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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jul 31st, 2010 by Fudgie

I’ll be frank. I may have disappointed myself with this recipe. It was too sweet and I didn’t taste the final product properly.  But, since I so rarely bake these days, and my blog is called FudgieBakes, I wanted to post about it anyway to keep the name relevant. ;)

They actually look really tasty...

I love peanut butter. A few weeks ago when a friend asked me to randomly name three things that I really like, I said peanut butter, Great Danes and Charles Barkley. I don’t eat it often though, but was really craving peanut butter cookies this week so I decided to make a batch on Saturday afternoon. Apparently weekend hangovers bring out the Martha Stewart in me.

Anyway, below is the recipe I came up with, based on various flourless recipes I’d read, and mixed in with some of my own favorite ingredients. I was looking for a thick, dense, crumbly peanut butter cookie, and these look like they turned out pretty well. The first one I tasted was only half baked, way too sweet and then made me feel sick, but I’ll try a few more later and give a better verdict. I think I added too much sugar, so the measurements below are modified to what I would have done differently. I still definitely recommend trying the recipe as it’s quick, easy and (maybe?) tasty. Or just leave comments about how you feel about Charles Barkley and Great Danes, either is cool with me.

Ingredients:

2 cups peanut butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 white sugar

1 pkg. maple brown sugar instant oatmeal

1/2 cup chocolate chips (more or less)

2 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease cookie sheet

2. Mix sugars, eggs and peanut butter in bowl until creamy, then stir in dry ingredients.

3. Roll dough into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Press lightly with a fork to flatten.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Do not eat half raw, or you will feel gross and sick.

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New Reading Find: Cooking for Cock

Jul 30th, 2010 by Fudgie

Came across another great MTL cooking blog today: Cooking for Cock.

Bawdy title aside, to quote it’s creator “‘Cooking for Cock’ isn’t just a recipe blog with a sexy spin, it’s also a diary about how food and relationships interconnect”. That about sums it up. So check it out!

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Shout out to Fudgie the Whale

Jul 29th, 2010 by Fudgie

Warning: this post is rather irrelevant, yet totally relevant to me. Ends up there is a rather famous ice cream cake character (yes, those things apparently exist) named Fudgie the Whale.

Frankly, Fudgie the Whale looks pretty damn delicious. He is a specialty cake made by the American ice cream company Carvel. He’s been around since the 70’s, and is pals with other famous cake characters “Hug-me Bear” and “Cookie Puss”. Fudgie the Whale even has his own wikipedia entry. Am I jealous? Mildly. Sadly, I haven’t been able to track down any Carvel retailers here in Montreal, or even Canada for that matter. If anyone out there has tried a Fudgie the Whale cake before, please be kind and share your experience!

Maybe one day as a very, probably overly ambitious project I will try to create my own Fudgie the Whale cake. Until then, I leave you with these wonderful pictures of whale shaped cake.

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Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

Jul 25th, 2010 by Fudgie

Had to share this recipe, even though I haven’t tried it yet. I came across it on the site WorthTheWisk.com, which seems to have a lot of great ones.

It caught my eye because it only has a few ingredients, seems fairly easy to make, and the sour cream angle seems really appealing in this hot summer weather. I am going to give it a try in a few weeks when I’m at the cottage with the fam – seems easy enough for me to tackle in a rented kitchen. ;)

So, check it out: Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

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Fudgie likes Buvette Chez Simone

Jul 23rd, 2010 by Fudgie

A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to visit Buvette Chez Simone for the first time. I’d heard many people and reviews rave about it, but have never really been convinced that wine bars can be good (bad experiences at Pullman and Bu may be the culprit). Apparently, I was quite wrong.

Located on Ave du Parc, near Outremont, it has a warm, cozy interior with hardwood floors, rich, dim lighting and a large rectangular bar in the center. The menu and wine recommendations of the day are written on chalkboards mounted on their exposed brick walls, and they have a small enclosed terrasse out front.

The wine list was somewhat short but offered a great selection, with at least a few reasonably priced options. The food menu is tapas-like, with a series of meat, fish, vegetarian, dessert and appetizer selections. I shared about 6 or 7 different dishes with my companion and while we were full, we weren’t stuffed by any means. Notable items I remember: the horse tartar (delicious, and served with just the right amount of mustard kick); a yummy and fresh mango arugula salad, and some tasty grilled halibut atop asparagus. All of the dishes were a definite hit except for a battered green veggie (don’t remember which) – too much tempura.

Anyway, I heartily recommend this place not really for the food, but for the atmosphere. If you are looking for the perfect spot to enjoy a couple of drinks, a bottle of wine, or more, along with some good quality snacks, this is it. Makes for a great date and casual evening out with friends. Oh, and this place is always packed so if you want to definitely get a table, go before 8pm!

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Delicious Filling To Tide You Over…..

Jun 22nd, 2010 by Fudgie

Did that title make you think of pie filling? I generally find pie filling gross (especially store bought – run away fast from that shit), but homemade filing can be good.

Anyway, I digress. I have not been baking lately because I a) have a craptastic kitchen that is not well equipped, b) have been too busy doing other fun things. However, come July 1st I move into a fantastic beautiful new place with a large, well-equipped kitchen so more goodies are on the way, I promise. In the meantime, I present you with some great reads that will hopefully inspire you, make you hungry, and make you still want to come back to me for more.

NYC Foodie Blogs I love (because I am considering moving to NYC, and these sites certainly help. Also because my dear friend is headed to NYC this weekend, check out her site Bargain Babe MTL):

New York Grub Street – witty writing, cool review, delicious pics, what more do you want?

FoodMayhem.com – makes me drool.

MTL sites (seriously, we need more. There are some popular ones that I HATE, so please, send me links to good ones if you know of any, aside from mine of course).

FoodGuyMontreal - Entertaining read, has some good reviews and recipes.

Under the High Chair – She is an awesome writer from MTL who has done great things with her blog.

Hmm, so rather a short list. Will come back with part 2 shortly!

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Marble Wine Coasters, and other great gift ideas…

Jun 18th, 2010 by Fudgie

Two summers ago, my wonderful brother got married to a wonderful woman at a beautiful spot in Banff, AB. Instead of taking the traditional route and getting them a wedding gift they were registered for (which I’m sure they would’ve appreciated), I instead chose to pick something a bit different but that I swore they would like, because it was classy, elegant, useful and aesthetically attractive. Thankfully, they did like it: Marble coasters with the print of vintage wines/port embossed on them.

Marble Wine Coasters

The point of this post is not to brag how wonderful or elegant I or my family are, but rather to share some great ideas for wedding gifts that are unique, yet easy to find in Montreal. The store in particular where I found these gems is called Vinum Design, and it’s located right downtown near the Bay, on City Councillors Ave. They specialize in wine related products – glassware, accessories, and a bundle of other beautiful things. Aside from the marble coasters (pictured above), I’ve also gotten a gorgeous map of the wine vineyards in France, a fun wine trivia game, and some truly snazzy bottle openers. If you are worried about budget, don’t, their products range in price from reasonable picks in the under $30 range, to very, very expensive gifts that you probably can’t afford.

So next time you need a classy gift, put in the effort to check this place out!

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My favorite Rosé

Jun 15th, 2010 by Fudgie

Summer is definitely here in MTL, and for some reason that means that I crave rosé wine almost daily. It’s the perfect summer cocktail (aside from Sangria of course), has a bit of a kick, more flavour than white wine and fewer tannins (and subsequent hangovers) than red. It’s also the name of a pretty decent Bran Van 3000 album, but I digress.

Rosé gets a bit of a bad rap, I think because a lot of people associate it with overly sweet and fruity wines that teenage girls drink. BUT, there are actually quite a few really tasty affordable rosé wines, so you should definitely give them a try. Here are two of my favorite pics. Both are priced under $15, and are pretty easy to find at any SAQ (stay far away from dep or grocery store rosé wines, they are nasty). I’m not enough of a wine connoisseur to provide descriptions of each, but I’ve linked to their full review on the SAQ website for those that are interested. Basically though, I like them because they are light and a bit fruity, with a hint of sweetness but overall tend to err on the dry side.

Carrelot des Amants Côtes du Brulhois rosé 2009

Carrelot des Amants Côtes du Brulhois rosé 2009

Château Bellevue La Forêt Côtes du Frontonnais rosé 2008

Château Bellevue La Forêt Côtes du Frontonnais rosé 2008

Cheers! And feel free to share any other recommendations! :)

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Berry Springrolls with Vanilla Maple Dip

Jun 12th, 2010 by Fudgie

So I’m back after a little hiatus. :) Many big changes in my life, all of which are good, but have left me without the time or resources to blog. Hopefully it’s over! I’ve been out of town this week visiting family and have had the luxury of time, and hungry relatives to inspire me to try a couple of new recipes.

This one in particular turned out really well, they are light-tasting, sweet but satisfying berry springrolls that can be served as either appetizers or desert. Perfect easy idea for summer parties and bbq’s I say! 

Berry Springrolls

The whole thing took me about 30 min to prepare, but I was going slowly. I actually got the recipe from this free magazine that the SAQ puts out, actually the full latest issue can be found here. But, since it’s so easy, I’ll post the whole thing here for you lovelies.

Ingredients (serves 6):

1 cups strawberries, chopped into small pieces

1 cup blueberries

1 cup raspberries

rice paper sheets

1 cup pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

fresh mint leaves (about 4-6 sprigs, half finely chopped, half whole)

3 tbsp. Maple syrup

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup Vanilla yogurt

Directions:

1. Mix berries together in a bowl. Mix in chopped mint leaves. Combine 2 tbsp maple syrup with 1 tsp. vanilla extract, then drizzle  mixture over berries and stir well. Set aside.

2. Make dip: Mix together yogurt, cinnamon, and 1 tbsp maple syrup. Set aside/refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. Prepare rolls: Soak sheet of rice paper in lukewarm water for about 30 seconds, until it’s soft. place two mint leaves in center, then spoon on a heap of berry mixture and sprinkle pistachio nuts on top. Fold over ends of rice paper, then roll tightly. Repeat until you run out of berry mixture. Cover rolls with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 min before serving.

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Fresh for Spring: Green Bean, Tomato and Arugula Salad

Apr 10th, 2010 by Fudgie

The warm sunny weather here in Montreal has gotten me interested in cooking again, to try lighter more diet-friendly dishes. With the extra sunlight in the evenings I’m more tolerant of recipes that take longer than 5 minutes to prepare, so this week I picked a couple of new ones from a Vegetarian cookbook that J got for his birthday this year. I’m not a vegetarian, but definitely don’t eat a lot of meat. Mostly because I find it’s a pain to prepare, and also because it’s often higher in fat or calories and harder to digest than its vegetarian counterpart.

Green bean, tomato and arugula salad served with Peanut Butter and Chicken Wraps

Green Bean, Tomato and Arugula salad with Peanut Butter and Chicken wraps

So, the recipe I’m featuring today is a fairly simple salad that could easily be used as a side dish, or if you add some grilled chicken, a can of tuna, or grilled tofu on top, a full meal. (The cookbook, by the way is actually in French, it’s called Marabout Chef: recettes vegetariennes, and it’s available at Amazon for quite cheap: RECETTES BIEN-ÊTRE N.E. ). I chose to serve it as a side dish along with the yummy peanut butter, chicken, and fruit wraps that I wrote about earlier. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup beans, rinsed and drained (use your favorite kind, I used black eyed peas)
1 1/2 cups green beans
1 medium sized purple onion
1 1/2 cups red and yellow cherry tomatoes, chopped
4 cups arugula

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
3 spoonfuls of Dijon mustard
2 tblsp lemon juice
1 freshly chopped garlic clove
1 sprig fresh basil, coarsely chopped
ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Trim ends from green beans, steam until lightly cooked then soak in cold water.

2. Drain and rinse beans, dry and set aside.

3. Slice purple onion, chop cherry tomatoes into large chunks, set aside

4. Mix all ingredients with arugula in a large bowl.

5. Stir all ingredients together for dressing, then drizzle over salad and mix well.

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