August's Special VACATION Feature: Eton Mess

I begin all of my vacations by asking myself two critical questions; what do I want to drink? and what do I want to eat while I drink? However, by the end of any vacation I feel as though I would be content to never eat or have an alcoholic beverage ever again. After another wonderful (yet overly indulgent) meal, we came back to my Aunt and Uncle's place for dessert. To my delight it was not as overwhelming as I feared. Nice and light, this concoction was a perfect conclusion to the day.   

 
INGREDIENTS

2 cups fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons of icing sugar (or less)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package meringue cookies (broken into small pieces) **if you're really with it, make the meringue cookies your own self**


DIRECTIONS 

1) Slice the strawberries and sprinkle with one tablespoon of icing or berry sugar. Add a bit of Grand Marnier if you like (who wouldn't like?).

2) Whip the cream and add one tablespoon of icing sugar and the vanilla.

3) Fold in the strawberries and cookie pieces.

July's Special Feature: Fresh Strawberry Muffins

My BBFF (bestest best friend forever), and her sisters trialed this muffin recipe after posting it on Facebook. She said that they were totally awesome. Now these three are mighty fine bakers in their own right. I've had the privilege of sampling many a goodie, and have yet to be disappointed. 



Jinelle suggested to Monique that she toss the strawberries in some sugar, but Monique said that the tartness of the strawberries would balance out the flavors. Nailed it. Jinelle told Monique that I would be mentioning her tip and said, "awesome I'm a star in Stef's blog!!!" Clearly a big deal as I get like seven hits a day on here.

Lookin' good ladies!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 400F. Cream the butter and sugar. Add  the egg and mix well.

2) Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries.

3) Spoon batter into muffin pans. Combine the three teaspoons of sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over the muffins. Back for 20-25 minutes.

June's Special Feature: JS's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have I got a treat for you as a special feature recipe this month. Prepare yourself for a rare and eye-opening opportunity in which we experience the phenomenon that is men trying to bake.



JS baked chocolate chip cookies. First off, the ingredients:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Make a mess to find a mixing bowl you thought you had, but don't.



Step 2: Wash the stuff you pulled out from a box from your move two months ago.

Don't worry, I'm not sure what the ice cube tray is used for either



Step 3: Take picture of ingredients as per http://batterthannothing.blogspot.ca

  

Where is your alcoholic beverage? Doing it wrong.



Step 4: Preheat oven to 375F (not going to lie JS, that's a bit too hot). Mix flour, salt and baking soda together. Figure out how the hell to measure half a teaspoon when you have neither a full or a half teaspoon to measure it. Wing it because you think you know everything.

Step 5a: Cream the butter and brown sugar with a mixer. Preferably one that rattles and lets off a slight burning smell as you use it. Once the mix has a creamy consistency, add in the vanilla and one hand crack the egg into the mixture like a boss.

Step 5b: Reach in to grab the eggshell piece that fell in because you're simply middle management. Mix in the dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.

Step 6: Drip (did you mean "drop"?) the resulting mix onto baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Be careful not to overback so begin checking after 8 minutes.

Step 7: Pull delicious cookies out of the oven and promptly eat two before they even have a chance to cool off. Let remaining cookies sit on baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to wire rack, which I didn't do, because I do what I want... and I don't have a wire rack.




March's Special Feature: Alisa's Banana Bread

I'm really excited about this month's special feature recipe. It comes from my friend and team mate Alisa who made this for a team snack at this year's Canadian Championships. I always enjoy sampling other people's baking, and was so pleasantly surprised by the unexpected flavor in this banana bread. I knew it was something citrus and immediately turned to Alisa to ask what the secret ingredient was. She said "orange rind"! I'm telling you, this is delightful for a nice change up to plain old banana bread.

From Anne Lindsay's Light-Hearted Cooking


INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup soft margerine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a bowl, cream the margarine. Add the sugar and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, banana and orange zest.

2) In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

3) Bake for 40 minutes or until loaf springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Enjoy :)

February's Special Feature: Auntie Shelly's Simple Spumoni

My Aunt Shelly made this ice cream beauty for dessert last night and requested that I feature it on my blog! This dessert has a lot going for it: easy, light and definitely not too sweet. The latter being key as we aren't too big on rich and heavy desserts.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup (7 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (recommend semi-sweet)


DIRECTIONS

1) Combine the cream, sweetened condensed milk, and rum extract in a large bowl. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

2) Remove from the fridge and beat just until soft peaks form. Do not over beat. Fold in the cherry pie filling, almonds and chocolate chips. Transfer to an 8x8 inch pan. Cover and freeze about four hours or until firm. Scoop out to serve and garnish as desired.


Given the color, this would be especially nice as a simple Valentine's Day dessert for a special someone. However, this meme sums up my life: