dark chocolate ganache truffles

i heart chocolate. i’m guessing you do, too. ;)

here’s another bakesale winner… so simple, yet so good. i picked up some lovely (organic & gluten-free!) dark chocolate chunks at market 17, one of my fave local markets, and felt inspired to make homemade chocolate ganache truffles. and it’s surprisingly easy to do.

adapted from sweethome

the ganache:
heat up a small saucepan and melt together the following ingredients:
– 1/4 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature, cubed)
– 2/3 cup light cream (a lower-fat alternative for whipping cream)
– 1 tbsp honey
– remove from heat and set aside

– place dark chocolate (chunks or finely chopped) in a large, heatproof bowl
– pour creamy mixture over the chocolate chunks in bowl and whisk together until the ingredients are combined and smooth
– add 1 tbsp pure vanilla to ganache for a flavour boost

– tightly cover bowl of ganache and refrigerate for approx 1 hour

(tip: if you want to plan ahead and save time on the day-of, prep the ganache the night before. i did that for the bakesale, and left the bowl in the fridge overnight.)

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spinach & lox quiche

easy does it. breakfast. lunch. dinner. breakfast-for-dinner. whatever you want it to be. :)

yes, this is another one of those awesome i’m-too-lazy-to-go-get-groceries recipes. a little organic baby spinach, cheese and eggs from the fridge. smoked salmon from the freezer. some herbs from the pantry. and you’re all set to make an easypeasy crustless quiche! yummers.

– preheat oven to 375F

the lox:
– 40g wild sockeye smoked salmon (thinly sliced)

(tip: you can easily find smoked salmon in the frozen seafood section at the grocery store… the smoked salmon just needs to thaw and it’s ready-to-eat!)

quiche batter:
whisk together the following ingredients in large prep bowl:
– 1-1.5 cups chopped organic spinach
– 5 large eggs
– smoked salmon / lox (thinly sliced)
– sprinkle 1/2 tsp herbes de provence
– 1/3 cup aged white cheddar (grated – or another cheese that melts well, such as queso fresco or light mozzarella)
– season w/ ground black peppercorns

sugar heart cookies

bake sales are pretty rad. it’s amazing what a difference you can make with the generous help of volunteers, some homemade baked goods made with love, and a vibrant, caring community.

a fellow local foodie blogger, vincci at ceci n’est pas un food blog, had a fantastic idea to host the 2nd annual calgary food blogger bake sale (#yycFBBS) — organizing a volunteer initiative with more than 20 local foodie bloggers and casel marché. with the generous support of the fantastic local community, all proceeds from this charity bake sale raised $1,900 for brown bagging for calgary’s kids society earlier this month. pretty sweet. :)

i’m definitely not a seasoned baker, but i felt honoured to be invited to bake and volunteer with this community culinary initiative. i thought it would be the perfect occasion to try out a homemade sugar cookie recipe that my friend sarah from texas introduced me to a few years ago. yummers.

pre-heat oven to 350F

the cookie dough:
mix the following ingredients together until well combined:
– 3/4 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature, cubed)
– 3/4 cup organic cane sugar