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I know, I know, I've said that a dessert must include chocolate in order to be a real dessert. And I meant it. But with the height of citrus season upon us (at least, for those of us who obsess over making Seville orange marmalade every year - yeah, I'm one of those) I was jonesing for another way to get a good citrus fix. I wanted an orange pie. An orange tart. Something orange-y. With a crust.

Lovely galette just after being brushed with an orange sugar syrup.

I searched and I searched to try and find such a recipe but I couldn't find one anywhere - well, I found a few blood orange tarts with The Google but I wasn't sure that it would be the same, because I've never tasted a blood orange nor cooked with one. I had, however, made marmalade, and understood the basic math behind getting all that rind and pith to an edible state:

peel and pith + water + sugar + heat = tasty peel and pith.

So: what the heck, I winged it. (However, please note: I'm NOT a member of the Canadian Living Test Kitchen and this isn't an official Canadian Living recipe. As you'll be able to tell from all of the asides I put into the directions.)

The result was the Orange Galette above - galette may be a fancy French word but basically translates in my world to roll it out and don't have to fuss with it and looking rough around the edges is the point, not a mistake. That's my kind of pie. It was so fabulous (and so well received by my family) I made it again the following weekend!

NOTE: You can do steps 1 and 2 the day before if you want to speed up the process, then just cool and then refrigerate the entire saucepan overnight. Begin the next day with step 3.

You CAN serve it plain - but trust me, you want the cream.

Orange Galette with Grand Marnier Cream

Ingredients
3-4 oranges, preferably Valencia (thinner skins)
1 cup sugar
1 batch of single-crust pastry
2-3 tsp sugar, for sprinkling
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, for sprinkling
2 tbsp milk

To serve
3/4 cup whipping or heavy cream (35% milk fat)
3 to 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons of Grand Marnier

Directions

1. Wash the outside of the oranges thoroughly and then slice the oranges across the middle of the orange (not end to end) into roughly 1/4"  slices.
2. Place slices into a medium saucepan, and add water until all slices are floating a little. Pour the sugar into the water - try to spread it around so it's not all clumped in one area. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours, until orange slices are very tender.
3. Preheat the oven to 425.
4. Remove slices from liquid and dry briefly on a single layer of paper towels. Turn heat on the liquid-filled saucepan to high - you want a rolling boil. You're going to boil it for 10-30 minutes or until reduced to roughly a third of its original volume. Once the liquid is reduced to one third, take it off heat for a minute or two and then dip a spoon in to test its thickness. It should be syrupy. If not, boil it a little longer. Keep testing every few minutes until you've got something roughly the thickness of maple syrup.
5. Meanwhile, prepare your pastry. Once made, roll it out into a rough oval about 12" in diameter (if you're me, it's kind of a rough oval/trapezoid/square but don't worry, that's the beauty of galettes, they look gorgeous even when they're not perfect!). Transfer pastry to a (preferably cold - I stick mine in the freezer) sheet pan or cookie sheet.
6. Lay a single layer of orange slices into the middle of the pastry - 6 to 8 slices. You're kind of defining here the "outside edge" of your finished pie. Brush each orange piece thickly with the reduced orange/water syrup. Sprinkle a little sugar over each slice and top the layer with just a shake or two of ground nutmeg.
7. Repeat step 6 with the remaining orange slices, overlapping where you can, until you've completed about three or four layers.
8. The fun part! Bring the rough raggedy edges of your rolled pastry up and over the oranges, folding or overlapping a little here and there where needed so it all stays put. See? No need to pretty up the sides! Brush the pastry with a little milk to help it to do nice and lovely things.
9. Bake for 13 minutes at 425 and then reduce to 350 and bake another 20-30 minutes - or until golden and lovely.
10. Allow the pie to sit for 5 minutes and then brush the entire top - oranges, pastry and all - with more of the reduced orange/water syrup. It will get shiny and lovely. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
11. To serve: mix whipping cream, powdered sugar and Grand Marnier together in a bowl until soft peaks form. (Trust me, this last step REALLY makes it worthwhile.)

Makes 6 servings.

Last week, I told you all about my new favourite cookie cookbook, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich.

When it came time to decide what recipe to try, it really wasn't much of a stretch. As I've mentioned before, I'm all about chocolate. Can't imagine a dessert without it. Yes, I know that's heresy to the lemon bar/ginger cookie lovers out there but hey, I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

Photo by Angie McKaig

The recipe I decided to give a whirl was Robert's Brownies My Way - a recipe that tastes much sexier than it sounds. The reason? You have to know the back story:

Robert is not just Medrich's neighbour or plumber, he's the late Robert Steinberg, co-founder of Scharffen Berger Chocolate (one of my all time favorite chocolates - yeah, I'm one of those crazy nuts who have favourite chocolate companies like some people have favourite wineries, except mine taste better AND simulate the feeling of being in love, and what's better than that?).

So, a brownie recipe modified by one of my favorite cookbook authors from a man who co-founded some of the best chocolate, like, ever? I'm there. Let me get my stretchy pants.

The verdict:  Fudgy, dark, chocolatey and rich without being too sweet. Absolutely best when eaten within the first two hours after coming out of the oven, while still warm and gooey. After cooling, they do get a little crunchier - like a thick fudgy cookie with a crackly top.  Also, definitely follow the recipe's suggestion to put two strips of foil across the bottom - it really did make removing the brownies a snap and: cleanup? What cleanup?

(Yes, I licked the bowl clean. What's the point of making brownies otherwise?)

Don't just take my word for it, though - try it yourself (and then, seriously, buy the book).

Robert's Brownies My Way
excerpted from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Ingredients

6 tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate (at least 70% cacao)
1 scant cup (6.5 oz) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
2 large eggs, cold
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp (1.75 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup (3.5 ounces) walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Equipment

An 8 inch square pan, the bottom and sides lined with foil

Directions

Preheat  the oven  to 350 degrees F. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven

Melt the butter with the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set directly in wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth and fairly hot to the touch. Remove the bowl from the water. Stir in the sugar, salt, and vanilla, if using. Add 1 egg, stirring until it is incorporated. Repeat with the second egg. Stir in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon or spatula until the batter is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the pan; it is critical that the batter pull itself together, so don't stop mixing until it does. Stir in the nuts, if using. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Spread the batter evenly but with lots of raised swirls and ridges - these look great and get slightly crusty in the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, not totally gooey.

Cool on a rack. Lift the foil ends to transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares. May be kept in an airtight container for 2 or 3 days.

My stretchy pants will assure you that no such airtight container is necessary! These brownies are definitely on my list of go-to chocolate desserts to make for when I'm suffering from a craving.

What's your favourite chocolate dessert? If you had to choose, that is. Or is it just me with a huge list of favourites?

[Warning: hard core foodie crush ahead.]

Yes, it's true - I have a huge foodie crush on Alice Medrich.  The woman is credited with bringing dark chocolate truffles to North America (see her book Bittersweet for the deets); how could I not love her? When I heard about her latest book - Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies - I knew I would fall in love.

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

To me, dessert has always meant a healthy helping of chocolate. Luckily, Medrich feels the same way: there are a ton of fabulous cookies recipes in this book that feature chocolate. Think Cocoa Tuiles, Bittersweet Orange Decadence Cookies, and more than a half dozen brownie recipes. However, the book will keep the non-chocolate lovers more than happy with buttery, nutty, airy options that have no chocolate.

You'll find the classics here, of course. Biscotti, lace cookies, Florentines, macaroons, linzer bars and meringues, but also unique twists (Sticky Pecan Bites, which I HAVE to try - think of wee little sticky buns, cookie-sized) and international inspirations like Meneinas, made with orange blossom water and tangerine zest. Literally, there are dozens of recipes guaranteed to make your mouth water and your New Year's resolutions waver.

But wait!

You'll also find a fabulous selection of cookies to appeal to your health-loving side. Yes, I said healthier cookies. One of Medrich's signature elements in her cookbooks is the references she provides, and this book doesn't disappoint - particularly useful is the Smart Search page (pg. 365 in the book) which provides lists of cookies from the book which are Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Cookies with Whole Grains,  and even a list of recipes which you can eat for 2 points or less on the Weight Watchers diet.

See? You can have cookies and stick to that New Year's resolution.

If there's one thing that might make the less experienced baker pause before buying, it would be the lack of photos provided. While there are some truly gorgeous photographs, I'd say that less than 10% of the recipes have photos available. I can tell you from experience, however, that her recipes are so well tested and described that I had little trouble making anything from this book.

If I had to choose only ONE cookie cookbook to keep on my shelves (not that I could ever imagine being able to do so), Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy would be It. Hands down.

Stay tuned 'til next week, when I'll be posting pictures and a recipe from this book!

Like most folks, I struggle with getting enough fruits and veggies during the day. Most vegetable dishes on our table end up being either salads or roasted vegetables of some kind - save for the occasional all-veg, no-meat weekend I impose on my family just to assuage my guilt.

When the folks from Chronicle sent me a copy of Susie Middleton's new Fast, Fresh & Green - More Than 90 Delicious Recipes For Veggie Lovers, I could feel the guilt setting in again. I'm SO bad at remembering to try new side dish/vegetable recipes from my cookbooks. It's the meat and eggs and cheese and baked goods that invariably catch my attention.

Fast, Fresh & Green by Susie Middleton

I'm really not gushing when I say that this book really got me jazzed about cooking vegetables again and out of the roast-everything-with-olive-oil-salt-and-pepper rut that I'd been stuck in.

It's all about adding the sexy to veggies, and the cookbook concentrates on a few simple techniques (quick roasting, quick braising and hands-on sauteeing, for example) and then punching them up with a mixture of flavors (both from the veg themselves as well as condiments, aromatics, herbs and other addons) that will help you add the zing to your zucchini (I can't believe I just wrote that).

Mouthwatering recipes (that come together in very little time for the most part) include:

1. Quick-Roasted Cauliflower with Zesty Orange-Olive Dressing
2. Roasted Turnips and Pears with Rosemary-Honey Drizzle
3. Cider-Braised Baby Bok Choy and Golden Apples
4. Sauteed Savoy Cabbage with Apple Cider Butter
5. Crushed Red Potatoes with Scallions, Pancetta and Sour Cream*

* Yes, there are bits of meat in the book, as garnish or flavor enhancers to the vegetables. This isn't a strictly vegetarian/vegan book but an accessible vegetable book for all of us.

The recipes themselves are simple to follow - yes, there are occasionally 5+ ingredients but usually only 2-4 steps to follow. Susie has a great eye for suggesting complementary flavors, ingredients and methods and frankly, even those of you who, like me, struggle to get their vegetable intake will find themselves drooling over these recipes.

My favourite part of this cookbook was the fabulous explanations - both in the recipes and in the chapter headers that explain the cooking techniques. If you're a less experienced cook, there's plenty of hand holding and most of the recipes have photos. If you're more experienced in the kitchen, there are helpful suggestions on variations to try and inspiration aplenty.

Want to know more about Fast, Fresh & Green? There's a Facebook page for that.

I have this thing for old cookbooks; partly it's the smell. Partly it's the archaeology of finding the most chocolate-or-butter-smeared page in the book (that's where ALL the best recipes are found). But mostly it's for the cooking inspiration and history lesson I get, all in one fell swoop.

I've found two of the best places in the world to pick up fabulous old cookbooks are church flea markets and college/university book sales. The first, because that's where you'll find the real homey treasures that women have shared between themselves for generations. And the second, because that's where so many folks end up donating their piles of books when dear Aunt Esther passes away.

A local university here (Toronto) puts on a huge sale every November, and it's literally one of the highlights of my year (I'm such a cookbook geek!). Here's my haul from this year:

1. The Home Cook Book by Ladies Of Toronto *
2. Breakfast cookbook: Favorite recipes from America's bed & breakfast inns by Phyllis Winters
3. Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book by Marie Goebel Kimball (1949 edition)
4. Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover's Tour of Canadian Farms by Margaret Webb *
5. More Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler *
6. The Encyclopedia of Homemade Preserves by Myra Street
7. The White House Family Cookbook by Henry Haller
8. Notes from a Country Kitchen: A Back-To-homemade Cookbook by Jocasta Innes *

* Canadian books

The Home Cook Book is particularly exciting for me because of its age and history. This is actually a 2002 reprint - the original was published in 1877. It's got a fabulous range of dishes as well as dinner etiquette and other social notes that, for me, really make it fun to read. It's like stepping back in time to find out what women just like me had to deal with every day. It's daunting but fascinating.

More Food That Really Schmecks, written by Edna Staebler, was a must-by for me this year when I saw it in the stacks. I found her first book, appropriately enough titled Food That Really Schmecks, at last year's sale and it was my first real foray into this wonderful collection of Mennonite dishes and simple country home cooking recipes.

Finally, Notes from a Country Kitchen is an awesome collection of back-to-homemade cooking. It shows you how to corn your own beef, make your own cheese and yogurt, and other from-the-farm skills that we've moved away from over the years. It's also from a Canadian author and is so timely right now it hurts.

Is it just me, with this love of older cookbooks? Would you rather a brand new cookbook or one that's been used, read, and spattered up a bit in the kitchen?

If there's one thing my husband loves, it's barbecue. (I think it's from watching a few too many Diners, Drive ins & Dives.) If it's meat, and it's cooked on a grill, he's in. Don't even have to ask.

Ribs, Chops, Steaks & Wings by Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe

Chronicle Books kindly sent me along a copy of Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe's newest book: Ribs, Chops, Steaks & Wings - Irresistible Recipes from the Grill, Stovetop and Oven. Needless to say, my husband was happy to help me try out a recipe from the book.

First, the rub. We chose Rib Rub #99 (there aren't really 98 other rib rub recipes in the book, so I'm not sure where the #99 came from). Here are the ingredients, just waiting to get all rubby with it:

Once we combined the ingredients, it's time to massage all that yummy flavour into the meat (in this case, pork loin baby back ribs):

Then it was time for the barbecue! The recipe/cooking method we chose was for the Memphis Dry-Rubbed Back Ribs. We decided to use hickory chips, wet and wrapped in a foil packet since the recipe called for smoking with apple or cherry wood (we had neither - necessity is the mother of invention). The whole kit and kaboodle went into a 300 degree F BBQ for two hours and then got cranked up at the end to 400 F get a nice crust on the whole thing. Looked yummy enough to eat:

Which we did, with great gusto and enjoyment. And what was the final verdict?

Definitely a recipe to do again - the dry rub was fantastic and the ribs were incredibly tender after the long slow go in the barbecue. However, we really should have used a proper oven thermometer to help regulate the temperature inside the barbecue - something we'll be sure to do the next time.

This slim volume of barbecue recipes (just 132 pages and 48 recipes) is a great way to get your toes wet in the world of grilling meats. It's got fabulous photos of each recipe, great background and instructions without being too complex or intimidating.

Of course, it may make you want to cook more meat. But hey, there's always the treadmill, right?

For more about Dr. BBQ himself, check out his official web site.