Maple Walnut Tarts- A Taste of Canada

This is undoubtedly one of the most important recipes I know of. Whenever I go with my family to the pick-your-own farm to spend a beautiful Ontario summer's day collecting berries and fighting mosquitoes, we'd always get the maple walnut tarts they sold. However, at their price it was unlikely that they were made with real maple syrup, posing me with the challenge of a more authentically mapley alternative. I also use a butter pie crust that's flaky and tastes amazing, complementing the filling rather than merely holding its nutty, gooey goodness. For such a fantastic food, it's incredibly easy as well- all you need to do is mix up the filling and pour it onto walnuts in parbaked pastry shells. You could use frozen tart shells... but please don't.

These taste best in the sunshine, especially sitting on the back of your car while surrounded by rolling fields of wheat and watching the trees rustle in the breeze, but at home while watching TV will also work. Just the taste will bring you to a happier place.

Maple Walnut Tarts

1 Recipe preferred pie dough
2 Eggs
2/3 C. Dark maple syrup
1/2 C. Brown sugar
2 TBSP (30 ml.) Melted butter
Pinch of salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla or maple extract
3/4 - 1 C. Walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 220℃. Roll out the pie dough and cut into rounds with a large glass. Push the rounds into the holes of a muffin pan to form tart crusts and prick well with holes using a fork. Parbake for about 15 minutes. Use a small glass or end of a rolling pin to push the dent in again if they puff up.

Mix eggs, salt, syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla/maple extract well. Place a tablespoon of walnut pieces in each parbaked tart shell and top with the egg mixture. Return to the over for another 15 minutes, or until bubbling.

Zitny Chleba- Czech Country Bread

Žitný Chleba
From Küchenlatein

150g. 133% Hydration rye sourdough

Prepare the sourdough the night before by mixing 64g. Whole rye flour, 86 mL water, and 10 g. Sourdough starter. Let sit at room temperature for 12-16 hours.

400 g. Bread flour
100 g. White rye flour
1/2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 10 g. Fresh yeast
10 g. Salt
300 mL Water

Some ice cubes, for baking process

Mix water (reserving 1 TBSP) into sourdough and dissolve yeast. Add to the flours and mix until a homogenous dough forms. Let rest covered 10 minutes, then mix the salt and remaining water and knead in, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Let rise in a covered, oiled bowl until doubled, about 2-2.5 hours at room temperature.

Shape a large, round loaf from the dough on a well-floured surface. Let rise covered for 1 - 1.5 hours on a pan (totally flat without a "lip" so you can slide the bread off later) lined with floured baking parchment.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius, with a baking stone or heavy heat-retaining baking pan inside. Set another rack below this one with a vessel such as a cake pan.

When the bread is ready (it will spring back if you poke it gently), poke it all over with a skewer to make docking holes and slide it onto the baking stone/pan. Toss some ice cubes into the vessel below the bread to make steam and close the oven door.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, covering with foil if the loaf browns before it reaches an internal temperature of 90 degrees celsius. Let cool for at least 2 hours before cutting.

Cowboy Cookies

These are some really good cookies if you like a lot of chips and bits- Personally, I find that they've got just the right amount of stuff going on without going overboard. They're definitely easy to make and homey (ideal with a glass of milk!) but the sheer amount of chocolate, nuts and coconuts accentuated with the hint of spice and oaty backdrop makes them special. 

Surprisingly, despite the relatively large amount of leavener, these turned out thin and chewy, the way I like 'em. I think that using pastry flour, which is lower in gluten, helped me get them this way, though I'd need to try with all purpose and pastry flour for comparison. 

Possible adaptations that I would try include adding instant coffee granules, using chocolate covered peanuts instead of chips, or using milk chocolate chips. While I can't say why they're called "cowboy" cookies, I can say that these are definitely worth making.

Cowboy Cookies

1 C. Flour (I used pastry flour, all purpose is fine too)
1 Tsp. Baking powder
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Cinnamon (I used mixed cake spice)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 C. (113 g.) Butter, room temperature
1/2 C. Brown sugar
1/2 C. Sugar
1 Egg
1 C. Rolled oats (not instant)
1 C. Chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)
1 C. Walnut or pecan pieces
1 C. Unsweetened desiccated coconut

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon until fluffy and homogenous. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until incorporated.

Add the baking powder and soda and beat in, then add the flour and beat until just combined. Using a big spoon, spatula, or you hands, mix in the oats, chocolate, nuts and coconut.

Divide into 12-18 balls and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just slightly browned. Let cool on the tray.

Alice Medrich's Buckwheat Linzer Cookies (Gluten Free)

Pardon the unassuming photograph and let me assure you that these cookies are delicious. They're both gluten and nut-free, and a great way to highlight the unique earthy flavour of buckwheat. I added orange zest and rum, which I feel is a great extra touch. You can use any jam that's dark and not too chunky, and vary the size and shape of the cookies to your taste.

The gluten free flours result in an extremely tender and delicate cookie, a bit more rustic than the traditional linzer cookie but in a very good way. It's the kind of cookie you can imagine forest fairies or something of the like eating with tea. 

I think that the dough is also improved by the cream cheese, adding a touch of tang and also more tenderness. Because there isn't any gluten, there's no concern about overworking the dough, making these surprisingly easy to make.

While mine weren't very pretty, working with colder dough (I rushed the refrigeration step) will yield cleaner cuts and nicer-looking cookies- but the important thing is that they're delicious. Take care not to overbake the cookies, though; they are brown to begin with, so it can be tricky to tell when they're done.



Buckwheat Linzer Cookies
Slightly Adapted From Flavour Flours, by Alice Medrich

70 g. Buckwheat flour
65 g. Oat flour
55 g. White rice flour ( I used Thai white rice flour)
170 g. Butter
100 g. Sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking soda
70 g. Cream cheese
1 TBSP Rum (or water)
Zest of one orange

Blackberry, raspberry or red/black currant jam, about 1/2 C.

Preheat oven to 170℃.

Sift together the flours, salt and baking soda. Separately, beat together the sugar, cream cheese, butter and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients and rum/water. Knead to form a homogeneous mass and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Roll out between sheets of baking parchment and cut with a circular cookie cutter or glass. You can also form a large, thick log of dough prior to refrigeration and then use a wire or very sharp knife to cut circular slices, but then you will need to make sure the dough is very firm.

Cut out smaller shapes in half of the circles (I used a flower cookie cutter) and bake on a parchment-lined pan for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on the pan.

Spread the cookies without cut-outs with your jam of choice and top with the other half. Dust with powder sugar if desired.

Dark and Moist Fruitcake

My version of a traditional fruitcake, with anything I thought would taste particularly good added in. I found that it was the best after about 9 weeks of aging, so plan ahead, and be prepared to buy a lot of alcohol! The basting really helps make it moist and makes the flavour complex. To stick with a dark colour theme (to complement my "light" fruitcake) I used dark rum, coffee liquor, molasses, brown sugar, and lots of figs and dates. And for a bit of crunch, some walnuts!

You can use different dried fruits, and next time I make this cake I think I'll add more, including some dried apricots and cherries. Still, this cake turned out really well! It was especially popular, I think, because of the copious amounts of coffee liquor that complemented the taste of the molasses and spices really well. I suspect that, if you wanted to try something really unorthodox, you could eat it with soft cheese... something I plan to try myself.

Dark Fruitcake
adapted from chowhound

3 Eggs
3/4 C. Butter (About 170g)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Cocoa
1 1/2 C. Flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 Tsp. Each cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
Zest of one lemon and one orange
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Dark brown sugar
1/4 C. Molasses
2 TBSP. Apricot jam, smooth
1 C. Dates
1 C. Figs
1 1/2 C. Mixed golden and dark raisins
1 C. Walnut pieces
1/2 C. Mixed diced peel
1/3 C. Currants
1/2 C. Dark spiced rum
1/4 C. Brandy (I used apricot brandy)

To Baste:
A generous amount each of dark spiced rum, (apricot) brandy and coffee liquor

Soak snipped fruits in rum 2-5 days in advance.

Prepare two 9'' loaf pans with butter and baking parchment.

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
Beat the butter, sugar and molasses together until smooth. Add the vanilla, jam, zest and molasses. Beat in the eggs and mix until homogeneous.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Next, add the fruit and nuts and stir in until well-mixed.

Bake at 160℃ for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool before removing from pans and brushing with a mixture of the basting alcohols.

Wrap up in alcohol-soaked cheesecloth and plastic wrap and let ripen for 6-9 weeks in a cool well-ventilated place, unwrapping and brushing with the basting alcohol about once a week. If you check on them and they're already very moist with alcohol (this occurred after 4 weeks of the basting process for me) you can leave them be.

Serve on its own or covered in marzipan once ripe.

Chewy Fudge Brownies sans Chocolate, Butter, and Leavening Agent...

I'm really amazed these brownies work. There's no chocolate, no butter, no melting together of the ingredients in a bain-marie... there's not even any leavening, but they work!

I love a fudgy, chewy, dense brownie. I also love recipes that require very little planning ahead to get the ingredients ready (at least, when I'm working with the limited storage space of my tiny apartment-kitchen rather than the spacious home-kitchen where I can comfortably keep a huge arsenal of rarely-used substances) so this was a very nice recipe for me to find.

I didn't use any chocolate chips and instead doubled up on walnuts, because I love walnuts in almost everything and didn't feel like going out to buy chocolate. I add a bit of Kahlua instead of coffee to the liquid components, which is not necessary but it's really hard to go wrong with a touch of booze in any baked good.

When you have a limited variety of ingredients and/or equipment, this is an amazing way to still get your brownie fix. One important note: since there's no butter contributing flavour, it's extra important to use good cocoa powder.

Chewy Fudge Brownies

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

2/3 C. Cocoa
1 1/4 C. Sugar, or 1 C. sugar and 1/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. Powder sugar
1 Tsp. Salt
1 C. All purpose flour
2 TBSP Instant coffee powder or 1 TBSP espresso powder (optional)
1-2 C. Walnut, pecan and/or chocolate pieces
1/2 C. Neutral flavoured oil (I used canola)
3 TBSP Kahlua (or strong coffee)
3 Tsp. Vanilla extract
3 Eggs

Preheat oven to 180℃. Grease and line an 8'' x 8'' pan with baking parchment.

Whisk together the eggs, oil and normal sugar until relatively smooth (sugar will still be grainy). Add Kahlua/coffee, vanilla, and instant coffee/espresso powder (if using).

Separately, sift or whisk together the flour, powder sugar, salt and cocoa. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until homogeneous with a large spoon. Add nuts and/or chocolate.

Pour into pan and spread evenly, and bake for 45-55 minutes. Remove and let cool at least an hour before removing from the pan and cutting.

Vanillekipferl

Kipferl in the foreground, walnut cookies in the back.

There are a lot of names for this cookie, and a lot of variations- some use eggs and some don't, some use almonds and some hazelnuts, some are rolled in powder sugar and some just lightly dusted. Though they are well-known in the Christmas baking repertoires of many nations, I know them as Haselnusskipferl because as far as my Mum is concerned, they've got to be made with hazelnuts.

To make them extra special and Christmas-worthy, use really good hazelnuts or hazelnut flour, good butter, and real vanilla extract or naturally-flavoured sugar. Don't skimp out! These are supposed to be a highlight of the holidays, after all. The other cookies in the pictures above, made with walnuts, will also be posted- at least, in time for next Christmas...

Haselnusskipferl
From chefkoch.de

560 g. All purpose flour
200 g. Ground hazelnuts (I used hazelnut flour)
2 Tsp. Vanilla extract, or 2 sachets of vanilla sugar
120 g. Sugar
1/2 Tsp. Salt
400 g. Butter, unsalted
About 1/3 C. Powder sugar

Cream butter and sugar, and add vanilla or vanilla sugar. Mix in the ground nuts and sift in the flour. Chill in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut into small pieces (about the size of large olives) and roll into logs, then bend to form crescents and place onto baking parchment.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until slightly browned.

Let cool completely before removing from the baking pan and dusting with powder sugar.