Chunky apple muffins

Apples are one of my favourite fruits - they last forever and work well with both sweet and savoury dishes. I've been on a baking roll these days and wanted to do something with apples. Enter Martha (yes, again). I found this recipe on her site.

I didn't really tinker as there isn't much sugar used in the recipe (normally I reduce sugar by about 1/2).  The muffins turned out moist and the recipe was so easy to follow. Plus it didn't take much time to make. Definitely a good recipe for home cooks like me.

P.S. The family loved them!

Golda's Kitchen

It's no secret I'm a Christmas nut (yes, I'm the girl who has her tree up and most shopping done by December 1) - anything that has to do with Christmas brings me joy. It's especially fun for me when I'm able to combine my love of food with some Yule Tide spirit. Enter holiday baking. Last year, instead of store-bought presents, I decided to give most of the people in my life an assortment of homemade treats. It was such a success that I've decided to do the same thing this year. 

I housed my cookies in holiday-themed tins from the Dollar Store. The tins worked okay, but because there weren't any separate compartments, I found it difficult to keep the cookies apart (in my world, different flavoured cookies cannot touch...cross-flavour contamination merits its own blog post). I did some research and stumbled across Golda's Kitchen, an online store (which recently opened a physical location) that sells anything and everything related to cooking - including cookie boxes with separate compartments.

Golda's Kitchen is like Michael's - but focused entirely on cooking. Prices for many items are also slightly lower at Golda's.

Located at 2885 Argentia Road (unit 6) in Mississauga, Golda's Kitchen is a little bit off the beaten path. But I have to tell you: the drive is worth it.

P.S. I did get my cookie boxes. I'll post pics after I start to bake goodies for them. I'm still working out which 4 cookies to bake. So far: chocolate crackle, chocolate chip, chocolate cinnamon and TBC.

Pumpkin pecan dream

Up until recently, all I've really done is bake cookies - cakes and cupcakes were too intimidating, but with nearly 3 years of baking experience under my belt, I decided it was time to take on this challenge. I have to say that I've screwed up my fair share of recipes, but I have also taken quite a few and successfully made them my own.

This following recipe - one I'd like to call pumpkin pecan dream (the dream part comes from the fact that the marshmallows I added to the recipe remind me of pillows) is one that I can truly call my own.

Check this out and let me know how it goes!

Ingredients
- 18 medium are large cupcake liners
- 3/4 cup canola oil plus more for pan
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour 
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1.5 cups pumpkin puree 
- 1.25 cup plain low-fat yogurt 
- 3 large eggs
- 0.75 cups of brown sugar + 2 teaspoons for sprinkling
- 1.5 cups of coarsely chopped pecans  
-   36 mini marshmallows (an Olivia addition)

**Make sure all ingredients are room temperature

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush 12 jumbo muffin tins (each with a 1-cup capacity) with oil; set aside. (The recipe actually makes about 18 muffins if you’re using a standard cupcake tray - adjust number of marshmallows based on the size of your tray)
- In a medium bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and baking soda; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk oil, pumpkin puree, yogurt, eggs, and 1 cup sugar to combine; add 1 cup walnuts and reserved dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened (do not overmix).
- Fill the muffin tins about a 1/3 of the way and then push a mini marshmallow into the middle. Fill the muffin tins with the rest of the batter – making sure it’s only about 75% full. Pull another marshmallow into the middle so that the top is showing. Sprinkle tops with remaining walnuts/pecans and sugar.  Bake until toothpick is inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, roughly 30-35 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes in pan. Move to cookie racks for further cooling.  (Note the baking time is shorter because the muffins are slightly smaller).

Boylan Diet Cream Soda

I recently had a wisdom tooth removed (yep, 1 tooth since the other one isn't ready yet...which means I'll have to suffer all over again), so eating solid foods has been a literal pain. Therefore it's fitting that while I'm unable unable to eat solids, I stumbled across a drink by Boylan Bottling Company - Diet Creme.

Boylan makes gourmet soda pops. Each serving comes in its own vintage looking glass bottle - which adds to the entire soda pop experience. That's right - soda pop - not just pop.

Diet Creme tastes like cream soda with sugar, which is incredible to me. I favour diet pop since sugar pop messes with my system, so I'm used to the chemically tastes of aspartame, giving it a fake - and sometimes, a not-so-yummy aftertaste. But this...THIS tastes real (and it has 0 calories - another bonus!)

Diet Creme - the taste, the bottle...the entire thing demands that you slow down and savour this drink.

While it's not something I can have often (at $2.02 tax included from Pusateri's it`s nearly double the price of regular pop), this is definitely a once in awhile treat. A deliciously refreshing treat :)

Carens Wine and Cheese Bar

Let me start by saying I REALLY need a new camera. The one on my beloved phone just doesn't do culinary works of art any justice - especially when it's dark. Having said this, I will post the pictures I took because they're the only visuals I have.

My work wife and I, D went to Carens Wine and Cheese Bar at 158 Cumberland Street last night for an impromptu dinner. (I completely forgot TIFF was happening, so Yorkville was hopping more than usual on a Friday night. No movie star sightings, but we did see a few strange characters).

We sat outside - Carens has a lovely patio, and for those who get chilly, each table has its own red afghan.  The menu offers a good selection of dishes - each dish incorporating at least one type of cheese. 

D ordered the Stilton Stuffed Burger (topped with cognac sauteed mushrooms and housed in an onion bun). Now, I'm not a fan of cheeses that are blue and stinky but, MAN, this burger was amazing (D gave me 1/8 of   her dinner). I find stilton cheese overwhelming - similar to how I feel about lamb - it's a bit too strong and gamey for me. But THIS burger sat on a small bed of arugula, a bitter green that cuts through the strong taste and provides a balance to the meal. I can honestly see myself ordering this dish, stinky cheese and all.

I ordered the Sticky Beef Ribs, which came with roasted corn and a side of spicy macaroni and cheese. The ribs were cooked in an orange glaze sauce, the texture: completely fall off the bone. My only complaint was that the ribs were lukewarm when they were served (but this could've been due to the fact that we were sitting outside). The corn was nicely charred and the mac and cheese...oh...the mac and cheese, despite being a side dish completely stole the show. 

Four types of cheeses - sao miguel, cheddar, Swiss and parmigiano reggiano in a spicy sauce. Mmmm...all I can say is that I savoured every single bite and was scraping the bottom of the ramekin. Not too heavy and not overly creamy, this was probably the best mac and cheese I've ever had in my life.

And then there was more...having enjoyed an amazing meal, D and I both ordered dessert. She had the chocolate lava cake - it was warm, with just the right amount of sweetness, and had a taste of orange liquer in it.

I had a cold dessert...vanilla panna cotta - which ranked right up there with the mac and cheese. I enjoyed every single bite and was actually sad to finish the last bite. 

Great company, good conversation and one of the tastiest meals I've had in a very long time. What a lovely way to kick off the weekend.

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym.

P.S. I should also say that every dish we had was paired with a different kind of wine. I won't go too much into this, but my tastebuds were definitely singing by the end of the night.