Leaves Of Trees Headquarters Opens May 1st

You're invited to join us @ Leaves of Trees store opening tomorrow!

We're officially open May 1st 

177 Queen St. East, Toronto.
10:00am - 6:00pm

Bonus: Opening day, receive a free gift with purchase!

What is Leaves of Trees?

Roohi Qureshi is the modern-apothecary behind Leaves of Trees, a luxe artisanal skin & hair care line.
Leaves of Trees products are organic and ethically made, formulated and handmade by Roohi herself in small batches.

What's in store?

Lotions, lip balms, soaps, scrubs, Lainey Gossip fave deodorant and Argan Oils.
All products are made using argan oil sourced from a women's co-operative in Morocco where the oil is extracted the traditional way, by hand!

Shop opens for business May 1st.
With regular hours:
Tuesday - Saturday 10am  - 6pm

Stop by and say hi and try out the products while you're there. 

Butter

When I was younger, my Aunt and Uncle had a dairy cow named Claire on their farm up in Marmora, about 20mins from Peterborough. Claire is a very good cow, she is the matriarch of the herd and is a pretty reliable alarm clock in the mornings. She's still around these days, but no longer works in the dairy industry.

As well as raising live stock and growing food, we do a lot of baking at the farm. Usually because there is a lot of food and fresh ingredients at our disposal. One of my fondest memories is when we used to pour the fresh milk in jars and shake them around the kitchen and the yard until they magically churned into butter. It seemed like magic at the time, now it's still kind of magical - but it's just nice to make my own fresh butter.

For anyone interested in making your own, here are some very easy/no-brainer instructions to make jar butter. If you have kids to entertain, this can be a fun activity they can do to help you in the kitchen. 

Supplies/Ingredients

heavy cream 

(I've used regular whipping cream - anything with a high milk fat content, say 35% M.F. or higher, will work perfectly)

jar or container with very secure lid

parchment to wrap butter in

energetic youth or strong arm 

(you can also use a food processor or stand mixer instead)

Time

10-15 mins

Shelf Life

Fresh homemade butter is best consumed in 7 days refrigerated or 5 days on the table. 

If you rinse it with ice water it will store longer, but I usually use it all before then.

Step1:

- Pour cream into jar, secure lid and shake

-1cup of cream will yield about 1/2 cup of butter + 1/2 cup of butter milk 

I leave about 1-2inches of space from the lid so the cream has room to move. 

Step2:

- After about 5 minutes you'll notice the mixture has separated into curds and liquid.  

Pour out the liquid into a cup/container -You just made buttermilk! 

- Close the lid and continue to shake, pouring out the liquid as it accumulates. 

Keep shaking the jar until liquid stops separating from the butter. 

Step3:

- After the buttermilk is all drained out, wrap the butter in the parchment 

and allow to firm up in the refrigerator.

Before refrigerating the butter I like to shape the it into a log. 

Enjoy your fresh homemade butter and buttermilk!

For anyone in the Toronto area this week. There is a movie @ TIFF called "Butter" staring Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde, Hugh Jackman, Alicia Silverstone and Ashley Greene. It's about the "hostile, high-stakes world of competitive butter carving." Pretty sure it's going to be hilarious. 

Check here for movie times and details!

We went to the The Christie Conservation Antique Show in Hamilton this past weekend and I noticed there were tons of vendors selling old butter making tools like molds, presses, and churns. 

They can be pretty valuable if you find authentic antiques. 

Here are just a few listings I found on Etsy

- Dazey Butter Churn

- Wooden Sunflower Butter Stamp

- Wooden Butter Mold Collection

Links

Here are some links I came across when making this post. They have some good suggestions and alternative methods in making your own butter. 

- Stand mixer instructions

- Using ice water and food processor

- Detailed instructions + adding flavours
- All about butter

French Macarons!

So I started this list. A list of things I want to make. Rather than having these ideas just sit on my desktop screen, in a lonely file folder, never to see the light of day, I decided to publish it online as motivation.
I hope to finish the list and add new things as we go along, but most important, I'll be making posts featuring the finished projects!

Here for your viewing pleasure is the first off the list - French Macarons.

As soon as I found out what these little morsels were, I knew I would love them. I literally had dreams about them and how good they might taste. So I started experimenting with different recipes, just so I could eat them and have my dreams come true!
I've had some varied success, but this is the best batch so far.
I used this recipe for the meringue "cookie" part
and this recipe for the "cream" centre.

I am not a baker or at all savvy to the art of pastry making, so I found this recipe particularly great!

With helpful tips and a handy troubleshooting guide, you're likely to make a better batch and both recipes produce delicious treats. 

My search for the perfect local macarons have taken me to several patisseries in the GTA, and hands down Nadège on Queen West wins every time. They have a great and unique selection, including your staples like chocolate, pistachio and rose water. But they also have specialty flavours - I recommend the olive oil and mojito - but no flavour will disappoint. 


If you're cruising around for more recipes, My Food Geek also has a "Almost Foolproof Macarons" recipe you can try out. Or you can also try the macaron mix you can get from the bulk store. But, in my experience - from scratch or from market is better than the ready-mix variety.


Let me know if you have any tips, or where you've had the best macarons.
Thanks for reading!