Almost-vegan coconut lemon poppyseed cupcakes

February 25, 2012February 28, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 8 Comments

Almost vegan in the sense that oops, half a cup of butter just happened to slip in. Clumsy me. I swear it won’t happen again.

Photo 2012-02-25 9 06 21 AM — Coconut lemon poppyseed cupcakes + Instagram + TurboCollage = Love

I never thought I would eat the combination of lemon and poppyseed ever again. And you should know, I loved lemon poppyseed desserts. Once, I even made a lemon poppyseed frappuccino (ed. note: this is the most difficult word to spell … I always forget which letters are doubled) when I worked at Starbucks in high school.

I will not explain the story behind my change of heart, but know that it involves evil dogs, water being spilled and stop-action motions. These cupcakes banished the lemon-poppyseed curse.

This past weekend, my parents were having two of their adult friends over for dinner and I said I would make dessert. Since they are grown-ups (much unlike myself) I figured they probably wouldn’t like a dessert that involved my usual use of excessive Kindergarten-colours (darn, I really wanted to make this!). Half of my family also has a thing against chocolate, so that was unfortunately ruled out.

I had been wanting to jump head first back into the world of lemon + poppyseed for awhile, so I decided to go for it. I have been in lemon deprivation lately since I’m not getting my bi-daily fix of lemon gelato at my favourite Ottawa cafe. Since one of our guests is lactose intolerant, I used coconut milk in the cupcake batter, adding a light smell and taste that could counter the lemon. After an initial failed attempt at making a glaze (it looked like some sort of cleaning solution), I decided to just do a icing sugar-lemon juice combination, which I topped with a bit of toasted shredded coconut.

They were so pretty! And got the Adult Seal of Approval.

PS: I am returning to Ottawa today, meaning there will no longer be home cooked meals waiting for me around every corner. I have lots to do this week school-wise, which can only mean one thing: I’m going to bake a lot. Are you excited?! I’m excited.

Lemon poppyseed cupcakes2 — It is essential that your feet sneak into at least one food photo

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Steakhouse pizza with caramelized red onions and a balsamic marinara sauce

February 21, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 6 Comments

When I decide to cook with meat, I go all out. I’m talking monster carnivore.

An aside: Reflecting on the past four days of dinner, I have had a different kind of protein every single night. I have eaten a small farm. Coming home and having your mom pay for groceries (AKA me not being cheap and making quinoa-based meals everyday) really does make a difference in terms of my diet.

As soon as my parents told me they were going out for supper on Saturday night, I knew I wanted to treat the youngest Duff to a brother-sister dinner. Since I have a never ending need to impress him, I decided to unleash the power of pizza. But it couldn’t just be any pizza. Or any meal, for that matter. After googling several different combinations of “food to serve to your teenage brother,” I went to the land of all things wholesome and delicious: The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I finally decided her Steakhouse Pizza was a creation worthy of being inhaled by a semi-appreciative, grunt-if-he-approves brother.

After a trip to the grocery store with my mom where I insisted that yes, a ball of good mozzarella was extremely necessary, and that a $12 flank steak was what needed to top this pizza, I got home and got cookin’.

The smells that came from the kitchen when this was being prepared were gasp-inducing. Within minutes of sautéing, the red onions became translucent strands, their shiny purple backs absorbing the the balsamic that was slowly reducing in the pan. Then there was the marinara sauce combined with even more balsamic and a hint of Worcestershire Sauce. When baking, the smell of it bubbling on the crust made me stick my head in the oven even more than usual to absorb the aroma.

Since no picture of the finished product can even begin to do the intricacy of this pizza justice, I thought I would stand on a kitchen chair and give you a bird’s eye view of the different layers.

And because photos like this always lend themselves well to gif animations, here you go! Knock yourself out with excitement. I know it’s not as good as the one of Oprah and bees, but it will have to do.

Garrett and I ate this in the family room while watching the Big Bang Theory. He said it was “actually good,” which in 18-year-old boy language means that he approves. I’m thrilled.

We all enjoyed the leftover 1.5 pizzas as a family the next day and I wish there had been more.

steakhouse pizza2 — I swear he's happier than he looks!

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Happy belated Valentines Day, ft. chocolate stuffed pink marble cupcakes

February 17, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 8 Comments

You know I always have a good reason for not blogging.

Unlike former hiatuses where I’ve still been cooking and baking loads of things, these past two weeks have been different, since I’m back home in Sudbury. Because of this, my mom has been the one doing all the cooking and baking. Have I mentioned that I’m spoiled?

So why am I home? Well at this point I am two weeks into a three-week internship with CBC Sudbury. It has been an absolutely amazing experience so far. It’s a small station, which means I got thrown into doing on-air stuff, editing and interviewing right off the bat. The past two weeks have been some of the most educational ones of my journalism career so far. Here are a few links to the things I’ve been working away on: an interview with the son of a man who died in the Ocean Ranger oil rig accident in 1982, a story I did about the shortage of working stoves in Sudbury (which resulted in more than half a dozen donations of the appliance!) and one portion of a three-part series I did on the behaviour of coaches in minor hockey.

One thing that has made my experience at CBC even better has been the friendliness of my co-workers. They’re always willing to help and have a great, down-to-earth sense of humour. This especially comes out when talking about our particular love-hate relationship with Valentines Day crafts.

Since I couldn’t pass on an opportunity to theme bake – even after actual Valentines Day was over – I made these cupcakes last night and brought them into the newsroom today. Next week: A CBC fondant cake!

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Mushroom and barley risotto (a craving cured)

February 4, 2012February 2, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

In past posts, I’ve admitted to several food cravings that I’m not so proud of. Be it five-minute cupcakes, half a bowl of unused cream cheese icing, or cold Kraft Dinner eaten straight from the fridge, these are the cravings that make me wonder how it is that I’m supposed to be a 20-something-year-old.

Then there’s the weird, but positive cravings. Like how I lose my mind for Magic Bullet smoothies after I go for a run. Or like how sometimes I cannot stop eating raspberries. You get the point.

This week’s bizarre and healthy choice came in the form of barley, that delicious grain that resembles the cutest of tiny beads. Barley is just the latest of the super grain family to catch my attention (its extended family tree includes my beloved quinoa and the elusive wheat berry). You can only imagine how thrilled I was when I received my latest issue of Canadian Living, flipped straight to the food section and discovered – low and behold – a brilliant series on Super Grains.

I did a flailing, happy food dance in my dining room.

My favourite of the recipes was one for mushroom and barley risotto. Mushrooms! Barley! Easily two of the best things in the universe. I set out to make this my Thursday night mission. I have a long day of classes on Friday, and said day is severely improved upon if I bring a delicious lunch of leftovers.

Since I didn’t have all the same ingredients as the recipe requested and since I am more frequently throwing caution to the wind and experimenting, my creation turned out a little differently than what you’ll see in the glossy pages of CL. Still, they get 100 per cent of the inspiration credit for this meal.

I added frozen peas and used fresh mushrooms rather than dry. I also made some other minor tweaks. This was yummy and reminded me of the rice risotto that Gord and I once made in Amsterdam.

Finally, winter photo season isn’t working out half as badly as I thought it would! I am totally digging these photos, and have fully delved into the wonderful world of Photoshop in order to make any lighting/colour adjustments that may be necessary. I may have gone a little overboard with the pine cones and oven rack props (fact: the latter was picked up off the side of the road, washed promptly and is now a multi-function house piece!), but hey, for someone who is used to standing on a chair on her outdoor patio to get a good shot, this is nothing. UPDATE: Okay, I just realized that you can’t see the pine cones in the photos I picked, but I promise you that they’re there. I’ll just have to include them in future photos. Aside: isn’t this bowl perfect for these photos?!

PPS: I imagine that this could easily be made vegetarian, should you choose to substitute the chicken stock with veggie stock.

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Martha Stewart’s outrageous chocolate cookies

February 2, 2012January 29, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

I warned you that this was going to be a Martha Stewart week.

These cookies have become a bit of a tradition among my group of friends. To understand the tradition, you must first understand my friend Amanda, for whom I made these cookies. Amanda loves her birthday. Loves it. More than a small child loves puppies and more than I love cheese. She always has a week’s worth of birthday festivities, appropriately called “Amandapalooza.”

Amanda and I on one of her birthday nights

It is my job, as old roommate and friend, to bake something for her. Last year I made these white chocolate Macadamia nut cookies for the first time. This year she had another cookie request. These.

Photo 2012-01-25 10 17 03 AM — Cookies + Instagram = Love

As far as I know, Amanda’s love for these cookies started on her birthday last year, when our old roommate Brittany (SHE IS IN PARIS NOW, GO LOOK AT HER BLOG!!) made her a batch. They are actually the perfect cookie – slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside (so long as you don’t over bake them which I accidentally did with a batch of these…). They’re like a tiny brownie cookie, but better. A recipe like this obviously uses up a lot of chocolate, so it’s certainly a good thing that I always have an absurd amount on hand.