[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked Pumpkin Oat Muffins, a recipe that I adapted from a Taste of Home recipe. My version uses half whole wheat, my own blend of spices, halves the salt, adds 3 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder, and adds 2 Tbs. oat bran. I deleted ½ cup of raisins, as I do not care for raisins in my pumpkin breads. I used Christmas muffin cup papers, spritzed with canola spray, and I sprinkled the muffins with red and green sugar before baking. We had a muffin for dessert tonight, and we will have them at breakfast or as snacks over the next few days.

[BakerAunt]

What we ate was not particularly bitter; otherwise they would have been trashed, not eaten. There were three plants, and we are wondering if one particular seed was the issue.

Today I made another batch of yogurt.

I also used the remaining turkey to make a pasta toss, with carrots, celery, green onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. I use the leftover gravy, which did not come out well because the turkey had a great deal of fluid in it, and that's not conducive to good gravy, even when thickened with some Clear Jel. However, it did make a nice sauce for the turkey, vegetables, and rigatoni. It made enough to have another dinner tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

You have great self control, Joan, to give away cinnamon rolls! 🙂

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. Maybe I should throw out the last squash.

Hmm--We've eaten two in the past two days. I have one left. I did note that the last two we ate did not have a lot of "sugar" leaking out when roasted.

We did have a hot, dry summer, so it's possible that the squash at the end of the season did not get enough water. They were growing next to tomatoes and bell peppers.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I had in the refrigerator.

Monday was also a bread baking day. I used the King Arthur Rustic Sourdough Bread as my starting point, but I used 3 cups whole wheat flour, ½ cup dark rye flour, 1 ½ cup bread flour, and added ¼ cup flax meal. I replaced the sugar with honey, reduced the salt and the yeast to 1 ¾ tsp. each, and added 1 Tbs. olive oil. I baked it in the hearth bread pan for 35 minutes to 202F. We will slice some of it for lunch tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover turkey, microwaved fresh broccoli, and a Queen squash, halved, roasted in the oven, then filled with bulgur and roasted a little longer.

Some of our Queen squashes were sweet, and we liked those a lot. However, we have also had some bitter ones. Does anyone know why there might be a difference? While these are getting old (we have one left), we had an older one that was sweet.

[BakerAunt]

I also made a third batch of applesauce on Sunday and froze two containers. There are enough of the seconds apples for a fourth batch.

[BakerAunt]

Sunday dinner was leftover turkey, microwaved frozen peas, and Queen squash that I halved and roasted, then filled with cooked red bulgur and baked another ten minutes.

[BakerAunt]

Note: Those spiced rye ginger cookies are delicious. The recipe makes a chewy cookie, and the spice is just right. The cardamom blends in--my husband did not notice it, and he is not fond of that spice. The surprise ingredient was 3/4 tsp. black pepper. I ground my own, and I pounded my own cardamom seeds.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for the tip, Len. And thank you to Italian Cook for starting this discussion. Sometimes the simple things--a pastry brush to brush off excess flour--is the very thing we overlook. I once remarked to Cass that it is hard to turn over stamped buns. Use a spatula, he told me. Oh. Of, course.

I recall a thread from the now defunct King Arthur Backing Circle (another KABC) in which a member--was it Karen Noll?--commented on a snowman bread that she makes and sprinkles before baking with flour in order to give the look of snow.

[BakerAunt]

It's great that Violet is so interested in baking, Aaron. The best way to learn baking is by working with a baker. I've often wished that I had someone I could teach.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new KABC recipe on Saturday: “Spiced Rye Ginger Cookies.” I used the Zeroll #40 scoop, and the recipe made 24 cookies. Next time, I would drop the dough from the scoop directly into the sugar before putting it on the parchment-lined sheet, as I had to use a scraper to get them up to then roll in the sugar. I baked the cookies on the third rack up for 14 minutes, one sheet at a time, turning the sheet around halfway.

These cookies use 1/2 cup of oil--no butter, so I was pleased to find the recipe in one of KABC's emails. Medium rye flour has some health benefits, although it is not a whole grain.

They smell delicious, but I will let them rest overnight so that the flavors can develop. I look forward to having some tomorrow with afternoon tea.

[BakerAunt]

I've become a pumpkin pie snob in that the only pumpkin pie I like is the one that I bake.

My Spiced Pumpkin bread is really great for turkey sandwiches. I worried about the extra 3 Tbs. of flour that I added, but the texture is fine, and I can slice it thinly. I may add the two additional 2-3 Tbs. whole wheat flour when I bake it again.

[BakerAunt]

The only thing I cooked today was my usual morning oatmeal. Ah, how I love having leftover Thanksgiving food!

[BakerAunt]

My cranberry sauce is not cooked. I used to make an uncooked one with cranberries, sugar, and orange, but once I found this one, it became my favorite. I've also made a very good cooked one from The Frugal Gourmet's American food cookbook.

My husband will roast the 14 lb. turkey tomorrow. I will make the Pepperidge Farm (blue bag!) dressing with broth, celery, and either dried or green onions (in deference to my husband who has trouble with regular onion). We will likely have steamed broccoli as the side, and I will make gravy. I'll have my cranberry-cherry relish, and we will have the Spiced Rye Bread. Dessert is pumpkin pie.

[Author]

Posts