The kitchen is the heartbeat of our home. There is always something going on here. Always a gathering of bodies, foods, projects. Here is some of the cookery we've been up to during the week...
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:: Chocolate chip muffins. A kid-suggested project to be sure. Actually, my girl suggested cookies, and I modified to muffins. I wish we made blueberry instead of chocolate chip. Next time. For the record, we are (apparently) trying to fit in as many sweets as possible before Advent starts on the 15th! Stay tuned for sugar-high updates...
:: I was trying to add some veggies to our regular mac n' cheese. Had some kale that needed
:: This epic crème caramel was, my Teta's recipe. I promised to post it and I've finally come through! (Hurray!) I have been playing around with the technical aspects of the recipe and finally got one of the smoothest custards ever. The trick? Take it out before it looks finished. I promise, it actually is. In fact, I could have taken mine out even earlier than I did since, as you can see, there are little holes forming throughout the custard... we don't want those, obviously. (I left it much longer than 60 minutes.) This recipe is for a casserole caramel, but it looks much nicer in photos if you do them in ramkins. Unfortunately you'd have to adjust the cooking time from what I have here, and I haven't tried it out, so I can't really speculate. (I imagine something closer to 30 minutes would be fitting?)
:: Cheese pies. Filled with a mixture of feta and mozzarella. Perfect for kids on the go. Haven't made them in a while, but I'm so glad I finally did. I had some frozen dough that I wanted to use up. I think next time I'll make these spinach pies. Yum!
Have a great weekend!
ISABELLE'S CRÈME CARAMEL
2 loaf pans
½ cup sugar
1 cup sugar
½ cup sugar
8 cups milk
8 eggs
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Take
½ cup sugar and melt in pot until it caramelizes into golden or amber liquid –
don’t stir and don’t brown too much.
(Lower temperature when mostly liquid, but keep heating until there are
no lumps or grains left.) Pour this liquid
sugar equally into the bottom of both pans, swirl to coat evenly and set
aside.
Put milk, vanilla and 1 cup of sugar into a large pot. Scald the milk (heat until hot, but not boiling) then turn
heat off. Put eggs and ½ cup sugar in a
large bowl. Whisk until well
combined. Add milk bit by bit in a very
slow stream to eggs, whisking constantly. (Don’t add quickly or you’ll cook the
eggs.) Strain mixture through a large
sieve, then pour into to the two pans equally.
Place 2 pans in a long baking pan (with high edges). Fill the baking pan half-way with hot water
from the tap. Bake in oven until a
toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centers – about 60
minutes, but check often around the 45 minute mark. The centers will jiggle like
jello, but don’t worry they will firm up upon cooling. The surface should look smooth with a slight
golden colour, but no bubbling or curdling around the edges. (If you overcook the crème caramel it will
curdle and have a cottage cheese-like texture.)
Remove from baking pan and let cool to room temperature. Place in fridge to chill. (Can be stored in the fridge for a day or two
if needed.) When ready to serve, run a
knife around the sides to loosen. Place
a deep serving dish on top of loaf pan, invert quickly and give it a gentle shake
to unmold. What you should have is a
light caramel custard surrounded by a pool of golden caramel sauce.
Your kitchen is always filled with such good things.
ReplyDeleteOne day, I hope you will be here too sipping tea. And then you will see how messy it is...
DeleteThanks so much for the cooking tips and recipes! Those pies look so amazing!
ReplyDeleteHope you can enjoy them too! They really are delicious. :)
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