Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I have officially welcomed autumn with my first pumpkin baked good. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls have always sounded tasty to me, but most of the recipes I saw only had pumpkin in the bread. I wanted the taste of warm pumpkin pie filling between layers of pastry.

Pastry. Not bready dough. My favorite cinnamon rolls of all time are from Victorian Pantry. Unlike your run-of-the-mill Cinnabons, Steve's cinnamon rolls are made from a laminate dough, which I've always been hesitant to make because of how complicated I thought they were. Then I made croissants a few months ago and even though the results were far from perfect, it got me over my fear.

I searched online for a recipe the fit my description and ended up finding this one from one of my favorite cookbooks, Baking with Julia. Not only does this recipe take two days to make, it's more complicated than standard cinnamon rolls.

The brioche dough is enriched with eggs and butter and requires a long mixing in a stand mixer that I don't have, so I alternated between using a large, sturdy wooden spoon, my hands, and a pastry scraper. After finishing the dough, I watched a video of Julia Child and Nancy Silverton making these rolls together. I panicked for a moment because my dough didn't look anything like theirs did. I hoped it would be transformed overnight.

Day two: laminate the dough with more butter. Simply put, the dough is rolled out, dotted with butter, folded, and rolled and folded again. Thankfully, the dough was manageable and easy to work with.

As the dough rested in the fridge, I mixed together the pumpkin filling, using fancy Vietnamese ground cinnamon that my friend sent me. (It's stronger than regular ground cinnamon and smells like all the cinnamon sticks in one room.) The filling consisted of a cup of pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, three tablespoons granulated sugar, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon (1 1/4 regular cinnamon), and 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. It was good enough to eat on its own and didn't taste like raw pumpkin.

After the dough is filled, the logs are chilled in the freezer so that they're easier to slice. That they were, and I didn't even need dental floss. This extra step is worth the hassle because the layers don't smoosh together when sliced. Finally, they're left to rise one last time before being baked.

It wasn't a particularly cold day yesterday. However, the rolls were taking forever to rise, so I stuck them in the oven with a bowl of boiling water underneath. Pro tip: Why haven't I done this before? Do it.

I brushed the rolls with a simple confectioners' sugar glaze immediately after taking them out from the oven. I like the look of rolls with a clear coating instead of a thick white icing that hides the beautiful layers.

The pumpkin filling was incredible and tasted just like pie, especially the centers that had the most filling. It almost reminded me of a McDonald's pumpkin pie. (I shouldn't be admitting that, should I?)

My biggest question was if this recipe was worth the extra effort. I'd say it was, but I'd only make them for special occasions. The rolls were lighter and flakier than regular rolls and came pretty close to the VP rolls I crave.

I'm submitting these rolls to Yeastspotting.

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Click here for dough recipe and instructions

Pumpkin Spice Granola with Crisco Imported Olive OIl

Fall is all about pumpkin. You'll see it in breads, pies, drinks, and more. You've probably also seen it in oatmeal. I can't do that, because it still tastes a little raw that way, but it does give baked goods a great flavor. So, I created a batch of pumpkin oatmeal. This granola is packed full of oat clusters, nuts, pepita seeds, and dried fruit, and will be the highlight of your breakfast.

Since the granola I make has oil, I used Crisco Imported Light Tasting Olive Oil instead of vegetable oil. I received these bottles from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, only they arrived a month after the deadline to post a recipe. However, being grateful for still having received them, I wanted to use the products in a recipe. Olive oil has many benefits, and by using it in granola you have an even healthier start to the day.

The light tasting olive oil is neutral in flavor, making it perfect for baked goods. A too pronounced olive taste, like from extra virgin, just wouldn't pair well with the sweet flavors here.

Along with the olive oil, brown sugar, honey, pumpkin puree and egg whites are mixed to create the glaze that coats the oats. Following the recipe I made for my Holy Grail Granola, vanilla extract and baking soda were stirred after removing the mixture from the heat.

Like with my other recipe, I used a combination of old fashioned oatmeal and coarsely ground oatmeal, since I didn't have quick oats. The finer oats help create the clusters. Wheat bran was added to give it more nutrition, and can be substituted with wheat germ or flax seed meal. For crunch, I chopped up walnuts and tossed in raw pepita seeds. The green color adds nice pop alongside the dried cranberries that are added later.

Since you can't have pumpkin without spices (well, you can, but it wouldn't be the pumpkin we all know and love), cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves are stirred into the oats. It smelled great then, but it smelled even better as it baked!

Stir in the liquids and watch as clumps of oats begin to form while mixing it all together. After its baked and cooled, the oatmeal crisps up. Dried cranberries are stirred in at the very end. This would also be tasty with dried cherries or blueberries, too.

Now that's my kind of pumpkin oatmeal.

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Pumpkin Spice Granola
Recipe by Christina Provo

A delicious autumnal granola flavored with pumpkin and spices

Yields many 1/2 cup servings

Ingredients -

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal
2 cups quick oats (or old fashioned oats, coarsely ground)
1/2 cup wheat bran or germ
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raw pepita seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup light olive oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces dried cranberries

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the oatmeal, wheat bran, nuts and seeds; stir in the spices until dry ingredients are evenly coated.


2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the brown sugar, honey, pumpkin puree, and oil until combined. Cook just until mixture begins to simmer, and brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in the vanilla and baking soda.


3. Pour wet ingredients into the bowl with the oats. Using a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir until the oats are thoroughly coated. Pour out onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or until granola is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely. When granola has cooled, mix in the dried cranberries.

Tigger-Proof Pumpkin Pie

Every year for Thanksgiving we make a pumpkin pie, and usually we used a simple recipe with canned milk and spices. One year, though, we tried the pumpkin pie recipe from The Little Big Book of Pooh by Monique Peterson. My older brother gave it as a gift to my mom a few years ago.

This pie recipe features one of the more flavorful pumpkin pie fillings I've tasted. Instead of just granulated sugar, the brown sugar gives the pie a richer flavor as does the sweetened condensed milk in place of evaporated milk (you can't have a 100 Acre Woods recipe without sweetened condensed milk, can you?). This pie is also very spicy and doesn't lack in flavor. There's a crust recipe that accompanies the directions that I've never tried, but I'll include it anyway. Feel free to use whichever crust with which you're most familiar.

The filling can be prepared and refrigerated ahead of time to cut down on prep if desired.

Since I have issues with my pie crusts not completely cooking, I decided to par-bake the crust this year. To do this, I chilled the prepared crust for an hour, then lined with parchment and filled with dried beans (to keep the crust from collapsing). I then baked for 10 minutes at 425°; remove the parchment with the beans and cook for 5 more minutes until bottom is no longer wet. You will need to cover the edges of the crust earlier into the baking time if you do this.

I didn't let the crust cook before filling since it still had to be baked. Maybe the heat sealed the bottom layer and prevented the crust from getting soggy.

So, if you're looking for a pumpkin pie with a smooth, velvety texture that's rich with flavor, stop right here and get baking!

Recipe after jump.

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Tigger-Proof Pumpkin Pie
From The Little Big Book of Pooh

For crust:

1 1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons ice water

For pie:

1 1/2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.


2. To make crust, sift together dry ingredients. Using pastry blender or processor, cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle water over dough and mix with fork until pastry is moist enough to form into a ball.


3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface into a 14" round circle. Transfer and press into 9" pie pan. Trim overhand and crimp edges. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes.


4. To make the pumpkin filling, whisk all the pie ingredients together in a large bowl until blended. Pour into the prepared crust.


5. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.


6. Serve with whipped cream!

pumpkin turkey strata with Lactaid

Took me a while but I finally got around to making this. A few things got in the way, actually.

So a strata is basically a bread pudding, and this savory version combines all the favorites of Thanksgiving, turkey, pumpkin, and stuffing. Using Lactaid, an easy to digest milk, enables those with lactose intolerance to enjoy as well. I used the Lactaid whole milk, which has a creamy taste. There was a little more sweetness than what's typically in milk, almost reminiscent of flavor of half and half.

Usually you would use day old bread cubes for a strata. Instead, I cubed Nature's Pride whole wheat bread, tossed in a mixture of olive oil and butter that was sauteed with ground sage and minced garlic, then placed on a baking sheet to bake until toasted to make sage-garlic croutons. Meanwhile, I browned ground turkey with chopped onions, then mixed together with the finished croutons and mozzarella cheese.

I'm sure the reason why you use day old bread isn't because someone was being frugal, it's because otherwise the bread would turn to mush. Mushy pudding, anyone?

The custard comes together quickly by mixing together softened cream cheese, which adds an extra creaminess to the custard, with canned pumpkin puree, eggs, Lactaid, and some salt and pepper. Simply pour over the croutons and refrigerate overnight. What's great about this recipe is that you can make it ahead of time to suit a rushed schedule.

I ended up ladling the crouton-custard into another pan since it started leaking out of the spring form pan I originally had it in. For whatever reason, I decided to cover the bottom in foil before pouring anything in it so it wasn't too disastrous. Not even Lactaid would have prevented the acids from churning in my stomach over seeing dinner dripping over the floor, and I'm not even the one who's lactose intolerant.

And here is the finished product. About 20 minutes from the end of baking time, I topped with coarsely chopped pecans and grated parmesan cheese, a nice finishing touch.

The strata came out creamy and flavorful, a bit of sage in each bite. The whole wheat bread gives the dish a nice nuttiness, though you can't even tell it's whole wheat at all. If you need dinner options for the hectic holiday season, or a great dish for a get together, try out this Pumpkin Turkey Strata.

This recipe was supposed to be my submission in Lactaid's recipe contest, which unfortunately I missed. Here is an outtake from the video featuring the recipe for you to enjoy:

Recipe after jump

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Pumpkin Turkey Strata
Recipe by Christina Provo

Ingredients ~

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
pinch salt
1 pound ground turkey
14 cups whole wheat bread cubes (1/2-inch cubes)
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons butter
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 teaspoons ground sage
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces neufchatel cream cheese, room temperature
1 14.5 ounce can pumpkin puree
8 large eggs
3 cups milk
1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch white pepper
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and ground turkey. Season with red pepper flakes and pinch of salt; cook until turkey is browned thoroughly and onions are translucent. Set aside.


2. In same skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 3 tablespoons butter with half the garlic, ground sage, kosher salt and black pepper. Cook for a minute. Place half the bread cubes into skillet and stir to coat. Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat the process for the remaining bread cubes. Once all the bread is on baking sheet, bake for 15-20 minutes, tossing halfway, until cubes are toasted and crisp.


3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with pumpkin puree. Whisk in eggs, milk, salt, nutmeg, and white pepper.


4. Mix together croutons with cooked turkey and mozzarella cheese. Place into a greased 13x9-inch casserole dish (make sure dish can transfer directly from fridge to oven without breaking). Pour pumpkin custard mixture over croutons. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.


5. Preheat oven to 350°. Remove strata from fridge and uncover. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and top with pecans and parmesan cheese. Continue baking for another 20 minutes, then check to see if knife inserted in center comes out clean. If not, continue baking for 10 minutes before checking again. Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes before serving.

Once Upon A Tart and their Pumpkin Scones

Every single fall I say I'm going to make pumpkin scones, and every single fall passes without it. Until now, when I finally decided to just make the scones and be done with it!

The recipe comes from the Once Upon A Tart cookbook and is one of my absolute favorite cookbooks. I fell in love with the twists they placed on typical recipes and the delicious pictures, the writing style, and the little tidbits of info strewn about the book.

What happens when I'm hungry and find myself at SBUX is that I stare at the glass case of baked goods that I know won't taste good. I stared at the pumpkin scones for the longest of time, but I said no. In the back of my mind I could taste the pumpkin scones I knew I needed to make and I couldn't ruin that with anything not up to snuff. I've also seen a recipe for SBUX pumpkin scones, but I didn't think I'd like them much compared to this.

So, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I made pumpkin scones. Filled with fresh cranberries, dried cranberries (both of which remind me of a pig snout), and toasted walnuts. Using more then half a pound of butter. Producing scones nearly the size of my face. I could have halved the scones, but I wanted to make the real deal. I could have halved the size of the scones I froze, but I wasn't thinking.

And I was happy. Light, moist, and fluffy. Crisp and crunchy. Pumpkiny with subtle spicing to enhance the pumpkin flavor. Just sweet enough to leave you satisfied for a treat and perfect for breakfast. Filling the kitchen with the scent of fall, though you might die from the aroma before you get around to actually tasting them.

Once again, Once Upon A Tart fails me not.

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spiced pumpkin scones with fresh cranberries
From Once Upon A Tart with minor changes by me

Makes 12 giant scones

ingredients ~
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 large eggs
3/4 cup cold buttermilk, or 1/2 cup cold yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup cold milk
1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins, plumped and patted dry (I used sweetened dried cranberries, unplumped)
extra sugar for coating

directions ~

1. Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or just grease the damn thing).


2. Dump dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, and pulse to mix. Add the butter to the bowl all at once, and pulse until there are no chunks of butter left and mixture looks like moist crumbs. Be careful not to overwork the flour and butter. Remove the blade from the food processor, and dump the crumbs into a big bowl. (I found I had to mix half the butter with half the flour mixture at a time since my food processor wasn't big enough to hold it all.) Mix in the cranberries, walnuts, and raisins.


3. In another, small bowl, whisk the eggs to break up the yolks. Whisk in the buttermilk, butter puree, and vanilla.


4. Pour the wet ingredients on top of the flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture just comes together, then stop. You don't want to work the dough a moment longer than necessary.


5. Use a 1/2 cup measuring cup or your hand (eyeballing for size) to scoop the batter out and plop it onto the baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between scones. Sprinkle tops with additional sugar to create a decently thick coating.


6. Place baking sheet on the center rack in the oven, and bake the scones for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.


7. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and place it on a wire rack to let scones cool for a few minutes. Lift the baking sheet off the rack, and use a metal spatula to transfer the scones to the rack, or directly to the dish on which you're serving the scones. Serve fresh out of the oven or at room temperature.

These scones are huge. Either cut the recipe in half, to make six large or 12 small scones (using a 1/4 cup measuring cup and reducing the baking time by half), or make the full recipe and freeze the scones after shaping for later (wrap frozen scones individually in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer bag), adding additional baking time.

Fall Treats ~ pumpkin pasties

Part one of what will be a few more posts on fall-themed baking treats (and I mean that -- it's not like I'm asking how you are when I really couldn't care less, heck, I might as well not ask at all, but I sincerely promise two more fall baking posts). I usually make pumpkin muffins, but I've done that so many times in the past that it's become blase. Besides these, I will make the pumpkin scones I've always wanted to try, plus two more that I won't talk about now that have nothing to do with pumpkin.

I've made Pumpkin Pasties before as a treat to snack on while reading the final Harry Potter book. What I particularly enjoy about these is that it's an individual pumpkin pie with a higher proportion of crust to filling than a traditional slice, while not having to commit to a full slice or looking moronic by asking for a slice 3/16th of an inch thick. (That was a totally random number that I've never asked someone to do.)

The filling is doubly spicy since I doubled the amounts, and it's just sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.

The filling was pretty orange considering I doubled the spices, but something happened when I left it out overnight (covered-like with a piece of plastic wrap) and it no longer had a vibrant color. I can't remember how it looked the last time I made it, though I did refrigerate it.

For the crust I used Martha Stewart's recipe for Perfect Pate Brisee, and it really is perfect, more so because I wasn't afraid of adding too much liquid and the rolling of the dough was a roll of the pin. I did use Smart Balance Butter Blend instead of all butter, mainly out of curiosity and partly because I vary between all-butter and butter-shortening crusts. Unlike a buttery spread, this contains less water. It's like Smart Balances non-hydrogenated shortening they had but discontinued, combined with butter in stick form at a higher price than the shortening.

This may be a little more time consuming than a traditional pie, but it's more fun and is worth the tiny bit of extra effort it takes.

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I'll get the complaints, mainly that the crust was saltier than normally. I'm thinking it might have been due to the butter blend sticks since I typically use unsalted butter, so I should have decreased the salt in the recipe by half.
Secondly, the filling wasn't orange-hued, rendering those not suitable to the photo process and not as nice for presentation.
Third, I should have refrigerated the filled and crimped turnovers for at least half an hour because the pretty crusts lost their shape.

For the praise, the crust was very flaky and tasted great despite the saltiness (which wasn't too bad). I think of these as the foodie's answer to McDonald's pumpkin pie, seeing as both are similar in that it's more turnover than actual pie, and it can travel really well.

What to do with any leftover filling? I've forgotten all about mine and it's in the fridge somewhere, but some ideas are stirring it into a bowl of oatmeal, using it to make pumpkin shakes, or topping with toasted pecans and whipped cream and eating it as a crustless dessert.

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Pumpkin Pasties
Recipe from Britta.com

Makes about 3 dozen miniature pasties.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 1 1 lb. can pumpkin

(or 2 cups fresh, roasted in the oven then pressed
through a strainer)

• 1/2 tsp. salt


• 1 tsp. cinnamon


• 1/2 tsp. ginger


• 1/2 tsp. allspice


• 1/4 tsp. cloves


• I added a few gratings of fresh nutmeg


• 1 2/3 cups evap. milk (1 can)


• 9 oz pie crust pastry (enough for two single standard pie crusts)


• 1 egg, beaten (for brushing turnovers)


• Extra sugar for sprinkling

Directions

1. Combine filling ingredients and whisk until combined. Bake the pie filling only (no crust) in a large, lightly greased, casserole dish in hot oven (425°) for 15 minutes. Keep oven door closed and reduce temp to moderate (350°) and continue baking for 40-45 minutes or until table knife inserted in center of dish comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.


2. Make or purchase pie crust pastry. Roll thin and cut into circles approx 4" in diameter. Put a spoonful of the cool pumpkin mixture towards one side of the center of the circle. Fold over the crust into a half-circle and firmly crimp the edges closed. Slice three small slits in the top for venting, place on a greased cookie sheet, brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar, and bake only until crust is a light golden-brown. (For this stage, I increased the oven temperature to 400°.) Great served at room-temperature, then you don't have to worry about your guests possibly burning their mouths from the steaming hot pumpkin inside!

I Can't Always Get What I Want - pumpkin cream cheese muffins

(** Sorry for the delay in posting. My laptop with all my files crashed and it needed to to be restored. Luckily, the computer dude was able to restore it without wiping out my files. Note to self: Buy extra USB drives for backup. **)

First, I'll take you through the steps I did to create my pumpkin cream cheese muffins (note: neither the pumpkin muffin recipe nor the cream cheese recipe were my own, I just used two different recipes and added stuff to it. I would normally give you the links to where I found each, but I messed this up a little and would rather not have my mistakes associated to their recipes):

The ingredients are prepped

Besides the required ingredients, I also added the grated rind of one orange. And besides that, I wanted to see how this recipe would come out via the two-stage method (mixing the fat with the flour).

What you are looking at there is the sliced cubes of cream cheese mixture and the flour mixture after the butter has been added to it.

And right here is the dry and wet ingredients mixed together with some flour not thoroughly mixed. At this point, and something I've encountered with this recipe even when followed as per directions stated, the mixture was much too dense and thick. I added about ¼ cup of milk. Next time, I'll decrease the flour by ¼-½ cup.

The result was still a bit thick, but... wow I'm drawing a blank... but more to the correct consistency for a muffin batter than before. I'm very wary of over-mixing a quick bread.

Here are the filled tins, just about a smidgen below the top. (I recognize that this picture makes it look like the batter is flush with the top of the cups, but it wasn't exactly. It was about a little beneath it, though some may have been right at the top -- I learned that from the Once Upon a Tart cookbook.) The empty tins were filled halfway with water (I swear the steam helps them rise better or something. Or something, have any of you noticed that the stature -- yes, I just used an animal/human word to describe my baked goods -- of your muffins decreases after sitting out of the tin post-bakeage, even the next day? Is it due to the moisture in the air? Sometimes it happens after they cool, even when baked long enough so as not to sink in the center).

Here you see the topping mixture of the grated rind of one orange to ¼ cup of sugar. The other picture is a sugar-dusted cream cheese cube-filled cup of pumpkin muffin batter. Don't push the cube in all the way.

The freshly baked muffins, cooling in the tins, with pats of butter on top to soak in! NOT. But it was sort of funny. :D

What you may or may not be able to see from the last picture is that due to the cream cheese cubes being made to cheesecake-esque, it didn't ooze enough to penetrate the entire muffin, though I most certainly got the too-much-oozing-it-looks-mucus-y issue down... Also, I didn't add nearly enough spices resulting in less than an essence of spiciness. Basically, if I hadn't known I put spices in the batter, I wouldn't have even been able to taste it at all. That and it was gummy. Remember how I often speak highly of the quintessential spongy factor, where you are able to press (lightly press, like with the carefulness of Jedi mind-strength that gives enough force to prove your point without being overpowering) down all the way and it pops back up into shape, all the while not having the mouth-feel of a piece of rubber? Sponginess these muffins had not.

It made me very depressed, as failed baking excursions are wont to leave me... Next time, I won't add an egg or a tiny bit of flour (I was aiming for a consistency between uber-runny and too set), perhaps adding some milk to thin it out a little (around a tablespoon), increase the spices x4 (I did increase it x2 the first time), and use a wee bit less flour.

At least it looked pretty. And the tea was nice (it was Nutcracker Spice from Celestial Seasonings). I'd say that I can't always be perfect but it sounds all sorts of wrong. Oh, and I'm not having a pity-me party, I just like discussing every facet of what went awry so as to ingrain it into my brain, "DO NOT REPEAT!"

End of story. :D