Posts Under Food Category
This blog post is long overdue – considering the CNE (aka the Ex!) ended weeks ago – but hey, I’m doing pretty good considering I still haven’t blogged about my, er, Feburary/March trip to Europe. Oops.
I haven’t been to the Ex now in a few years – actually I think the last time I went was when I was still a student… so at least 2 years ago, if not longer.
I’m going to be completely honest: there was one main reason why I begged The Boy to go with me – despite the fact he, uh, was spending 5 nights a week working the overnight shift as a poker dealer at the Ex Casino – and that was DEEP. FRIED. EVERYTHING.
The CNE is pretty well known for a number of things:
- The (sketchy) midway rides (of which I always ride the giant Ferris Wheel)
- extraordinarily expensive parking costs ($20 – unless your boyfriend has an employee parking pass, ha!)
- The casino, of course – I’ve heard Rama & Port Perry are EMPTY during the 6 weeks this one is operative
- The Labour Day weekend Air Show (which I was supposed to go to, but skipped due to impending rain that never actually arrived)
- The crazy sculptures – made from rocks, sand, butter… yeah, butter!
- And (in my family, at least) the fact I always come home with a collection of overpriced, unneeded, midway game stuffed animals.
But beyond all that, the Ex is ALSO known for their overly oleaginous, caloricly careless – but disgustingly delicious – deep friend food. Mac and Cheese! Pickles! Mars Bars! Oreos! Ice Cream! Pop Tarts! Cola! You name it, they probably deep fry it.
Doughnut burgers being made - gained 5lbs just by looking. ;)
The CNE made headlines earlier this year when they announced they’d be carrying the famed Krispy Kreme doughnut burger. I didn’t try it – the line was horrendously long, and hey, I didn’t want to subject myself to 1,500 calories in one burger (and that’s without the bacon!). I would have split with the boy – but he didn’t want to end up eating most of it if I didn’t like it or “got full”. I don’t blame him. That happens a lot to us.
I did, however, try a few other deep-friend goodies (which probably added up to more than 1,500 calories, ha – but we shared ;)
The Deep Fried Pickle
Delicious. I don’t have another word to describe this. It was super juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and had a super tasty flavor. It also came on a stick, which won me over immediately. I ask you – who doesn’t love food on a stick?
The Deep Fried Mac n’ Cheese
Sold out. As in, I had to settly for deep fried mac n’ cheese curds, which I was assured was “the same only cheesier” – “hell yes, I’m in!” I said. I regretted that about 15 seconds later when I actually tried them. The dish was dry, lacked flavour, and honestly I couldn’t find cheese. Seriously. It was like deep fried mac. Really disappointing. I heard from a friend that the mac n’ cheese was much better – kicking myself for settling for the curds. I must admit they were substantially better once we made the discovery that leftover ranch dip from pickle + deep friend mac n’ curds = om nom.
The Deep Fried Pop Tart
OMG DELICIOUS! I do have to admit, I was deeply disappointed they didn’t have a chocolate pop-tart, and asked for a deep-fried s’more instead – but they were sold out. So I decided to “settle” for a raspberry pop-tart (I really wanted the sprinkley strawberry one, but The Boy doesn’t like strawberry all that much). Much to my delight, it ALSO came on a stick (again, food tastes better on a stick! ;) and drowned in icing sugar and chocolate sauce. Cardiac arrest? Possibly, but at least you’ll die with happy taste buds. I loved it so much. I am immensely glad I don’t have a deep-frier at home or I’d be eating these for breakfast every day (and weigh like 700 lbs). And probably deep frying everything else in my kitchen too – deep frying is kind of fun to do.
'Deep-fried Cola 3' by alanosaur on Flickr
The Deep Fried Coke
Didn’t eat it. Why? We searched, and searched, and FINALLY found it and were going to give it a whirl (even with the line) but… it looked disgusting. Like worms. Deep fried worms.
And we were stuffed. From eating everything else.
It was worth it, though – especially that Pop Tart.
Maybe next year.
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I made these cuties for a May 2-4 barbeque my friend was having last week. They’re surprisingly simple to make, and were a HUGE hit at the party.
Ice Cream Cones
Simply put a bunch of flat-bottomed cones in a brownie (or meatloaf!) pan, and pour the batter directly in – filling them up until about 3/4 of the way. Pop them in the oven, and bake at 325 degrees (a little cooler than normal cupcakes so the cones don’t burn) for almost double the amount of time your recipe calls for. Because there’s so much icing, and the way it fills the cones they take much longer to bake (but it’s worth it!). They’re also totally delicious, as the cone gets soft and tastes AMAZING with the cupcake batter. The drips of batter down the side make them look like they’re melting a touch – yum!
Ice them any way you want – I used a 1M tip to do a traditional cupcake swirl, which makes it look like a soft serve cone; than covered with sprinkles. I wanted to use Peanut M&Ms to make “cherries” on top, but forgot to pick some up at the store. Oh well – next time.
Hamburger Cupcakes
These guys are tricker than the ice cream cones – but still super easy! Start off by filling your cupcake pan with vanilla cake batter. You need to fill an equal number of cupcake holes to the number of “burgers” you want (I made 8) to make your “buns”. Next, mix some cocoa into the vanilla batter to make a chocolate batter, and fill 1/2 the number of holes with the chocolate batter (so I filled 4) – these will be your “patties”
Bake them as you normally would.
Once they’re finished, let them cool and then unwrap all the cupcakes and place them to the side. Carefully slice your “buns” in half, and put them to the side. Next, slice the top of your “patties” off, and cut the bottom part of the cupcake in half. Put a bit of icing onto the bottom bun, and stick the patty on.
Continue doing this until all your burger buns have patties.
Next time I do these, I plan to pipe the “lettuce” onto the bottom of the burger instead of hiding a dollop of icing – so you 
could do that instead. I used the leaf-tip and wiggled it around while piping to get the lettuce effect.
Next, use red and yellow icing to pipe circles on top of the patties for your condiments. Close the burger, and use your finger to spread a tiny bit of water on top of the “top bun” than sprinkle with sesame seeds (the water helps them stick).
Volia!
BBQ burger and Ice Cream Cone cupcakes.
Earlier this month, I had a fantastic idea: I wanted to get up really early to watch the Royal Wedding, and have a 5:30am, high tea, Royal Wedding pajama party with my mom and sister. At Easter, my mom was telling my grandmother about the idea… she loved it so much she decided to come.
So, bright and early – actually more like dark and early!- Friday morning (at 5:20 in the morning to be exact) I got up and woke up the rest of my family. Please note I said “got up” and not “woke up” – I’d like to think I went to bed at a decent time, but the reality is I was up until about 2 and then the Royal Wedding coverage was starting… lets just say I got sidetracked for a good couple hours and took a power nap at 4:10.
Ahem.
After the ceremony (note: before the kiss!) we had a Royal Wedding Tea Party with all sorts of tasty breakfast treats… and our own crowns, of course. I hand painted them and glued some sead beads on to make them match the British Flag.
Breakfast was SO good: we had tea biscuits, strawberry jam, and strawberries. My grandmother brought homemade Devonshire Cream and lemon butter as well. And WOW was the cream, jam, and lemon sooo tasty on the tea biscuit together. We also had oranges done up in sugar syrup, and English Breakfast Tea.
We had such a lovely morning watching the wedding together, gushing over Kate Middleton’s dress, and laughing about all the outrageous hair pieces and hats.
I seriously want to do this kind of fancy breakfast more often! Maybe a little later in the morning though – like, oh, maybe an 11 o’clock brunch instead of a 7 o’clock breakfast?
Although I’m impressed – for 7 a.m. in a family that likes our sleep, we all look fairly awake!
Oh yeah, and of course – Kodee and Becky got in on the fun too.
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No, I’m not thinking about Twitter right now – I’m thinking about spring, baby birds, pretty blue Robin eggs… and most importantly, cupcakes. Lots, and lots of cupcakes.
36 to be exact.
Yeah, there’s two types of cupcakes there – chocolate and vanilla. My sister and I couldn’t agree on the flavour (she likes vanilla better than chocolate, sometimes I wonder if it’s possible we’re not actually related); so we made both. That’s 19 chocolate and 19 vanilla cupcakes (does anyone ever get 24 out of a box mix like the back claims?). Except my sister and dad “taste tested” so only 36 got decorated. 
There’s no special recipe for these cupcakes (we may or may not have cheated by using a box mix); but they were so cute I just had to share. Don’t worry, I taste tested the batter by making sure the bowl was good and ready for the dishwasher.
Both are iced with vanilla buttercream icing: the ones with the eggs-in-a-nest are a chocolate buttercream “nest” with jelly beans (those big speckled ones that are everywhere at Easter) for the eggs; and the ones with the birds are coated with toasted coconut for the nest. The birds are upside-down mini eggs. I used black icing dye and a toothpick for the eyes, and piped the beaks on using a small round tip.
Aren’t they cute?
They tasted pretty good too. The toasted coconut mixed with the buttercream icing was ah-MAZE-ing! Even the boy loved them, and he HATES coconut. He ate more than one of the vanilla coconut one. My sister and mom liked the vanilla coconut ones best too. I was (of course) partial to the chocolate ones.
We made quite the disaster in the kitchen. I’m a messy baker, what can I say?
That wasn’t even half of it… I’d already picked up a bit! Plus, you can’t see the crazy mess on the counter. Like when the icing poofed everywhere while my sister was making it.
We were chatting away, and Kait covers and turns on the electric mixer (we cover the mixer with a dish towel to try and contain some of the dry ingredients)
Kait: I’m so awesome, look it’s not even making a mess with the icing sugar!
Me: Are you sure it’s turned on? The mixer sounds really quiet.
Kait: Yeah, it’s on!
She checks the settings. A moment passes.
Kait: The bowl isn’t really turning…
She peaks under the towel, there’s a long pause, followed by hysterical laughter. She whips the towel off the top of the mixer.
Kait: I FORGOT TO PUT THE BEATERS IN!
HA! Hilarious. So she gets them from the sink, snaps them in, and starts the mixer.
Icing sugar poofs EVERYWHERE (including all over the floor, sorry mom!)
Kait: There, that’s better.
Yup, I might be the only blonde in the family in terms of hair colour; but it’s nice to know I’m not the only one with a blonde brain!
Although, in fairness, I introduced my sister to “Lauren’s four steps to making cupcakes the RIGHT way”.
That might have had something to do with the blonde moment:
And per usual (I’m camera happy, what can I say?) I took a bunch more photos (displayed below), so be sure to check them out! :)
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If you know me, than you know I’m not really a football fan. I watch the Super Bowl, but that’s about as far as it goes (and lets face it, I like the commercials and halftime show better than the actual game most years. Sidenote: this year was not one of them, thankyouverymuch Fergie).
Anyways, this year’s challenge for me leading up to the Super Bowl was finding the perfect “mancake” (read as: manly cupcake) to take to my friend’s Super Bowl party.
Mission Successful.
May I present you with… Maple Bacon Super Bowl Cupcakes.
Yes, you heard me correctly. Maple bacon cupcakes (yes, with REAL bacon in them!) filled with a maple icing (which tastes like the maple glaze on maple doughnuts!) and topped with a Vanilla Buttercream decorator icing and chocolate football.
I modified a recipe I found on Vanilla Garlic to make these.
Cupcake Recipe
Makes approximately 16 cupcakes || 350° for 16-18 minutes
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp room temperature butter or margarine
Mmmmm maple bacon cupcakes
- 12 strips of bacon
- 1 tbsp bacon grease (save the grease when you cook the bacon for this recipe!)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup of bacon (cooked, drained, and crumbled)
Cook the bacon, save the grease and put in the fridge to harden, then mince the bacon (or get the boy to do all this while you deal with the main batter for the cupcakes, which is what I did ;) Beat the butter and cooled bacon grease until it’s light and creamy. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup and mix it well. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly add to the batter while mixing it. Add the milk. Mix the batter until the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the chopped bacon bits.
Maple Icing/Filling Recipe
**I used this as filling – it’s very liquidy at first, but hardens well if you decide to use it for icing. If I wasn’t decorating these for the Super Bowl, I’d use this as icing and top the cupcake with a curled strip of bacon.
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3-4 tsp milk (to taste)
- Pinch of salt (to make it a little less sweet)
Toss everything in a bowl, and blend.
Ta da!
As I mentioned above – I used a vanilla buttercream (with decorator consistency) for the icing, since I was, well, decorating them! I always use the Wilton Buttercream recipe (with an extra tbsp of water) with clear Vanilla Extract. Something I’d like to try is making this icing with maple extract instead of vanilla, and see if that will work as a maple flavored decorator icing (and as flavored as the above recipe); but I didn’t have any maple extract on hand when baking.
You can check out the rest of my photos on Flickr:
