Every nut-lover's dream...

Nut-lovers: There exists a bakery in Toronto which specializes exclusively in nut products (there is 1/4 lb. of nuts in every bag of their product, actually). And I have to tell you - I've tried all their products first-hand and they are delicious.

The Nut Bakery sent us some samples of both their low sugar and pure cane sugar varieties of Grainless Granola (chunks), Grainless Granola (bars), Pecan Walnut Chocolate Macaroons, and Chocolate Nut Chunk. The latter two were definitely our favourites.

None of the products were too sweet, and just one or two pieces gave you energy for days (I'd recommend everyone have an emergency bag at work - you never know when a late night where you need brain power will come, because as we all know nuts are incredible brain food and I've also heard they can have a mood-stabilizing effect).

The only fault I found with them was that the low sugar varieties, of course, have a bit of an aftertaste that the pure cane sugar ones don't, which is simply part and parcel of having to use a sweetener in place of sugar. But it provides a nice alternative that diabetics can savour. Also, those with Celiac disease can indulge safely in these products, as all are gluten free because they use nuts in place of grains.

I had brought the remains of my least favourite, but still delicious, Grainless Granola Bars to work and my colleagues were amazed. I told them I wish they could've tried the Chocolate Nut Chunk and the Pecan Walnut Chocolate Macaroons, but I ate them all before any leftovers could make it into the office!

Here is a list of places where you can get your hands on their products if you're interested in trying them out.

Yours in food,
-Stacey

Bake Batter & Roll!

I can fully appreciate the pop-up bake shops Robin Hood flour is taking across Canada for its 100th anni-versary because I am certainly the baker of the two of us. Let's put it this way: Mark is the head chef, and I consider myself more of the sous-chef and pastry chef. Basically Mark doesn't measure ANYTHING and I measure pretty much everything, so it makes sense that I'm the resident baker here, non?

The place looked great - it honestly looked like a permanent fixture on Eglinton West rather than a pop-up store. I'm told the space they used was a salon that closed down. Mark said the decor reminded him of his childhood and I totally agree - I fell in love with the cupcake chairs provided by custom furniture maker Jellio.

It was a really fun place to be and for anyone with kids between the ages of 4 - 12 I'd highly rec-
ommend visiting
it as it tours across Canada. It's open here in Toronto until Nov. 22 but it appears it's in demand - the site currently says 0 seats are left. But it also appears people can cancel their bookings which would free up seats, so keep an eye out - the site also has listings for where Bake Batter & Roll will be travelling to next.

A couple fun facts courtesy of Robin Hood:

• Baking has been around since ancient times, but the first modern pastry chef appeared in Roman civilization around 300 B.C.
  
• "Cookie" comes from the Dutch word "koekje" which means "little cake."
  
• Storing soft cookies in the same jar as crisp ones will help the crisp ones become softer.

Oh and P.S. - that "pizza" below is actually a cookie. I think that'd be really fun to make!

Yours in food,
-Stacey