Our Indian summer weather abandoned us this week for typical November gloom along with our first snow of the season. There was a dusting only and it didn’t last long, washed away by the rain and warm temperatures. A chilly prelude to the next few months.
&&
I’m knitting and cleaning and thinking about the holidays. As with the last few years, we won’t be doing the whole gift-buying-into-bankruptcy thing. Something tells me we’ll have a lot more company in other households this year.
Jack has come up with a pricey new woodworking toy that he wants so that takes care of his list. And it won’t even need to be wrapped.
We were debating putting up a Christmas tree this year. It dawned on me why I don’t really care about getting one: I don’t like a tree that doesn’t have presents under it. It looks forlorn and out of place, no matter how many lights and baubles are on it. Must have something to do with childhood memories.
&
The fruit cake is made and may I say it looks much better than last year’s. It’s lighter in color, absorbs the rum and apple juice more easily and I’m hoping will be more enjoyable. I did a couple things differently.
First, I didn’t stuff it with fruit and nuts. I stuck with 4 cups of nuts and 5 cups of dried fruit which made the batter easier to handle and gives a little higher ratio of cake to fruit.
Secondly, because I didn’t wait until the last minute to bake it, I had time to order this and this and this from King Arthur Flour. Makes the best fruit cake if you’re not into the whole candied cherry thing (bleh, nasty). I added some cranberries and currents and apricots to the mix just because I like to tinker.
Third, I kept an eye on it this year and didn’t let it bake as long so it’s lighter and not burned around the edges (duh).
Fourth, if you don’t use this in baking, I can recommend it completely. I’ve always had a struggle getting pans to release even with liberal applications of oil, butter or oil and flour. With a shot of Baker’s Joy they slide right out. There’s nothing that pisses me off more than a Bundt cake that rips when you try to get it to release from a non-stick pan. Never happens with Baker’s Joy.
I have some other ideas for Christmas baking that I’ll start this week. The annual mincemeat pie for Jack, Christmas cookies, biscotti; our intake of saturated fat from all the butter goes up 10-fold in the last two months of the year. Worth every calorie.
ACK!! Do not mention the C word yet! I still have no idea what to get Texas.
I’m glad you’re back to blogging more! The fruitcake sounds very successful. I usually don’t bake much for the holidays and haven’t started thinking about it. But I can’t wait to get the tree up – I have collected the ornaments over the years and really love seeing them for a few weeks. It’s been so gloomy this week that I’m thinking of putting up some strands of lights in my office. Ric and I don’t do the presents for each other much either, just a small thing for each of us. I’ve been knitting some small gifts for other family members. (Guess I should get my own blog, huh?)
Did you say “rum”? ;^)
With all that baking, it’s definitely going to feel like Christmas at your house, regardless of whether you have a tree! I am determined to make my grandma’s cookies this year. Last year was the first year I didn’t make them since I had my own home, and it just wasn’t right.
Last year we were (finally) able to skip the tree. (I’d been lobbying for it for years, but Madman couldn’t part with the idea.)
But this year the grandkids are coming up, so we’ll have to have a tree. (Yay for the grandkids!)
Cookie baking is about to commence.
Sounds thoroughly yummy! I love KingArthur. Good products, good customer service.
I can’t believe you beat us in getting the first snowfall! Congratulations! You can have the rest of ours too if you wish.