Tag Archives: Cookies

St. Lawrence Market Lunch & Goodies

June 20, 2016 8:23 am , Leave a Comment ,
Proscuitto & Cheese Plate

Our family doesn’t live in the city so we don’t frequent the St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto to buy their fresh meats and produce. We actually go there to eat lunch and buy some yummy goodies to take home. My main goal of heading down there every time is to buy some good cheeses. But along the way, we always end up buying a lot more than we planned for.

Alex Farm Products

I call Alex Farm Products cheese pushers because my aim is to buy one or two types of cheese but I always end up with five 😉 . I usually ask for strong cheeses because that’s what I like. The cheesemonger shaves off the different variety of cheeses and lets us sample them. This time he even gave us samples of soft cheeses, which I normally don’t get, and I ended up loving them! It’s like he can read my mind and knows what I like. I brought the cheeses home hoping the boys would try them. Of course they didn’t even try any of them. It was my toddler girl who ate every piece of cheese I gave her, even the stinky ones – she even asked for more! Maybe girls have a more sophisticated palette 😉 .

St. Lawrence Market - Alex Farm Products and Scheffler's Delicatessen & Cheese

Alex Farm Products and Scheffler’s Delicatessen & Cheese

Scheffler’s Delicatessen & Cheese

I remember having homemade prosciutto at a friend’s house and it was so delicious that I was tempted to make my own. Since I am not planning to cure a pork leg to make prosciutto anytime soon, I have to get my prosciutto fix at Scheffler’s Delicatessen & Cheese. I’m not sure if it’s the best place to get prosciutto at the Market but it’s definitely the most visible. They were super friendly and helpful and I ended up buying some pancetta and olives as well.

Proscuitto & Cheese Plate

Prosciutto & Cheese Plate

Buster’s Sea Cove

Every time we head down to St. Lawrence Market, we always head to Buster’s Sea Cove for lunch because the boys love seafood. We sat by the bar area while waiting for our food. I told the boys to watch the chef cook and learn some tips because they say they want to open a food truck when they grow up. The chef was super friendly and was chatting with the boys and he ended up adding some sauteed olives and red pepper topping to our grilled halibut. How nice!

Grilled Calamari with Fries – The boys’ favourite! Fresh and flavourful calamari. Perfectly cooked.

Grilled Halibut with Salad –  Big pieces of grilled halibut also cooked perfectly. The salad and coleslaw were equally as good.

Clam Chowder – My favourite! Creamy with chunks of clam – delicious! Even the boys loved it. (They usually don’t have clam chowder. They must’ve been really hungry!

Buster's Sea Cove - Grilled Calamari, Grilled Halibut, Clam Chowder

Buster’s Sea Cove – Grilled Calamari, Grilled Halibut, Clam Chowder

Uno Mustachio

Another eatery that we never miss is Uno Mustachio for their famous Italian sandwiches. I didn’t know the place was called Uno Mustachio. We always refer it as the big Italian sandwich place downstairs. Even if we are too full to eat there, we usually buy one or two sandwiches to take home. You can never go wrong with the Veal Eggplant Parmagiano sandwich. If you can’t decide, check out their menu first before heading there because it can get overwhelming with so many options.

Uno Mustachio - Italian Sandwich

Uno Mustachio – Italian Sandwich

Stonemill Bakery

Another must-go-to place while we are at the Market—Stonemill Bakery. Get there early because they sell out by late afternoon.

Italian Roasted Garlic Bread – The best bread ever! This bread makes the best croutons if you end up having any leftovers.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie and Chocolate Cookie with White Chocolate Chips – Chewy and soft.

Double Chocolate Croissant and Almond Croissant – Flaky with the perfect amount of filling.

Stonemill Bakery - Baked Goods

Stonemill Bakery – Baked Goods

Eve’s Temptations

If you know my husband, you know he’s a dessert lover. I thought the cookies and croissants were enough but he had to buy more to take home. We saw some delicious treats at Eve’s Temptations and of course we had to buy some. Here are the five desserts we got: Key Lime Chocolate Pie, Chocolate Peanut Butter Square, Lemon Square, Rum Ball, German Brownie and Peanut Butter Brownie.

Eve's Temptations - Desserts

Eve’s Temptations – Desserts

St. Lawrence Market is definitely a Memorable Place to visit for us. I remember going with just my husband before we had kids. Now bring the kids with us to these outings. They enjoy sampling the food as much as we do.

This concludes our outing to the St. Lawrence Market. We didn’t even hit the other food places we normally go to like the peameal bacon sandwich place and the Portuguese tart place. We’ll have to go back to the Market again soon to eat and explore some more!

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Chocolate Chips, Toffee Bits and Walnut Cookies

May 24, 2016 7:55 am , Leave a Comment ,

Cookies! C is for cookie and it’s good enough for me… This song sung by Cookie Monster is in my head more than I would like because my toddler girl is obsessed with her Sesame Street songs. But the cookie monster at my house is not her—it’s my husband! He absolutely loves cookies and is constantly hounding me to make them. With the limited time I have writing a food blog post every week, taking care of the kids, working from home, plus cooking meals everyday for my family of five, I cannot possibly be baking cookies everyday! (Believe me, I’m no Martha Stewart   😉 .) However, I would like to create the illusion that I’m a good homemaker so when people come to visit, I greet them wearing a frilly apron serving freshly baked cookies.

That’s what happened when I went over to one of my friend’s house (minus the frilly apron). She would bake fresh cookies for me on the fly. She says she always has a mixed batch of cookie dough in the fridge. So when people come over she just scoops the dough and bakes a small batch of cookies just enough for the guests to eat. This way she always serves freshly baked cookies! How clever is that?

These cookies made it as a Memorable Dish because absolutely everyone in my family requests them. I’ve perfected this recipe by combining chocolate chips, toffee bits and walnuts. My mouth waters just thinking about them. I tried making these cookies with just coconut oil to be a little healthier but I found they’re just not quite the same. So I compromised by using half butter and half coconut oil and really love the result. Cookies without the buttery taste are just not cookies! I also use half white and half whole wheat flour.

I would like to say that if unexpected guests come to visit they will be lucky enough to get some freshly baked cookies. Technically, I should have a stash of frozen cookie balls waiting to be baked and served. But if my family knows cookie balls are in the freezer, they would pace around the freezer like a bunch of hungry wolves every night waiting for those cookies to be baked. I don’t think they would rest until all the cookie dough is gone. Soooo the unexpected guests might not be so lucky to taste this Memorable Treat afterall 😉 .Chocolate Chips, Toffee Bits and Walnut Cookies

Chocolate Chips, Toffee Bits and Walnut Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

48 Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup Coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup All-purpose Flour
  • 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup Semi-sweet or Dark Chocolate Chips
  • 1 cup Toffee bits
  • 1 cup Chopped Walnuts

Preparation

  1. Heat oven to 375°F.
  2. In a large bowl, beat softened butter, coconut oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy.
  3. Beat in eggs and vanilla until creamy.
  4. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.
  5. Gradually blend the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
  6. Stir in chocolate chips, toffee bits and chopped walnuts.
  7. Drop approximately 1 tablespoon of cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheet.
  8. Make sure you have enough space in between the cookie dough because it will spread.
  9. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

Note #1: If you’re planning ahead (and if you remember), take the butter out of the refrigerator the night before so that the butter is at room temperature when baking. For best results, eggs should be room temperature too.

Note #2: If you want to make a larger batch to freeze, scoop the dough out into little balls and place them onto a cookie tray. Freeze the dough balls until they are hard. Then put them into freezer bags. When you are ready to eat them, place them on the cookie tray to bake. If you bake them frozen, cook them a little longer. If you defrost them to room temperature, bake them like you would normally would.

https://www.memorabledishes.com/chocolate-chips-toffee-bits-and-walnut-cookies/

Posted in: Dessert, Snack , Tagged: , , , , ,

Chinese Sesame Cookie Balls
(笑口棗）

February 8, 2016 6:39 am , Leave a Comment ,
Chinese Sesame Cookie Balls

Making Chinese New Year cookies with my mom is a yearly family tradition. We make two types of cookies and Sesame Cookie Balls is one of them. When we were young, my cousins would come over and and we would make an afternoon out of it. The fun and novelty of making these cookies wore off once we were older. However, my mom would still make a small batch every year to be festive.

When the boys were old enough to sit still, we attempted to make these cookies with them. It usually started calmly and they would listen to directions. They really enjoyed shaping and rolling the balls into the sesame. Chaos would start after five minutes of the whole process. Now that the boys are older, they don’t really listen to our instructions any more. So we have to make them extra dough for them to play with while we make the cookies ourselves. But they have fun nonetheless.

My mom follows an old recipe that she copied from some magazine or somewhere. She keeps the recipe in her little notebook. However, I find the measurements are a bit off. She uses a Chinese soup spoon to measure so I’m never sure if it’s quite right. I found a few recipes online that I think are close to my mom’s original recipe. I particularly like this recipe and used it as a guide. Start making this Memorable Treat for Chinese New Year and enjoy your special memories with your family!Chinese Sesame Cookie Balls

Chinese Sesame Cookie Balls
(笑口棗）

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Approximately 60 cookie balls

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 3 tbsp Hot Water
  • 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 1 Egg
  • 3/4 cup Raw White Sesame Seeds
  • Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation

  1. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda.
  2. In a small bowl, add 3 tbsp hot water to sugar and stir until dissolved. Allow to cool slightly before adding in 3 tbsp oil, and then the egg. Mix well.
  3. Add the sugar and egg mixture to the flour and stir together. Using your hands, knead the mixture until it forms a dough. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for about 30 mins.
  4. Roll out the dough and cut into small pieces (approx. 1.5 cm) and form them into balls.
  5. In batches, place the balls into a sieve and dip them into cold water briefly. Shake off excess water and roll them in the sesame seeds. Roll them lightly again before frying to ensure the sesame seeds stick to the balls.
  6. Fill a large pot or pan with 2 inches of vegetable oil and heat until hot.
  7. Add the sesame cookie balls into the hot oil and deep fry at a low temperature, about 4 to 5 minutes, turning the balls in the oil as they cook.
  8. If the heat is too high, the exterior will turn brown too quickly and the inside will be soft and raw. Just when they are about to turn golden brown, remove from heat and drain. They will continue to cook further and will crisp up when cooled.
https://www.memorabledishes.com/chinese-sesame-cookie-balls/

Posted in: Dessert, Snack , Tagged: , ,

Butter Cookies

December 21, 2015 8:41 am , 6 Comments ,
Butter Cookies

It’s almost Christmas time and if you haven’t done your Christmas baking yet, here’s a great butter cookies recipe. My friend originally found and shared this recipe with me and I have been using it since for my Christmas butter cookies. I love how easy it is to make and the results are always great!

I’ve been making this butter cookies recipe for years and everyone really enjoys them. Usually I roll the dough into a log, slice and bake them. I’ve also rolled them out and cut them into shapes and used icing to decorate them. Being not too keen on sweets, I use a half cup of sugar and use the whole egg instead of what the original recipe calls for. If you just use the egg yolk, the cookie turns out more shortbread-like, which is delicious too.

The kiddies always look forward to this Memorable Treat around Christmas time. I roll them out into a thinner roll and the cookies end up being smaller. The size is great for the kiddies’ hands. However, I end up eating more of them because they’re smaller 😉Butter Cookies

Butter Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

48 Cookies

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces unsalted Butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated Sugar
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1 large Egg yolk
  • 2 cups all-purpose Flour

Preparation

  1. Beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together until smooth and creamy.
  2. Mix in the egg yolk until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once.
  3. Add the flour and mix just until incorporated.
  4. Scrape onto a lightly floured board and knead a few times, just until the dough smooths out.
  5. Turn onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log, wrap up and refrigerate for several hours or freeze.
  6. Before baking, preheat the oven to 325°F.
  7. Line your baking sheets with parchment.
  8. Slice the dough into slices about 1/8" thick and place them on the sheets about an inch apart (they won't be spreading very much, but they need air room around each cookie).
  9. Bake until JUST beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 16-18 minutes.
  10. Note: you can do many things with these cookies.
  11. You could roll the dough out and cut shapes.
  12. You could slice them even thinner and sandwich them with chocolate or jam or lemon curd.
  13. You could make them and then dip them half into chocolate.
  14. You could just make them and eat them, which is my favorite.
  15. Whatever you do, they will be delicious.

Notes

For best results, make sure butter and egg should be at room temperature.

Original recipe from: Food.com

https://www.memorabledishes.com/butter-cookies/

Posted in: Dessert, Snack , Tagged: , ,
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