Owl Cupcakes

 

This post will be a short one. I've been sick with a fall flu for the past couple days and have spent more time in bed than I care for. I miss my kitchen and the real desire for food! I still got myself to make these over the weekend, and it helped take my mind off of things for a little while. These cute little owls caught my eye on a couple different blogs and given the owl craze I recently blogged about and Halloween merely days away, it only seemed fair that I give these a try. The only tricky part to this recipe is separating the Oreo cookies to make the owl's eyes. My method included a flat knife and placing the Oreos for a couple seconds in the microwave. If you have any tips on how to perfectly separate the two halves - I'm a taker! Please leave a comment with your best tip!

Owl Cupcakes
- Use your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe and dark chocolate frosting.
- Separate oreos for the eyes
- Use smarties for the nose
- Junior mints for the pupil (dabbed with a tiny bit of frosting to make sure they stay put)

Roasted Heirloom Baby Carrots

There's often a misconception that making a healthy meal takes time and is not achievable on any given day of the week. This post is meant as an easy recipe to counter that approach! A couple weeks ago, I was asked what my tips were to eat healthy while saving time and money. My answer was to buy seasonally whenever you can. Seasonal produce is generally more flavourful, affordable and needs little to be turned into a delicious meal. These carrots are the perfect example. I purchased them at the Evergreen Brick Works farmers' market here in Toronto and they made the most perfect lunch. I simply roasted them with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs and served them alongside a sunny side-up egg and some crusty bread. With a glass of local fall apple cider, it's pretty close to the perfect lunch in my book! These baby carrots are so small and sweet that they barely need to be peeled and are so pretty on a plate with their different shades of oranges, yellows and purple. They're nothing better than a plate that screams autumn to make me happy to put on some boots, a warm scarf and make the best of falling leaves and crisp air.

This dish can be made with many other vegetables: try roasting some baby potatoes the same way or turnips and sweet potato. For quick meals, I like to use baby vegetables, but you can also chop your veggies in bite-size pieces. If you're making this for dinner, add some roasted salmon on top, or a nicely seared piece of chicken breast - or for a lighter meal, try it as I did, with a couple eggs, sunny side-up.

In other recent news, a couple articles I had been working on were published in the Food and Beverage section of National Post this week. I interviewed a few bloggers for the piece - Deeba from Passionate about Baking, Matt from WrightFood and Kevin from Closet Cooking as part of an article on kitchen tools, as well as MacKenzie from Grilled Cheese Social, about her love and passion for the world of toasted bread and melted cheese. You can take a look at the articles here!

 

No-bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Sandwiches

As I've mentioned here before, Halloween wasn't celebrated in France when I was growing up. I remember learning about trick or treat and dressing up while watching Friends and other TV shows, and from my American friends at school. The only time I celebrated it was in elementary school. We had a British nanny for a little while in Paris who took care of me and my brother while my parents were hard at work during the day. She sewed a matching pumpkin outfits for her and myself, complete with little tiny pumpkin hats. It was ridiculously cute.

Owl-themed decor for your home

Readers of this blog will know that I love blogging about food as well as fun and pretty home decor accessories, tableware and DIY projects. Working for Style at Home also means that I get to look at beautiful homes everyday, as well as design trends and new ways of updating your space. I'm constantly inspired to re-do parts of my apartment and on the constant lookout for pretty new pieces.

This week, I wrote about how owls-inspired accessories have become a real decor trend - they have been popping up on so many different items and can help add a whimiscal touch to your space. Here are some of my favourite finds.

What item is your favourite?
{1} Embroidered owl pillow cover
{2} Antique owl globe
{3} Owl organic dessert plate
{4} Creature kingdom hook
{5} Patterned owl print
{6} Owl catch-all dish
{7} Baby owl earrings

Parmesan and Herb Mashed Potatoes

With Thanksgiving only days away here in Canada I thought I would post an easy side dish recipe that pairs wonderfully with deliciously moist turkey and sides such as green bean salad or beet puree. I certainly didn't grow up celebrating Thanksgiving (it's obviously not a holiday of any kind in France!) but it's a tradition I have come to embrace since moving to North America. There's a little French touch in all the dishes I like to serve for the big day - and it's been a nice way to bring in a little of my upbringing and culture into the mix.

For this potato puree, I added some fresh herbs and some good quality Parmesan cheese to a classic buttery mashed potato recipe. These few easy additions help turn simple mashed potatoes into something a little more special.

For more of my Fall recipes, take a peak at Canadian Gardening. What will you be serving this Thanksgiving?


Parmesan and Herb Mashed Potatoes

8 large Yukon gold potatoes
2 tablespoons of butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of good quality Parmesan shavings
2 tablespoon of finely chopped parsleySalt and freshly cracked black pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Add the potatoes to a stockpot and fill with cold water to cover. Add a couple teaspoons of coarse kosher salt and bring to a boil.

Cook for 12 to 15 minutes or until the potatoes are completely cooked and tender. Drain the potatoes and immediately return to the warm stock pot.

Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until they begin to break down, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and mash vigorously to melt. Add the milk and mash again until the mixture is smooth and silky. If the mixture is too chunky for your liking add a couple more tablespoons of milk.

Once the potatoes have reached the desired consistency, fold in the Parmesan cheese and herbs. Add a couple good pinches of salt and pepper and serve immediately.

DIY Pumpkin Decor

With Canadian Thanksgiving days away and the beautiful Fall season upon us, what better than to infuse our homes with a little seasonal decor? I've put together a few easy DIY ideas using mini pumpkins. To get all the tips to make these centerpieces at home, take a look at my DIY piece on Style at Home.

Millionaire's Shortbread and an Ode to Blogging

As I was taking the time out of a busy day to prepare this blog today, it dawned on me how much time I've spent on this site for the past four or so years. There are so many blogs on the internet these days that it can sometime seem like the virtual world is over-saturated and then some. It seems so easy log on to Blogger or Wordpress and start your very own little publication sphere. I think in a way, this has undermined how much dedication it takes to consistently run a blog. For my part, I know that sometimes, no matter how much I love interacting with readers and how much I love sharing my passion for food, I really have to pull through to get a blog post up. As Chocolate Shavings has steadily grown, I sometimes find myself being too much of a perfectionist. There are so many dishes that don't make it on to this blog because I feel like I haven't gotten my recipe exactly where I want it or because I feel like the photos I just took of a dish do not do it justice. There have definitely been countless, countless times where food had been brought to the table at room temperature because I wanted to take the very best shot I could.

All this is to say that sometimes it's easy to take a blog for granted - to quickly browse through a couple pages of a blog, maybe bookmark a recipe or just glance over recent content. I've done it, and I'm sure you have too. The term 'blogging' often gets a bad reputation as well. There is a sense that anybody could be a blogger, that anybody can jot down their thoughts of the day and quickly press 'publish' for the world to see. But being a dedicated, regular blogger really does take time It's often like running your own mini magazine, alone and to offer the content free of charge for all to enjoy. My goal with this post is really just to give fellow bloggers a real pat on the back. The realm of blogging was just a hobby when I started during college and has, in many ways, help me jump-start my career. It's what made me want to go to culinary school, what gave me the continued dedication to write on a regular basis and what got me my first commercial photography job. I owe a lot to the blogging world, and this is my small way of giving back.

So why not indulge with a slice of Millionaire's shortbread?

Millionaire's Shortbread
Adapted from Claire Robinson

Shortbread:
2 sticks butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for preparing pans
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for preparing pans
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Caramel Layer:
2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter
Chocolate Topping:
3/4 pound good-quality bittersweet chocolate

Shortbread:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 (8-inch) square nonstick pans and coat with flour, tapping off excess. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse once. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles peas. Press the shortbread mixture into prepared pans and bake until golden brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Caramel Layer:
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the condensed milk and 2 tablespoons of butter. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously. Continue stirring over the heat until mixture becomes thick and amber in color, about 15 minutes. Pour the caramel over the cooked shortbread and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Topping:
In a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Once chocolate has melted, pour it over the cooled caramel layer. Cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, and then place in the refrigerator to cool completely, allowing chocolate to slightly harden but not get hard. Cut into 2-inch squares and enjoy, or store in an airtight container, at room temperature, or my favorite - keep in the refrigerator for a yummy sweet and cool treat!