Salted Caramel Cupcakes

March is birthday month in our home; three out of four of us are March babies. To celebrate, we made Salted Caramel Cupcakes. They make such a great birthday treat.

Cupcakes
Brule Creek Farms Chocolate Cupcake Mix, prepared as instructed you will need:
½ cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup oil
½ cup boiling water

Icing
1 cup salted butter
1/3 cup caramel sauce
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar
extra caramel sauce
coarse sea salt

Prepare the BCF Chocolate Cupcake Mix as instructed. Allow to cool. I scooped out a bit of each cupcake with a melon baller and filled with some more caramel sauce before icing. 

To make the icing, whip the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add in the caramel sauce, vanilla and a sprinkling of salt and whip again. Slowly add in the icing sugar. Once ready, ice your cupcakes as you like; I used a piping bag with a Wilton 1M tip. Decorate your cupcakes with a drizzle of caramel sauce and light sprinkling of coarse sea salt. So yummy!

Rosemary Flatbread

Flatbread is so humble and rustic yet undeniably satisfying. This recipe goes to show that simple, wholesome ingredients don’t need a lot to make a delicious meal. We served our flatbread with garlic ricotta - it was delicious. 

1 ½ cups Partially Sifted or Whole Wheat Flour
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
½ cup water
coarse sea salt

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in oil and water until well combined. Roll out the dough onto 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Don’t worry if your edges aren’t perfect – crooked edges give a nice rustic look. Brush with a little extra oil and sprinkle on some coarse sea salt.  Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until nicely browned. 

Dill Bread

We don’t post many bread recipes since there are too many variants that can turn all of your hard work into something you just use for stuffing, that and I’m not a great bread baker. However, this flavourful, hearty loaf is a no-fail recipe. We had ours with potato leek soup and it was divine! 

½ cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup cottage cheese, lukewarm
2 tsp dill weed
1 tbsp onion, finely minced
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 ½ cups Partially Sifted Flour or 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour & 1 ½ cups Partially Sifted Flour

In a large mixing bowl dissolve the yeast and sugar into the water. Once the yeast is bubbly, mix in the egg, cottage cheese, dill, onion, salt and butter. Finally, add in the flour and mix until well combined. Let the dough rise in a warm spot for an hour. Punch the dough down and form into a round loaf. Sprinkle with a bit of water and coarse sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F. Let cool before you slice.

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.