All Entries in the "Baking" Category
Walnut Balls
Someone requested for the recipe of the Walnut Balls brought by Ella during the Richmond Community Kitchen Potluck before Christmas break last year. So, Minoo looked up for the recipe and shared it in the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen.
Ella commented that these Walnut Balls are better than those made by her friend.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- 8 oz walnuts, chopped
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
Source: unknown
Prep time: 30 minutes; Bake time: 14 minutes; Yield 36 balls
Spinach Cake
This is a healthy cake. It has green power. It has the source of Popeye’s power. This cake is great for picky kids who defy vegetables.
The whipping cream makes this Spinach Cake more attractive.
Source: unknown
Prep time: 30 minutes; Bake time: 30 minutes; Yield 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250g (1/4 pound) spinach, washed, drained
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2.5 cups flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup whipped cream
- 3L Pyrex dish (we used a loaf pan which takes longer to bake because we cant find a Pyrex dish in this kitchen)
Cranberry Nut Loaf
Stella shared this lovely Cranberry Nut Loaf with the members of the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors. She was given a cook book by one of the members of the South Arm seniors titled “A World Community Cookbook’, Simply in Season. This recipe from extracted from this cookbook.
Stella insisted that everyone must try her cake because it is very rare for her to bake. Of course, we will never resist such a healthy cake loaded with flax seeds, cranberries and nuts.
Ingredients
Dry:
- 1 cup (250ml) whole wheat flour
- 1 cup (250ml) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (75ml) flax seed meal
- 1 1//2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet:
- 3/4 cup (175ml) sugar
- 3/4 cup (175ml) orange juice
- 1/4 cup (60ml) oil
- 2 tablespoons grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Additions:
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) sweetened dried cranberries (coarsely chopped)
- 1/2 cup (125ml) walnuts or pecans (chopped)
This recipe yields 1 loaf.
Amish Friendship Bread
Lorna gave me a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter back in October. ย Since then, I had made three batches of this Amish Friendship Bread and shared them with 9 friends.
This Amish Friendship Bread is more cake like to me. It is moist and taste very good. ย The only problem with the recipe is that you’ll end up with 4 bags of starter. ย You’ll have to share 3 bags with your friends if you decide to keep one for yourself. ย When I took the starter to the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors to share with the seniors, none of them want them. ย For those who has so much life experiences, at one point of time, they had tried this Amish Friendship Bread and end up with excess starters that they cant give away as many of their friends already have them. ย So, I’m going to change the recipe a bit so that I’ll end up with only one starter to keep the bread rolling. ย I hope it works.
Ingredients:
To be added to the starter on the 6th day:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup milk
To be added to the starter on the 10th day:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I’m going to cut this to 1/2 cup to create only 1 starter)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (I’m going to cut this to 1/2 cup to create only 1 starter)
- 1 1/2 cups milk (I’m going to cut this to 1/2 cup to create only 1 starter)
For the bread:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil plus 1/2 cup applesauce)
- 1 cup sugar (I reduced this to 1/2 cup)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon (I leave this for the chocolate marble loaf)
- 1 large box of vanilla instant pudding
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (I used vanilla)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- optional nuts, dates, dried cranberries, raisins, etc)
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (this is my own addition to create a chocolate marble loaf)
For topping (I left this out for my chocolate marble loaf):
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Best Cocoa Brownies
The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors made the Best Cocoa Brownies for sales in a Christmas craft fair hosted at the South Arm Community Center. ย The proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Richmond Food Bank. ย It is a good course for the Senior Kitchen.
This Best Cocoa Brownies are not the dense type. It is light and cakey. The aroma of cocoa fills the kitchen when the brownies are being bake.
While there were 3 pairs of people working on the brownies, 2 other members made a Butternut Squash Apple Soup for lunch. ย Charlene also brought some bread to go with soup.
During lunch, we had an apple tasting and apple guessing game. ย It’s a fun way to know our apples. ย I can only distinguish Gala and Granny Smith. ย Can you name the apples above?
Click on the images above to review the name of the apples.
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cold large eggs
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
This recipe is taken from Alice Medrich and it makes 16 2-inch brownies.
Spiced Pumpkin Bread
Under normal circumstances, I will end a series of the community kitchen meet up with the dessert but for this week’s South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors, I will start with dessert. ย The reason is, Charlene started off the day’s cooking with a quick briefing on baking. ย Charlene observed some very common mistakes in her several seniors kitchens and she decided to share them with this kitchen.
Baking is unlike other cooking that you can estimate the ingredients and more or less in fine. ย Baking is science as the right amount of ingredients are crucial for the reaction of the of the processes to achieve the right texture in the baking goods. ย Here is a summary of the briefing.
- One must use a dry ingredient measuring cup to measure dry ingredients. ย To measure flour, use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup until it overflows. ย Then, use a knife or spatula to level the flour. ย Do not tap the measurement cup as this will compact the flour and yield more flour than needed. Do not scoop the floor directly into the measuring cup and try to level the flour by pressing against the wall of the flour container as this will also compact the flour.
- One exception in measuring dry ingredient is measuring brown sugar. ย You have to pack the brown sugar and the brown sugar should take on the shape of the measuring cup when you turn it out.
- When measuring liquid, place the cup on a flat surface and check the liquid amount at eye level.
So, with the above fresh in mind, Ken and Frank started working on the Spiced Pumpkin Bread recipe.
This Pumpkin Bread recipe is adapted from Vern Bertana and it makes 2 loaves. ย This bread freezes well. ย Wrap the loaf with saran wrap and place in a ziplock back and store it in the freezer until you have company.
Toffee Apple Cake
Chris shared this Toffee Apple Cake recipe with the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors as dessert. ย According to Chris, this cake is tops. ย The best part is we can make most out the local apples in the fall.
This Toffee Apple Cake is very moist and almost custard like. ย The toffee bits topping add some crunch to it. This is certainly not a dietary kind of dessert. ย Well, it’s ok to let ourselvesย indulge for a treat once in a while.
Chris and Paul worked on this dessert. ย This recipe serves 24.
