Today's baking

involved making a new-to-me type of bread.

Telephone, telephone

Baking post
(Some days I just can't come up with a catchy title it would seem. Is this better? Hmm, maybe not, but it gets to stay.)


Many, many years ago, sometime in mid-December I came across a recipe that I decided to make for my family. DTY asked what it was called and I told her it was named "Christmas Morning Bread."
"Christmas Warning Bread! Why didn't you tell me Christmas was coming?!" There was a bit of panic in her voice, to be quite honest. (A bit unusual for this child to panic, for the most part. Normally she is pretty mellow and laid back, especially when she was five or six. Well, as long as she wasn't on a soccer field, but that is a different story.)
"DTY, do you remember that we have been lighting Advent Candles for a couple of weeks? That would be your warning," said the older sister, while I added, "Christmas Morning, sweetheart."
"Oh, OK. That's different, and it's Advent, not Christmas."
So, that is how it came to be known as "Christmas Warning Bread" around our house and has been known to be severed served either on the first Sunday of Advent or sometime during the first week when the kids were younger (and home).
(Because there is no way I would ever dare breaking the regular Christmas Morning Tradition. One year I made Carrot Cake instead of Applesauce Raisin Spice cake and I was informed that Jesus' favorite was the Applesauce one. Some traditions just shouldn't be messed with. Which is OK, it is one of my favorites too.)
So, just in case you need to give your family a warning, or something new on Christmas morning (if you don't have traditions to worry about), I will leave you with the recipe.

Christmas Warning Bread
24 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold
3 egg whites (or two eggs, or equal egg substitute)
1/3 cup liquid Hazelnut Coffee Creamer
6 TBS melted butter
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
2 TBS sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup
powdered sugar

Spray a Bundt Pan with non-stick spray.
Cut rolls in half to form 48 pieces. Mix all other ingredients except for powdered sugar together in a bowl. Dip each roll piece into mixture and distribute evenly into prepared Bundt pan. Cover and refrigerate remaining egg/coffee creamer mixture for later. Cover Bundt pan with plastic wrap and let rise to top of pan(about 4 hours-depending on temp of kitchen). Preheat oven to 350°F.
Remove plastic wrap and bake for 5 minutes. Quickly pour remaining mixture over rolls and continue baking for 30 minutes or until browned (do not under bake). Remove and immediately invert onto a serving platter. Wait 5 minutes before removing pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, slice to serve and pass additional maple syrup if desired.
(One could, of course, use a different flavored coffee creamer; personally I wouldn't use Peppermint Mocha. Pumpkin Spice would be good though.)

Addendum
I meant to mention that you can make this up the night before to the point of leaving to rise, and after covering it in plastic wrap, you can put it in the 'fridge overnight and take it out to finish rising in the morning. I just don't remember how long it needs to rise if you do that. Probably at least an hour to an hour and a half. (I haven't made this for years and every kitchen is different.)

Have you ever noticed

how cool certain features of computers are? How you come to rely on them being there? Rely on them so much that you pretty much forget that they are there until they don't work right? (Kind of like breathing?) Really, really cool features, like an "Enter" key? Seriously, how often do you use yours? I bet you don't even realize how much, it is so automatic to expect it to work. I can assure you, I had no idea until mine stopped working this week. Well, if I poke it repeatedly (and with a little bit of extra gusto than usual), it will work, but I am well aware that this is not a very good idea; apparently it will also work if I just push down hard enough on it. I, however, do not normally employ that method of keystrokes when using Miss Kaylee. I bet if the person she was named after was here, she could fix it. Since I really don't expect her to be stopping by for a visit anytime soon, I will be waiting for Hubband to get home next week to take a look. In the meantime, he has suggested I grab one of the keyboards out of his office to use. The keyboard is bigger than the computer, and noisier (no wonder I can hear typing above my head all day long). Plus there really isn't that much room for it on a permanent basis. Right now it is in my lap, but there are several other things that belong there instead. Fortunately, only one of them complains. DTY says we might be able to re-rout the "Shift" key below it to be an "Enter" key, but I am not sure my brain is up to learning a new keyboarding style.

Fortunately, it is able to move on to other topics, mostly for self-preservation.

Sometimes there are artifacts of our childhood that bring back great memories. It is interesting how we often acquire similar ones in our adulthood that become the childhood artifacts for the next generation. I am hoping that the one from my childhood will get to come live at my house someday. DTE has already told me she wants hers.

Happy Dance!

So the doorbell has rung twice already today, and it hasn't even been the postman. The first time was the DHL guy with Hubband's new monitor. No happy dance for that, at least as far as I am concerned, but I know he was pretty happy about it.
The second doorbell ring was the FedEx guy bringing us potatoes. That is a major Happy Dance box in my book. Fresh Idaho potatoes! Having grown up in the major potato growing area of Idaho, I tend to be a bit picky about where the russets on my table come from, and how old they are. (BTW, if you were eating Idaho russets in September, they were a year old.) Yep, I am fairly easy to please.
So I suppose you are wondering why these have shown up here on our doorstep. We didn't order them and no one in our families sent them to us. They were a gift from some Boy Scouts, to Hubband and DTY. Something about rescuing the Boy Scout's stuff in a rainstorm last summer while backpacking. I'll see if I can get Hubband to write up the story here for you folks. It is a good dead paid back in yummy food. Guess what we are having for dinner tonight? (Yes, everything has to be inspected. I just didn't catch Simon and Sadie giving the box the once over.)

This is a quick picture of one of the tings I did with myself on Saturday. French Onion Soup Bread ready to go into the oven.
FOSB and Multi-grain bread cooling after hanging out in the toasty oven.
More to come soon! (More kitten updates, more dog updates, more yarn and knitting updates. Yep, in general more.)
Oh, and thanks so much for all the wonderful Happy Birthday wishes! I loved them all!