Orange Rosemary Pecan Zucchini Bread

August 25, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 4 Comments

Unlike most gardens at this time of year, my garden is NOT overflowing with zucchini. All summer I’ve had two zucchini plants busily putting out flowers, but zucchini have both male and female flowers which need to be cross-pollinated in order for the little baby squash at the base of the female flower to grow, and my plants just couldn’t seem to coordinate their schedules to have both kinds of flower blooming at the same time. My potential zukes never got past this stage before shriveling up and dying (very depressing). And now the plants are succumbing to dusty mildew, so my homegrown zucchini dreams are over for this summer. Sadness.

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Mini Vanilla-Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake

May 12, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

Creamsicle Cheesecake | Korena in the Kitchen

This year for his birthday, Nate requested a creamsicle cheesecake. I’ll admit that the creamsicle combination of creamy vanilla ice cream with orange isn’t usually my first choice – especially when there is creamy vanilla ice cream with chocolate to be had instead – but since it was his birthday, I acquiesced. Compared to the chocolate caramel bacon insanity cake from his birthday a few years ago, it was a relatively simple request.

Creamsicle Cheesecake | Korena in the Kitchen

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Samuel Adams Winter Lager Roasted Chicken with Orange, Fennel, and Chili

March 13, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 10 Comments

Nothing says comfort food like roast chicken, and although we are finally crawling out of the depths of winter (it felt like this one lasted forever), comfort is still what I’m after. I’ve seen lots of recipes for roast chicken with wine, but I’m more of a beer girl myself so I wanted to experiment with a beer roasted chicken (similar to beer-can chicken, but classier!).

One good thing about winter is the variety of seasonal brews available, often with a slightly spicy character. I used Samuel Adams Winter Lager, which is a hoppy, bock-style beer with notes of orange, cinnamon, and ginger, although any slightly hoppy beer with citrus flavours could be used. (Samuel Adams is available in Canada at the LCBO or The Beer Store in Ontario, BCLDB in British Columbia or Liquor Depot in Alberta. I only wish I’d been able to find this Samuel Adams beer!). To compliment the beer, I smeared a flavoured butter of orange zest, fennel seeds, and chili flakes under the the skin of the chicken, stuffed the cavity with orange and a clove of garlic, and basted it with beer while it roasted. The pan juices, full of flavoured butter and slightly reduced caramelized beer, were turned into a delicious, drunken gravy with a little extra beer and a squeeze of orange juice.

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Christmas Baking 2013: Chocolate Cardamom Orange Ribbon Cookies

December 30, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 4 Comments

Every year I spend several hours composing a list of the Christmas cookies I will bake, and inevitably once it’s “complete”, I come across a new recipe that I have to try, and the list gets edited once again. This was one such recipe. I love the orange chocolate combination as well as the chocolate cardamom combination, and these cookies contain both. Plus they are quite pretty with their stripes of different coloured dough. The flavours are subtle, but they have a great crisp texture and as I mentioned, they look really great. Definitely a welcome addition to this year’s Christmas cookie tins.

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Daring Bakers: Sfogliatelle Ricci and Lobster Tail Pastries

November 27, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 38 Comments

Sfogliatelle Ricci and Lobster Tail Pastries | Korena in the Kitchen

Sandie of the lovely blog, Crumbs of Love, was our November Daring Bakers hostess. Sandie challenged us to make a traditional Italian dessert, along with its American version – Sfogliatelle (or better known in the US – lobster tails!) The flakey, 1000 layers of super thin dough, shaped into a horn and filled with a scrumptious filling. Così buono!

Being that this is the month we said goodbye to Lis, the Queen of All Daring Bakers, it is fitting that this month’s challenge was a doozy, something that probably none of us had ever made before and some of us (myself included) had never even heard of. Sfogliatelle? Lobster tails? Turns out we’re not talking about the back end of a crustacean, but a flaky layered pastry stuffed with a delicious filling.

Sfogliatelle Ricci | Korena in the Kitchen

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Whole Grain Triticale Waffles with Pomegranate and Orange

November 17, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 9 Comments

After a successful first milling experience with my WonderMill grain mill, I went on a bit of a whole grain shopping spree at the local bulk health food store and came home with bags of hard white wheat berries (for bread), soft white wheat berries (for pastries), and some triticale berries (for experimenting). Triticale (pronounced trit-uh-KAY-lee) is a cross between rye and wheat and apparently can be used mostly interchangeably for either of those two grains, however because it’s part rye, it does contain less gluten than wheat. Here you can see the difference in appearance between triticale (left) and hard white wheat (right) – if I’d had some rye berries, you would see that triticale falls right in the middle of wheat and rye:

I’ve only ever used triticale in its flaked form (like rolled oats) to make granola, so I wanted to branch out a bit. I decided to stick to breakfast and make some waffles. This is a twist on my favorite 100% whole wheat waffle recipe, which always comes out light and fluffy and crisp. My favorite trick is to stack any leftovers between waxed paper and freeze them, then chuck them in the toaster for a decent breakfast on rushed mornings. Best toaster waffles ever, let me tell you!

I used a mix of triticale and whole wheat flours because 100% triticale waffles would be too crumbly. If you can’t find triticale, feel free to use all whole wheat flour, or perhaps a little bit of rye. I was inspired to do something with pomegranate after seeing the miraculous de-seeding technique in this video (seriously, it’s miraculous, especially if you’ve ever gone to the trouble of digging the arils, one by one, out of a juicy red pomegranate), so I added some to the batter along with some orange zest, which I thought would pair well with the stronger, nuttier flavour of triticale.

These waffles are deliciously nutty from the triticale, substantial but still remarkably fluffy for 100% whole grain, and the orange and pomegranate give them a nice tart sweetness. Topped with fresh pomegranate arils, some orange segments, and just a bit of maple syrup, they are delicious! Head over to the Grain Mill Wagon Challenge blog for the full recipe. 🙂

Cranberry Orange White Chocolate {Sourdough} Loaf

October 21, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 40 Comments

I have become recently obsessed with The Great British Bake Off. As in, I spent most of Sunday watching episodes on the internet and searching through my cookbooks for the recipes that I would make if I was on the show. I know, get a hobby, right? (Wait, this is my hobby…) In the words of one Season 3 contestant whenever things got heated, oh my giddy aunt! I just love it – great baking combined with the typical British stiff upper lip and self-deprecating attitude, which is such a refreshing difference from the ridiculously ego-driven and sob-story-laden world of North American “reality” TV.

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Sugar & Spice Almond Danish Crescents

September 23, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 11 Comments

I’ve been holding out on you. I made these danishes back in full summer, but with their warm notes of spice and orange, they seemed too cozy and autumnal to share just then. But now, since yesterday was the Fall Equinox and Nate has already had to go up on the roof to clear off the maple leaves (that’s why it’s called “fall”, right?), it’s danish time!

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White Chocolate Orange Thinsees

March 23, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

When I was growing up, my Mum and I baked a lot of cookies together, and one of my favorites was the Chocolate Thinsees from a cookbook called Golde’s Homemade Cookies. These were a dark chocolate cookie made of a soft batter and topped with chopped nuts, and during baking they spread out thin and became satisfyingly chewy, yet soft, with a texture almost more like cake than cookie. Sounds odd, but I loved them and as soon as I was old enough to use the oven by myself, I made them all the time – they were totally addictive.

A few weeks ago I had some mandarin oranges languishing in my fruit bowl, and I decided that orange-flavoured cookies would be the best way to use them up. I pulled out my copy of Golde’s cookbook, and came across the Chocolate Thinsees recipe. Chocolate and orange is a tried and true combination, but I didn’t have any of the semi-sweet chocolate that the recipe called for. I did, however, have some white chocolate, so I decided to make White Chocolate Orange Thinsees and top them with Brazil nuts. It was a good call.

These thin, crisp cookies are sort of like French tuiles, but with a chewier texture. They weren’t quite as cake-like as I remember, but they were just as addictive – they barely lasted a whole day, and by the time the last batch came out of the oven, I had already eaten so many that I have no idea how many I actually made. Golde suggests that these make a great tea cookie. I suggest that you make them immediately and just try to stop yourself from eating them by the handful!

White Chocolate Orange Thinsees

Adapted from Golde’s Homemade Cookies by Golde Hoffman Soloway

Preheat oven to 300˚F.

In the microwave or over a double boiler, melt:

2 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped

Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, cream together:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp orange zest

When light and fluffy, stir in the melted white chocolate, then add:

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix until well blended, then stir in:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

dash salt

Mix well. The batter will be quite soft.

Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. The cookies will spread a lot in the oven, so leave a few inches of room between them – I found six per sheet to be plenty. Sprinkle the cookies with chopped nuts (about 3/4 cup total) – I used Brazil nuts.

Bake in the 300˚F oven for 15-18 minutes, until light brown at the edges and set in the middle. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack with a thin spatula. If they have all run into each other to form one giant cookie, cut them apart with a sharp knife before removing them from the baking sheet.

I dare you not to eat them all in one day!

PS – It was brought to my attention that I’ve been nominated for the “Kreativ Blogger Award” by Sibella of Baking with Sibella. Thank you Sibella, I’m very flattered! However rather than listing seven things about myself and nominating seven other blogs, I would encourage you to visit Sibella’s lovely blog and check out her gorgeous baking – I’m especially taken with her Non Plus Ultra cookies.