Crazy Good Candied Pecans

March 16, 2019January 29, 2015 by Michel

Crazy Good Candied Pecans

This crazy good candied pecan recipe came from a golfing friend, Denise, who brought them to the annual Christmas party years ago and I have been making them ever since. They make for a wonderful holiday treat and certainly don’t last very long when you put them out. If you want any for yourself you may have to stash some away. The candied pecans are very addictive and everyone will be asking you for the recipe. In fact, I did have some requests so I promised to get the recipe out this week…..enjoy!

During the holiday season I make several batches of these pecans and give them as party favors and Christmas gifts in decorative bags with pretty ribbon and everyone goes crazy for them. Hence, the name “Crazy Good Candied Pecans”. Don’t miss my YouTube show “Crazy Good Candied Pecans” on how to make these addictive little morsels.

If you want some appetizer’s to have before these treats check out baked asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto, roasted garlic bean dip, buffalo chicken dip, or spanakopita and end with chewy chocolate chip cookies to go with the candied pecans!

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Ingredients:

4 cups of whole pecans
1 extra lg egg white
1 Tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1 Tsp cinnamon
1 Tsp salt

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 275º.
Beat egg white and water in a large bowl until frothy (not stiff) with a fork or whisk
Add pecans and mix to coat.
Then add the last 3 ingredients and stir until coated.
Coat the cookie sheet with 2 tbsp room temp butter to lightly cover the bottom, then spread the pecans onto the coated cookie sheet in an even layer
Take out to stir pecans around at the 25 minute mark and then gently shake pan to evenly distribute pecans on tray and back into the oven
Bake for total of 55 minutes – til fragrant
Take the pecans out of oven and run a spatula under the pecans to loosen them from the tray and then let the pecans cool right on the same baking tray
When the candied pecans are completely cooled up can package them up…enjoy!

Cake That Won’t Last

March 17, 2019April 22, 2014 by Michel

Cake That Won’t Last

″Cake that won’t last″ is the perfect name for this dessert and when you make it you will understand why. This recipe came my dear foodie friend Christine. She is a great cook and whips up dishes like me in the “old school” self taught way of culinary cooking by taste and instinct, without recipes! Christine is one of my friends who graciously throws outrageous cooking parties where laughter and smiles are always in abundance.

This “cake that won’t last” is more like a bread pudding that does a great job of holding together in an actual slice. So it is a little messy…it’s not like a perfect slicing cake and when you taste it you be very happy with exactly how it is. You don’t even need a Kitchen Aid Mixer with this cake…it’s all mixed easily by hand. Adding a good vanilla ice cream, one in particular that I really like is Hood “Homemade Vanilla” which goes great with this bread-pudding-cake making it even more indulgent! This is a great dinner party cake and your guests will never know how easy it was.

You may want to start with some appetizers on the lighter side like sea scallop ceviche, bacon wrapped scallops or maybe mussels in a fennel & lemon grass sauce, and for dinner…how about my grilled Asian salmon with cold asparagus salad, sautéed chicken and fresh spinach, chicken roulades with roasted garlic and cannelini bean purée, or sea bass with green goddess sauce.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup chopped up banana
1 cup canned crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup mandarin oranges with juice (if mandarin pieces are whole cut in 3’s)
1 cup canola oil
3 cups flour
1 1/2 Tsp vanilla extract
3 cup sugar
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350º
Butter and flour a bunt cake pan
Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing, set aside
Put all the wet ingredients in another large bowl and gently whisk just to combine
Add add the wet into the dry and using a spatula begin to stir to combine ingredients
Put bunt cake pan onto a cookie sheet and place into the oven for 1 hour
Place a piece of foil over the top after about 40 minutes so it doesn’t burn
Take out and let cool 10 minutes
Run a bendy pastry knife around the edges of the bunt pan to loosen it up
Lay a large cake dish over the bunt pan and flip the cake over
This cake is very moist and has bread pudding-like consistency so there may be some cake stuck to the bottom of the bunt pan after you flip the cake out…no worries just scrape any crispy or gooey parts off gently and put back onto cake top where it may be missing and you will also be sprinkling confectioners sugar over it
Put confectioner sugar into a sieve or fine mesh strainer and sprinkle onto cake
I like to serve this warm a la mode with Hood “Homemade Vanilla” ice cream

Hen and Heifers

March 5, 2014March 4, 2014 by Michel

Hen and Heifers

You will seriously think that you are in one of the finest Parisian patisseries when you first set eyes on these elegant creations at Hen and Heifers not to mention the very warm welcome you get upon entering. You pretty much feel like you’ve died and gone to patisserie heaven. I bought the individual lemon meringue tart, a cannele, and two hen sugar cookies. Wow, they were all amazing…you’ll want to take little bites and savour every flavor and texture. The lemon meringue tart had a subtle sweetness, a lemony tang and a velvety texture with a delicate crumble crust and a perfectly whipped and browned meringue topping in the shape of a tear drop. The cannele was slightly chewy on the outside with a firm vanilla custard almost sponge like in the middle and my kids, after trying the lemon meringue tart gobbled up the hen cookies with big smiles on there faces.

élan magazine just did a lovely feature on Hen and Heifers in their winter 2014 issue that you ought to read. If you haven’t seen the issue yet it talks about how they came up with the name. “Hens produce eggs, and heifers produce milk….the two most important ingredients that a bakery uses”. I think it’s ingenious! How lucky are we to have this kind of dedication right at our finger tips. Hen and Heifer’s will become your new weekend stop if it hasn’t already. Their hours are Thursday – Sunday and you can get more information on them at www.henandheifer.com.

Once you witness the artistic beauty and taste those heavenly sweet textures you know to leave such perfection to Hen and Heifers. On the other hand, if you want to have a little fun and feel like a french pastry chef for the day you’ve got to try my German pancake recipe…you will be impressed with yourself!

Chocolate-Avocado Mousse Recipe

May 5, 2016February 19, 2014 by Michel

Chocolate-Avocado Mousse

You will be amazed how this fruit can be transformed into a creamy, chocolatey mousse! Yes, an avocado is actually a fruit from an avocado tree. I read through so many recipes that it took a bit to figure out which chef inspired me here but I finally got it done. Some recipes have you grinding chia seeds to thicken the mousse but the avocado is already thick and creamy so I find that step unnecessary. Others have honey or a man-made “all natural” sweetener added in but I think the agave nectar is the best option.

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentis’ team except I change it up by adding a little more chocolate and by using Perugina “milk“ chocolate bars (Italian) or Ghirdelli milk chocolate chips instead of the Ghiradelli semi sweet chips. This mousse is pretty rich so using the creamy milk chocolate bars lightens it up a bit and another reason being I wanted to get my two children to eat the mousse …they love the milk chocolate. Yes, that would be the kids who don’t eat anything green. I told you I would get them to eat something green sooner or later. I just left out the part that one of their favorite desserts, chocolate mousse, was made with avocado’s when serving it up to them…needless to say they LOVED it! They will thank me some day.

Make sure to watch my YouTube cooking show that goes with this recipe and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE on my YouTube channel so that you can receive my latest cooking show releases!

Ingredients:

4 VERY RIPE-California avocado’s (SOFT not TOO MUSHY because they get brown inside)
7 oz. Perugina milk chocolate bars chopped up ( 2- 3.5 oz bars)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp fine salt
fresh raspberries and whipped cream for garnish-optional
Fresh mint

Directions:

Chop up all the avocado’s and put them into the food processor.
In a small bowl melt the chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar in the microwave for 30 seconds x3 stirring at each interval…..WATCH so as not to BURN the chocolate (everyone’s microwave is a little different).
Add the melted chocolate, and the next 5 ingredients to the food processor and purée for 30 seconds, stop to scrape the sides, then purée for 1-2 minutes, stop to scrape the sides and purée for 10-20 seconds more.
Scoop out the avocado mousse into your favorite glasses or bowls.
The mousse will be slightly warm from the food processor so put the glasses or bowls into the refrigerator for 2 hours to chill before serving.
Garnish with whipped cream and raspberries…Yum!

TIP: There is an easy way to get the pit out of a avocado which I have displayed in the pictures above. After running the knife around the flesh of the avocado against the edges of the inside pit… put the knife down and twist the avocado halves and pull apart. Then stick the knife into the pit and do the same thing holding on to the knife with one hand and carefully twist the avocado pit and it will pop right out. Then knock the pit off onto the board away from your hands. This can be a little tricky the first time so I would advise that this would be for an adult to try. Finally, Insert a large spoon and scoop the avocado along the edge of the avocado skin to remove avocado flesh.

TIP: VERY IMPORTANT….it is wise to remove this end stem off the avocado because it would taste extremely bitter if it were to accidentally get into the mousse.