Holiday Baking

There's a chill in the air, football games have started and Thanksgiving is 16 days away!  OK, so my chill is from the AC because it's 89 degrees in Miami. November is the my time to lose myself in flour, butter, eggs, chocolate chips, chocolate squares, pumpkin puree, lemon zest, chopped nuts and so on.  I've always loved to bake and I have the collection of cookbooks and baking gadgets to prove it.   From making Dunkin Hines brownies in my tweens with my sister in our Connecticut kitchen, I have graduated to making exquisitely decorated maple leaf sugar cookies and perfectly kneaded and risen breads. The flour sifter, measuring cups/spoons, thousands of recipes and hundreds of unsalted sticks of butter have been the ones to usher in the end-of-the-year holidays for my family.  But with all the "experiments" I have done, the two creations most loved by the family are "Pumpkin Roll" and "Da Bomb Peanut Butter Toffee-licious Cookies".  The pumpkin roll recipe was given to me by Helen Joy, a long time friend.  The recipe was her grandmother's and its the best in my humble opinion.  It has minimal tweaking by me.  Da Bomb PB cookies are just that...da bomb! This is a compilation of different PB, toffee and chocolate chip cookies reciepes from my vast resources.  My husband and son devoured a whole batch in less than 12 hours.  So pre-set that oven to the required degrees, put on your apron, pour a glass of your favorite wine, play some Christmas music and get baking!

The Count’s Soon to be Favorite Caramel Apple

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, over many quaint and curious cyberworld volumes for a perfect caramel apple recipe, the light bulb went on! I said to my self “Self, is there a wine caramel apple recipe out there?” And the answer is a spoocktacular and banshee wailing “Yes!” Be still my tell-tale heart! It’s sort of Halloweenie-fitting that the Red Wine Carmel Apple recipe comes to us in the death throes of the last issue of Gourmet which was instituted in 1941. This month’s announcement from parent company Conde Nest, illustrates the changing trends in the epicurean world due to a fledgling economy. Lavish is out, green and thrifty is in. And this is not a bad thing. I did try 2-3 recipes from Gourmet, but always had to look for some exotic or obscure ingredients that sent the cost of preparing the dish somewhat beyond my meager means. Sometimes the simpler & less time consuming recipes will allow you more time to banter and actually enjoy your meal with friends and family. So tonight, my fellow ghoulie gourmets, I will be actually making this recipe for my Favorite Count (wink, wink, Santos!). I will be using a Rosemount 2005 Shiraz (left over from Erica & Bruce’s wedding) and I will be cutting the apples into wedges and pouring the wine caramel sauce over the slices to save time. This culinary delight will then be enjoyed with tonight’s viewing of the Hitchcock 1963 classic “The Birds”. This will be my precursor to All Hallows Eve and to how Stephen King so eloquently stated “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” Here’s to living, my friends!