Pretzels and a Cream Puff!

So one day I was talking with a friend through e-mail about baked goods, after I had left a comment on her blog, and I asked her if she'd ever (or was going to in her baking classes) made pretzels before. She hadn't, but she wanted to try them. So I suggested we find a recipe and each make a batch and then post about them on our blogs the same day. That friend is Ivonne. You might have heard of her? She's that extremely sweet and talented writer, baker and chef behind that lil blog some of you might be familiar with, Cream Puffs in Venice? Yeah.. that's the one!! I was very excited about the prospect and off I went in search of a good pretzel recipe. Ivonne did the same and after we got back to each other with what we'd found, we both agreed to make the recipe from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion and we set a date of November 19th to try it. It's the 19th! We've both made our pretzels and now it's time to share with our friends. I haven't seen Ivonne's post yet, but from what we've discussed through e-mail it sounds as if we had different experiences, so say the least. As I was telling her, mine worked out beautifully from the start all the way up to the opening of the oven door after baking time was up. It was only then that I thought maybe something went wrong. My finished pretzels ended up looking like pretzel shaped dinner rolls. And they had that kind of taste as well. More bready than pretzely (it's my new word). They were good, especially after the butter soaked in.. but they weren't what I was hoping for. Now Ivonne said her's turned out the complete opposite where her dough didn't rise much and they were very pretzely. So go figger. I can't wait to see hers! Here's mine along with the recipe. These were super easy to make and had my dear Hubbs allowed me to have just one more minute with them, I was planning on making a few with cinnamon/sugar - but he didn't give me that chance. I actually got 9 (yes some where bigger than others) pretzels out of my batch, there are 2 left. I had one. I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful I still have my fingers. I'd say he liked them! =) All twisty and ready to go in! They are pretty aren't they? But where are the holes?? hahaa =) You can find the recipe here and also at Ivonne's (Her pretzels are GORGEOUS! Well done, my friend! Well done! =))

King Arthur's Apple Dumplings

My sister is coming up from Toledo this weekend to spend 5 days with us - I'm so excited! I spoke with my Mom yesterday to see how we wanted to spend our time and she suggested that while I'm at work on Monday that she and my sister should take a drive out to our hometown and visit my lovely Auntie (who just celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday - Love You Auntie!) and that we should all meet back at my Mom's place for dinner Monday night. Sounded good to me.. Mommie's home cookin' Woo!! Then she asked if I'd make the dessert.. not a problem, I'd be happy to! She wants The Crisp. My infamous Apple Crisp that is so fakkin' addicting that it is hard not to eat the whole damn thing within 24 hours (I usually lose that battle). I couldn't not agree to do it as I always make what my Mom wants.. but I had plans to make it last night, so I had to find something else to make as there are too many apples in a 1/2 peck for even The Crisp and I didn't want them rotting on my dining room table. Okay so that's a big fat lie. Hubbs says those apples will last a good 2 weeks and we didn't have anything sweet in the house and I hadda have something, dammit. Hee! I keep hearing how the King Arthur flour company puts out some amazing recipes, so I went to their website yesterday to find something to bake. There is a long list of items made with apples, but as soon as I saw Apple Dumplings and checked out the recipe to see how involved it was, I knew I had to make them. I've only had 1 apple dumpling in my life - it was many, many moons ago and I remember how flaky the dough was and how delish the apples that were tucked inside were. The recipe was not very involved at all and I could have 8 fresh apple dumplings within an hour & a 1/2. Perfect! I've been using King Arthur flour for about a year now and I really do notice a difference, especially in my baking. Unfortunately though, no good flour was going to help this recipe. Hubbs was already sleeping by the time the dumplings were cooled off enough to eat, but I saw that some time during the night he got up and ate one - although I haven't had a chance to ask him yet this morning if he liked it or not. Just a sec... Okay he liked them. Huh. I thought for sure he would tell me he didn't. 'kay maybe this is all about me and my off taste buds. Well I can't even really say that, as they tasted really good.. but the dough was cakey and not flaky at all. I was hoping for more of a flaky pie crust dough. I hate a cakey dough - it's too heavy IMHO. I'm not bothering to type out the recipe but here is the link if you would like to try them. Again, flavor was delish.. and they are quite the lil stunners appearance wise. I was quite pleased with how they looked. The recipe was super easy - the only bitch I had was coring the apples, because I don't have a corer. The dough came together in just seconds in my processor and was easy to roll out and play with. The recipe suggested just cutting the apples in half, but I decided to slice each half into 4 slices per bundle because I thought it might help with cooking time. I was afraid the dumplings would burn by the time the apples cooked through. I don't know if it was because of cutting them or not, but the dumplings baked to a beautiful golden brown and the apples were tender. I'm going to try apple dumplings again - but next time I'm going to try a more flaky dough. Pictures below: The "before" picture.. aren't they adorable? :) The "after" picture.. goldeny brown and gorgeous! All plated and sauced up! Lil apples peeking out.. but look at that dough - cakey! Gah. Does anyone have a good flakey dough recipe for apple dumplings, by chance?