olive oil & fennel seed cupcakes with citrus buttercream frosting

Why such infrequent posting these days, especially since I admittedly had a backlog of recipes to share? Two reasons, but the short answer is school. Final projects. Brain is mush. Can't look at computer anymore without having a psychedelic experience. This is the point where I would probably say something along the lines of how cupcakes are a pretty good consolation prize when you're up to your eyeballs in schoolwork. They can keep you motivated ... just one more hour of moving pixels around and then I get to have a cupcake! ... but the reality is that I baked these like 2 weeks ago for my other final project. So no cupcakes in the squirrel household for me to truthfully segue into my topic from.

The cake part of these cupcakes really blew me away. The olive oil played a dual role in both flavour and fat. It's one of those think-outside-the-box scenarios; at first you may think that olive oil isn't meant to have a starring role a cupcake of all things, but you will come around once the shock wears off. I really, really think I could eat olive oil cake all day. Add in fennel seed, top with orange buttercream frosting and BAM, you're in weird-but-awesome cupcake heaven.

spiced pumpkin holiday granola

One of the things I love about baking is the scent it leaves behind in your home. As I write this entry, I am filled with the swirling aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and fragrant orange. It's a perfect smell for this time of year when it's cold outside, but so warm and cozy inside.

These jars of granola (from my first batch) will be carted across the country in a very large suitcase by my cousin who is lucky enough to being going home for the holidays. They make great gifts - they're made with love, and they don't go stale! They don't last long enough to go stale, that is.

I adapted this from the recipe on Winnie Abramson's Healthy Green Kitchen (one of my new favourite blogs). I decided to add orange zest because I'm a big fan of orange spice tea, and we already know that pumpkin and orange is a thing. Or do we? I think I'm actually thinking of my mom's baked yams. Nevermind. It works.

orange-scented apple blackberry crisp

You might think it's difficult to find a use for 20 lbs of apples. Don't worry, I'll find one - even if I end up munching through the whole bag myself. See, I'm an apple-a-day kind of girl. I bring one to work every day with my lunch (unless I fail it up at the food court). Unfortunately, I seem to enjoy a crisp apple a little too much. I've recently become aware that when I eat apples, it's not pleasant. It's noisy and unladylike. This new development is the subject of much hilarity in our household.

One way to keep yourself from French-Bulldogging-it with an apple is to cook it. Everyone will appreciate your efforts, especially if you bake your apples in this orange scented apple blackberry crisp. I really love the blackberry orange combination. Apples and blackberries are also a match made in heaven. I know they say that apples and oranges are, well, apples and oranges... but I dare say that this delectable dessert blows that expression out of the water.

biscuit blackberry shortcakes with vanilla bean custard

 

I can't hardly believe that we're approaching the end of summer. It's gone by so fast. Very soon, the temperature will drop drastically, and after approximately one month of autumn, we'll be back in a winter wonderland. Casual summer at work will end. Reading in the park will end. Cicadas will end. Iced coffees will end. Summer dresses will end. flip flops will end. Fruit will end. Barbeques will end. All of these things give me the sad face.

Speaking of barbeques, there is no better reason to concoct a delicious dessert than a barbeque. Sadly, as we do not have a barbeque, we have to rely on others for our deliciously charred meats and veggies, so we bribe our potential hosts with the promise of a lovingly prepared homemade dessert.

fruit salad with fresh mint

 

I used to make fruit salad by cutting up any fruit that I liked. You will get tasty fruit salads that way for sure - I don't think anyone's ever had a bad fruit salad except, perhaps, those fruit salads you get at cafeterias that taste like the plastic container they came in. You know the ones. They're generally made up of a few wedges of orange, some grapefruit and a couple of red grapes soaking in a rancid pool of ammonia. Delicious!

In order to take your fruit salad from tasty to exceptional, all you need to do is put a little thought into it. Don't go nuts adding whatever fruit you want. Think simple and understated. Restrain yourself and think about what flavours compliment each other. That's what I've started doing lately and the other day I came up with the idea for this (though Adam was good enough to prepare it while I was busy making something else for our esteemed guests of the day). It was the best fruit salad in the history of fruit salad. If I do say so myself.

marmalade bran muffins

Do you remember the first cookbook you ever bought? I do. It was Company's Coming: Muffins & More by Jean Paré. I bought it at the grocery store. Realistically speaking, I think it was actually my mom who bought it for me, given that I was still in high school and bad at saving my allowance. Safeway must have had some kind of deal with the Company's Coming series, because there was always a rack with about a dozen of their cheesy titles. Perhaps that rack is still there.

From the frighteningly dated picture of the author on the back (sorry, Jean - there are awful photos of me out there, too) to the "witticisms" scattered throughout the book (such as, "don't let your dog eat garlic or his bark really will be worse than his bite"), this cookbook is a laugh and a half. That being said, it has some great muffin and loaf recipes, just keep your eyes peeled for ingredients like glazed mixed fruit that nobody has liked since 1985.