for thanksgiving

on the eve of thanksgiving I made bread for the first time and the first kind of bread I made was pumpkin bread. I felt it fit the holiday well. Another recipe from my the new cook book

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil (vegetable oil)
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup water
1 15-ounce can pumpkin

Baking instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans (I used two Pyrex® 1-1/2-qt Loaf Dishes); set aside. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on med. speed (I just hand whipped it). Add eggs and beat well; set sugar mixture aside.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture and the water to sugar mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined (again, I whipped it by hand). Beat in pumpkin. spoon batter into prepared pans (I used a spatula to help with this step).

3. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (It took my electric oven 75 minutes on the middle rack with the loaves covered with aluminum foil to help prevent the tops of the loaves from burning). Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks (I don't own wire racks so I took the loaves out of the pans and placed them on plastic wrap). Wrap and store overnight before slicing (I wrapped each loaf twice with plastic wrap).

When you cut the bread you can wrap each piece individually or individually Ziploc bag the pieces. Keep them in your car or bag during the cooler fall/winter months and they will be handy to give to people who look like they could benefit from some homemade bread. Some other items homeless people I've met seem to appreciate are socks and gift certificates to fast food restaurants (I like to choose places that have dollar menus).

Molasses-Spice cookies

Molasses-Spice cookies, originally uploaded by ilmungo.

Molasses-Spice Cookies

recipe from the Best Recipe Cookbook.
These over sized cookies are especially attractive, with a rich, dark color, almost perfectly round edges, a surface marked with deep cracks, and an even thickness from the edge to the center. They stay incredibly soft and chewy, even days after they are baked. It is important to under bake the cookies (they won't look done when you take them out of the oven) and then let them firm up as they cool on the baking sheet. If you over bake the cookies, they will become dry and crisp.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling cookies
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses

Preparation:
Adjust racks to upper- and lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together in medium bowl; set aside.
Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl.
Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
Place remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar in shallow bowl. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4-inch balls. Rolls balls in sugar and place them on ungreased baking sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.
Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets (from top to bottom and front to back) halfway through baking, until outer edges begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to cooling racks with wide spatula.

These look yummy. I'm gonna make some soon, maybe tomorrow.

macadamia nut white chocolate cookie

macadamian nut white chocolate cookie, originally uploaded by even eve.

I baked cookies with one of my sisters today to brake in my new hamilton beach mixer that I got for $17 +tax from Wal-Mart yesterday. It beats the $299 mixers at bed bath and beyond. Which I also went to and used a sweet $10 off $30 purchase to purchase a candy thermometer, grease splatter screen 3 set, tea leaves infuser, bread knife and a new small spray bottle. Happy Christmas to me, yay.

I got the recipe from the new cook book from better homes and gardens:

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup cornstarch
1 cup butter
½ cup chopped macadamia cuts
1 egg yoke
1 ½ tsp finely shredded orange peel
2 tbsp orange juice
(1 cup white chocolate chips)

Baking instructions:
1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (I melted the butter and poured it into the mixture and blended it) Stir in macadamia nuts. In a bowl combine egg yoke, orange peel, and orange juice. Add egg yoke mixture to flour mixture, stirring until moistened. (Add white chocolate chips to mixture.) Knead dough in bowl until it forms a ball. (I skipped the kneading into a ball step)

2. Shape dough into 1¼-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip the bottom of the glass in granulated sugar and flatten each ball to ¼-inch thickness. ( To get the sugar to stick to the glass I ran it under the faucet to wet it.)

3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are set and surfaces are dry. (In my electric oven at 12 min. I took the cookies out and flipped them and switched the sheet that was on the middle rack to the bottom rack and visa versa witch took 5 min and proceeded to cook them for another 7 min.) Transfer to wire rack; cool.

I thought the orange was a little strong maybe only one Tbsp of orange juice next time. They also seemed a dry which I’m not sure what to do about that, maybe some water or the whole egg? I would add more chocolate chips next time also. In all I thought they were lacking in taste and texture but my sister who loves white chocolate macadamia nut cookies loved them and took the whole batch home with her.