Now that Mike has been homebrewing for almost three years, he’s turned me into a kind of beer snob.  Not that I drink beer much, but I am now much more appreciative of the many different tastes that beer can offer in contrast to the standard American lagers like Budweiser, etc.  A few years ago Mike introduced me to a style of beer called “Lambic”, which is a Belgian beer traditionally made with fruit added during the secondary fermentation.  Lindeman’s Framboise is such a Belgian lambic, which has been fermented with raspberries thus producing a rose-pink colored beer, with a slightly sour raspberry taste.  After giving the baking challenge a little thought I decided to make a chocolate cake with Framboise since I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry.

Lambic Bottle

Using a recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen for a Chocolate Stout Cake that she turned into a bundt cake, I replaced the stout with Framboise and made the necessary adjustments for my above 6,000 foot altitude.

Chocolate Framboise Cake:

1 cup Framboise

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (reduced 1 1/2 sticks – 3/4 cups for high altitude)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour (increased to 2 1/4 cups for high altitude)

2 cups sugar (reduced to 1 1/2 cups for high altitude)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter or spray a bundt pan.

Bring 1 cup Framboise and butter to simmer in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from the heat and add the cocoa powder, whisking until it is smooth.  Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to blend.  Beat eggs and sour cream with hand-mixer or stand mixer to blend.  Add the beer-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat to combine.  Add the flour mixture and mix briefly on a low speed until blended and then fold the batter with a spatula until completely combined.  Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean – about 45 minutes at high altitude and less for sea level – about 35 minutes.  Allow cake to cool completely in the pan and then turn it out onto cake plate or rack.  I drizzled mine with chocolate Ganache and finished it with fresh raspberries.

The chocolate cake with Framboise produced a wonderful cake with a raspberry taste that is not overpowering but seems to bring out the chocolateness of the cake.  The evening that I finished the cake was an evening that Mike and one of his homebrewing buddies, Chris, were at our house planning their next brew day.  I served it up to my husband and his fellow beer snob, hoping that it would meet their expectations.  As Mike said after he took his first few bites, “Bring a diaper, because you are going to crap your pants.”  Ah…sheer poetry from the hubby! How nice!

So far in the wedding cake try-outs we’ve had a Sour Cream Filled Bundt Cake, a Caramel Peanut Cake, a Sourdough Chocolate Cake, a Lemon-Raspberry Cake, a Chocolate Ganache Whipping Cream Cake, and a Sourdough Almond Raspberry Cake.  The bride and groom have tried every one and have tried several of the cakes more than once.  We seem to be narrowing down what they like and perfecting each of those that they really like.  The hits so far have been the Sourdough Chocolate Cake, with a combination whipping cream/cream cheese frosting and coconut on the outside and the Sourdough Almond Raspberry Cake.

Here’s the problem, both of these cakes involve chocolate.  We’ve decided after several tries that the Sourdough Raspberry Almond Cake tastes best with a smattering of both chocolate Ganache and whipping cream in between the layers.  So that still leaves me without a “chocolate-free” option.

I decided that perhaps I should return to lemon cake, but find a different version of than the one I made previously.  I also thought I would try making up a sourdough lemon cake, just like I had with the Sourdough Almond Raspberry Cake.  In my searches I found just the cake recipe to get me excited about experimenting with another cake – a recipe for a Meyer Lemon Cake with Lavender Cream.

I decided that I would just follow the “idea” of the recipe (it’s impossible to get Meyer lemons here) and make a Sourdough Lemon Cake, use the recipe’s lemon curd filling and make a lavender whipping cream frosting.  The original recipe calls for a dusting of powdered sugar and the lavender cream for “dipping” instead of frosting and you know me – I like to go whole hog on the whipping cream!

This week I began attempt number one at this new cake.  It was fun to try, didn’t come out perfect, and I definitely have some things that I can work on next time.

First I made my usual sourdough cake batter and allowed it to ferment.  Then I creamed sugar, lemon zest and butter in a bowl.  I then added just a touch of lemon juice to the butter and baking soda and salt to the sourdough batter.  Then I alternately added the sourdough batter and 2 eggs until the mixture was well blended.  After that I put the batter into two 9-inch cake pans that had been buttered and lined with parchment paper and baked them.  The cake baked up fine, if a bit low, and so I went ahead and made the lemon curd for the filling.

After the lemon curd was finished I began work on the lavender whipping cream.  I crushed a tablespoon of dried lavender flowers with my mortar and pestle:

And then brought them to a low boil in a pan with heavy cream:

After that I removed the pan from the heat and strained out the lavender.  I learned that this needs to be done not just with a normal strainer, but with either cheesecloth or in my case, a flour sack cloth. Otherwise, the cream takes on the look of cream with dirt flecks in it and that does not look tasty.  The lavender steeped cream then went into the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Later that day I spread all of the lemon curd in between the two cake layers and then began beating the whipping cream in my stand mixer.  When I thought that the cream had reached the “stiff peak” consistency I stopped the mixer, threw the whisk into the sink and began frosting the cake.  I quickly learned that I had not beaten the cream enough, as it was sliding off of the cake!  So I put the bowl back on the mixer, washed the blade and began beating the cream… again.  Here’s where I made my big mistake, I set the mixer on high and walked away to do some more dishes.  When I came back to the mixer my cream had become chunky and had begun to curdle.  Trust me, there were some words said that I was glad that the children weren’t around to hear…

At that point, I had to give up on the cake and let it sit overnight until I had a chance to make it to the grocery store the next day for some more cream.  I made a second batch, watching the mixer more carefully this time, and finally got the job done and the cake entirely frosted.  I’m thinking that this cream might curdle a little more quickly than normal cream because of the boiling process, so I’ll have to be careful every time I make this cake.

The cake itself tastes great, with the bright, even slightly sour, taste of the cake and the curd contrasting so wonderfully with the lavender whipping cream.  The cake was a little “spongy” as Mike described it, and so I’ve decided just to make a normal lemon cake, perhaps even the one from Dorie Greenspan’s book next time I make the cake.  I feel like I’m putting my sourdough to enough good use for the wedding with the chocolate cake and the raspberry almond cake.  I might cut more layers in the cake, spread the lemon curd out a little more thinly (it’s pretty zingy the first day) and might add some of the lavender whipping cream in between the layers as well.  And I’m going to try some different things with the lavender whipping cream to try and make it a little less likely to turn into butter.

All-in-all I really like this cake and am excited to make it again next weekend, when I will be bringing it to a dinner party at the bride and groom’s house.  Here’s hoping that the second attempt turns out even better!

Then a few weeks ago my mother called me all excited about an episode of The Barefoot Contessa that she had just watched. Apparently Ina Garten makes a delicious Mocha Icebox Cake, and uses a spring form pan – hooray! – no more delicate loaf making! Ina, who is not afraid of fat (yay!) also adds marscapone, kahlua, cocoa powder, etc. to her whipping cream – yum!

So when this month’s Have the Cake challenge turned out to be Icebox Cake I jumped at the chance to make my own version of Ina Garten’s icebox cake. As much as I love the sound of it, I skipped the marscapone, and because I was taking the cake to a dinner party with kids (including my own) I also skipped the espresso powder and kahlua.

My version goes like this:

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer mix until it forms stiff peaks:

3 cups of heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup of sugar

2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder (I used the really nice Dutch stuff)

1 tsp vanilla extract

I lined the side of my spring form pan with butter and then parchment paper.  On the bottom of the pan I made a layer of chocolate wafers (the Nabisco “Famous Chocolate Wafers”), filling in any holes between the round cookies with broken cookies.  I then spread 1/5th of the whipping cream mixture on top and continued layering until there were 5 layers of cookies, each covered with whipping cream.

Layering the icebox cake

After the cake had spent 24 hours in the refrigerator I grated dark chocolate and white chocolate on top for a finishing touch.  Here’s the finished product, ready for devouring:

Finished cake

The cake was pretty on the outside and on the inside and tasted absolutely delicious:

Yummy!

We completely decimated the cake, several people going back for seconds (including myself).  I love my new version of icebox cake and may never go back to the old loaf again.  So delicious!

Labor 1

Labor 2

However, this summer, things like these have been the fruits of my labors in the kitchen:

Summer Labors

Pictured above is some of what I have been laboring over this summer; in the center are peach turnovers, and then from the left is peach jam, peach butter, bread-and-butter pickles, dill pickles and pasta sauce. Besides what is shown above I have also made a batch of raspberry jam (all of it either eaten or given away by now), peach pie, strawberry rhubarb crisp, and I have a peck of pears that I plan on using for a batch of pear/applesauce for canning this week.

For the past few summers my sister and I divided between our families an organic fruit share provided by Grant Farms.  Each week, starting in July and going generally through to November, we get a ration of whatever fruit is ripe locally.  This year we signed up for the “double” fruit share and also a half preserving share.  The preserving share was 5 shares of whatever we chose – fruit or vegetable, in a large quantity (generally about 20+ lbs).  So far we have gotten 4 of our shares: rhubarb, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peaches.

One of the things that I remember most about summer when I was a child were the days that my mother would can peaches.  She would buy an entire bushel and spread them out on the floor of our basement on a white sheet and then when they ripened she would spend a day (or more) canning the peaches.  The entire house would smell deliciously of ripe peaches and then the kitchen would be unbearably hot while my mother blanched and canned them all.  I carry with me a vision of her deftly sliding peach halves into quart jars that would delight us all winter.

But until recently, canning and preserving have eluded me; partially because when my mother did it canning seemed like a real chore.  Last summer I made apricot jam and canned on my own for the first time.  This summer I have been a canning fiend and feel that I have finally gotten the hang of it.  One day a few weeks ago my mother, my sister and I had great fun making and canning huge batches of bread-and-butter pickles (with two very different recipes) in our kitchen.  This was on the same day that Mike brewed not one, but two, beers in the garage and his friend Chris came over and brewed a third!  The house was a beehive of activity and it was great fun!

I have had several friends ask if I could instruct them on how to can and so I decided to have a “Canning Party”.  It’s scheduled for this coming weekend and I’m planning on having everyone help make a batch of jam and sending them home with a clearer idea about how to perform the boiling water canning method.  I am crossing my fingers that the farm does not send out our last portion of the preserving share this week.  It’s 45 lbs of cabbage, per Mike’s request, which he plans on making into sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut, due to the fermentation it requires to make it “sauerkrauty” cannot be canned, and thus would only complicate matters in what I’m sure will be a very busy kitchen this weekend!  Anyone who wants to come over for Rueben sandwiches with a side of coleslaw when we do get the cabbage, please let me know – we may be having a “Cabbage Party” too!

I searched the internet for a recipe for cheddar cheese crackers and happened upon one that was on several different websites/blogs.  It sounded magnificently easy and tasty.

Fortunately for me, I already had my camera in the kitchen because that morning I had mistakenly let Henry try eating yogurt out of a bowl with a spoon.  As you can see, very little made it actually into his mouth, but I think he’s learning about the whole “spoon” thing…

Henry and the strawberry yogurt

Cheddar Cheese Crackers

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white ground pepper (optional)

4 Tblsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

8 ounces grated cheddar cheese

3-4 tsp water

Pulse the flour, salt and pepper, then add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add grated cheese a little at a time until the mixture again resembles coarse meal.

Cracker dough in the food processor

Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, one tablespoon at a time, and only enough so that the dough forms a ball and rides the blade.

Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.  Roll the dough out to 1/8th-inch thickness directly onto a baking sheet.  I used biscuit cutters to cut out mine, but the recipe recommends using a knife or pizza cutter to cut all of the dough into 1 inch squares.

Cutting out the crackers

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the crackers are golden brown.

Finished crackers

I doubled the recipe thinking that it wouldn’t make very many from one batch, but as it turns out maybe 60 crackers was a bit much…

These were great crackers, right out of the oven.  But they became pretty moist and “biscuity” the next day.  The lack of our usual dry Colorado weather has something to do with that I think, as we are currently in our “monsoon weeks” with a thunderstorm occurring every afternoon.  They might store better next time, but I think if I make these again I might take the time to bake them the day that I serve them.

So, I decided that I would use my baking knowledge and attempt to make up my own sourdough cake recipe.  Raspberries were on sale at the grocery store and I decided to use my new batch of almond extract for a Raspberry Almond Sourdough Cake.

I fiddled around with the recipe for chocolate cake, adding butter instead of oil, reducing the amount of sugar and adding fresh raspberries and almond extract to the batter.  The cake seemed to bake up fine and I made a batch of Ganache and whipped up some whipping cream for filling and frosting.  Topped off with some more fresh raspberries the cake looked beautiful:

Cake attempt #1

I was all set to cut into my cake and find a wonderful array of fresh raspberries and golden colored cake.

Cake # 1 - interior

Aw dang! Do not adjust your computer monitor – that yellow-greenish tinge is the actual color of the cake.  I couldn’t serve a green cake at a wedding!  So, back to the pastry board…

For my second attempt at Raspberry Almond Sourdough Cake I thought if I added fresh raspberries and raspberry puree, the cake might turn a lovely pink.  I pureed raspberries, strained out the seeds and then added the puree to the sourdough batter.  I got a little nervous when I began to stir and the batter started to look a little, well, gray…  But, I poured the batter into the pans and put them into the oven hoping it would all turn out okay.

Nope.

Navy cake

I’m thinking if I can’t serve a yellow-green cake at a wedding, a navy/gray cake with red spots isn’t going to go over very well either…  The cake actually tasted fine, but I didn’t want to waste time or cream frosting it, so for the first time in my life, I threw my cake away.

I took leave of the cake making process for a few weeks until my bride-to-be friend was due to come to our house for lunch.  For this attempt I decided to add fresh raspberries, but also add some food coloring to the batter.  After three drops of red and one drop of blue in the batter the cake was a light pink – which is so much better than navy!  So I baked the cake layers, put ganache and whipping cream in between the layers, added more ganache on top and then frosted the whole thing with whipping cream.  Since this was for the actual bride, I spent a long time trying to get the decoration just right.  I was still delicately placing almonds on the top at 10:30 p.m.

But it was well worth it – the cake was pretty:

Cake 3, decorated

The cake also looked fine once we cut it and tasted great:

Slice of Cake # 3

The only problem with this beautiful cake is that the whipping cream frosting deteriorates pretty rapidly and there were parts of cake showing through the whipping cream the next day.  I’m thinking I may have to either find a way to improve the whipping cream, or switch to butter cream frosting, which holds up better.  More attempts at the perfect cake will be necessary, yum!

Which meant that last year for my birthday, I did not have a chocolate cake for my birthday; I don’t think I even made a cake last year – I was so bummed about not having chocolate.  Going without chocolate nearly killed me.  Seriously, I am a borderline addict.  I can go without it, but if it’s around, I crave it and sometimes can’t stop myself from eating a lot. Thankfully, although Henry is not done nursing yet, he is far less sensitive to what I eat these days and I can eat whatever I want and not have to worry about the baby’s tummy too.

So what does a chocolate addict do when she makes her own birthday cake?  Why she makes a chocolate cake with ganache and whipping cream of course!

My birthday was a weekday and also coincided with Mike’s monthly home-brewers club meeting in the evening.  For lunch on that day, I ordered pizza and my parents, my sister, nephew and Mike all came to our house for a brief lunch followed by Key Lime Pie from Whole Foods.  (My sister, as you may recall has a wheat allergy, so she can eat things like Key Lime Pie and just not eat the crust and I ordered a gluten-free pizza for her lunch.)

After lunch I was left alone with the kids again and so while they napped I started the sourdough cake batter fermenting.  Later on in the afternoon I made the chocolate cake and then after the kids went down for bedtime, I pondered what do with frosting the cake.

Left alone and without anyone to ask, “Don’t you think that’s a bit much?” – I decided to go all out and make a ganache and whipping cream cake.  I cut each chocolate cake layer into two and in between each one I layered ganache and then whipping cream.

Building birthday cake

Once the cake was built, I put whipping cream on the sides and then piled a whole bunch of ganache on top.  I attempted to have it gracefully “slop” over the sides, and it looked pretty good.

Finished birthday cake

But it tasted even better! The whipping cream gracefully cuts the bitterness of the dark chocolate in the ganache and the cake was even better the next day when everything had sort of mushed together.

Piece of cake

I didn’t save a piece of this in the freezer for the wedding cake try-outs, although it could be a contender.  It was incredibly decadent, and I just wasn’t sure if this has a place at a casual summer wedding…  Thoughts?

Melanie Barnard’s Buried Treasure Cocoa Souffles

6 chocolate truffles or chocolate kisses

2 large egg yolks

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

8 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 Tablespoon coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Butter six 6-ounce (3/4 cup) souffle dishes and coat each with some sugar, tapping out the excess.  (Note: Don’t go overboard on the sugar here; it’s only supposed to help the souffle “crawl” up the sides of the dishes.  Too much and the souffles will be overly sugary – I learned this the hard way.) Place a chocolate truffle or kiss in the center of each dish.

Souffle dish with chocolate kiss

3. In a bowl, beat or whisk the 2 egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of sugar until it becomes thick and is a pale yellow.  Whisk in the cocoa, liqueur and vanilla.

4. In another mixing bowl, beat the 4 egg whites to soft peaks with an electric mixer.  Slowly add in the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar and beat until the mixture has formed stiff peaks.

5. Fold the cocoa mixture into the egg whites.

Folding in the cocoa mixture

6. Divide the mixture between the souffle dishes and place the dishes on a baking sheet.

Bake the souffles until well puffed, about 15-17 minutes and serve immediately.

I like to serve mine with a little whipping cream on top – it provides a nice cooling element to the molten hot chocolate in the souffle.

Finished Chocolate Souffle with Whipping Cream

I made this during the kids’ nap on a weekend when my husband was in and out running errands.  When the souffles were done I told him to have one on his way out and then I went upstairs to grab some laundry and check on the baby.  With my 30-minute souffle I garnered this reaction from my beloved on his way out the door:

"Darn Good Soufflet (sp?)"

This souffle is lovely warm, with the melted chocolate kiss or truffle in the bottom being so nice.  But I’ve discovered that when it’s cold, it tastes like a brownie and that ain’t bad either.  Next time you want to impress some guests with a easy souffle, try this one!

Souffle can be intimidating and I think the French mean for it to be that way; they do love to make their cuisine very difficult.  If there is a way to make chicken soup take 12 hours and involve 10 ingredients that require a trip to a farm in Provence – the French will do it.  I think it has something to do with French national pride.

But I’m here to tell you that souffle can be easy.  First up, cheddar cheese souffle.  This recipe comes from my mother and her September 1979 Family Circle.  In that issue, an article entitled “The 6-minute Souffle” appeared, which included recipes for Cheddar cheese, Roquefort, Ham, and Banana souffles, all quick and easy.  Since this article was published when I was four, I grew up thinking that souffle was always easy and was quite surprised to discover that most people thought souffle was “supposed” to be hard.  Mais mon souffle n’est pas dificile!

In the battle for an easy cheese souffle, here is your weapon:

Blender!

Get your blender and your souffle dish (or 6 small dishes) and we’re off!

Cheddar Cheese Souffle

5 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 tsp prepared mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 lb cheddar cheese, cut into about 1″ chunks

11 oz. cream cheese, cut into about 1″ chunks

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and butter a large souffle dish or 6 small souffle dishes.

2. Add to the blender the eggs, cream, Parmesan, mustard, salt and pepper.  Blend until mixed well and smooth.

3. With the blender running, add the cheddar through the hole in the lid, one chunk at a time until all are chopped up and the mixture is thick.  Add the cream cheese in the same manner. (Note – the mixture will be very thick at this time; it may be necessary to stop the blender and stir the mixture around with a spatula to fully incorporate the cheeses.)

4. Once all of the cheddar and cream cheese is fully incorporated, run the blender for 5 more seconds, just to get a little air in the mixture.

5.  Pour the mixture into the buttered souffle dish(es).

Cheese Souffle - post blender

6. Bake the souffle for 40-50 minutes depending upon your preference.  The original recipe says that either you can bake the souffle for 40 minutes and use the “liquid center as a sauce to spoon over the rest of the souffle”, or you can just do what I do and bake it for 50 minutes to get a nice firm souffle all the way through.

The souffle will have a lovely brown top:

Finished Cheddar Cheese Souffle

This souffle is heaven with a soft cheesy center and a crispy edge.  It is a great vegetarian and gluten-free main course (hence why it is often served at the book club meetings at mine and my sister’s houses), and isn’t too bad the next day as leftovers.  I have an aunt who likes to eat the leftovers with salsa…

Now see wasn’t that easy?  No slaving over a pan, separating eggs and beating egg whites to stiff peaks.  If anyone wants the recipe for the Ham Souffle for their Easter leftovers let me know.

Next up – easy chocolate souffle for dessert!

Before attempting this project however, I needed to finish my other project in the kitchen – painting.  Before Christmas I started painting the kitchen, suffering from a brief memory lapse that allowed me to think that with a toddler and a 9-month-old I would be able to find the time to complete the painting before Christmas.  Thanks to some wonderful friends who took the kids for a few hours this weekend, we finally completed the painting and here is the finished product:

New Kitchen Color

And now on to bagels!

The bagel recipe that I used was one clipped from an old Sunset magazine of my mother’s.  It’s a recipe for Asiago bagels, but since I didn’t have Asiago (and don’t really like Asiago bagels) I made onion bagels and Everything bagels with the basic bagel recipe.

Onion/Everything Bagels (Makes 12 bagels)

2 packages active dry yeast

3 Tblsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 Tblsp. dehydrated onion (optional)

About 6 cups all-purpose flour

1 large egg yolk

1. Combine yeast and 2 cups of warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand 5 minutes until the yeast has bloomed.  Mix in the sugar, onion, salt, and 5 1/2 cups of the flour until the dough forms a sticky ball.

2. Spread 1/2 cup of flour on a board and knead the flour into the dough.  Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky, adding flour if necessary.

3. Put the dough into a warmed and oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a cloth towel.  (To warm the bowl swish hot water around the bowl, dry off the excess and then oil the bowl.) Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size (about 40 minutes).

4. Once the dough has risen, knead the dough briefly on a floured board and then divide into 12 equal portions.  Form each piece into a ball and then while holding the ball in both hands use your thumbs to form a hole in the center of the ball.   Keeping a thumb in the center, work around the bagel to make it smooth and evenly thick.

5. Allow the bagels to rise on a floured board, covered, for about 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.

7. Once the bagels have risen, drop them into the boiling water and boil until the bagels are spongy, but firm, 3 to 5 minutes.

8. Remove the bagels from the water with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on a towel or board.  Once drained, put the bagels on greased baking sheets.

9. Beat the egg yolk with 1 Tblsp water and brush over the bagels.  Add more onions for onion bagels and for “Everything” bagels, sprinkle with onion, salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds and anything else you would like!

10. Bake the bagels in a 375 degree oven until browned, 30-35 minutes, and then cool on racks.

The dough itself was easy to make and I got it done quickly while the baby was napping and Anna was at her pre-pre-school class.

I do love kneading bread dough – there’s something really relaxing about the folding and pushing of the soft dough under my hands.  It was especially lovely kneading the dough since the baby was quiet, Anna was gone and I was listening to the “Garden State” soundtrack.  I then let it rise in my warmed, oiled bowl:

Bagel dough

Once I had formed the bagels (I really did not get the “12 equal portions” thing right!) and they had risen, I plopped them into the boiling water.

Boiling bagels

Fair warning here – I discovered that bagels get MUCH larger while they are boiling – I ended up with some really huge bagels!

After they were drained I basted the bagels with the egg wash and since I was using a paintbrush Anna, who was back from class by then, had to help with the basting:

Anna basting bagels

She also had a great time helping me sprinkle all of the toppings onto the bagels…

While I was trying to boil, baste and then bake the bagels I had stupidly timed it to coincide with lunch time.  So, while I was boiling bagels I was trying to also feed Henry his baby cereal and make Anna’s lunch.  It became a little hectic and I accidentally left Henry with the cereal spoon within reach.  After sliming himself with the cereal from the spoon he got tired and starting pulling at his hair, resulting in this:

Henry disaster

And yes, there was a bath for the small boy after the bagels were done…

But the chaos was well worth it as the bagels turned out beautifully!

Finished bagels

They were yummy and chewy; just what I was hoping for in my bagel making adventure!