Ginger Pear Cake

Originally from the Foodland Ontario website (http://www.ontario.ca/foodland/recipes/buttermilk-pear-ginger-cake), the warm molasses and spicy ginger flavours of this cake make it a great choice for a brisk (okay, just darn freezing) day. 

2 ¼ cups Partially Sifted Flour
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
¾ cup fancy molasses
1 cup buttermilk
3 pears, peeled, cored and chopped
icing sugar

Whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter until it’s fluffy; add in sugar, egg and molasses beating between each addition. Add dry ingredients into butter mixture alternatively with the buttermilk. Beat just until combined. Fold in pears. Pour the batter into a greased Bundt pan and bake for 55 minutes at 350°F. Let cool and dust with icing sugar. 

Date Oatmeal Muffins

After such an abundance of sugar and chocolate we thought it was time to bake something a wee bit healthier! These muffins were the perfect recipe to play with. They bake up surprisingly light and moist thanks to soaking the oats and have just a hint of sweetness. 

2 cups oats
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup oil
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Partially Sifted Flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups dates, pitted & chopped

Mix together the oats and buttermilk and let sit for an hour. Beat eggs until they’re frothy then beat in sugar and oil. Mix together flours, baking soda, powder and salt. Mix together egg mixture, dry ingredients and oat mixture just until combined. Fold in dates. Pour batter into lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F. 

Chocolate Buttermilk Pie

This pie is incredibly decadent. Eat it while it’s still warm and it has the taste and texture of brownie batter, cold it’s like a pie full of truffle. It's so delicious that it was toddler approved – thanks Levi (I put out the pie to take a picture or two. I turned around to grab my camera and caught the little guy red handed. It was the last piece…)

2 uncooked pie shells
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
½ cup butter
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup Partially Sifted Flour

Melt the chocolate chips and butter together on a double broiler. Set aside to cool a bit. Beat eggs until frothy then add sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, flour and melted chocolate beating well between each addition.

Pour the batter evenly into pie shells and bake at 350°F for about an hour or until centre is firm and top is crusty. I used a cookie sheet under each pie to catch any overflow. Eat warm or chilled – both are delicious. 

Red Velvet Brownies

Valentine’s Day is almost here so to celebrate I wanted to do a red velvet recipe. Cupcakes are everywhere so when I stumbled upon this recipe from www.cookingchanneltv.com I thought perfect! They are easy to make and not to sweet. I don’t think it’s possible to go wrong with chocolate and cream cheese!

Red Velvet Brownie Layer

½ cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup cocoa
Pinch of salt
1 tsp red gel food colouring or 1 tbsp liquid food colouring
1 tsp vinegar
2 eggs
¾ cup Partially Sifted Flour

Cream Cheese Layer

1 pkg cream cheese
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla

Combine brownie ingredients in order one at a time being sure to beat between each addition. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pan saving about ¼ cup of batter to top cream cheese layer.

Beat together cream cheese layer ingredients and layer on top of brownie layer. Dollop the remaining brownie batter on top of cream cheese layer and use a knife to create a swirl pattern. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

There is something about lemon that tastes like summer and given our current deep freeze is quite refreshing. Adding poppy seeds to this cake gives it a nice crunch, not to mention a classic combination. I think I’ll still have my cake with some hot tea – lemon cake or not, it is still winter.

½ cup oil
¾ cup sugar
½ cup milk
2 eggs
zest of 3 lemons
1 ¼ cups Partially Sifted Flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat together the oil, sugar, milk, eggs and zest. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt just until mixed. Fold the lemon juice and poppy seeds into the batter. Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Once cooled, I made a simple glaze of lemon juice and icing sugar for the top though it’s very good without it.