Love hurts, baking helps

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Erin Bolger

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Maybe a black cat crossed your path over the weekend and (in spite of the hefty investment in the French maid costume) you got dumped after the Halloween party. Breaking up is hard to do, but makeup artist Erin Bolger will tell you that "baking up" afterwards will make you feel better.

Bolger is a country gal from Blyth, Ont., who grew up to become a professional makeup artist. In fact, you can see her work these days on So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

Along the way, she's done some dating. Some good. Some, not so good. But when the dating chips are down, the chocolate chips are always in the kitchen, and so is a way to relax and regroup for the next heartthrob. And the book that takes you through it all is Bolger's The Happy Baker: A Dater's Guide to Emotional Baking (Happy Baker Publishing, $28.99).

The Happy Baker is filled with easy-to-follow recipes paired with a running account of Bolger's love life -- the good, the bad and the fudge-ly. There is something in almost every story that women who date men will relate to, from the elementary school crush that lasted until her 19th birthday, to the end of the first real adult relationship after six years. And all the way through, there have been cookies.

"Baking is something I've always done since I was a little kid," says Bolger.

"In public school, I entered a little cookbook in our fall fair -- so even then I was writing a cookbook. In fact, the artwork is the same. There's been no improvement at all.

"I was always creative. My town was small and I would do everyone's makeup and hair for prom. And I was a figure skater, too. I would design my figure-skating dresses and get my mom to sew them -- I was just big on being creative in so many areas."

Her guidance counsellor suggested a course at Humber College 16 years ago, and then a volunteer stint at Rogers led to a freelance job at Citytv, where she's been making up and baking up for TV hosts ever since. Over the years, to keep boredom at bay while her clients sat under the lights around the mirror, Bolger told stories about her dating exploits and fed them the goodies she would bake after her dating disasters.

"Baking and dating are my hobbies," she says, "I bake when I'm stressed, and I'm usually stressed because of men! That's why they fit together."

She says that baking lets her forget it all, but there's more to it as well.

"There's something about creating an item from start to finish, and it's the smell from the kitchen... but it's not only that," she says. "The sharing part is a huge thing for me. Bringing it to work or to my neighbours, they're all excited because people don't always have a lot of time to bake. But when you bake a home-baked item it really brightens someone's day, and that makes me happy."

While Bolger insists she has no advice for the lovelorn. "Dating tips? I definitely don't have any!" she says, adding there are a couple of things she's discovered as a self-taught baker over the years.

"I used to always put my cookie sheets on top of my oven because my place was so small. But you don't want to heat your cookie sheets before you put your cookies on because it makes your cookies go flat."

She also says that it's worth taking the time to roast nuts for recipes that call for them because they taste much better.

So is the Happy Baker busy baking or dating? "I usually just say I have a 'situation,'" she says. "It's good actually because I'm so busy right now, but it's also a problem because I need material for another book!"

You Can See Her

Erin Bolger will be featured on Breakfast Television on Friday, Nov. 6. She'll be at McNally Robinson (Grant Park) on Saturday Nov. 7 from 2-4 p.m. and the restaurant is featuring her Big Hurt Cheesecake on the menu. You can look for her down the road on Dec. 14 on Cityline. Bolger has landed a spot for herself on Dragons' Den as well, so keep an eye on your TV listings for the air date to see if Bolger can sweet talk the entrepreneurs. Visit Bolger online at www.thehappybakerchick.com

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Here are three samples from The Happy Baker. "I am a self-taught baker and all the recipes are easy and most are passed down from relatives," says Bolger. "Even a novice baker can do the recipes. Dating is hard enough, your emotional baking shouldn't be!"

Peanut butter cupcakes

500 ml (2 cups) all purpose flour

500 ml (2 cups) sugar

125 ml (1/2 cup) cocoa

10 ml (2 tsp) baking soda

5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder

2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt

250 ml (1 cup) oil

250 ml (1 cup) milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla

250 ml (1 cup) hot water

Icing

125 ml (1/2 cup) butter, softened

250 ml (1 cup) peanut butter

45 ml (3 tbsp) hot water

500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

2. Line cupcake tins, makes 18 cupcakes.

3. In a large bowl sift together dry ingredients.

4. Add oil, milk, vanilla, beaten eggs; blend well. Stir in hot water; mix well.

5. Fill lined cupcake tins. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Let cool.

6. For icing: Blend together butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add icing sugar and hot water (alternating) until desired texture is achieved.

7. Ice cupcakes and enjoy!

Sugar Cookies

300 ml (11/4 cups) all purpose baking flour

1 ml (1/4 tsp) baking soda

1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt

125 ml (1/2 cup) butter, softened

125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar

125 ml (1/2 cup) brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon, remove the seeds

1 egg

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla

Coconut to roll dough in.

1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt: set aside.

3. In a medium mixing bowl; cream together the butter and sugars.

4. Mix in lemon juice, egg and vanilla.

5. Add dry ingredients. Wrap dough in plastic and put in the refrigerator until easy to handle.

6. Roll dough into a 1-inch ball and then roll it in coconut. Place ball on a lined cookie sheet and flatten with your fingers.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until slightly golden. Let cool on wire cooling racks.

Caramel Shortbread 

Base:

150 ml (2/3 cup) butter, softened

50 ml (1/4 cup) sugar

300 ml (1 1/4 cups) all purpose flour

Filling:

125 ml (1/2 cup) butter

125 ml (1/2 cup) packed light brown sugar

30 ml (2 tbsp) light corn syrup

125 ml (1/2 cup) sweetened condensed milk

Topping:

300 ml (1 1/4 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

2. In a medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar and flour until crumbly. Press into an 8-inch square pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

3. In a medium-heavy bottom saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and beat by hand for a couple of minutes. Pour evenly over baked crust. Let the caramel firm.

4. Melt the chocolate over low heat in a small saucepan. Pour evenly over caramel layer. Chill then cut into squares. This recipe is very rich, so cut it into small squares.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 4, 2009 D1