I’ve had this recipe bookmarked from Simply Recipes for a long time and finally made it over the weekend. My only regret? Not making it sooner. This recipe is a.maz.ing.  You probably have all of the ingredients just hanging out in your fridge and cupboard: milk, eggs, rice, sugar.  Just add a bit of elbow grease for stirring the rice and you’re set.

I omitted the raisins because well…  I hate raisins in desserts.

This is a keeper recipe for us.  Sometimes it seems the easier the recipe, the better it tastes!

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

See the original, Challenger #1 and Challenger #2.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any photo evidence to go along with this post, so you’re going to have to use your imagination a little.

Our third challenger for top crème brulée comes from the Chateau Laurier.  Ooh la la.  After sitting through a rather ho-hum viewing of 27 Dresses, we decided to pick our spirits up with a stop at the Chateau Laurier’s restaurant, Wilfrid’s.  We were pleased to see that the crème brulée offering hadn’t changed since our last visit over a year ago.

They take crème brulée to the next level.  You get a sampler of three crème brulées: maple, whiskey and cherry.  Each is served in an individual espresso cup and presented with a maple cookie, fruit and a dark chocolate “stir stick”.  The maple?   Hands down, it is my favourite.   Each little pot is extremely thick and rich and I could barely finish all three.  But I did.  No crème brulée left behind.

A delicious pick-me-up to start the week.  Try going for dessert after the dinner service around 9pm.   We had a nice table overlooking a snowy Parliament Hill.   Not sure if anything else in town can top this ….

I was looking for a traditional Scandinavian spice cookie recipe to test out my new Moomin cookie cutters. I found a ‘traditional’ recipe over at Delicious Days.

This was sort of a disaster. My dough was too wet and I only got one good Moomin cookie before the cookie cutter was all bunged up in dough. Ugh. The rest had to settle being lowly circles and hearts.

Worst of all.. they weren’t even that spicy. I guess I like a bit more zing and zap than the Swedes.

We’re still eating them… but it’s not a keeper recipe.

You may wish to refresh your memory of the crème brulée by reading the original post and Challenger #1.
Up to bat in our second challenge is the crème brulée from the French Baker / Benny’s Bistro (ou le Boulangerie Français.. mais oui!) in the Byward Market.

We appreciated the COPIOUS amounts of vanilla bean that this brulée brought to the table. Look at it all - vanilla bean speck city! With no fou-fou side dishes, this boastful little brulée stood up tall in its icing sugar shower and said, “Mais oui, mangez-moi! Je n’ai pas besoin de porter un béret pour être français et impressionnant.” (Translation: Eat me! I don’t have to wear a beret to be French and awesome.)

Quel attitude!

The brulée was rich, creamy and had a light crispy top (just how I like it). Also - the wait staff didn’t find it all strange when we walked into Benny’s Bistro asking if they served crème brulée. Not one single Amelie-esque lash batted at this question. Dessert in the afternoon? How civilised! Mais oui!

Boyfriendly rating: 4/5.

Our first challenger for Ottawa’s Best Crème brulée hails from the Social on Sussex Street. It’s a generous serving and featured vanilla gelato and an orange-fennel confit.

My tasting partner and full-time boy, considered this dessert “too eggy.” I could see where he was coming from, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I didn’t care for the thick crispy sugar crust - too thick and edging into caramel apple territory.

The orange-fennel confit had us a bit confused. Were we supposed to eat the giant pieces of orange peel? After a couple of bites, I decided to forgo the peely parts and focus on the softer parts of the confit. Much better.

Boyfriendly rating: 3/5 (bonus point for yummy side dishes)

I kid you not.  This game to find the best crème brulée in Ottawa is ON.   After having an amazing crème brulée at Domus, we decided to kick off this tasting challenge.

Below is the dessert that prompted this tasty duel, the crème brulée from Domus with a side of “cookies”.  The quotes are actually in the menu.  “I don’t know why.”

Made with real vanilla bean and organic milk and eggs - this little love pot set the bar pretty high.  It had a paper thin crust that didn’t get all stuck on your teeth and was topped with a little wafer and sprig of mint … and of course, a side of “cookies.”  The “cookies” were dusted in salt - a salty surprise!  I am now in love with salt on cookies.

Overall - a delightful and creamy texture - not too creamy, not too rich, not too eggy, not too burnt sugary.   Perfect.

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

Next up…  the Social.

I decided to make homemade ice cream again - this time a fancy “crème fraiche” recipe.  It had a four-fork rating on Epicurious, so I thought it was going to be a pretty safe recipe.  Best of all, you didn’t need any eggs!   No need to make a custard to begin the recipe.  Awesome!

I followed the readers’ instructions, substituting part of the buttermilk for evaporated milk and using superfine sugar.

And then there was the crème fraiche.

I didn’t quite have the two cups of crème that the recipe required, so I subbed a bit of yogurt cream (using my fancy coffee filter straining system).

You can see the water dripping into the mixing bowl.  Less water means less ice crystals in your ice cream.  Woot!

Sadly, I didn’t like this ice cream very much.  True to the Epicurious reviews, it was  very rich, but not quite tart enough to balance out the sweetness.  I wonder whether I should have reduced the amount of sugar since I used superfine instead of regular old white sugar.

But the clincher was the crème fraiche taste.  I had never used or tasted crème fraiche before and I guess I expected that it wouldn’t taste exactly like sour cream.  Very expensive sour cream.

Girlfriendly rating: 2/5

I’ve blogged this recipe before, but this time I’ve included better photos. Same delicious taste using apples from our veggie box, better white balance.  We tried putting a dollop of crème fraiche on top, but we weren’t so fond of the taste.  Kind of like expensive sour cream.  Meh.

Mom’s Apple Crisp

• 1/4 cup of margarine or butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 cup oats (I used the 3-5 minute kind)
• pinch of salt

• 4 1/2 cups chopped apples (I like the skin on.. you may not)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg

Mix the crumble ingredients well. Set aside. Chop up the apples and mix with lemon, sugar and spices. Empty into a square baking dish. Top with crumble.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

* Tip from Mom: Throw in some candied ginger or cranberries.

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

I’m definitely getting older. How do I know this? With each year that passes, I grow to love cranberry sauce more and more. And Coronation Street. There, it’s out there.

Some online searches turned up this easy recipe for cranberry sauce using cider and maple syrup. Done and done! 15 minutes later I had made my first homemade cranberry sauce.

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5 Delicious. Tart and sweet.

Baker’s note: I’m glad I made this a day ahead because I think it tasted even better on the second day.

Easy Cranberry Sauce

• 12 oz bag of cranberries
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 tsp (or more) ground ginger

After bringing the maple syrup and apple cider to the boil, add the whole cranberries and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil again until the cranberries stop popping. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Serve warm or chill. This will get very thick when cool and will keep for several weeks in the fridge.

After reading Nigella Lawson’s recipe for Guinness cake (featured in Feast) I was feeling particularly inspired to bake. Because over the holidays, there are no such things as calories. Right? To the grocery store I went. (My fellow Centretonians must have been baking up a storm, as the stocks of unsalted butter were dangerously low!) I ducked into the LCBO to pick up the Guinness, but first I spotted a squat little stubby and picked it up. It was the John By Imperial Stout locally made in Carleton Place. That’s when a bell went on in my head - a bake-off. Ding ding!

Let’s step into the Centretown Test Kitchen, shall we? On the left with have our local hero tipping in at 6.7% alcohol, a black syrupy consistency and a story about the Rideau Canal being a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the label. Can heritage value bake a better cake? Only our tastebuds will tell. On the right, the standard Guinness tipping in at 4.2% alcohol and only sold in a four-pack.

Heritage face-off! Who’s tangible (and tasty) barley value will produce the best cake? The John By stout took the first swing and produced a lovely dark and moist cake. Impressive.

I baked my cake in a regular 9 inch cake pan rather than the recommended spring form pan. This left extra batter for about 6 cupcakes. Bonus cupcakes definitely won a few brownie points. Oooh… that pun hurts me more than it hurts you.

And for the icing on the cake? Icing on the cake. Local lore delivers.

The competitor? Traditional draught Guinness. Let’s see if “luck of the Irish” will help in the cupcake test. Baker’s note: I ran out of large muffin papers, so the cupcake was graded only on colour and flavour.

The Guinness cupcake is on the left and clearly produced a milk-chocolate coloured cupcake while the John By Stout baked into a dark chocolate colour.

The taste test: Results were unanimous. Both the boy and I preferred the John By stout in the bake-off. Local history takes the cake!

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

Baker’s note #2: The loser Guinness beers did not go to waste.

Baker’s note #3: The John By Stout is available for a limited time as it is a seasonal product.