The baby boy asked for a special treat

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butter, chives, French bread, postaday2013, salmon, writing

Today being Friday, it was weight class day and the ladies were in rare form. I don’t know what put those bees in their bonnets but they were a swarming, the ladies were lashing out about corrupt politicians, cheating politicians, ineffectual politicians and so on. I kept my mouth zipped tight, I just led the class with our exercises and hoped for a change in the subject. I believe in letting them blow off their steam because perhaps they can’t do it at home. I was happy when it was over because I had food shopping to do once I dropped my friend off at her home. But first I headed home to get my list and take Jack for his walk, also eat something before I hit the supermarket, the worst thing that you can do to yourself and to your wallet is to go food shopping when you are really hungry.

The baby boy asked for rillettes de saumon, in English it would be a salmon spread. Rillettes is usually associated with meat and the meat is cooked in its own fat, diced until it is a homogeneous mixture, like a pate and spread on a good French bread. The basic idea to rillette lends itself this recipe where the salmon is blended with a fat after it is cooked by poaching and smoking, in this case it’s butter and both salmons are cooked in different ways but it all works well together and it is one of the baby boy’s favorite things to eat. Throw in a little salt and pepper with a nice amount of chives and lemon juice to give it a little zing and you have a wonderful hors d’oeuvres or canape. I think that when the baby boy comes home from work, he will be happy.

Kitchen Aid: a baker’s best friend

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baking, butter, hazelnut sablee cookies, Kitchen Aid, postaday2013, shortbread

My Kitchen Aid standup mixer is one of my best friend’s in the kitchen. If I ever need to make cookies and I’m not feeling energetic, I never worry because the Kitchen Aid does all of the work. Any great cookie requires creamed butter and in the past, I would work up a sweat beating the butter with a spoon and then a whisk, now I stand back and let the Kitchen Aid do its magic. I have had my Kitchen Aid for at least twenty years and I wouldn’t give it up for anything else on the market. I make my pizza dough with it, I make my pastry creams with it, I grind meat for pates with it, it is one of the most versatile tools you can have in the kitchen.

Two weeks ago I had promised my friend at the Historical Society a batch of hazelnut shortbread cookies or as they are called in French, sablees aux noisettes, for tomorrow evening. She is presenting a program describing the history of Blandford’s Scottish Festival. So even though I still felt a little tired, the cookie dough was so easy to make because all the ingredients got beaten together with the Kitchen Aid, all I needed to do was scoop it out onto plastic wrap and roll it into a log and put it into the refrigerator to set up for tomorrow morning, when I will cut the log into slices and bake them in the oven at 325 F.

I hope that they will be a hit with the Historical Society crowd. I don’t see why not, whenever you have butter and sugar together, you are going to get something yummy.

Baking and the raw ingredients

Tags

brown sugar, butter, cookies, postaday2012, praline

I am baking cookies for the Blandford Historical Society tonight, to be ready for tomorrow’s special musical program being held at Blandford’s historical White Church. We are having a bake sale during intermission to generate funds for the upkeep of the White Church. I had homemade praline, which in essence is candied hazelnuts and or almonds,in the refrigerator, so I decided to put them to use use and find a recipe incorporating the praline in some sort of cookie. I found one, the beauty and ease of Google! The recipe, I would say, is your standard sugar cookie with the bonus of praline as a surprise flavor. While I was putting the recipe together; creaming the butter first and then beating in the brown sugar and the vanilla sugar, followed by two eggs and a dash of vanilla, I was scraping down the sides of the bowl. My fingers, of course came in contact with the raw ingredients and thereby in contact with my mouth as I was licking my fingers. What is it about butter, sugar and even raw egg, so yummy and once you stir in the flour, forget about it. I confess that if these cookies weren’t slated for a good cause such as potential donation money for the White Church, I’d have been very happy with eating more of the cookie batter. As I have gotten older, I have become more disciplined in resisting the call of cake and cookie batter. Why does it always taste better raw? My mother and her friend Chantal used to try and scare me when I was little by telling me that eating raw cookie dough was dangerous because the raw flour would expand in my stomach and potentially explode. That wasn’t enough of a deterrent, the taste was just too good. I have eaten myself sick with raw cookie dough and I haven’t exploded, just overdosed on too much sugar, a very unpleasant feeling. The ill feeling has been enough to stop me from overindulging like I have done in the past. I have turned my sights to the kinder, gentler chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Update on the cookies, I haven’t burnt a single one! I actually stayed on top of the baking times and they came out with the appropriate golden color, I’m excited about bringing them to the musical program tomorrow evening, even if they aren’t a hit, I did my best making them.