actually wanted to make a turducken, because the idea of stuffing whole animals with whole other animals doesn't exactly appeal to me. Remember that scene in The Temple of Doom where everyone is eating dinner in the creepy-palace and a server cuts open a boa constrictor and out crawl many smaller snakes? Ugh. Also, remember all those stories you heard in Latin class about Roman feasts that involved live birds literally flying out of pies when they were cut open? Unsanitary. I never thought that I’d de-bone a chicken.

Chocolate Chickpea Cake, Potato Cookies

Chickpeas make it sutiable for breakfast, right?

For March's challenge of hiding vegetables in desserts, I made this chocolate chickpea cake. I've previously made the internet sensation black bean cake, and while it was pretty good and was eaten quickly I WAS able to taste a vague hint of beany flavour which seemed to fade as days went by. In my brain, the flavour of chickpea was a better match for chocolate than the flavour of black bean, and I have a general love of chickpeas besides (with vinegar, mostly). In the end, I thought that this cake had zero bean flavour from the get-go so even if the flavour of chickpea was hanging around, I couldn't detect it. I think that the cake looks a bit dry in these photos, but it wasn't really dry. It had an interesting rich denseness, and I found it more filling than regular cake.

Easiest Homemade Goat Milk Cheese

Late cheese post! I've been slow on this cheese challenge generally. It took me a while to pick up the rennet, and then I was just busy. But the mozzarella  the feta, the hallumi, the cream cheese--they are all on their way. There is weird fresh goat cottage cheese is in the fridge right now (from which I learned that Little Miss Muffet's meal was kinda gross). However, before I even chatted with the cheese man, I did make this rennet-free goat cheese. It's not really chèvre because it doesn't have the right culture added. It's mild but it's lovely and it's easy as all get out*. To make and eat, anyway. Not for me to photograph appealingly. 

Crackity Crackers! Rosemary, Pecan and Cranberry Raintree Crisps

I'm not much of a cracker type these days. When the mixed box comes out, I tend to want to spread my creamy cheeses on the digestive biscuits which, lets face it, are more cookie than cracker. However, I always circle around for two or three of these raintree crisps when they are out for free samples down at the grocer's. I think I like them because they are mostly nut and dried fruit held together by a negligible amount of cracker.

Nobel Prize Winning Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Dear Battlestar Galactica, I am watching s02e10 of you right now and you're AWESOME!

A while back I suggested that I would share some of what I consider to be 10 out of 10 cookies. Given a choice between this and every other chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made or tried, I would pick this one every time, and I've made and eaten a LOT of chocolate chip cookies. I'm open to the idea of better ones, I just haven't found them yet.

Christmas 2012

I figured I'd share some of my Christmas 2012 goodies before it got too ridiculously late. 

Gevulde Speculaas, Coconut Style

I was pleased with January's Challenge of Gevulde Speculaas. I'm always looking for something to add to my list of cookie recipes that is as delicious as my go-to chocolate chip or lemon bar recipes, but is also has a unique look and flavour. When I make (or, really, imagine making) piles of Christmas cookies, I like the cookies to be distinct. This is definitely now on the list.