[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--One reason I dropped by so often at T.J. Maxx when we lived in Lubbock was that you never knew what you would find. Sometimes, it was nothing--particularly after Christmas! It was about a ten-minute drive in off-traffic times and close to the grocery stores. To go now, means a drive of an hour (one-way), and, of course, there may not be anything I want to buy. A Marshall's and a Ross are opening together across from the Walmart, one of the three places we hit for groceries in the next town, and I told my husband that we will need to add those stores to our trip. Of course, for those stores, he will sit in the car, but I can look through them quickly. He also knows that whenever we are in South Bend, we need to go to one or both T.J. Maxx stores, and also Home Goods (part of the same company). Last time we were there in October, it was Home Goods that had the better selection.

You can order from T.J. Maxx online, but it is not the same as wandering around and discovering, and the online selection is limited. Home Goods used to have an online presence, but they ended it before Christmas.

[BakerAunt]

I made coleslaw on Friday, which we had with ham sandwiches for dinner.

[BakerAunt]

For breakfast on Friday, and the next couple of days, I baked an adaptation of the King Arthur recipe "Easy Holiday Eggnog Muffins." I cut the sugar from ¾ C to ½ C., which I started doing years ago when I baked the recipe. I replaced 1 ½ C. of the 2 ½ C. flour with white whole wheat. I replaced ¼ C. butter with 3 Tbs. avocado oil. I only used ½ tsp. nutmeg in the muffins, but next time, I will use the recipe's 1 tsp., as it needed more. For the topping, I reduced the sugar and flour from ½ C to 1/3 C., as I recalled it being too much for the muffins. I used 2 Tbs. avocado oil in place of 3 Tbs. butter. I used Organic Valley low-fat eggnog, which is the only lower in fat one I could find that does not include junky ingredients like high fructose corn syrup. I still use the Eggnog flavoring that I got from King Arthur, although I noticed recently that KA no longer carries it. I sampled two muffins for breakfast while they were warm. The recipe's additional nutmeg is needed, as they seemed a tad plain, especially with replacing the butter. However, as oil cakes and muffins usually improve over the days, I will see how the taste is tomorrow after the spice has time to rest. It may be that I need to bake these the night before serving, or it may be that for the topping, I will need to include a smidge of butter for flavoring.

[BakerAunt]

I'm glad my posts were helpful, Italian Cook. Thanks for letting me know. I actually have the Kuhn-Rikon "watermelon knife as well. My husband uses it to cut cantaloupes. Having the right tool for the job really makes a difference. I also use my "pumpkin" knife to cut butternut squash and any other winter squash with a hard rind. One thing I miss about being close enough to a T.J. Maxx to wander through frequently is that I would often find these items that turn out to be so useful.

I hope your niece finds the freezer containers helpful. I even used them to hold the green beans I froze.

One of the great things about Nebraska Kitchen is that we share information about useful tools. I'll be making yogurt again today, and the Chef Alarm that Mike recommended has made the process of monitoring the milk temperature and maintaining it at the ideal temperature for ten minutes so much easier.

[BakerAunt]

I figured it was probably a "I can't get this where I live" craving. If I am ever in California again, I will insist on El Pollo Loco.

[BakerAunt]

Well, Mike, the group wants what the group wants!

I had a major vegetable craving and some kale that I needed to use, so I made Spanish Chickpea, Kale (replaced spinach), and Bulgur stew for lunch on Thursday. Having some frozen chickpeas in the freezer that I remembered to put in the refrigerator to thaw last night was a plus. My husband cannot eat it due to the spices, onions, and tomatoes with chilis, which is why I only make it for lunch. I have enough for more lunches this week and weekend, and I froze a serving for a future lunch. I bought some freezer containers from Lehman's a while back, and I find that they work very well for these defrost and heat lunches, and they stack nicely in the freezer.

[BakerAunt]

Might the doming be the result of over mixing? Perhaps mix in the flour by hand?

[BakerAunt]

Sounds like an excellent Christmas dinner, Len!

Mike--A person responding to a Washington Post cooking article on what to do with leftovers remarked that her mother always called them "planned overs." I like that term and am adopting it. Not worrying about what to eat for the next few days frees us to do other activities.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. I will look at that article again.

As we were having a simple Christmas dinner, and I had three egg yolks left over from baking the Cinnamon Stars, I decided to bake Cass's recipe for Challah on Christmas afternoon. I have used 25% white whole wheat flour in the past. This time I used 14 oz. bread flour and 6 oz. white whole wheat flour. The recipe calls for seven egg yolks, so I used the three I had plus two whole eggs. For the water, I used it to rinse out a honey jar before proofing the yeast. I used the bread machine to make the dough but let it rise in a dough bucket. My braiding could use some practice. Both loaves had breaks in the center. I should probably braid a bit more loosely. I baked for 25 minutes at 360F, slightly lower than the 375F of Cass's recipe, then covered the loaves with foil for another 15 minutes but removed it with three minutes to go. The loaves tested done at 40 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

For Christmas dinner, I roasted sweet potato chunks, which we had with ham, green beans (frozen this summer from our garden), and applesauce, with pumpkin pie for dessert.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

[BakerAunt]

We love the Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars) with the baked meringue topping. I will not be baking them any other way. I wanted to post a link to the recipe, but the exact one I used is not coming up on Google. I found one with the same proportions, so if you are interested, and have a surplus of egg whites, here it is:

https://www.food.com/recipe/zimtsterne-cinnamon-star-cookies-262925

I did not find that I needed to thin the meringue with milk.

I used fine almond flour, by weight, rather than grinding almonds.

I'm in favor of making the larger stars, unless you have patience for spreading the meringue. I used a small spatula to spread it out to the star tips.

I would NOT use the second method for spreading meringue specified in the recipe, as it would waste a lot of dough that could not be re-rolled.

We also love those three meringue cookies I made with the leftover meringue topping. I could see baking these using a recipe of the topping.

[BakerAunt]

After dinner on Christmas Eve, I baked the Zimtsterne (cinnamon star cookies) from dough I made last night. I used the same star cookie cutter as last year, which is probably too large (about 3 inches across) and got 14 stars and a circle from the leftover dough. This year, I did the meringue topping that is spread on the cookies before baking. Because my cookies are larger, I baked them for 15 minutes, just until the tiniest part of the tips of the stars started to get a bit of light brown. When I baked the Zimtsterne last year, I used a glaze that I found online that was ok but not so great, so I am looking forward to tasting these cookies tomorrow with the traditional topping.

I had about ¼ cup of the meringue frosting left over, so I stirred some hazelnuts and mini-chocolate chips into it, then used a #40 scoop to make three cookies. I baked them for 15 minutes, at 300F, until lightly browned. The three cookies made from the leftovers came from my vamping off of a hazelnut cookie recipe that calls for one egg white, hazelnuts, and sugar.

After I finished the cookies, I baked a pumpkin pie. It will cool on the counter overnight.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I roasted two pie pumpkins. I set aside enough for the pie I will bake tonight and froze the rest.

I also made applesauce.

I made chicken salad from leftover chicken from last week, which we had on the rye bread I baked several days ago. We had some warm applesauce with it, and Pfeffernusse for dessert.

[BakerAunt]

I baked 3 dozen Pfeffernusse cookies on Saturday.

I also made dough for Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars), which I will bake tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Saturday.

We had leftover beef stew for dinner.

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