It is mid-December and you need some cheering up. You deserve a cookie.
Under times of duress, we like to bake things for ourselves and for other people (lucky you!).
Made with cake flour, toasted marshmallows, a smattering of sprinkles, and a bit of love, these discs of delight will make your December bright. So don’t stress. These cookies are all fiesta.
Party Cookies (Adapted from Spoon Fork Bacon)
- 1 stick of softened unsalted butter (about ½ cup)
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar (OR ½ cup white sugar plus 1 ½ tbsp molasses…this works better for our purposes)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ cups rice krispies
- About ½ cup chocolate chips (optional!)
- 1 cup of cut up large marshmallows
- 4 tbsp rainbow sprinkles
Begin by sectioning your marshmallows into quarters,
Cream butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon. Add one egg and a splash of vanilla and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, and baking soda. Incorporate into butter mixture until just combined.
Knead in rice krispies, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and sprinkles and leave to chill in refrigerator for one hour (these cookies spread!). While the cookies are chilling, preheat oven to 350F.
Spread these cookies far apart from each other on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Roll them into little balls and place them in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Don’t over-bake them!
Chew away!
Dangle the promise of free marks in front of your students’ foreheads and they will bite the proverbial carrot, peek out from under their shells (backpacks?) and do anything you want them to do. One of our Spanish classes required us to participate in an activity related to Hispanic culture, and naturally we interpreted this as an opportunity to purchase and cook chorizo. Incidentally, we were also craving meat. Salty, slightly chewy, and replete with piquant spices, this Spanish sausage can be eaten just as fine on its own but is made better when paired with poulet. We want all of our assignments to be this edible enjoyable.
Hello, Chorizo (Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen)
Ingredients- Serves 5
- 10 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on (why take the skin off???)
- Olive oil
- 1 packet Spanish chorizo, coarsely chopped
- 1.5 lb/750g red new potatoes (again, why take the skin off???)
- 1 large or 2 small onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
- Pinch of paprika
- Pinch of Italian Seasoning (oregano, basil, rosemary)
Preheat the oven to 425F. Line shallow baking dishes with parchment paper (like the kind that wizards write upon. With quills.). Baste the chicken’s skin with oil and turn skin side up on tray.
Halve potatoes and toss with a smidgen of oil as well.
Distribute chorizo, potatoes, onions among the baking trays. Sprinkle with spices and salt, if you so choose.
Bake for about one hour, or until chicken meat is no longer pink.
Delicioso!
Scavenging for free food is a bit of a competitive sport among hungry McGill students.
If you are lucky, you might be able to score some from Midnight Kitchen, which is a by-donation, volunteer-driven food collective that churns out an array of vegan lunches to the ravenous masses in the Shatner Building every week day.
It’s a sweet deal: free food! Healthy food!
To your chagrin, likeminded people on campus have the same idea. You’ll have to arrive late and be patient or (to the best of your abilities and your VO2 max) arrive early, knocking over a few chairs in the process.
Stylishly jumping over park benches ahead of the line to Midnight Kitchen could have been your comparative advantage, but you didn’t capitalize on that weird Groupon for parkour classes this summer.
Bring your own Tupperware, wait in line, and hope for the best. Hope they don’t run out of that lentil soup. Or make your own, like we did!
Gentle Lentil Soup
Ingredients- Serves 6
2 cups water
1 cup lentils
1 bayleaf
2 onions, diced
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp paprika
Pinch of Italian seasoning (oregano, rosemary, basil)
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 large potatoes, diced. (leave the peel on!)
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 can chickpeas
If you like chunky soup like we do, make many lentils. The ratio is two cups water to 1 cup lentils. Boil till tender and stick a bay leaf in there, about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
The onion and garlic go first. Cook with a smidge of olive oil over medium heat in an enormous pot. Add paprika, lentils, potato, carrots, and chickpeas. Dissolve your stock cubes in a litre of water and add to mixture. Simmer for about 40 minutes, or until potatoes are nice and tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Multiply this recipe if you want to feed people MK style. Great for potlucks!
It’s time to flaunt your fancy kitchen footwork by serving up a simple dessert with an exotic twist. Perfect for afternoon tea, our cute cupcakes are infused with a piquant blend of the beverage itself. You’ll raise not only a pinky, but all ten fingers to these cupcakes. Dainty as this confection may be, we warn you that your hands will be dancing a waltz with a tangle of sweet, sticky condensed milk icing.
Chai-Tea Mini Cupcakes (Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)
Ingredients- makes a dozen
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 bags chai tea
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 12 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3/4 packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
Condensed Milk Icing
Ingredients
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1/2 cup condensed milk
- 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
- You will have a lot left over so don’t worry about it
Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins with liners. Bring milk to simmer over medium heat in a small pot, Remove from heat, add tea bags, let steep, covered, 15 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow milk to cool completely.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating each in well until incorporated.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk. Don’t overmix! Your dough will get tough (funny the way english pronunciation works, isn’t it?)
Fill batter among cups until about 3/4 full each. Bake about 17 minutes, rotating through halfway.
To make the icing
Whisk milk and butter together until smooth. On high speed, add 1/4 confectioners sugar at a time until it’s done!
Let cupcakes cool completely before dipping them in icing. Let it dribble around the sides. Dust with a bit of confectioners sugar.
It’s okay if there is a moat of icing left over. More to lick.
The eggplant is an awkward vegetable. It’s purple, sports a strange and pointy green hat, and literally resembles a sore thumb. Poor thing.
Give it a bit of an edge. Dice it up and toss it with balsamic vinegar and a few chopped cherry tomatoes. The awkward aubergine will become an enigmatic eggplant as a member of the prestigious bruschetta trio.
Excellent finger food for parties or for dinner, give these bite-sized bites some confetti of their own by sprinkling them with a couple handfuls of shredded cheese before they make their complete retreat from the oven.
Eggplant-Tomato Bruschetta
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 eggplant, about the size of a canteen
- Splashes of balsamic vinegar (3-4 tbsps)
- Olive oil
- Bit of italian seasoning (basil, oregano, rosemary)
- Pinch of chili flakes
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 fresh baguette
- Shredded cheese (totally optional, if that floats your boat)
Heat oven to 350. Chop garlic and let it cook in a bit of olive oil just before turning golden. Add halved cherry tomatoes and a tiny bit of salt. Place a large lid over skillet and wait until tomatoes look kind of wrinkly.
Meanwhile, chop eggplant and add into mixture. Add couple splashes of balsamic vinegar and a coin of olive oil and cook until texture is spongy. Incorporate spices, salt, pepper.
Cut baguette into 1-2cm thick disks with a serrated knife (looks like it has shark teeth). Lay on a flat baking tray lined with either parchment or aluminum foil. Pat each with olive oil and a spoonful of bruschetta. Let cook in oven for about 7 minutes.
Take out of oven and add cheese. Crank the heat up to broil if you want to brulée your cheese. Re-insert into the fiery furnace for a minute or two. Watching cheese melt is like watching the sun set.
We love snacks. Like hobbits, we’re ready to graze on something at any given time during the day. We have made emergency provisions for a week filled with group meetings, essays, and midterms by (quite literally) stirring up a large batch of sweet potato hummus. Eat it with vegetables, crackers, or as a spread on your sandwich. Your taste buds will hum in delight at its velvety texture and notes of wholesome saccharine goodness.
Sweet Potato Hummus (Adapted from Spoon Fork Bacon)
Fills 1 large yogurt container
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 6 tbsp tahini
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Begin by peeling the sweet potatoes and boiling them to an oblivion, or until soft and can be readily pierced with a fork.
Rinse and drain can of chickpeas and add sweet potatoes, garlic, tahini, and all spices. Blend together until smooth (we used our handy hand blender).
Stir in salt and pepper, to taste.
Yummy hummus! (Try saying that ten times fast)
Peter Piper’s pickled peppers are unappetizing. Allow your tongue to twist itself around this wonderful mosaic of colours and textures instead.
Buried within the recesses of these sweet red peppers are a mixture of pearly ancient grains, purple legumes, and leafy greens. Surrounded by a moat of spice-plenty tomato sauce, this meal is an impressive monument of flavour and charm.
The dairy can be omitted if you are vegan, however we strongly encourage sealing these capsicum capsules with a stringy, gooey, generous heap of cheese. You’ll utter a guttural and embarrassingly audible groan of satisfaction when you eat this. It’s love at first bite.
Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 4 red bell peppers
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 handfuls fresh spinach
- 4 mushrooms, diced
- 1 can kidney beans
- mozzarella cheese, grated, to taste (optional)
Cumin-Spiked Tomato Sauce
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp italian herbs
- Chili flakes, to taste
- a few dashes montreal steak spice
- salt, to taste
Combine 1 cup water with 1/2 cup quinoa and bring to boil. Crank heat down to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the grains are translucent.
Meanwhile, take off the tops of the peppers and de-seed them. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the peppers for five minutes. Drain and let cool.
While the peppers are cooling, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Sauté the onions until translucent, then add the mushrooms and cook until tender. Add the kidney beans and spinach, and continue to sauté until the spinach has wilted. Add the cooked quinoa and remove from heat.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Simmer all ingredients until warmed through.
Place the peppers upright in a casserole dish. Stuff them to the brim with the quinoa and vegetable mixture, then coat them with ladles upon ladles of sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes has passed, sprinkle cheese on top and broil for an additional two to five minutes.
Spice up your life.
This is one of the easiest pies you will ever make from scratch. Best of all, its preparation is simpler with the help of two dessert-savvy friends! Key lime pie is best made with condensed milk, however if you plan on making the curd without it (like we did, oops!), stock up on a carton of eggs in advance.
Perfect for pi day, this marshmallow-citrus tart has the key to our hearts.
Marshmallow Key Lime Pie
Crust
1/2 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
Melted Margarine
Bit of grated ginger (optional)
Curd
Juice and zest of 2 limes
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs + 1 yolk
6 tbsp margarine or butter
Topping
1 jar of fluff
Bit of water
1 egg white
Prepare the crust by combining graham cracker crumbs with margarine and ginger until coated and moist. Press into a round pie dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Should smell heavenly.
Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the curd in a small pot over medium heat. Do not boil, stir constantly until mixture becomes thick and the edges start to coagulate.
Let crust cool completely and strain lime mixture through a sieve. Allow it to cascade evenly into the crumb base. Bake for 8 mins.
Meanwhile, prepare topping by whisking together Fluff, water, egg white. Allow pie to cool again. Drape topping over the lime filling and bake at 375 for 2-4 minutes, until marshmallow begins to brown.
If it were up to us, we would have more than 3.14159265 slices of this pie.
Although beets look like brains, they will fuel yours with the nutrients it needs to outlast the last of your midterms. Arm your hands with gloves lest you want your fingernails stained a bright fuchsia. These chips are easy to make and will be ready in ten minutes or less. You’ll never want to settle for an ordinary golden potato chip again when you can crunch and munch upon these vibrant half-moons of red delight.
Beet chips
- Beets
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Gloves
Line a long, flat pan with aluminum foil (if you have it) and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice beets thinly (width should be about 2 centimetres) and toss to coat with olive oil and salt. Lay on pan and bake for about 10 minutes, or until crunchy.
Beat that beet up and enjoy!!
