Wordless Wednesday - Let them eat cake

Wordless Wednesday - Pretty pastels

(some of the bulk candy options at Central Market this time of year)

Unraveling the mysteries

Yesterday was nice--the year got off to a pretty good start.  I didn't stay up late to usher in the new year on Monday night.  Instead, I went to bed when I was tired (G was too), and woke up refreshed.  Over nine hours of sleep, yay!  I had some quiet time with G while B slept in.  (Unlike her mother, B did manage to stay awake until midnight, along with J.)  G and I decided to make breakfast.  B had suggested scones as a good way to start the new year, and of course we had to have chocolate chips in them.

I turned to one of my favorite sources of scone recipes, King Arthur Flour.  I started with their master scone recipe, and tweaked it a little bit.  I substituted some white whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour.  To adjust for that, I went with the higher amount of liquid since the www flour absorbs more.  I used a bit of half & half (30g) that I had in the fridge, and 1% milk for the rest.  I used brown sugar instead of white, since I like the taste of it with the www flour.  For the chocolate chips, we went with mini chips this time--and not too many (a scant cup--140g).  The scones ended up having a subtly nutty quality about them from the www flour, and the chocolate bits were nice but not overpowering (the way full-sized chocolate chips can be sometimes).  And of course we added glaze.

The rest of our day was good--low-key.  We all went to Book People, a local independent bookstore in Austin.  Then we got some hot chocolate for the ride home.  Dinner was low-key as well.  I went with simpler meals for both Christmas & New Year's this year.  Nothing special, but they were things that everyone would eat without much complaint, which counts for  a lot.  I finally got the rest of my Christmas cookies baked, so they were dessert.  Once the girls were in bed, I thought about writing this blog post, but instead opted to watch some Big Bang Theory with J, which never fails to put me in a good mood.  Bring on the rest of 2013. =)

(edited to add--if you look closely at my photo, you can see my ingredients list; if you go by it, also add 3/4 tsp salt; I forgot to write that down)

Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night.  May you all have more than enough marshmallows for your hot chocolate. =)

3rd Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange!

I am so fortunate that I am friends with a wonderful group of bakers and bloggers.  I wish that we could all get together in person to talk and eat cookies, but we live all over the place.  So until we can manage to meet up in person (one day!) we'll have to make do with drooling over pictures of each other's fantastic holiday cookies.  This is our third year of having a virtual cookie exchange, and I can't wait to see what everyone has to share this year!

I'll tell you all about my cookies later today, and I'll be back sometime next week with this year's round-up so you can check out everyone's wonderful recipes.  Be sure to check out the delicious cookies that we shared in 2010 and 2011, too.

A cake of holiday cheer

It felt like a pretty good baking weekend--two recipes made and photographed, as well as some cookie dough made to bake during the week.  I really meant to have a post written yesterday, but I decided it was a better idea to go to bed early.  I stayed up entirely too late on Saturday night (after midnight!) so I could finish the book I was reading.  And to be honest, because I was enjoying the solitude.  I haven't had nearly enough time to myself lately, and it's been making me cranky and unfocused.  Sadly today wasn't much help as far as that goes, since I was at work later than expected.  But I still hope to get the girls to bed early so I can have some quiet time.  Quiet time with a mug of tea and another piece of this cake. =)  

I made this Eggnog Bundt Cake for our annual holiday potluck with the Italian genealogy group.  I can always count on them to help me eat cake (so I don't eat it all myself).  To be honest, I'm not a fan of eggnog.  But when I read the recipe, I realized that it doesn't actually have any eggnog in it.  Instead, it incorporates the flavors associated with eggnog.  There's a full teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg in it, along with a bit of dark rum.  While I don't like eggnog, I'm a fan of nutmeg, and rum. =)  To make the flavors stand out, they're mixed into a cup of the cake batter which is then used to make a swirl in the cake.  The cake is topped with a simple powdered sugar glaze that includes a little more rum.

The verdict?  Well, most of the cake disappeared pretty quickly, so I think it's safe to say that it was a success.  The taste was good, and so was the texture--the cake had a good level of moistness.  The only thing that didn't work as well as I'd hoped was the swirl.  Mine ended up mostly at the bottom of the cake.  I'm not sure if that's because of the pan I used (my Fleur de Lis pan) or something else.  I'll have to try it again in my Classic Bundt pan to see what happens.  I also cut back on the rum in the glaze (using about a teaspoon) because I knew my girls wanted to try the cake.  I'll have to make it again with more when I'm just serving adults.  

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, you can find it in this year's Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking newsstand issue.  It's also available to subscribers of the Cook's Country website.  

Wordless Weekend - Advent calendars

Tree toppers

My girls were quite interested in these holiday marshmallows.  We had to have hot chocolate this morning to go with them.  I'm glad that they had something to boost their spirits, because it's been a germ-filled weekend around here.  G was sick (fever and icky cough) Friday and Saturday.  She seemed a lot better today, but was still coughing.  B complained of various aches and pains off and on for a couple of days, but I put it down to her usual drama about everything.  Then she got up from rest time this afternoon with a temp of almost 102º.  *sigh*  Here's hoping that whatever virus is making the rounds decides to skip the adult members of the household.  *fingers crossed*

(And for those who might be wondering, these marshmallows aren't flavored like some of the other special edition ones; they taste like the white ones.)

Breakfast of champions

My favorite part of Thanksgiving?  That would be eating leftover pie for breakfast the next day.  I did that this morning.  This piece is actually my dessert.  Yes, pie twice in one day.  That's why I only make pie a couple times a year.  Since my husband isn't that big a pie person, I get to eat most of it.  I can't afford to do that too often. =)

I was talking with someone the other day about baking, and she asked my what my specialty is.  I thought about it for a minute, and told her that I don't really have one.  That's true in the sense that I like to make lots of different baked goods, and I'm good at a lot of them.  But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be pastry--anything that ends up buttery and flaky.  I'm actually getting pretty good at making my own puff pastry and croissant dough.  Fortunately, my other favorite is yeast bread, and most of the ones I make are lean enough to offset all the butter.  I'll have to put some of those on the baking agenda for this weekend, I think.  But for now, I'm going to go finish my dessert.

Giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!  No new recipes for me today, just slight variations on some old ones.  For me, the best thing about food at Thanksgiving is the pie.  I don't make it all that often, because I'll want to eat it all, and I know how many calories there are in all-butter pie crust. =)  Okay, I'll want to eat it all if it's the right kind of pie.  The pie you see above, which is Caramel Pumpkin Pie, is not for me.  I don't actually like pumpkin pie.  But my husband loves it, so I make it for him.  You can read about my previous experiences with this Dorie recipe here.  What I did differently was to make mini pies this year.  I bought a couple of really cute 7" pie plates at Crate and Barrel a couple years ago, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've used them.  

I also made apple pie, since that's my favorite.  You can read some of my ramblings about apple pie here.  I started off making my usual recipe, which isn't really one recipe, but pieces from several recipes, all put together.  The crust is an all-butter one that originally belonged to a freeform fruit tart from Cook's Illustrated.  The filling comes from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  And I do a crumb topping--my current favorite is the one from this Epicurios recipe.  My only change this time around was to rub the seeds from a vanilla bean (I got a whole bunch at Costco recently) into the sugar that I used in the filling.  The result was quite tasty.  

The best part of my day was early this morning, though, when I found out that Gillian made me this:

Sugar rush

All work/baking and no play makes Di a dull girl.  So this weekend, we had some fun. =)  B&G have been bugging me to go to the movies, so that's what we did yesterday morning.  Wreck-It Ralph was quite entertaining.  And I managed to get a good candid picture of my girls afterwards, which is rare.  Gillian and I also had a fun day today.  We went out to run a few errands, and were gone for over three hours.  A lot of that was because we stopped into Williams-Sonoma shortly after they opened, and stumbled upon a demonstration on baking pies.  Gillian was pretty impressed that we already knew how to do the stuff being presented.  She was also happy to sample the end products.  I think I'll have a helper when it comes to making dessert for Thanksgiving.

Let it snow

Today was nice--I had the day off from work, but the girls had school, so I got some time to myself.  The highlight of my morning was being able to watch TV without having anyone complain about what I put on.  (Yay for BBC America!)  I had lunch out with a couple friends and got to do some (mostly window) shopping as well.  The only things I came home with were these candles and holders.  As I mentioned before, I love snowflakes.  I particularly like these holders because they aren't specific to Christmas, so they can stay out after the holidays.  I don't buy a lot of candles, since I'm not fond of a lot of scented stuff.  Yes, I'm that person who buys unscented everything (laundry detergent, etc.).  The few things I do buy are usually in the citrus family, especially grapefruit and tangerine.  These candles aren't citrus-scented, but they are food-related.  The white ones are vanilla, and the red one in the middle is cranberry.  I actually like that one a lot, and may pick up a couple more.  It's too early for a lot of decorations, but I'm getting excited about the holiday season.

Spice is nice

Well, I'm more than ten days in now, and so far the posting every day thing is going pretty well.  I'm not entirely happy with all the posts, but none are really bad.  And I feel like I'm making progress toward my goal of just getting the words out.  Today's post is a bit more extensive than the past few, since I had the time to take some better pictures.  I'm playing around with different spots in my house to find some good lighting, and this spot was pretty successful.

As you may be able to tell, today's featured ingredients are nutmeg and rum.  One of my favorite blogs is the one written by the folks at King Arthur Flour.  The posts are always entertaining and informative, even if the recipe isn't something that I plan to make.  But sometimes I read a post, like this one last Monday, and know I have to make the recipe as soon as possible.  Nutmeg Bites sounded fabulous, especially once I got to the part about the rum icing. 

The great thing about these cookies is that they're really easy to make.  No particular mixing order--you pretty much just dump everything in the mixer.  It's a straightforward ingredient list, with flour, sugar, butter, egg, salt, vanilla, and a full teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg.  Once the dough comes together, you stick it in the fridge for an hour to firm up.  I actually left mine longer than that without any problems.  I used my #70 disher to scoop the cookies.  My bake time was a little longer than the 8-10 minutes stated in the recipe; I let them go until they were clearly starting to brown on the bottoms.  While the cookies cooled, I mixed up the icing, which consisted of powdered sugar, a little butter, and some dark rum.  

The verdict?  Mmm, these are wonderful.  I love cookies like these--almost like shortbread, but easier.  The rum in the frosting was very strong right after I mixed it up, but mellowed a bit after a day or two.  In fact, I think that overall, the cookies were better after a day or two.  Nutmeg has become a favorite spice of mine, and I enjoyed the fact that there aren't any other spices in these cookies to distract from the nutmeg flavor.  

If you'd like to give these a try for yourself, you can find the recipe here at King Arthur Flour.  I will definitely be making these again, and probably putting some in my holiday gifts.  

Mug shot

You could look at the picture above and think that since it's the beginning of November, I'm starting to get in the holiday spirit.  But I usually refrain from that until after Thanksgiving.  After that, all bets are off--the Christmas music and holiday earrings come out. =)  No, I use this mug and drink this tea all year long.  I love the mug because of its shape and capacity, and I love things with snowflakes.  As for the Christmas Morning tea, I first discovered it several years ago when Central Market was carrying some of the Stash holiday teas around Christmas.  (The Holiday Chai is another favorite.)  I bought a bunch, but eventually ran out.  The next year I had a harder time finding it, and eventually decided to just order it online directly from the source.  I buy it in loose tea as well, but sometimes the tea bags are handy and quick.  I drink a variety of black tea blends from Stash.  I just got a new order, and I love it when all the bags and boxes are full and I have lots of choices. =)  It disturbs all the southerners that I work with--the ones who mostly drink tea iced and quite sweet--but I pretty much always put milk in my (black) tea, along with a bit of sugar.  During the lovely Texas summers I can only drink it early in the morning or just before bed, but we're finally approaching the time of year when I can handle hot tea during the day as well.  And yes, I drink black tea--not decaf--before bed.  Not much keeps me awake if I'm tired, and there's no shortage of tired around here lately.

(I have no affiliation with Stash, I just happen to like their teas.)

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday - Independence Day

Easter eggs

I don't like hard-boiled eggs, but I'm still the one who makes them. =)  Jamie & Brianna eat them; G is like me and won't touch them.  So I don't usually make very many to dye at Easter, since I don't want to have a bunch of eggs that don't get eaten.  Plus G is still young enough to need help, and my patience with egg-dying wears thin pretty quickly.  Maybe we'll do more next year.

The recipe I use is from Cook's Illustrated; it works great.  You put the eggs in a pot filled with cold water and bring it to a boil over high heat.  Once the water boils, you turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes.  At that point, I move the pot to the sink and run cold water in it until the water is all cool, then add a whole bunch of ice to the pot.  I usually leave the eggs in there until most of the ice has melted, then dry them off and put them in a carton in the fridge.

You can find the actual recipe here at Cook's Illustrated.

Wordless Weekend - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

One-sentence Wednesday - From the heart

For our Valentine's Day breakfast, I tweaked a scone recipe from King Arthur Flour--substituting cocoa powder for some of the flour (I used 42 grams of cocoa & 285 grams of flour) and adding a cup (170 grams) of chocolate chips--cut my scones into hearts, baked them for 18 minutes (skipping the freezing step), and added a simple glaze (milk & powdered sugar); the girls were impressed that I made them heart-shaped. =)

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!