Whether it's served for brunch, dinner or as a bite-size appetizer, quiche is always a crowd-pleaser. This classic version, also called Quiche Lorraine, has a deliciously creamy egg custard filling.
First Prize in Rolled Cookie Category
Catherine Laframboise of Toronto loves the flavours of maple and walnut together and says they are even better dressed up in this recipe with buttercream and praline. If you can't find maple sugar, substitute 1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar and 1 tsp (5 mL) maple extract.
The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto has a renowned kosher kitchen that caters everything from weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs to conventions and dinners for hundreds of guests. Executive pastry chef Sitram Sharma shares this layered chocolate cake made especially for Passover with potato flour. "Chocolate is the No. 1 dessert, a very popular item on the kosher menu," he says. Garnish with red currants, red or golden raspberries, quartered strawberries or cape gooseberries.
Chunks of chocolate cake doused in hazelnut liqueur and layered with dollops of chocolate-hazelnut pastry cream make a spectacular dessert. Gold leaf, which adds a touch of elegance, can be found in many baking supply stores.
The Douro region is well known for bola, an olive-oil-based pastry filled with onions and ham, meat or salt cod, and served as an hors d'oeuvre. Presunto, Portuguese cured ham, is most similar to Spain's serrano ham. If you can't find either, use a dry-cured or smoked ham. The dough is oily and soft but quite easy to handle.
These rustic individual pies can be made with a choice of berries, depending on what is available. Use the ripest local produce you can find for the best results. Cornmeal gives the crust its crispness, which is best the same day it's cooked.
Many tourtières have a medley of meats, often including game. Our version with pork, chicken and veal is milder flavoured but still rich and delicious.
On Thanksgiving weekend The Village at Blue Mountain, Ont., fills with the fragrance of freshly baked apple pies. For this Quintessential Apple Pie Contest, bakers from this apple-growing region that rings Georgian Bay carry their pies – double crust, single crust, lattice top, streusel and more – to the judging tables. Baking enthusiast Brenda Hall of Collingwood, Ont., took first prize with this pie, which she called “Grandma Thompson's,” a classic double-crust pie that's not too sweet but full and juicy with freshly harvested local McIntosh apples. For a fall pie, re-roll the pastry scraps and cut out maple leaves to arrange over the top crust.
Saffron adds a subtle accent to this deep-dish pie with its luxurious mix of seafood. Expect raves! You can replace the lobster with 12 oz (375 g) bay scallops; just simmer in cooking liquid until opaque, about 3 minutes.
Lattice tops look complicated and time-consuming to assemble. But with our easy-to-follow steps, even a beginner baker will be weaving like a pro.
