Cookies

I made these pumpkin cookies today, minus the frosting and with one addition: saffron. (Well, also another small addition of barley malt syrup instead of the last 1/4 cup of sugar. And I left out all the spices, since my pumpkin puree was already spiced. But the main twist is a pinch of saffron threads right into the dough while I was mixing it.)

I think saffron is addicting. Sorry, baby girl; I hope you don't come out beautifully orangish-tinted. But I'm already planning to make paella (since it uses saffron) very soon....

right before I ate two of them...

Homemade Bagels

This is not something I would have ever thought of making, but the other day when Jason got home early from work, he made some dough. And the whole bagel-making process, although it has lots of steps, isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Well worth it, considering that they're the best bagels I've ever had! As long as Jason keeps doing most of the work. :)

boil and then bake

dense but extremely good

Challah bread

Fortunately Jason doesn't have a baking-with-yeast phobia like me, so tonight we have four loaves of fresh challah bread fresh out of the oven! He got home early yesterday and made the dough, then today I had the tough job of getting it out of the fridge so it could rise at room temperature for a couple hours. When he got home he rolled out the dough, braided strands into loaves, I put on the egg wash, and now we have really awesome-looking/smelling/tasting bread.

I think he should come home from work early more often....