in the kitchen: chomeur pudding

So the weather outside is frightful, and you're craving something warm, sweet and totally indulgent; 'tis the season, after all. Well, kiddo, do I have just the thing for you!

Enter the chomeur pudding (or pouding, as they say in Quebec). This little doozy of a dish is something I first tried at Au Pied de Cochon, a spot justly (in)famous for its celebration of all things fatty and fun...just thinking about the foie poutine makes my heart beat just that much faster, for real.

Here's the deal; think warm, gooey maple syrup bathing a tender biscuit in all its sticky toffee glory. With a bit of cold pouring cream to help wash it all down...mmm, I just can't resist!


Chomeur Pudding

(I recently found out that this literally means a poor man's/unemployed person's pudding, since the very few ingredients could be found in even the barest of cupboards...so now there's definitely no excuse not to try this out!)


dough
3 eggs
6 oz butter
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt


syrup
2 cups maple syrup
2 cups 35% cream
pinch salt

Cream together your softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time until blended. Scrape down bowl and add flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix just until combined. The dough should feel quite sticky and gloppy, (that's the technical term) like a loose biscuit batter. Chill your dough at least 20 mins before using.

As for the maple syrup, um, syrup - it's as easy as bringing your cream, syrup and pinch of salt up to a simmer. Give it a stir and let it cool down. That's it!

Assembly time. You can do individual portions (may I gently suggest that smaller is better, these babies are rich) in oven safe bowls, or bake the whole lot in one large casserole dish.

Scoops of chilled dough...



...mostly covered with the maple syrup mix. And into a 350 oven.

The individual portions take about 15-17 minutes to bake. Your kitchen is going to smell amazing, by the way!

The only tricky part is letting them cool down enough so you can eat them without burning your face off. Sticky, sweet and oh sooo yummy...

...the only thing better is to have a supply of cold pouring cream handy (slightly boozed up with Jack Daniels, totally optional, but definitely recommended).

Unrepentant comfort food at its best; this is how I plan to survive the long winter ahead!

in the kitchen: olive oil cake

I've been puttering around a few ideas for the fall menu, so I thought it would be fun to show you what I've been up to!

I'm a visual kid; most of the ideas get scribbled down so I can get an overall sense of placement (it also helps to figure out if we actually have the equipment and ingredients ready to make the dish!). The larger sheet in the back has some of the original menu; the doodle on the ticket paper is an idea based on olive oil.

A taste-memory:
One of the boys at work recreated a tasty snack he had in Italy - a thin slice of crusty sourdough, grilled, then covered with dark chocolate shavings. The toast was placed under the broiler just until the chocolate melted, then drizzled with plenty of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of crunchy sea salt. Amazing to say the least; great crunch, nice sweet/savouriness, and a pleasant bitterness, all lubed up by the fruity olive oil. Mmm.

Another taste-memory:
My dear university boyfriend, happy to share some of his British-ness (and tired of me making fun of his Marmite toasts), gifts me with my first Terry's Chocolate Orange. Yum, I'm in love!

So, what is a gal to do, but play around with the idea of the olive oil cake...and here it goes.

B likes to name the equipment; the large food processor is called Robo-Cop.

A good olive oil is a must! I'm loving these orange and mandarin infused ones right now. (I blend them with a plain, fruity oil so it the batter doesn't get too perfume-y.)

Getting the ingredients together...

Cream the oil and sugar (check out the colour, by the way, how happy!), add orange zest, then eggs, then alternate additions of flour and milk. Really easy!

The batter is very loose, and bakes up very moist and rich, almost like a pound cake.

Butter and flouring the moulds. I pour the batter a third of the way up for the individual 3-inch cakes...and into a 350 oven for about 15-17 minutes.

The moist little cakes, ready for the plate...





Olive oil citrus cake with hazelnuts, orange confit and chocolate gelato with maldon sea salt.

olive oil cake

1 1/2 cups good quality olive oil
2 1/2 cups sugar
zest of 1 orange or lemon
3 eggs

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

1 1/2 cups milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream together olive oil, sugar and zest until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time; mix in between each addition.

In a smaller bowl, combine dry ingredients.

To the oil/sugar/egg mixture, add half the dry mix; stir, then add half the milk. Stir in the remaining dry, then rest of the milk.

Pour batter into butter and floured moulds and bake in 350 oven.

(In this case, my 3-inch mini tins took about 17 minutes - I imagine a larger cake pan, say 9-inch, would take about 30 minutes...the cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out cleanly!)

Enjoy!

gimme s'more!

I have to say a great big thank you to the fine folks at cakespy for posting about the unbelievably fabulous creations coming out of Trophy Cupcakes. I know I've always been a visual kid, but it's not very often that I come across an image that leaps out and speaks to me (and my belly, of course) so loudly that I just have to go ahead and make the darn thing for myself.

I'm talking, of course, about the awe inspiring S'more Cupcake. Oh, Trophy, you are madpeople and geniuses all at once!

Here's hoping the feeling is contagious; to all the bakers and cuppy cake lovers out there...let the cupcake madness begin!

And so, we begin...

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
(adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

2 large whole eggs, plus 1 egg yolk (save the white for frosting!)
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups warm water (you can substitute coffee, or be boozy like me and sub in Baileys for 1/4 cup of the water...mmm!)

*I should mention that the "official" recipe for the original version is on Martha's website here, but based on some of the comments, I thought I'd stick to a recipe that I've used before, and trust. (Martha will always be my hero, even if a few of her recipes are a little wonky.)

Preheat your oven to 350 while you gather all of your ingredients. Oh, and line two regular cupcake pans (that's 24 cupcakes in total) with those cute paper cups.

Measure out all the dry ingredients and dump into a large bowl...




To the dry, add all the wet ingredients; stir to combine into a smooth mix.

That's it for the cupcake batter; onto the part that makes it s'moreish....

Graham Cracker Base

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp melted butter

1 Hershey's bar, chopped in rough chunks

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter.


Scoop about a rounded teaspoon of the crumbly mix into each paper cup. There will be some left over; save this for the topping!


Pat the mix down to form a mini "crust". (Shot glass to the rescue!)



Try very hard not to eat the whole bar...stupid willpower!


Chop chop!



Put a little sprinkle of chopped chocolate on top of the graham base; cover with cupcake mix.



I filled mine about three-quarters full...
(*strange, but this recipe usually makes 24 cupcakes on the nose. This time I had a bit left over, most likely because of the extra bits of graham and chopped chocolate I added. No worries, put the extra in a ramekin to bake for a little bonus treat!)


Sprinkle the rest of the graham cracker mix on top. (I went a little crazy and put more chocolate chips on top as well; no such thing as too much chocolate, is there?)



Bake about 15 - 20 minutes.
Do the toothpick test to check if done, but remember there will be gooey melted chocolate in the middle! (I also rotated the pans about halfway through so everything baked evenly.)


Tah Dah! So cute..but wait, there's more!



I could pack a few of these back right now, but I will be patient, because now it's time for...

Gilding The Lily (aka Marshmallow Frosting)
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

2 cups white sugar
3 egg whites (make sure these are very clean, no yolk bits!)
2 tbsp light corn syrup (I used honey, and it worked out fine)
3 tbsp cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

Combine all in a stainless steel bowl and set on top of a pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly (electric beaters would've been great here, but old fashioned elbow grease will do just fine!) until mixture is glossy and holds a stiff peak when whisk is lifted.

This counts as my exercise for the day! Once the whites reach stiff peak, remove from heat and keep on whisking until mix cools down. Let it hang out while you locate your pastry bag (or large Ziploc with the corner cut off).



Pipe frosting. Admire. Pipe some more.



Ah, how satisfying to see a little cupcake army forming....


If you're really gonna do it up, and have been itching to use that torch (and who doesn't, really?), now is the time to bust it out! Just remember, light away from the face...


The best part about the frosting is that when it sits for a bit (about an hour, say) it will go crispy on the outside, but still be squishy and marshmallowy in the middle...gaah, it's awesome!


The end result. Chocolatey, crunchy, squishy goodness. Mmm...

Yes, yes, gimme s'more! Enjoy!