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I made Maple Granola on Tuesday. We were almost out, and it is a staple around our house.

[BakerAunt]

We finished up the dressing and had more of the roast chicken and gravy, as well as microwaved frozen peas.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--They are certainly NOT bread sticks. They do, however, pull apart nicely when cooled. It's like rolls where you bake them next to each other, but they break apart easily. I plan to try them as rolls next time.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I finally baked a recipe that I have been wanting to try since last year: "Butternut squash and Pepita Pull-Apart Breadsticks. It was in an email that Red Star Yeast sent me, but in 2024, our farmers market had few butternut squashes. This year, there was a bonanza, and I bought a lot which I am now roasting and turning into puree. The recipe specified platinum yeast, which I do not have and have no intention of buying. I used regular yeast. I also made it half whole wheat, substituted olive oil for butter, added some milk powder and flax meal, and used buttermilk rather than whole milk. I also replaced half the water with more buttermilk. What could possibly go wrong? I allowed for longer rising times, but neither rise was spectacular. However, when I baked it, the oven spring was great. Although these are described as breadsticks, they are baked in a 9 x 9-inch pan, so it is more like long slices in a square loaf. It is topped with an egg wash, chopped pumpkin seeds, and a sprinkle of coarse salt. Scott and I both like the flavor. I think, however, that next time, I would bake them as rolls in the 9 x 9 pan and delete the salt in the topping. The recipe is a keeper as a bread but not as bread sticks.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--Put a rack in a pot on the stove. (I have small circular racks that I use.) Set the jar in the pot, without its lid. Add water to the pan, up to about 1/4 to 1/3 of the jar height, and heat over medium heat. The crystals will dissolve, just as with honey, and you will have pourable maple syrup again. Let it cool before putting the lid back on the jar.

[BakerAunt]

I awoke on Monday to the lovely smell of spice from the apple mixture in the crockpots. I let them go for about an hour longer, as I was busy. The big crockpot switches to warm after ten hours. The little one (Montgomery Wards) chugs along until I turn it off. I put the contents of the big one into my largest, deepest bowl before using my stick blender. The contents were nicely contained; had I done it in the crock, I would still be cleaning up. I put the pureed apple mixture back into the big crockpot, added the vanilla, then moved the contents of the smaller crockpot to the large, deep bowl and pureed it, before adding it to the big crockpot. It fit perfectly. I tasted it and decided to add another ¼ cup brown sugar and another 1/4 cup white sugar, as well as 2 tsp. more of cinnamon and ½ tsp. additional nutmeg. I also added another ½ tsp. vanilla. I asked Scott to taste it, and he thought it was fine. I then let the mixture simmer in the uncovered crockpot.

Although the recipe states two hours, I was cooking down a recipe and a half, and these apples were watery, so I kept an eye on it and kept stirring occasionally. As it approached three hours, the mixture mounded nicely on a spoon. I transported the crockpot out to the Annex, where I had the electric canner set up with sterilized jars. I ended up with six pints and a single 1-cup jar.

As Mike notes, the spices need to be increased from the base recipe, and I also add allspice and cloves. I think that the spices, and the amount of sugar and vanilla, depend in part on the apple variety. These were seconds, and I did not recognize many of the names. There were also more yellow apples than I usually like to use.

[BakerAunt]

Can any of us ever have enough chocolate?

On Sunday, I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made last Monday. Scott is very happy to have his crackers again.

Thank you to everyone for your good wishes after Scott's fall on the ice. He is doing ok, but his right arm is swelling somewhat and when he forgot and moved it instinctively to catch a falling coat, he had some intense pain. We will follow up with our doctor this week.

[BakerAunt]

Your pizza looks yummy, Joan! We had leftover roast chicken, dressing, and gravy, with microwaved mixed vegetables. I had some of my cranberry and dried cherries sauce. Leftovers are good when you have a big day in the kitchen.

I made yogurt on Sunday.

I also cut up apples to fill my 3 ½-qt. and 6 ½ qt. slow cookers. I started after dinner, and it was around 11:30 p.m. when I added the sugars and spices to each and plugged them in to cook overnight. This is the apple butter recipe that I made last year and the year before, after Mike posted a link to it. I have enough apples from the seconds we bought that I will be able to make a second batch later.

[BakerAunt]

Joan, I'm glad that you are enjoying the blackberry jam! I love seeing it on your English muffin on your pretty green plate.

We had a scare today when Scott slipped on the icy steps while taking Annie to get the mail. I was making lunch, when a woman knocked and came in with Annie on her lead and asked if I were the wife of the man with the dog who fell on the stairs. They noticed him because Annie stayed with him and barked, and that got their attention as they were driving by. That couple was wonderful. They helped cover him, got him to agree to calling the EMTs, who convinced him that he should get checked out at the hospital. They also drove me to the hospital, as our roads have icy patches, and waited while he was checked, then drove us home. I'm going to bake them something to thank them. Scott did not break any bones, thank God, but he is going to be very sore, and he was not interested in eating much tonight except a little frozen yogurt. His right shoulder, in particular, is painful.

I had some of the leftover pea soup and scones.

[BakerAunt]

I roasted a large chicken, about 6 ½ lbs. for New Year's Day dinner. I also made Pepperidge Farm dressing to go with it. (I bought two extra bags at Thanksgiving, so we are set.) To make the broth for the dressing, I pulled out some bones from chicken breasts that were in the freezer. Annie was beside herself, as she had been smelling chicken all day, but her reward awaited her. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli. Dessert was pumpkin pie.

[BakerAunt]

Happy New Year Everyone!

We began ours with Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Waffles.

[BakerAunt]

I baked three loaves of Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread, using my new Ankarsrum mixer. Although Pleasant Hill Grain sent me a quick start guide with a bread recipe, it called for freshly ground whole wheat flour, gluten, and bread enhancer, none of which are found in my kitchen. However, the recipe was helpful in that I looked at the amounts of flour and liquid. I decided that the four-loaf recipe was close to my recipe which makes three loaves. (I think their loaves are smaller.) I added another 2 oz. of water to the 6 oz. in my recipe, and I ended up using about 40 g less of the bread flour. I also included a rest after adding the whole grain ingredients and half the bread flour. I'm still learning about how long to knead it. Speed 2 seems to be the correct one for bread, although I mixed at Speed 1. It required about 9 minutes. The loaves baked up beautifully, and my husband was impressed. The mixer requires less hands-on time than my Cuisinart did, and it is much easier to clean.

To go with soup for dinner, I baked a half recipe of Rory's Irish Scones, a recipe from the newer Baking Sheet series that I first baked this summer. I managed a much lighter texture this time.

After dinner, I baked a pumpkin pie. We had too many other goodies around for me to bake it for Christmas, but New Year's Day works!

[BakerAunt]

For New Year's Eve dinner, I made pea soup, using a hambone from the freezer. We had it with some scones I baked. We had snow on Sunday to Monday, then a break before more snow Tuesday night and today. It may not have been a snowy white Christmas, but it will be a snowy New Year's Day. Earlier, for lunch, I made curried butternut squash soup from the rest of the puree I made last week.

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My baking plans for Tuesday afternoon were derailed by a pantry shelf collapsing, which collapsed the shelf below it. Fortunately, I was right there, so only one item fell out before I held the doors. I passed items to Scott. We were fortunate nothing broke. I have had it with these cabinets and their plastic holders for shelves. Scott is researching metal holders to replace the plastic ones.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Tuesday was pecan coated roasted salmon, leftover mashed potatoes, and microwaved fresh broccoli. It was an easy meal after our big shopping trip to the larger town about thirty minutes away, where we dropped off the recyclables, shopped Aldi's, Walmart, and Kroger, and did a run by Ross and Marshall's. After lunch we shopped our local grocery store. We had hoped to find a turkey, but not a single store had one, so we have settled on a chicken to roast for New Year's Day.

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