[BakerAunt]

My husband favors Ever Crisp apples, which I seem to recall are a cross with Honey Crisp and another apple. We buy them in November at an apple orchard about an hour from here, and he happily munches them into January or February. I have gotten to the point where I do not buy apples out of season anymore.

[BakerAunt]

No baking here today, but cookies are on the baking horizon this week.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover soup from the freezer for dinner tonight, with enough left for tomorrow. I had planned it so that I would not need to cook the day we returned home. We had it with Rye-Barley Crispbread left from the trip.

[BakerAunt]

Saturday night's dinner was salmon patties from the freezer, frozen before we left on vacation, which we had on the remaining two buns from the trip.

It was great visiting with Joan. Her wonderful pound cake tastes even more wonderful on her lovely green plates with the flowers. Mrs. Cindy always said that if you can meet another baker from the Baking Circle, you should always do so. I think that she met more than any of us.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--Yes, cream of tartar is necessary for a good snickerdoodle. I checked my favorite snickerdoodle recipe, Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, from Martha Stewart Living (November 2015). I was paging through the magazine before a dental appointment ten years ago, and the staff kindly xeroxed the recipe for me. The recipe called for melted butter, which makes me wonder if I can work up an oil version....

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked Oatmeal Date Muffins. I also baked Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina buns from Len's recipe. I usually bake it as 10, but since we were in Florida and I only had a smaller rimmed baking sheet, I baked it as eight, with six down each side, and the last two centered down the middle. To cover it, I used the 13 x 9-inch rectangular cover that I bought from King Arthur as a way to cover sweet rolls when I'm traveling without my home kitchen tools. It worked very well.

My breads rose really well in Florida, as well as faster than usual. I think the humidity plays a big part in that.

We arrived home on Saturday after a three-day drive back from Florida.

[BakerAunt]

Hmm--think I'll drop by for a slice....

[BakerAunt]

We are heading home tomorrow, so I combined the little bit of black-eyed peas dish from this week with sauteed red bell pepper, celery, and microwaved frozen peas. We had it with spinach salad and the last of the corn muffins.

[BakerAunt]

No baking here today. We went to the National Bakery in Tarpon Springs yesterday and brought back two bags of the Greek cookies that are Scott's favorite and one bag of the cinnamon-molasses ones that I wrote about last year and hope to try baking using a recipe I found.

[BakerAunt]

We ate more black-eyed peas with brown rice, vegetables, and ham, along with cornmeal muffins. We also microwaved the last of the broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

Navlys--My college roommate and I used to do English muffin pizzas. They are a good quick meal.

We had more of the black-eyed peas with brown rice, vegetables, and ham.

[BakerAunt]

We decided that we wanted more cornbread muffins, so I bought a mix. I chose Fleischmann's Simply Homemade Baking Mix Cornbread, as it says no artificial ingredients on the box. I wanted to compare it with the Jiffy brand that is ok in a pinch. I used 3/4 cups buttermilk rather than 2/3 cups milk, and I reduced the melted butter or oil from 1/3 cup to 2 Tbs. I baked them at 400 rather than 375, and should have taken them out at 16 minutes, as they were a bit overbrowned on the bottom. They are good, but we find them overly sweet. The mix included honey and sugar. My cornbread uses just 1 Tbs. sugar. I would buy this mix again and would buy it instead of the Jiffy mix. However, I prefer my recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--The cold front that came through Georgia is now here in Florida, so we will have a cooler day tomorrow, and then the warm air returns.

We had more of the black-eyed peas with brown rice, vegetables, and ham for Sunday night dinner, an easy microwave warm-up.

[BakerAunt]

To my surprise, Scott requested black-eyed peas and rice, a meal I did not expect to be cooking on vacation. I had to buy some coarse sea salt for soaking and cooking the dried black-eyed peas. (Normally, I use kosher salt, but I did not want to lug a box of it back to Indiana.) I also had brought only a limited number of spices with me, and thyme was not among them. I didn't want to buy dried thyme, as I have plenty at home, and the stores did not sell small jars. I ended up buying a package of fresh thyme, then had to google how to remove the leaves from the stem. (Martha Stewart was most helpful.) I could have used a bit more thyme than I put in, but it came out well. I used chopped celery, sliced green onion, and chopped yellow and red bell pepper, all of which I sauteed in olive oil before adding the beans, and then the rice. We cut up some sliced ham to add to our individual bowls. We have plenty of leftovers for the next few days of dinner.

[BakerAunt]

I have yet to try making bagels, Aaron, so I am interested in what you learn about the high-gluten flour. I have the King Arthur pumpernickel bagels on my "to bake" one of these days list.

This evening, I baked another loaf of Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina bread.

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