celebration bread

For unknown reasons, Thanksgiving morning left me with some time on my hands. Plenty of prep work was done in advance; my mother-in-law made pecan pie and I finished my pumpkin tart and apple crisp on Wednesday. The side dishes were well on their way, so beyond the bird, my tasks were under control.

But you know me, I like a challenge.

Inspired by a co-worker, I decided to bake a nice loaf of bread. Even though I haven't eaten bread in several years, the process of kneading, watching the dough rise, thumping the loaf for the perfect hollow sound, and slicing the still slightly steaming bread brings me much satisfaction.

Challah.

This Jewish celebration bread made for a festive evening treat. Simple braiding added something special-- the recipe header told me that the braids represent truth, beauty, and purity. The loaf was crusty and light-- surprisingly so for not requiring a starter. I served it with local honey from our failed apple orchard trip.

Fresh bread is always worth the extra effort.-- especially when guests are anticipating turkey and cranberry sandwiches for days to come!

Recipe source: Peter Reinhart's The Breadbaker's Apprentice.

apples to apples, or, why this post doesn't have pictures of pie.

Oh technology, how you've failed me again. Or is nature the root of my distress?

This Saturday, the man, a couple of friends, and their adorable three-month-old baby and I drove from LA to Oak Glen, CA to have a lovely pseudo-Midwestern autumn day of apple picking. It seemed close to the end of prime-picking season, so we checked websites and called to make sure the orchards were open. Still selling? Yep. Baby buckled in? Check. Little cooler full of snacks? Got it.

Anyway, what the website and recorded messages failed to tell us was that the entire Southern California apple crop had been lost in an early freeze in September. Such a letdown! I had started to pout when the man scooted up behind me. "I feel so bad for the guy," he said. "All of his apples died. We should at least buy something from him..."

He disappeared into the crafty-kitsch shop; you know, the one filled with a mix of lace-trimmed kitchen linens, local self-published cookbooks, and little jars of preserves and sandwich spreads. Carmel apples (from fruit "imported" from Central California), little jars of honey and crazy-expensive gallon of pressed cider soon emerged, neatly packed in white paper bags with red tissue, held by a pleased-looking man.

I forced a smile but felt slighted. Not only was I disappointed as my dreams of pork chops and fresh apple sauce went to the freezer, but I also smelled bruised fruit. Who should I blame for my lack of freshly-plucked, shiny-crisp apples? Could I be smug that we still supported the farmer and his crafty shop, or just feel deceived by the his dishonesty about climate change?

I'll get back to you after I'm finished typing my ventings and eating my waxy supermarket apple thankyouverymuch.

a poem:

"so you want to buy my cupcakes."

so you want to buy my cupcakes
that i made a few weeks past
twenty bacon maple cupcakes
lazy baking just won’t last

made them for a party
then got kicked out of the bar
chef didn’t like my bacons
so they ate them by the car

now you want to buy my cupcakes
and how much do i charge?
sugar salt sprinkled bacon cupcakes
the fee? oh, it is large!

six dollars for the bacon
for best maple, maybe twelve
got eggs vanilla flour
could use them from my shelf

but you want to buy my cupcakes?
to sell them at your store?
free meat for life, and then we’ll deal
three steaks a day, or four!

(you know you missed my poems.)

the best kind of sandwich

This week, I threw away two boxes of sugar. Not two whole boxes, only the end of a box of white sugar and dark brown sugar because I couldn't seem to resist digging into them with a spoon. Just because I no longer eat run-of-the-mill baked goods doesn't mean I don't have a nagging sweet tooth. I usually can distract it with ridiculously "healthy" options like fresh fruit or a few glasses of wine, but when there's brown sugar on the shelf, my self control goes out the window. So, the leftover sugar went in the trash.

I baked half of a batch of snickerdoodles for an impromptu pregnant sister-in-law visit and planned on saving the second half for home group bake-off, but the sugar situation threw me for a curve. I couldn't bear to bake the rest without rolling them in cinnamon and sugar first! I scavenged enough packets of raw sugar to bake most of them for home group, but had a bit of extra dough. I tossed it in the freezer and baked it up tonight-- and the six cookies made for a lovely Friday night post-chili dinner dessert.

Accompanied by Haagan-Daz 5-ingredient brown sugar ice cream, it was quite the decadent treat.



At least, that's what I was told while eating my raspberries.

Here's the snickerdoodle recipe, if you're interested.

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup (I know, corn syrup. Just do it.)

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cream together butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Refrigerate until cool and firm. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until just brown at the edges. Remove immediately from baking sheets.
Let cool and sandwich with the best ice cream you can find. Eat while watching a wonderfully pretentious film like Helvetica.

(Modified from Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles at allrecipes.com)

"How does it compare to Diddy Riese?" I asked the man, who had a belly full of chili, cornbread, and beer.
"Better," he mumbled, then promptly fell asleep.
I'm so manipulative.

flying saucer.

Or flan.
Since our Argentina trip, I've been really wanting to try to make flan. Figured it would be a nice finish for the special birthday meal I've been planning for the man!
I do agree with some of the comments on this recipe from Epicurious, it is very much like a custard.

But we didn't mind. No, not at all.

home group bake off, brownie edition.

I'm not usually much of a brownie baker. I don't eat 'em and the man's face falls when he hears I'm making brownies and not the blondies his mom makes for him...

That to say, this recipe from newly discovered baking/fashion blog Slow Like Honey looked enticing enough to try on home groupers this week. They are made with chopped 70% semi-sweet chocolate and came out super moist with a nice little crust on top.

We'll see if they go over well. If not, I'm going back to the stove top popped popcorn and bag of Twizzlers I served last week.

glazed pumpkin cookies

Continuing with the "pretending it is fall" theme, I made some glazed pumpkin cookies. If I were cooler, they would have been made with fresh pumpkin instead of canned, but....

Here's the recipe, personalized from one I found on allrecipes.com

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh ground cloves
1 tablespoon molasses
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk, plus extra
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (I only baked for 12, then left on the sheet for an extra 2) in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Please serve with hot chocolate.

I think next time I'd like to try this recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies!