Kids at home, toboganned out, shovelled out, only enough brawn to lift their hands to their mouths—time to cook!

I don’t think Christine and The Foodie-file has any worries here, although I will point out that these treats HAVE NOT BEEN TRIPLE-TESTED THE CANADIAN LIVING KITCHENS, or in any kitchen but my own. The recipe was handed down by parents of cancer kids who spent many, many overnights at the hospital, and whose minds wandered beyond the lovely dessert treats on their children’s meal trays. So, the

Buckeye was traded back and forth, because you can get Oreo packs, a chocolate bar and Philly cream cheese in any hospital. All you need is something to crush the Oreos (a bag and a can or bottle) and melt the chocolate (microwave in the staff or parent kitchen). So thank you Nancy V., for the recipe.

Off Topic–Backgrounder
(I have to say: Nancy V. is the proud mum of Matthew, who has the same cancer as my son did, but Matthew has relapsed twice. He is in fighting mode now, 47 days and counting after his bone marrow transplant. Nancy is a super-amazing-mega-mum I am proud to say I know. She keeps a blog of sorts, a CaringBridge site, that you can visit, read how Matthew is doing, and just say hi to them. Every message is a little more support in his 8-year cancer battle.)
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Here is my attempt at the Danish cake from my previous post. I had to take two tries at it to get it as good as the version I had. The first one was a bit too cakey, not quite as cookie like as the original version - but edible none-the-less! I tweaked it and the second version is spot on. (more…)

I was at a tree trimming party on Saturday afternoon and my friend Debbie brought a butter pastry that was divine. We all voted it best treat on the Christmas cookie platter. She said she got the recipe from someone at her work that always brings it to group meetings.

I don’t have the recipe but I have been hunting around and I think it is a Danish recipe for shortbread called Sankager, or maybe it is Norwegian, both seem to make something similar. It is baked in a 9” pan and had almonds sprinkled over the top. It tasted very buttery with a hint of almond. (more…)

As chef and owner of a catering and event planning business for the past seven years of my life, the Christmas season meant, nose to the grindstone, 20 hour work days, fall off the map till after the holidays, lifestyle. Not exactly the healthiest way to live but necessary since almost half of our profits were driven by holiday revenues.

This December 1st, I found myself pulling out some Christmas music, pouring myself a glass of wine and spending a Saturday afternoon baking Christmas cookies, not thousands at a time – just a few dozen to share with friends and family. How civilized… (more…)

Finally I did something on the weekend other than cook and clean and run kids all over the city (all of which I still did, of course). I went to my first-ever cookie exchange. Yes, I had read about them in Canadian Living magazine, and I’m sure there must have been one in the hundreds of Martha’s mags that I have in the basement, but I’d never attended one. And it’s not for lack of baking. We have been baking and decorating “fancy” cookies since my daughter was three and I wanted to come up with a type of cookie she could really participate in. Those pictures of toddlers with flour all over their heads, faces, hair, arms and fronts may be cute but they made me cringe. I did not, and do not, like the thought of little kids hands, no matter how scrubbed, anywhere near something that might be ingested by anyone but themselves. Do I sound a little freaky?!?

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In the test kitchen we are always being sent products to give a whirl, see what we think and inspire ideas. This week Shasha Bread Company dropped off a couple of loaves of bread (the Athletes Multigrain is a new product) and a stash of their ginger snaps.

I sincerely hope all of you have tried ShaSha’s ginger snaps - they should be listed up there with back-bacon and butter tarts as a Canadian culinary gem. (more…)