Baking Bread

Last Saturday, Qix and I made 15 loaves of bread! It took us allllllllll afternoon! We gave away 2 loaves, and now, a week later, there is only 1 loaf of bread left. Somehow, our family has manage to consume 12 loaves of bread in a week! I guess Qix and I will be having another bread baking day soon :).

Sadly, our photographer failed to take a picture of the baked product. :( Just imagine the yummyness that it was though!

Thanksgiving Feast

Thought you might enjoy some pictures of our Thanksgiving feast. It was a really lovely day! And all the food tasted sooo good!

(ok, for some reason the food doesn't actually look that good in the pictures. oh well)

Scotcheroos!

I had never eaten a scotcheroo until last month when I was at a friend's house and they served it for dessert. It was delicious! We immediately added the recipe to our family faves and Qix has made it several times. I don't want you to miss out on this spectacular dessert so here is the recipe:
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups crispy rice
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
Mix corn syrup and sugar over medium heat until hot (don't let it boil!). Add peanut butter to hot pan. Stir in crispy rice. Cool crispy rice mixture in greased 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips and spread over crispy rice. Let sit till firm, then enjoy!




P.S. I just now figured out how to schedule a post so it will be published at a certain time (I know, it took me a really long time :D)!!!!!

Dad made 10 Cup Cookies today. I'm very proud of him :D

(photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26412869@N03/)

Peanut Butter Frosting

Saturday I made this amazing peanut butter frosting. I know, it sounds slightly strange (try peanut butter and jelly cupcakes for a little bit of different) but it tastes good. I made the peanut butter frosting because Mom bought rice cakes and I was going to eat one with Nutella on it when I realized we were all out of Nutella. I promptly sat on the floor and cried. But then! I remembered this peanut butter frosting and I knew it would taste fantastic on a rice cake. So I searched the internet until I found the recipe and then I made it.
Then I slathered waaay too much on a rice cake and gobbled it down. It was gooooooood. So here's the recipe (taken from marthastewart.com):

Ingredients

• 6 ounces cream cheese
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium speed. Add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla. Whisk cream until soft peaks form, and then fold into peanut butter mixture. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

Pumpkin Gelatin Chiffon Pie

The last chiffon pie I made was a flop (because I failed to notice the importance of several ingredients and inadvertently left them out). This past evening, I attempted to redeem myself and erase a bad experience from my memory (as well as an awful taste). The pie turned out wonderfully, so I thought I'd share the recipe from you (taken from the queen of all cookbooks, Joy of Cooking).
Pumpkin Gelatin Chiffon Pie (makes a 9-inch single-crust pie)
Prepare:
A baked pie shell or graham cracker crust
Soak:
1 tablespoon gelatin
in:
1/4 cup cold water
Beat slightly:
3 egg yolks
Add:
1/2 cup white or brown sugar
1 1/4 cups canned or cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup milk, soy milk, or rice milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger
Cook and stir these ingredients over - not in - boiling water until thick. Stir in the soaked gelatin until dissolved. Chill until mixture begins to set.
Whip until stiff, but not dry:
3 egg whites
Stir in gradually:
1/2 cup sugar
and fold into the pumpkin mixture. Fill the pie shell. Chill several hours to set.

Rachel made 10 dozen cookies while we stayed with her and we got to eat some. They were delicious. :D

Snow Ice Cream

Mom has been making snow ice cream ever since I can remember. She says she got her recipe from her grandma, although it has never been written down. . . till today! Since it snowed today (again) Mom made some snow ice cream and I convinced her to give me the recipe (of course I told her it'd go on my blog!). We call it snow ice cream, but it would probably be more accurate to call it a Banana Smoothie. Anyway, here's the recipe;
3 cups vanilla soy milk
1 package vanilla pudding
18 cups fresh snow (make sure it's not yellow!)
1 egg
1 frozen banana
Blend soy milk and vanilla pudding together until moderately thick. Slowly add snow while stirring. Beat until all mixed in. In a separate bowl beat egg, then slowly add 1/2 cup snow/pudding mixture. Make sure it is well combined. In a third bowl, blend banana with 1/2 cup snow/pudding mixture. Dump banana into snow/pudding mixture and stir well. Add egg mix to snow/pudding mixture while stirring. Make sure it is well combined. Put in freezer and stir every 15 minutes for 1 hour. When it is ready to serve, stir one last time, then serve (warning; it melts fast!).

Note; if you want to use cow milk, feel free to do so, but add in about 1 tsp. vanilla extract.



 

Family Favorite Cut-Out Cookies

It's getting closer and closer to Christmas, and that means baking! Cut - out cookies are a lot of fun to make and very easy so we made some recently! Here is the recipe;
                                    Family Cut-Out Cookies                                        
1 C. butter, softened                                                1 egg
1 (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened                             1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C. sugar                                                             3 C. flour
Mix all cookie ingredients except the flour. Beat at a medium speed 3-4 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour. Mix well. Place dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 in. thickness. Cut with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 6-7 minutes. Makes 8 dozen cookies.
    

Thanksgiving Week

I'm sure everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a big holiday for our family because instead of all the extended family gathering together at Christmas time, we all get together and celebrate Thanksgiving together. Every year, Thanksgiving starts on Thursday and ends late Sunday night for us. It's a fun-filled four days. Each family member pitches in and creates a special dish to share. On the list to get baked this weekend?
Cookies (4 batches)
Pumpkin roll
Pumpkin pies
Pecan pies
Chips/crackers/snacks
Rolls
Turkey
Cranberry salad
Stuffing
Sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole

I can't wait to taste all the goodies!

My Baking List

Moxie and I loooooooove to bake. It is one of the few arts (besides folding clothes!) that I'm good at. During the season of Autumn I want to bake anything that catches my eye. The spices and colors of the foods inspire all kinds of things. Like, bobbing for apples;)


Lately I've been Tastespotting, and going through all our cookbooks to come up with new recipes to try. These are a few things I found and want to bake;


Chocolate Hazelnut Babka
Bosch Bread
Apple Turnovers
Pumpkin Roll
Apple Butter
Friendship Bread
Coconut Cream Pie
Beef Bourguignon 
Cinnamon Rolls 101
Homemade Glazed Doughnuts
Brown Butter Gelato
Naan
So, Tallyho!!! It's off to the kitchen we go!!!

Home Alone . . .

Well, not quite. Our brother Ian is with us. (Does he count?)
We had a lovely weekend, though it was fast-paced and went by like a blur. The wedding was wonderful and we saw a lot of people we haven't seen in a while (hello, Emerson!).
So . . . why are we home alone? Well, to put it simply, our family is on vacation, and we had some commitments this week we felt we couldn't miss, so we stayed home. The house is empty and quiet. Instead of the usual ten people occupying it, there is only three. What a big difference!
I'm sure we'll have a great big party every night. :D
This morning for breakfast we wanted something quick and easy so we made biscuits and baked apples. It was delicious. Here is the recipe for the baked apples;                          
                                              Baked Apples - Susan Branch

2 tablespoons oats                                           pinch of cinnamon
1 tablespoon brown sugar                                pinch of nutmeg
1 teaspoon chopped walnuts                            dash of lemon juice
4 teaspoons soft butter                                     2 tablespoons apple juice
2 apples
Wash and core the apple, being careful not to break through the bottom. Mix together all the rest of the ingredients except for the apple juice. Fill the apple with the mixture and put it in a shallow baking dish. Pour the apple juice around the apples and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves two.

It's Nice to Have Neighbors

Yesterday evening, in the middle of making apple pie (yum!) Qixi realized she didn't have any flour, so she quickly ran across our small yard into our neighbors' yard and borrowed some flour. (she asked, of course!)

The pies turned out wonderfully, and we were all very thankful for our very good friends, and next door neighbors, the Armstrong's. 

Pumpkin Cookies

Last night, in the spirit of autumn, we made pumpkin cookies. They turned out very well. Unfortunately, there are no pictures. However, here is the recipe, which is from a friend of the family, Mrs. Emmett.
4 C. sifted flour                                       1 C. butter
2 tsp. baking soda                                   2 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt                                              2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon                                       2 C. canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp. nutmeg                                       2 C. either raisins, or chocolate chips
                                                               (opt. 2 C. pecans or walnuts)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Sift flour with soda, salt, and spices and set aside. Cream butter with sugar until light, add vanilla and pumpkin and mix well. Slowly add dry ingredients, then stir in raisins, chocolate chips, or nuts (or all!). Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets and bake 15 minutes until lightly browned.