Local Cookbooks

[Ling]

I've posted my version of Karen's cake HERE, and the original recipe is posted in THIS THREAD, as per Egullet recipe guidelines (i.e. directions are paraphrased.)

Of course, I would still recommend this cookbook to anyone thinking about getting it! The "Oatmeal Raisin cake with broiled Coconut Cashew Icing" on page 235 looks like a great dessert for a rainy day, and I just know that the "Chocolate, Croissant and Almond Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream" on page 274 will be good too! (I make ALL my bread puddings with croissants, yolks only, and half-and-half or heavy cream, so this is my kind of recipe! )

[makanmakan]

"Chocolate, Croissant and Almond Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream" on page 274 will be good too! (I make ALL my bread puddings with croissants, yolks only, and half-and-half or heavy cream, so this is my kind of recipe!  )

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dayummm! *insert drool smiley*

[*Deborah*]

"Chocolate, Croissant and Almond Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream" on page 274 will be good too! (I make ALL my bread puddings with croissants, yolks only, and half-and-half or heavy cream, so this is my kind of recipe!  )

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dayummm! *insert drool smiley*

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Lorna's food is on several government High Cholesteral Watch Lists. Occasionally the US sends the CIA to check out her kitchen, too...

[Zucchini Mama]

"Chocolate, Croissant and Almond Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whipped Cream" on page 274 will be good too! (I make ALL my bread puddings with croissants, yolks only, and half-and-half or heavy cream, so this is my kind of recipe!  )

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dayummm! *insert drool smiley*

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Lorna's food is on several government High Cholesteral Watch Lists. Occasionally the US sends the CIA to check out her kitchen, too...

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Shucks Ling, I would have taken you for a pain au chocolat bread pudding kind of gal! (I have a recipe for that somewhere in my stack of food mags.)

Edited January 18, 2006 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[Ling]

^Ohh...I haven't done that yet, but I have tried lodging chocolate chunks around the torn-up pieces of croissant, before carefully pouring the custard over top...so same thing, right?

I tried Karen's recipe for peanut butter cookies today. The large amount of cornstarch (1:2) with AP flour yields a remarkably tender and fragile cookie that almost dissolves in your mouth.

I compared it to my old favourite peanut butter cookie recipe, and they are quite similar. Karen's has more brown sugar to white sugar (2:1) while my other recipe has a 1:1 ratio of sugars and more egg, and less flour.

I love both recipes. My old PB recipe makes really thick, almost fudge-like PB cookies, but Karen's have a nicer texture and are still peanut-buttery. I think the two recipes combined would make, in my opinion, the very best PB cookies ever!!

[Wojo]

I'd like to mention "The Girls Who Dish" cookbook, which contains a medley of recipes from eight of the West Coast's most recognized female chefs including Karen Barnaby and Margaret Chisholm.

I have only tried a few recipes, although there are many more that interest me. I absolutely love the Jerk Chicken with Cucumber Lime Salsa. It's easy to make and popular with dinner guests.

I believe 'the girls' put out another cookbook, as well.

[Ling]

I modified the PB cookie recipe from Karen's book and I think these are the best PB cookies I've ever tasted.

(The Valrhona ganache and the chopped honey roasted peanuts didn't hurt either. )

[prasantrin]

I modified the PB cookie recipe from Karen's book and I think these are the best PB cookies I've ever tasted. 

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Gotta recipe to share? I have a Costco-sized jar of peanut butter to use up--and I don't even really like peanut butter! But buttery peanut butter cookies, I think I can handle!

[annanstee]

Oooh, yes Ling, PLEASE give us the recipe for those fabulous looking cookies!

[fud]

You know....PB cookies are my favorite! My cookie recipe was given to me by a college roomate who's expertise was beer. No there's no beer in the cookies but I can't really say it's the best recipe for PB cookies.

Come to think of it I have no other recipes for my favorite cookie.

[Ling]

Thanks for the interest...the recipe can be now found here: PB cookies

[prasantrin]

Thanks for the interest...the recipe can be now found here: PB cookies

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Thanks! It's on my baking list for tomorrow--just one question--do you flatten the cookies before making, or just scoop and bake?

I don't have a Silpat here (and even if I did, it wouldn't fit in my Japanese-sized oven ), so I might turn down the temperature a bit.

[Ling]

^You can use parchment or grease the cookie sheets. I flatten them to about 1/2 an inch, and Karen says to flatten them to 1/4 an inch. (I like them thicker but that's entirely up to you.)

[prasantrin]

^You can use parchment or grease the cookie sheets. I flatten them to about 1/2 an inch, and Karen says to flatten them to 1/4 an inch. (I like them thicker but that's entirely up to you.)

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Thanks! The dough is sitting in my fridge as I type (actually, there was no room in my fridge so it's on my balcony--who says 5C weather isn't good for anything?). I'm going to bake a few off to bring to a friend for lunch.

I just made some Korova dough, too.

[Ling]

I made the spice cake out of Rob Feenie's Lumiere cookbook today, substituting the cloves for cardamom. I topped it with a quick streusel topping (no recipe, just eyeballed the measurements like I always do. )

(Those...wet spots you see are actually raisins. I take bad photos, sorry!)

Click here for the photo!

Edited January 24, 2006 by Ling (log)

[annanstee]

Thanks for the interest...the recipe can be now found here: PB cookies

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Thanks Ling!

[Zucchini Mama]

I made the Blueberry Cornmeal pancakes from the rebar cookbook and added the grated peel of a blood orange. We only used half the batter, so I left the other half in a jar in the fridge for a couple of days and the second batch cooked up better and the peel infused the batter nicely. We had it with whipped cream leftover from dessert the night before and organic maple syrup from Bath, New Brunswick. I like this recipe as it is very specific and gives very clear directions, which is what you need when you're cooking first thing in the morning!

Zuke

[canucklehead]

Has anyone ever cooked out of Bill Jone's cookbooks. Hear Jurgen Goth talking about him during the drive home today. His cookbooks have won alot of awards and he seems very active in the Cowichan Valley.

Just wanted to see if there was anyone who has first had experience with his work.

[prasantrin]

Thanks!  The dough is sitting in my fridge as I type (actually, there was no room in my fridge so it's on my balcony--who says 5C weather isn't good for anything?).  I'm going to bake a few off to bring to a friend for lunch. 

I just made some Korova dough, too. 

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I saved the rest of the cookies for some of my students (they're seniors and I had my last class with them yesterday). We played a game and the winning teams in each class got peanut butter cookies, and they loved them! And these are Japanese kids, who generally don't care for peanut butter! Definitely a winner recipe, even if you don't like peanut butter!

[snacky_cat]

I just made John Bishop's Caramelized Apple Upside-Down Ginger Cake from the Simply Bishop's winter desserts section. It was, as the book's title would indicate, quite simple (though perhaps one of the most advanced dishes in the book, requiring the dirty of - gasp! - three whole bowls/pots). I was going to take a photo but wasn't happy with how the cake released from the pan, so I've spared you all the shot of the apple-topped turd cake that the final product so closely resembled.

That said, it was a great turd cake. It had a wonderful texture, sort of cake meets souffle, with a nice light crumb. It looks heavy on the plate, but it ends up light on the mouth. I would recommend upping the spice levels in the recipe - neither the ginger nor the cinammon was very prominent, and I like a really spicy cake. It bakes up quite puffy, so when you invert it, you have to smush it down on the plate to get it to sit. And for god's sake, use the parchment paper. I thought I could get away with a decent Wilton non-stick springform sans papier, but prying the base from the top of the cake was an exercise in the art of the delicate touch.

[annanstee]

I have lumiere and love it... but haven't cooked from it in a while.

Inspired by this thread, I went and bought Karen Barnaby'

s The Passionate Cook, and at this moment the oven is preheating for the apple muffins. This recipe is also in Pacific Passions, her first book, which I have. I went by Barbara-Jo's at Granville Island the other day and the only local books I could find were Feenies and Jamie's Vancouver Chefs book. Wonder why?

Edited to add:

Muffins were a big hit. I decided to do six huge ones instead of 15 small, and they took about 35 mins. Next time I would add some ginger to the mix.

Lots of good looking recipes in this book- I am looking forward to trying MORE!

Edited January 29, 2006 by annanstee (log)

[Zucchini Mama]

I have lumiere and love it... but haven't cooked from it in a while.

Inspired by this thread, I went and bought The Passionate Cook, and at this moment the oven is preheating for the apple muffins. This recipe is also in Pacific Passions, her first book, which I have. I went by Barbara-Jo's at Granville Island the other day and the only local books I could find were Feenies and Jamie's Vancouver Chefs book. Wonder why?

Edited to add:

Muffins were a big hit. I decided to do six huge ones instead of 15 small, and they took about 35 mins. Next time I would add some ginger to the mix.

Lots of good looking recipes in this book- I am looking forward to trying MORE!

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For those with short memory spans (i.e. me), can we all put the name of the cookbook and the author together? Thanks!

I put a link to the cookbooks Karen Barnaby has authored or contributed to here.

I find the Book Warehouse and Blackberry Books to be good sources for local cookbooks. There is a beautiful Book Warehouse right near the Hamilton Street Grill.

[snacky_cat]

A further note re: the Simply Bishop's Caramelized Apple Upside-down Ginger Cake I made above - I ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day and the spice flavours had developed a lot more. If you want a more spicy cake, just leave the cake overnight, slice, then nuke for 30sec or so to warm it up.

[Ling]

Not that Neil has a cookbook (yet--but he should!) but I thought you might be interested in seeing the infamous gingerbread pudding recipe, with a few liberties.

The original recipe can be found here: HSG gingerbread pudding

I used the fresh ginger and buttermilk cake recipe, and did the custard portion with whipping cream only (no milk) and 5 egg yolks. I also steeped fresh ginger into the whipping cream for the caramel sauce, to make a gingered caramel.

(I actually did a "nice" gingerbread pudding in a ramekin so I could make a plated dessert, but somehow the brown-cylinder look wasn't working for me, so I dished up a portion from the large batch I was baking alongside my ramekin for the photo.)

CLICK for the photo!

Edited January 29, 2006 by Ling (log)

[pissaladiere]

I tried the Gingerbread pudding posted on dining out guide for a Christmas Eve dessert. It was very well received and yummy. Spicy, caramelly goodness. I served it with a pistachio ice cream. I must admit that I've yet to try the one at the Hamilton Street Grill. I don't know if it was the pan that I prepared it in, but in the end it seemed that I didn't have quite enough custard for the amount of cake. Did you find that one cup of milk or cream was enough custard?