Tag Archives: spring desserts

Rose Water Sugar Cookies 

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I’ve never been good at drawing. Really, if you ask me to draw something right now, it’s going to look like it was drawn by a six years old ! That’s why I admire people, including my daughter, who has the talent to draw. Her pictures are always full of creative ideas and her characters are very lively. Like this one here….Coffee and Tea are having a battle ! 

And this one, which she drew last week at her art class, illustrates people taking photos of the beautiful Cherry Blossoms.

And yes, thanks to the Cherry Blossoms, otherwise we wouldn’t even notice that Spring is here! The weather is still rainy and pretty cold…….To help “spring” our spirits back, I made these Rose Water Sugar Cookies ! The rose water gives the cookies a nice floral flavour, but you don’t need very much. I decorated the cookies two ways, with coloured sugar and with royal icing. (This is the time when I really wish I am as artistic as my daughter, so I can make my cookies prettier !) 

People often wonder what I do with all the goodies I made. I mostly share them with friends and family.  But this time, I wrapped them up nicely and sent them to my kids’ school for their annual Spring Fair ! Being able to share them and help raise money for our school feels fantastic ! Happy Spring everyone !

Makes about 3-4 dozens 

For the cookies 

    • 360 g all-purpose flour 
    • 3 g baking soda 
    • 2 g salt
    • 120 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
    • 180 g granulated sugar 
    • 1 egg + 1 egg white for brushing 
    • 5 mL pure vanilla extract 
    • 30 mL lemon juice 
    • Zest of 1 small lemon 
    • 5 mL rose water
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F
  2. Sift together flour,baking soda and salt, set aside 
  3. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy 
  4. Add 1 egg, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest and rose water, mix until blended 
  5. Mix in flour mixture, 1/3 at a time  
  6. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until dough is formed
  7. Roll out to about 0.3 cm in thickness 
  8. Cut with cookie cutters (You can collect the dough scraps all together and re-roll, cover unused dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap)
  9. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper 
  10. If decorating with coloured sugar, brush top with egg white, sprinkle with sugar, then bake for 8 minutes. If decorating with royal icing (see recipe below), bake first for 8 minutes, cool completely, then decorate. 

Royal Icing

    • 45 g meringue powder,sifted 
    • 500 g icing sugar
    • Pinch of salt
    • 90 – 120 mL warm water
    • 5 mL pure vanilla extract
    • 10 mL corn syrup 
    • Gel food colouring
  1. Mix meringue powder with about 45 mL of water, let sit for a few minutes 
  2. Stir in vanilla and corn syrup 
  3. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, start mixing icing sugar and salt at low speed 
  4. Add meringue powder mixture 
  5. Slowly add in more warm water until shiny and desired consistency (thicker for outlining and thinner for filling)
  6. Add gel food colouring 

This recipe is also part of the Canadian Food Creatives’ round up. Our topic this month is “Bring On Spring” !  Be sure to check out the links below for more Spring recipes from other Canadian Food Bloggers. You can also find them on social media using the hashtag #CDNFoodCreatives. Many thanks to Melanie Maxwell at The Refreshanista for hosting. 

 

 

 

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Spring Chocolate Pudding 

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Spring is finally finally here ! It’s been a long time ! Even the cherry blossoms think so, they’ve been waiting to bloom and shine !  I used to garden a lot more, but ever since I have kids, I’ve been too busy growing two little humans and kind of abandoned my garden. This year, I want to at least plant some herbs, so I got some basil and cilantro seeds the other day and just put them in a couple of small pots. Well, I have to wait a while before my herbs grow.  So meanwhile, I made these cute little pudding pots to enjoy. They look very realistic !  And I was so happy that I could shoot the pictures in my backyard with some sunshine ! They would make a fun little snack for the kids at Easter ! Try to pick strawberries that are smaller and longer in shape so they would look more like little carrots.  

Makes about 6-8 servings 

For the candy coated strawberries

  • 180 g orange candy melts 
  • 5-10 mL vegetable oil
  • 8-10 strawberries (at room temperature)
  1. Wash and dry strawberries leaving the stems on 
  2. Melt candy melts in the microwave or over a double boiler according to package instructions 
  3. Add 5-10 mL of vegetable oil to achieve desired consistency if needed 
  4. Coat strawberries with candy melts, tap off excess, be careful not to break the stems 
  5. Place on a tray lined with parchment paper 
  6. Pour remaining candy melts into a piping bag 
  7. Cut a small hole at the end of piping bag 
  8. Drizzle over dried, coated strawberries 

For the chocolate pudding 

    • 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder 
    • 75 g granulated sugar 
    • 30 g cornstarch 
    • Pinch of salt 
    • 500 mL milk (whole or 2%)
    • 120 g semi-sweet chocolate chips 
    • 5 mL pure vanilla extract 

You would also need 8 regular-sized Oreo cookies for topping

      1. In a non-stick pot, mix together cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch, salt
      2. Gradually stir in milk 
      3. Place over medium heat, stirring continuously until starting to bubble   
      4. Add chocolate chips, stir until thickened and chocolate all melted
      5. Remove from heat, mix in vanilla extract 
      6. Spoon into containers, let cool and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours (a skin will form on top of pudding, but that’s OK, as we will put crushed Oreo on top)

To assemble pudding, crushed Oreo into small pieces, put on top of pudding, place a coated “carrot” on top 

Candy coated strawberries recipe adapted from lifemadesimplebakes.com