use real butter

Recipe: chocolate gingerbread pancakes

People react to tragedy in different ways, and we were reminded of this on Friday morning when shock and despair rippled through our collective consciousness. I shed tears for people I didn’t know – victims, survivors, families, a community – and later more tears for my friend whose little nephew was lost in the shooting. You can do something or you can do nothing, but we all have a choice here and my hope is that we will think carefully and clearly about that choice.

I have experienced loss, but I am no expert. I seek solace in nature, a place so cold and indifferent and yet almost painfully beautiful. The world continues around you, no matter what has happened, and I find comfort in that. It helps me to pick myself up and continue. I thought I’d share some of the beauty in my corner of the world from a weekend that left so many of us heartsick.

an especially bright meteor from the geminids shower early friday morning

two meteors within 30 seconds of one another

a lovely red fox hiding out in the yard

We spent the weekend hosting a dear high school friend of mine and his wonderful wife at our house. It’s so nice to spend an entire evening catching up and sharing with people you love and admire, but rarely get to see in person. We curled up on couches under warm quilts, eating dessert, bonding over any topic and every topic. The following morning was Mitch’s birthday and Shannon clued me in on his favorite breakfast treat – pancakes. Imagine this Harvard-trained world-traveling consultant-do-gooder gourmand sitting down to a stack of pancakes and clapping his hands together like a little kid. Just one of many reasons why I love Mitch.

happy birthday, sweetie

I am not a breakfast person, and I think most of you knew that. But isn’t there something awfully special about pancakes? I sort of feel that pancakes bring out the kid in all of us. They are like breakfast presents for children – both the small and the big children. Morning happiness on a plate. An act of love. I’m thinking Saturday mornings in your pajamas eating pancakes with sticky syrup and watching favorite cartoons with nary a care in the world. I equate pancakes with childhood… precious childhood. Let’s make some pancakes.

eggs, molasses, brown sugar, spices, flour, chocolate, butter, buttermilk, leavenings

While I don’t indulge in pancakes very often, I do enjoy a fluffy buttermilk pancake from time to time – preferably with fruit inclusions. But sometimes you have to go a little wild and change things up. As I flipped through my copy of Desserted, my eyes locked onto a recipe for chocolate gingerbread pancakes. How Decemberish!

mix the dry ingredients

mix the wet ingredients

add chocolate (i swear this isn’t dessert)

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: homemade orange milano cookies

It snowed this weekend. It.Finally.Snowed. I don’t mean a dusting of white stuff either, because when I say snow I mean “skiable” snow. At first it came down in big fluffy flakes all day Friday.

at first kaweah didn’t notice

then it started to accumulate on her schnoz

sniffing the air – winter is here!

There were some strong winds blowing which sent most of the snow into the next county for a couple of days. But Sunday morning we woke to a familiar glow through our windows – the glow of freshly fallen snow covering everything. It was 8°F and completely calm. Magical conditions. The snow was feathery and dry. I’ve been waiting since September (okay, really since May) to feel the familiar glide of skis on snow under my feet. I am recharged.

perfect snow

ski touring our local mountains

Two summers ago, Jeremy and I were in Washington state to visit with good people and backpack in Olympic National Park. We enjoyed an amazing lunch at Sitka and Spruce with my friend, Lara Ferroni. She told us about a book she was working on – making all of those favorite snacky junk foods of our youth from scratch without all of the junk. I told her I would love to see a copy when she was finished.

my review copy arrived in the post a few months ago courtesy of sasquatch books

Lara’s book was a traipse through my childhood memories of Twinkies, Chocolate Cupcakes, Ding Dongs, Oreos, Doritos, Goldfish crackers, Hot Pockets, potato chips, tater tots, and so much more. She manages all of these with normal ingredients and without preservatives, artificial colorings, or artificial flavors. In addition to the healthier recipes for these snacks, she provides gluten-free, as well as vegan, versions. At the back of the book she includes recipes for some basic pantry staples like confectioner’s sugar, sweetened condensed milk, marshmallow crème, and even sprinkles! I let Jeremy choose the recipe to make, since he was going to be eating them. He went with the Chocolate and Orange Wafers (aka orange milanos).

flours, powdered sugar, chocolate, salt, baking powder, butter, eggs, cream, orange (zest), vanilla extract

zest and juice the orange

sift the flours, salt, and baking powder

Lara gives lots of options on ingredients like white whole wheat flour, spelt flour, ground millet, all-purpose flour, and cake flour. I went with what I had on hand at the time (all-purpose and cake flours) for the cookies, but there is a good deal of flexibility so you can experiment with healthier mixes.

beat the powdered sugar and butter together

adding egg whites

beating in the orange juice

add the dry mix, beating until just combined

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: cranberry yogurt coffeecake

Our local sunset is now some time around 4:15 pm, because we have that giant wall of the Continental Divide as our western horizon. It sneaks up on you rather quickly and sometimes the best you can do is to admire it from the road or while you’re working or maybe even miss it altogether. But when it’s good it is awesome and I love watching the progression from yellow to orange to pink.

lighting up a wave cloud

turning orange

and pink

I’ve been spending time with my folks this week. They like to feed us when they are in Boulder. I think that’s a parent thing. I feel a little like a parent with my parents these days… bringing them groceries, making sure they have what they need, having them up to stay with us, planning outings that will be of interest, setting up play dates, and telling Dad when to use his inside voice.

dinner at mom and dad’s place

a visit to the denver art museum

seeing the fantastic “becoming van gogh” exhibit

[You really ought to see the Van Gogh exhibit at the Denver Art Museum if you are anywhere near the state of Colorado from now until January 20, 2013.]

It happens every year after Thanksgiving, that people post about eating their leftovers. I skip over much of it because I have a fairly cool relationship with turkey. But then there are the cranberries. I hoard cranberries. Organic whole cranberries only come around once a year and I buy several bags to store in my freezer. I love these tart little jewels and the brilliant color is simply mesmerizing. I make cranberry sauce for the sole purpose of having “leftover” cranberry sauce.

cranberries and sugar

just 15 minutes until you have…

cranberry sauce

A recipe for cranberry coffeecake caught my eye on the King Arthur Flour site over the weekend and I knew it was meant to be. Coffeecake says “casual” to me. Nothing fancy, but always good. I like the single pan dealio and love how versatile it is as a dessert, as a breakfast, for a snack, to go with tea and of course… coffee.

streusel ingredients: vanilla, butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt

mix it together

crumbly goodness

**Jump for more butter**