earl grey chestnut basque chesecake

Usually I think of pairing earl grey with bright fruity flavours (citrus! raspberry! rhubarb!), but in this basque-style cheesecake, I went the complete opposite with chestnut. It’s a combo that came to me on a whim, but I really enjoyed it!

The first time I made this cake, I felt doubtful that the earl grey would come through. But it does, thanks to a lot of earl grey and a long infusion of the cream. With about half of the cream cheese subbed for chestnut puree, the chestnut does not get lost either. Using homemade chestnut puree does result in a less creamy consistency – the cheesecake will be soft, but firm, and not the soft silkiness of just cream cheese; but for me, I think it’s an adequate tradeoff for all the chestnut flavour!

For this cheesecake, I’ve lined the bottom and sides of a cake tin separately with parchment paper as it gives smoother and darker – but also sort of overbaked – edges compared to the usual parchment paper crumple, but either works. I do love the informality of the crumpled parchment, and it helps insulate the edges from overbaking!

I also use a different baking protocol than most recipes, which I’ve found necessary to get a nice darkened top and soft centre for a smaller and lower sugar basque cheesecake. I’ve found the cake should bake for about 30 minutes total (at least in my oven) for a soft centre, but with the last few minutes spent under the broiler. I also make sure to bake the cake on the middle rack, not lower third (standard for most baked goods) for more top browning. But of course as ovens vary, pay attention to how your cake is looking and adjust the process as needed.

Every time I’ve baked this cheesecake I’ve gotten cracks on top – I think it may be because pureeing the chestnuts introduces quite a bit of air that’s hard to get rid of (you may be able to avoid this by substituting about 250g commercial chestnut puree?). However, I don’t mind – this is already a pretty rustic cheesecake, and the cracks may be just more character?! Just be warned that they’ll likely appear!

earl grey chestnut basque cheesecake

• Servings: one 7-inch cake
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A cheesecake with a surprising amount of chestnut and earl grey flavour. A note on the texture: because this cake is half chestnut puree, it’s soft, but firm, and not silky, with a more classic baked cheesecake texture.

equipment: one 7 to 7 1/2″ round cake tin at least 2″ tall

infused cream

• 300g heavy cream
• 12g loose leaf earl grey tea

chestnut puree

• 200g cooked peeled chestnuts (most convenient is to use the ones that come in foil packets)

cheesecake

• 300g block cream cheese
• 10g cornstarch
• 150g sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3 large eggs

To infuse the cream, combine the cream and tea in a container and place it in the fridge overnight or for up to 48h for a cold infusion. Pass through a sieve and press to extract as much cream as possible from the leaves. Measure the resultant cream and top up with additional cream to 250g.

For the chestnut puree, place the chestnuts in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer, cover and let simmer away for 15 minutes or until chestnuts are soft when pierced with a fork. Scoop out into the bowl of a food processor along with about 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Puree, scraping down the sides as needed, until a smooth paste is formed, adding more water if necessary.

For the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 480F with a rack set in the middle of the oven (while the usual standard for baking is lower third, in this case the middle rack will help the cheesecake brown much better). There are a couple ways to prepare the cake tin. The classic method is to line bottom and sides with a single square of parchment paper (embrace the crinkles!) just by pushing it into the tin. Or what I’ve done for this cheesecake for a rounder appearance (though the edges do get overbaked…): butter a 7 1/2″ to 7″ round cake tin (at least 2″ tall). Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper and the sides with a collar of parchment paper. Optionally, to help you pull out the cheesecake you can put two strips of parchment paper at right angles under the round of paper so that the ends stick out (a technique from here), but this is a pretty hardy cheesecake which is fine to invert out of the pan.

In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese until smooth to get rid of any lumps. Then add the chestnut puree, and mix until smooth. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add the cornstarch mixture to the cream cheese and combine. Beat the eggs in another small bowl until smooth, and add, a bit at a time, to the cream cheese mixture. Place the 250g infused cream in a microwave safe measuring cup or dish and heat until it begins to bubble. Stir into the batter (the hot cream helps any bubbles come out).

At this point you can pass the batter through a strainer to remove any chestnut bits (optional – it does make the cheesecake slightly smoother). Transfer the batter to the prepared tin and rap on the counter to pop large bubbles.

Bake the cheesecake for about 30 minutes total, or until it is set around the edges but wobbly in the middle when shaken. Check the cheesecake at the 26 minutes point to how the top is browning. If it is not getting quite dark, turn on the broiler. In my oven, this cake needs about 3-4 minutes under the broiler while on the middle rack to achieve a nice darkened surface. Watch the cake and rotate occasionally to get even browning. Once it is browned, take it out.

On the other hand, if the cake has blackened before the 30 minute point, turn off the broiler (return to fan or normal bake at 480F) and place some foil overtop of the cake. Once the full bake time has been reached and the cake is set on the edge, but nice and jiggly in the middle, remove from the oven.

I prefer to let the cake cool and then chill in the fridge completely before removing from the pan and slicing.

drømmekage carrot loaf

While neatly packaged in an unassuming loaf cake form, I consider this a carrot cake deluxe. It has a drømmekage-inspired topping of caramelized coconut, while a cream cheese filling runs through the middle. It’s sort of two icings, one crispy/chewy and the other creamy, in one cake for the best of both in a handy slice you can eat by hand.

Drømmekage is a Danish sponge cake topped with a coconut, butter and sugar mixture that gets broiled until caramelized. It’s a coconut cousin of toscakake/toscakaka, a sponge cake topped with a caramelized almond topping (speaking of, there are two toscakake variants on the blog – a festive cranberry gingerbread number and an apple-packed gateau invisible). Here I’ve borrowed the coconut topping for carrot cake, a departure from the usual drømmekage, but a pairing that works very well.

The filling is a super simple, lightly sweetened cream cheese loosened with a bit of heavy cream to keep it a bit softer and creamier, and reminiscent of a cream cheese icing. I’ve kept the carrot cake itself mildly sweetened to balance the sweetness of the topping, plus it’s made with whole wheat flour for better flavour!

While I’ve enjoyed dolloping drømmekage and toscakake toppings on different sorts of cakes, I’ve found it doesn’t work equally well on everything. The first thing to consider is how level the top of the cake is; if the cake is very domed, the filling can slip from the top of the cake and collect around the edges during baking, and furthermore, is more prone to uneven browning. This carrot cake has minimal doming so the filling can spread in a flat layer overtop of the cake. It’s normal for many cakes to dome as the edges of the cake firm up before the middle, restricting their rise. Obtaining a level cake surface in this case is aided by two things: first, the cream cheese filling results in less height of batter (and thus less rise) in the centre of cake compared to the edges. Secondly, I give the differential batter height a bit of a helping hand by spreading the batter higher on the sides of the cake than the middle.

However, even when you have a flat-topped cake, sometimes the topping has more difficulty staying adhered to baked cake, a problem I’ve had off and on with this carrot cake version. I found that sprinkling the top of the cake with a bit of shredded coconut helps create a more grippy? surface for the caramelized topping.

With the flat top crust, this cake looks best baked in a straight-sided pan, such as the pullman loaf tin I’ve used here, as opposed to a flared loaf tin. I’ve tested this cake in a typical loaf tin as well though: use a 2/3 recipe of the cake and filling, but keep the amount of topping the same (more details are in the recipe notes). This smaller cake bakes up fluffier as the cake isn’t quite as large and weighted down!

• Servings: 1 loaf
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Carrot cake base adapted from Cooks Illustrated carrot cake, drømmekage topping adapted from The Milk Street Cookbook edited by Christopher Kimball. This is a very mildly sweet carrot cake and filling to balance the sweet drommekage topping.

Note: to make this cake in a more standard loaf tin – use a 2/3 recipe of the filling and cake (it’s all multiples of 3 so the math is easy, I promise!), but keep a full recipe of the topping. Bake the cake for closer to 45 minutes.

special equipment: a 9x4x4″ pullman tin. see note above if using a more standard loaf tin

cream cheese filling

• 150g block cream cheese
• 22g granulated sugar
• pinch salt
• squeeze lemon juice
• 15g whipping cream

carrot cake

• 240g whole wheat flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 375g carrots, peeled and finely shredded – use the finer panel on your grater as more thinly grated carrots give the cake a finer texture
• 150g brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 150g oil
• 75g greek yoghurt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• small handful unsweetened shredded coconut

drømmekage topping

• 45g milk
• 75g brown sugar
• 40g butter
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 60g unsweetened shredded coconut

Begin by mixing together the filling. Cream together all ingredients until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag with a ~1.5cm diameter opening. Set aside.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a loaf tin and line with a parchment paper sling.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt and set aside. Whisk the sugar, eggs, oil, yoghurt and vanilla extract together in large bowl. Add the flour and shredded carrots and mix until combined.

Dollop about half the batter into the loaf tin and spread into an even layer. Pipe the cream cheese filling over the batter, leaving a ~1.5cm border without filling to make sure it is encased within the cake. Scrape the remaining batter overtop and spread into an even layer. To help ensure the cake has a relatively flat surface, use a small offset spatula to spread the batter a little bit higher along the edges of the cake pan (the edges set first and don’t get the chance to rise as much as the centre, so this step offsets the resultant doming a bit). Sprinkle with a small handful of shredded coconut.

Bake for about 60-70 minutes or until browned and springy. An inserted skewer should come out clean and free of batter, though there may be some cream cheese on it.

Now prepare the topping. Place the milk, brown sugar, butter and salt in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture a boil and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the shredded coconut. Spoon the mixture over the baked cake and spread into an even layer.

Place the cake back in the oven and turn the broiler on. Broil the topping for 2-5 minutes, rotating every minute or so, until the topping is browned and caramelized. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before sliding a knife around the edges to loosen them and lifting out the cake via the paper sling.

Let the cake cool completely before slicing. I love this cake the same day when the topping has a crisp caramelized crust overlying the chewy coconut! To make it easier to slice through the brittle top crust, use a serrated knife and saw back and forth.

pineapple & fennel seed pineapple bun shortcake

Perhaps you expected this – for if there is a savoury pineapple pineapple bun, surely there should be a sweet pineapple pineapple bun.

Introducing pineapple in a pineapple bun part 2: sweet edition!

I was initially inspired to make a pineapple bun shortcake from a brilliant strawberry shortcake pineapple bun at Pearl River Deli in LA (another example of a faraway restaurant I like to longingly look at the menu of). Analogous to an American-style strawberry shortcake, this version has all the same elements: cream, fruit, and starchy receptacle, with pineapple instead of strawberry, and biscuit swapped out for fluffy pineapple bun instead.

I tried a couple types of filling. A lemongrass-infused cream and minty pineapple was okay, but didn’t quite land right. It was the second go, a fennel seed and brown sugar pineapple, that was my favourite.

These are not easy or tidy to eat, but nor is the usual shortcake anyways – cream squishes out everywhere, it takes a bit of maneuvering to get all the components in one bite. Should you pick it up and bite it? Hack at it with a fork? There are no perfect answers to this question.

And while this was an excuse for me to make pineapple buns, you could of course do this with pineapple buns from a bakery for a quicker dessert!

pineapple & fennel pineapple bun shortcake

• Servings: 4
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Enough to generously stuff 4 pineapple buns.

brown sugar fennel seed pineapple

• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds, finely ground (or to taste, depending on your fennel preferences; feel free to leave out if you don’t like fennel)
• 1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored, sliced 1cm thick, and cut into chunks

assembly

• 180g whipping cream
• sugar, to sweeten cream to taste
• 4 pineapple buns, recipe follows
• mint leaves, chiffonaded, optional
• cilantro leaves, optional

For the brown sugar pineapple, place the butter, brown sugar and ground fennel in a pan over medium-high heat. Cook until it comes to a bubble and the sugar melts into the butter, then add the pineapple and cook for a few minutes more until the juices are reduced and syrupy, and all the pineapple is coated and warmed.

To assemble, whip the cream and add a bit of sugar to sweeten to taste. Cut the pineapple buns in half. Put a generous dollop on cream on the bottom, spoon over some warm pineapple with juices, and scattered with some chopped mint and cilantro, if using. Eat right away.

While I like the aesthetic of cream-then-pineapple, pineapple-then-cream is a bit tidier to eat I think. Up to you!

pineapple buns (makes 6)

Six pineapple buns so there are a couple extra to eat as is. Pineapple topping adapted from mthmchris and bun dough adapted from Christine’s Recipes.

pineapple bun topping

• 50g butter
• 50g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 10g egg
• 75g all-purpose flour

tangzhong

• 64g water
• 13g flour

dough

• slightly generous 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp warm water
• 50g milk
• 15g cream
• 30g egg
• 190g all-purpose flour + 6g wheat gluten (or 196g bread flour)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 30g granulated sugar
• 22g soft butter
• beaten egg for egg wash

For the pineapple bun topping, cream butter, sugar, baking powder and salt with a spoon until combined. Beat in the egg. Finally add the flour, mixing with a spoon until just combined. Scrape onto a piece of plastic wrap, mold into a short wide log, wrap and chill completely.

To make the tangzhong, whisk together the flour and water in a small saucepan until there are no lumps. Heat over low-medium, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture thickens into a thin paste and lines are left in the roux behind when stirring (check by stirring without touching the bottom of the saucepan). If you have a thermometer, check the temperature – it should be 65C or 149F. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool.

For the dough, mix together the yeast, tbsp of water and a sprinkle of sugar. Allow to sit 5 minutes until it bubbles and smells yeasty.

Whisk the milk, cream and egg into the tangzhong. Meanwhile in the bowl of a standmixer, stir together the flour, wheat gluten, sugar and salt. Add the dissolved yeast and tangzhong mixture. Mix slowly with the dough hook to form a cohesive dough. Add the butter and work into the dough until smooth. Knead on medium-high speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough is very smooth and elastic.

Cover and then let rest until doubled, about an hour or so

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and deflate it. Cut into 6 portions – each will likely be around 67g. Shape each into a ball. To tighten the surface tension, you can cup your hand over the ball of dough as it sits on the countertop and move your hand in a tight circle.

Place the balls of dough on the parchment-lined tray. Cover with plastic or a damp kitchen towel and let rise until puffed, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. To determine whether the buns are adequately risen, look for the dough to slowly bounce back when poked with a damp finger, but for the dent to not completely fill in.

Near the end of the rise start preheating the oven to 400F. Cut the log of topping into 6 slices. Take a piece, turn it so the cut side faces up, and roll it out between two small sheets of plastic wrap into a circle large enough to drape over the risen bun. Drape each bun with a circle of pineapple topping. Brush with beaten egg.

Bake for 5 minutes at 400F, then turn the temperature down to 350 for about 10 minutes more (total 15 minutes) or until the buns are golden. Let cool on a wire rack.

If you’re not using the same day, store in an airtight container and then reheat briefly in the oven to recrisp the topping. Let cool before filling.

cha siu, adobo & pineapple buns

With the 100th anniversary of the Canadian government’s Chinese Exclusion Act this past summer, and the scholarship, remembrances, and advocacy it has helped bring to the forefront, my family has been talking a lot more about Chinese Canadian history. First recommended by my aunt, Karen Cho’s documentary Big Fight in Little Chinatown has been doing the rounds. The documentary chronicles resistance to the gentrification of Chinatowns in the centre of several North American cities, and in doing so, reminds us the role they’ve played both historically and currently, and why they need to be saved.

While Chinatowns were first established in more undesirable areas, many eventually became part of the contested urban core as the city expanded. It was in Chinatown, just around the corner from my grandpa’s childhood home, that the city decided to place an incinerator and landfill – where else, after all? Many years later the rubbish facilities are long gone, redeveloped into large office towers. So too are the rows of tenement housing my grandpa grew up in, leaving only a few blocks of Chinatown that remain. While not all communities have been chipped away to the same degree, many of them are facing the same pressures.

Why does this matter? At first thought, older Chinatowns are of questionable relevance – fenced in, priced out, the aging population subject to atrophy as the community shifts elsewhere. As is the case with ethnic enclaves, a tension around Chinatowns has always existed, where for many “making it” was moving out. I think about my grandma’s family, who lived in a predominantly white suburb. In many ways this made their life easier; they were regarded by their neighbours as a singular benign curiosity, whereas my grandpa, living in the heart of Chinatown which embodied the so-called “yellow peril” of Chinese immigration, faced much more overt discrimination. But even then, every weekend my grandma and her mother would head to Chinatown to hear the news and gather with the small Chinese community that existed. As the documentary explores, these are still valuable places of community today, particularly for seniors and newer immigrants.

Furthermore, given the long history of Chinatowns being displaced and expropriated, their existence signals continued resistance and a fight for visibility. Along this vein, Big Fight brought up an interesting perspective on architecture. When the San Francisco Chinatown burnt down in a fire in 1906, it was rebuilt with stereotyped Chinese architectural features: decorative rooftops, ornate lampposts, strings of paper lanterns, and stylized street signs, part of a strategy to establish Chinatown as a tourist destination. The documentary explains the reconstruction another way: the city wanted Chinatown relocated, but the community determinedly rebuilt, incorporating these architectural details as defiant proof that this here was Chinatown, and it was not going anywhere.

While Big Fight makes an empathetic and moving case, if anything, I would say that it felt a bit lacking in intersectionality. I understand wanting to keep the documentary focused on a Chinese North American perspective, but it felt like a missed opportunity to comment on the role of this fight within a larger struggle towards equitable city development. Watching footage of community protests for Chinatown made me think of the complicated history of both solidarity, and lack thereof, with other groups and movements.

Still, I can’t help but feel the specialness of these places. My family doesn’t have historical ties to the tiny Chinatown in the city I grew up in, but it’s the one in my memories. Since I was a kid, we would go there for a box of buns and Cantonese barbeque – a roast duck, a chunk of cha siu, and a few ribs of crispy roast pork. My mum and I would hop out while my dad would circle the block a few times in the car – there never was any parking.

A few months ago, I realized we hadn’t actually been by since the pandemic, and convinced my parents to join me. Many of the places we used to go are no longer there; now there’s only a single bakery and one barbeque place left. But we were also pleasantly surprised: while the name had changed, it was the same lady who had worked the barbeque counter for over 30 years. She still ran the business together with her son, and the duck and cha siu tasted even better than we remembered. Against all odds, Chinatown is still here. Albeit, partially through the popularity of being now mostly bubble tea franchise central … but it’s still here.

You can watch the full documentary here through TV Ontario!

The starting inspiration behind these buns were to put pineapple into a pineapple bun, a Chinese bakery classic with a cookie-like pineapple-textured topping. Not that pineapple buns need actual pineapple – they are plenty delicious as is, and look sufficiently like their namesake that they don’t need to prove their pineapple-ness to anyone! But don’t you also sort of want to put pineapple in a pineapple bun? You do too, right? For twice the pineapple-ness?

I was thinking about pineapple, and then about tacos al pastor and the combination of marinated spit roasted pork and pineapple. These buns are a play on the sweet/savoury vibes of al pastor and cha siu and pineapple buns. I’ve supplemented a classic cha siu bao filling with broiled pineapple and canned chipotles in adobo, as a shortcut to invoke some of the flavours of al pastor. I think this is the most delicious savoury bun filling I’ve made in a while – salty and sweet and spicy and saucy filling, fluffy bun, crisp top.

• Servings: 6 buns
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Filling adapted from Woks of Life (for cha siu bao aspects) and i am a food blog (for shortcut al pastor-inspired aspects). Pineapple topping adapted from mthmchris and bun dough adapted from Christine’s Recipes.

filling

• 100g chopped pineapple from a can of pineapple (or you could certainly do fresh if you have on hand)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 chipotles from a can of chipotle in adobo, finely chopped (use more or less depending on your spice preferences – see note at end)
• 1 tbsp of the sauce/saucy bits from a can of chipotles in adobo
• 60g (1/4 cup) pineapple juice from can of pineapple (if it’s packed in juice; or substitute more water)
• 30g (2 tbsp) water
• 1 tbsp flour
• 150g (1 cup) finely diced cha siu
• 1 finely chopped green onion

pineapple bun topping

• 50g butter
• 50g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 10g egg
• 75g all-purpose flour

tangzhong

• 64g water
• 13g flour

dough

• slightly generous 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp warm water
• 50g milk
• 15g cream
• 30g egg
• 190g all-purpose flour + 6g wheat gluten (or 196g bread flour)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 30g granulated sugar
• 22g soft butter
• beaten egg for egg wash

For the filling, begin by broiling the pineapple. Line a small baking tray with foil and spread the pineapple over the tray. Broil for about 10 minutes on a rack set in the upper third of the oven until pineapple pieces have a bit of char. Watch so they don’t burn.

For the rest of the filling, place the oil in a pan and heat over medium. Add the onion and cook a couple minutes until softened, then stir in the oyster sauce, soy sauces, sesame oil, as well as the finely chopped chilis and sauce from the chipotle in adobo. Stir and continue to cook until it comes to a bubble, then add the pineapple juice, water and flour. Reduce heat to medium low and cook about 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is thickened and saucy. Take off the heat and stir in the cha siu, green onion and broiled pineapple.

Once the filling has cooled, store in the fridge. It will stick together better when cold and make it easier to fill the buns.

For the pineapple bun topping, cream butter, sugar, baking powder and salt with a spoon until combined. Beat in the egg. Finally add the flour, mixing with a spoon until just combined. Scrape onto a piece of plastic wrap, mold into a log, wrap and chill completely.

To make the tangzhong, whisk together the flour and water in a small saucepan until there are no lumps. Heat over low-medium, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture thickens into a thin paste and lines are left in the roux behind when stirring (check by stirring without touching the bottom of the saucepan). If you have a thermometer, check the temperature – it should be 65C or 149F. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool.

For the dough, mix together the yeast, tbsp of water and a sprinkle of sugar. Allow to sit 5 minutes until it bubbles and smells yeasty.

Whisk the milk, cream and egg into the tangzhong. Meanwhile in the bowl of a standmixer, stir together the flour, wheat gluten, sugar and salt. Add the dissolved yeast and tangzhong mixture. Mix slowly with the dough hook to form a cohesive dough. Add the butter and work into the dough until smooth. Knead on medium-high speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough is very smooth and elastic.

Cover and then let rest until doubled, about an hour or so

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and deflate it. Cut into 6 portions – each will likely be around 67g. Shape each into a ball. Working with one ball of dough at a time, roll out the ball into a disc (at least about 13cm or 5″ in diameter to accommodate all the filling) making the centre thicker than the edges. Cup the dough in your hand and dollop about 1/6th of the chilled filling over top. Close the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together to seal. Place the filled bun on the prepared tray, then repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Cover with plastic or a damp kitchen towel and let rise until puffed, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Near the end of the rise start preheating the oven to 400F. Cut the log of topping into 6 slices. Take a piece, turn it so the cut side faces up, and roll it out between two small sheets of plastic wrap into a circle large enough to drape over the risen bun. Drape each bun with a circle of pineapple topping. Brush with beaten egg.

Bake for 5 minutes at 400F, then turn the temperature down to 350 for about 15 minutes more (total 2- minutes) or until the buns are golden. Let cool on a wire rack. Best eaten fresh while the pineapple topping is still crispy. If you save them for another day, store in the fridge and reheat to recrisp the topping.

Note on chipotles: For my tastes, two chipotles gave a nice bit of spice – noticeable but not very spicy – make of that what you will! I recommend adding according to your own taste. When trying the filling be sure to keep in mind that the spice will be diluted with plenty of fluffy bread so the end result will not taste as spicy.

cookie box 2023

Holiday season again, and again another cookie box! I love how the cookie box combines a series of smaller projects into something more substantial and very festive. I started thinking about the cookie box as soon as it was December, and one at a time, pieced together the components through some late night baking sessions a couple times a week. And while it’s tempting to have more (my brainstorming list is always far too long), you can always stop at whatever point you like – maybe four, maybe two, maybe just one.

Last year the cookie box was not entirely a cookie box per se (it is far more of a veritable cookie box this year), and due to different moisture level and storage requirements, all of the components were stored separately. Unfortunately, I found that the cookies fared much better when kept individually! Even when moisture content isn’t an issue, it prevents flavours from seeping from one cookie to another. I may have been in denial about this – in previous years, after several days or so, the remnants in the box usually tend to taste indistinctly of cinnamon, regardless of what flavour they initially started as. Validated by the cookie storage advice I read in this excellent blog post, I decided to keep it up this year, and store all the cookies separately, just assembling into a mixed box for family (and blog post photos). This isn’t necessary in all cases, such as with a more uniformly flavoured set (which still room for lots of fun: think variations in shape, texture, complementary flavours, or different nuts and jams). But for maximal freedom in cookie flavour, moisture and style, I advise individual storage.

There are two spice cookies in this box, the speculoos and lebkuchen, but they couldn’t be more different! The speculoos are thin, crisp and tender and taste of mostly just butter and spice. On the other hand, the lebkuchen are cakey with a bit of chew, and spiced with the addition of honey, rye, citrus and almonds. For more classic holiday flavours, I’ve tried to cram as much stollen inspiration in the stollen cookies as possible – a lightly spiced cookie dough flecked with candied peel, rum-soaked raisins and toasted almonds, plus a marzipan centre and a generous roll in icing sugar.

For a take on classic shortbread, inspired by Nova Bakehouse, I made a striped tri-grain shortbread composed of three doughs using different whole grains. As shortbread is not nearly as structurally demanding as bread or cake, they’re an easy way to experiment with different whole grains and compare the flavours side-by-side. Another take on a classic are the pretzel-shaped cardamom kringler cookies, made with a barely sweetened dough and covered in crunchy pearl sugar. I worked off of the recipe in Beatrice Ojakangas’s The Great Scandinavian Baking Book making a few adjustments for a crispier cookie, and also added in coarsely ground cardamom.

The piped genmaicha butter cookies are a repeat from last year, one of my favourites from the 2022 box. Also something I first made a few years ago are the toasted coconut marshmallow cookies, an homage to my grandma’s favourite toasted coconut-covered marshmallows, though they never quite made it onto the blog until now.

The fregolotta, or jam tart slices, were a simple and flexible (and delicious) way to use jam – I mashed together little bits of leftover jam from the fridge to layer into this tart. The malt tuiles came about after some experimentation – they started as a piped malted milk powder cookie, and then a malted milk powder shortbread, neither of which really turned out. Then I settled on tuiles – which also a very different cookie from an otherwise shortbread-heavy box!

recipes are below

speculoos – genmaicha butter cookies – toasted coconut marshmallow cookies – lebkuchenherzen – tri-grain shortbread – cardamom kringler cookies – stollen cookies – malt tuiles – fregolotta

Note: I like my cookies to have a good amount of salt! Just note that all these recipes use coarse kosher (specifically Diamond brand) and so if you use finer kosher salt or table salt, be sure to reduce the volumes accordingly. This goes for all the recipes here!

speculoos

• Servings: about 30
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For me this is a classic! A crisp and tender spice cookie. Find the recipe from a previous cookie box here.

genmaicha butter cookies

• Servings: about 12-16 depending on size
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These are simple and buttery genmaicha cookies, which I first made in the cookie box last year – find the recipe here. This time I piped the cookies using a smaller tip (1.5cm in diameter instead of 2cm) and so I did a couple go-arounds for the swirls.

toasted coconut marshmallow cookies

• Servings: about 20-25 cookies
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Inspired by my grandma’s love for toasted coconut marshmallows, this is the project bake of the box. You can find the recipe in a separate post here. For cookie box purposes, I made the cookies a bit smaller – and I also like the smaller size since the marshmallow filling is quite sweet. Using a 5cm/2″ round cutter and rerolling the dough scraps multiple times you should be able to get 40-50 cookies, which will go to make 20-25 assembled cookies.

lebkuchenherzen

• Servings: about 50 5cm cookies if you reroll the scraps multiple times
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These are lovely soft and cakey gingerbread cookies. There is just so much going on in them from the spices to the rye flour, nuts, and citrus! Recipe from Anja Dunk’s Advent, made with only minor adaptations.

• 120g honey
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 65g butter
• 115g whole wheat flour
• 115g dark rye flour
• 75g finely ground almonds
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 50g candied citrus peel, drained and chopped into small pieces (optional; I love the addition of peel, but if you live in a dry climate and you want the cookies to last for longer, you may want to leave out the peel – it is the first thing to go hard in these cookies after a week or so.)
• 1 large egg

to top the cookies,

• 1 egg white, to brush on top
• almonds, to top the cookies (usually blanched almonds are used, but I think its nice with the skin on!)

In a small saucepan, combine the honey, brown sugar and butter over medium low heat until melted and combined.

In a large bowl whisk together the flours, ground almonds, spices, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda. Add the lemon zest, candied peel, egg and the honey/sugar/butter mixture to the bowl and mix to form a soft dough. Cover and let rest 1 hour (this rest will make the dough less sticky to work with later).

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 0.5cm thick. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter/other cutter of choice to cut out cookies and transfer to the prepared tray – the one I’ve used is about 5 wide. The cookies will puff, but not spread and so they can be placed close together. Ball together the scraps and roll out as many times as you wish to cut additional cookies.

Once all the cookies are cut, brush with a bit of egg white and optionally top each cookie with an almond.

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until browned and firm to the touch. Rotate trays partway through baking for an even bake. Let cool on the tray, then transfer to a airtight container.

tri-grain shortbread

• Servings: about 20 cookies
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Inspired by Nova Bakehouse’s shortbread! Choose three interesting grains, or include your usual supermarket flour for comparison. I used rye, spelt and red fife wheat for comparison.

per flour (x3)

• 56g (1/4 cup) butter, softened
• 20g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 85g whole grain flour of choice

Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and salt together until mixed. Add the flour, keeping back about 10g. If the dough is coming together well and isn’t too dry and crumbly, add the last 10g. If it is very soft, you can add a bit more flour. Use your shortbread instincts (and see note at the end). Repeat twice more with different flours to make three shortbread doughs.

Lay out a piece of plastic wrap. Form each dough into a rectangle about 20cm long, 3cm tall and 1.5cm wide. Place the three rectangles of dough next to each other on the plastic wrap. Wrap and gently mold together into a rectangle.

Place in the fridge and chill about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until firmed. (I find after this amount of time the dough will be firm enough to slice, but not completely chilled, making it a bit softer and easier to cut. If you chill completely overnight, you can leave the dough out on the counter for a few minutes to slightly soften to make it easier to cut the cookies.)

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Slice the log crosswise into cookies 1 cm thick and transfer to the prepared tray. Pop the tray into the fridge or freezer for at least another 15 minutes to fully chill the cookies.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Let cool on the tray as they are quite delicate when warm.

Note: In experiments, I found that my grocery store whole wheat was quite dry and I needed to hold some flour back – this made a drier, crumblier shortbread which did not spread much. On the other hand, the spelt, rye and red fife flours were all similar, making much softer doughs to which I actually added a bit of extra flour. If in doubt, don’t worry too much and just stick to the stated proportions – the different doughs may spread slightly more or less, but they will all taste fine.

cardamom kringler cookies

• Servings: about 30 cookies
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Adapted from the kringler or Danish sugar pretzel recipe in Beatrice Ojakangas’s The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. These cookies grew on me a lot – with the crunchy pearl sugar, they’re also so fun texturally!

This dough is a little unique with quite a bit of additional moisture from the egg and cream, and makes a slightly bread-y cookie. I like them baked quite well so they become crisp. The original recipe also contains no sugar except for the pearl sugar on top, but I’ve added a bit into the dough so the cookies don’t taste too austere if they’re not completely coated in the sugar. That being said, the pearl sugar topping is still the main source of sweetness, so be sure to get them well-coated. It may look like too much, but it’s not.

My other addition to the dough is cardamom. Freshly ground cardamom seeds are so good in baking! I like to keep it ever so slightly coarse so sometimes you get little specks and hits of cardamom. I found the flavour quite mild right after baking, but after the cookies sat in a container a couple days, they became more fragrant!

Lastly, the pretzels take a while to shape, so compared to the original recipe I’ve made the cookies bigger so you don’t need to make quite so many of them...

• 113g butter, softened
• 25g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp green cardamom seeds, freshly ground in a mortar and pestle (this is a pleasant amount of cardamom; you can increase this if you really like cardamom!)
• 186g cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 35g whipping cream
• pearl sugar, for topping

Cream the butter, sugar, salt and ground cardamom in a bowl until just mixed. Add the flour, baking powder, egg and cream all at once and mix together to form a soft dough. Cover the bowl and chill 30 minutes.

Line 1-2 baking trays with parchment paper. Pour some pearl sugar into a small bowl.

Scoop out about 1/3 of the dough into a bowl and leave the rest in the fridge to stay cool. Divide the dough into ~13g portions.

Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll out the dough into a thin rope about 23cm/9″ long. (You can use a little bit of flour to help keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or your hands – I found dipping my fingertips into the flour before working with each piece of dough is just enough to keep things from getting too sticky.) Form into a pretzel shape: place the dough into a U shape, twist the two ends together, and flip over so they cross the bottom of the U. Dip the top of the cookie into the pearl sugar and place, pearl sugar side up, onto the prepared tray. If you use too much flour, the pearl sugar will not stick too well. If needed, you can pat the top of the cooke with a damp paper towel or tissue before dipping the cookie.

Repeat with the remaining portions of dough. Place the cookies in the fridge to chill completely.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. As the dough has very little sugar, these take a bit longer to brown – I like also like getting a good bake to ensure the cookies are crisp!

stollen cookies

• Servings: about 20 cookies
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This year perhaps my favourite cookie of the box! (Though they are a cookie that is on the sweeter side.) Lightly spiced butter cookies with dried fruit, candied peel and nuts, and a ball of marzipan in the centre. I think they really capture the flavours of stollen. I also think they were nicest a day or two after baking – let the marzipan and cookie get to know each other. Cookie base recipe is vaguely adapted from Emma Laperruque’s pecan cookies.

• 2 tbsp raisins
• 2 tbsp chopped candied citrus peel
• 1 1/2 tsp rum
• 113g butter, softened
• 35g icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg
• 135g all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp (18g) chopped roasted almonds
• about 60g marzipan, divided into about twenty 1/2 tsp (3g) sized balls
• icing sugar

A day or two before making the cookies, combine the raisins, peel and rum in a small jar. Let sit for a day or two, shaking occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Cream the butter, icing sugar, salt and spices in mixing bowl. Add the flour and mix to form a soft dough. Stir in the raisin/peel mixture and the almonds. If the dough is very soft, chill a bit to firm the dough.

Scoop 1 tbsp (17g) sized balls of dough. Make an indentation in the middle and fill with a ball of marzipan. Cup the edges of the dough around the marzipan ball to seal it in the middle of the cookie. Roll into a ball and place on the prepared tray. Repeat until all the dough is used.

Chill the tray of cookies about 15 minutes to slightly firm them.Bake for about 15 minutes or until firm to the touch and lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool a few minutes, then roll in icing sugar while still warm, and again a second time once completely cool.

malt tuiles

• Servings: about 25-30
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Tuile recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour. This has a bit of malted milk powder in it for extra flavour. I like the tuiles as is, but I dipped half of them in dark chocolate for my cousin who is a chocolate person! If you’re anything like me, expect to spend the first few/several getting a hang of shaping and baking.

• 56g butter, melted
• 2 egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 50g icing sugar
• 50g all-purpose flour
• 25g malted milk powder (I used horlicks original)
• 2 tsp milk
• melted dark chocolate, for dipping (optional)

Whisk together the melted butter, egg whites and salt in a bowl. Add the icing sugar, flour and malted milk powder and whisk until a smooth batter is formed. Place the batter in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F. Place a silicone baking sheet on a baking tray. If you like, make a stencil (see note 1) or if your silicone sheet is translucent, draw two 10cm/4″ circles on a sheet of parchment and place it underneath. Also have two pencils ready to roll the cookies on (see note 2).

Dollop about 1 1/2 tsp of batter on one side of the tray and spread into a 10cm/4″ circle. Repeat on the other side of the tray for two cookies – as the cookies need to be rolled right after baking, do only two at a time. Bake the cookies for about 5 minutes or until the edges are golden.

Remove from the oven and immediately start rolling the cookies. Loosen the edge of a cookie with a spatula and place a pencil over the edge. Roll the cookie onto the pencil. Repeat with the second cookie. They will be quite hot so be careful! Once you’ve go the roll starting, you can finish rolling the cookie by just rolling the pencil to save your fingers. Once the cookies have had a couple minutes to firm up, they can be slipped off of the pencils. (For efficiency, you can have two trays going at once – see note 3).

Repeat with the remaining batter. If desired, dip one end of the tuiles in melted dark chocolate and place on a parchment lined tray to let the chocolate set.

Note 1: I found using a stencil made it faster to spread the batter, and a bit easier to get it more even. To make a stencil, trace a 10cm/4″ circle on a piece of paperboard from a cereal box/cracker box/other food box. Cut out the circle from the centre. To use, place it on the silicone sheet and spread the batter inside the circle. Hold down the edge as you spread the batter towards it to make sure the batter stays inside the stencil and doesn’t spread underneath it. It will get pretty soggy and start to warp, so it’s best to make 3-4 so you can switch to a new one.

Note 2: Recipes for rolled tuiles usually use a wooden spoon handle. Really, feel free to use whatever circular rod you have on hand. I found that pencils were a good size for rolling smaller cookies on, while the spoon handle was a bit wide. Also, I have more than one pencil, which is handy when there are two cookies to roll per batch, and they need a few moments to firm up before removing from their template. Furthermore, it’s a bit clunky to roll something on a spoon due to the spoon end – using a pencil, you can roll the cookies right on the tray which helps keep the cookies warmer and malleable for longer. Yay pencils!!

Note 3: If you have two silicone sheets and baking trays, you can make the process a bit more efficient. Here was my workflow. While batch one is in the oven, spread the batter for the second batch (its okay if the second pan is still hot, just be careful not to burn yourself!). Take out batch one and roll the cookies. Then place batch two in the oven and set the timer for 5 minutes. While this batch bakes, transfer the rolled cookies to a plate or board, freeing up the pencils, and spread more batter on the now free pan. Repeat.

fregolotta

• Servings: 16 slices
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This is a lovely one, and is just how it sounds – soft shortbread-like cookie, jam and nuts. Adapted from Cindy Mushet via Food52. I was inspired to include these in the cookie box after reading this lovely post from the blog Lottie + Doof.

• 170g butter, softened
• 60g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 210g all-purpose flour
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup not too sweet jam of choice, such as apricot (I mushed together leftover bits of different jams from the fridge with a small squeeze of lemon juice to up the acidity)
• sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350F. Have a 10x33cm (4×13″) rectangular tart pan ready (or use a 23cm/9″ diameter circular tart pan).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the butter, sugar, salt and almond extract. Cream with the paddle attachment for a few minutes until very light and fluffy. Scrape down the paddle and then add the flour, mixing until just combined. Take about half a cup of the dough and put it in the fridge. Scatter the rest of the dough into the bottom of the tart pan and press into an even layer, with the edges slightly higher than the middle.

Spread a thin layer of jam over the tart, leaving a 1cm border around the edges. Crumble the chilled dough over top and scatter with sliced almonds.

Bake the tart for about 40-45 minutes or until nicely browned. Let the tart cool completely in the tart tin before slicing. Slice into 16 angular slices (cut the tart into 8 slices, and then cut each in half diagonally)

toasted coconut marshmallow cookies

These cookies are an homage to my grandma’s favourite toasted coconut-covered marshmallows: a slightly coconut-y cookie sandwiching a toasted sugar marshmallow and rolled in toasted coconut. Toasted coconut marshmallows are an elusive thing, occasionally sighted at various grocery stores. But more often than not, we usually can’t find them, so a homemade version has to suffice.

The cookies, a slightly coconut riff off of a basic Dorie Greenspan cookie recipe, helps to mute the sweetness of the marshmallow. As for the filling: marshmallows can be made with or without egg white. The egg white versions tends to be softer, less sticky, and takes longer to set, the lattermost feature being helpful for piping purposes. My grandma loves a chewy marshmallow, so I’ve tried using a no-egg white marshmallow for more chew, but found it firmed up too quickly to pipe without panic. I’ve also used Stella Parks toasted sugar which makes for a marshmallow with a slightly caramelized flavour to mirror the toasted coconut.

The recipe below makes about twice the amount of marshmallow needed for filling the cookies, which means you can also make a pan of toasted coconut (or plain) marshmallows on the side. I think if you’re making marshmallow, you may as well make marshmallows! Besides, my grandma ended up preferring straight coconut marshmallows over the cookie version. Admittedly, as I’m more of cookie/cake/bread person than a candy person, turning the marshmallow into 60% cookie was more so in my own interests… so in this way, we each get some of both.

• Servings: about 16-18 cookies and a pan of marshmallows
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Cookies adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “do-just-about-anything” vanilla cookie in Dorie’s Cookies. Marshmallow recipe from David Lebovitz. It’s sort of a two in one recipe… this makes a lot of extra marshmallow – you’ll only use about half for filling the cookies, and the rest can be spread into a pan to make straight toasted coconut marshmallows. If you’re going to the trouble of making marshmallow, I think you may as well make marshmallows!

The limiting factor are the cookies. You can get more cookies rerolling the dough multiple times. While I’ve put a more conservative estimate of 32-36 cookies (or 16-18 assembled cookies), you may be able to get more. I actually quite like the flavour of coconut extract so I’ve used it to add some extra flavour to the cookies and marshmallow, but it’s up to you. Definitely leave it out if you prefer; the coconut flavour will just mostly from the toasted coconut around the edges.

coconut shortbread

• 225g butter, softened
• 60g granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp coconut extract (optional)
• 1 large egg white, at room temperature
• 250g all-purpose flour
• 20g rice flour
• 50g dried shredded coconut, ground until fine

marshmallow filling

• 2 packages powdered gelatin bloomed in 1/2 cup water
• 200g toasted sugar (or substitute regular granulated)
• 100g corn syrup
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract (optional)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

to finish

• about 2 cups toasted shredded coconut (I’m recommending a generous amount to make sure you don’t run out – 1 1/2 cups has been just about right amount for me. Note that most of this will go to coating the extra marshmallows – if you’re just doing the cookies and want the extra marshmallows plain, you’ll only need about 1/2 cup)

shortbread

Cream the butter, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Beat in the extracts, followed by the egg white. Separately, stir together the all-purpose flour, rice flour and ground coconut. Add to the butter mixture and stir together until just combined and a soft dough is formed. Divide the dough into two pieces and roll each one out between two sheets of parchment paper until about 0.5-0.4cm thick (1/4″ or a bit less). Slide the rolled out sheets of dough onto a tray or cutting board and freeze for 1 hour or refrigerate for 3 hours to overnight.

Line two baking trays with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F.

Take out once piece of chilled dough at a time. Use a 2 1/2″ (~6cm) round cutter to cut cookies from the dough and transfer to the prepared tray. They won’t spread too much so you can space them fairly close together with only a centimeter or two separating them. Repeat with the remaining sheet of dough. Decoratively prick the cookies with the tines of a fork if you like. Ball together the scraps and roll out between the parchment again and re-chill – you can cut out and bake a second batch of cookies later. (Repeat re-rolling as many times as you like – you can get up to 40 or so cookies by doing this.)

If the cookies have warmed up, re-chill in the fridge before baking. Bake the trays of cookies for about 15 minutes or until slightly golden along the edges, rotating partway through baking. Let cool on the tray.

marshmallow filling

Pair up similarly sized cookies and place one half of each pair upside down, ready to be topped with marshmallow. Also have a large piping bag ready, fitted with a large round tip (I used Ateco 806 which has a 1.7cm diameter opening). As there will be quite a bit of leftover marshmallow, also butter or oil an 8″ square tin and scatter toasted coconut over the bottom.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/2 cup water and stir together. Set aside to bloom.

Place the sugar, corn syrup and 1/3 cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and let bubble away while monitoring the temperature.

Meanwhile, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on low. Once the sugar syrup is getting around 210F, increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high to whip the eggs until they are thick and fluffy (soft peak-ish). Once the syrup has reached 245F, turn the mixer to high and slowly pour into the egg whites, aiming between the side of the bowl and the whisk.

While the eggs continue to whip, transfer the bloomed gelatin into the saucepan which just held the sugar syrup and allow the residual heat to melt the gelatin. Slowly pour into the egg whites. Add the coconut extract and vanilla bean paste and continue to whip until the mixture is very voluminous and the bowl is cool to the touch, about 5 minutes on high speed.

Transfer some of the marshmallow to the piping bag (you’ll only need about 1/3 to 1/2 of it) and pipe generous dollops of marshmallow on top of half of the cookies, stopping before the marshmallow reaches the edge of the cookie. Don’t be afraid to pipe tall dollops so there is a good layer of marshmallow. Top each with its cookie pair and press gently so that the marshmallow spreads flush to the edges of the cookies. Spread the remaining marshmallow mixture in the prepared tin.

Roll the edges of the cookies in toasted shredded coconut. Be gentle with the cookies until the marshmallow completely sets. Also sprinkle toasted coconut over the top of the pan of marshmallow. Allow the pan of marshmallow to set for at least a few hours before turning out, cutting into squares (I usually cut 6×6 into 36 marshmallows), and tossing to coat in the remaining toasted coconut.

houjicha ovaltine crispy rice squares

Wow – so rice krispie squares have really evolved from when I used to make the box recipe as a kid! The puffed rice cereal treats I made would be soft and chewy for about the first twenty minutes after making, then cool to crisp and hard. (Using very desiccated marshmallows probably didn’t help.) But looking online, it seems most people have improved on the original recipe with extra butter and marshmallows to ensure a soft and chewy texture! So if you were always somewhat disappointed by homemade crispy rice cereal bars as a child, it may be worth revisiting using more modern proportions…

These houjicha ovaltine crunchy grain cereal cubes are a flavour combination I came up with while messing around by mixing different things together into drinks. I loved it immediately – houjicha ovaltine is a fantastic combination of toastiness, maltiness, and a slight bit of cocoa, and one that translated well into popped rice cereal segment form.

Thanks to a promotional box of chocolate sandwich cookies courtesy of the local Loblaws overlord, I figured I may as well go all in on the brand names, and added some chopped oreos for visual interest. I love the addition – the cookie also adds extra texture and a bit more complementary chocolate.

• Servings: 8x8 inch square tin
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Base recipe adapted from Once Upon a Chef.

• 75g butter
• 240g marshmallows
• 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 4 tsp houjicha powder
• 3 tbsp ovaltine classic or other malted milk powder (ovaltine classic has a bit of cocoa powder in it which is nice with the houjicha)
• 4 cups crispy rice cereal (110g for regular rice krispies, or 145g if using brown rice krispies)
• 8 chocolate sandwich cookies, like oreos, coarsely chopped (optional)

Butter an 8″ square tin and line with a parchment paper sling.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Mix in the salt, houjicha and malted milk powder until smooth. Then add the cereal and chopped cookies and fold together with a rubber spatula and a strong arm until everything is evenly coated in the marshmallow mixture. (The mixture will be quite thick, so this will take some work.)

Transfer to the prepared pan and pat out into an even layer. Let cool completely until set. Loosen the edges with a butter knife and either flip out onto a cutting board or use the sling to lift out the squares. Use a serrated knife to saw into 16 squares.

Note: These will still turn out harder if your marshmallows have dried out. I’ve had some luck adding in about 1 tbsp of water (for moderately dried out marshmallows) while melting the marshmallows into the butter.

beet, za’atar & honey brioche

I love these – salt and sweet and herbs to balance the beets, encased in a pillowy dough crusted with toasted sesame.

These breads are really from last year (and the first trial a year before that), and I had been planning to finally post them sometime this fall. The flavours are very much inspired by a beetroot, za’atar, and honey galette in Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley’s beautiful cookbook, Falastin (Palestine in Arabic). The feature seasoning, za’atar, has itself has been one of the faces of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

It feels only right to acknowledge the Palestinian inspiration behind this recipe, but also so very, very heartbreaking at the same time.

What I’ve been reading: on the intergenerational traumas of both sides, and on the reality of right now.

• Servings: 6 buns
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Flavours inspired by the beetroot, za’atar, feta and honey galette from Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley in Falastin. You can also find this recipe republished in The Guardian. Brioche dough adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

brioche dough

sponge

• 24g all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 48g whole milk

remainder of dough

• 155g all purpose flour + 6g vital wheat gluten (or substitute bread flour)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 90g soft butter

beets

• 400g beets (6 medium beets – I used a mix of red, golden and pink)
• olive oil

filling

• 60g thick greek yoghurt
• 40g crumbled feta
• 1 tsp za’atar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 20g beaten egg

to assemble and bake

• beaten egg for egg wash
• sesame seeds
• crumbled feta
• fresh thyme
• honey
• za’atar

Day 1: make the brioche dough.

For the brioche dough, begin by mixing the ingredients for the sponge. Let ferment on the counter for around 30 minutes or until very bubbly.

Now for the remainder of the dough: mix together the flour, wheat gluten and salt in the bowl of a standmixer. Add the fermented sponge and eggs to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until a rough dough is formed. Then use the dough hook on the standmixer to knead the dough for a about five minutes or until smooth and stretchy. It will be quite sticky.

Add the butter, a lump at a time, incorporating each addition fully before the next. Occasionally scrape down the dough hook. Once all the butter is added, knead the dough until smooth and stretchy, another few minutes. Cover and let rise overnight in the fridge, or if you’d like to continue the same day, about 1 1/2 – 2 hours at room temperature, or until doubled. Note that brioche dough is easier to handle (less sticky and firm) when cold, so I generally favour an overnight rise.

Day 2 (or continue on the same day): Assemble and bake.

For the beets, scrub the beets until clean. Place in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook until the beets are cooked through – how long it takes will depend on the size of the beets. Once cooked, let the beets cool, peel them and then cut them into wedges. Toss the wedges with a bit of olive oil, and season with some salt and pepper. (Note: to avoid the colour bleeding, separate the beets by colour while mixing with the oil.) Set aside.

For the filling, stir together all the ingredients. Set aside.

To assemble, begin by lining a baking tray with parchment paper. Deflate the dough and turn out onto a floured countertop. Divide into 6 equal pieces, each about 67g. Roll each piece into a ball. Dust with flour, then roll out each ball into a circle about 9cm in diameter and 1.25cm tall. Space the circles apart on the baking tray. Cover with plastic and let rise until puffed, about 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending if the dough starts from cold or room temperature.

Near the end of the rise, begin preheating the oven to 425F.

Once the dough is risen use your fingers to tamp down the centre of the dough, leaving a ~2cm raised rim of dough around the centre. Brush the puffy edges of the dough with eggwash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and salt. Put a couple spoonfuls of the feta filling into the depressed centre of each bread. Arrange wedges of beets overtop, using a bit of each colour. Scatter some more crumbled feta and fresh thyme over top.

Pop in the oven and bake about 12-15 minutes or until deeply browned. While the buns are still warm, drizzle a bit of honey over each and sprinkle with some more za’atar and fresh thyme leaves. Best eaten fresh!

raspberry, goat’s cheese & white chocolate scones

These are big puffy cafe-style raspberry drop scones studded with white chocolate and goat’s cheese. They’re nothing particularly original, just the kind of soft-centered and crisp-crusted hefty scone I like!

This recipe uses the same base as these fenugreek and sesame scones; prior to these, I made a lot of drop scones that I didn’t love. Compared to most recipes, this dough has a higher moisture content which makes it easier to work in soft mix ins, and seems to better facilitate a good puff in the oven and more tender crumb.

After patting the dough into balls, I give them a roll in granulated sugar, which makes for a crisp crust on top and caramelized crust on the bottom. The scones do need to bake at lower temperature than usual or the bottoms scorch (caramelized bottoms are lovely, but the burnt ones not so much). That being said, don’t be afraid to give these scones a really good bake! Browning produces the crisp crust, while the centres stay moist.

They’re pretty basic, but I love them!

• Servings: 6 large scones
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Further adapted from my previous adaptation of Julie van Rosendaal’s scones.

• 100g greek yoghurt
• 150g half-and-half (or use half cream, half milk)
• 230g flour, half all-purpose and half whole-wheat
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 15g granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100g cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 100g crumbled goat’s cheese
• 60g white chocolate, chopped
• 85g fresh raspberries
• more granulated sugar for coating (or something like turbinado would be nice!)

Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Whisk the yoghurt and half-and-half in a small bowl until smooth and set aside.

In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and thyme, if using. Add the butter, tossing to coat the pieces and separate them, then cut into the flour with a pastry whisk/two knives (or alternatively, rub in with your fingers) until the mixture appears crumbly. Add the goat cheese, white chocolate and raspberries and toss together. Then pour in the yoghurt mix and stir gently until a soft dough is just formed.

Divide the dough into six portions (each about 130g) and pat each one into a ball. Roll each ball in the granulated sugar until coated all over and space evenly apart on the prepared tray.

Pop into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350F. Bake around 30 minutes or until nicely browned and cooked through.

strawberry, rhubarb & sumac crumb victoria sponge cake (& 9 nine years of tentimestea)

Hello again! Another post! And before the summer ends. Truly! It is still August by my calendar.

I usually do a rhubarb cake of some variety to commemorate another year of blogging – i.e. the convenient portmanteau that is the blogiversary. However, just as I am devoid of any novel commemorative thoughts on blogging, I wasn’t really feeling inspired for any sort of rhubarb cake this year. Not until my sister made a lovely rhubarb sumac crumb cake from Yossy Arefi’s Snacking Cakes, a vanilla cake base topped with rhubarb and a surprisingly fruity sumac-spotted crumble.

Inspired by that, I made this Victoria sponge. It’s a simpler cake, which may be a bit underwhelming for a !!-blogiversary-!! cake, though also rather appropriate… I think it’s a bit more emblematic of the type of baking I’ve been doing this past while, which has been simpler, quicker, and less fuss!

Taking inspiration from the sumac crumb cake, I’ve used ground sumac in both a crumb top and in the strawberry rhubarb jam layered into this cake. I think it goes so nicely in both – a bit lemon, a bit berry, and a very nice speckle.

While I’m still calling this a Victoria sponge, it departs from the classic in a few ways… most glaringly, the crumb top!? If it doesn’t offend the senses too much, I hope you consider it! I ended up enjoying the extra texture, flavour and rustic topography. I did try a dusting of icing sugar over the crumb, but it looked better without, and no extra sweetness is needed anyways.

For simplicity, the cake is baked as a single layer with the crumb on top and then sliced in half to form the two layers, which is handy if you only have one cake tin. As well, though this really varies by recipe, I’ve made the cake layers a bit thinner than usual for a Victoria sponge. For one, this makes the cake a bit easier to slice, and secondly, (in my opinion) also means better ratio of cream to cake. I use enough cream that the cross section is roughly 1 cake:1 cream:1 cake.

While you can certainly go the buttercream route for a Victoria sponge, I always prefer the whipped cream. Cream does necessitate that leftover cake be stored in the fridge, which poses a bit of a conundrum: a filling that is best stored cold sandwiched between two layers of butter cake which are best eaten at room temperature. I’ve used 30% ground almonds in place of flour in this cake, in part because I always love nut cakes, but also because it gives the cake an extra tenderness which helps keep it more palatable if you need to eat the leftovers cold from the fridge.

strawberry, rhubarb & sumac crumb victoria sponge cake

• Servings: one 7-inch or 18cm round cake
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Sumac crumb based on Yossy Arefi’s rhubarb crumb cake with sumac crumble from Snacking Cakes. Cake itself is adapted from a standard victoria sponge formula.

Note on the “jam” – this is made to be stored in the fridge and used soon and doesn’t have the sugar content or sterilization for long term storage like proper jam. Anyways, I really like to make this jam (really more of a very thick compote) for various baking projects – you can double the recipe and only stir sumac into half of it so you have another batch for eating/other bakes.

equipment: 18cm/7″ round springform tin

strawberry rhubarb sumac jam

• 140g chopped rhubarb
• 70g chopped strawberries
• 25g granulated sugar
• squeeze lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp ground sumac

sumac crumb

• 42g butter
• 15g brown sugar
• pinch kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground sumac
• 47g whole wheat flour
• 20g rolled oats

cake

• 100g butter, softened
• 65g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 70g cake or all-purpose flour
• 30g almond flour/finely ground almonds
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1-2 tbsp milk

to fill

• 200g whipping cream
• 1 tsp granulated sugar, or to taste

For the jam, toss the rhubarb, strawberries and sugar together in a small saucepan.Warm the mixture over gentle heat until juices are released from the fruit. Then bring the mixture up a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until the fruit breaks apart and the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, vanilla bean paste and sumac. Transfer to a container, let chill, then store in the fridge.

For the sumac crumb, cream the butter, sugar, salt and sumac together. Add the flour, then the oats. Set aside.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 7-inch (18cm) springform tin and line the base with a circle of parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until light. Beat in the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is as smooth as it gets, switching to a whisk as it becomes looser.

Whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add 1 tbsp of milk, and a second if needed, to bring the batter to dropping consistency where it falls from the spoon.

Spread the batter into the prepared tin. Scatter clumps of crumble over top. Bake the cake for about 25-30 minutes or until an inserted skewer is removed clean or with only a few crumbs clinging. Let cool on a wire rack.

To assemble, use a long serrated knife to cut the cake in half. Due to the height of the crumbs, cut a bit below the mid line to make sure the top half still has enough cake – I find the crumb tends to pile up in the middle of the cake, so the cake will be a bit thinner there.

Whip the cream with 1 tsp sugar until it holds its shape. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (the one I used is 1.8cm in diameter). Spread the bottom half of the cake with the jam. Pipe mounds of cream around the edges, then fill in the middle with the rest of the cream, spreading to fill in any gaps if needed. Place the other half of the cake on top.

How do you cut this cake without the cream squishing out? Use a serrated knife and saw gently through the top layer of cake – don’t apply too much downwards pressure and just let the knife work through the cake for you. Chilling the cake will give the cream some time to firm which will help with clean cuts, but if you don’t mind a bit of mess, I think a Victoria sponge is best enjoyed not long after it is assembled while the cake is at room temperature and the cream is cold.