The 50 Best Sale Is Almost Here 📊
We're getting close! My 50 Best Recipes Workbook is going on sale for Labour Day weekend at the best price I offer all year.
I've shown you a little bit of what is inside over the last couple of weeks, but if you've been thinking about picking it up, this is the sale to wait for.
The workbook has 50 of my bakery-tested formulas, all built into Excel so you can scale recipes up or down, adjust formulas and keep the math organized without having to calculate everything from scratch.
I'm putting together the early-access list now. If you want me to let you know as soon as the Labour Day sale goes live, just click below:
Sourdough English Muffins 🍳
We made a big batch of sourdough English muffins at work this week, and I've got a couple of plans for them.
Every Friday in Muskoka we have a dock party, and there are usually a LOT of kids around. When work gets busy, I try to plan one larger kids' meal that I can get mostly organized ahead of time. It keeps things simple for them and lets me crack on with everything else I need to cook.
Tomorrow night we're doing English muffin pizzas, so having all the muffins made ahead means I can add sauce, cheese and toppings, bake a pile of them and the kids' dinner is handled.
Meanwhile, the adults are getting lamb lollipops, caviar and crab carbonara pasta... so apparently we're covering all ends of the culinary spectrum tomorrow. 😂
The English muffins themselves are one of my favourite things to make, and they're great for way more than pizza, breakfast sandwiches, eggs Benedict, toasted with butter and jam, you name it.
If you want to make your own, I've got the full recipe on my blog.
Brandied Cherries 🍒
Every summer I preserve a bunch of fruit, and one of the books I pull out every year is Paul Virant's The Preservation Kitchen. I LOVE this book. The brandied cherries are amazing, and the peaches might be even better.
It's a long story, but this year I ended up with a really nice bottle of Armagnac at work, so naturally I decided to preserve a bunch of fruit with it. 😂
I've done cherries, peaches and this year I even tried blackberries. I'll probably do a few more batches before summer is over.
Brandied Cherries
Makes approximately six 500 mL jars. This will vary a little depending on the size of your cherries and how tightly you pack them.
- 1800 g fresh cherries, pitted
- 600 g brandy, Cognac or Armagnac
- 450 g water
- 300 g sugar
Add the brandy, water and sugar to a pot and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Pack the cherries into clean, hot 500 mL jars and pour the hot brandy syrup over top, leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top. Wipe the rims clean and put on the lids.
At this point, you can simply let them cool and store them in the fridge, or I process mine in a boiling-water bath.
For canning, make sure the jars are covered by at least an inch of water. Once the water comes back to a full boil, I process my 500 mL jars for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let them sit in the water for another 5 minutes before removing them. Let them cool completely and check that they've sealed before storing.
The 15-minute processing time is for elevations up to 1,000 ft. If you live higher than that, you'll need to adjust your processing time for altitude.
And that's it.
They're amazing with ice cream, desserts, cheese, cocktails—or straight out of the jar.
If you're into preserving, definitely check out The Preservation Kitchen. It's one of those books I've had forever and still use every summer.
A quick note: This week's newsletter has a sponsor below. If it looks interesting and you click through, it directly helps support this newsletter and all the free recipes and baking content I share every week. It genuinely helps a ton, thank you! ❤️
Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough 🌶️
I wasn't actually planning on making jalapeño cheddar sourdough at work this week, but sometimes the ingredients basically decide what you're baking.
I had a bag of 5- and 10-year-old cheddar from Cheese Boutique already grated and mixed together, and then got a huge bag of beautiful jalapeños from Eat Local Muskoka.
I mean... what else was I supposed to do? 😂
So obviously, jalapeño cheddar sourdough had to happen. 😂 There's a reason this has always been one of the most popular breads I've made. Fresh jalapeños, really good aged cheddar and sourdough just WORK.
I love making this bread at this time of year when the jalapeños are fresh and everywhere. The peppers soften as the bread bakes, the cheddar melts throughout the crumb and you get that perfect mix of heat, sharp cheese and sourdough.
If you've got jalapeños coming out of the garden right now, this is the bread to make.
This Week in Muskoka 🥩🦀🔥
One thing I've really loved cooking this summer is big-format food. Give me a whole piece of meat, a pile of beautiful seafood and a fire and I'm pretty happy. 😂
This week I roasted a whole beef tenderloin, served king crab legs with lovage cream and pickled Muskoka blackberries, and today roasted two whole racks of wild boar with grilled peaches.
There's something I love about cooking this way. Rather than portioning everything individually, you cook one beautiful ingredient whole, bring it to the table and carve or serve it for everyone. It's simple in some ways, but it also feels pretty special.
The king crab was probably one of my favourites. The lovage came straight from the garden and the blackberries were ones I had pickled earlier in the summer.
I've had a few questions about some of the food I've been cooking up here, so maybe I'll turn one of these into a recipe or proper how-to for next week's newsletter.
For now, here's a little look at what I've been cooking in Muskoka this week. 🌲🔥
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Happy Baking,
MJD
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