Cranberry Orange bread
I get my baking mojo back when the days get shorter and the temps get colder. I started the day out by baking French Puff muffins (cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, baked, dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar; decadent) for breakfast, cranberry bread for tomorrow’s breakfast, and then made cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving to use up the rest of the bag of cranberries. For the bread I use the recipe on the cranberry bag but I soup it up by adding half a cup of dried cranberries, lots of walnuts and twice the amount of orange peel called for.
Still not finished, I made molasses spice cookies (allspice, cinnamon and pepper) and promptly ate half a dozen before I got myself under control and put them away. I noticed something interesting with this batch. I’ve used this recipe dozens of times over the years and it always produces a flawless crisp cookie with just the right amount of spreading. This time, the cookies spread more and came out flatter. And I thought I detected a bit less flavor than normal. (That’s why I ate half a dozen; I was taste testing. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)
Molasses spice cookies
The only thing I did differently? I used butter that I bought at Costco instead of my standard Land ‘o Lakes unsalted butter. I wonder if the Costco butter has more water in it which made the cookies spread more. Does anybody know if that would make a difference? I bought the Costco butter in preparation for holiday baking, but I think I’ll go back to my old favorite, even though it’s twice the cost.
Some things you just don’t mess with.
Oh, and I still wasn’t done. I threw together the dough for no-knead bread. It rises overnight, so I’ll let you know tomorrow how it comes out. Right now it’s all yeasty and bubbly and I expect by morning it will have taken over the kitchen and started oozing down the stairs.
I’ll be right over.
I second that thought … and also am more willing to bake/cook when the temps get cooler. I’m embarrassed to say Carrie was the one that finally made French Breakfast Puffs for my kids while we were visiting her this past summer and which, of course, they thought were heavenly.