It occurred to me on Thanksgiving Day that my oral exams for my thesis are a week from this Monday! The countdown that I've been waging in my head and on my calendar is dropping into the single digits (I probably don't need to tell you that that realization made my stomach do a huge somersault). In the meantime, the Singleton will be "gone fishing!" See you on the other side!

CEiMB Thanksgiving: Green Herb Dip and Spiced Nuts

Happy Thanksgiving! Because Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, and the CEiMB group posts on Thursdays, this week the CEiMB gang is doing a free-for-all Thanksgiving round-up. I'm pretty excited to see what everyone decided to make. As for me, I made a couple of appetizers that come together quite quickly, and they're light enough to nosh on before the main event: Spiced Nuts and Green Herb Dip.

I debated what to make for this Thanksgiving round-up. I don't host Thanksgiving, and evidently I come from a long line of ladies who like to be in charge of meals in their homes because I was told fairly emphatically that I didn't need to worry about bringing anything. I pondered making the apple cranberry turnovers, I also pondered hot chocolate just because I think it's so festive for drinking while watching the parade (one of my favorite traditions!), but in the end I settled on appetizers. At my pretend Thanksgiving I definitely want something to nibble on before dinner!

First up: Spiced Nuts. I was really excited about this recipe. I'm always looking for a recipe that combines spicy and sweet flavors for mixed nuts. I used a mixture of almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, pecans, and sunflower seeds for this recipe. These nuts couldn't be simpler to make, just combine the maple syrup (the sweetener for this recipe) with the spices and roast at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes. I didn't have any dried rosemary so I subbed herbs de provence and I thought that substitution worked well. These nuts are really delicious and perfect for a healthy munch, but in the future I would probably double all of the spices. It's just a little subtle for my taste! If you'd like the recipe, click here.

Next up: Green Herb Dip. I always pause on this recipe when I flip through the book -- this was the perfect excuse to try this dip! Now, I happen to love goat cheese; however, if goat cheese makes you nervous, I think that you could easily substitute reduced fat cream cheese because it's about the same texture. It's lacking some of the flavor of goat cheese, though, so you'll need to adjust the seasonings. This is another super easy recipe to put together -- it's a food processor recipe, and it's as simple as putting your ingredients in the food processor and pulsing. I only had Greek yogurt, so I used that in place of regular yogurt. My dip was really, really thick; rather than adding more olive oil, I thinned it with a little bit of buttermilk. It's still a pretty thick dip. The verdict on this? SO GOOD! I gobbled this up, and it will definitely be made again . . . soon! If you'd like this recipe, click here.

TWD: Chocolate Caramel Almond Cake

The Tuesdays with Dorie posts have been a little willy nilly this month. This recipe for Chocolate Caramel Chestnut (Almond) Cake was Katya's pick for November 3rd, but this month we can post out of order so here I am, on the last Tuesday of Novemeber, posting my version of this cake. I'll be honest, I was not excited to see this cake on the November rotation. If you look at the picture in the book, this is a serious cake. It's the polar opposite of a bundt cake; it requires several different steps, countless dirty dishes, time, and patience. It's also a gorgeous cake! I think it calls to be served on a special, sophisticated occasion. There are many occasions that I deem worthy of this cake; unfortunately, most of my special occasions these days tend to be rather mundane, like two cups of coffee instead of one when I wake up early to study. I pondered skipping this selection altogether, but I always love a chocolate dessert, and I am a very big fan of the idea that you don't need a "special occasion" to celebrate. Why not just make the cake and celebrate life and chocolate?

Once I decided to make the cake, there was no question that the chestnuts would be 86'd. They're really expensive, and there are other nuts that I prefer. I though maybe I'd substitute Nutella or even peanut butter, but Nancy mentioned subbing almond paste and almonds, and I immediately fell in love with that idea. Almonds might just be my favorite nut, I love almond flavor in desserts, and they're less expensive than chestnuts. I substituted thinned almond paste for the sweetened chestnut puree and slivered almonds for the chopped chestnuts.

Here are my notes on making this cake:

I thinned the almond paste with a little bit of vanilla extract and some simple syrup. The original recipe calls for sweetened chestnut puree with vanilla, so I wanted to make sure to add some vanilla to my almond paste. The paste is very stiff and it was impossible to thin with a spoon. I ended up kneeding the liquid into the paste until it was a stirrable consistency. Next time, I think it might be better to do this step in a food processor. I thinned it to the consistency of really thick peanut butter.

I made half a recipe in a loaf pan. As many people noted on the P&Q, the bake time for this cake was considerably longer than the 48 minutes that the recipe states. I ended up baking my loaf for about 62 minutes total. The half recipe worked just fine in the loaf pan, but it did bake up exactly like a loaf -- crack down the center and all! I shaved the crack off when I leveled the cake for assembly and I was still able to get three very even layers.

For the syrup, I used water and brown sugar rather than the brandy as I didn't have any brandy in the house, and I didn't feel like venturing to the liquor store to purchase said brandy. The cake slices into neat layers easily because it's a very dense cake. In my opinion, some sort of syrup to moisten the layers is absolutely essential. It didn't occur to me to add a bit of vanilla or almond extract to the simple syrup, but I might make a note to do so next time.

I didn't have any trouble making the ganache, and be warned, the chocolate caramel combination is positively addictive! I enjoyed the ganache so much more before I added the butter, and I was left wondering if it's possible to cut down the butter in the ganache? My ganache layers between the cake is thin, there are two reasons: 1) I am always, always, always paranoid about running out of frosting 2) I don't like a lot of frosting. It turns out I had plenty of extra frosting, and next time I'll use more between my cake layers, though I used about the 1/2 cup that half a recipe calls for.

The glaze: I used half milk chocolate and half bittersweet because I didn't want a really deep chocolate glaze. Quite a few people mentioned that the glaze went from not thick to too thick in an instant, so I erred on the not thick enough side. At that point, I really wanted to finish making the cake! I think it ended up ok, though!

The verdict? I thought the cake was good . . . I probably would have loved it if someone else had made it. Dudley raved about this dessert . . . but Dudley has yet to say anything even remotely negative about something that I've baked or cooked, so I'm starting to think he might be biased and not such a reliable taste-tester. The almond flavor from the almond paste really comes through in the cake, so if you like almonds, it's a great substitute. I wish I'd thought to toast my almonds before putting them between the layers . . . next time. If you'd like to see the recipe in its original form, you can visit Katya's blog, Second Dinner, or this recipe is also on Epicurious, too.

Vanilla Malted Cookies

Like many people, when I visit someone's home I hate to arrive empty handed. I generally don't like to bring a wine, because if they're anything like my parents, then they have very specific ideas about the wines that they like to drink. Generally, I like to bring something that I've baked, but if I don't know my hosts very well then I get a little concerned about what to make. Some people don't like chocolate, some are allergic to nuts, some don't like berries. My biggest fear is that I'll bring something that my host won't enjoy. So, in that situation, I look for cookies like these vanilla malted cookies from Martha Stewart's Cookies book. I'm sure he/she exists, but I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like vanilla.

These cookies are a cinch to mix together. Then all that's left to do is pipe them into little ribbons on the cookie sheets. They don't spread that much, so you can fit quite a few on a sheet. If you don't have a pastry bag and tip, I think that this dough would work very nicely in a gallon size zipper bag. One note on piping this dough out: don't attempt to pipe all of the dough at once. In other words, put about 1/4 -1/3 of the dough in the bag at a time. I have a large pastry bag that I use for piping meringue, frosting -- things that are big in volume. I cheekily put the whole batch of dough in that big pastry bag, and, ohmygosh, was it ever hard to pipe out. The dough is way, way to stiff to use in such a large bag. I ended up using a rubber band towards the bottom of the bag to make it work, but next time I'll do it in batches and save myself the workout. Sheesh!

Thanksgiving is on Thursday, and then the full holiday swing begins. These cookies are great for holiday cookie occasions of all sorts because the recipe makes a huge batch of these elegant little cookies, about 6 dozen in all. Of course I tasted a few, and they're very good! The malt flavor comes through and there is a caramel undertone to the cookies. I think these cookies have a welcome place on the side of a teacup or a coffee cup, or even with some hot chocolate. For that matter, they could certainly be dipped in some melted semisweet chocolate if you so desire, but I think that I would leave them plain. I boxed mine up as part of a hostess gift, and they were very well received. If you're interested, click here for the recipe.

Baked Lemon Lemon Loaf: "Mails Beautifully"

I was pretty young when Steel Magnolias came out. I remember that I wasn't allowed to watch it, but my mom and her sisters used up a box of Kleenex while they were watching it one day. I decided right then and there that I didn't want anything to do with a movie that made you cry. Furthermore, for the life of me, I couldn't understand how they could love a movie that made them cry. Fastforward: I went to college and one of my best friends loved Steel Magnolias. She used to watch it all of the time, and if I happened to go over to her dorm room, then I watched it, too. We didn't really go through boxes and boxes of Kleenex because, you know what? That movie is pretty hilarious in certain parts. If you've seen the movie, then you remember when Annelle is bringing food over, and she's completely stressing out because she wanted to make something from the "Freezes Beautifully" section of her cookbook. I thought about that as I made this Lemon Lemon Loaf from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.

You see, the preface to this recipe states that this loaf "freezes beautifully," and it's a good thing, too, because this recipe makes 2 loaves. The authors advise that you make one for now and freeze another loaf for later. I don't like lemon desserts at all, but I've made this before to give away, and it always gets rave reviews. We're approaching a very citrus-y time of year; I had a bag of lemons to use, so I made 2 loaves of this bread. One got shipped to my mom and dad, the other to my grandfather. They all love lemon, and they all RAVED about this cake!

Check your staples before you start to make the cake: it calls for 8 eggs, and for some reason, I'm always caught off guard by this. The cake itself is easy enough to make. The recipe calls to make it in a food processor, as I don't have that trusty appliance, I make it in the blender with a bowl next to me in case I need to blend in batches (you'll have to do this if you're making the full recipe). I also tend to make a double recipe of the lemon syrup that's used to soak the cake. Most people I know really like to taste the tartness of the lemon in their baked goods, the extra soaking is helpful, I think.

For shipping purposes, I made this cake through the syrup application, then I let it cool, wrapped it in a layer of freezer paper (or you could use waxed paper or nonstick foil) and then a layer of foil. I took the loaf out of the freezer the night before I mailed it, and then the next morning I glazed it with the powdered sugar lemon mixture. When this is dry, I wrap the cake back up, first in a layer of freezer paper (I like this because it folds nice and neatly, and it's very sturdy around the cake) and then a layer of foil. When I mail baked goods, I find that the key to successful arrival is to make sure that they don't move or jiggle in the box at all. I loathe (!!) styrofoam peanuts on so many different levels, so I use shredded paper, newpaper, or brown paper to pack the goodies into the boxes. I find that any crumpled up paper product provides a nice insulation for baked goods -- just make sure that you use enough, and that it's on all sides of your baked goods (including the bottom).

If you're planning to mail holiday goodies to friends and family this year, I highly recommend this cake (recipe here: Baked Lemon Lemon Loaf). It's a pound cake and it ages well (huge plus when shipping because you can go the 3-day priority rather than the overnight route). It's sturdy, and everyone I talked to has reported that it's delicious and arrived in good form. And, of course, it "freezes beautifully", so you can make it now, freeze it, and then take it out to mail it when you've got the rest of your goodies ready to go.

TWD: All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake

I write a lot. Usually I'm writing for school, so it's a bit dry and geared towards a different audience of one, a professor with a brutal and deadly red pen. Or, even worse, a pencil (gasp!). The pencil marks all over a paper pretend to be softer, not as harsh, but by virtue of this pretense of gentle remarks to follow, it's even more brutal. Or, worst of all, the dreaded emailed documents. The word files that go back and forth with markups and bubbles galore. Those can be quite savage. It's funny, when I teach, and grade papers, I use pencil, too. I hate marking up papers with red pen . . . unless I want to make a point. Then the red pen comes out. What does this have to do with the All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake? Absolutely nothing -- except that I usually like to start off these posts with some sort of anecdote. This week, I can't think of anything particularly keen or insightful to say.

Now, don't misunderstand me, this cake is worthy of words, sentences, paragraphs even. It's a delicious bundt cake -- I just happen to be missing any accompanying musing or hijinks to illustrate the bundt. I do have some remarks about the process of making this bundt, though.

Thanks to Nancy, I decided to use fresh cranberries, and I'm so glad I did! The fresh cranberries add a very, very nice tart flavor that the dried cranberries would miss, I think.

I thought I cubed my apple into nice, small pieces, but it turns out (especially in light of my decision to use mini bunt pans) that I didn't. In fact, my apple chunks, cubes, dice were way.too.big. Note to self (and anyone who hasn't made this yet): next time, shred apple.

I made 2 mini bundt and 2 mini loaves with a full recipe. I wish I'd upped the spices, and next time I will. 1 bundt and 1 mini loaf had no nuts (for me!), the other bundt and mini loaf had pecans stirred in (for someone else who isn't me!).


This is a seriously tasty bundt. I happen to LOVE the combination of pumpkin and cranberry in this cake. It's the first time (that I recall anyway) I've tasted this combo, and now I'm obsessed. If you have any great pumpkin cranberry recipes, please send them my way.

Now, Dorie recommends a maple glaze, and I had every intention of using a maple glaze. Here's a question: do you keep your maple syrup in the refrigerator or the pantry? Growing up, our syrup was always in the fridge after it was opened, and so I keep mine in the fridge, too, out of habit. I think that the climate, humidity, pests of Houston may have something to do with my mom's decision to keep it in the fridge, because I know that she would always get it out before she started making pancakes or waffles to let it come up to room temperature. Naturally, when I went to look for the maple syrup, I looked in my refrigerator. It wasn't there. I was sure I had a little left, but, alas, none. So, I made my glaze with milk and powdered sugar. The other day, one of the shelves in my pantry fell, and I had to take everything out to put the pantry back together. There was my maple syrup. Dudley had put it in the pantry. Next time, a maple glaze.

Thanks to Britin, of The Nitty Britty for choosing this great recipe! You can find the recipe on her blog. I had a blast making this cake, and I will defintely make this bundt cake again.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Butter Toffee Crunch

My grandmother makes her almond brickle every year for the holidays. In my time, I have been known to put away a goodly amount of almond brickle (I have absolutely no restraint when it comes to holiday sweets). I'm not privy to the almond brickle recipe, but if I had to guess, it's a kissing cousin of this toffee recipe. With that in mind, I was very excited to make this toffee for SMS this week. Unfortunately, my grandmother would say that "I goofed." Yup, this is a candy-making fail. I don't know anything about candy making, but I followed the instructions exactly. I think that I ruined it sometime around the baking soda. That's when it all seemed to go awry anyway. So, if anyone has any helpful hints on making this toffee, send them my way!
As you can see, I have some seriously crystalized toffee. In fact, this was a toffee fail, in my opinion. Thanks to Kaitlin, of Kait's Plate, for choosing this week's recipe. It was fun to try, and I may try to make this again some day!


Thanks, everyone, for all of the helpful comments on candy making. Believe me, I'm taking notes. I do actually have a very nice digital candy thermometer, it's this one, and I did cook it to exactly 290 degrees on that thermometer. I did have some issues moving quickly enough spreading the toffee out. It took me longer than it should have to stir in the baking soda and vanilla. I was worried that the baking soda didn't get distributed, so I stirred it around, I think too much, and then I think it cooled too much before I got it in the pan. Thanks for the tips. I'll make candy again at some point . . . but I'm not in a big hurry!

A Trio of Bundts

(Note: Sweet Melissa Sundays will be posted later on this evening)

It's National Bundt Day! One of the very cool things about reading food blogs is that you become aware of celebrations that you might otherwise miss. Did you know that there is a National S'mores Day? Yup, it's August 10th. Angel Food Cake Day? It's in October. Eggs Benedict Day is in April. All of these fun little celebrations exist, and leave it to food bloggers to know about them. Mary, also known as the Food Librarian, has spent the last 30 days getting ready for National Bundt Day. She likes Big Bundts, and the proof is in her 30 successive days of bundt cake posts on her blog. It makes me tired just thinking about it! If you've read my blog for any time at all, you know I'm in school. Hopefully it follows that I have a special place in my heart for libraries and librarians. The librarians at Georgetown are so incredibly helpful and insightful and my life would be much more difficult without them. So, given my combined love of books and food, it should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of the Food Librarian blog.

I also happen to like bundt cakes. I'm a cake girl, I scrape off icing, and bundt cakes have a very high cake to frosting/glaze ratio. I also happen to be inordinately fond of kitchen schwag, and the lovely folks at Nordic Ware have made sure that there are numerous shapes and sizes of bundt pans for me to ogle. I have so many on my wish list, but surprisingly enough, the one I want the most is a traditional bundt pan. You see, I have this very pretty fleur de lis bundt pan, and I love it, but it's much deeper and taller than a traditional bundt, which means that baking times are inevitably wonky. I love it, and I'll never get rid of it, but I long for a traditional bundt pan. That will have to wait, though, until I have a place to put said bundt pan. In the meantime, I'll just look.

On to the bundts! First in the trio of bundts is the lovely Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake from Cook's Illustrated. It might not look like much, but this bundt is moist, chocolaty, and delicious. I thought about drizzling it with ganache, but as I mentioned, I'm strictly here for the cake. I made a full size bundt cake just for me, and I wanted just plain chocolate cake. I've heard that Cook's Illustrated is very particular about their recipes being reprinted, so I'm not going to reprint it here. I will, however, share a link to the recipe that I found in a Google search. Like nearly all CI recipes this cake requires several steps, and I promise you'll end up with a sink full of dirty dishes (it makes me twitch just thinking about it!). BUT, it's worth it. This is a very delicious chocolate bundt cake.

Next up, Coconut Bundt Cake with Powdered Sugar Glaze. When you're a singleton in a kitchen and you like to bake, you're always plotting an escape route for your baked goods. The goal is to have the baked goods leave the house before they can do any damage to your waistline, and that's not always easy. Any time I start baking, I usually have a victim, er, recipient, in mind. When Mary started posting all of these bundt cakes I started pondering how well they would ship. My friends in D.C. get treats all of the time, but my friends and family in other parts of the country have to wait until I'm around to have some goodies. My grandmother's (MawMaw) birthday was November 12th, and I mailed her this coconut bundt cake. Her favorite birthday cake is an Italian cream cake, with carrot cake running a close second. I ruled out a carrot bundt cake because I didn't think it would be sturdy enough to ship. All of the coconut involved in Italian cream cake made me choose this coconut cake to send to MawMaw to celebrate. I didn't get a chance to taste this cake, but it smelled absolutely fantastic.

Last, but certainly not least, is this Autumn Spice Bundt Cake from Chrysta Wilson. I decided to make this cake on a whim. The idea of an "autumn" bundt was very appealing to me, and I thought this would be a nice cake to share, so I made it in my mini bundt pans. I didn't expect much from this cake -- it seems to be a vanilla poundcake with cinnamon and nutmeg added -- but it's very tasty. The cake itself is very moist, and it has an almost caramel flavor to it. I added a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice in place of the 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg to amp up the "autumn" flavors a bit. The glaze is made up of powdered sugar, milk, and pumpkin pie spice. This was a tasty little bundt!


While Mary's "I Like Big Bundts" celebration concludes today, I know that I still have many more bundts that I'd like to make. I've definitely been inspired to make more bundt cakes around here, and now that I know many of them ship well, many bundt possibilities have opened up for me. With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of the bundts that are on my "To Make Soon" list.

Blueberry-Lemon Bundt from Martha Stewart. I actually tried to make this tonight and it was an EPIC.FAIL. It's actually a milestone: the first time a bundt has ever not come out of the pan for me. I always wondered what the big deal was, and now I know. It tastes really, really good though, so I'm going to try to make this one again soon.

Blood Orange Bundt Cake from My Husband Cooks. I'd actually like to make this as it is, but I'd like to tweak the recipe and make a pink grapefruit bundt cake, too.

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Bundt Cake from Food Network. I adore cranberries, and this cake has a cranberry tunnel -- sign me up. I might try to change the recipe to use oranges rather than Meyer lemons. Meyer lemons are nearly impossible to get here.

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake from Gourmet Magazine (sniff, sniff. I miss Gourmet).

Double-Ginger Sour Cream Bundt Cake from Bon Appetit. I've wanted to make this cake since I saw it in the magazine this past spring. It looks utterly delicious.

CEiMB: Carrot, Green Apple, and Mint Salad

One of the really nice things about being a singleton is not having to factor in myriad likes and dislikes at the dinner table. I know in my family we all have our likes and dislikes: if you make something with whole wheat pasta or ground turkey, my dad acts like you're trying to punish him; my mom doesn't like any form of dumpling; my brother doesn't like grilled chicken; I don't like shellfish or dried beans; my sister emphatically refuses to eat fruit in any sort of savory dish. I remember one time I was having a "dinner party" for several of our friends. Being my very organized self, I made this salad ahead of time. My sister took a peek and said, "Oh, how cute, little green tomatoes. Where did you find little green tomatoes?" At this point, I was giggling, and she looked in closer, and with an expression of abject horror announced, "those aren't tomatoes! Those are GRAPES!" Dum, dum, dum. How could I make a salad, to serve where she would be present, that had grapes in it?! I've never understood why she can't eat around the fruit. That's what everyone else does. That's what I do with olives on my pizza. Sigh. I love fruit in my salads. I love mixing savory with sweet. So, as much as I adore my sister (and I do), I like being able to make salads with fruit in them without risking mortal offense.

I had a really hard time choosing my pick for Ellie this week. I was preoccupied with about 50 other things. I was trying to keep in mind other recent picks and avoid recipes that were similar, I didn't want to pick a dessert because I'm in a couple of separate baking groups, I wanted it to be easy and have a short ingredient list, and I wanted it to be seasonal. So, I narrowed it down to this salad and the garlic "fries." I knew that the "fries" would be a much more popular pick, but I also knew that if I didn't pick the fries, they have a much better chance of being chosen eventually than this salad. So, I took a deep breath and I chose the salad.

I loved this salad. I love that it involves ingredients that I always have on hand. I always have carrots and apples in my refrigerator, I always have Greek yogurt, and I have an ongoing love affair with mint, so there's a pot of it growing on my deck. What's more, carrots and apples are abundant at the farmers' market right now, so I have a lot of them hanging in the fridge, waiting to be used. The picture of this salad on the food network website SO does not jive with the picture that I had in my head when I chose this. I don't have a food processor, and I was picturing matchsticks, so I used a mandoline to julienne the carrots and apples. I used equal parts carrot and apple rather than 3/4 carrots to 1/4 apple. I don't like mayonaise, so I subbed a little sour cream for the mayo in the dressing. Other than that I followed the recipe, and it's very simple. I think it would be even more simple with a food processor!


The verdict? I really like this salad, and I think it's a nice alternative to coleslaw or green salad. The combination of carrots and apples with this dressing reminds me of a Waldorf salad, but the addition of the mint is what really took this salad over-the-top for me. (Side note: the November issue of Bon Appetit has a recipe for carrot and cranberry salad with fresh ginger dressing that I'm also really keen to make.)

I'm a huge fan of serving fruit with things like pork, duck, or even roasted chicken, and I think that this salad would be a nice accompaniment to any dinner that featured those meats. I also think it would be a nice contribution to a barbecue (that's the Texan in me coming out) or even with burgers. I will definitely make this salad again. The ultimate vote of confidence to this salad? Dudley feels the same way about mixing fruit with savory as my sister does. Not only did he eat this -- he got seconds. Thanks to everyone who made this with me this week!

Carrot, Green Apple, and Mint Salad

• 1/3 cup Greek yogurt (if you don't have Greek yogurt, you can strain plain nonfat yogurt)
  
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh mint leaves
• Salt

(If you're using plain non-fat yogurt fold a full sheet of paper towel into quarters and place it in a small bowl. Spoon the yogurt on top of the paper towel. Place it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so the yogurt can drain and thicken.)

In a small bowl whisk together the Greek (or thickened) yogurt and the mayonnaise, until smooth. Whisk in the lemon juice, vinegar, and honey.

Grate first the carrots and then the apples in a food processor. Transfer them to a large bowl and stir to combine. Pour the dressing over the carrot mixture and toss. Add the mint and season with salt.

Serve chilled.

TWD: Molasses Cookies

I grew up on gingersnaps, but I'd never had a molasses cookie before I made these. There's just something about molasses that brings bygone times to mind, don't you think? Molasses cookies seem straight out of Little House on the Prairie or My Antonia. Maybe it's because they're so homey and unrefined, who knows? Dorie describes them as a "cookie jar cookie," and I emphatically agree. I don't have a cookie jar, but if I did, these would be an excellent cookie with which to fill it. They're chewy and substantial, and I think that it would be nice to tuck your hand into the cookie jar and come out with one of these molasses cookies.

I was really excited about these cookies. I love gingersnaps, and in my mind, these cookies were going to be similar. My all-time favorite gingersnap recipe calls for black pepper -- I just love a nice, spicy, gingery cookie. These cookies call for a whopping 1/2 cup of molasses. Woah. I think I added about 1/8 tsp of black pepper . . . if I had to do over again, I think I'd up the ginger and the black pepper because my cookies weren't as spicy as I'd have liked. I was definitely looking for grown-up molasses cookies, and I think I made the child's version. I know that they're molasses cookies, but I found the molasses flavor to be a little, well, strong. The molasses in my cookies overwhelmed the spices. I think, though, that my molasses was just really strong. I couldn't find Grandma's molasses at the grocery store last time, so I got a different brand. I think that might be the culprit. I'd like to try these again with upped spices and Grandma's molasses, or maybe even Steen's in place of the molasses? It could be good!

The majority of these cookies got packaged up and sent to my grandfather to enjoy. He is the original lover of all things molasses in my family, and as soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I wanted to share the cookies with him! Thank you so much to Pam, of Cookies with Boys, for this great TWD November pick! I know I'll make these cookies again. This month TWD is a little wonky with the holidays (but in the very best way!) and picks for the month can be posted any week. Pam will have the recipe posted on her blog next Tuesday, the 17th, for those of you who'd like to take a peek. That said, Baking From My Home to Yours has been by far one of the best cookbooks I've ever, every owned, so you might want to consider getting a copy of your own! In the meantime, do visit Cookies with Boys -- it's a wonderful and adorable blog with some fantastic recipes. Take a look at the coconut tea/bundt cake -- I'm dying to make it!

BBA S&S: Globe Trotting Breads

One of my favorite professors in college was a philosophy professor. It was a night class with a break, and she would pass around a sign up sheet so that each week someone would bring a snack for the break. How great is that? One week someone brought bagels, and she mentioned that she was very fascinated by the different types of bread/starch that every culture has. I'd never thought of it before, but she was right. Every culture does have its own bread (or breads). Our trip through the Bread Baker's Apprentice offers a little bit of globe trotting through bread: we're baking English muffins, focaccia, French bread, and Italian bread for the next couple of months.

First up: English muffins. I found out via Wikipedia, that elctronic fount of knowledge, that English muffins really are English. You can read about there origin here. Thus, we really are globe trotting with this bread.

I wasn't particularly excited about these. English muffins are just a vehicle for me, and I'm not really wild about the bread itself. I've been known to eat a breakfast sandwich on one, but I much prefer a biscuit as my special breakfast bread of choice. They're the standard for eggs Benedict, and I thought about making that to go with these muffins, but I didn't have time.

As far as the making and baking process goes, they're not that difficult. I debated making a loaf or muffins, and decided on the muffins for the fun of it. I don't think that I caught mine "on the rise" because they're devoid of any telltale little holes and crevices for things such as butter to sink into. I actually ended up serving these as rolls with dinner one night, and then I turned the rest into bread pudding. They were good, but I'm not going to make them again. I'd like to try making English muffins with looser dough/batter and a ring. I think that the result might be better. If I make this recipe again, it's definitely going to be in loaf form!

Next up on the tour, focaccia, that seriously delicious Italian bread. Small related side note: my dad has loved Nick Malgieri since way back when the Food Network was just starting and he appeared on Cooking Live from time to time. So for his birthday one year we got him Nick's book How to Bake : The Complete Guide to Perfect Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Tarts, Breads, Pizzas, Muffins, Sweet and Savory. This started my dad's focaccia kick. He made focaccia all of the time, at least once a week, and it got to the point where, when my dad was in charge of dinner, we'd have just focaccia and fresh tomatoes on the table. This is my dad's idea of a really.good.dinner. Now that I'm older, I can say that if you have a glass of wine, it can be a really good dinner. But, when you're a teenager and you're starving and you can't have wine that dinner doesn't cut it! My siblings and I rebelled, and my dad was banned from making focaccia.

Needless to say, I can't make or even hear of focaccia without thinking of my dad. I thought of him the whole time that I made this bread. My dad is religious about using Nick's recipe, and he wouldn't think of using another one. I, on the other hand, was really excited about trying this recipe. It's fairly simple to make and has a stretching and folding process similar to ciabatta, but it requires some overnight resting time in the refrigerator. I pulled this out of the fridge to eat after class one night, and I forgot to redimple and oil the dough, so I goofed this one up. My focaccia was extra fluffy, but I'm not certain that's a bad thing! It tastes amazing! I loved this bread, and I've been periodically taking squares out of the freezer to enjoy with a salad for dinner. I can say with certainty that it freezes well.

I talked to my dad, and I told him that I'd made focaccia and that it was from a new recipe. I was explaining the difference in the method to him, and we chatted about focaccia in general. As we got off the phone he said "I think I might make some focaccia for dinner . . ." I think that the ban has been lifted now that his children have flown the coop.

So, this concludes our current bit of globe trotting with the Bread Bakers Apprentice. Next up is French bread. I'm a little nervous!

Rocky Ledge Bars

Martha haters close this blog post right now: I love Martha Stewart. I think she's fabulous, although she seems a little uptight sometimes. I wonder how she'd feel about my kitchen dance parties? Though, for all of Martha Stewart's prim and proper recipes, sometimes she shocks me with recipes like these Rocky Ledge Bars. There is absolutely nothing restrained about these amped-up blondies. They have marshmallows, caramel, chocolate, white, and butterscotch chips. I even started to get a little bit nervous while I was making these. Maybe it was too much of a good thing?

But, actually, these ended up being a big hit around here. When Dudley and I first started dating, I asked him what his favorite kind of cookies were. His answer: I like cookies with a lot of "stuff" in them. I guess you could say that Dudley is not a purist. He loved these bars, and I packaged up a bunch of them for friends who liked them as well. My parents were also in town to sample these goodies, and by the next morning they were all gone! Yup, the Rocky Ledge Bars are what you might call a crowd pleaser, and I think that they would be great for many different occasions. Oh, and there are no nuts in these bars -- perfect for people with allergies. Do head over to Martha's website for the recipe, or if you have her Cookies book, you can find the recipe on page 166.

CEiMB: Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes and Chicken

Does anyone watch Project Runway? I'm not religious about watching it, but if I happen to be flipping and see that it's on I'll watch it. I love it when Tim Gunn tells the contestants to "make it work."

This week's CEiMB is supposed to be linguine with shrimp and vegetables. As you can tell from the title of this post, this pasta has neither linguine, nor shrimp. For that matter, it might not even have vegetables, as it's generally accepted that tomatoes are a fruit. I wasn't going to make this because I really don't enjoy shrimp, and I really wasn't up for thinking outside the box or going to the grocery store. Then Kayte raved about how tasty this pasta dish was, and I started to wonder if I could "make it work." I thought about it, and then I moved on and forgot about it until dinner time last night. I had chicken breasts I needed to use, cherry tomatoes and an open bottle of white wine in the fridge, maybe I could make a slightly different take on this recipe? I essentially followed the recipe, substituting sauteed chicken breast for the shrimp, omitting the asparagus because I didn't have any, and using angel hair rather than linguine because I didn't have any linguine either.


The verdict on this? The lemon white wine sauce is delicious with this pasta! I wish I'd used my other pasta option, penne, because the angel hair couldn't handle the bulky tomatoes and chicken. I'd love to try this again with spinach linguine. Thanks to Farah for choosing this recipe. I'm really glad that I tried it, and I'll definitely make versions of this pasta again. If you'd like to check out the recipe for yourself, click here.

TWD: Apple Cranberry Crisp

I grew up in Houston, Texas. I think people either love Houston or they hate it, and I can't count the number of times I've told someone that I'm from Houston only to hear, "ugh, I just hate it there. It's so humid -- it's like trying to breathe chicken soup!" I happen to like the heat and humidity, and even though it sprawls and it's crowded and flat with lots of traffic, I really do like my hometown. My parents, however, are from New England, and growing up I used to hear about very foreign things like snow days, taking the train to the City, and picking apples. We have our fair share of produce in Texas, but in southeast Texas, we don't have any of those plants that like cold weather. I love peonies -- it doesn't get cold enough (I tried!); cherries, way too hot; apples, absolutely not, why don't you try peach trees? So when I moved to D.C. I was very excited to do things that my parents had talked about, like picking apples.

Me & my dad -- that yellow thing is Lucy's leash wrapped around my legs.

Last year, Hurricane Ike hit Houston and Galveston very hard. After a week without power, my mom and dad were ready for a break, and they flew up to visit me. We had the best time and I went apple picking for the first time! This year they came up to pick apples again, and we came away with two bushels for our efforts. Naturally, the better portion of those two bushels stayed in my kitchen, and I've been eating and baking with apples like it's going out of style around here. One thing that I'd been craving -- but I hadn't made -- was some sort of fabulous apple cranberry concoction. I love anything cranberry! I thought I would make a cranberry apple pie, but I really don't like pie, so I had a hard time motivating myself in that direction. So, wasn't it perfect that Em, of the Repressed Pastry Chef, chose cranberry apple crisp as her pick for TWD this month? Personally, I think the stars aligned.

My mom takes apple picking very seriously -- and it pays off! Look how many apples she can get from the high branches!

I've already thrown out my mea culpas for being a bad blogger lately. And this is no exception. As I was walking home from class at 6:30 this evening I realized I hadn't made my TWD for this week. Not only that, but I haven't posted the last two weeks. Gah! Luckily for me, this recipe came together super seriously fast. I wish I'd timed it, but I know I made it from start to the oven in under 20 minutes (having one of those apple peeler-corer things helped my cause). It took twice as long for this crisp to cook as it did to make it!

I made 1/3 of the recipe, and the only change I made was to use dried cherries rather than dried cranberries. The dried cherries were readily visible and available -- I have no idea where the dried cranberries are in my pantry right now. The crumble topping is fabulous! I love the coconut and the ginger flavors in the crisp. Yum! Actually, the whole thing is quite tasty. The topping is sweet, and it balances out the tartness of the cranberry apple filling (which is quite tart. If you like things sweeter you might want to up your sugar a bit). I loved this crisp -- it definitely satisfied my craving for a cranberry apple (cranapple?) dessert.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Sweet Almond Bread Pudding

I think I've waxed poetic on my love of recipes that repurpose foods that would otherwise get thrown away, such as stale bread, before, so I'll spare everyone that rant. But, take that tidbit and know that I adore bread pudding. I think I might even like bread pudding more than I like bread. I also love almonds and anything almond-flavored, so this recipe was a must try for me!

I made 1/3 of a recipe with my left over BBA English Muffins (that I have yet to post). I simply trimmed the crusty parts off, and I was ready to go. 1/3 of the recipe made 4 ramekins of bread pudding. I made 2 as written, and two with chocolate chips because doesn't chocolate just make eveything a little bit better? The raspberry sauce just sounds delicious to me, but I have so many apples around here right now that I topped my bread pudding with cinnamon apples. I will definitely try this with the raspberry sauce in the future. Yes! This recipe and I have a future together. I love the toasted almonds and sugar on the top, I love the almond flavor of the bread pudding. I short, I thought that this pudding was swoon-worthy! Thanks to Candace for such a great pick! You can visit her blog for the recipe.

I think I'm in a perpetual game of catch-up these days. I explained to a friend the other day that I was behind in life right now. I need a full two weeks to catch up and do important things like get my sister a birthday present (her birthday was last Sunday), do my laundry (rapidly going beyond even the out-of-control category), not to mention catch up with schoool. One step at a time, though, and I'll catch up with these Devil's Food Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting that SMS posted last Sunday. These cupcakes were Holly's pick, and boy howdy, they're tasty. Worth the dirty dishes, and I don't often say that these days!


The original recipe is for a cake, but I think that cupcakes are so much easier to dole out. I made 1/3 of the recipe -- 12 cupcakes -- and this is perfect for someone who owns just one muffin tin! I did mess around with the frosting recipe a little bit. I looked at the P&Q for this recipe and Karen gave her suggestions for decreasing the amount of butter and upping the peanut butter flavor of this recipe. I'm all for anything that cuts the butter in frosting (I hate it when it's too buttery!) so I decreased the butter to about a stick (this was only enough frosting for my 12 cupcakes) upped the peanut butter to 1 1/4 cups, and I added powdered sugar until I thought it was sweet enough. I LOVED this frosting!! It was very reminiscent of the inside of a peanut butter cup (sweeter though) and it was by far my favorite part of the cupcake. This is a very strong statement coming from a girl who scrapes frosting off of her cake! I generally don't like frosting at all -- I much prefer cake!


Thanks to Holly for picking such a fantastic recipe. If you're interested in trying it, you can visit her blog for the recipe. Now, I can happily say that I'm caught up with Sweet Melissa Sundays . . . for the present. It's a nice feeling.