De Baking Psychopath

The hubby has a new job! And right after he started, Boss Appreciation Day rolled around and everyone at work chipped in to throw a little dessert party in honor of the supervisors. He did all the hands-on work for this recipe, with just a few guiding tips from me, who stood in the background sneezing up a storm (in a direction away from the cookie-making area). They were a big hit, and the cayenne really gives a boost to the warm fall spicy flavors in this cookie. We made them too big to be crunchy, but the sturdy chewiness was very satisfying so we didn't really mind anyway. The browned butter is just barely noticeable as a nutty aftertaste in the cookie, and it really gives it more depth of flavor. Aren't these just picture-perfect with the crackly tops? Good job, spousal unit! Brown Butter Gingersnaps (adapted from Cookie Madness ) Ingredients: 12 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 ...

Another six months had passed and it was time again for another committee meeting! Here was the menu for this time: Normal menu Bottle of water Spiced Nut Mix Dark chocolate-covered pretzels (Trader Joe's) Green tea and red bean mochi cake Healthy pumpkin bread Low-sugar menu Bottle of water Spiced Nut Mix Cranberry Bran Muffin Savory scallion pancake Healthy pumpkin bread The new kid on the block is this pumpkin bread from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook. It is packed full of whole grains, and virtually fat- and cholesterol-free. It's really moist and a bit exotic with the cardamom in the mix. It was hearty and tasty and a nice change of pace from the normal pumpkin bread. And you don't notice that there's virtually no butter or other fat in the bread. Healthy Pumpkin Bread (adapted from Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook ) Ingredients : 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup oat flour (you can grind oats in your food processor or blade coffee ...

Six months have passed since my Comprehensive Examination ; the deadline for reassembling my committee for my thesis proposal and first official committee meeting had come. I had been considering different recipes for this committee meeting for a long time before the appointed day, way before I even started preparations for the presentation itself. (Certainly you can see my priorities are in order.) I am glad to announce that my committee meeting occurred this past Friday, and it went well by all accounts and in all aspects: we finished in a timely manner without sacrificing thoroughness (very important due to the time constraints of the professors in my committee), my preliminary data were generally convincing, and the proposed experiments and overall aims of my thesis proposal were accepted with only few minor changes (big thanks to my mentor who helped me make the aims statements much more elegant-sounding). So now I can officially change my status to a "PhD candidate" w...

I'm here in CA for a small, field-specific conference without my thesis advisor, and it's been a little scary to meet a very tight knit community of scientists who are the prominent investigators in our field of study, without my advisor to help me navigate the way and introduce me to people. Luckily she has some close friends who did come, and she asked them to keep an eye on me and help me get oriented (translation: babysit me). So I wanted to try to repay the favor by bringing a gift to help sweeten the deal and just say thank you for their support (translation: bribes). My advisor suggested buying their preferred alcohol for bribes, but I wasn't going to bring alcohol in my luggage, and as bad luck would have it, the duty free store at the airport was closed when I arrived. So good thing I'd also brought some fresh homemade biscotti for the purpose of bribing--much more my style. I made the triple-ginger biscotti again, because they were just soooo good. Sinc...

Sorry for the absence of posts lately. I have lately gone through the rigors of what is called the "Comprehensive Examination," which to those of you who may not be familiar with it, suffice it to say that it is the mid-way point of Hell for a graduate student. There are many variations upon Hell that can be inflicted upon the unsuspecting graduate student, but mine came in the form of independently (no help from my advisor) writing a proposal on a project and then defending that project in front of a committee of SIX professors over the course of 2 hours. One of the ways I attempted to ease the pain of the gauntlet run I was about to embark upon was to prepare token offerings in the form of muffins and the Green Tea Mochi Cake for my judges. I made Raisin Bran Muffins and Blueberry Pecan Muffins, both from the book Once Upon a Tart... , brought fresh brewed coffee from my special stash of Casi Cielo (it's a seasonal special roast from Starbucks, a Guatemala Antigua be...