Bagels!

My first attempt at making bagels proved successful! As you can see, the finished product was not nearly as perfectly smooth as any store or bakery bought bagel, but it tasted just as good if not better. I chose to make bagels when I realized I had no bread but had just bought all sorts of great sanwich/bagel topping ingredients. Instead of going for the usual bread recipe, I decided it was time to try this somewhat tricky recipe I had always been meaning to try:

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Pie Trials

Today was a one giant kitchen faux pas. I had to make about four pies for Thanksfeast and I nearly butchered them all, but I eventually got through it and came out with some amazing pies.

The plan was to make a cranberry walnut tart, a pecan pie, and two pumpkin pies, which I began baking in that order. Everything was going well until I realized I had forgotten to add butter to the cranberry walnut tart, and forgetting the butter was not a mistake I could brush off easily. I cut into the tart to do a taste test, and though it was good, it was obviously missing something. In my rush to make a replacement tart, I somehow let the pecan pie over bake, and though it didn't quite burn, it was a little too dark to look appealing (Though in hindsight it was the best pecan pie I have ever had- this is my new staple recipe). I finished up the second cranberry walnut tart which thankfully came out well, and moved on to the pumpkin pies. Here are the recipes (all adapted from Epicurious, though I made some changes):

Cranberry Walnut Tart

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Pâte à Choux

Approximately four years ago I bought Bo Friberg's The Professional Pastry Chef. One of the first recipes I attempted was pâte à choux dough, and I have no shame in admitting I failed completely. The dough was sopping in unabsorbed butter, and the baked result was a greasy, rubbery, and spongy blob. It was pretty bad, I won't lie, but this time it worked out.  Half of the final dough became profiteroles and the other half became what some might call gougères, depending on how accurate you like to be...

Profiteroles before filling

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first post

A campfire! -taken with a cranky old minolta SR-1