The last three months....

So, I don't know if anyone still subscribes to this... but here goes...

So sorry about falling off the grid like that. December got crazy with moving. And then there's that working retail during the holidays bit. Oy. However, Christmas was good to this boy's kitchen and so I've been able to tackle more adventurous baking hurdles. Most were not photographed,  but a couple of the highlights are here for your ocular pleasure:

 First, here is my new beauty. She is pistachio green, and has a motor that goes all the way up...  I love her.

Caramel Apple Cookies

Nothing says "fall" like a caramel apple. But those aren't very fun to eat, nor do they store well in your cabinet. These cookies fix both of those problems. Using some diced granny smith apple and caramel bits from the baking aisle, these cookies taste just like a caramel apple. They also bake very well, soft in the middle, a little crisp on the edges. I think the recipe called for far too much apple and caramel for the amount of dough, and could have used a little more moisture (I added about a tablespoon of water and a couple teaspoons of spiced rum), but they were great otherwise.

The Pumpkin Chronicles

I went a little crazy with the pumpkin the past couple of weeks. This is what you get when Walmart insists on selling only the giant sized cans of pumpkin...

Baking Interregnum / Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake

Sorry, I got busy/lazy these past couple of weeks. Not with the baking so much, mostly with the posting. Work made me nocturnal and I also had to deal with an unscheduled apartment hunt. But fear not, I bring order back to my kitchen. I missed photographing a couple baking episodes, like the balsamic cherry chocolate cookies and the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, but I'm going to start getting through the backlog now before I completely freak out over holiday baking. Get ready for holiday cookies people. They are coming...

Honey Pecan Cookies

I like these cookies because they don't require softened butter, but that also means they are very dense. Luckily, I like dense cookies. I also didn't have honey (I know, it's in the title) but I did have agave nectar and some real maple syrup. I used about a 80/20 proportion of those two to replace the honey. I think it was pretty much the same as honey, right...? In any event, the maple syrup smelled fantastic when the cookies were baking. I also used some course ground sea salt instead of regular table salt to give it a bit of texture.