Bunch of Baking

Oatmeal bread with Pumpkin Butter.  Yum!

I've tried out several new recipes lately, that have required me to fire up the oven.  It's prefect with the colder weather we've been having.  Initially, I was aiming to replenish my goodies supply (there should always be cookies in the freezer).  I made a variation of my Snickerdoodles recipe (with chai spice) and then tried a new cookie (its name is too dang long - I'm now calling them Confetti Cookies).

Then, the last of our bread went moldy.  Sadness.  I'm still new to baking bread, so I'm I trying new recipes whenever one catches my eye.  The latest one I came across is No Knead Oatmeal Bread from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary.  I am not used to waiting for dough to rise.  Cookies and quick breads require chilling overnight, at most.  So I been having trouble getting my bread to rise, because room temperature is not a "warm place".  Yeah, duh.  It helped that this recipe included instructions on warming the oven and how long it should take the bread to rise.  This has been my best loaf yet.  It's delicious and has a nice texture (and perfect with pumpkin butter).  I'll definitely be making this recipe again.

My last baked item was neither cookies nor bread; it was Gumbo Biscuit Bake.  I found the recipe in this month's King Arthur's catalog.  Sorry - I didn't take any photos of this creation.  As soon as it came out of the oven we sat down and tucked in.  It tasted as good as it looked in the catalog (or the link).  I've already added a copy of the recipe (with notes) into my cookbook.  Another keeper!