52 hike challenge (#3)

And for today's most boring blog post on the planet, here is my record of having done a brief hike today. About 2 miles on my standard out-and-back path. But since my phone was low on batteries, I have no proof of my accomplishment. So, instead, here are Mike and Rose working on this awesome KiwiCo crate that she got in the mail last week - we have no idea who sent this to her, so if it was you please let us know so we can thank you for the wonderful gift!

Donut Loaf

Donut Loaf

Recipe #5 of the treat yo self challenge

counter cakes chapter

I love a good donut - a good raised glazed donut, that is. I'll settle for a Long John or a bear paw or a Boston cream (all raised varietals), but my heart will always lie with the raised glazed variety in particular.  

Note the conspicuous absence of any cake donuts on my favorites list. Cake donuts, to me, are usually dense and dry and coated with rancid powdered sugar that blows up your nose and makes you choke even more than you already were on the cakey, dry crumbs. Blech.

So when I realized this morning that I was tired of the sweet breads chapter (after only 3 recipes, lol) and needed something different this weekend, I started paging through the rest of the book... It's not pie season yet... too early in the day for cookies... but "counter cakes"? That definitely sounded promising!

Several of the reviews for this book mentioned this Donut Loaf recipe as a winner, so despite my obvious hesitations I figured it would be a good one to try, particularly on a cold and blustery Saturday morning when my beloved child woke me up at 5am. (Ugh.)

It was an easy enough recipe and we had all the ingredients on hand, so I threw it together and waited for my oven timer to go off...

Verdict:  Well, it tasted like how I imagine a "good" cake donut (if there even is such a thing) should taste like. It was cakey and soft, kind of like banana bread without the banana flavor - all that would be left is some cake texture and a little bit of some sweet spice (nutmeg, in this case). So, it was fine and all, I guess. Mike and Rose both enjoyed it, but I will admit that it certainly didn't sing to my heart. Oh well, still a fun experiment in baking!

inky and theo

We have two identical black cats.

I used to be able to tell them apart because Inky had white whiskers and Theo was, well, the other one. But suddenly Inky lost his white whiskers and now I have NO idea who is who. It not only feels rude to not know their names, but it also feels a bit dangerous if one gets sick and has to go to the vet and I have no idea who is with me. 

So tonight I decided to take some photos to help me learn. Rose somehow has always been able to differentiate them, so I had her identify them both me.

Then I started memorizing their facial features. I think Theo has slightly more green eyes and Inky's are slightly more yellow. 

I still can't tell them apart if just one comes up to me, but I can now differentiate them if I can see both sets of eyes at once! I'll take that as some progress... :)

52 hike challenge?

I'm not sure if I'm up for a full-blown 52 hike challenge this year, but I figured I might as well track my 2020 hikes just in case. We'll see. I think this is the year I'm going to think of fun challenges for myself (such as my baking treat yo' self challenge) but with no pressure and no self-flaggelation if I change course in a month or six months.  I'm practicing being gentle with myself, and NOT being my own worst critic!

So on New Year's day I did my standard two-mile out-and-back. I didn't take any photos, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Today I did my standard 4.5 mile loop. It was a VERY windy day (as evidenced by my hair!) and also pretty overcast, but the sun did peak out for about 2 minutes of my nearly two hour hike. (The elevation changes are so steep that it really does take me that ridiculously long to do this hike!)

So windy! :)

Doug loved saying hi to the neighbor's horses and cows!

Love this new sign one of the neighbors put up on his sheep pen!

Two down, we'll see how many more I get to in 2020 :)

Coffee-Caramel Monkey Bread

Coffee-Caramel Monkey Bread
sweet breads chapter
Recipe #4 of the Christmas 2019-2020 Treat Yo' Self Challenge

Until this weekend, I really thought I didn't like caramel. I've had plenty of bad experiences with caramel in the past, from homemade hard caramel candies, to that disgusting caramel sauce that comes in jars in the grocery stores in order to pour over ice cream. Not to mention the salted caramel craze that's currently going on, a combination that is, IMHO, an abomination.

Furthermore, my previous experiences with monkey bread have been marginal at best. It's usually way too dense, or sickeningly sweet, or having a weird aftertaste of the preservatives in store-bought dough. So, I mean, it's fine and all, but not my favorite.

As a result, when I saw that the next recipe in my book was for Coffee-Caramel Monkey Bread, let's just say I wasn't chomping at the bit. But Rose saw the photo and was excited, so it seemed like the least I could do for her on a Sunday morning. Plus I'd get to check this one off and get it out of the way.

I did all the prep work on Saturday afternoon/evening, so it could do its second rise in the fridge and be ready to pop in the oven first thing in the morning. Rose and her friend Allie were excellent helpers when it came to rolling the dough into 1" balls, covering them in melted butter, and rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

When it finally came out of the oven on Sunday morning, it actually looked appetizing to me! But the big question was how it would taste....

Verdict: This recipe was a revelation. It turns out that I actually DO like caramel (I mean, what's not to love about butter and brown sugar?!), so I must just not like "caramel" flavor. Which shouldn't be a surprise, because usually the chemicalized versions of classics are never as good as the homemade original - same for the dough in monkey bread, too, of course.  So this was surprisingly quite delicious! I've already eaten way more than I expected I would, and all three of us have been picking at the remains each time we walk by the table (tee hee).  So my bottom line is that I would definitely recommend this recipe if you know you like caramel and monkey bread, and I would also recommend if it you're like me and think you don't like either :)

Scotch-a-roos

SCOTCH-A-ROOS
Bars chapter
Recipe #3 in the Christmas 2019-2020 Treat Yo' Self Challenge


Yesterday I was paging ahead in my new cookbook to make sure I had all the ingredients for the next recipe in the book, and I realized it was yet another recipe without chocolate. Seriously, what is the point of baking if there isn't going to be chocolate in the finished product? I mean, I know we're only two recipes in, but clearly this seems like an egregious error on the author's or publisher's part ;) 

So Rose and I decided to skip ahead to p 167 tonight, because I saw the most glorious bars that I always adore:

Apparently these little gems have a name: Scotch-a-roos. Who knew? I just know that these are the first things I go for at any Midwestern bake sale or potluck. For some reason I just assumed they must be difficult to make, and since I never knew they had a name I was never able to verify my assumption.  But when I saw these puppies in my book, I just knew we HAD to try them.  STAT.

Turns out, they are pretty much the simplest bars one could possible make. I can't even call it baking because you basically just mix the ingredients on the stove and then press them into a pan. Easy peasy.

We probably should have waited for them to cool to room temperature, but Rose and I were so excited that we dug in while they were still warm. Ooey gooey, chocolate-peanut butter goodness. Drool.

Verdict:  Definitely a Minnesota classic and not just an obscure Chicago item. It might be dangerous for me to know how ridiculously easy it is to make these... they will probably become a regular in my baking repertoire. (I wonder if these are also a classic in Montana? Anyone know?) Oh, I should mention that I did make one substitution - instead of chocolate and butterscotch chips for the top layer, I used chocolate and peanut butter chips. (Who likes butterscotch chips anyway? More peanut butter, for the win!) So we should probably call these peanut-a-roos or something instead ;) Regardless of the name, I heartily recommend this recipe!

Swedish Flop

Christmas 2019-2020 Treat Yo' Self Challenge

SWEDISH FLOP
(sweet bread chapter)

Second recipe of the book, and another one I had never heard of before. (Like I said in my last post, this is a very Chicago-centric view of the Midwest!) It starts with a yeasted sweet dough, with fancy buttercream and jam in the middle, and topped with streusel and powdered sugar. Sounds tasty, right? Plus, this recipe actually checks off THREE recipes for my challenge, because the Swedish Flop itself is based on "Buttery, Yeast-Raised Coffeecake Dough" and "Ermine Frosting." I could have also used homemade jam, but I didn't realize that until it was too late! So we will have to settle for store-bought jam this time, sorry!

As I was baking this creation, two thoughts on the book design became apparent to me (separate from review of the recipes themselves)...
First, the good: the author is a great writer! I love her commentary as the intro for each recipe. For example, this one has a paragraph about the uniqely Midwestern contraction, "Jeet?" (aka "Did you eat?"), a Midwesternism that I fondly recall my Mid-Atlantic-raised father joking about frequently when I was a kid. 
Second, the not as good: While I love the photos accompanying the ingredients page for each recipe, I realized I'm definitely not a huge fan of having to repeatedly turn the page between the ingredients and the instructions. My hands are inevitably sticky or wet every time I realize that I don't remember how much of X ingredient I'm supposed to be adding in step Y.  My cookbook is already starting to look quite worn as a result, and I'm only on the second recipe in the book!

With those comments aside, here was my finished product about 4-ish hours later:

Verdict:  Another winner! Definitely not something I would typically gravitate toward baking or ordering, but I really enjoyed this one. The frosting is sweet without being cloying, and also remarkably light - almost like a cross between buttercream and whipped cream - which pairs nicely with the thin layer of jam. The cake was light and also not overly sweet.  Again, probably not something I'll add to my regular baking repertoire, but definitely one I would make again if someone requests it. Those Eastern Europeans living in Chicago seem to know a thing or two about tasty desserts ;)


Happy New Year!!!