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Baking

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Cranberry Black Pepper Sweet Rolls

cranberry black pepper sweet rolls| dailywaffle It's the day after Thanksgiving. You just had a turkey sandwich with a few slices of apple and a schmear of cranberry, but there's still a lot left. Why is it that of all the Thanksgiving side dishes, it's the cranberry that hangs around for days? Whether it's brandied cranberries, a basic homemade cranberry sauce or the one from a can, it's always the last to go.  This year, I've got an idea for you. Cranberry Black Pepper Sweet Rolls.

Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Loaf

 chocolate chip banana oat loaf | dailywaffle

I bought a 4.5-lb. bag of Toll House chocolate chips at Costco. Joke all you want about whether or not anyone needs 12 rolls of paper towels or 6 packages of toilet paper at one time, but come the holidays, it’s the place to go.  Need a 10 lb. bag of sugar for about the same cost as 5 lbs. at the grocery store? Costco.  You’re doing spiced nut mix for an office party? Costco.  You need to restock your bar? Costco. So when I bought that bag of chocolate chips, it was without a lick of regret.  I even felt like I was being somewhat restrained, since there was a 10 lb. bag of another brand.  The thing is, I made this chocolate chip banana oat loaf with the regular chips but it didn’t produce the “chocolate in every bite” effect I was looking for.  For that, you need the minis. Good thing I have no problem with keeping a well-stocked chocolate chip pantry.

Toasted Coconut Spice Fauxnuts

"Two fingers," he'd say, holding two gnarled, deeply tanned digits up to his glass. Reaching into the sideboard cabinet, he pulled out a half empty bottle. He poured two fingers worth of brown liquor into the rocks glass and I followed, holding the carton with two hands and topping the booze with at least two more fingers of eggnog. Some years it was Wild Turkey and others Crown Royal, but always whiskey with eggnog. Like a lot of Japanese-American men of his generation, my grandpa wasn't a super talkative man, but he'd sit at the kitchen table and shoot the s**t over a glass of spiked eggnog, getting chattier as he got deeper into his cups.  Even now, there's nothing like a whiff of whiskey and eggnog and nutmeg to put me right back at that table with him during the holidays.

Tasting Jerusalem: Hot Cross Buns in Cookie Form

  My love for hot cross buns is well documented in the pages of this blog. But I only ever seem to think of them around Easter, when really, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be enjoying sweetened yeast buns with just a hint of spice, currants and candied fruit any ol’ time.  Which is what made these Spice Cookies my first choice for this month’s baking theme for Tasting Jerusalem. You get the flavors of hot cross buns, the spice, the currants, the citrus in cookie form. And while it may seem slightly odd to be making spice cookies in the spring, because the truth is they do taste like the holidays, I couldn’t resist.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Crisp

 

Rhubarb is perpetually stuck in the Friend Zone, like that friend you’ve known your whole life, but you just didn’t see him that way.  Every spring, rhubarb kicks off farmers market season in the Pacific Northwest, but all you have eyes for are the asparagus and peas. Last week at the market, I snapped a few photos of rhubarb but otherwise passed it by. Then, with a nudge from Hannah’s rhubarb cranachan (think oaty rhubarb jam parfait) over at Blue Kale Road, I put this crazy red celery-looking fruit on the shopping list.

Molasses Pecan Snack Attack Cake

  I love the idea of a snack cake.  It’s simple, no dog-and-pony show like a layer cake, just a perfect little square of sweetness alongside tea or coffee.  No frosting required, this is two or three bites of afternoon pick-me-up cake dotted with pecans or sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Hippity Hop Hop, Easter’s On Its Way: Candied Citrus Peel

candied orange peel in sugar| dailywaffle

When it comes to food and Easter, the thing I look forward to most isn’t a Cadbury egg (never liked ‘em) or the Reese’s eggs w/ twice the peanut butter you get in a regular peanut butter cup (stock up now!). The thing I wait all year (er, 3 or 4 months) for is a batch of Hot Cross Buns. And what is it that makes a Hot Cross Bun so deliciously dunkable in your morning cup of joe? The candied and dried fruit.  But have you noticed candied orange and lemon peel can cost an arm and a leg?  Last year I bought tiny tubs of both for $8.50 a piece! Granted, you don’t use a huge amount in the buns, but there’s no reason to drop that kind of dough. Making candied citrus peel is dead simple.
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