Cake Pops - Cake Balls

What an experiment I had this week-end in the kitchen. Cake Pops are the rage right now. You see them popping everywhere, even at Starbucks. Never eat them before and decided to make some for Sunday's Dinner when my kids come home to visit. Oh my they are time consuming. I prefer to make truffles or homemade chocolates. I made mine with using using this Red Velvet cupcakes recipe and baked the batter in a 9x13 cake pan. The next day crumbled the cake and mixed it with a cream cheese frosting. This makes it very moist. Then roll balls of this mix and cover with melted chocolate. Sounds simple? Not quite. I followed the instructions found on Bakerella, BTW she is really impressive and you can buy her Cake Pops book at Amazon. After rolling my balls I chilled them for couple hours, that part was easy. Then I was ready to dip them in melted chocolate. This is where it gets tricky. I did dip my lollipop sticks in the chocolate first and then inserted them into the balls and then dipped the balls into the melt chocolate. The problem was that the sticks would come off and the cake balls would stay in the chocolate. I guess my batter was too oily. So I ended making inverted cake pops. At one point I gave up and just made Cake Balls. Quick to do, just dumped them in the melt chocolate and place them on a parchment paper and let the chocolate harden before eating. I prefer to store them in the fridge at this point.

Will I ever do Cake Pops again? Probably as I want to get this right next time. They are cute and delicious. My kids liked them.  It could be a project we would do together and have fun decorating them.

Here is Bakerella Cake Pops tutorial on YouTube.  Looks so easy the way she does it.
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Artichoke Hearts & Orzo Salad - Salade de Coeurs d'Artichauts et Orzo

It's Victory Day long week-end in Canada. Whether you are going at the cottage, camping or just staying home this is a really nice salad for lunch. Nice when you marinate it for couple hours before eating. Couple weeks ago I received a package from the Herb Farm L'Anse aux Herbes. I wanted to whisk a dressing using their Extra virgin olive oil and sea parsley and their Basilic mustard. To the oil and mustard mix I added Rice Vinegar for a tangy taste and maple syrup to bring a sweetness to the dressing, the result was a really good dressing for my Artichoke Hearts Salad. This salad was prepared with orzo but you can use rice. Pair it with a crisp Rosé.

C'est un long week-end au Canada. Que vous alliez au chalet, en camping ou si simplement vous passé le week-end à la maison voici une très bonne salade pour le lunch. Je recommande de la faire mariner quelques heures avant de la servir. Il y a quelques semaines j'ai recu une boite de L'Herboristerie l'Anse aux Herbes. J'ai préparé ma vinaigrette en utilisant leur huile d’olive extra vierge aromatisée au persil de mer et leur Moutarde Basilic. A l'huile et moutarde j'ai ajouté du vinaigre de riz pour la saveur aigre et du sirop d'érable pour le côté sucré. J'ai bien aimé l'ensemble de saveurs dans ma salade de Coeurs d'Artichauts. Vous pouvez utiliser du riz à la place de l'orzo. Servir cette salade avec un Rosé bien frais.

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Brownies

I like to try different brownie recipes and this one is becoming one of my favorite. All my kids were coming for Dinner Sunday and Justin also. At the last minute I prepared this recipe for dessert. Any high-quality chocolate will work for this recipe and I like to use dark Callebaut. This brownie has a chewy texture with morsels of chocolate. You can serve these with vanilla ice cream and a homemade hot chocolate sauce.

J'aime bien essayer différentes sortes de brownies et celle-ci va probablement devenir ma favorite. Ce dimanche tous mes enfants sont venus pour le souper et Justin aussi. A la dernière minute j'ai décidé de préparer ces brownies. Vous pouvez utiliser n'importe quel chocolat de qualité et j'aime utiliser le Callebaut noir. J'aime croquer dans les morceaux de chocolats qui sont incorporés au mélange avant de cuire les brownies. Vous pouvez les servir avec de la crème glacée à la vanille et une sauce chaude au chocolat maison.


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Pizza Margherita

It's nice to finally have blogger back up and running. For TGIF I prepared a pizza dough. It takes only two minutes to prepare in a food processor. Anybody can do it. Some are afraid to play with yeast but once you experienced with it you find that it's not that complicated. Having good tools in the kitchen is important and a pizza stone is a must. I don't recommend using a pizza screen. They don't stand the 500F heat like the stone does so they will produce a dry crust. The stone, on the other hand, will simulate a brick oven and will produce a crisp pizza. Another great tool for making pizza is a pizza peel. I am using a wooden one. To make sure that you dough will easily slide from the peel you can make the pizza on parchment paper or dust the peel with cornmeal.

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Parisian Fruit Tarts - Invite a Blogger to your Table

For Mother's Day my three kids were home for Dinner. We had a delicious Penna Alla Vodka with garlic bread. For desserts we had Parisian Fruit Tarts from The Modern Baker. I purchased this cookbook a while ago and it was the first time that I was baking from it. To make the tarts you prepare a press-in cookie dough. This was the easiest crust that I have ever made for a tart. It has the taste and texture of a shortbread. I made my tarts using mini tart pans. You bake your tarts and then you garnish them with pastry cream and fresh fruits. The tarts are good to eat by themselves. Other than pastry cream you can garnish the tartlets with a chocolate ganache adding a bit of Bailey's for a special treat. These Parisian Fruit Tarts are a mainstay of pastry shops in Paris. These are best with seasonal fruits that you find at your market.


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Salade à l'huile Persil de Mer de l'Anse aux Herbes & Homard - Salad with Sea Parsley Olive Oil from l'Anse aux Herbes & Lobster

Finally some nice warm weather in Ottawa. I realize that I really need the sun in my life. Makes me happier like a lot of you. When I came back from NYC I received a beautiful box from the Herb Farm L'Anse aux Herbes. They are located on the beautiful Magdalen Islands in Quebec. They cultivate herbs and medicinal plants. They also have a great blog: L'Anse aux Herbes.

They offer a range of culinary and health products:

:: Flavored olive oils: "Shallots and Herbs", "Sea Parsley" and "Tomato"
:: Organic canola oil infused with Magdalen Island lobster
:: Seasonings such as "Surf and Turf" and "Cajun"
:: Basil mustard
:: Comfrey and Chamomile Balms
:: Herbal teas
:: Massage oils

For my salad I used the Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Sea Parsley . In a bowl mix the oil with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve this vinaigrette with your favorite greens, tomatoes, red onions, cucumber. It is delicious. Next time I will be making pizza using their lobster flavored canola oil.

Since it's Mother's Day tomorrow Mathieu and I went shopping and bought fresh lobster. What a treat. It was my first time cooking lobster. Was so easy. Just boil some water with sea salt (I used 2 tbsps sea salt for each 8 cups of water). You have to make sure that the water will be above the lobsters. Once the water is boiling add the lobster, head first. Return to a boil and then start timing. Boil the lobster for 10 minutes for the first pound of weight and then 3 more minutes for each extra pound. A two pound lobster will be done in 13 minutes, a three pound lobster in 16 minutes. Once cooked, drain the lobster immediately and serve hot.

Happy Mother's Day!

Version française:

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Curry Beef over Rice Noodles & Winners Giveaways

Last week I prepared this Beef Curry for my son. This was served over Rice Noodles. He said that it was delicious. I bought a Black Angus steak and it was a tender cut. You can serve this beef curry over rice or any kind of noodles.

Easter weekend we flew to NYC. The weather was nice and we mainly visited different parts of Manhattan. One of the highlight of my trip was Central Park. It's a nice place to relax in the earth of the city, so peaceful. I especially liked Angel of Waters, Bethesda Terrace.

We did not really spent time in restaurants as we had booked Broadway plays for everyday. We saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe, The Phantom of the Opera, Anything Goes and Wicked. Can't really tell you which one was my favorite, liked them all.

In April La Cuisine d'Hélène celebrated its 5th Anniversary. Thanks to all my readers. If you a new to the site you can follow La Cuisine d'Hélène by email, in a reader, on Twitter and  Facebook.


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