Devilishly Good Cinnamon Buns

I was a pretty lucky kid. My mom loves cooking and was always in the kitchen making lots of goodies—truffles, pies, fresh bread, jam, and oodles of oatmeal coconut cookies. Now that mum is on the other side of the planet though (the Canada – Australia issue), I have to recreate these homey feelings all by myself… and while it’s not quite the same, it is ever so satisfying to recreate a beloved childhood recipe and have it taste exactly the way you remember.

There are a few very specific recipes that remind me of my mother’s kitchen: blueberry pie, almond bread, granola, and these cinnamon buns. While definitely a treat, I remember quite a few pack lunches at school containing one of these cinnamon buns… and nothing quite satisfies like a fresh cinnamon bun, does it? As I said, I was a lucky kid to get treats like these so often!

These cinnamon buns do take a few steps to get them just right, but pulling apart a fresh batch will be so worth it, trust me. Enjoy!

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Edited: August 3rd, 2011

100th Recipe: Chocolate Stout Cake

Isn’t it funny how things happen sometimes? A couple of weeks ago I simultaneously noticed that I was approaching my 100th recipe on the blog and that I was preparing to yet again make this cake for my roommate’s birthday. This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe, and once you have it in your repertoire, you will never need another chocolate cake recipe ever again. I promise. Anyway, I was flipping through my cookbook and came across the “real” recipe that I had originally torn out of an Elle Canada magazine, and it was like a classic glass-shattering moment in How I Met Your Mother: something clicked. The credit for the recipe was from Smitten Kitchen, one of my all-time favourite food blogs, and certainly one of the most well-known ones, too. But previous to Smitten Kitchen, I don’t think I knew of or cared about any food blogs, and definitely hadn’t ever thought of writing for my own! So somehow, this little recipe and my curiosity as to who could create such a masterpiece of a cake were the beginning of and the inspiration for all of the food blogging I’ve done to date. Um, and yeah, that’s just how freaking good this cake is.

It’s so good that, if you are a devout Three Cheeses reader, you may already be aware of the fact that I’ve blogged about this cake here. I’ve been meaning to make this cake and take “proper” photos of it to give it the justice it deserves. So, thanks to my roommate’s patience for allowing me to spend an extra half hour fussing over photos and lighting and details before letting him dig into his own birthday cake (welcome to the food blogger’s curse), I give you: chocolate stout cake, recipe 100!

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Edited: May 12th, 2011

Megan’s Sugar Cookies

Way back in the good old days of university, my dear friend Megan was a champion cookie maker. The early days of a semester when we weren’t yet crazy people hiding in the library, we enjoyed many an afternoon or evening sipping London Fogs and munching on these cookies (and sometimes cocktails instead of coffees!). Megan sent me this recipe in our first semester of our first year, and it’s been a favourite ever since.

Perhaps my favourite memory of these cookies was when we sneakily brought them with us to the movies. You know that part in Stranger Than Fiction with Will Farrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal when she makes him chocolate chip cookies and they look like the best things anyone has ever put on a plate and all you want at that moment is freshly baked cookies? Well. We saw this for the first time and pulled out our own cookies which were—I kid you not—still warm from the oven, and devoured them with Gollum-esque fervour. Best. Moment. Ever.

If you love these sugar cookies as much as I have, you have Megan to thank! <3 And Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. May these cookies bring you that extra bit of sweetness! Here are a few other recipes you could make for your sweetie:

• The Best Chocolate Cake Ever – with sour cream and beer in the ingredients, you just can’t go wrong
• Spiced Aztec Cookies – two wonderful aphrodisiacs: chocolate & cinnamon!
• Vegan Fudge Brownies – a guest post from my friend Jocelyn, and what brownies they are!

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Edited: February 14th, 2011

Nanaimo Bars Extraordinaire

Nanaimo bars are a true Canadian delicacy. Smooth chocolate, simple vanilla, and a coconut walnut base make for a dessert that is completely sinful—but too good to turn down! Nanaimo bars originated in Western Canada, and can now be found across the country in cold winter months when that little bit of chocolate is simply necessary to keep warm. (Or at least that’s what we Canadians keep telling ourselves!) They’re also now making a debut in Australia, via my kitchen.

This final Nanaimo bar recipe and method has been a labour of love—I believe it took about three batches of bars, plus some failed elements within those batches, for me to assemble this final version which I can stamp with the “tried, tested, and true” label. It was a journey and a half—the first batch I decided not to use the vanilla custard powder (my thoughts being, “Who needs all those damn expensive and one-purpose ingredients in their cupboard, mumble mumble”), and it flopped, completely. Lesson 1: use the vanilla custard powder. Lesson 2 had to do with proportions and not just taking online recipes for their word at needing roughly 6 cups of ingredients for the base and only 2 cups of icing sugar for the filling, which resulted in a last-minute trans-Pacific phone call to mum and dad for the real recipe & proper proportions. Lesson 3 had to do with finesse—aka, Nanaimo bars are picky little bastards. The various steps require the correct temperatures otherwise they’ll backfire completely—this lesson could be subtitled, “How not to screw up your chocolate topping.”

So, my thanks go to the future in-laws and the folks at Downstream Marketing for eating my somewhat suspect batches of Nanaimo bars before the recipe was perfected. I’m sure it was quite the effort!

Wondering where the Three Cheeses has been recently? You’ve probably noticed I’ve been a bit slow on posting—this is due to a visit from the parents, an engagement (yes, mine!), quickly followed by an unexpected trip back to Canada for a funeral. But I’m back baby, and with new kitchen gear to boot. (Thanks mum and dad!)

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Edited: November 22nd, 2010