Delicious canola recipes

I am cooking my way through this trade war and thought I'd share some excellent canola recipes I've come across/developed in case anyone else has patriotically bought themselves many litres of Canola oil. Apparently there is now a cold-pressed, high-nutrient organic canola made in the prairies that tastes "nuttier" which I am keeping an eye out for. 

Successful recipes will be added throughout the fall baking season as I work my way through my stockpile.

Rum Walnut Financiers

Adapted from Jonathan Garnier's Financier with Almonds and Cherries 

• 65 grams flour (1/2 cup)
• 150 grams sugar (3/4 cup)
• 85 grams (3/4 cup) ground walnuts (/almonds, pecans might work)
• Pinch salt
• 190-200 grams egg whites (about six, about 200-215 ml)
• 113.5 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and browned
• 65 grams (1/3 cup) canola oil
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) imitation rum extract or dark rum
• raisins or dried cranberries might make a good optional addition

You will need financier molds or a substitute such as mini-loaf pans (or, in a pinch, a muffin tin). I spotted the President's Choice Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich Pan on the seasonal clearance shelf and this makes perfect, thin, financiers with crispy edges.

1. Melt the stick of butter in a light coloured pan over medium heat. The butter will foam and then as the foam reduces, watch carefully to catch when the solids in the butter start to brown. It will smell nutty. Once you are sure the browning has started, pull the pan off the heat. If you think it might burn, pour out the butter into a bowl, otherwise just let the pan cool as you make the recipe. It will brown further as it cools.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, ground nuts, and salt in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk (I use a Danish whisk).
3. Fold in the egg whites.
4. Add the browned butter, canola oil, and rum/extract, mixing until smooth.
5. Pour into buttered financier molds and cover and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight (alternately, refrigerate in bowl, cover, and pour into buttered molds before baking).
6. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C, with rack in the centre.
7. Bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on your molds (the PC pan takes 18 minutes).
8. Turn out onto cooling rack within ten minutes of removing from the oven. I pop them out immediately.
9. Financiers are best eaten the day of, but the batter can be refrigerated for 2-3 days so smaller batches can be baked off. I've also successfully frozen these and defrosted/reheated them in the microwave.

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On serendipity and lost records

Alexander Fraser, Provincial Archivist for Ontario, published the following prefatory to the 1917 edition of the Report of the Ontario Bureau of Archives, and you just know that the ancestors of C.M. Burton somehow called out to him from the beyond:

    The records of the early courts of Upper Canada … had long been given up as irrecoverably lost, and the story of their finding is told in the following ...: "In the summer of 1910, Mr. C. M. Burton, of Detroit, a public spirited investigator of the history of the State of Michigan, and especially of the early days of Detroit, called on me in Toronto and expressed a desire to see the vaults at Osgoode Hall, the home of the High Courts of Ontario. Mr. Burton had asked me before this time to enquire at Osgoode Hall for the records of the Court of Common Pleas for the District of Hesse, or the Western District, which at one time included Detroit. 

    The records had been sought for years in likely and unlikely places, including Osgoode Hall, but could not be found. At his request, I repeated the enquiry, but the oldest of the officials, for fifty-one years the custodian of the oldest vault, knew nothing of them, and stated that two systematic searches at the request of the Attorney General's Office had been made many years before without avail. Mr. Burton's immediate object on the occasion of his visit, however, was to observe the method in use for filing papers preserved. At that time there were no electric lights in the vaults, and lamps were forbidden because of the possibility of accidental explosion. The languid flame of a tallow candle sufficed to show the way, though not to shed sufficient light on the dust-begrimed pigeon holes. 

    Mr. Burton noticed a book of ancient appearance on the top shelf that aroused his curiosity. To get it for him, I climbed on an uncovered deal [i.e. white pine] box filled with old papers that lay on the floor, and reached the volume. The book proved to be one into which letters of the early eighties had been copied by letter press - of no apparent record value. Stepping down I upset the deal box, emptying the contents on the floor. Proceeding to replace the papers, the first article picked up was a paper covered volume similar to the old-fashioned books sometimes used by the township valuators of long ago. My astonishment may be imagined when I discovered that the book was one of the long lost Minute Books of the Court of Common Pleas of the Western District, and there on the first page was the name of the First Judge, the Honourable Wm. Dummer Powell.

    Mr. Burton and Mr. Jackson were standing near me in the narrow vault, the latter holding the candle and telling the Detroit visitor of the age and glory of Osgoode Hall. I suppressed my rising feelings until all the papers had been put back in the box except eight thin folios, one after another of which I had rescued from the orderless heap, tattered, and apparently useless, but in reality of priceless value, being the original records of our oldest constituted Courts for the old Districts of Hesse, Mecklenburg and Luneburg in Upper Canada. 

    I asked Mr. Burton to look at one of the books, remarking that he might feel interested in it. He opened it, and when he saw the holograph of John Munro, a relative, on one of the pages he gave up the effort to appear calm, and in the circumstances was to be excused for having always known that the precious records were there. 

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