2009 Was A Very Good Year

If the number of posts is any indication, 2009 was wonderful for blogging. It was also the year of bread, so much so that in March I created a new blog Bread Baker's Dog, to take up some of the extra bread recipes I wanted to blog about...why?...because I wanted Feeding My Enthusiasms to reflect ALL my enthusiasms, not just my passion for bread baking. 

Many of my recipes this year came from cookbooks, often tweaked a bit as I like to do. Do you have favorite cookbooks or do most (or all) of your recipes come from the internet...or hand written recipes from a recipe box...or a combination?

Another great thing about 2009 was that my loved ones realized that cooking and baking were taking a more prominent place in my life, so they gifted me with culinary laurel leaf wreaths, shears to chop herbs, foldable colander,  a good scale, a digital thermometer and more.

A lot of thought goes into each post and then more time writing and editing photographs and putting it all together, then proofing (usually but not always) the post before posting. Dishes that we have as part of our normal life get posted once then are not posted later, so what you see are in some ways extra things that I want to make. Every now and then I will repeat something, but I try to keep it fresh and new.

One of the Christmas cookies that we have every year has been posted a number of time or has been linked to. It is Sweetie's favorite because of all the molasses. It's the Swedish Ginger Cookie recipe and I love it, too because it's a roll-out and cut-out cookie that is easy to roll, keeps it's shape when baked, and is delicious. I usually decorate the cookies with white Royal Icing, which contrasts nicely with the brown cookie, and maybe a few cinnamon red hots for a pop of color.

In 2009, towards the end of the year, I did my first post with suggestions for Thanksgiving, including links. I had a number of positive comments, plus a comment from No Handle on making a brined turkey with great gravy. Since it has been just a bit over a year since he died, it was a jolt to read the comment...I had forgotten that he had written. Rest in peace, Brother No Handle.

The fall also brought a few good recipes for squash including a fairy cake that is really a kind of pumpkin muffin, a two squash soup, and pumpkin pie made with sugar pie pumpkins. Truly there is something special about using locally grown fresh squash to make these fall treats.

October included two French treats that I have made again over the years...macarons and French yogurt cake. Both are fairly simple, but the results are wonderful. If you get a chance, follow the links and try them yourself.

Of course October is also my blog birthday. Here is what I wrote for the third birthday:

"One of the best things lately to start in the fall is this blog. Three years ago I barely knew what a blog was and there were far fewer food blogs.

I checked back to the brave folks who were the first few to comment here. The first four or five no longer are blogging. I guess it didn't match their needs in the same way that it matched mine:

I love the fact that I have 'met' people from all over the world through blogging...and that we are mostly the same...food obsessed :)

I love that blogging brings out my creative side. I get to play with food. I borrow lots and lots of cookbooks from the library and sometimes even bring the librarians samples of things I've baked to enjoy, especially of the sweets. I love that my photography has improved. I love that I have come under the sway of the magic of bread baking, seduced by all things baking, inspired by combinations of flour and butter and sugar and seeds and grains. Most of all I have been amazed that I can sit down at the computer, find words to fill the Blogger template time after time, and create something that other people actually read and look at and are occasionally inspired by.

As Sweetie would say (in jest), "Not bad...for a girl." He is actually my biggest fan and promoter, telling perfect strangers that they have to go visit my blog. Sometimes they even accept the URL from him.

I love hitting the Publish Post button and I especially enjoy the comments...and wish that there were more. You CAN comment anonamously as Natasha did recently. If you give me hints and I already know you I can even figure out who you are...a sort of puzzle. However, even if you never comment, I do hope you will continue to visit now and then. The place to click on to comment is usually at the bottom of the post. Try it...you might enjoy it.

Believe it or not, I don't have a clue how many people actually visit this blog. I could find out easily, but I guess I'm not really interested. Recently one of my sisters assured me that many family members stop by and read to see what I am up to. I suspect that there are a few folks beyond immediate family...and I welcome you all!

This is the 360th post. I think that comes out to an average of something like a post every third day."

One of the advantages of having this be a blog that includes a few things other than food is that I can get creative. In late September one post included a Land of St. Honore' story, a recipe for vol au vents as part of a Daring Baker challenge, and a photo and explanation of a set of model World War II ships that Sweetie made and created a display case for, too. My Mom had asked for a photo (we talked every week on the phone on Saturdays) and I knew that she would be looking for the St. Honore' story, so I included the photo. I suspect that I might have had more followers if I had stuck strictly to baking or baking sweets, but what fun is that?

September also brought the first Index for the blog. Since there were at least 300 recipes by now, that was a good thing. Now there are well over a thousand recipes and a multi-page Index. I still need to migrate the old index recipes into the new one, but maybe that will happen in January when the weather is usually rainy and it's a good time to hunker down inside.

Although I usually try to write out recipes so they are like those in cookbooks, sometimes I just write them out as I would if I were giving you a recipe on a piece of scratch paper...in narrative form. A good example (and a delicious recipe) is for bruchetta, a great recipe for harvest time.

This is the year that I began baking with the Bread Baking Babes, my longest running blog group. I still bake bread with them and post it on or after the 16th of the month. First I baked as a Buddy and eventually was invited to join. The group kept the number at 12, so I had to wait until there was an opening. These days we hardly ever get Buddies and our numbers have been reduced, but the challenges are still fun and educational and the results are usually delicious! The first bread was in February for the Babes first anniversary. It was 5-Grain Bread with Walnuts by Carol Field, an artisan loaf (or two) that was really hearty and delicious. 

Another fun, new thing this year was that I did a journal of our first trip to Ireland, with most of the posts being in June even though the trip was in May. These included little maps to show where we were. There are also lots and lots of photos and usually a recipe at the end, often not really related to the Ireland story. Here is the first one (and it has a recipe for Irish Brown Bread) that is set up as a real journal, although there were a few I wrote while there that can be found in late May...you can follow the rest on your own.

Sometimes there is a recipe that becomes a favorite with you, dear readers. One of these is Spinach Rice Casserole from the Moosewood cookbook of 1977, so it really is an oldie but goodie. It can be a main dish since it has milk, eggs and cheese along with brown or wild rice and spinach, but it can also be a great side dish if you have someone in your family, like I do, who really likes some meat with their meal.

Another milestone from 2009 is one that from 2020 looks almost quaint. In January Barack Obama became our President and many were very hopeful that we had turned a corner in our nation and could put racism behind us. We celebrated at my work and arrived early enough to watch the inauguration on TV...and I baked and brought bagels for part of the celebration. They are a lot of work, but so delicious. As it turned out, racism just went underground and grew in the dark. People of color knew that the election had not changed much for them, but it took the rest of us a long time to realize that so much of it was systemic that it still blights our nation. That needs to change.

I'm going to end with a pair of recipes that are perfect for this time of year. I just picked the first two Meyer lemons from the shrub by the barn. I have quite a few this year, so look for more lemon recipes in the next few months. The one is a link to a post that has both gingerbread and my Mom's clear Lemon Sauce. They go really well together!

If you have read this far, you are a trooper! 2009 had 135 posts, most of them with recipes, so feel free to wander around and discover the ones I didn't include in this round-up.

Macarons with My Daughter

One of the joys of having my daughter here is it gives us a chance to do things together. This year she wanted to try making macarons together, plus the revival of Hot Buttered Rum was inspired by a conversation with her.

It's been two years since I made macarons. I re-read the posts where I had made them successfully and we followed the instructions pretty closely, but these cookies were less successful. I think that my oven, which has been temperamental lately about keeping to the set temperature, is in need of being replaces. Unfortunately macarons seem to need the temperature to stay even and so they were not as great as 2 years ago, although still delicious.

We made two kinds, raspberry, using powdered dried raspberries, and spice where we added some cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter. If I do this again I'll put the raspberry powder through a tea strainer to remove the seeds and any large bits. I think that will help the top be smoother. Just purchased almond flour would be better, too. The flour we used had been in the fridge at least 6 months.

I do want to make macarons again when I have a new stove & fresh almond meal because they are fun to make, although time consuming.

K has great skills in using a pastry bag for piping.

We did enjoy sandwiching the cookies with raspberry jam for the raspberry flavored cookies and pear butter for the spice flavored one. Yummy!



In case you want to try them yourselves, here is the recipe:

Macarons
Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make. This makes 2-3 dozen sandwiched cookies.


Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.
(Elle's Note - I baked one sheet at a time, so the baking time was extended to allow for the oven to heat up and cool off for each sheet.)

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery. Use freshly purchased almond flour if going that route.


2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients. (Note: if doing two flavors, sift in all but about 1/2 cup of the mixture, divide the batter into two bowls, then add flavorings and rest of mixture (1/2 in each bowl), and fold in until combined.)

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper). (Note: I recommend the parchment paper. You can always dampen the back of the paper if a cookie sticks...that didn't work when the cookies stuck to the silpat mats.)


6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored. If baking more than one sheet, turn sheets back to front and switch racks at about 4 minutes for even baking.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

So there you have it. It may take a few trys to get the cute 'feet' and rounded top, but it's worth it because you can make your own flavor combinations and will save money over purchased macarons (if you can even purchase them).

One last look at our Christmas tree and then a wish from me to you for a Happy New Year!