Epicure Selections Baking Giveaway!

I'm super excited to be hosting a giveaway from Epicure Selections! I'm sure many of you can tell how much I love baking, so it only makes sense that this is a baking giveaway. It's quite the awesome package, including: Cherries & Berries, Crystallized Ginger, Dark Belgian Chocolate, Pure Cocoa, Baking Powder, 4 Piece Measuring Cup Set, Mini Whisk, and Silicone Mini-Loaf Pans (Set of 4). (Seriously, that is a lot of good stuff! The winner can go on a baking frenzy!)

I was lucky and got to try out some of these products for myself too. (Pictured is some of the stuff that's part of the package - one of the loaf pans, cherries & berries, and one of the measuring cups.) I baked up some mini loaves with the yummy Cherries & Berries (dried cherries, cranberries and blueberries). The mini loaf pans are so cute and make for easy sharing! And I love that you don't have to grease them. You can check out a previous post about some of their other products (which I love).

This contest is open only to Canadians, since they only ship within Canada. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post with your email address (or some way to contact you) and tell me what your favourite kind of loaf is or the best loaf you've ever had. The contest will be open until Tuesday November 24th at 1159pm PST. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner.

Tomato and Corn Pie

I would have no reservations going as far as to say that this pie is one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. Maybe a tomato and corn pie doesn't sound that good but oh it really really is. My boyfriend and I were fighting over who got to eat the leftovers and who was eating bigger pieces. And instead of the traditional pie crust, it's made with a biscuit style crust. So very delicious.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Squash & Aged White Cheddar Tart with Sage and Roasted Garlic Custard
Chayote and Corn Enchiladas
Feta and Ricotta Cheese Pie

Tomato and Corn Pie
Smitten Kitchen who adapted from Gourmet, August 2009

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoons salt, divided
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons or 3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 teaspoons melted
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 pounds tomatoes
1 1/2 cups corn (from about 3 ears or frozen & thawed), coarsely chopped by hand or lightly puréed in a food processor, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil, divided
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
7ounces coarsely grated sharp Cheddar (1 3/4 cups), divided

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 3/4 tsp salt in a bowl, then blend in cold butter (3/4 stick) with your fingertips or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, stirring until mixture just forms a dough, then gather into a ball.

Divide dough in half and roll out one piece on a well-floured counter or between two sheets of plastic wrap (the recipe’s suggestion, but I imagined it would annoyingly stick to the plastic) into a 12-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Either fold the round gently in quarters, lift it into a 9-inch pie plate and gently unfold and center it or, if you’re using the plastic warp method, remove top sheet of plastic wrap, then lift dough using bottom sheet of plastic wrap and invert into pie plate. Pat the dough in with your fingers trim any overhang.

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. If your kitchen is excessively warm, as ours is, go ahead and put the second half of the dough in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Whisk together mayonnaise and lemon juice.

Cut an X in bottom of each tomato and blanch in a large pot of boiling water 10 seconds. Immediately transfer with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to cool. Peel tomatoes, then slice crosswise 1/4 inch thick and, if desired (see Notes above recipe), gently remove seeds and extra juices. Arrange half of tomatoes in crust, overlapping, and sprinkle with half of corn, one tablespoon basil, 1/2 tablespoon chives, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and one cup of grated cheese. Repeat layering with remaining tomatoes, corn, basil, chives, salt, and pepper. Pour lemon mayonnaise over filling and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Roll out remaining piece of dough into a 12-inch round in same manner, then fit over filling, folding overhang under edge of bottom crust and pinching edge to seal. Cut 4 steam vents in top crust and brush crust with melted butter (2 teaspoons). Bake pie until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes, then cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Do ahead: Pie can be baked 1 day ahead and chilled. Reheat in a 350°F oven until warm, about 30 minutes.

Easy Nectarine Cobbler

The colours in this photo are kind of weird because I was playing (unsuccessfully) with settings on our new camera. (Not a fancy new camera, just a point and shoot.)

This cobbler is really yummy and easy to put together. The top is like those perfect crunchy muffin tops, and the bottom is buttery and gooey. When I made this recipe, I halved it and baked it in a 5 inch round pan instead of an 8 inch square pan. I made this a while ago and I remember thinking that I had messed up somehow so I ended up making the recipe again immediately - which means I made the whole recipe, in two halves. And I couldn't fit all the nectarines in there - I only ended up using 1/2 cup for 1/2 the recipe (when I was supposed to use 1 1/2 cups nectarines for 1/2 the recipe). Despite my confusion with what I was doing, both halves ended up turning out the same and a delicious time was had by all.

Note: I think this cobbler is different than what's typically thought of as a cobbler (with fruit on the bottom and pieces of biscuit on top). But whatever you call it, it's good!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Cocoa-Nana Bread
Plum Sour Cream Kuchen
Strawberry Cream Cake
Strawberry Lemon Sunflower Seed Muffins

Easy Nectarine Cobbler
Joy the Baker who adapted from The Pastry Queen

If you want you can add whipped cream or iced cream but we ate it without and it was delicious.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup milk (low fat milk will work fine)
3 cups sliced nectarines, skins left on
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter in a medium saute pan set over medium high heat until it bubbles and turns a nut brown color. Watch the butter closely, as it can go from browned to burnt in just a few seconds. The butter will have all sorts of browned bits in it. That’s good!

Pour the butter into an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish.

In a medium bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder and spices. Add milk and stir.

Pour the mixture on top of the melted butter. Here’s the hard part: do not stir! Without mixing, arrange the fruit evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake the cobbler for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top turns golden brown. Amazingly, the batter will migrate from the bottom of the pan to cover the fruit. (Ashley note: My fruit sort of sank but there was still some sticking out the top. Maybe because I used a smaller pan.)

Many Lovely Blogs

I feel so honoured and happy to have received the One Lovely Blog award from both Xiaolu of 6 Bittersweets and Sarah of Taste My Plate! Over the past few years of blogging I've received some other awards, and they always totally make my day but I've never passed any on to other people. I've been a very bad blogger. I would like to pass this award on to some of my favourite bloggers, who can then pass it on to other blogs if they like.

A Fat Cat Who Created A Vegetarian who is inspiring in her healthy living.

Diet, Dessert and Dogs who I wish I could convince to cook all my meals! ;) Ricki is so creative and talented (and makes healthy baking fun!), and has adorable dogs.

Obsessed With Baking who understands all of my crazy baking thoughts and over analysis of things.

La cuisine d'Hélène who takes gorgeous photos and is a fellow BC-er.

Dana Treat who always makes interesting and different vegetarian dishes that I love discovering.

Lisa's Kitchen who inspires me to cook more Indian food.

CookiePie who is always baking yummy things and just released a wonderful baking book.

montcarte who takes enticing photos and makes many awesome things including crepes terrine - who knew such a thing existed??

Spork or Foon? who writes entertaining posts, makes beautiful food & is recreating many of the Top Chef winning recipes.

The Veggie Patch, whose house I would love to eat at!

Elyse's Confectionary Creations who likes to bake up a storm and make super delicious things like samoa mascarpone cheesecake.

Tinned Tomatoes who adopted me for Adopt A Blogger and who makes many yummy vegetarian things.

Green Gourmet Giraffe who always makes interesting delicious vegetarian things like tofu and pesto crackers, and is still cooking and baking a ton with a baby! I hope I'll be like her.

Bittersweet who has an insane talent for everything including photography, creating awesome vegan recipes, and crocheting cute little things.

everybody likes sandwiches who inspired me to start my own blog and is a fellow Vancouverite!

Savoury Green Onion Ricotta Muffins

I've made tons of sweet muffins, and I'm starting to get sick of them. So now I'm on to savoury muffins! For me they're a lot more versatile because I can eat them as snacks or as part of a meal. I love that these muffins use ricotta, though I was disappointed to not taste it at all. I guess that makes sense since ricotta doesn't have a strong flavour - though my boyfriend thought they tasted cheesy. You can easily modify this recipe to use your favourite herbs or add in different things like olives or sauteed onions.

It's been too long since I posted an Abby photo! I need to take more.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheddar Muffins
Cheddar & Dill Beer Bread Rolls
Basic Focaccia
Oatmeal Knots

Savoury Green Onion Ricotta Muffins
Adapted from Lisa's Kitchen who got it from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe

Makes 12

2 cups of whole wheat flour (280 g)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup of ricotta cheese
1 cup of buttermilk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons of melted butter

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and green onions.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.

In another medium bowl, beat together the ricotta and milk using a wire whisk. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour the ricotta milk mixture, along with the melted butter, into the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter evenly into 12 greased muffin cups. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins sit in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes.