[BakerAunt]

I suspect that the writer of this article has never darkened the door of a kitchen to bake but remembers a parent or grandparent using "healthy" margarine in the 1970s and 1980s.

I think that the higher butter prices are another consequence of the difficulties in the dairy industry. I did buy a pound of butter at a reasonable price in November, since I use small amounts of it in some recipes.

Also, flour did still go on sale this holiday season, and some good prices were to be had by the careful shopper.

[BakerAunt]

Some speculation: I think the ingredient is also used in Springerle cookies. They usually are allowed to rest overnight in order for the design to set before baking. Perhaps once the ingredient is mixed in, like baking powder, it performs its function, which may or may not be about rising.

[BakerAunt]

For Christmas dinner, I made Pork Loin Roast with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Kale. We also had homemade applesauce. The roast came from a regular farmers' market vendor, and while it was more expensive, the quality impressed me. The kale also came from our farmers' market, as did the garlic I used. The butternut squash was one of the odd big ones that grew from a seed that was supposed to be honey nut. It had a very long, thick neck--about 12 inches, and a smaller bulb at the bottom where the seeds were. It cooked deliciously. If we had room, I'd be tempted to save some seed and plant it again.

Dessert was a pfeffernus for me, as we decided to cut the pumpkin pie at lunch.

[BakerAunt]

I think that the non-melting sugar I used on my Pfeffernusse was 2019, and it was fine. My sparkling sugar is probably as old as yours, but I bought it in a bag, then moved it to two empty sparkling sugar containers I had saved, so I have no idea how old it is, only that it works! We shall see if the pearl sugar, which is at least six years old works when I try it on a recipe this weekend.

The rum balls sound delicious.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I will post the pumpkin puree recipe in the next couple of days. Once you see how easy it is, you will wonder why you never did it before! Violet will need your help to cut the pumpkin in half horizontally. After that, she can probably handle it herself with a little supervision.

[BakerAunt]

Merry Christmas, everyone! We have our first white Christmas since moving here in 2017--about two inches on the ground, enough to be decorative, and the cold weather keeps it intact.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a pumpkin pie on Saturday for Christmas dinner tomorrow..

[BakerAunt]

Christmas Eve dinner was Salmon and Couscous with Greek Seasoning and microwaved frozen peas. For dessert, we had an array of cookies and little cakes from which to choose.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I baked Cranberry Pistachio biscotti and sprinkled it with red, green, and a bit of white decorating sugar.

On Friday evening, I baked a half recipe of my beloved Pfeffernusse. It is not Christmas for me without that cookie. It is the one cookie that I still bake with butter. They last well, so I spread out eating them over a longer span of time. A special thanks to Italian Cook for recommending Frank and Sal as a source for candied citron!

It was good to stay inside and bake cookies today. We only got about two inches of snow, but the temperature was -10F to -2F today.

[BakerAunt]

Enjoy your free time, CWCdesign.

I made yogurt on Friday. We had leftover pizza for dinner because I forgot to thaw the salmon. I moved it to the refrigerator tonight after dinner, so it will be ready for tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

Ok--this is the one I was thinking about. It uses cardamom cookies. I remember regretting that I cannot bake these butter-rich cookies:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/mid-century-modern-cookie-house

It's at Epicurious, so there may be a paywall when you go to the site after two or three visits.

[BakerAunt]

I must not have posted the link. I did some googling and found a cookie house. It has some tips that might also help with building gingerbread houses:

[BakerAunt]

I'm thinking that I posted an alternative gingerbread house recipe link a year or two ago that used some kind of Swedish cookie instead of gingerbread. I'll have to see if I can find it by searching the site.

[BakerAunt]

My husband used the last of the bread for lunch on Thursday. I had anticipated it would run out, so I began a levain last night and today baked Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough Bread, using the Romertopf glazed bowl and the cloche top from the set I bought last year from Skeptik. (The bottom only fits bread loaves of about 3 cups flour; this recipe is 5-cups of grains.) I played with the recipe, which I had only baked this way once, by adding a tablespoon of flax meal and half a cup of the King Arthur 6-grains flakes. Although I deleted a half cup more of the bread flour, the dough needed another ¼ cup of water, and possibly could have used a little more. As I was shaping it, I sprayed it with water after each fold, I sprayed it before the second rise, and I sprayed it after I slashed it, put the cloche on, set it in the cold oven, then turned on the oven. I checked at 50 minutes, but it was only 190F, so I gave it another 3 minutes uncovered. I think that the second rise should have been a little longer, given the coolness of the house, but the rise in the oven was good, and it certainly looks rustic. I look forward sampling it at lunch tomorrow.

I am making my sourdough pan pizza for Thursday night's dinner. My plan is that we eat half tonight and the leftovers for Christmas Eve dinner. That, of course, depends on not having any power outages tonight or tomorrow. So far, the wind has not picked up, but it likely will later this evening.

[BakerAunt]

They are running around $4.25 here.

[Author]

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