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Baking

Dahlia Bakery English Muffins

  When I heard Tom Douglas was going to be at Costco signing copies of the Dahlia Bakery Cookbooka couple of months ago, I expected organized chaos a la Giada de Laurentiis’ signing. I rolled in about 30 minutes before it was slated to start and Tom was already there. No need to pre-purchase a book, get in line outside and have a handler scribble your name on a post-it for the inscription.  I walked right up, got a book (one for me, and one for my mom), had a chance to have a little chat with Tom and then was on my merry way for the rest of my Costco shop.

Quick Hit: Betty’s But Better – Cinnamon-Chipotle Snickerdoodles

betty's but better snickerdoodles dailywaffle I've mentioned before that Betty Crocker's Snickerdoodles are a mainstay of my holiday baking repertoire. It's a cookie I've loved since I was a kid and it's one of Wolf's favorites, too.  While he was in NYC this weekend, sending me jealous-making photos from Momofuku Noodle Bar and Il Laboratorio del Gelato, I was in the kitchen whipping up these cookies. (Good man, he brought me some Milk Bar cookies). With just a quick tweak, you get the cinnamon you're expecting in a snickerdoodle, but with a slow building smoky heat from the chipotle.  Two additional changes I do make to the original recipe -- add 1/2 t. vanilla and up the salt to 1/2 t. as well. Betty's, but one better.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pinwheels

Thanksgiving is just two (and a half) weeks away.  I’m sure you’re already working on your plan – turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, pie.  But have you figured out snacks?  While everyone mills around or watches football before the big meal, don’t you need a little something to nosh on? Well, of course there'll be Chex Mix.  What about something a little more special, but still quick to make? These Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pinwheels fit the bill.  Pizza dough cinnamon roll people, this one’s for you.

Chipotle-Scented Sweet Potato Corn Muffins…in a Jiffy

  I just can't seem to get on the pumpkin bandwagon this year.  Everywhere you look, things have been pumpkin-ized. It's not new, Starbucks has done a pumpkin spice latte for years, I can remember 31 Flavors doing a pumpkin pie ice cream when I was a kid,  but I must be spending too much time in the aisles at Trader Joe's, because I already have pumpkin fatigue.   Pumpkin spice chai, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancake and waffle mix, pumpkin macarons, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin cream cheese. Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin (Marsha, Marsha, Marsha)! And I know when you saw these muffins, you thought pumpkin, right? Nope.  Sweet potato.  Chipotle and cinnamon-scented sweet potato corn muffins.

Cookie Time: German Chocolate Cookies aka Chocowalnos

german chocolate cookies Every Christmas, I find myself making the same cookies. For every other holiday, it's ok to add new dishes, but at Christmas, there’s something comforting about tradition, about knowing that there will be snickerdoodles and chocolate crinkles and that my mom will probably send me a batch of candy cane cookies. But if tradition is just something you’ve done more than once, these chocolaty, coconutty, walnut-studded "brownie meets German chocolate cake" cookies are going to be a new holiday tradition.

Rosemary Cornmeal Pine Nut Biscotti

It’s Tuesday night.  The gorgeous Asian pears are gone, except for a half, the blueberry muffin from Craftsman and Wolves but a memory, the husband is sick and watching Corner Gas somewhere he can’t infect the rest of the household, and I had my dad’s Sloppy Joes for dinner.  It involves Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo soup. Don’t judge.  It’s back to real life.  It’s a relief.  Being on the road, dining out for every meal, sounds glam, but it is tiresome. I’m not 25 anymore. But believe me, it’s not a complaint.  I had a fantastic time in San Francisco, catching up with folks I see once a year. Italian and Cal-Italian dominated our restaurant choices over the course of the week and Tim, the friend we hung out with at the market, and I chatted about lavender biscotti, so naturally I’m diving back into posting with these little Italian cookies on the brain. So, Rosemary, Cornmeal and Pine Nut biscotti.

Sour Cherry Coffee Cake

Are you always the last to know? I feel that way about sour cherries. Did everyone else already know how good, how different they are from regular sweet cherries? Why did no one tell me? Our pie cherry week(s) (season is too long to actually describe it) finally arrived in Seattle, I know most everyone else had their go in June and pie cherries are but a distant memory at this point. But with only one shot with them, I split the difference and made a sour cherry compote and a coffee cake. And now we know who’s been hoarding all the pie cherries, because I thought, “OMG – it really does taste like canned cherry pie filling!”

Easy Strawberry and Lemon Curd Pie

Something about pie dough scares me. I’m forever not rolling it to the right thickness or into shapes that resemble a rhombus rather than a circle. It’s ironic, because when it comes to eating pie, I love a double crust. But if pie making is a drug, this strawberry and lemon curd pie is a Nilla wafer and saltine cracker gateway drug. Yes, I said SALTINES. You’re in, right? So let’s go.
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