Festive Baking
Labels: she bakes
Thursday, October 12, 2006
I've been thinking of what to bake for Christmas this year. Yes, I know it's only October but I've been playing around with the idea of a fruit cake. The recipe I have requires the cake to be aged with rum for a month before consumption. And since the recipe hasn't been tried yet, I guess I should get going by next week for a trial run to work out the potential kinks.
In addition to the cake, I will be making a Festive Bread Ring too. Here's one I did for my mother-in-law's annual Easter brunch this year:
I shall substitute the eggs with Christmas themed decorations of course. Call me a snob or purist but when it comes to bread making, I still do all the kneading by hand. I refuse to have a breadmaker at home. I think it just defeats the purpose. If I wanted machine-made bread, I would just go to the bakery and pick up a loaf. No?
I love making this ring. For one thing, the aroma emitting from the oven during baking is heavenly. On top of the freshly baked bread scent, you are hit with a blend of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg spices. It's best to eat this warm, when the bread is soft and fluffy and its filling of spice, brown sugar and dried fruit are just that teensy bit runny and moist. Yummy! Just don't forget that cup of strong tea or coffee!
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 5:06 am
