Questions for the Kitchen: What's a Stick of Butter?

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan

In the USA, butter is sold in 'sticks', unlike here in Canada. We get 1 lb blocks, and it's never referred to as 'sticks' so when baking from a US recipe, it can get a little confusing. I really hate recipes that call for something like 12 tbsp of cold butter because it's hard to chisel off some, and I'd like to just slice a hunk off and weigh it or something.

I thought you might like to know too, so I tracked down the conversions. Yay!

Conversion:

1 stick of butter = 1/4 lb

1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup

1 stick of butter = 8 tbsp

1 stick of butter = 4 oz

1 stick of butter = 113 grams

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Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Awhile ago I promised a friend that I would bake some cookies, and when asked what kind he liked, oatmeal was at the top of the list. I have a few oatmeal cookie recipes, but my philosophy is you can never have too many. This one is full of rolled oats, raisins, and you allow the dough to cool in the fridge so that when you bake up the cookies, they come out nice and soft and chewy.

Did you know this? Cold/cool ingredients means you'll have soft, chewy cookies. Warm ingredients means you'll have crisp cookies. So for all those times that you made cookies and couldn't figure out why the heck they were hard and crunchy vs. soft and chewy, there you go!

These babies bake up nice and chewy, perfect for dunking in a glass of milk. I made a batch to send to our friend, and then another batch for myself. I'd try swapping out the raisins for some dried cherries, and add in a bit of nuts if you like.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

With your electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the brown sugar. Continue to beat until well combined, then add the egg and vanilla. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl again to make sure everything is well combined.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With your mixer turned on low speed, add it to the flour mixture and let it all come together until it's just combined. Stir in the oats and the raisins.

Measure out your cookie dough onto sheets with a tablespoon, placing them about an inch or so apart and flattening them slightly with your hand. Place the cookie sheet in the fridge to chill for awhile-oh, I'd say about 20 minutes. Or you can do what I did, and just cover the dough and chill it for about that long before you scoop it out onto the pans.

Bake them for 10-12 minutes at 350 F. The edges will be browned, and the tops just barely set. Let them sit on the pan for a bit before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool.

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen (if you want more, this recipe is easily doubled!)

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Butternut Squash and Chorizo Soup

Truth be told, I haven't been a fan of any of Jamie's soups from his Food Revolution Cookbook. Oh sure, they were okay but there seemed to be something missing. This soup, chock full of smokey sausage, sweet squash and a hint of curry is hands down one of my favorite recipes in the entire book. I made a few small changes, namely not pureeing the whole thing but reserving some delicious chunky veggies to add a little more texture, and using butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes.

Amazing. But be warned, the soup does get hotter from the curry and chorizo as it sits, so be prepared!

Adapted from Jamie Oliver

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 3/4 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 heaped tsp curry powder
6 cups chicken stock
300 grams of chorizo sausage, chopped into bite sized pieces

In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat and add the carrots, celery, onions, garlic, squash,and chorizo. Give it a good stir, and then add in the curry, and mix it well to coat. Turn the heat to about medium, and put the lid on the pot slightly askew. Let it cook for about 10 minutes, checking and stirring every now and then to make sure that it's all cooking and nothing is burning. The veggies will go all soft and delicious smelling, at which point you will be tempted to just stick your head into the pot and slurp up all these soft, spicy, deliciously fragrant vegetables.

Meanwhile, heat up the chicken stock in another pot so that it's good and hot.

Once your veggies are softened to the point where the carrots are soft but still hold their shape, pour in the broth. I have reduced the amount in this recipe, but you can always feel free to add more. I like my soup fairly thick, so you can eyeball it at this point. Give it a good stir to loosen any tasty bits that may have found their way to the bottom of the soup pot. Simmer gently for a few minutes to make sure all the veggies are cooked through.

Now, at this point you can go about your soup two ways. You can, theoretically, use a blender or an immersion blender to blitz the whole thing into submission and silky smoothness. Or, if you are like me and adore a more chunky soup, get a slotted spoon and fish out about 1/3 - 1/2 of the bits of veggie and sausage. Set them aside in a bowl, then process the remaining soup until smooth. Add the reserved veggies and sausage back to the soup, give it a stir, and there you go. Done!

Makes 4-5 servings

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Three Seed Biscuits

I love biscuits, hot and delicious right from the oven to eat with my soup. This recipe is a healthier version of biscuits, with the addition of whole wheat flour, along with sunflower, flax, and sesame seeds. I love the nutty flavor the seeds give them, and they are delicious with soup, chili, hummus, or even as a snack with honey.

Adapted from Canadian Living

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup milk (I used buttermilk, and because it's so thick, I added a little extra to make the dough come together)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Pre-heat oven to 425 F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in the milk until the mixture is a raggy dough, and turn out onto a lightly floured counter. When I used the buttermilk, I added a little more because the mixture seemed kind of dry. Using your hands, bring the mixture together and knead it gently about 10 times until it comes together and is a soft, slightly sticky dough. Pat into a 7x7 inch square.

With a sharp knife, cut the square into quarters, and then each quarter into 3 pieces, or sticks. Place them on a baking sheet and then brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes, until golden on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12

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Quite Possibly the Best Chocolate Chunk Cookies in the Universe

As far back as I can remember, my favorite cookie has been the basic chocolate chunk. Warm from the oven, dripping with hunks of chocolate, they have always been my favorite. I hold to the philosophy that you can never have too many cookie recipes, nor too much chocolate in cookies. Of course, right?

Over the last month I was sent some absolutely amazing chocolate by Cacao Barry to try baking with. It was really hard not to just sit down and eat it all in one sitting, but we managed. Along with some Madagascar vanilla from the Vanilla Food Company, I was confident that I could make some really amazing cookies, I just needed the right recipe.

That's when Green and Blacks sent me their Ultimate Chocolate Recipe collection. As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many chocolate cookbooks and this one had me so excited to find new recipes to try.



These cookies are amazing-truly decadent; chewy and yet thin, with big hunks of rich dark chocolate throughout. I won't lie and deny that they are probably so good because of the quality of the chocolate, vanilla, and butter, so I'm asking that for this recipe, you find the very best quality chocolate you can.





We used Cacao Berry's 70% Cuba and 70% Saint-Domingue which upon tasting, were declared our favorites out of the bunch. So creamy and delicious yet still dark, they were the perfect match for these cookies. You could substitute milk chocolate if you wanted to. If you are interested in buying some of the chocolate yourself to try, The Vanilla Food Company also sells it. I don't know...once tasting how amazing such quality ingredients are in baking, it will be very hard to go back to mediocre, and I think I'll be placing an order!

Adapted from Green and Black's Ultimate Chocolate Recipes
9 tbsp (or 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup muscovado sugar (I used a dark brown sugar, it was fine)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
7 oz dark (70% cocoa solids, or less if you prefer) chocolate, chopped into chunks

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

Cream your butter together with the sugars on low speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Beat in the eggs and then the vanilla, until well combined. Scrape down the bowl again.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend on low speed until just combined. Stir in the oatmeal and the chocolate by hand.

Now here is where the instructions get interesting, as I've never done this with cookies before; chill the dough for about 20 minutes or so. Line your baking sheets with parchment, because the melting chocolate will stick to the pans. You don't want to waste amazing chocolate, that's for sure. These babies are FULL of chocolate.

Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

Scoop out the dough, about 2-3 tbsp at a time and roll in your palms to about the size of a ping pong ball. Place on the parchment lined sheets about 3 inches apart or so, and flatten the balls slightly with the palm of you hand as you go. These babies will spread nicely and look fairly flat. Don't worry, they stay chewy. (This is why you chill the dough. Chilled dough = chewy). Once you have filled up one pan, place the remaining dough in the fridge to keep cold until you need to scoop them out.

Bake them, one pan at a time (because I'm anal like that), in the middle of your oven for about 10-12 minutes. The edges will become browned and while the tops will look a bit squooshy, keep a very close eye in the last 2 minutes or so because they will set up just slightly. Remove the pan from the stove and let the cookies sit there for about 5 minutes before removing them to a metal rack to cool completely.

Makes about one and a half dozen, depending on how much cookie dough you eat.

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Questions for the Kitchen: US to Metric Volume Conversion

Photo credit: Vitriolicviolin

If there is anything I really hate, it's trying to figure out how to convert things from metric to cups, or ounces. Drives me nuts!

Never fear. I found them ALL for you.

US Volume equivalents

1 1/2 tsp = 1/2 tablespoon
3 tsp = 1 tablespoon
2 tbsp = 1 oz = 1/8 cup
8 oz = 16 tbsp = 1 cup
2 c = 1 pint = 16 oz
2 pints = 1 quart = 4 cups = 32 oz
4 quarts = 1 gallon = 16 cups = 128 oz
US Volume to Metric Volume

1/4 tsp = 1.23 ml

1/2 tsp =2.5 ml

3/4 tsp = 3.7 ml

1 tsp = 4.9 ml

1 1/2 tsp = 7.5 ml

2 tsp = 10 ml

3 tsp (1 Tbsp) = 15 ml

1/8 cup (2 Tbsp/1 oz) = 30 ml

1/4 cup (4 Tbsp/2 oz) = 60 ml

1/2 cup (8 Tbsp/4oz) = 120 ml

3/4 cup (12 Tbsp/6 oz) = 180 ml

1 cup (16 Tbsp/8 oz) =240 ml

2 cups (32 Tbsp/16 oz)= 480 ml

2 1/4 cups (18 oz) = 540 ml

2 1/2 cups (20 oz) = 600 ml

2 3/4 cups (22 oz) = 660 ml

3 cups (24 oz 1 1/2 pints)= 720 ml

4 cups (1 quart/ 32 oz) = 960 ml

4 quarts (1 gallon/ 128 oz) 3.8 liters

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French Onion Soup

French onion soup as always been one of my favorite things to order in a restaurant. Maybe it's all that melty cheese the drips down the side of the bowl and gets all stringy on your fingers, but whatever it is, French onion wins the prize for my soup favorite.

The other day I had a craving, but I'm without those nifty soup bowls that can go under the broiler. What's a girl to do? Just toast the bread with the cheese and plop on top of the soup, silly. Which works in theory, yes. But I still want my own set of nifty onion soup bowls.

A word about the onions; in my research, I found that Walla walla and Vidalia onions are way too sweet for this soup, so avoid using them.

Now, I'm told that French onion soup actually tastes better if you let it sit a day, and after experimenting with my own I agree. Make this a day ahead, and you'll have it all ready to go right when you need it!

Adapted from Michael Smith

onions:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp oil
5 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper
splash of water

broth:
1/2 cup brandy (or apple juice)
3 cups chicken broth
sprigs of fresh thyme
3 cups beef broth (because I didn't have all chicken, and it was delicious!)
4 slices of your favorite bread, toasted and trimmed so it will fit into the bowls
2 cups of grated Swiss cheese

In a large, deep pan, melt the butter over medium high heat and add the oil to it. Dump in all your onions and add a splash of water (about a few tablespoons), season with a little salt and pepper, then cover with a lid and let simmer away for about 10 minutes.

The water should evaporate; my onions had a lot of liquid in them so it didn't for quite awhile. Remove the lid, turn the heat down to medium low, and keep cooking the onions, stirring occasionally. They will slowly caramelize and turn a deep brown, over the course of about an hour. Give them some love because this is where the flavor for your soup comes from!

In a pot, measure the broths, brandy, and a few springs of fresh thyme. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat and then turn it down and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the caramelized onions and stir.

Let the soup cool and refrigerate overnight. When you choose to serve, heat the soup up on the stove and ladle into oven proof bowls, then top with toasted bread cut to fit the bowl, sprinkle with cheese, and broil in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Serves 4.

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Chipolte Brownies

Close to Christmas, I went to a friend's house to have some tea and she served the most amazing brownies. Perfectly chewy but fudgy in the middle, with a teeny bit of spicy heat, they were amazing.

So of course I begged for the recipe and she, being the most wonderful friend in the world, complied.

Now I made a few changes of course, and you may want to try them, or keep the recipe as is. We're lucky to have access to Denman Island Mole Chocolate, which is amazing in these brownies, with a little smoky heat at the end but so very subtly and certainly not too spicy. In fact, if you aren't looking for it you might miss the slightly spicy after taste. If you have Denman Island Mole Chocolate available, I say you should try it. If you don't, follow the recipe as is with the cayenne pepper. I also used some cocoa from the Vanilla Food company, which was just amazing in this recipe. So dark and rich, I'm spoiled for any other cocoa again.

At any rate I dare you to eat just one. I doubt you'll be able to!

Adapted from In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite by Melissa Clark

1 cup plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (or 2 Denman Island Chocolate Mole bars)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I used Madagascar vanilla from The Vanilla Food Company)
Maldon salt, for sprinkling (I omitted)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F, and then line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper

In a medium sized saucepan over low heat or in a double boiler, melt the butter and chopped chocolate together, stirring, until smooth. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly.

While your chocolate is getting all melty and fabulous, whisk the flour, salt, and cayenne in a bowl and set aside.

Measure out the sugar and cocoa into a large bowl and dump the melted chocolate mixture right on top, whisking it up until it's well combined. Gently whisk in the eggs and vanilla, stirring it well until it's all thick and glossy.

Stir in the flour mixture gently. You don't want to overmix it. Sprinkle with Maldon salt flakes (or you could just do without) Spread the batter into your lined 9x13 inch pan, smoothing the top so it's all even.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Makes 24 (2 inch) brownies

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Apple Ginger Muffins

Sometimes I bake muffins for the school that I work at, usually to gift the breakfast program or to hand out to kids when they arrive without a lunch. Awhile ago there were some apples rolling around and inspired by this recipe, I decided to make some applesauce and then use the sauce in these muffins.

I don't know about you, but I'm one who doesn't really like a lot of chewy 'stuff' in my muffins. Oh, I'm good with chocolate or pieces of real fruit, but raisins or dried fruit usually isn't my thing. Since the great pantry invasion just after Christmas (bugs, not teenagers), it's also taking a little time to re-accumulate all the bits of baking ingredients I once had.

(note: the invasion hitched a ride home in the form of some contaminated food. Can happen to anyone, no matter how clean your kitchen is. Now I have all my pantry stuff stored in some really nifty containers! More on that later.)

With this recipe, I decided to take the plunge and try it with just the raisins and candied ginger, since I didn't have any cranberries. I had never actually tried candied ginger, but a friend of mine loves the stuff so much that she'd eat a whole bag so I thought I'd give it a go. The verdict? I still don't like chewy things in my muffins. The flavor is delicious, but I just don't like the bits. Next time I'd like to try them with chocolate chips and nuts, leave the add-ins out altogether, or even put in some pieces of actual apple.

Adapted from Crepes of Wrath

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup applesauce
7 tbsp melted unsalted butter
3/4 cup old fashioned oats

original recipe:
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup crystallized ginger

My version-try omitting the raisins, cranberries and ginger, instead add 1/4 cup chopped nuts and 2/3 cup chocolate chips.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, applesauce, and butter. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until just moistened.

Fold in the oats, chocolate chips, and nuts (or the dried fruit if you are going that route).
Spoon batter into paper lined muffin cups and sprinkle the tops with either more oats or some coarse sugar, which is my favorite way to top muffins. Bake at 400 F for 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the top comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

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