Warm Snickerdoodles

I reward my delivery drivers and repair technicians with treats.  I usually hand out warmed brownies that I keep stashed in my freezer and run through the microwave for thirty seconds.  But today, I had frozen snickerdoodle dough in the freezer, so the Sears delivery team received fresh hot cookies straight from the oven.  And they were so efficient that they almost didn’t get their cookies.  I had to run the cookies out to their truck right before they left. 

Snickerdoodles are best when they are served warm.  Last week, when My Kid was over for dinner, I served snickerdoodles fresh out of the oven for dessert with a glass of ice cold milk. And he marveled over how great they tasted and I told him how I freeze the cookie dough, all set to go. Then you can pull out several cookies at a time to bake to share with those you love, your dog, or even the Sears delivery guys. 

Snickerdoodles

From the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

Prep: 25 minutes      Chill: 1 hour

Bake: 10 minutes per batch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

½ cup butter—add 1/4 a teaspoon of kosher salt if you use unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, heaping

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In your mixer, beat the butter for about a minute until it softens and then add 1 cup of sugar mixed with the baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix until it combines and looks fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low until it comes together.  Then beat in the flour until it just barely forms into a dough.

Chill for a minimum of one hour.

Mix together 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon in a bowl. Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, scoop and roll out cookies.  Then roll through the cinnamon and sugar.  Place in a freezer box and freeze for up to 2 months.

To bake, spread out the dough balls on a cookie sheet and let the dough unthaw for a couple of minutes.  Then place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10 to 11 minutes.  I bake them until the edges turn ever so slightly brown because I prefer a crisp edge.   Let the cookies cool for only a few minutes after you pull them out of the oven.  Serve warm with a glass of milk. 

A Tube of Biscuits

This past week, my blazer and dishwasher broke on Tuesday and the washing machine died, convulsing mid cycle, on Saturday.  Fortunately, My Pirate was able to repair the blazer and we managed to momentarily revive the dishwasher.  Sears is delivering my new washing machine tomorrow. 

In my life, these things happen in threes like sneezes and plant purchases.  So, after Tuesday, I was busy trying to suss out what appliance was about to go next and I suspected my range.  It errors on a regular basis and I have to flick the circuit breaker to reset it.  I’m currently reading Thomas Keller Bouchon Bakery by Sebastien Rouxel and it’s simply amazing.   In it, Sebastien Rouxel recommends baking up a tube of ready-to-bake biscuits to learn where the hot spots in your oven are and to see how hot or cool your oven runs. 

I spent $1.50 on a tube of Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits.  This is how they turned out. 

The biscuits were perfectly baked at the minimum time and the biscuits on the front right of the pan weren’t as brown as the rest. Now I know that I have a cool spot and need to turn my cookies or pie halfway through.  The biscuits were delicious with a fried egg and a cup of strong coffee.  I expressed my gratitude for all of My Pirate’s help this week by picking him up a good bottle of rum, of which I stole just a little slosh, to use in the Black Bottom pie that I’m baking tomorrow. 

Garden Blogger Bloom Day, November 15th

In November, I consider my garden a sloppy mess and focus on clean up work on sunny days, but today was different.  As I read my favorite garden blog, Danger Garden, I looked at Loree's bloomday post and wondered how many flowers were blooming in my garden.  I pulled out my camera and enjoyed the beautiful day while I poked around the garden looking for flowers.  Here's what I found. 

I started in the back yard and found that my hardy begonia is still blooming on the back patio.  The blooms are beautiful and the red veining in the leaves looks stunning when backlit.  

This common wax begonia is glowing in the sun and I'm reminded that we still haven't had a hard frost yet.

I missed this bloom when I pruned my Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea earlier in the season.

The leaves on my Variegated Giant Dogwood, Cornus C. 'Variegata' are turning a lovely shade of pink in the white edges of the variegation. 

The fuchsia, Ladies' Eardrops, is a powerhouse bloomer and the hummingbirds love it. It reached five feet tall this year.  

I found the last common japanese anemone bloom today.  It's been blooming since late July.

The bears breeches are still blooming. 

I enjoy the beautyberry this time of year. It has recovered from it's move last year and is completely covered with berries. 

The Assistant helped me look for flowers.

In my front yard, the Husker Red Penstemon is putting on a second set of blossoms for a late season show.

The Mohania eurybracteata 'Soft Caress' is blooming this year for the first time.

The neighbors Harlequin Glory Bower Tree is a beautiful weed in my yard. If you want one, let me know.  

The lemon thyme is blooming in the front victory garden.  I use it when I make roasted chicken.

The rosemary has started blooming too.  

The gold oregano is blooming around the base of my new Japanese Bitter Orange tree. 

I recently hacked back the borage because it keeps leaning over the sidewalk.

  

The cape fuchsia is winding down for the season.

A new seedling of autumn joy is blooming it's heart out at the base of my new honey bush.  I need to move it next spring.

The hebe is still blooming.  Will it survive the winter?  

The chocolate cosmos is still cranking out blooms.  They are such a treat in November. 

The Kaleidoscope Abelia is blooming at the base of the tetrapanax.  

The fatsia japonica recently pushed up a bloom stalk.  

The Tiny Tim Spurge is blooming on the edge of the sidewalk. 

I stopped by the community plot today to see what was blooming.  The purple cosmos were undeterred by my neglect.

The zinnias continue to bloom.  They recovered from a wild brown rabbit shearing them earlier in the season. It moved into my cucumber patch and sampled the produce.

This variegated orange Alaskan nasturtium charmed me this year.  I planted three packets of seed alongside the pathways and I added the blooms to my salads and offered them to brave guests.  

Here is one of the last sunflower blooms of the season.  It's sitting in a vase on my table.

Thanks for taking a walk through my garden with me. 

One Year Later

One year ago today, on 11-11-11, my dog Maya was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  My Pirate and I were warned that she would live a maximum of two months if we pursued surgery and chemotherapy.  So, we opted to let her live out her final days comfortably.  I scribbled out a life list for Maya in my notebook and started knocking them out with her.  And now the list is completely scratched out, and she is still here, an old lady at 13 years old. The vet is baffled and I am so grateful that I could break out into song at any moment.     

Today, we enjoyed a cozy Sunday afternoon, scrubbing out the dishwasher filter, which was completely caked in dog hair, food particles, and detergent.  And while we laughed and chipped away at it, chicken thighs were roasting in the oven for a delicious lunch.  After we reassembled the dishwasher, I made gravy from the pan drippings.  We sat down to our celebratory lunch and shared nibbles with Maya and The Assistant, who greedily gobbled them down.  

This is how we made our roasted chicken thighs and gravy.

We took 12 chicken thighs and dried them thoroughly with paper towels.  Then we seasoned the bottom side with salt and laid them out on an olive oil rubbed cookie sheet.  We seasoned the tops of the chicken thighs with more kosher salt, pepper, and a few shakes of red cayenne pepper. We sat them on the counter for thirty or so minutes until they reached room temperature.  We slid them into a 430-degree oven for 55 minutes until the skin was crunchy and brown.

We moved the chicken onto a platter and poured the oil off of the cookie sheet into the sink, being careful not to lose the good brown drippings.  Added some hot water, not too much, into the cookie sheet and let it sit for a couple of minutes to soak, while we sampled some crispy chicken skin. Then scraped out the cookie sheet drippings and water into a small saucepan.  Tasted the liquid.  Added water and chicken stock until it tasted just right and poured in a slosh of heavy cream.  Brought the saucepan mixture to a simmer and whisked in Wondra until the mixture thickened.  We added three drops of lemon juice. Tasted it and served it up. 

Maya’s Life List 

Take a long car ride
Chew on a meaty T-bone in the backyard
Nap in the sun
Bark at the talking animals in the movie Babe
Watch sci-fi and bark at the aliens
Bath day followed by the blow drier and tail chase
Eat cookies—the human kind
Slow walks to stop and smell everything
Drink Corona on the back porch

 Chase pinecones in backyard 

My First Dragon Fruit

Each time I walked by the dragon fruit display at Chuck’s Produce for the past year, I imagined it tasting like the love child of a mango and papaya with hints of pineapple and kiwi.  And yet I denied myself this pleasure because it’s three bucks a fruit.  When I caught myself using this ridiculous logic a couple of days ago, I stopped and asked the produce man a couple of questions.  He pulled out his pocketknife and cut me off a slice to eat.  I briefly considered the cleanliness of his pocketknife and stuffed a bite of the white flesh speckled with black seeds into my mouth.  It tasted bland and slightly crunchy.  My eyes squinted into a question and he told me that it wasn’t ripe enough yet and that the fruit would ripen with time. 

I bought my gorgeous dragon fruit and sat it on my kitchen window sill.  Once there were white speckles of mold on it, I cut it open, just like the produce man had instructed. I chopped it up, sprinkled fleur de sel on it, took a picture and sampled it.  And it tasted like sweet Styrofoam with crunchy seeds.  Such a disappointment.  I can imagine using it in a salsa or a fruit salad, but the next time that I buy a dragon fruit it will be to decorate a fruit platter.  So, the next time I walk by it in the store, I’ll imagine that mango papaya flavored fruit and save myself three bucks.