Baking Tips

Gluten Free Pate Brisee

As a pastry chef, Pâte Brisée became one my favourite go-to pastry recipe because of its buttery, flaky texture. I use this pastry to make all types of pies and tarts. This pastry adapts well to gluten-free, hence my sharing of this Gluten-Free Pate Brisee. You can prepare this pastry using an electric mixer, or by hand using a pastry cutter. One of the benefits of making this pastry is that you can use it right away – not the usual case for typical pastry doughs because most need to be refrigerated before you can use them. You will find that the results are excellent as the pastry holds up and browns well in the oven, which is commonly an issue with many gluten-free pastries.

Gluten Free Pate Brisee Mini Pickle Pie

Refer to my links for creative ways to use this gluten-free pâte brisée such as Pickle Pies or Australian Meat Pies, or even the Ultimate Maple Butter Tarts. I use Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for my gluten-free baking….

Shortcrust Pastry

By Denise Pare-Watson

One of my favourite doughs for meat pies, tarts, hand pies or meat turnovers is a Shortcrust Pastry because of its sturdy, crispy and buttery characteristics. When a pastry is eaten out of hand, a sturdier, leaner pastry is most suitable. In this post, I will guide you through how to make a shortcrust pastry. I also include a gluten-free option. The tips and techniques provided will simplify the overall process to inspire the chef in you.

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Junior Chefs’ Best Cookies – GF, DF, Low Refined Sugar

By Denise Pare-Watson

Kids in the Kitchen Series

It is no secret that I enjoy having children in my kitchen. I love being a part of their eagerness and excitement when I suggest that we do some baking together. Today, we were presented with a different type of baking challenge. Their grandfather requested cookies that included some of his most favourite ingredients. Additionally, we had to consider several dietary restrictions: the cookies had to be healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free and low in refined sugar. Together we came up with a delicious cookie recipe that the children appropriately named, “Junior Chefs’ Best Cookies.” Skip to Recipe

Junior Chef's Best Cookies | urbnspice.com

Junior Chef’s Best Cookies are Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Low Refined Sugar and delicious!

Baking is a great opportunity to teach children all about measurements such as fractions, weight, volume and calculating yield. These are skills that they need to learn and it sure is a fun way to create memories that will last a lifetime.

“Always eat something that the farmer grows as part of your snack” was the standing rule that we had with our daughters and now that same rule applies to our grandchildren. Okanagan apricots are in season. We really enjoy this fruit, which is juicy and sweet and always creates a drippy mess on our fingers. The rewards for eating what the farmer grows are these delicious healthy cookies! How great is that?…

How to Make Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes

By Denise Pare-Watson

Have you ever noticed that most restaurants offer cheesecake on their dessert menu? It is definitely a favourite choice for many people and also for the restaurants as cheesecake stores and freezes well. I prefer making cheesecake in individualized portions, served simply with a raspberry coulis or a few fresh berries. In this post, I will share a recipe for Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes. This featured cheesecake recipe has a pink hue created by the raspberry puree which is combined with a delicious coconut crust infused with lime zest. For Valentine’s Day, I dress the cheesecakes up by creating a heart swirl decoration before it is baked. The decoration stays attractively suspended on top of the thick cheesecake batter.

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Raspberry Mini Cheesecake

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Twice Baked Nutty Meringue Cookie Crisps

By Denise Pare-Watson

These Twice Baked Nutty Meringue Cookie Crisps will be unlike any cookie you have ever baked. It is a biscotti style cookie, meaning it is baked one more time after it is sliced to create a crispy flavourful cookie.

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Twice Baked Meringue Cookie Crisps

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Apple Cream Pie – The Pie That Stole My Husband’s Heart

By Denise Pare-Watson

Apple Cream Pie – The Pie That Stole My Husband’s Heart

Also Known as: “Better Than Beer Pie”

And Also: “Pie in a Bag”

This Apple Cream Pie has many names because there are many stories connected to it. The name that I like best is “The Pie That Stole My Husband’s Heart”. The first time I made it was for my guy over 40 years ago when we first started dating. Making this pie was a huge step for me because up until then, my attempts at pie crusts were marginally successful (you can read all about my adventures in pie crusts here).

I am not one to give up easily, so I watched, I learned and I practiced at my Mom’s side. In time, I became fairly confident making this special recipe for my guy and his brothers who were busy working on their family farm. I may have stolen three hearts that day because the feedback about my pie was outstanding. They proclaimed that ‘this pie is better than beer’ and that was high praise coming from self-described starving university students more accustomed to beer as their primary source of nutrition.

The interesting thing about that original pie recipe was that it was baked inside of a paper bag. I have always been a curious cook and baking a pie inside a paper bag really piqued my interest. The result was a soft juicy filling with a flaky crust. Ever since that day, any request for an apple pie was always for ‘The Pie in a Bag’.

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Challenging the Art of Sourdough

By Denise Pare-Watson

The Inspiration of UrbnSpice Series

I have wanted to challenge the art of sourdough from scratch for quite some time. The reason is simple: I have several family members who experience difficulty digesting wheat. Experimenting with recipes is something I have always enjoyed. My curiosity inspired me to develop sourdough bread recipes that would meet the needs of my family.

For the purpose of this article, I am working with a spelt sourdough starter – it has unusual characteristics but offers interesting opportunities to learn about how those characteristics affect the sourdough process. My background, which includes training in culinary school and working in bakeries, provides me with experience and skills to deal with the preliminaries of starters & a variety of bread

Most of my colleagues will agree that once you have worked with different types of dough, one develops a level of personal satisfaction that is difficult to describe. There is nothing more relaxing to me than standing at a floured baker’s bench kneading the dough in a rhythmic motion, which transforms a weighed amount of dough into a smooth boule, loaf or roll. The aroma and the taste of freshly baked bread is the reward that you keep coming back for. There is nothing like it!

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The Ultimate Canadian Maple Butter Tarts

By Denise Pare-Watson

Urb’n’Spice Ultimate Recipe Series

Is there anything more Canadian than butter tarts made with pure maple syrup? I truly believe you will agree that these Ultimate Canadian Maple Butter Tarts are hard to beat. Maple is as much a part of the Canadian food scene as poutine, tourtière or Nanaimo Bars. This particular recipe is also included in an article pertaining specifically to maple for the Culinary Historians of Canada‘s CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE. You can read all about it here.

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My Mom always made this family favourite with maple syrup and I have carried on that French Canadian tradition. The filling for this tart recipe is essentially a custard (similar to pecan pie filling or cheesecake). The addition of maple syrup is delightful and oh, so Canadian. While many butter tart purists prefer their baked treats without embellishments, roasted pecans or walnuts and/or raisins are a great addition.

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LEARNING TIPS

By Denise Pare-Watson

“Success is no accident.

It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all,

love of what you are doing or learning to do”.

Pele

LEARNING TIPS is a little bonus that I like to incorporate on Urbnspice and into my cookbooks. I use LEARNING TIPS to elaborate on a technique or share tips with you that helped me throughout my career as a chef and pastry chef as well as my home kitchen.

I use the term LEARNING TIPS in a broader sense to allow for a greater scope to explain some of the finer points of baking and cooking. This can often make the difference between a good result and an exceptional one.

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Roast Your Nuts!

By Denise Pare-Watson

The Confident Kitchen Series

If you want to “step it up a notch” in your kitchen, whether a professional kitchen or a home kitchen, Roast Your Nuts before using them in your recipe. It is a surefire way to elevate the taste of your food in both cooking and baking from flavourless to outstanding.

Why bother? You would not consider having a cup of coffee with un-roasted beans, would you? Have you ever eaten a cookie, cake or bread that has the addition of nuts that really did not deliver the taste you were expecting?

Roast Your Nuts: The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Pecan Cookies

For example:

A chocolate chip pecan cookie
Hazelnut Raisin Bread
Granola Bars or granola
German Chocolate Cake with traditional coconut & pecan filling
Bar nuts, candied nuts, spiced nuts, etc.

As well, other food-related items that are not baked but have nuts added, such as:

A spinach salad with goat cheese, cranberries, sliced pears and candied pecans (that were not roasted beforehand)
A pesto with pine nuts or walnuts that were not roasted

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