English Muffins and Cupcakes - A Birthday Spectacular

Last Month was the Spectacular Jocey's birthday. She spent it at the cottage with her family, but as soon as she got back, we knew that we had to do something special.

So we had a sleepover. 

And let me tell you, it was awesome! We spent almost the entire time cooking and baking. gossiping and drinking! 

The first thing we did was make english muffins. We had spent quite a bit of time the week before going over recipes and trying to find one that sounded good. This one involved a griddle, and since Jocey has one, we decided to give it a shot.

1 cup milk

2 tbsp white sugar

1 pkg dry active yeast

1 cup warm water

1/4 cups melted shortning

6 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

Warm milk until it bubbles, remove from heat (185'). Mix in sugar until disolves. Let cool until luke warm.

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. (adding a pinch of sugar and flour really helps this along) Let stand for 10 mins.

In a large bowl combine milk, yeast, shortening and 3 cups of  flour. Beat until smooth.

Add salt and the rest of the flour or enough to make the dough soft. 

Kneed.

Place in a greased bowl and let it rise.

Punch down, then roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out biscuits.

Sprinkle wax paper with cornmeal and set rounds on the paper to rise. Dust the tops with cornmeal.

Heat griddle. Cook 10 mins. on each side.

They didn't cook quite as well as we hoped, so we ended up leaving them on for much longer than 10 mins.

The texture inside was not nice and airy as we had hoped. The taste was amazing, but the texture was kind of weird.

While this was going on, we also made spaghetti sauce and really great raspberry martinis (I'll have to grab the recipe off of her and blog about them. They were so good)

The next day we continued on with our cooking and baking. We finished up the sauce and made lasagna (with 6 types of cheese!) made some kick-ass garlic bread, some strawberry frozen yogurt and of course, strawberry cupcakes.

I learned how to make Butter-cream Icing finally!

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

4 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 1/3 cups butter

Beat until smooth, add food colouring, decorate to your liking.

Don't they look delicious? They were!

We had a lovely dinner party that night and it all went off without a hitch!

Jocey's Dad's Montreal Bagels (aka The Best Bagels In The World!)

Mmmmm bagels....

Who doesn't love a good bagel first thing in the morning? I know I do. For years now, I've been buying bagels from the grocery store or if I'm treating myself, stopping by Tim Horton's or one of the other great bagel shops in Toronto.

Well no more! I will never look at another store bought bagel the same again.

Yes, this recipe is THAT good!

It all started a few months ago when I was spending time on the internet, looking up different recipes to try.

I came across a bagel recipe, but after reading through it, I wasn't too sure that I'd be able to pull it off. I thought about it every time I put a bagel in the toaster. 

I was over at my best friend Jocey's one night and mentioned it to her. Now as I've mentioned before, Jocey is like my very own personal Martha Stewart. Her eyes lit up and she told me about her Dad's bagel recipe.

So a week or so later, we decided to give it a shot.

1 1/2 cups of warm water

5 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp malt drink powder (regular Ovaltine)

1 package dry active yeast (8 g)

1 egg, beaten

4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup honey

Combine warm water, sugar, canola oil, yeast, beaten egg and malt until yeast disolves.

Stir in salt and 1 cup flour

 

gently add enough flour to make soft dough (3 cups)

kneed dough for 10-12 mins stirring in extra flour as needed

When dough is firm and smooth, cover and let sit for 10 mins

divide dough into 12 equal parts, roll each into 10 inch rope

curve into bagel (use water if needed)

Let rise for 30 mins.

preheat the oven to 425'
(Now here's the strange part)

fill large pot with 6 quarts of water and honey and bring to boil

boil 4 bagels at a time for 90 seconds (45 on each side)

roll in topping 

(we made Everything bagels)

poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion, kosher salt

 (the kosher salt it bigger than regular salt and makes all the difference in taste)

 

bake for 16 mins (flip after 8)

 

The most difficult part of this recipe is waiting the 16 mins while they're in the oven.

They may not look like much, but they are the best bagels I have ever tasted in my entire life!

Since then I have made this recipe 4 more times and each time is just as amazing as the first!

I even tried to make Millennium Falcon bagels with my Star Wars sandwich cutters.

They turned out kinda funny looking in the end

Variations that I have tried so far:

Everything

Cinnamon Raisin

Bacon, Onion and Cheese

Oh yes, they were that good!

I highly suggest that you give this recipe a try.

You won't regret it

Death Star Cookie Jar

 

The exclusive Death Star cookie jar is built to hold an Imperial army of your favorite cookies, and can even double as a festive ice cooler or candy bowl at your next Star Wars soiree. Made of sculpted ceramic with great detail and features a flat base to keep your Death Star from rolling off the counter. Oh, and no exposed thermal exhaust ports for hungry young rebels. A very cool exclusive available only at StarWarsShop!

How awesome is this Death Star Cookie Jar?

I can't decide what I'd want to keep in here more, my SW action figures, my SW cookie cutters or actual SW cookies. Maybe I just need to own 3 of them.

Let It Dough!

I just found this on the New York Times and thought I needed to share.