It's in the 90s here as well, so the oven is staying off.

It's almost cold here! 68 and dropping. I'm thinking about putting the quilt back on the bed -- perfect night for sleeping. And we've had over 2 inches of rain in the past 48 hours. We'd had several days of sun, and the garden was beginning to look green instead of yellow. I hope you can get that ac fixed quickly, Mike.

Glad to hear the AC is working, Mike.

I started my baking projects on Monday morning, as it will be a warm day. I first baked my Lower-Fat Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made a week ago. I don’t usually keep it this long, but I was hoping for a break in the weather. The crackers came out fine. I then made the KAF Maple Granola (recipe on their site—not the one in the Whole Grain Baking Book). I again reduced the coconut from one cup to a half cup. I decided to leave the salt at ½ tsp., I used pecans (still working my way through those from our former home in Texas), and I added ½ cup pumpkin seeds. I added 2 cups of raisins after the granola finished baking, as my husband does not care for cranberries or apricots. In this hot, humid weather, when my husband is working around the yard and house, he seems to do better with slightly salty snacks, and those with potassium and magnesium seem to help as well. I was surprised that he really liked the granola, which he finds a delectable snack. I like to mix it into my Greek yogurt, or occasionally to have it for breakfast without milk.

Addendum: I also delete the vanilla--no point in covering up the maple flavor! I baked the granola in the large pan I used to use for Chex mix instead of messing with two separate short pans.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

Great cake, Len!

Wednesday was a mixed day in the cramped apt. kitchen in which I am still baking and cooking. I successfully baked Jam-Oatmeal Bars, from that recipe S. Wirth cited (and that I’ve made twice before now). This time I used mostly mixed berry jam that I canned last year, with a bit of my black raspberry jam to make 10 oz.

My second Wednesday project was to be Wheat-Oat Flax Buns, which I planned to use for a 4th of July meal. However, I had too much on my mind, and I accidentally used not enough liquid. I was ¼ cup and a couple of Tablespoons off. I thought the dough looked and felt rather odd after I took it out of the bread machine. At the end of the process, instead of the wonderful light texture, I ended up with what are more like biscuits, without much rise. We decided to have them as biscuits along with leftover chicken and a salad.

I’d planned another project for this evening--a special sweet roll for the July 4th festivities--but I will wait and make it tomorrow or the next day.

I went to the dollar store and picked up a box of brownie mix and two bags of York Peppermint Patties. I used a 9x9 pan and strategically placed the patties over half of the batter and then topped them with the rest of the batter. The patties did not melt as much as Andes mints would but the consensus was that they were very good. On another note I find it very difficult to determine when brownies are completely baked. The box said to stick a toothpick in 1" from the sides and see if it comes out clean. That wont work when you have candy sandwiched in between the layers. Sometimes I think it is just luck.