On Sunday morning, I baked Oatmeal Peach Muffins, a recipe that I adapted from the book, Muffin Magic. This time, I used all white whole wheat flour and added 1 Tbs. of flax meal to my adaptation. For spices I used 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ginger. I added 1/3 cup candied ginger, which I let pre-soak for 15 minutes with the oats and buttermilk. Next time, I might increase it to ½ cup.

I had planned to do more baking today, but it was warmer and more humid than expected, so I will wait until tomorrow.

It was wonderfully cool this morning. I was tempted to bake but took advantage of the temperature to take a walk instead.


@BakerAunt; your quiche sounds wonderful. How did it taste? Did you have to do anything to deal with the extra moisture in the tomatoes?

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough today. Alton Brown's The Chewy. I usually make his The Puffy cookies. This is the first time I have made the chewy, the recipe calls for melting the butter and then mixing in the sugars. I used the glass bowl from my KA candy apple red Mini to melt the butter in the microwave. So, that was one less pot to clean afterwards. As I was doing this I realized that I bought the Mini exactly one year ago. It's a luxury as a companion to my 5 quart Professional Plus but I'm glad I got it; it's come in handy a number of times. I portioned out the dough using a number 40 disher and got exactly 36 cookies. I popped them in the freezer and will bake them just before next weekend for the block party.

That's a delicious looking pizza, Mike.

Skeptic--I debated whether to take a walk or bake. Baking won. The tomatoes, to my surprise did not cause any moisture issues in the quiche. It is tasty, and I would certainly bake it again. I like the square shape, as it is easier to arrange the tomato slices on top.

This morning I made Blueberry Lemon Muffins, using the recipe I have developed over the years. The berries came from the 10 bushes I planted next to the garden in 1986. This year I picked about 15 quarts. I will also be picking in Maine next week and expect to get 11 pounds. Need I mention how much I love blueberries? Joan, I could eat your muffins, too!

I looked at our bread holder Wednesday morning and saw that there was a single thick slice, so I knew that I would need to bake bread. As the temperatures are rising again, a three-loaf recipe would let me freeze two to get us through the heat wave, so I defaulted to my Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread. We both really like this bread.

In between the steps for the bread, I tried a new recipe, Brown Sugar Peach Crumble Pie," from the site, "Sally's Baking Addiction." I think someone at Nebraska Kitchen has baked from this site with positive results, and I liked how the recipe looked. I made a couple of changes, as I used my oil-buttermilk crust, which requires a blind bake. I used 1 Tbs. butter and 3 ½ Tbs. avocado oil in the crumb topping instead of all butter. I use a deep-dish Emile Henry ceramic pie plate, and I had eleven peaches, some small, so I increased the peaches from seven to eight. I used the tapioca option for thickening. I baked the pie at 375 F convection for 20 minutes, then put a shield over the crust and reduced the temperature to 350 F convection, after another 20 minutes, I covered the pie with foil to keep the crumbs from getting any browner, and let the pie bake for another 20 minutes. I then took off the pie shield, which prevents my seeing if the pie is bubbling around the edges and baked another 5 minutes. The streusel is a little too browned in spots. Next time, I will do my usual initial foil topping for the first 45 minutes.

Joan, I really love blueberries even more when they are combined with lemon flavoring. My favorite is the KAF Lemon Juice Powder; I think it is even more flavorful than lemon oil or zest. I'll be making raspberry muffins in another week or so, and will use oatmeal in those.

BakerAunt, when I was searching recipes for peaches a few weeks ago, I noticed that bakers seemed to be adamant for or against removing the peels. I left mine on, as many people said the peels disappear into the batter and you don't even know you are eating them. I was wondering about peels on or off for a pie, and now I know! Thanks for telling us!