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Author Archives: andreamacleod

How to make Ladyfingers

I am making Tiramisu from scratch. The basis for that Italian dessert are Ladyfingers. Although you can buy them int he store, the recipe recommends “quality” ones. I figured I could make them myself, which would be quality ones. Right?

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Peanut Butter Cookies

When most people think about North America/USA/Canada and cookies they think Chocolate Chip Cookies. I love them myself but I also love variety, so Peanut Butter Cookies seem to be a good way to switch it up. Unless you are allergic to peanuts, in that case you should stay away from them. Fortunately, neither am I not my husband allergic and so I baked some last night. My husband is a little cookie monster, having cookies in the cookie jar is a must. I promised for ages to make some more but never had the time.

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Apricot Dumplings

It was fairly hot the past week here in Saskatoon and I was thinking about summer dishes that we would eat back home. First thought was a dish that involved cherries and I asked my mother for the recipe. However, I wasn’t yet settled on that one so I kept thinking and finally thought of Apricot Dumplings. My grandmother used to make them but I mostly remember them from visits to my aunt in Austria. It’s one of those dishes that I associate with a certain person and that is stuck with me forever.

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Rhubarb Streusel Cake

So, you made some quark and now you are wondering what to do with it. Make some Rhubarb Streusel Cake, or for that matter, any Streusel cake. It is really easy to make and super delicious. Frankly, this is the only way I like my rhubarb. Now you might say “But aren’t there suppose to be strawberries in your rhubarb cake?” Nope, not this one. Don’t be afraid, it won’t be sour.

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How to make Quark

Your first question, if you are not German or European, would be: What is quark? The answer is not as easy as I wish it would be. Let me start with a general introduction and we can go from there. Quark is very common in Germany, especially in Quarktorte or Käsekuchen, our cheese cake. It’s also used with herbs on baked potato. Now you might say “Ah, like cream cheese or sour cream?!”, no, not quiet.

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Croissants on the BBQ

It’s been over a week or so that we had some nasty weather here in Saskatoon. The forecast said something about rain, storm, possibly hail, basically nasty weather. When I drove home it looked more or less ok but I knew it was coming. That day we also planned to have friends over for supper (including their kids). We were still debating on stove or BBQ and while I started on the croissants the power went out.

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Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

My friend Maki asked me to do three desserts for her Studio Grand Opening: cake pops, cookies, and cupcakes. Since the cake pops were with fruit and the cookies were sugar cookies I decided she needed something with chocolate to balance the dessert table. The book “125 best Cupcake recipes” from Julie Hasson is really great for some inspiration. However, most of the chocolate cupcake recipes uses buttermilk and at that time I had none in my house. But fear not, there is a simple solution.

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Home-made Banana Pudding

We have rather crappy weather these days which means there is only one course of action: bake, cook or make comfort food in any way you can. Pudding falls into that category. Banana is a favourit flavour of my husband so the other day I made him some home-made banana pudding. He was very happy.

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Berry Cake Pops and Raspberry Cake

A friend of my, the talented Maki from Maki Fotos, asked me to make some cake pops for her Studio Grand Opening. She had a good idea of what she wanted and after some communication and brainstorming it was settled.

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Dora the Explorer and Diego Cookies

I was asked the other day to make some Dora and Diego cookies, the main characters of the “Dora the Explorer” TV cartoon. Sugar cookies and Royal icing here I come! This was something new for me because I mostly do regular cookies, desserts and cakes, not so much decorated cookies. But I took on the challenge and I think it turned out pretty good. Sure, there are those cookie magicians who can do crazy things with Royal Icing and they would have done a better job. Yet, I think I did the best I can and the characters are recognizable.

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