Indulging a Sweet Tooth

We haven’t heard anything about our vehicle yet today so I spent another day working from home. It’s been a slower day so I decided to log off a bit early and do a bit more baking. It’s nice to have some cookies in the house, just to indulge that craving for a little sweet something now and then. I will admit, though, it doesn’t happen often that we have cookies.

I used to have a really good recipe for Soft Ginger cookies but John prefers the crispier version so I’ve been on the hunt for a good recipe. The majority of the so-called Ginger Snap recipes I’ve come across describe the cookies as “chewy”. I didn’t want “chewy” this time.

I finally came across this recipe from Tessa at Handle the Heat and decided to give her recipe a try. They came together quickly and within the hour, we were sampling Ginger Snaps. The recipe is given in cups and grams; I think next time, I’ll follow the weight version a little more closely as my cookies came out a little chewier in the middle but the edges were definitely crispy. A little less flour will likely help them spread a bit more, resulting in crispier cookies. Lesson learned.

My only other criticism (if you can call it that) is that I think I’d like them a little more gingery. Next time, I’ll up the ginger and add some grated ginger, I think. John agreed. Don’t get me wrong – these are really good and the recipe is definitely a keeper. There’s nothing wrong with a little tweaking, though, to get them just where we like them.

Heavenly Yeast Rolls

I know, I know… it’s been forever since I’ve written anything here. I could give you all sorts of excuses but, truth is, I’m a busy person. And when I’m not busy, writing is the last thing on my mind. In addition, with me still working, not quite full time but still five days a week, John’s been doing the majority of the cooking.

All that aside, I’m working from home this week and that’s given me a little bit of time to do a few things in the kitchen between taking calls and writing up orders. Having made some Butternut Squash soup on the weekend, I decided baking up a batch of the Heavenly Yeast Rolls would fill out a meal beautifully.

Breads can be intimidating to a lot of people but, honestly, these come together so easily. It helps if you have a decent mixer (I have a KitchenAid… yeah!) so there isn’t a lot of kneading involved. Throw everything into your mixing bowl, in order, mix it all up and let the mixer do the kneading. Let it rest and rise for about an hour, then shape the dough into balls, let it rise again and bake for a dozen beautiful rolls…. Easy peasy!

I won’t post the recipe here but I will post the link. At one point, I thought there was a lot of sugar and too much salt in the recipe but I’d recommend following it as is. They’re really good just the way they are. And, seriously, there is NOTHING that smells better than fresh bread/buns baking.

So, where can you find this amazing recipe? Right here…. Heavenly Yeast Rolls from Tasty Kitchen. You’ve got to try these. I honestly don’t think you’ll regret it. Once you discover how easy they are to make, I have a feeling you’ll make them again and again.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Way back, when I was either still in or just out of high school, I came across a very simple recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup. I can’t even remember where it came from. It was, basically, a list of ingredients and not much more. I tried it and we loved it! I’ve been making it off and on ever since.

This time, I used white mushrooms, morels, and porcini mushrooms

As I said, it’s a pretty simple recipe but the flavour is more than the sum of its parts. You can use any kind of mushroom. I still have some dehydrated morels we foraged the year after the 2003 fires here in Kelowna and I throw some of those in the soup, along with the white mushrooms I picked up at the grocery store. I also have packets of dried Chanterelles and Porcini mushrooms, so I added some of those as well. And, just because I have it growing right outside my back door, I threw in a sprig of thyme. Just ’cause I could.

I want to direct your attention to the grater in the photo. I found this awesome grater in our local Asian store (I love the Oriental Supermarket!). It works so well and I’ve never scraped my finger tips using it. I think it’s meant to be a ginger grater but it works really well for nutmeg. It’s solid stainless steel and is heavy for its size. I love it!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

(Printable version)

• Mushrooms (about 12 medium to large mushrooms of your choice)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp pepper (or to taste)

Slice or chop the mushrooms and sauté in butter with the chopped onion. When the onions are translucent, add the flour, mixing until smooth; add the beef broth, milk, and seasonings. Simmer till heated through but do not allow to boil.

Serves 4