Monday, November 13, 2017

Writing Prompt: Repairs

Day two of writing prompts from Natalie Goldberg's Old Friend from Far Away book. 

But first, a quick update on the apple coffee cake I made yesterday with white beans.  The turned out okay for the most part, but I made the mistake of baking it in a decoratively shaped bundt pan, and it fell apart as soon as I went to plate it.  The crumb was okay, and overall it was beautifully moist, though the fresh apples I put into it pushed the cake to a bit too far in that direction making parts feel a bit under-baked (it wasn't but the apples were soft enough to soak into the crumb enough to give it the impression).  I think next time I try making a white bean coffee cake I am going to leave out the fresh apples, use a bit more all-purpose flour to fortify the batter, and whip the egg whites separately and fold them in at the end.  Plus, no more decorative bundt pans for new recipes. That's the second... well, possibly third... or fourth time I've attempted a new recipe in one, and every time I end up having to scoop out parts of it.  So yeah, no more of that. Well... maybe. There is one pumpkin recipe that I really want to bake in my pumpkin shaped bundt pan.

At least the flavor was good.  I wouldn't have known that the coffee cake was made with beans had I not made it myself. So there's that.

And now, on to the day's writing prompt: Repairs.

What an interesting topic for a writing topic - repairs.  What have I attempted to repair, or repaired successfully? Many things, really, and covering quite the variety of "items" (from cakes to cars and quite a few things in between).

Saturday, November 11, 2017

I'm Baaaaaaack... with Apples

Dearest Readers,

Yes, for those of you still reading, I am back.  The past few months have been full of big changes, big challenges, and even bigger steps towards fulfilling one of my many dreams.  That said - I feel it's time to get back to one of my other passions: writing.

So... as a re-introduction to my life Under the Red Fedora, for my next few posts I am going to be taking on writing prompts from Natalie Goldberg's book: Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir (an excellent book for writers, even if you have no desire to write a memoir).

Today's prompt: Apples

The last time I made apple pie was over a year ago and it should have been a success - well, it could have been, had I been a bit more careful with my timing and pre-baked the crust. I over baked the inside in order to bake the crust thoroughly, leaving the pounds of carefully cut apples, 4 different types all freshly picked and organic, something of a saucy mess.  The crust wasn't all that great either unfortunately, so the pie looked magnificent from the outside, but once cut into was... underwhelming.   

I keep meaning to try my hand at apple pie again, but every time I have a bounty of apples some other baked, cooked, or fried creation comes out of the kitchen.

Today I plan on trying my hand apple coffee cake made with white beans as a partial substitute for flour.  I've heard good things about using beans in cakes, and I tried a black bean brownie once that was absolutely delicious and fudgey.  Since I don't particularly want a coffee cake with a fudgey consistency, I'm adjusting a few things in an attempt to bring a more airy texture to the final product. I guess I'll see how successful I am at the end of the day.