Cranberry - Orange Oatmeal Cookies

14 T (a stick + 6 T) softened butter

3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark is fine)

1/2 to 3/4 cup white sugar (more sugar = thinner cookies with a crispier edge)

3/4 cup AP flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour (if you prefer, use either all AP or all WW - recipe works fine both ways)

1 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1 t dried orange zest OR the zest of one fresh orange (I use Great Value Organic Orange Peel from WalMart)

pinch salt

2 eggs

1 - 2 t vanilla

1 t orange extract (I use Penzeys Orange Extract, but McCormick, available at WalMart, is very good)

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup candied orange peel, chopped (I use this kind from Amazon)

1/2 - 3/4 cup dried cranberries 

Mix together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and dry orange zest. (If using fresh zest, add it with the eggs)

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and extracts (and fresh orange zest, if that's what you're using) until well incorporated. Add dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or dough whisk only long enough for the dough to come together, scraping down the sides as needed. Add oats, orange peel, and cranberries and stir meaningfully until those things are evenly distributed through the dough. 

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 and spoon the dough onto parchment- or silpat-lined sheets leaving 2 - 2 1/2 inches between each mound of dough. Bake a total of 14 - 17 minutes, rotating at the 7 minute mark, until cookies are golden brown. 

I've found that leaving the cookies on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes makes them a bit easier to transfer to a cooling rack, especially if there's whole wheat flour in the mix.

The dough does GREAT with a good chill in the fridge before the scoop-and-bake stuff happens. That's what I did for these chubby little cookies I shared on Facebook. Those also had only 1/2 cup of white sugar in them. 

THESE I baked immediately after mixing together the dough. These also have 3/4 cup white sugar. I was going for a flatter, crispier cookie and got it. They are dynamite. 

Today's lesson: Don't be afraid to play with your sugar. 

COVID19: An Apple Pie Photo Essay

Apples from Griffin's Produce in Smithville.

Jack and I bought these on election day.
Arkansas Black, Mutsu (!!! my favorite), Rome

This Rome has beautiful snow-white flesh,

and there are lovely blushes of red inside.

These have tart flavor and give the pie 

some fun, red color as it bakes.

The Mutsus are HUGE. 

This may end up being a big pie.

Swoosh!

Three tablespoons brown sugar.

Two teaspoons cinnamon.

I hope I have enough pastry.

A pass with the magic rolling pin.

Two or three passes.

Whoof. That's a lot of apples.

PattyCake, PattyCake... Wait.

This isn't a cake.

This is a pie.

A really big pie.

A big, delicious, apple pie.

Yum.

COVID19: Pandemic Biscotti and Looking Forward

The last time I made biscotti was Christmas 2009 when Lucia was one and teething. I'd made biscotti the previous year, having taken a biscotti class at our friend Claudia's house only a couple of days before Lucia was born. In the confusion of baking and blogging and becoming an aunt, some of Sis and Chris' friends who followed the blog for updates briefly thought the baby's name was Biscotti Lucia. Here's that post:

https://2busyandersons.blogspot.com/2008/12/biscotti-lucia.html

Lately I've had a craving for it, so when I mentioned that I was adding whole almonds to our grocery order and Jack piped up with, "Why don't you make some biscotti?" I decided to do it.

The first two batches - classic almond with lemon zest and vanilla and orange-cranberry - turned out so nicely that I'm thinking ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yes, I wrote those words, and we're not to Halloween yet. 

Sliced and ready for the second bake.

Even though there's zilch possibility of having anything close to a "normal" season and visiting with people the way we like to, I can't remember the last time I got excited about the winter holidays this early in the fall. 

                                      

COVID19: More Loafing

Yesterday afternoon was perfect for a nap because the rain and the mood were right, but I made a loaf of bread instead.

The recipe, which is Mark Bittman's take on loaf bread from "How to Cook Everything," (this is the version I have - it's only $16.50 from Amazon - I got mine from Mom for Christmas one year) is my favorite basic dough and offers a lot of versatility. I've used it to make sandwich buns, dinner rolls, cinnamon buns, and now a loaf of what I've dubbed "Notorious Justice" to honor the life and memory of the incredible Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 

I added two big tablespoons of Penzey's Justice seasoning to the dry ingredients and chose extra virgin olive oil (instead of canola oil or butter) to pump the savory flavor of the seasoning. I used a smidge of Justice in the first version of sun-dried tomato bagels but chose a mix of Turkish oregano and Italian seasoning blend in the half-dozen I sent to Sis. 

The seasoning of that first batch was so subtle it was barely there, so for this loaf of bread, which has the same measure of flour as the bagels, I used about twice that amount. The next time I might or might not use more or supplement with a couple of teaspoons of onion or shallot powder - not garlic, because it could easily overpower the lovely melody of alliums and green peppercorns in the Justice blend.

Here's how the bread looked before and after I baked it:

                                                        

                                                      

That big bubble rose so high in the oven that it touched the upper heating element and had started to scorch when I smelled something going on and rescued the bread. I had to move the rack down and lost some heat from the oven in the process, but an extra five minutes of baking time did the trick without browning the top too too much. 

The texture is perfect, and again, I may or may not add more seasoning the next time I do a Notorious Justice loaf. This tastes pretty darn good - kind of like garlic bread but with warm, friendly allium flavors baked into it rather than buttered-on in an aggressive slick of garlic.

For flavor, I give myself a B to B+. An overnight proof in the fridge would've brought this into the exceptionally good range but for start-to-finish in the span of four and a half hours, it's a solid effort.

Technique is where I have the most opportunities to improve. My loaves and buns have a tendency to do like this loaf and grow giant air-warts on top, but this is the first time I've had a loaf rise enough during the bake to touch the element. Smelling the scorch and taking care of that situation was fortunate, but I should have realized there wasn't enough clearance between the risen loaf and the top of the oven and moved the rack beforehand. C- on that part of the score. 

For my skill level with bread baking, this was a deliciously average'ish performance. 

COVID19: Banana Blondies

Baking has been an incredible source of enjoyment since we began self-isolating, and last week I found a great new recipe for banana blondies, and this recipe has flown to the top of the favorites list.

Back in February'ish - before COVID, because we haven't bought bananas since this thing started - we put some bananas in the freezer to keep them from going south. There were two tubs of mush, and not long ago I looked at them with regret that we haven't been in the mood for banana bread and closed the freezer door. When a stranger in a cooking Facebook group I belong to said she needed a recipe for old bananas, another stranger shared a recipe which made my mouth water as I read over the simple list of ingredients and even more simple instructions.

An hour later, the first pan of brownies was cooling on a rack as I collected and measured the ingredients for the "holy crap it's delicous" frosting.

They're delicious, moist, and rich from the butter and the gooey banana mush.

Give them a try, and make your sweet tooth happy.

BANANA BLONDIES

COVID19: Friday Night Wrap-Up

PuddyCat is feeling much better now than this time last week. He's still not 100%, but the vet said recovery would take a few weeks, and progress is progress. I talked to Dr. Little today, and he said that as long as Puddy is drinking and peeing, he'll be fine. Both of those things are happening regularly and consistently, and he will have more appetite when he's feeling better. He doesn't love his new prescription food at all, but we have a new plan, and on Monday, we'll stop by the office to pick up a couple of cans of special formula wet food to hopefully encourage Puddy to eat more. 

He's venturing out of the bedroom and spending more time with the rest of us in the great room than has been his normal, and increased socialization a good sign. He uses the regular litter boxes but likes having one handy in the bedroom. Jack and I don't like it so much because we have to constantly sweep the floor, but we'll deal. Maybe this is temporary and Puddy won't need a litterbox in the back part of the house in the long-term. If he does, it's OK. We'll deal.

DeKalb County's COVID19 numbers have increased substantially over the last week, and we're currently sitting at 183 cases. Warren County is now up to 208 or 209, and shit's getting real in these parts. Some folks still contend that this whole thing is a politically-motivated hoax to crash the economy and hurt the president. Others believe it's real but insist that it isn't as serious at is and refuse to wear masks as the CDC and everyone with a lick of public health knowledge recommends. 

WalMart, Kroger, and several other retailers have announced mask mandates beginning next week, and I hope for the best. There have been at least two shootings of store employees in other states involving mask-related disputes. Our governor still refuses to mandate them, and the Georgia governor is suing the mayor of Atlanta to force her to stop the mask mandate there. Critics of mask mandates say it's a loss of freedom, but not wearing a mask shows a lack of compassion and consideration for others. 

My tenth cake of quarantine came out of the oven earlier today. It's a lemon Bundt cake using the same recipe I've used before, but this time I dusted a couple of cups of blueberries (yes, blueberries again) with flour and folded them into the batter. Jack and I haven't tried a slice yet, but when it cools, we're on. It smells delicious and will be fantastic with a scoop of Jack's homemade buttermilk custard ice cream.

Despite all the "good eatin'" we've done since mid-March, Jack and I have both managed to lose some weight. The loss is slow - a pound or less a week - but we both feel a lot better. 

Wakefest is on at the marina this weekend, but the crowd has been way down this year. Normally the Friday of Wakefest is pretty busy all day, but today was quiet.

I hope folks stay home and safe instead of crowding together and possibly carrying COVID home to wherever they live.