Crostoli or Frappe du Carnaval

Crostoli or Frappe du Carnaval

It’s Shrove Tuesday and everyone’s flipping pancakes and frying fritters. Me? I’m trying my hand at crostoli — a crispy, fried dough so light it’s almost like you’re not eating. Variations appear throughout Europe with different names and different shapes, but the distinctive blistered dough 

Blood Orange and Cherry Muffins

Blood Orange and Cherry Muffins

Be careful what you wish for. Earlier I begged for sunshine, and lots of it, as I gobbled blood oranges as fast as I could peel them.  I should have specified “with warm temperatures.” Mother Nature granted my request— in letter, not spirit. For the 

My Favourite Oatmeal Cookies

My Favourite Oatmeal Cookies

my Favourite Oatmeal Cookies I’ve decided to embrace winter. Not with skis or a toboggan. But with my imagination. When I scan the colourless world around me, I see myself as an astronaut floating in space — only I’m weaving about a universe where the 

Overnight Chocolate Chip Cookies

Overnight Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mother insists I didn’t drive her to what she politely referred to as “the brink of distraction.” She may well have found my inquisitive nature delightful, but my non-stop questions got under her skin. When Mom had reached her limit, she would cup her 

Portuguese Custard Tarts

Portuguese Custard Tarts

This photo wasn’t staged. It’s a real glimpse of my chaotic kitchen table, captured via my smartphone. The spoons are washed but remain uncleared from the Herb & Spice post. The dishes at the lower right are set out for lunch, and in the midst of 

Beer Batter Orange Crepes

Beer Batter Orange Crepes

This post will come as a surprise to those who know me. I’m not a beer drinker. Yet here I am creating a recipe using ale. Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA to be precise. Why? Because I was asked. And they specifically wanted a dessert, 

Zdena’s Walnut Crescent Cookies

Zdena’s Walnut Crescent Cookies

The Canadian Food Experience Project – The Christmas Edition – Walnut Crescent Cookies In our family, Christmas changes little, year to year. Once the New Year arrives and the decorations are packed away, all Christmases Past roll together into a single, hazy holiday scenario to 

Elizabeth Baird and Schnitz Pie

Elizabeth Baird and Schnitz Pie

Go to your bookshelf. Pull out your most dog-eared, battered, and beloved cookbooks. Who wrote them? If you’re Canadian, chances are at least one of them is by Elizabeth Baird and her intrepid team at the Canadian Living Test Kitchen. How many bear her name? 

Alice Eats Sunken Dark-Chocolate Cake

Alice Eats Sunken Dark-Chocolate Cake

Describing this cookbook as unconventional would be misleading. It doesn’t contain outrageously challenging recipes or impossible to get ingredients. You won’t find odd flavour combinations or dishes that look like storybook animals. If I may mix my fictional elements, Alice Eats is the James Bond martini