With all the apples you have collected in the orchard, what do you do if there are apples that are almost overripe? You could compost it, but that would be a waste. What about making it into a filling? Elevate it with cinnamon and nutmeg and turn it into an “apple pie-inspired” crepes.
You could serve it with crepes as a nice, morning (or dessert) dish. It can be a great way to celebrate International Apple Day coming up in the month. Here’s a recipe for an “Apple Walnut Cinnamon Crepes!”
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Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 8-10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
8 oz (225g) white chocolate
¾ cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Equipment:
Pot, medium sized
Whisk
Method:
We have our original version of the pancakes, but here’s the recipe for the gluten-free version of our pumpkin pancakes.
]]>BREAKING NEWS: Dutch baby pancakes aren’t actually Dutch. They’re a wholly American invention allegedly based on a traditional German pancake. Oh well. They’re still awesome.]]>
If one does not have (or want) pureed beets, another alternative is using red food colouring or beetroot powder.
Here is the recipe for our original red velvet Norwegian waffles:
]]>It’s kind of like a crispy potato cake waffle. Actually, it’s exactly like that.
]]>March 25 is International Waffle Day. We’re not suggesting that it be declared an international holiday but we do have it marked on our calendars every year because it also coincides with Waffle Day in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In fact, there are several days around the world devoted exclusively to celebrating waffles: August 24 is National Waffle Day in Canada and the United States, and July 19 is Belgian Waffle Day - in India!
The original Scandanavian Waffle Day comes from Sweden and has an amusing origin story. Waffle Day takes place the same day as The Feast of the Annunciation, commonly called Our Lady’s Day or Vårfrudagen. Since Vårfrudagen sounds an awful lot like Våffeldagen (waffle day) in some dialects, our friends in Sweden began calling the day Waffle Day as a joke and began eating waffles to celebrate it.
Now you might think we here at Torill’s Table would like to incorporate all these waffle days into one international celebration but we kind of like that waffles have their own day - several times a year!
To celebrate all these waffles, it might be fun to take a look at the differences between Norwegian and Belgian waffles. Since pancakes and crepes are in the same family, we’ll take a look at those two as well. Just don’t get us started on all the national and international pancake and crepe days. Hint: there are a few.
World War Waffles
Belgian waffles are probably the most renowned of all the waffles. The batter is lighter and fluffier because of the added baking soda, and the waffles are made in waffle irons with deeper grids to create those nice bottomless pockets for thick pads of butter to melt in or float in delicious pools of syrup.
Norwegian waffles or vafler are traditionally more of a dessert or snacking waffle. Thin, soft and sweet, these heart-shaped treasures are often served with Norwegian brown cheese, a tan coloured cheese made out of goat’s whey that gives it a distinct caramel flavour. They can also be served with a homemade jam.
Heart-shaped waffles are a cultural treasure in Norway and you’re likely to find them everywhere: on ski slopes, sporting events or just in streetside cafes. These waffles are the King of Kos.
The Great Pancake Debate
Yes, this one is less of a war.
Traditional American pancakes are a perennial favourite. Thick and fluffy because they contain rising agents like baking powder or baking soda, pancakes can be flavoured by adding fruit or flavours to the batter before cooking or added on top afterwards. Favourites include berries or caramelized apple, cheeses, jams or chocolate sauce.
French crepes are thin and delicate with a smoother texture from sitting for an hour or more before cooking. The batter is spread thin across the entire base of the pan.
Crepes are flavoured differently than pancakes and you add toppings after they’re cooked. A traditional crepe is folded and stuffed with everything from Nutella to cheese, fruit to chicken, and offered in either sweet or savoury flavours for a meal or a dessert.
The crepe in Paris is similar to the heart-shaped waffle in Norway: a staple of the Parisian diet and culture. Go to any neighbourhood creperie or kiosk in Paris and you’ll likely find a line-up of native Parisians at lunch time and tourists hungry for a snack any time.
Want to Host Your Own Pancake or Waffle War?
Torill’s Table Pancake and Waffle Mixes are the ideal starting point for your own Waffles Around the World Tour.
Whatever your preference, and you should really do yourself a favour and try them all, Torill’s Table Pancake and Waffle mixes are here to help you make the best version of your favourites.
We all realize that Christmas in 2020 is going to look a lot like everything else in 2020: stay at home, be socially distanced, and virtually connected. By now, we’re getting old hats at this stuff. Adapting is in our genes and we’ve made the most of it this year. Look at Canada Post: They made sure Santa still replied to children who sent letters to him at the North Pole.
Some of us are lucky to share a home with family and can easily make it feel festive and cozy. For the rest of us, Zoom can help us once more as we create a little family Christmas magic. Dad’s ugly Christmas sweater will still be hilarious and ugly whether it’s near or far.
So it might help to keep in mind what Christmas is about for most of us: it’s about connection. So even if we have to do it virtually, we can still make pancakes together. We can open our gifts together. We can watch the same Christmas movie at the same time and crack jokes about our favourite parts.
Let’s refuse to let 2020 defeat us and share a big virtual feast together. And don’t forget to save a virtual seat for the Grinch after he has a change of heart. Last but not least, Happy Holidays to you from the Torill’s Table team! We are so thankful to each and every one of you for the love and support you have shown us this year. We couldn’t be more grateful.
Torill & Team
]]>Five days to go until Christmas! And yes, we are just as excited as you are. To kick off the Christmas festivities, we decided to make Holiday Spiced Pancakes mixed with ginger, zest, and orange juice.
Treat yourself with love and good food this Christmas.
The holiday season is fast approaching. Decorations are hung up, ugly Christmas sweaters are popping up and Michael Bublè and Mariah Carey are slowly awakening from their hibernation to delight us on PA systems in stores everywhere.
Another thing to add onto the holiday spirit is eggnog! This custard-y based drink that fills us with indulgence and comfort is a must during the holidays when we are allowed to indulge and enjoy our favourite foods. Have you ever tried to combine pancake and eggnog? Trust us, it's an amazing combo!
Other than the booze, another way to level up our eggnog game is using it in pancakes. This will definitely fill you up with holiday spirit.
Here is a recipe for our eggnog pancakes!
Recipe
Ingredients:
Equipment:
Method:
EGGNOG SYRUP
One of our most addicting syrups and sauces out there is the eggnog syrup. Its vanilla buttercream-esque taste and creamy texture definitely compliments with any of our pancakes and waffles.
Recipe
Ingredients:
Equipment:
Method:
It’s a four week celebration leading up to Christmas, a period of four Sundays and four weeks. Hence, the subpar chocolately Advent calendar for children. Traditional Advent calendars would feature behind their doors an image, a poem or story, an ornament, or a piece of candy.
It’s not a wholly religious holiday, however, and many of us can celebrate it as a secular family time. Some families celebrate by doing daily crafts, baking food, playing games or lighting candles. However we do it, the central theme of Advent is family togetherness. In a year like 2020, family connectedness (even at a distance) has never been more important.
Advent isn’t even a period to think about ‘what to do’ but rather how we do it and who we do it with.
Some ideas for a happy 2020 Advent with your family:
Observe Advent with the calendar and light extra candles every Sunday.
Place craft ideas behind several doors of the calendar.
Take some time to be quiet and reflect and just destress
Random acts of kindness
Practice mindfulness and gratitude
Check out Christmas traditions and celebrations around the world and incorporate one of them into your family’s celebrations
If you and your family have any fun Advent traditions, please share them in the comments with other readers!
]]>Even with the relaxation of restrictions across the country, it’s expected that many people will elect to continue ordering online. Through a newly launched collective, Calgarians are now able to order delivery from twenty four of Calgary’s local food businesses through the newly formed collective Best of Calgary Foods. Torill’s Table is one of those companies offering products for home delivery alongside local icons such as Glamorgan Bakery and 2 Greek Gals.
Several of the businesses already offer delivery service but combining twenty four suppliers through one online gateway means customers can order from several stores at one time and pay one single delivery fee. It’s a lot of convenience and cost saving for those working remotely and juggling parenting duties. And the safety of shopping from home during the second wave can’t be overstated.
The collective has been overwhelmed with orders since the recent launch. After the new lockdown in Alberta was announced, people in Calgary have been looking for ways to maintain an uninterrupted stream of groceries. And they've found it in Best of Calgary Foods!
The launch was greeted by a flurry of attention by local media in the form of stories and interviews. Best of Calgary Foods was featured by CBC News, CTV News, Global News and Daily Hive. Torill’s Table alone saw nearly a hundred orders in the first week. “It’s been really gratifying,” owner Torill Myre says. “The excitement in the city surrounding the launch has been a nice surprise.”
The collective is the brainchild of Alpine Sausage owner Janeen Norman who looked at what was currently available at the market and thought there has got to be a better way.
"There are lots of different food categories. For example, alcohol, bakery, we've got meats, seafood, tea and coffee. We've got candies, we've got honey, we've got waffle mixes," Norman told CBC News. "Just a whole beautiful mix of products!"
There are no price markups through the collective so you pay the same as you would in store. Customers get their products delivered on Thursdays or Fridays between 3 PM and 8 PM on orders placed by the previous Friday. Best of Calgary Foods will deliver anywhere in Calgary with no surcharges for outlying neighbourhoods. They even offer subscriptions or standing orders so you can get your milk or waffle mixes automatically picked and delivered every week.
Go to Best of Calgary Foods and place an order today.
]]>Did you know that Dutch Baby pancakes are actually not Dutch…it is actually an American invention based on a German pancake dish. Nonetheless, all Dutch, Germans, and Americans love these pancakes because of it's unique taste and texture.
Here's the recipe...
]]>
It’s not that she hates waffles. On the contrary, she loves them. She’s spent the past ten years refining her version of her mother’s traditional Norwegian ‘vafler’. Twenty thousand waffles later, she obviously has perfected them because people keep telling her that she’s ruined ordinary waffles for them. Once they’ve tried Torill’s Table waffle mix, they can’t go back to the standard white flour waffles and pancakes. Their children simply won’t let them.
That would put a smile on anyone’s face. But for Torill, it’s personal because she created the waffles to give her family a more nutritious, and more flavourful, breakfast waffle. Soon, everyone she knew was asking her for bags of this waffle mix. Family, friends of family and families of friends. She graciously gave them away for free but eventually realized that she couldn’t spend all of her time as a single mom feeding her extended community for free. So, she decided to turn her creation into a company that would elevate the business of waffles.
It wasn’t easy. Especially creating a gluten-free version, which are all too often focused on taste and texture, eschewing nutrition altogether. A simple alternative flour mix with no fibre wasn’t good enough for her. She was determined to create the perfect gluten-free mix that people would choose over a regular wheat waffle. When crafting the recipe, she packed it with wholesome ingredients like gluten-free flour, oats, almonds, flax seed and vanilla. A little bit of cane sugar for taste. The result is a hearty, nutritious waffle that leaves you feeling sated so you don’t need to snack all day long.
Heeding a friend's advice that ‘you don’t need to know how, you’ve just got to do it’, she dove headfirst into the entrepreneur ecosystem. The logistics of managing a start-up are daunting. It might start with figuring out the right volume of ingredients to sell based on package size, and finding a company to source, house and package the product, but it doesn’t end there. Some days managing a food product company might seem to be nothing but logistics. There are food safety and allergen issues, insurance, shipping, sales, and complications involved in scaling up to move efficiently into different and emerging markets.
There are so many obstacles and pitfalls for an entrepreneur to navigate in the packaged food space that it can be intimidating. You’re not out of the woods once your product is ready to go out the door. In order to get it into large chain stores that control the majority of the market, you need to develop relationships with brokers who decide what products ultimately end up on store shelves.
The food space is so crowded, with iconic brands and other small start-ups, that you have to find a niche, your unique selling point that differentiates you from the pack. For Torill it was finding that sweet spot between taste and texture, and nutrition. She wanted to create a waffle and pancake that was so good and satisfying that you couldn’t help but come back for more. She also wanted to ensure it was a healthy, nourishing food that mothers would feel good about feeding their kids.
It’s all challenging to say the least. Thankfully, she came to the attention of District Ventures Capital, a capital venture fund owned by Arlene Dickinson of Dragons’ Den fame. District Ventures provided the initial infusion of capital needed for Torill’s Table to get off the ground. They also put her through their mentorship and training program which provides lectures and educational sessions from industry professionals that help mentor budding entrepreneurs.
Through District Ventures, Torill was dropped into an instant community of new entrepreneurs that has proved almost as valuable as the funding and training itself. It was empowering just to know that she wasn’t alone on her journey. The advice and support that she received from the community was a godsend. Collaborating on complementary demos at markets helped build camaraderie and friendship. And the community is great for warning others away from unscrupulous landlords or businesspeople who might try to take advantage of less experienced owners.
All of her work is starting to pay off: Torill’s Table mixes are available all over Western Canada in local natural food stores like Blush Lane Organic Market and major grocery chain Safeway. Myre was a finalist in the 2019 Mompreneur Award, recognizing strong female entrepreneurs displaying a passion for both business and family.
When Torill finds herself getting overwhelmed, she thinks about why she does it: it’s still all about family. She wanted to provide parents with something nutritious that their picky kids would still love, giving them all peace of mind. She knows first hand the challenges families face in trying to feed their kids nutritious meals that they actually enjoy.
]]>So take your overripe bananas - we all have some - some baking soda, a few eggs, milk, Torill’s Table pancake and waffle mix… add a sprinkle of sunshine and you've got Torill's Table banana pancakes!
Ingredients:
Equipment:
Method:
You no longer have to wait for it, as we have a recipe for our “Breakfast-style” stuffed pancakes!
Ingredients:
Equipment:
Method:
With all the apples you have collected in the orchard, what do you do if there are apples that are almost overripe? You could compost it, but that would be a waste. What about making it into a filling? Elevate it with cinnamon and nutmeg and turn it into an “apple pie-inspired” crepes.
You could serve it with crepes as a nice, morning (or dessert) dish. It can be a great way to celebrate International Apple Day coming up in the month. Here’s a recipe for an “Apple Walnut Cinnamon Crepes!”
Crepes:
Filling:
Enjoy!
]]>All Hallows’ Eve. More commonly known as Halloween. It’s the night spirits - in the form of ghouls and witches, alongside Harley Quinn and Dark Voyager from Fortnite - roam our streets on the hunt for souls. And candy. Mostly candy. A night when children, and the occasional teenager, celebrate the European pagan festival of Samhain the way it was intended: with a four hour sugar rush.
Our interns Ali and Jennie grew up celebrating Halloween like most kids in Canada by wearing costumes over top of snow gear and comparing their candy hauls from a night on the prowl. It’s an evening of fun that always brings friends and family together.
Halloween in 2020, like most events and holidays this year, will probably look a little different. Some families will no doubt opt for staying or taking a smaller route for trick-or-treating. How can we celebrate this ghoulish holiday indoors with a bunch of rowdy kids in costumes?
We’re a little biased but we think creating some food art by decorating pancakes and waffles might be a great idea. Foods like cakes and waffles are the perfect canvas to make into some scary spiders or zombies. And what’s better than edible art? It’s a way to expand your kids’ creativity while having some fun.
Here are some tips and tricks for decorating your Halloween pancakes and waffles:
1) Enhance the spirit of the spooky season by using our pumpkin waffle recipe.
2) Melt some chocolate, dark or milk, into a Ziplock bag and cut a small hole in one of the corners. Instant pastry decorating bag!
3) Use candy like Reese’s Pieces or Smarts as spider eggs.
4) Melt some marshmallows to create gooey mummies.
Make sure to take a day of rest to recover from your sweet all nighter.
From Torill’s Table to yours, have a happy and safe Halloween!
]]>Be rest assured as we present to you a pure combination of waffles cake and pumpkin spice. A perfect duo to enjoy the vibrant and vivid feel of fall!
A simple, easy, and most importantly very tasty dessert to make with coffee or tea at any time during the day. It is also a great alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Waffles:
Cream Cheese Icing:
Candied Nuts/Pumpkin Seeds:
Equipment:
Method:
Pumpkin Waffles:
Cream Cheese Icing:
Candied Nuts/Pumpkin Seeds:
Assembly:
Enjoy!
]]>Next to Christmas, Thanksgiving is the most treasured family holiday of the year. So, what is it about Thanksgiving that warms our hearts and motivates us to spend hours preparing for a feast and often travelling long distances to be with our loved ones?
It’s that special feeling of reconnecting around a table laden with a special meal, catching up over a glass of beer during a hockey or football game, or a glass of wine while sharing the cooking duties. A hug from a family member or a friend. It’s a simple magic that draws us together every Thanksgiving.
Its tradition is rooted in gratitude. Many people in North America think of the 1621 celebration by the settlers at Plymouth as the origin of the tradition but the first noted thanksgiving celebration in the New World took place in 1578 when Sir Martin Frobisher arrived in Canada after a long journey from England. Frobisher and his crew celebrated with mushy peas and salt beef. Thankfully the traditions - and the meals - have evolved since then!
However or whenever we think Thanksgiving began, the whole point was… gratitude. And in 2020 what do we have to be thankful for more than anything else? Family, of course.
Many families have different traditions: some go around the table at dinner and offer one thing they are each thankful for from the present year. Some fight over the wishbone. And everybody eats special food. A lot of special food.
In the light of Covid, Thanksgiving will look different in a lot of homes this year but togetherness isn’t just about proximity.
So what can we do to still feel the warmth and comfort of Thanksgiving?
Here are some ideas:
The most important ingredient of Thanksgiving is always going to be family. And that’s something to be thankful for.
We hope you have a warm and connected Thanksgiving!
]]>Imagine the perfect fall morning: rolling over with a nice, long stretch as autumn leaves drift by your window. And what’s that smell? Fresh, steaming pancakes with a spark of savory cinnamon, nutmeg and a hint of ginger. I think we all agree that pumpkin spice is the official scent of fall.
Pumpkin spice pancakes means you’ll readily wave goodbye to summer and give a nice warm embrace to the flavors of autumn. To help you celebrate the season we’ve decided to share our super secret pumpkin pancake recipe with you. And don’t worry: we won’t hold it against you if you can’t keep a secret. Go ahead and share it with your loved ones. It’s kind of what fall, and Kos, is all about.
Follow the recipe below and embrace Kos With your family and friends:
Be sure to write a review and share your cooking journey with us.
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