Baked Salmon with Dill Hollandaise Sauce

I have not been cooking red meat for Luke after the ground beef recall a few months back and found myself cooking A LOT of chicken and pork. This Baked Salmon with Dill Hollandaise was a nice change in the menu and super easy to make; it was ready to serve in the amount of time it took to cook the Confetti Brown Rice!

Baked Salmon with Dill Hollandaise Sauce
Baked Salmon with Dill Hollandaise Sauce

4 – 5 ounce Salmon Fillets (I used half a salmon, uncut)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Sprinkle of Brown Sugar
Drizzle of Honey
1/3 cup melted butter
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 Vegetable Broth
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon dried Dill (2 teaspoons Fresh Dill, chopped)

Preheat oven to 425F.
Lightly spray a broiler pan with Pam.

Place salmon on prepared pan, brush with a Tablespoon of the melted butter.
Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with honey, sprinkle with a scant amount of brown sugar.
Bake in 425F oven for about 15 – 20 minutes.
While salmon is baking, prepare Hollandaise Sauce:
Place egg yolks, vegetable broth and lemon juice in the top of a double boiler.
Set over boiling water.
Whisk until light and thick as whipped cream.
Remove from heat.
Slowly whisk in remaining melted butter.
Whisk in dill and season to taste.

Plate salmon, spoon sauce over each serving; serve with rice and steamed vegetables.

A recipe adapted from a Thrifty Foods flyer

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

I started making this recipe about 19 years ago but then I stopped working at the school where I was making about 6 dozen of these a week, my own children grew up and left home and I no longer felt the need to make chocolate muffins. Now I am back at that same school and find myself making these again!

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened Coca
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 cups Milk
2 large Eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup Butter, melted
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 400F.
Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners or lightly spray with Pam.

In large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sugar and cocoa; make a well in the centre and set aside.
In large mixing cup combine liquid ingredients.
Pour liquid ingredients into well in dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon into prepared muffin tins. ( I use a #5Pampered Chef scoop)
Bake in 400F oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven to wire rack and cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

Yield: 24 muffins.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Snickerdoodles, Snickerdoodles, Snickerdoodles! Go on, tell someone that you Love Snickerdoodles! They will probably giggle, say “What’s a snicker….?” or they will say “I know right! They are the best!” Either way, everyone should experience a Snickerdoodle at least once.
Alright, so now you are in love with Snickerdoodles and you want to make them ALL the time! The truth is, they are a little on the fussy side to make (that is, if your idea of making cookies is slicing up Pillsbury Cookie dough or popping open a box of frozen cookie pucks from M&M meats…ok, really, cookies? At a meat shop? )
No worries, I have found the answer to your conundrum; Snickerdoodle Blondies!  Just mix it up, pour into baking dish, done in the time it takes the oven to preheat!

Snickerdoodle Brownies
Snickerdoodle Brownies

2 1/3 cups Flour
1 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Butter, softened
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Cinnamon Filling
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
Glaze
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 – 2 Tablespoon Milk
Splash of Vanilla

Preheat oven 350F.
Lightly spray a 9X13 pan with vegetable oil spray.

In small bowl combine 1 Tablespoon Sugar and 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon; set aside.
In small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar, brown sugar and vanilla for about 2 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time a time, stirring well after each addition.
With mixer on low speed, stir in flour mixture until smooth, about 1  minute.
Spoon half the batter in the prepared baking pan and spread evenly.
Sprinkle with Cinnamon/Sugar mixture.
Dollop small teaspoon size amounts of  remaining batter evenly over cinnamon/sugar mixture.
Bake in 350F oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool completely.
In small bowl combine icing sugar, vanilla and milk, to desired consistency, (start with about 1 Tablespoon of milk-easier to start with a little milk and add more if need than to add more powdering icing sugar!) and stir until no lumps remain.
Load into a piping bag and drizzle over Snickerdoodle Bars. (or drizzle with a spoon)

There are a gazillion Snickerdoodle recipes out there! I am a huge fan of the Betty Crocker Cookbook so I relied on Betty for my Snickerdoodle Brownies.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

The class I work in at school went to the pumpkin patch before Halloween. I asked the students what they do with their pumpkins once Halloween is over? They all basically shrugged their shoulders, gave me a weird look and said they threw them away, or whatever.

Enter story about how you can peel, cut up and cook the pumpkin and turn it into something yummy. Again, the weird looks. Next Question: Who likes pumpkin pie?All their hands shot up into the air. “Well, where do you think the pumpkin comes from?” Realization sinks in.

In honour of our trip to the pumpkin patch and their new found knowledge that you can cook with pumpkin I have been baking up pumpkin-inspired treats for them.

Pumpkin Spice Scones
Pumpkin Spice Scones

4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon each: Ground Nutmeg, Ginger and Cloves
1 cup Pumpkin Puree (unsweetened canned pumpkin)
3 ounces of Half&Half (Cream)
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 large Eggs, lightly beaten
6 ounces cold Butter, cubed
Glaze
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1 Tablespoon Milk
splash of Vanilla
Spiced Icing
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
pinch each of Nutmeg, Ginger and Cloves
Milk, to right consistency

Preheat oven to 425F.
Line baking trays with parchment paper or lightly spray with vegetable oil spray and dust lightly with cornmeal.
In Kitchenaid mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger; stir, on lowest setting for about 1 minute.
While that is stirring, combine pumpkin, cream and eggs in a large measuring cup.
Pour cubed butter into combined flour and stir on low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (If not using a mixer, cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender)
Pour in pumpkin mixture and stir just until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn the sticky dough out onto a floured surface and gently knead about 10 times.
GENTLY roll out dough to about 3/4 inch (2 cm) thickness and cut with floured biscuit cutter.
Place close, but not touching, together on prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 14 – 16 minutes in 425F oven, until lightly golden browned.
While scones are baking, lay down two strips of  wax paper, plastic wrap and place cooling racks onto it; this will make your clean up so much easier when you do the final two steps.
Remove from oven, transfer scones to wire rack to cool.
While scones are cooling (about 15 minutes) in small bowl combine first amount of icing sugar, vanilla and milk, stirring until smooth.
Use a pastry brush to brush a layer of glaze onto each scone.

In a small bowl combine icing sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
Add vanilla and enough milk resulting in a thicker glaze (the consistency of mayo or ketchup)
Load the thick glaze into a piping bag or a sandwich bag with a corner snipped off.
Pipe lines of thick glaze over the first layer of glaze.

Yield: about 18 – 24 Scones, depending on what size you make them

This recipe adapted from:
Recipe Girl

 

Mini Pumpkin Pancakes

What to do with all that Pumpkin created from post-Halloween Jack-o-Lanterns? Sure you could make a whole lot of pumpkin pie but that might soon have YOU looking like a rotund lil Jack-o-Lantern!

I made Pumpkin Spice Muffins last week which were quite yummy and thought, “Oh, hey, Pumpkin Spice Pancakes!”

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

1 3/4 cup Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each: Nutmeg, Ginger, Cloves
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 large Egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Tablespoons Butter, melted

In Kitchenaid mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices and brown sugar; mix on low speed for a minute.
In small mixing bowl combine beaten egg, milk, pumpkin puree, melted butter and vanilla; pour all at once into dry ingredients.
With mixer on low speed, stir just until combined.
Spoon small dollops (I used a #3-scoop) of batter onto preheated 350F griddle and cook for 2-3 minutes, flip and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
Serve warm with butter, maple syrup and whipped cream or cinnamon sugar.