[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.

[BakerAunt]

We spent most of Thursday morning preparing for the predicted "Snowpocolyse," which started in our area shortly after 4 p.m. So far, we have ice pellets and light snow, which is reducing visibility. Among the chores, such as bringing in more wood for the woodstove and s couple of buckets of water, just in case we lose power, we took all the apples out of the garage. It is heated, but we wanted to protect them, so I stowed them in our Annex. In doing so, I noticed that one of the Ida Red seconds had gone bad and another was half gone. I decided that I needed to use them up and I was glad that I did, as I found another bad one. I had about 9 ½ lbs., so I used two pots to cook them, then my food mill to make applesauce. I got three quarts, and about 1/3 of a cup for my husband to sample. I managed to cram them into the freezer. I had hoped to hold off on the remaining applesauce until after Christmas, when we will pull out the turkey we plan to roast for New Year's Day, thereby resulting in more freezer space.

I hope we all stay warm, and all keep our power, Chocomouse.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked my Pumpkin Pecan Loaf recipe (6 cups) in a Nordic Ware mini-holiday loaf pan that has 8 wells. It was a perfect fit. I shortened the baking time to 25 minutes, which was just right.

[BakerAunt]

We finished the last of the roasted chicken thighs. To go with it, I cooked bulgur in broth, then mixed in microwaved frozen peas and carrots.

[BakerAunt]

Navlys--sadly, items such as anise seed or candied fruit are no longer stocked in most supermarkets.

I'm glad you were able to make the recipe you baked work.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron: Here's a place to start:

https://www.fancyflours.com/product/Christmas-Village-Cookie-Cutter-Set/cookie-cutters-a-to-z

I also think that amid my myriad of cookie cutters I have some that are stamp for making small gingerbread houses. When I get a chance, I will check, although the upshot of our renovation projects (finally finished this month!) is that I have not found some items yet.

Williams Sonoma, back when they were also catering to serious bakers, once had a cast iron set for making a gingerbread house, but it does not have one on the current website. However, they may still exist somewhere out there.

[BakerAunt]

I made applesauce on Tuesday from some of the Ida Red seconds we got at the orchard in November. I froze a container and put the rest in a bowl in advance of Christmas dinner.

I also roasted two pie pumpkins. I will set aside enough for my Christmas dinner pie, freeze enough for another pie, and then freeze or use the rest of the puree. I do not have a lot of freezer space at the moment, but once we start thawing the turkey for New Year's Day dinner, I will have a lot more and can finish processing the other pumpkins.

Dinner tonight was leftover chicken and leftover farro with vegetables from Sunday night.

[BakerAunt]

I made maple granola on Monday, as we are almost out. Our area is projected to be in line for major snow and cold for the end of the week and Christmas Eve and Day, so I will make sure that we have food available that does not require opening a refrigerator or freezer, just in case. We have seen a number of NIPSCO trucks heading north on our road, so it looks like the Indiana utilities are expecting possible outages.

[BakerAunt]

For lunch on Monday, and for the next two days, I made Lentils with turnip greens and tomatoes with Hatch chilis. I cooked 2/3 cup mostly brown, and a few red lentils in 2 cups of turkey broth for 30 minutes, while I sauteed onion and celery, then the turnip greens, and onion in another pan in olive oil. I added the garlic, then a can of tomatoes with Hatch chilis, Penzey's Arizona blend, and a bit of chili powder, pepper, ½ tsp. sugar, and ½ tsp. cider vinegar. I added the cooked lentils and simmered briefly. I am working to incorporate more beans and pulses into my diet to see if that helps my cholesterol numbers. I have had to start taking a statin, but I want it to be a low dose. Having beans and pulses as part of my lunch a couple of times a week allows me to do so, since my husband's digestive system cannot tolerate most beans.

On Monday afternoon, I made a chunky tomato sauce using the rest of the tomatoes that were picked green and have turned red on the enclosed porch. I also had some green peppers that were picked before the freeze, and some of them were trying hard to turn red even though off the plant. I sauteed the green pepper with the onion in olive oil, added the garlic, then the tomatoes and cooked until the tomatoes were broken down. I added some rosemary, oregano, and basil, a bit too much Worcestershire sauce (oops), some sugar, and tomato paste from a tube. It is tasty. I will freeze it for future lunches for me.

Leftovers are great, CWCdesign. We had the rest of the beef stew tonight, and I have leftovers from last night for the next two nights.

[BakerAunt]

It is always nice to have more people for whom to bake!

Years ago, King Arthur had an eggnog cake recipe for an odd mold the company was selling. I took that recipe, made major changes, and perfected my eggnog cake, which now uses no butter and also has a cup of barley flour. I had a one-cup container of frozen nonfat eggnog, so on Sunday, I baked the eggnog cake using my two Nordic Ware nutcracker pans (four nutcrackers per pan). They look quite nice. We will start eating them tomorrow, since it is best to let them rest overnight.

[BakerAunt]

Sigh. I miss making my caramels.

On Saturday, I found a package of six chicken thighs on sale for 99 cents per pound, so for Sunday dinner, we had roasted chicken thighs. I cooked some farro in the remaining chicken broth from last week, then mixed it with sauteed celery, colorful carrots, and mushrooms, along with a bit of sage and thyme. We had microwaved broccoli as well. The carrots are the young ones, in a rainbow of colors, that I bought at the farmers' market last week. At $5 a bunch, they are bit pricy, but oh, so good.

[BakerAunt]

That is why I bake a gingerbread cake in Nordic Ware molds!

I baked another batch of the Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne) on Saturday. I will hide them for a couple of days as they improve with age. I also hope to put a couple on a cookie platter I want to do for neighbors. I had refrigerated the topping that I used the first time and mixed it up and brushed it on. I noticed that it is not as sticky, nor as shiny as the first time.

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