Haddeok (Korean Sweet Pancakes)

When I first saw them in the Globetrotter Diaries’s blog post on Korean sweets, I knew that I’d love them, and I was right!  After a bit of trouble with the pronunciation (we still don’t know how to say it), Leo got some last night after visiting a Korean supermarket in Don Mills and it took a tremendous amount of will power to stop myself from eating the entire thing at once. We finished the last one this afternoon after a little bike ride around the neighbourhood. Felt like a well deserved snack.

And….these suckers are the best! They taste like something from my childhood, so comforting and familiar,  except I don’t think we ever had any Korean imports back home. They have just the right amount of sweetness and warmth that make you crave those ridiculously melancholic winters you see in movies where you’re sitting by the window watching the snow fall over barren trees as you sip a hot cup of tea… or something. Definitely comfort food.

From the recipes that I’ve seen around, they’re stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon and/or pine nuts. Although they should be served warm, I kinda like them cold when the sugar has hardened and you get a nice crispy bite out of it.  Yum. I think I will lay off trying to make them until it’s winter time again. I should probably think about my summer figure or whatever. (Ugh…thank goodness I’m not into swimming.)

Adventures in Bread Making: Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread with Apple Slices

Soooooo….I made bread from scratch! It was all done by hand without the standmixer or our breadmaker. Although it was somewhat of a stressful experience the first time I tried it, we managed to fix my initial screw ups to make Joy the Baker’s beautiful, tasty Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread.  (Thank you, Popo!) The entire process was a bit too long for my liking (it took the entire morning and half of my afternoon),  but if you’re a fan of cinnamon rolls and anything cinnamony, it is absolutely worth it. It was so good that I made it with Leo at his place a few days after. I managed to read the instructions correctly that time, and Leo, being a fan of apples and cinnamon, added a couple of apple slices in between the loaf slices and the sides. The result? Buttery, crispy apple surprises. Topped with some ice-cream, we had ourselves a makeshift apple pie.

Obviously, as with most of my baking experiences, there were a few mishaps. It always, always involves my failed attempts at reading the recipe or an incorrect prepping of some sort (e.g. mistaking a teaspoon for tablespoon). I’ll spare you the anxious, stressful details of me realizing, much too late, that I put in too much flour at once and finding myself with some dry, floury bits and pieces of dough refusing to come together. Turns out all I needed was to add more water to it. I don’t know what I’d do without my grandma or mom around. Then there was the unrising dough issue. Anyway, here’s what I learned:

1. Always read and re-read the recipe before mixing all your ingredients.

2. Yeast likes warmth, especially if you’re using really old yeast that’s been sitting the freezer for who knows how long.

3. When it says the dough is sticky, trust me, the dough is sticky. Don’t shove your hands in it.

4. Nothing beats the smell of browned butter and vanilla.

Recipe under the cut.

Mmmm…bluerries & oatmeal

It’s snowing outside, but at least we got some gorgeous light streaming in from our windows. Had to take my camera out and take advantage of it. :)

We made “soutzoukakia Smyrneika”

Greek style meatball sausages browned and then cooked in cinnamon flavoured tomato sauce.

It was a different flavour profile from what I’m used to and I’m not quite sure if I like having cinnamon in a savory dish. The sausage-meatballs were pretty good though. I’ve never thought of mixing cumin in ground meat – ingenious! (I obviously don’t cook often) Definitely going to use it next time I make burgers. Recipe can be found here.