Baked Goods

This is another recipe from Pam Anderson's new book. She also made these in the class she taught. She makes them to eat as an afternoon sweet. They're cut into very small bars because they're very sweet, but they're also really delicious. Larry loves them, especially for breakfast. I swapped the amount of fruit and used more cherries than apricots, and I used a very finely shredded unsweetened organic coconut since Larry doesn't really like coconut.

• Miniature Apricot-Cherry Bars with Oatmeal Crumble Topping (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 156)

I have found the Holy Grail of chocolate cookies. Over the years I've searched for a cookie just like this, and I finally found it on America's Test Kitchen. They are extremely rich and chocolatey, but also have a nice thick and chewy texture. This is now my default chocolate cookie recipe

Triple-Chocolate Cookies

The key to the fudgy texture of these cookies is letting them cool directly on the baking sheets. Avoid using bittersweet bar chocolate--the cookies will be too rich and won't hold their shape.

Makes 26 cookies
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
7 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into pieces
2 teaspoons instant coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs , at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Melt unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chips, and butter in heatproof bowl set over saucepan of simmering water, stirring frequently, until completely smooth and glossy. Remove bowl from pan and set aside to cool slightly.

2. Stir coffee powder and vanilla extract together in small bowl until dissolved. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla-coffee mixture and beat until incorporated, 20 seconds. Reduce speed to low, add chocolate mixture, and mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Using large rubber spatula, fold flour mixture and semisweet chips into batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes until batter firms up (it will more closely resemble thick brownie batter than cookie dough).

4. Meanwhile, adjust two oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using 1 heaping tablespoon batter per cookie, place cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets (see photo, right). Bake until cookies are shiny and cracked on top, 11 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking time. Transfer baking sheets to racks and cool cookies completely, on baking sheets, before serving.

• Triple-Chocolate Cookies (America's Test Kitchen, Cookie Jar Favorites)

We absolutely love this rye bread - even Larry, who doesn't particularly like rye breads. It's as easy as ever and looks like it came straight out of a professional bakery.

• Deli-Stye Rye (Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, p. 58)

I finally broke down and stopped making the same European Peasant Bread and decided to make the Artisan Bread in Five master recipe. It turned out beautifully, and I think we may like this loaf even better than the European Peasant Bread.

• Boule (Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, p. 26)

I had an old-ish batch of sloppy European Peasant Bread that wasn't going to cooperate and hold its shape, so I made "naan" with it instead. It's not quite a traditional naan, but it's way easier to make and really delicious. It just involves rolling some of the dough out thin and then cooking it stove-top with clarified butter.

• Naan (Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, p. 173)

Amy suggested I take a look at this stew. As soon as I saw that it was made with pork shoulder - one of my favorite cuts of meat, I knew it would be perfect for tonight. I wanted to make something that could be done ahead of time so I didn't have to deal with a bunch of last-minute stuff. It was good, although a little spicy for Jay. And the focaccia was delicious as usual.

The blueberry pie was a test recipe for Cook's Illustrated. Really good! Larry wants me to make it again for sure.

• Pork Stew with Green Chiles, Orange & Cilantro (Fine Cooking Comfort Food 2005, p. 68)
• Rosemary Focaccia (No Need to Knead, p. 40)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Blueberry Pie (Cook's Illustrated Test Recipe)

Larry's dad spoiled me for Christmas and got me several excellent cookbooks. One that really interests me is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Really? Five minutes a day? I had to try it out this weekend. I recruited Amy to join me in a long-distance cooking project. I sent her scans of the appropriate pages from the cookbooks, and we both made up our dough on Friday. It was super quick to make, just dump everything into a plastic container, mix it up and let it rest for two hours. No need to worry about the type of yeast to use. No need to weigh the flour (although I did because it's just easier in my opinion). The five minutes a day doesn't include rest time. It was fun exchanging emails about making the dough. Amy thought the dough was about the same wet consistency of other no-knead breads she'd made.

After the rest period - which for both of us turned out to be more like three hours - the dough can be used right away or refrigerated. We both refrigerated and baked the bread this afternoon. The dough is a large batch, enough for four 1-pound loaves, and it lasts a couple of weeks. The idea is to just cut off a chunk of dough whenever you have a hankering for fresh bread. The peasant bread needs to be formed into a boule and then it rests (and barely rises) for 40 minutes. It really did only take five minutes to form it.

The peasant bread needs to rest for longer than the standard dough that uses regular AP flour (that one is only 20 minutes). Amy described the bread as having good oven spring. She's right! It poofed right up and filled the house with the delicious aromas of baking bread. Mine took quite a bit longer than the suggested 35 minutes to bake, but I think I may have an oven problem.

The bread is delicious! Amy thought it was a little salty because neither of us thoroughly read the master recipe instructions that say to use Kosher salt instead of table salt. I always cook with Kosher, bake with table salt. I don't think it's overly salty, though.

I'm sold on this technique! It's yet another variation on the NYT no-knead bread, but I like this because I feel like I have more control over the time commitment. I get to decide when I make the bread, instead of working my schedule around when the rise is done. I love the idea of having dough on hand, ready to bake. I can easily see baking bread any day of the week.

• European Peasant Bread (Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, p. 46)

We spent Christmas with our neighbors Chris and Assana and Assana's boyfriend Dan. Assana, always a terrific hostess, made excellent appetizers, supplemented by Chris's signature clam dip. We snacked all afternoon and sipped hot cider with rum and hung out. We had an early dinner of chili and cornbread, and Chris brought a cheesy spinach dish. The chili was good as usual. I had cornbread issues but in the end it turned out okay. It needed to cook a little longer. And I don't know why, but I added crumbled bacon to the top. The recipe says to do this, but I never have because it sounds weird. But I did it anyway and it was okay.

I hadn't made this cheesecake for this audience before. It's always a hit. Chris said it's my best dessert. It's really rich but so good. The recipe is under the "Sheri's Recipes" link on the right.

We had packaged up our s'mores kits and handed them out at dinner. I think they turned out okay. The graham crackers are stacked on the bottom of the container.

• Chicken & White Bean Chili (Bon Appétit, October 2005)
• Corn Bread (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 151)
• Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake (Sheri's recipe box)

I don't know why I haven't been making this focaccia every single week. Maybe because I'll eat it all? It's so delicious and easy. The dough is extremely forgiving. I've had this recipe twice before, both times made by/with Amy. I've been having major focaccia cravings since we returned from Italy last month, and I had time, so I made it. And then proceeded to eat it all, because it's best within a few hours of making it.

• Rosemary Focaccia (No Need to Knead, p. 40)

For small Christmas gifts this year (for neighbors, etc.) we decided to give out little homemade s'mores kits. I made marshmallows and graham crackers, and we wrapped them up with a bar of Valrhona chocolate.

I thought I was going to use the graham cracker recipe from Whole Grain Baking, but I had a copy of Peter Reinhart's new book, Whole Grain Breads, checked out from the library, and there's also a graham cracker recipe in there. So I made both.

Both doughs were extremely easy to make and work with. I made both last night and refrigerated the dough overnight before baking. The crackers from Whole Grain Breads had a nicer color due to the addition to molasses, but they are also more wheat-y and heavy because they use graham flour (coarse whole wheat flour). The only source of fat is from the added milk, and there's also honey in there for sweetener. The crackers from Whole Grain Baking use a mixture of all-purpose, whole wheat and barley flours. I'm a big fan of barley flour. Sweetness comes from granulated and brown sugars, and there's also butter - mixed in cold, like in pie crust.

The winner was Whole Grain Baking. We liked the addition of butter and they just tasted nicer. They turned out kind of rustic looking since I don't have a dough docker. My only complaint is that the color is a bit pale, but that's easily fixed.

• Graham Crackers (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 167)
• Graham Crackers (Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, p. 296)

My whole grain baking marathon continues. Tonight it was 100% whole grain muffins - and no butter! These could actually be classified as healthy. There are chunks of crystallized ginger in the muffins. They're really tasty and are very light and airy and couldn't have been easier to make. Larry really liked these muffins.

• Gingered Oatmeal Muffins (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 40)

I picked up a cookbook at the library, King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. It's been nominated for a James Beard award, always a good sign when it comes to cookbooks.

This is a typical (and yummy) blueberry coffee cake. It's got a bit of all-purpose flour, but otherwise it's mostly oats, whole wheat pastry flour and white whole wheat flour. It's not something that should be eaten in place of more healthy foods, but instead a healthier version of an occasional treat. It was really delicious, and I can't wait to make more recipes from this cookbook.

• Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 68)

I usually order something from Niman Ranch for my dad for Christmas (this year was the steak lover's pack), but this year I also ordered a couple of rib-eye steaks for us to try. I like the principle of Niman Ranch, and I love their pork. The steaks were good, but I've had better. Lots of marbling and a they tasted a bit like grass-fed, although I don't think they were.

I made a quick pan sauce with shallots, beef stock, cognac and thyme. The carrots and potatoes were both very good, although I used medium-sized red potatoes this time. I definitley like small Yukon Golds better. The macaroons were especially for Jay. They were good but very moist - I think they probably should have cooked longer. The recipe for the carrots is also in Fine Cooking's Quick & Delicious 2006 special issue, and the macaroons are also in Fine Cooking's Chocolate 2006 special issue.

• Pan-Grilled Rib-Eye Steaks with Pan Sauce
• Glazed Carrots & Shallots with Thyme (Fine Cooking #55, January 2003, p. 54)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Chocolate Cherry Coconut Macaroons (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 84)

Wine: Rafanelli 2002 Cab (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent as usual. One of the better vintages for Rafanelli.

We gave out gifts of homemade treats to our neighbors for the holidays this year - some got Scottish shortbread and lemon curd (made with delicious Meyer lemons from one neighbor's tree), and some got homemade hot cocoa mix with marshmallows. Everything was pretty easy to make. Larry made the hot cocoa mix and I did everything else. I had a bit of a disaster on hand with the marshmallows (overflowing saucepan), but I got everything cleaned up and they turned out really good anyway.

• Thick Scottish Shortbread (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Marshmallows (Fine Cooking #36, January 2000, p. 47)
• Hot Cocoa Mix (Good Eats, Art of Darkness II: Cocoa)

I had ambitious plans to make sandwiches for lunch on Sunday. Sandwiches - ambitious? Yes, if they're made to order from Margaux Sky's cookbook, ..... This is a beautiful cookbook, with yummy-sounding breads and fillings and gorgeous photos. And I have a sandwich fetish, so it suits me well.

Recipes from this cookbook are ambitious. Directions are somewhat vague, so it's definitely not a book for beginners. I found myself guessing a lot.

The first step for the sandwiches was the bread. Salsa bread! It uses a white bread dough, with a homemade fresh salsa and pepper jack cheese rolled up inside. The recipe for the white bread dough calls for 16 CUPS of flour - it makes four loaves. The first thing I decided was to cut the recipe in half. Although I proofed my yeast prior to starting, I still worried that my yeast was dead when it didn't fizz in the mixture of warm milk and half-and-half. I fretted for a while, consulted some food science books, decided my liquids weren't warm enough and continued on.

Once I added the liquids to the flour mixure, the dough was a wet, goopy mess. Ick. Maybe a result of cutting the recipe in half, or because of interpretation - I always weigh my flour, instead of measuring. I use King Arthur Unbleached AP flour, at 4.25 oz. per cup. I kept adding flour, 2 oz. at a time, until the dough looked right - in total, I added another 8 oz. of flour. I wish all recipes called out flour by weight.

My first rising went fine, it got huge and I punched it down and cut it in half. Half went into the refrigerator for another use (hmm, spicy pepper jack bread?), and I used the other half for the salsa bread.

After rolling the dough up with the salsa (which is delicious, by the way) and the pepper jack cheese, it got another rising and was overflowing the loaf pan. My yeast had gone crazy. No matter, I baked it anyway, and it smelled and looked wonderful. After letting it cool, I cut a slice and tried it - yum! It's going to be great with our sandwiches. It's very heavy - probably that two cups of cheese and two cups of salsa. It's perfectly cooked, although I have an air bubble in the top. I thought it was odd that the recipe didn't say to slash the loaf. I almost did - but then decided to just follow directions and see how it turned out.

This is not an undertaking for the faint of heart.

• Salsa Bread (Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings: The Best Sandwiches in America, p. 16)

Jay was here for dinner, and I made Indian food for him and Larry. I don't make Indian food very much, and when I do, it's not really traditional Indian food - more like simple curries. I wanted to bake this weekend, so I figured I'd get my baking fix by making naan.

The chicken was good. Not super fantastic, must have again, but good. It was kind of a lot of work, and so much butter and cream. Which I usually don't shy away from, but it was really A LOT of butter and cream. I might make the chicken tikka on its own again, though.

The naan. Oh, boy, was I over-ambitious about making naan. It wasn't easy to make at all. The dough wasn't easy to handle. I wanted it smooth but not too dry, and I tried not to handle it too much, but it was difficult. My first two came out very mis-shapen (I cooked them in the oven on a pizza stone). I got the hang of it after that, and the rest came out beautifully... but I live in an area with a huge Indian population. No reason not to buy naan - and it's better than what I could make, too.

• Chicken Tikka Masala (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 70)
• Homestyle Indian Naan (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 47)
• Mixed Greens with Balsamic-Olive Oil Vinaigrette
• Double Ginger Pound Cake with Brown Sugar Mascarpone Whipped Cream (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 64)

Wine: Cinnabar 2003 Mercury Rising (California). This is a Bordeaux-type blend from a local Santa Cruz Mountains producer, and oh man is it good. We finished the whole bottle.

My second attempt at lemon-blueberry scones, these turned out much better than my last attempt. I used a different recipe this time, and fresh blueberries. The scones turned out delicate and very flaky, perfect with the lemon curd I made yesterday.

• Lemon-Blueberry Scones (Baking Illustrated, p.59)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)

I'm in Austin visiting Amy for a long weekend, and one of our favorite traditions is to make a batch of fondue together and eat it for lunch. We went back to the original recipe we used for our first fondue. Amy bought good cheese (Guryere, Appenzeller and Emmentaler) so it was especially tasty. We also made homemade Ciabatta, which turned out excellent - perfect texture, with big holes for the cheese to hide in. We made a whole recipe, and had leftovers, but half would have been fine.

Classic Swiss Three-Cheese Fondue

1 garlic clove, peeled
1 Cup dry white wine
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
8 oz Guyére chees, rind trimed and discarded, and shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)
8 oz Emmentaller cheese, rind trimed and discarded, and shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)
3 oz Appenzeller cheese, cut into small cubes (about 1/2 cup)
4 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp kirsch
A few gratings fresh nutmeg
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Rub the inside of a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan with the garlic; discard the garlic. Add the wine and lemon juice and bring it to a bare simmer over medium heat.

In a medium bowl, toss the Gruyére, Emmentaler, and Appenzeller cheeses with the cornstarch. A handful at a time, stir the cheese mixture into the wine, stirring the first batch until it is almost completely melted before adding another. The fondue can bubble gently, but do not boil. Stir in the kirsch and season with the nutmeg and pepper.

Transfer to a cheese fondue pot and keep warm over a fondue burner. Serve immediately, with dipping ingredients of your choice.

What to dip:
- Crusty mixed grain bread, French or Italian bread, cut into bite-sized cubes (leave a piece of crust on each cube)
- Cooked chicken breast, skin and bone removed, cut into bite-sized cubes
- Cooked garlic sausage or knockwurst, cut into bite-sized wedges
- Boiled new potatoes
- Asparagus spears, broccoli florets, or cauliflower florets, prepared for dipping

Variations:
French Gruyére Fondue: Substitute an additional 11 ounces Guryére cheese, rind trimmed and removed and shredded (about 3 1/4 cup) for the Emmentaler and Appenzeller cheeses, and Cognac or brandy for the kirsch.

Fondue Dionnaise: Stir 1 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard into the fondue. Substitute COgnac or brandy for the kirsch.

American Swiss Cheese Fondue: Domestic Swiss cheese is not as fully matured as imported Swiss cheese, but it can make a fine fondue. Substitute 1 pound domestic Swiss cheese, cut into tiny cubes, finely shredded, for the Gruyére, Emmentaler, and Appenzeller cheeses.

Wine Free Fondue: Substitute 1/2 cub chicken stock, preferrably homemade, and 1/2 cup milk for the wine. Do not add the lemon juice until the chicken stock and milk have come to a simmer.

Serves: 4-6

• Classic Swiss Three-Cheese Fondue (Fondue, Rick Rodgers, p. 18)
• Ciabatta (No Need to Knead, p. 49)

I made these cookies tonight - some for my friend Scott, and a few for Larry. I think Oatmeal raisin cookies are his favorite. Larry liked these a lot - they have a lot of brown sugar in them so they're moist and chewy. Scott said he liked them, too.

• Oatmeal Cookies (I'm Just Here for More Food, p. 198)

Larry dug through my Cheese Board Collective cookbook a couple of days ago, and marked this as something he'd like me to make. The intro to the recipe says that "small loaves of gingerbread are the perfect winter present". I made the loaves thinking they would be a nice hostess gift for tonight's Christmas party.

We tried one of the loaves while it was still barely warm. Yum! Larry really liked it. I think the loaves could have cooked a bit longer, but they weren't gooey inside. I'm becoming a big fan of molasses, and these loaves have just the right amount of spice.

• Gingerbread (The Cheese Board Collective Works, p. 141)

Larry requested soup for dinner. His only criteria was that he wanted turkey soup. My criteria was that it had to be something that I could make without a trip to the store. I make one substitution - shallots instead of leeks, but otherwise I had everything on hand. I used canned low sodium chicken broth since I'm out of homemade chicken broth and I didn't make turkey stock.

At any rate, it still turned out very nice. Refreshing, homey and tasty. I love the ginger and lemon in this soup. And it was ultra-simple - took me about a half hour to make, start to finish. I served it with the non-rising rolls from yesterday, which in the end turned out very nice. Larry really loved them.

• Turkey Soup with Ginger, Lemon and Mint (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 69)
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)

Wine: Lava Cap 2000 Reserve Zinfandel (Amador County, California). This was my making-dinner wine. Not bad.

It was just Larry and I for Thanksgiving this year. It's nice to have a crowd of people to feed, but I kind of enjoyed the relaxed pace of cooking. I didn't need to be done at any particular time, and I didn't have to stress about things like forgetting to make the spinach (whoops!).

- I modified the turkey this year, and tried a dry brine - basically just like the Zuni Roast Chicken. I wasn't especially impressed. Once again, brined turkey takes the prize. Next year I'm back to a traditional brine.
- I used a different brand of cider this year, and bleh! It was too sweet. I didn't like the color, either - it turned my pan juices a bit grey. I actually had to resort to Kitchen Bouquet to fix the color. The horror! Larry thought it turned out okay, though.
- My rolls didn't rise fast enough, so they weren't done in time for dinner. I'm positive my yeast is the problem, since I had the same issue with my multigrain bread. And the kitchen was like a sauna, a perfect environment for rising.
- I don't like pumpkin pie, and I've never successfully made a good one. I decided to lean on Fine Cooking once again, because it's hard to go wrong with their recipes. I love this crust recipe. It's the same one I use for my apple pie. It's easy to work with, delicious, and flaky. I had some problems with shrinkage when I blind baked the crust, but not too bad. The leaves browned more than I wanted, even with foil protecting them during the final baking. Larry gave the pie a thumbs-up.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Pureé of Yukon Gold Potatoes & Celery Root
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)
• Pumpkin Pie with a Leafy Rim (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 42)

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel. Oh, my. This is drinking really nice. It tastes a bit like a late harvest Zin, and it's not hot at all, even with 16.5 percent alcohol. We have four more bottles.

Have I mentioned how much I love The Bread Baker's Apprentice? It's such a wonderful cookbook. If only I was home more, I would bake bread all the time. This is the second bread I've made from this book.

I finally found some free time to make this bread, which I had picked out a long time ago as the second bread I wanted to make out of this book (the first was marbled rye). Amy tested the bread out a while ago and loved it.

I made my soaker on Saturday, and then set about making the bread on Sunday. I used milk instead of buttermilk (room temp). I had to add a lot of flour to the dough to make it just tacky (Amy had the same issue). My first proof was less than successful. Maybe too cool in the kitchen? I let it rise an extra 30 minutes, then shaped the dough. When I checked on it after an hour, it had barely risen. I decided to use my microwave as a proof box (I don't know why I didn't do this in the first place). After boiling some water in the microwave, I put the shaped dough in to rise. Finally after two more hours (double the time in the recipe), it had risen sufficiently for baking. It smelled wonderful when it came out of the oven.

This bread is perfect sliced and toasted. I was going to add some honey, but it was just so good plain. I think it would be good for sandwiches too.

• Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 187)

Amy and I made bread today - this was her first time making a yeasted bread. This is a really easy bread to make, and the dough is beautiful to work with. We made one freeform loaf, and one loaf in a loaf pan. The loaf took longer to bake.

We used first clear flour and powdered caramel color for the bread. Super tasty. And so much fun for us to make bread together.

• Marbled Rye Bread, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart, p. 183)

Larry and I both loved this cake. It's more crumb than cake - so yummy. I made it to eat for breakfast, but it's good at any time of day.

• Classic Crumb Cake (Fine Cooking #54, Holiday Baking Winter 2003, p. 47)

I'm taking the Advanced Essentials series of classes at Home Chef right now. I don't think I really need cooking classes, but I like to take them to get new ideas about what to cook and how to cook. Last week was the first class, on breads. We made brioche and an olive bread. I make it a practice during these classes to always do "homework", so this weekend I made a marbled rye bread. I left out the caraway seeds because Larry doesn't like rye bread that's too "rye".

Larry got me this cookbook for Christmas a couple of years ago. It's really well written, a gorgeous cookbook. The recipes are easy to understand, with lots of sidebar notes for clarification. The dough for this bread was a dream to work with. Really easy to make. I put one loaf in the refrigerator before the final proofing, and I'll bake it in the next couple of days. My dark marble isn't as dark as I'd like it, because I used a cocoa powder paste for the coloring instead of actual caramel color (I have some on order, though).

The bread turned out really yummy. We just had a slice with some butter, very very tasty.

• Marbled Rye Bread, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart, p. 183)

Larry and I had these scones on Saturday at The Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley. These are really, really good. The perfect balance of corn crunch and sweetness. They're more of a muffin than a scone, and they're very easy to make.

The Cheese Board Collective was formed in 1971. It's a fantastic shop located in Gourmet Ghetto (across the street from Chez Panisse). They have every cheese imaginable, and it's an adventure just going and waiting for your card to be called so you can taste cheeses that you want to buy. They also have a bakery, and two doors down there's a pizzeria, where they make only one kind of pizza per day (always vegetarian).

I tried out my new Villaware Panini Grill today. I made sandwiches for lunch - tomatoes, pesto, and sharp white cheddar cheese on sourdough bread. They were excellent. I also made some appetizers for Jay and Larry before dinner - just mushrooms, olive oil and salt on sourdough. I think they look really nice. Jay and Larry thought they were good, not fantastic.

- This bean salad is one of our summer staples. It's really good. I've never actually made the tuna confit part of the recipe - I just use albacore that I poach in olive oil, lemon slices, rosemary, salt and pepper.
- I absolutely loved these popovers. They were really easy and come together quickly in the blender. I'd like to try some of the variations - herbs, parmesan, etc. Jay and Larry thought they were okay, but they don't love popovers like I do.

• Cremini Mushroom Toasts (Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book, Nancy Silverton, p. 17)
  
• White Bean Salad with Fresh Tuna Confit (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 69)
  
• Popovers (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 44)
  
• Hearts of romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
  

Wine: David Coffaro 2002 Pinot Noir (Sonoma County, California). Good everyday Pinot. A bit young and closed, but nice.

Fiyaz was here for Thanksgiving. I made a huge turkey - almost 21 pounds, because we like to have the leftovers.

- I've never followed a recipe for roasting turkey until last year, when I found this recipe. I love the deep carmel gravy that it makes. I double the amount of apple cider and chicken broth in the recipe.
- My dressing is a family recipe. It's a traditional dressing, and I really like it. It's base is Mrs. Cubbison's dressing and cornbread stuffing - a pouch of each. It also has chicken stock, fresh sage, eggs, parsley, celery, butter, and onion.
- I wanted to make some potatoes that were a little different. These were good, and even better after they set up a bit.
- My obsession with finding a pumpkin recipe that I can stomach continues. I was unsure about the coconut milk in this recipe. Larry said he likes plain pumpkin pie better. Fiyaz liked the pie.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Potatoes Mousseline (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 41)
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)
• Pumpkin, Sweet Potato & Coconut Pie (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 75)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Croutons, Cherry Tomatoes, and Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing

Wine: Rafanelli 1998 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yum, and great with the dinner.

When I was in Austin last month, I had a sample of some Cottage Cheese-Dill bread when Amy and I went to Central Market. It brought back memories of my great-grandma Sophie's Dilly Bread. Ever since that trip, I've had the urge to make a batch. I had fresh dill, but I used dill seed in the bread. like my great-grandmother did. I did chop some of the fresh dill up and mix it with melted butter to brush on top of the bread when it was done.

The bread turned out good and brought back memories of my great-grandmother. Next time, I'll cook it slightly less.

• Dilly Bread (Sheri's Recipe Box)