Dessert By Candy

Cute Overload Pumpkin Rolls

This week I settle into a relaxing routine that begins each day with mixing a batch of bread dough. I really love to bake bread but fitting the fermentation schedule around my daily activities is often challenging. With training currently taking a backseat and a simple daily agenda of leisurely catching up on chores, I am really enjoying the luxury of planning my day around a blob of dough. Wait, that sounded much more logical in my head.

I bookmarked King Arthur Flour’s Cranberry Pumpkin Roll recipe for a long time. There is something enticing about the combination of pumpkin dinner roll dotted with dried cranberries and crystalized ginger. I envision my Thanksgiving feast would begin with these warm spicy rolls and my family would ooh and aaah over the taste. The recipe suggests baking them in muffin pan to create pretty round domes. The picture in my head looked perfectly fine until I spent a little too much time on Pinterest.

Pinterest makes Martha Stewart look like a slob. Seriously, all the cutesy craft projects and party ideas are so inhumanly elaborate. Unless you have a team of dedicated minions, I doubt many of pins are realistically achievable. But it is certainly awesome for inspiration and aspiration. That’s where I got the idea to shape my pumpkin rolls into mini pumpkins. So unbearably cute.

My Favourite Baking Plum

Italian prune plum is one of the last plums to dot the farmers market before we immerse ourselves among apples, pumpkins, and brussel sprouts. It always makes me a little wistful for the summer gone by yet excited for the arrival of my favourite season. Similar to last year, 2013 racing season has been a total wash out for me. I am restless and a little panicky that I have to rebuild my fitness from the grounds up yet again. I am *thisclose* to being completely clear of my knee infection. I can’t wait to resume my workouts (ouch) but certainly do not look forward to weeks of soreness thanks to being couch potato for a month. Oh boy.

Back to the plums. Yes, Italian prune plum is a thing of beauty with addition of sugar and heat. The flavour deepens and the colour turns to a majestic shade of ruby. Every week I return from the market with a small basket even when I am too busy to bake. I just cannot help myself. Thankfully, plums are less fussy than many other stone fruits. They can sit patiently on the counter for a few days without getting overripe. Last Saturday I spent a lazy rainy afternoon turning them into luscious treats.

As I discover, one of the many joys of staycation is the relax pace of life. I am not trying to check off as many to-do items on my list as humanly possible. I can take the time to savour the minutes, focusing on one thing at a time. I am so used to living in a constant state of stress that I don’t even recognize those physical stress symptoms anymore. I thought it is the norm. No wonder my body takes such a long time to heal from any injuries, major or minor. Last Saturday, I slept in, went to the spa, decided not to brave the downpour for an outdoor food truck event, baked a plum kuchen, baked plum poppy seed muffins, and watched X-Men on television. Definitely not one of my more productive days.

Perfect Swirl and Unexpected Staycation

Meticulously casual is an oxymoron. They are the first words that come to mind when I think of hipsters. Every imperfection is a carefully calculated arrangement. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it screams pretentious in a I-try-very-hard-but-please-think-it’s-all-effortless sort of way. On the other hand, the aesthetics appeal to me on some levels and I occasionally emulate it. The perfect swirl you see in my Pumpkin Almond Cake with Almond Butter Frosting is a fine example. At first glance, the cake possesses such casual charm. You do not see any perfectly levelled and smooth coat of frosting. Behind the scene, it took some very deliberate effort to create this pretty swirl. Meticulously casual, precisely.

Despite my grumpy rant, this cake was a joy to bake. The recipe from BAKED Elements gave us a tender single layer pumpkin cake made extra delicate with ground almond. The frosting was a winner. Mixing roasted almond butter into icing sugar and softened butter gave us a taste of something more wholesome, more substantial, yet still decadent. This is a trick that I will remember going forward.

PSL. Seriously?

I appreciate changing of the seasons and the flavours we associate with different times of the year. With shorter days and chilly evenings, autumn has sneaked up on us. We collectively begin to crave the harvest tastes of apple and pumpkin accented with warming spices. I love a good piece of pumpkin bread or apple pie. They make my kitchen smell heavenly.

A few years ago, pumpkin spice jumped the shark. Starting in September, it floods our grocery store shelves and restaurant menus. The sensory attack doesn’t stop until last week of November with the conclusion of American Thanksgiving. Some products I look forward to every year while others are so bad that I cringe with dismay. Pumpkin Spice Latte continues to puzzle me with its popularity. Why would you want your cup of coffee to taste nothing like coffee? If I want whipped cream, pumpkin, and spices in a calories-laden bite, I would most certainly reach for a slice of pumpkin pie instead. This year, the frenzy has reached a new high. Pumpkin spice latte is now officially, affectionately known as PSL. Feel free to imagine my best eye roll. And I do a really good eye roll.

Official Gift Wrapper

“They need boxes.”

I thought to myself last night every time I looked at the slabs of Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee in the kitchen. I made two batches of my favourite candies as a small thank you gift to friends who supported me relentlessly through my numerous athletic setbacks last year. I took a tally and the list is mind boggling. Just last year, I experienced: concussion, food poisoning, (yet unresolved) bursitis, cellulitis knee infection, a bad case of 24 hour fever, and countless minor scrapes and bruises. Training is constantly interrupted by forced rest due to health issues (sorry coach). I showed up to more races as spectator than racer because I paid for my travels when I thought I could race. There was no short supply of lows. My friends make sure I get back on my feet, figuratively and literally. I am a lucky girl.

I made this David Lebovitz toffee recipe countless times before. It is easy, quick, and always impressive. Gluten-free too for my growing number of gluten-conscious tasters. My only complaint is that I always end up with a pile of tiny toffee pieces after I package the big shards for gifts. The edge pieces never get evenly covered with toffee and chocolate. I did it slightly differently this time. I lined a 9-inch square cake pan with parchment paper to create a perfectly square slab of even thickness. Once I cut the slab in half it was a good portion for one gift. The right size and maximum yield. Score!

But they really beg for some boxes.

Detour And Back Again

In the last two days, I had a hiccup with my recovery from infection. It was stressful and frustrating but I am incredibly glad that things are back in order. My IV antibiotics treatment concluded on Sunday and I began an oral antibiotics treatment the next day. Unfortunately, the strain was ineffective and I relapsed back to pain, swelling, and losing range of motion with my knee. I rushed back to the doctor very next day and he prescribed a different antibiotics. The symptoms all reduced in severity immediately after first dose and I am now merely experiencing minor discomfort. For those who are curious, the doctor officially diagnosed it as cellulitis (unrelated to cellulite). Scary stuff that could have gone very very badly. I really can do without all these medical dramas.

Obviously I am not exercising nor even walking much. However, it is difficult to keep my bum on a chair as soon as I regain mobility. Sooooo, I cooked, baked, and canned a few things. You can say I put a nice little dent on my overly long list of bookmarked recipes. Please don’t preach. I can only sit still for so long.

Well Enough To Bake

I baked bread yesterday and I felt relieved and thankful. Relieved that the pain from the infected wound on my knee has subsided enough so I could stand for extended period of time. Thankful that the darkest hour is behind me. Contrarily to what I thought at the time, I will get healthy again (fingers crossed).  I am still not out of the woods yet. Follow up assessment from my family doctor put me on another round of oral antibiotics. Hopefully the pills will continue the battle where the IV left off and win this war for good.

Yesterday I took an easy day just puttering around at home. With a whole day of free time ahead of me, I immediate looked into my vault of to-bake recipes for ideas. Rosh Hashanah was already over and I am not even Jewish but smitten kitchen’s Fig, Olive Oil, Sea Salt Challah has long tempted me. How can it not? Glossy burnished round of knotty egg bread with swirls of dried fig filling inside, all nicely balanced with flaky Maldon sea salt and savoury olive oil! It looks just complicated enough to keep me occupy for a few hours yet still simple enough for guaranteed success. Sign me up!

Disturbing Sensation

No pretty photos of food today as I’m battling a minor health issue. Last night I went to the emergency room for treatment and doctor decided the best course of action is intravenous antibiotic. I am not afraid of needles but getting IV is definitely a first for me. As I sat on the chair patiently waiting for the slow drip-drip-drip to be done, I kept checking my elbow thinking something was leaking. My elbow felt cold and wet. Only then did I realize the cold came from within. It was the droplet of antibiotic traveling up my vein starting from my forearm. It was a disturbing sensation.

When the nurse extracted the tubes from my body, I was surprised that she left the needle and a bunch of plastic contraptions right where they were. She quickly wrapped everything up in bandages to what you see in the photo above. Yup, I came home with needle stuck to my forearm so that I’ll be ready for a three day antibiotic treatment starting tonight. I will get to experience that cold droplet sensation all over again tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after.

Although unpleasant, I hope this will bring me back to health. Until then, cooking is not high on my priority list. For something a little light-hearted, here is my ER survival kit:

• warm comfy sweater
• sleeveless dress for easy access to my arm
• boy shorts so I don’t need to worry about wardrobe malfunction
• running shoes
• bottle water
• KIND bar
• e-reader loaded with books
• magazine

Damsons, You Ended My Jam Hiatus

This year I am on a self-imposed hiatus for canning and preserving. As much as I love making jam, managing my out of control larder got on my nerves. Wasting good food and hard work just isn’t right. So rather than filling the shelves with more jars, I aim to clear them instead. For the most part, I have been very disciplined. In 2013, I only made bergamot marmalade, candied Seville orange peels, Meyer lemon curd, and my all time favourite minty strawberry jam. I scaled back drastically compared with my output from previous years.