GRAND OPENING tomorrow Sat. 28th !!!

Cornucopia will now offer you a friendly Cafe including the Bakery and a Deli where tasty Sandwiches, Salads and Soups will be served daily !

Picture from our new website that will be launch TODAY !!!

The Long Tail Monkeys 

band will be playing for our Opening !!!

So don't miss it and come enjoy good food, good music and hopefully good weather ...

HOURS

Mon-Fri :  6.30am - 5 pm

Sat :    6.30am - 3 pm

Sun : 6.30am - 2pm

Deli opens daily at 11 am

See you soon ...

Turn your Paper Napkin into a Stationary

We (at least me) always buy this designed Paper Napkins when I saw then at the store. Most of the time I am looking for the good deal at the end of a season, then I buy for next year :)

The napkins do look good on your table , but what if you could expand this design you like from the napkin to all your table presentation.

Here it is ! You will learn how to transfer very easily the napkin design to a regular paper that you can use as stationary decoration for your table.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED ...

Your favorite designed napkins

White craft paper or printer paper

Plastic Wrap

A sketch book

An iron

Step 1

- Turn ON the Iron on max and turn OFF the steam

- Separate the layers of the napkin and keep the top 

  one with the design

  

Step 2

- Cut a piece of white paper that you want to transfer the napkin on

- Then cut the napkin a little smaller than this paper

Step 3

- Place the white paper in the middle of the sketch book

- Then place a layer of plastic wrap (be sure there is no fold)

- Top with the napkin

Cover the whole thing with 4 pages of the sketch book and iron on top.

Make 6 slow motions back and forth.

Lift the pages slowly to check if the napkin has transfered to the paper.

If a corner is still not transfered: cover back with the pages and iron on this spot for 4 seconds. Repeat if necessary.

You can do it with independent papers instead of the sketch book, but it is easier with it, since the pages won't freely move 

Step 4

Trim the papers to the border of the design napkin.

From here your creativity is infinite using scissors, punch, glue,....

In this sample I made a bottle wrap and 2 tags.

Pear Cake to Delicious Truffles ... (vegan)

For the recipe of the Pear cake, read previous post...

Turn your Pear Cake into Truffles

About 10 truffles

Crumble Pear Cake

Cut half of the cooled pear cake and place in a bowl.

With your fingers crumble the cake as picture below.

Set aside.

To make the crumble moist enough to roll into shapes we need to add some sweet buttercream to it.

To make vegan buttercream it is really simple.

Vegan Buttercream

2 tbsp vegan butter (earth balance)

4 tbsp powder sugar

1 tsp rice milk (any vegan milk)

Cream the butter with a hand mixer, add one tablespoon at a time the sugar and mix well after each addition.

Finally pour the rice milk and mix until well combined. Your buttercream is ready !

Now mix the crumble and the buttercream together.

You know your mixture is ready when you can roll ball without them breaking apart.

You can make any shape you want with the dough, here I choose to make pear shapes.

To do that, make a ball, then with your finger, thin the top of the ball.

Place the uncoated truffles on a tray and place in the freezer.

(it should not stay more than 15 min in the freezer)

Chocolate Ganache

5oz. vegan semi sweet chocolate (enjoy life)

1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar

3 tbsp vegan butter (earth balance)

Pour the chocolate chips in a small sauce pan over low heat.

Right away add the agave nectar which will make it shiny, and the "butter".

Stir constantly and take away from heat as soon as liquid.

Back to the truffles...

Cover a tray with wax paper. 

Take out the truffle from the freezer and directly dip into the chocolate ganache.

With a spoon grab the truffle and place it on the wax paper.

Repeat until all truffles are covered of chocolate.

Let the truffles set on the counter for 15 minutes and it will be ready.

If you like your chocolate to be cold you can put the tray in the fridge after these 15 minutes.

But I am too impatient for that :)

Bon Appetit !!!

Pear Cake to Delicious Truffles ... (vegan)

I had this 2 pears on the counter that were too done (soft) to be eaten alone. I am very bad at using all the fruits that I buy at time. It is so tempting at the store, it smells good. it looks good, and I end up buying too much. But I hate throwing away food so I had to come up with an idea to use these very mature pears.

The first thing I thought when I saw those pears, is to dip them into chocolate :) yummyyyyy.. but they were too soft :( I had to find an alternative !

Why not make a pear cake and with the crumble of the cake make truffles ? perfect I will have the pear flavor and my chocolate craving satisfied :)

Alternative found : Pear Cake Truffles ...

Pear Cake

one loaf pan

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp salt

1/3 cup dairy-free butter (earth balance)

1/2 light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer (mixed with 2 tbsp rice milk)

1/4 cup rice milk

2 pears 

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

In a bowl mix the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

In the mixer , cream the butter for 1 minute. Then add the brown sugar and beat well.

In the mean time put the pears cut in pieces in a food processor with the lemon juice, pulse 6 times (it should be like a puree with mini pieces, but not too liquid). Add the cinnamon powder and fold into the pear puree with a spatula. Set aside.

The butter and sugar should be well combined by now :) add the egg replacer mixture and mix well. Then add the pear puree one spoon at a time.

Alternatively add the flour mix and the rice milk. The batter will become smooth  when ready.

Pour the batter in a "greased" loaf pan , smooth the surface with a spatula.

After 35 min, insert a knife in the cake , if it comes out clean, it is ready, otherwise bake for 5 more minutes and check again.

When ready, transfer the cake on a cooling rack. Let it cool completely.

Follow next blog post to turn your Pear cake into Truffles :)

Baked Stuffed Tomato

Life is not all about sweet so I decided to post a little savory dish :)

I have been so busy that I don't have much in my fridge to cook with. 

But there is always, always tomato, because I am addicted to them :)

So today's recipe is Baked Stuffed Tomato

Baked Stuffed Tomato

1 large tomato

1/4 lbs pork sausage

1 clove garlic (chopped)

2 tbsp white onion (chopped)

2 small portabello mushrooms (chopped)

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp basil

2 tsp bread crumb

Preheat the oven on 400 degrees

Cook the pork sausage in a pan, mix with a spatula so the meat is crumbly. 

In a small pan, caramelized the onions, add the garlic and mushrooms.

Add the content of the small pan to the meat when cooked.

Then add the oregano and basil  and mix all the ingredients for a minute.

Slice a tomato in 2 and empty it with a spoon.

(instead of throwing it I add it to the stuffing)

Cover a baking dish with aluminium paper and place the pieces of tomato on it.

Spoon the stuffing into the tomato pieces and sprinkle 1 tsp of bread crumb on top of each.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Bon Appetit ...

Gluten Free Pie Crust ...

After reading my last post about Apple Pie , I got a lot of request about the gluten free crust.

As mentioned before, when I want to do Gluten free (and vegan) stuffs I usually will find my happiness in the amazing book of Cybele Pascal "The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook".

Cybele Pascal is a food write and a proud mother of her food allergy family :)

Her husband, two sons and even her dogs have food allergies.

The Pie Crust

4 cups brown rice flour

1 1/3 cups potato starch

2/3 cup tapioca flour

6 tbsp sweet rice flour

3 tbsp confectioner sugar

1 1/2 tsp xantham gum

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening

4 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer

6 tbsp rice milk

2 tbsp lemon juice

To make the shortcrust , mix the flour,confectioner sugar, xanthan gum and salt in a bowl. 

Add the shortening in small pieces at a time and mix about 1 minute until you obtain a coarse meal texture.

On the side, mix the Egg replacer and 6 tbsp of rice milk.

Add the egg replacer mixture, lemon juice and remaining rice milk to the dough and mix until it forms a ball.

Take out the dough from the bowl and form a ball.

Place a sheet of parchment paper, put the dough on it and top with another sheet of parchment paper.

Roll out the dough until the thickness you like your pie to be.

Grease the pan, remove the top sheet of parchment paper, flip the crust onto the pan and remove the sheet of parchment paper.

Press down the crust to fit the dish and trim the edges

Prick the bottom 9 times with a fork.

Tarte aux pommes ... the easiest recipe ever !

The other day, I felt the need of a traditional and authentic flavor from my country. 

I didn't have anything specific in mind but I saw that I had some apples in the fruit bowl , PERFECT !

Fast, easy and delicious the traditional Tarte aux Pommes is written on the menu tonight :)

My Mom is from Normandie, a region well known for its apples, apple brandy (=calvados) and Apple Cider. So this was perfect for my authentic French flavor.

                 

                       The Shortcrust

                       3 1/2 cups flour

                       3 tbsp confectioner sugar

                       1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

                       3/4 tsp salt

                       1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening

                       4 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg (egg replacer)

                       9 tbsp rice milk

                       2 tbsp lemon juice

                   

                 The Filling

                       3 apples

                       Apple sauce 

                       Cinnamon powder

                       Sugar

Set your oven on 400 degrees.

To make the shortcrust , mix the flour,confectioner sugar, xanthan gum and salt in a bowl. 

Add the shortening in small pieces at a time and mix about 1 minute until you obtain a coarse meal texture.

On the side, mix the Egg replacer and 6 tbsp of rice milk.

Add the egg replacer mixture, lemon juice and remaining rice milk to the dough and mix until it forms a ball.

Take out the dough from the bowl and form a ball.

Place a sheet of parchment paper, put the dough on it and top with another sheet of parchment paper.

Roll out the dough until the thickness you like your pie to be.

Grease the pan, remove the top sheet of parchment paper, flip the crust onto the pan and remove the sheet of parchment paper.

Press down the crust to fit the dish and trim the edges

Prick the bottom 9 times with a fork.

Spread the apple sauce on the crust (between 1/8-1/4 inch)

Cut thin slices of apple and place them on the apple sauce.

Sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top and cinnamon.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden.

GLUTEN FREE

I adapted the crust recipe from an amazing book "The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook", it is originally gluten free and requires different ingredients' quantity..

I highly recommend this book if you have allergies or food intolerances. 

It is available at Mel's store.