10/4/12- Taste of Britain Tuesday- Easter

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend! 

I made these hot crossed buns on Good Friday, and it was my first time making hot crossed buns. I got the recipe from "The Great British Book of Baking", and they worked out pretty well, only negative is seemed a little bit dry. I've also always wondered what the cross was made out of, and finally learned- how exciting! (It's the small things right?)

I also tried the Lemon Meringue Tart recipe for Easter Sunday dinner which was delish. I was going to share a photo of that, but it did not photograph well. It was darn good however!

The recipe book calls it a Lemon Meringue Tart rather than pie, as they explained that the pie is an American take on the British Lemon tart.

27/3/12- My new fave baking book

For todays 'Taste of Britain Tuesdays' I am going to talk about a recent addition to my bookshelf. 'The Great British Book of Baking' is a cookbook based on a show of the same name. This book is from last seasons show. 

The premise of the show is exactly what you would guess. Contestants create delightful British baked goods to win the title of Great British Baker (or something of that sort). The show is filmed in a marquee tent on the grounds of some country house, and is so visually appealing to watch. Last year a chap by the name of Edd Kimber won, and has now come out with his own baking book "The Boy who Bakes". 

(Give him a follow on twitter if you like reading about baking and all things related).

I've made three recipes from this book so far and all have been amazing. Banana bread, brownies and scones. (All very simple recipes I know. But if they can give me successful simple recipes, I have faith in the more difficult ones). Over the past few years of living here I've tried to find a good scone recipe, and this book has it. Amazing.

Not to mention the amazing recipes, the book itself is a treat to own. Lovely illustrations, nice recipe layout, great paper (I think the type of paper in a book is important!). The neat thing, is at the start of each chapter they talk about that genre of baking and what it's all about. Like biscuits- where did they come from? What makes them special? How did they factor in Britain's history?

I have a feeling you will be hearing about this book more in the upcoming months. 

Drool worthy pics, and nice recipe layout.

How lovely!

Intro to the pudding section. Everything you wanted to know about puddings!

17/3/12- Happy Paddys Day!

Happy Paddy's Day!

(I know, it was two days ago- but we were too busy celebrating for me to post!)

I made these cupcakes in celebration of the day, and I have to tell you that they turned out amazing. I think using Guinness in the cake allows the cakes to stay moist, and you really can't taste it (just in case you are not a fan). I highly suggest giving these a try next year, or for any old reason.

100% positive feedback from all that I gifted these to, and I think I will make them again next year. 

We had a fantastic Paddy's day. Its not about green beer or leprechauns as the day has become in North America. We are lucky to celebrate with a fantastic group of Irish lads and lassies, and plenty of Guinness was consumed. 

Measuring out the Guinness in my matryoshka doll measuring cup

Lovely, chocolatey, Guinness cakes

A bit of Baileys in the icing...

And whiskey in the chocolate ganache

Finished product!

Chocolate ganache in the centre 

Happy Paddys Day!

12/3/12- Comfort food

A few weeks ago Alice from Quaint Living posted this lovely recipe for homemade granola. I think granola is a comfort breakfast, and I enjoy that you can make it yourself! 

I highly suggest giving this recipe a try, it's nice to adjust the seeds/nuts/fruit yourself according to your tastes. Not only that but granola is healthy breakfast and makes the house smell lovely when its toasting. Thanks Alice! 

Lovely golden granola toasting away

This batch included walnuts, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds and dried fruit

5/3/12- Adventures in fruit

Have you ever tried quince? 

A local grocery store was selling some, along with a recipe for roasted quince so I decided to try it. The recipe sounded like I was making a batch of mulled wine, and the house smelled like that as it was baking. 

The inside of a quince. Quite hard to cut through, and looked like an apple on the inside. The seeds were scooped out. 

Cut side down in a baking tray, cloves piercing the skin. 

A mixture of red wine, lemon, honey and cinnamon sticks were poured over.

It's then put in the oven for an hour and 15 min. What you are left with is quite a soft-wine-infused fruit that has the texture of a pear, and is nice with ice cream. Saying that I didn't love it, and it seemed like a long time and a lot of effort for a few spoons of a fruit. 

28/10/11- Young bakers

I've been doing some childcare whilst I've been home for my cousins children whom I love. I'm learning a lot about the wee ones, and of course enjoying the funny things they say, and their outlook on the world. 

There are some great toys out there these days, and this is one I've noticed a few times. 

Wood cupcakes. 

The icing tops can be interchanged between the wood bases, and you use your icing (aka markers) to decorate the cakes. Once complete, stick on your candle (attached with velcro), and your cake is complete!

Too cute.

12/9/11- Farmhouse White

On this blustery Monday I had a bit of time to make some bread. I had found this recipe for Farmhouse White bread on Pinterest, and I believe it was Canadian Living where the recipe came from.

Oh Canadian Living :)

Anyways, this recipe used milk instead of water which was new for me...I would also normally make a granary (whole wheat) loaf, but wanted to try a plain white loaf. I have a fantastic bread book called "Dough" that I often use for bread, however its always nice to try something new. 

The bread tastes delish, and I am happy with the consistency of the bread and the crust texture. Only concern was it did not rise as high as I would have liked. My sleuthing makes me think it could do with the warmth of the kitchen, as it could have been a touch warmer. 

Cinnamon. 3/7/11

I made this very odd looking cinnamon pull apart loaf today...I got the recipe from Dinner with Julie a Canadian blogger that posts some amazing recipes.

This was interesting to make, and turned out great! (However, I think that certain types of baking does not photograph well. Take a look at Julies website to see how it really looks ;)

My Mom arrives tomorrow for a few weeks of quality time. I'm excited to have her here, and therefore may be posting a little less.

Get your 5 a day 8/6/11

Bananas, rum and raisins.
Not a new summer drink, but banana bread!

I made Nigellas banana bread today. To start you bring the rum and raisins to a boil, then soak for about an hour. What you are left with is some pretty juicy raisins with a wee kick. Just a nice addition to an everyday loaf.

6/6/11

When I was whipping up these "low fat" (pfft! Right) chocolate chip cookies I was thinking of where I could take this blog.

I think I've decided that come October, once I've been here for two years, I plan to stop the blog. As I've mentioned many times before, it gets difficult to post as life here as become normal, and what I once saw through fresh eyes has become my everyday. I still enjoy it just as much, (if not more) but would hate to get repetitive about how beautiful the flowers are, or the interesting products the UK has compared to home etc. (And have probably become quite repetitive already!)

However, I had an idea that I wanted to pass by your first (this means you also must comment! Or if you are too shy, send me a message). I think about the posts where I discuss recipes, or domestic goddess type things like sewing. I enjoy those type of posts, and they also force me to be a wee bit creative which is nice. What if I took the blog in that route the "Canadian in England- Domestic Goddess- cooking- baking- crafty type things" and less of my everyday. Recipes included and 'how to's of things I've learnt.

I mean, I don't claim to be a domestic goddess at all, but its fun to share good recipes and ideas that I come across in my everyday.

Is that something you'd read? Something you'd find interesting - even trying out some recipes yourself? Or do you think there are too many of those types of blogs out there? Be honest :)

26/5/11

Taking a break from the beach pics for some domestic goddess action. Today it's my cousins birthday, and I thought "what a great reason to bake a cake!" Unfortunately she is not here to eat the cake, but she is visiting next month so maybe I will bake her another! ;)

It was a very grey, windy, rainy day- perfect for baking. This is earl grey cake, with earl grey icing. Yum.

31/3/11

It's been a while since my domestic goddess skills have kicked in. Today a little baking occurred to welcome a certain someone home :)

8/3/11

It's pancake day/Shrove Tuesday today- did you have your pancakes today?
There is something so fun about having breakfast for dinner isn't there? I made the Brit style of pancakes for my Shrove Tuesday meal, thin like crepes with lemon and sugar. Give em a try...

19/1/11

Just another day at work...
Well, not really. We don't have cupcakes everyday but only special occasions. Here we were prepping for a photo shoot.

Day 352- 19/9/10

What to do on a cool sunday afternoon? Bake banana bread of course!

Day 333- 31/8/10

I got a fantastic little baking book for my birthday and have been trying new recipes from it, today its very simple chocolate chip cookies. For this recipe I needed this Golden Syrup, which comes in this beautiful tin. I don't know if we have such a thing in Canada but it tastes divine and if it wasn't pure sugar I am sure I'd lick the spoon clear each time I used it!

What a beautiful color!

All of the sugars in my baking stash. Seriously, why are there so many! And this isn't even all the different types you can get in the store. Don't get me started on all the flours I have either...

Day 135- 15/2/10

Lemons! I chose this as my photo of the day for three reasons:

1) When grocery shopping today I learned that here in Britain lemons & sugar is a traditional topping to shrove tuesday (tomorrow) pancakes. I had no idea! There were even crates of lemons in the store labeled "Don't forget your lemons for pancakes!"

2) Another domestic goddess pudding made, lemon & almond cake.

3) Lemons are yellow. Yellow is basically gold. Yesterday Canada won their first ever gold medal on home soil in 34 years. So very exciting. Go canada go!