Biscoff Sheet Cake

After I discovered the joy that is Biscoff Spread, I went CA-RAZY looking for recipes on the Internet.

I accumulated quite the little collection and then I kept going back and forth, and back and forth about what I wanted to make.  I really couldn't decide. 

Since I had JUST done a cream pie, it didn't make sense to do another pie.  But perhaps a cheesecake?  Or maybe cupcakes? 

But I didn't want to use too much and run out too soon - because Biscoff is hard to come by in my neck of the woods.  It's not actually hard to come by.  It's IMPOSSIBLE to come by.

And every time I would look in the "Biscoff Recipes" folder I would get flustered and move on to something else.

I finally threw my hands in the air and thought, 'GEEZ Heather, just PICK something'. 

Then suddenly, I realised that I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to make.  It had been a roller coaster of events and emotions in the two weeks preceding this decision and I desired only cake.

I had come across this sheet cake recipe on Buttercream Lane at some point and tucked it away in my file.

I was really unsure about doing a sheet cake.  But mostly because I don't have a sheet cake pan.

But in Margaret's recipe, she mentions that you can actually make this in a 9 x 13 pan and it will be just fine - you will only need to adjust your cooking time.

So I did.

In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar,

flour,

salt, and baking soda.

Then mix everything until well combined and there are no lumps.  I had a hard time with this one as my brown sugar was starting to get a little on the hard side.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and water together until almost boiling.  Then add the Biscoff to the butter and stir until smooth.

And add to the flour mixture.

But do you see what I'm missing there?

Yeah.  Me too.

I just improvised and heated up the Biscoff in the pot and added it after. 

No biggie.

Then.  In a medium bowl combine the milk and sour cream.

Add the eggs.

And whisk until smooth and well combined.

Then pour the milk mixture on top of the Biscoff and butter.  Like so.

Stir until just combined and pour into a cake pan.

And bake until cooked.  I checked mine at about 24 minutes and according to the toothpick test it was definitely done.

While the cake is baking, start the icing.  You'll need to pour the icing on the cake hot from the oven, so start now.

To be honest, putting icing on a hot cake goes against everything I've ever learnt about cake and cupcake making - so I was completely hesitant to do this.

But, I went ahead anyway.  It's what Margaret says to do!!!

Start the icing by melting the butter in a medium-size pot with the milk.

Add in the Biscoff.

Stir to combine and heat through.  It will look curdled, but don't worry - it's supposed to do this.

Add in the icing sugar and the vanilla extract and stir until smooth.

And pour over the hot cake.  Strangely enough, you will need to gently spread the frosting.

Mine was a little lumpy, but I think it's because I let the butter mixture get a little cool before adding the sugar.

I loved the brown sugary, caramely flavour of this cake.  It turned out dense, moist, and delicious.  However, I was somewhat concerned it was a little under-cooked.  But I was SURE it was cooked through.

This cake was a delicious way to use Biscoff and I can't wait to make it again.

But, be warned.  If you don't have easy access to Biscoff and have a limited supply, I would hold off on making this cake.  It easily uses a whole jar of this delicious spread.

But - YUM.  Maybe make it anyway.

Thank you to Margaret for creating this delicious recipe - I'm sure your Mother-in-Law is totally impressed! 

And thank you Margaret for being so sweet - it was a treat to "chat" with you last week!

xoxo - the Cane girl

If you would like the recipe for this incredible cake - head on over to see Margaret at  Buttercream Lane!

Mac & Cheese Mondays: Fontina Mac & Cheese

I can't believe that it's been so long since my last post.  Time just seemed to get away from me.

As always, I fully INTENDED to post - but life, once more, got in the way and I have a couple of announcements.

The first announcement, I suppose would be, that I recently started a new job!  It's a HUGE change for me, but I'm excited to have a new challenge and flex my "work brain" a little.  And when I say "a little", I mean a whole heckuvalot.

The second is that I will be moving a little over 300 kilometers away from where I live now into a much smaller city.

I'm terrified and excited, but am sure that it will turn out really well.

Good grief - keep your fingers crossed for me.

As for Mac & Cheese Mondays - I think this is the last one I will ever make in this kitchen.

Earlier this year I had mentioned that I really needed to start emptying out my pantry.  And fridge.  And now that I'm moving this is even more important.  Because the less junk that I have to move, the better.

Then when the news came about the new job and the move, I decided to really ramp up the clean out project.

After looking through what I had in the fridge - which, by the way, is a total mish-mosh of different kinds of cheese, and looking through the recipes I had saved away, I couldn't seem to find a recipe that would implement a variety of the cheeses that I already had. 

I came across a recipe from Annie at Annie's Eats that called for only fontina cheese, and I luckily happened to have leftover fontina from when I made Bacon Lover's Mac and Cheese for Dee.

Let's get it started shall we?

Start gently heating the cream.

Cook and drain the pasta.  In the same pot, add the butter and return the pasta to the pot.  Stir to coat the pasta with the butter.

Add the warm cream to the pasta.

Start adding the shredded fontina.

Stirring until melted and add in the salt and nutmeg.

Melt some butter.

Add some panko crumbs.

Then some grated Parmesan.  Stir to combine.

Pour the pasta mixture into a casserole dish and top with the panko mixture.

Bake until the sauce is bubbly and the panko topping is golden and crisp.

If you take a smell of fontina, you would expect that the flavour profile would be really sharp and strong.  Because fontina is kind of stinky.  But the truth is, it's quite smooth and creamy and wonderful.

I didn't think this ended up having as much of a cheese sauce as I would have expected from a mac and cheese, but someone I know really loved it and scarfed down a whole plateful!

This is the Cane girl - signing off.

Corn Chip Salad

On occasion you need a strange, fun salad.  This one is no exception.  Easy to put together, light, it's kind of a wacky summer salad.

Even if you have to improvise - which I did.

So WHAT if you can't find Chili Cheese Corn Chips?  You could still make it work.

You'll need a bag of corn chips, corn, peas, and mayo.  I don't have a picture of these.  My deepest apologies.

Also, I decided to forgo buying cans of corn because I had a bag of the frozen stuff in the freezer.

Sometimes a girl's gotta be a Frugal Fanny.

Because I couldn't find Chili Cheese Corn Chips, I decided to mix a little taco seasoning into the mayo.

Then stuck that in the fridge.

I threw a couple of cups of corn and 1/2 cup of peas into a pot of boiling water, cooked them for a few minutes, drained and cooled them in the fridge.

Just before you're ready to serve, maybe say - 15 minutes - stir the mayo mixture into the corn chips.  This will make them a little soft, but will keep them super-crunchy.

Then stir in the cooled peas and corn.

And serve!  (Seriously, that bowl could have been so much cleaner for this picture - shame on bowl)

We were actually surprised at how much we enjoyed this strange little salad!  I do think our only recommendation would have been to use unsalted corn chips (Dee says you can get them in the bulk section of the grocery store - or at Bulk Barn) or to use the Chili Cheese Corn Chips, based on the idea that you can find them.

I didn't end up using all the peas and corn called for by the recipe, I just felt like it was too much.  Although the bag I used might have been a little on the light side.

Because Dee wouldn't stop EATING them.

xoxo, the Cane Girl.

Mexican Rice

Waaaaaay back near the beginning of this blog, I made Seafood Enchiladas for my Mom & Dad.  I desperately wanted to make Mexican Rice from scratch, but due to a basically incapacitating migraine, it took everything I had to just make those enchiladas.

And they were worth every single second of blinding pain - I think.  I remember not being able to taste anything.  But Mom and Dad RAVED.

So on to a new fresh day almost two years later and the opportunity to actually make Mexican Rice from SCRATCH!

I couldn't have been more excited.

To start, measure out and rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear - you want to get rid of all the excess starch.  Then drain the rice as much as possible.  I rinsed the rice first, shook it like mad, and let it drip dry over a bowl while I prepped everything else.

Next, quarter and scoop out the guts of a couple of "medium-sized" tomatoes.  I used romas and called it a day.

Then, peel and quarter a medium white onion.

Don't put TOO much work into it - because the tomato and onion are going to get pureed together in a food processor.

Then, half the jalapeno peppers and scoop out the seeds and membranes and dice finely. 

Seeds and membranes is where the heat of the pepper comes from - if you're into a whole bunch of heat, leave 'em in.  Also, so you know, the recipe actually calls for THREE jalapenos - two with the insides scooped clean and one left intact - for heating purposes.  I used two. 

Mostly because I'm a wimp.

Next, heat the vegetable (or canola) oil in a pot over medium-high heat and add the rice.

Once the rice starts turning golden brown, reduce the heat to medium and add the jalapenos and the garlic.  Make sure you're stirring it constantly.

I need to apologise now for the blurry pictures - the rice was starting to burn and I was freaking out and in a hurry to NOT burn our dinner.

Then stir in the tomato puree.



Like this.

Then add the chicken broth and the tomato paste and bring the whole works to a boil.

Firstly, in a perfect world, I would have cooked this in a dutch oven on the stove top and then transferred it to the oven, thereby reducing the number of dishes I would have to do.  But I'm not sure if my Corningware is okay for the stove top and I'm not sure if my pots can go in the oven.

Because of my "unsureness", I transferred the rice mixture to a Corningware casserole dish, put the lid on and put THAT in the oven.

Secondly, the recipe says to bake the rice at 350 degrees F for 30 - 35 minutes, but because I was cooking meatloaf in the oven at 375 degrees, I had to adjust my cooking time on the rice. 

So I cooked it in the oven at 375 degrees F, stirring at about 10 minutes.  Then I started checking the rice at about 20 minutes.  I believe I had the rice in the oven for a total of just over 25 minutes.  Because I was just relying on my "tooth-test", I'm not really sure about the actual total time.

Thanks to Dee for the picture!  (Cause I forgot!)

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this side dish - it wasn't overly complicated but quite flavourful and felt "healthy".  You know, aside from frying the rice in oil. 

You should know that it makes A LOT.  For the three of us it was WAY too much.

I would recommend halving it as you will.

This recipe is going down as the perfect Mexican Rice.  Even though Dee asked me for Soy Sauce.

She did.

I know, I'm appalled too.

xoxo - the Cane Girl.