Then I decided to turn my attentions here to the blog! So here we go - a wee bit of a report of what we've been cooking and doing lately and recipes we can't wait to bust out for the holidays.
Crooked Ginger
Ever want to make a gingerbread house but building and architecture ain't your thing? For the month of December local Toronto bakery Madeleines, Cherry Pie and Ice Cream has gingerbread houses all ready assembled that you and the kids can decorate for $25. They provide the royal icing, tables and tables of candy and instruction. Best of all they also do the clean up! Now if you don't have kids shop owner and baker Kayla offers a special adult night called Crooked Ginger where for an extra fee on top of the gingerbread house you are treated to some dangerous holiday martinis and savoury canapes!
Talk about getting into the spirit(s)! Check out my delicious espresso martini. Three of these and I really found my artistic side.
Thanks so much to my good friend Kyra for turning me on to Madeleines and this fantastic event. Here we are with our awesome houses all packed up and ready to take home. I think we just made a new holiday tradition.
Recipes for the Season
You all know how much I enjoy crisps and crumbles. So when I saw this gorgeous pear, cranberry and gingersnap crumble on Smitten Kitchen I knew I had to make a variation of it. Pears and cranberries are such a fantastic combination and I happened to have a package of my favourite Shasha brand spelt ginger snaps in the house. I also threw in a couple local Empire apples in order to get two pans worth.
I make my crisp topping in the food processor because it's super easy, I can grind my nuts in the same bowl and it blends the butter without getting it all over my fingers. Throw 1/2 cup of unblanched (skin on) almonds into the food processor. Pulse until finely ground. Add 1 cup of rolled oats, 1 cup of broken up ginger cookies (I used about 16 of the little Shasha heart shaped cookies), 1/4 cup flour, one teaspoon of cinnamon, one teaspoon of ground ginger, one quarter teaspoon of ground cloves and one cup dark brown sugar. Pulse to combine. Add 3/4 cup butter and pulse until combined and crumbly. Loosely pack your crisp topping over your fruit.
Bake at 350 degrees celsius for about 45 minutes or an hour (or while you're eating dinner, it can cool while you clear the dishes). Each pan will serve around four people and is excellent topped with vanilla ice cream or some fresh whipped cream to cut the sweetness.
Leftovers are really fantastic cold over thick Greek yogurt and really how different is it from eating granola, fruit and yogurt right? That's what I told myself when I took this in a jar to work all week for my breakfast.....
I also thought I'd link back to some of my past holiday recipe posts that might come in handy as we gear up for Christmas.
With it's orange zest and fresh ginger this cranberry sauce is a really nice bright flavour for the holiday table. And since cranberries are so high in pectin they also preserve up like a treat. I actually made bunch of this after thanksgiving when cranberries were on sale and canned it up for Christmas. I followed Bernardin's instructions and timing for canning whole cranberry sauce and it worked out really well.
I know, I know I obviously have a thing for pears and ginger in general, eh? This cake has become a tradition for our family. It's dark, moist and spicy and the upside down topping is almost like a toffee sauce. I originally got the recipe from the late Gourmet Magazine (sniff sniff) but luckily Epicurious posts many old recipes from Gourmet.
I've got a few other ideas and recipes up my sleeve for the coming weeks so stay tuned. Shana's back in business! In the meantime I'd love to hear about some of your go-to holiday recipes or traditions in the comments below!
