Friday, January 29, 2010

Quiltin' 'n' bakin'

When it finally got light enough to look outside at the thermometer this morning, it was a mere 4 degrees. I heard the wind howl all night, so I imagine the wind chill factor was pretty low. Even though it was sunny, it was a good day to stay in, bake and quilt! I started sandwiching the Dear Jane Christmas swap quilt yesterday, so finished pinning this morning and got right to it.

Took a little break mid-morning to get the slow rise bread on its way to a second rise. I made this a few days ago and wasn't happy with the result. With new yeast, perhaps it would be better. We had it for dinner tonight, and I think I will move on to a new recipe. The beauty of this one was that it didn't need kneading and could rise for 18-24 hours before tipping it into a pan to rise and bake. No problem - I also made some delicious chocolate chip cookies! Here's the recipe:

(adapted from "America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book" by the editors at America's Test Kitchen)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (I actually had it at 350) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
Melt 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter. When cool, beat in 1 c. brown sugar and 1/2 c. white sugar until smooth. Beat in an egg, an egg yolk, and 2 t. vanilla.

Add to bowl: 1/2 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, and 2 cups plus 2 T. all-purpose flour. Mix very well and add 1 1/2 c. of chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets, and bake 15-20 min. Allow cookies to cool slightly on baking sheets before moving them to a rack to cool completely (if you can stand to let them sit uneaten for that long). Makes about 3 dozen chewy cookies.


I did quilt on the Christmas Jane on and off all day, and even sewed the binding around. But I think it needs a little more quilting on the borders, which I will attempt tomorrow afternoon. Still, I am happy to be almost finished with the quilt I was hoping to finish before Thanksgiving!

1 comment:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

cookie recipe sounds good, different than mine, I haven't done one where you melt the butter first. I will need to try it. Great that you got quilting done on a cold day. It has been cold and snowy out today, I'm not sure how much snow but been at it since 11 AM! At least we didn't get as much ice as they feared.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/