My Labor of Love

Hi. I'm still alive. I swear. 

The baking season is in full swing, for many people, I wish that was true for me, but there is just not enough time in the day to do the things I want to do... mainly go to school, and bake. You have no idea how much I miss this part of my life. It has been hard adapting to how so much of my life has changed due to school, especially my priorities. My pantry is stocked with lots of goodies that could make wonderful things, but no, not during this part of my life. I'm a daily food gawker addict ... and well it's a cold autumn day on the eve of thanksgiving week, so I decided to make bread... I went to the Acme bread place at the ferry building last week and was quite disappointed in the pumpkin roll. I always loved their sourdoughs and baguettes, but iono, the pumpkin roll was a strikeout, for being dry and lackluster. I wanted to see if I could do better. I have quietly blogged throughout the year, and will probably keep many of those posts a secret. I've deactivated Facebook, and will start using this again to journal my life. This blog was started when I took my DAT's, and now it's time for my NBDE Part I. I've been through so much to get here. Would I do it again? Probably not. I am almost halfway there. The toll it took on my body, mind, and spirit has been something I've always wondered if I'd ever get back. This is life, my life, my only life. I'm just picking and choosing my paths, and why I chose this path, still seems to be a mystery to most.


On the menu this week:
Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread
French Apple Tart
Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal
Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies
Butternut Squash Something
Apple Crisp
Pumpkin Cupcakes with cream cheese centers and streusel topping

I've made a lot of those things in the past few weeks, and boy were they delicious. I've stuck to recipes that I've done before so no real surprises here... I think I'd rather watch bread rise than study for tests. Oh well, it's been a long week... took a midterm on very little sleep, ended up sleeping unintentionally 3 times due to exhaustion.. once for 13 hours!, took a few quizzes, set a few teeth for fake dentures, saw 4 patients, scheduled a bunch more appointments, I deserve to indulge in some thing that makes me happy, and that happiness comes from making bread today. Yea, I know. Weird. It's because this is something I really love to do and I truly miss it (also indulging in my online shopping addiction... I don't really go out to the store too often so I've resorted to buying a lot of random things online especially amazon.. like food.. school supplies.. medicine..computer..clothes... haha... amazon along has come to my door 40 times this year.... oh the perks of having free prime shipping for being a student...I feel bad because many of my shipments are just a few bucks...I'm sure the cost to ship alone was more than my purchase! )

 Maybe it's because it takes like 4 hours to make, but making bread is incredibly rewarding. I mean, gathering up ingredients, kneading for 10 minutes, rising for 1.5 hours, rolling it up and letting it rest for 15 minutes, letting it rise for 45 minutes, baking it for 45 minutes, letting it cool down completely for 1 hour... ahh.. that must be more than 4 hours :( I used my kitchen aid mixer , Pierre Escargot, to help me with this pumpkin bread. I hate making bread in that thing, if it's one big item I feel like I can live without, it has to be my mixer :( I worked many good hours to buy it, but it's just a prop in my kitchen, a beautiful prop that is. Meh.

 So I looked at the recipe, and followed it almost to a T, however when it came to adding the flour, it looked like I had to add an extra cup!... I usually use my bread machine and never really had a problem, but it makes sense, the recipe called for an egg, and pumpkin puree, aka... it's really liquid heavy. So yes, it's rising in the oven again, already put the cinnamon stuff in and rolled it up. Only time will tell if it's any good. In the mean time, back to gen path and microbiology. I'm on question 36 /200 for a section of the boards and I'm determined to finish half of it today, the rest of the weekend will be consumed with mastering 800 or so questions for my final on general pathology on monday. What a trip.

So I made those cookies probably 3 weeks ago, they were SO good and had the perfect crackled appearance. I ate so many of them. I try to bake something each week. Anyway, I wanted a change from the usual gingerbread men, so I made these ones. They were super sweet, but so chewy. I love this recipe because of its ingredients. NO BUTTER!!! Hooray! Well, it's because I'm almost out and have been hunting for a sale on butter for the past few months without a success. I cut this recipe in half because I didn't want to make too many cookies... I should have tho. The other half of the egg was used to make a spinach scramble.. while waiting for the cookies to finish baking. Enjoy. :)

Chewy Molasses Cookies

Makes 12

1 cup AP flour
3/4 tsp baking soda (original recipe called for 1 tsp.. but i felt like the flavor was too strong!)
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar (these will be super SWEET)
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup + 2 tsp oil
1/2 egg

1/4 cup raw sugar ( I used a mixture of sugar in the raw and organic unbleached sugar <- that's been sitting in my pantry for quite some time, it gives my brewed coffee a weird taste )

Mix wet ingredients in one bowl, dry in another bowl, mix together, and chill in the fridge until somewhat firm (20 minutes) Use a medium size cookie scoop and form even sized balls , roll balls in sugar , preheat oven at 375 degrees, move the rack up to the 2nd position from the top (for the perfect cracked appearance!) slightly flatten the balls, and bake for 8-9 minutes, longer for more crispy cookies, shorter for softer ones. Cookies will be super soft when out of the oven, let cool for 5 minute before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Adapted from sweetpeaskitchen.com

As for the pumpkin swirl bread, it was decent, but I prefer cinnamon rolls. I won't post the pics or recipe until I think it's worth it. :)