Oh, CWC design--I hate it when I make those mistakes. Maybe some salted butter will help the bread?

For Sunday breakfast, I made Pumpkin Oat Wholegrain Belgium Waffles. Annie, our dog, loves waffle mornings, and she gets tidbits from both of us, since Scott has his waffles first, and then I have mine while I finish cooking the rest. I had eight left over, which I froze for future quick breakfasts.

I have a simple waffle iron, CWCdesign that is 35 years old and still works well as long as I brush it with canola oil before each double waffle. It was a reward to myself after I had to drive in the aftermath of a major snowstorm in Washington state, that got me off the road and into a motel the night before. I had waffles at a diner restaurant chain the next morning before getting back on the road, and I told myself that when I got home, I would buy a waffle iron and make my own.

I was going to give one of my sisters a waffle iron last Christmas, but all I could find were the very large, complicated ones, with lots of settings. Mine is on when plugged in and off when not. Four and a half minutes does an excellent job. I don't think that brand is even made any more.

Mike--they don't make waffle irons like they used to!

I began Tuesday by baking Pumpkin Oatmeal Whole Wheat Muffins, which I sprinkled with Penzey's Cinnamon Sugar before baking. I used Halloween muffin pan liners.

In the afternoon, I baked Pumpkin Spice Latte Bars, a King Arthur recipe that was new last year and we liked. My main change is to replace 4 Tbs. of butter with avocado oil, but I also use white whole wheat flour. They have to cool completely before glazing, then the glaze needs to set, so we will start eating them for dessert tomorrow.

After dinner, I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, because I noticed that the level in the cracker container is getting low, and the dough needs to rest for four or five days in the refrigerator before I can roll it out and bake it.

I baked chocolate cupcakes from a box mix. I froze half of them for later.

On Thursday, I adapted the recipe "Chewy Oatmeal Cookies" from King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking, 1st edition (p. 314). I replaced ¾ cup of butter with ½ cup avocado oil plus 2 Tbs. buttermilk. My only other change was to add 1 Tbs. of milk powder. I used dates as the dried fruit and walnuts. I used a #30 scoop and got 39. I made a mistake by putting 20 on the baking sheet. They were fine when I turned them around after 7 minutes, but at the end of another 7 minutes, they had run together. Oops. Even if I were making them with butter, I think that would have happened. (So much for 2 baking sheets for 50 cookies.) I redistributed some of the scooped batter on the remaining baking sheet onto yet another, so that this time they were properly spaced. On the first sheet, I was able to cut the cookies apart and only two fell apart, which of course meant that I had to eat them. I really like the flavor and the chewiness: oats, dates, and walnuts are a wonderful combination. The cookies need to cool on the pan until firm enough to move. I will definitely make this version again, although I will probably add another tablespoon of powdered milk.

After dinner, I made the levain for another loaf of my Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough bread.

The cookies are good, Joan, but I should have put waxed paper between them in the container, or else stored them in single layers. We are breaking pieces off to eat. Next time, I will get it right.

On Friday, I baked another loaf of Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough bread.