"We were together, I forget the rest..."

“My life used to be full of everything.  Now if you aren’t with me I haven’t a thing in the world.”      

- Earnest Hemingway

The past several days have been some of the best of my life.  Dreamlike, ethereal, and filled with a joy that can only be expressed through tawdry smiles and girlish giggling.

Nearly one year ago to the date, I turned down the love that was offered to me only to walk away wondering if I had made a foolish mistake.  Less than two weeks later, I realized that my best friend, who had accepted my refusal with such grace and kindness, was truly so much more.  And everything changed.

Last Thursday, this gentleman - my gentleman, and I trekked up a mountain in search of apples.  We soon found ourselves looking over a valley of gold and crimson treetops.  It was at that moment that my heart leapt with a combination of both incredible joy and anxiousness as I watched him shrink down on one knee and ask me to be his wife.  Though I could scarcely make sense of what he was saying, with teary eyes and a shaking hand I let him slip a promise onto my finger.  A dazzling, sparkly promise to be his now and always.  

I have known, or at least hoped, that I would be writing this very post for so many months and now that I sit here, words seem so empty.  Describing the most incredible day of your life is a formidable task, especially when I cannot hide my emotions behind a veil of butter or caramel. 

There were many months of trepidation before I finally allowed my tight grip upon my perfectly planned future to be loosened.  But at last I realized that the most wonderful of imagined futures can so easily distract and inhibit us from seeing the incredible happiness that sits next to us each Tuesday night.  Slowly and begrudgingly, I looked to the only one who could possibly write a better future for me than I had written for myself.  I’m so thankful that Someone, so much greater than I, loved me enough to ruin my plans.

photo by Matthew Dejesus

I’ll be back with more wonderfully fattening recipes soon but right now I have a ring to ogle.  

Sincerely, 

  Pedantic Foodie

{The 1st Meal} Cranberry Orange Muffins with Pecan Cinnamon Streusel

Happy almost weekend.  Are you ready for it?

I hope that you will eat at least half of the candy you bought before the children start ringing your doorbell.  I hope that you will throw aside all inhibitions and dress up like, well, whatever the heck you want and go out for a fancy dinner.  I hope that you will bake at least one new thing.  Perhaps these muffins?  You really should.

It’s almost Halloween and Pinterest tells me that I should be making cookies that look like spiders and severed fingers, but ew!  Not even going there.  

I will however, eat all your candy corn.  While we are on the subject, how do you eat your candy corn?  Do you eat it layer by layer?  Please say yes.

While I don’t go in for the Halloween-themed desserts, I am never opposed to making some season-appropriate treats to enjoy with my coffee while I pretend to be too grown up to gorge on Snickers bars.

These muffins are scented with orange zest, dotted with tart cranberries, and covered in a nutty, buttery, streusel topping.

These muffins are light, cakey, and incredibly moist.  Do not start counting how many you ate.  Just think about all the Snickers bars you resisted because you were too busy buttering muffins.

This weekend, soften some butter, bake a batch of muffins, brew a pot of coffee and have a leisurely breakfast while the morning light is bright and the air is still crisp.  This is how we bid farewell to October.  She’s been good to us. 

Stop eating candy for a few minutes and begin well.

Happy weekending! 

Sincerely, 

  Pedantic Foodie

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Cranberry Orange Muffins with Pecan Cinnamon Streusel Topping

makes 1 dozen / recipe adapted from Culinary Institute of America’s Baking at Home

for the streusel topping

    - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    - 1/4 cup pecans, chopped finely

    - 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

    - 1/4 cup brown sugar

    - 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Combine flour, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Use a fork to work in butter, forming a rough crumble.

for the muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• zest of one navel orange 
• 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a twelve cup muffin pan with muffin cup liners.  

In a medium bowl, sift to combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk to combine milk, vanilla, and egg.  

In a large bowl, use a hand-mixer to beat butter on high speed for one minute.  Add sugar and beat for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in orange zest.  Slowly incorporate milk and flour mixtures in small increments, alternating between the two while mixing on low speed.  Fold in fresh cranberries. 

Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to divide the batter among the muffin cups.  

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with about a tablespoon of streusel mixture.  Press down slightly to ensure that the streusel sticks to the top of the muffin.  

Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are deep golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Enjoy!

Chewy Molasses Cookies with Apple Cider Caramel

Friends, I give you the quintessential October cookie.  It’s the cookie that will get you through the transition from the splendor of October to the craziness of the holidays.  It’s my second favorite cookie ever and it helped me through many a spelling lesson. 

When I was in middle school my mother graciously asked a friend to help tutor me in spelling.  It was my biggest struggle.  English spelling is unkind to those of us who are stringent rule-followers.  Though I am still a less than fabulous speller (read: pretty bad but that’s why I have a dictionary), one part of those Sunday afternoon lessons was never forgotten. 

My tutor would bring with her a plate full of soft, chewy, lightly spicy molasses cookies to brighten up our lessons.  These cookies, along with the “International Delight” instant coffee-flavored beverages (which are basically the best thing ever when you’re nine) made spelling lessons a true treat.

Though the lessons are a thing of the past, the utter perfection of those cookies remains fresh in my memory.  Each Fall the craving returns and I know it is time to buy some molasses and preheat the oven. 

I greatly prefer molasses cookies to ginger snaps (which, let’s face it, are pretty similar in flavor) for one reason - the texture.  Though hard and crunchy is appropriate for some cookies, I firmly believe that a dark, spicy cookie needs to be soft, and chewy.

Though it was not necessary, I decided to bump my molasses cookies up a bit this year by drizzling them with apple cider caramel sauce.  Yeah.  I’m putting caramel on everything these days.  It’s Autumn, I just can’t help myself.

The cider adds a bit of tang to the dark, bitter caramel and it melds perfectly with the sweet, spicy cookie. 

Serving recommendation: Cold cider, warm cookies, fuzzy socks, Jimmy Fallon clips on youtube.  The End.

Mama, thank you for those spelling lessons that, if nothing else, helped me find my cookie soulmate.  He’s everything I’ve dreamt of - soft, sweet, and spicy.  Eew, that got weird.  I think I should go now. Bye.

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Chewy Molasses Cookies with Apple Cider Caramel

makes 3 dozen cookies / recipe adapted from Paula Deen

for the caramel

• 3/4 cup apple cider
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

In a small saucepan bring apple cider to a boil over medium high heat.  Boil for 10-15 minutes, until the cider has reduced by two thirds.  You will be left with 1/4 cup of reduced cider.  

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, butter and water.  Place over medium heat and stir until the butter melts and the sugar begins to dissolve.  Once the sugar has dissolved increase heat to medium high and boil, without stirring, until the caramel is deep amber in color, about 5-7 minutes.  Swirl the pan occasionally but DO NOT stir or scape down the sides.  Once the color is correct remove from heat and add vanilla, cinnamon, cider, and heavy whipping cream.  Be careful as the caramel will steam and splatter.  Return the pan to the burner and stir until the caramel is smooth and homogenous.  Allow to cool to room temperature before drizzling over the cookies. 

for the cookies

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup molasses 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar 

Sift to combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Set aside.  

In the work bowl of your stand mixer combine butter and brown sugar.  Beat for 1-2 minutes; until fluffy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add egg.  Beat until well combined.  With the mixer on medium speed, add molasses and mix until smooth.  Slowly incorporate in flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  The dough should be a bit dry, but sticky.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.  

Use a 1-ounce scoop to portion the dough into balls.  Roll each ball in granulated sugar and place on a lined baking sheet.  Use the palm of your hand to flatten the cookies slightly.  Bake for 12 minutes.  The cookies will look slightly underdone in the center - this is perfect.  If you over-bake these cookies they will lose their chewy texture.  Allow to cook on wire racks before drizzling with caramel.  Enjoy!